Noel Morgan

Noel Morgan was stabbed in a Somali restaurant during a fight at about 10.30pm on Sunday 8 October 1961.

He had been to the Havana Restaurant with three friends and when they came to pay there was an argument in which Noel Morgan got up and hit the waiter. There was then a general brawl between the men that had been eating and the staff of the restaurant after they paid during which Noel Morgan was stabbed in the back.

A 59-year-old Cook was tried for his murder but found not guilty and acquitted.

The cook had lived in a room above the cafe in Ensign Street, Stepney.

Noel Morgan had been from Roxborough Street, Newtownards Road in Belfast.

He had received four stab wounds to the back and another under the armpit which had penetrated four and a half inches into his chest. His cause of death was given as haemorrhage, internal bleeding following a stab wound in the chest.

When the pathologist that carried out the post mortem was shown a knife with a brass knob he said that it could have been the weapon that had caused Noel Morgan's death.

A seaman said that he had seen Noel Morgan being attacked by about eight Somalis in a passageway behind the restaurant and a few minutes afterwards he saw him lying dead in a pool of blood on the cafe floor.

The seaman said that Noel Morgan had paid a waiter for four chicken curries and then walked out of the cafe along the passageway. He said, 'We had been drinking but Morgan knew what he was doing. Then about eight Somalis attacked him and I went to help him. After a few minutes I felt a pain in my back but I didn't see a knife. I walked towards the front of the cafe and saw Morgan lying in a pool of blood by the fireplace. I sat down. I don't remember much except Morgan lying there. Then the police arrived'.

It was said that only one person saw the knife, but that they had not actually seen it being wielded and that he had been able to identify it because of a brass knob on the handle and the scabbard.

When the Cook was questioned by the police he said, 'I was in the kitchen as far as I remember when this took place. When I came about the disturbance I saw a crowd of black and white people. The proprietor told me to go and then I saw Morgan lying unconscious near the fireplace'.

When a detective showed him the knife with the brass knob he denied that it was his. He also denied leaving the kitchen at any time during the fight or before the two men were taken away in an ambulance.

It was heard that the detective had told the Cook that a person had said that they had seen him fighting and that he had also seen him take a knife from behind the counter and go into the passage where a waiter and a number of men were fighting. To that the Cook replied, 'The knife does not belong to me. I work in the kitchen and if I had intended to use a knife there were dozens lying about'.

A merchant seaman that had lived in Villa Langurd in Middlewalbay Road, Torquay said that on the night of 8 October 1961 that he had been in the club behind the cafe at 12 Ensign Street and had moved into the cafe when the club closed and taken a seat at the table at the left hand side of the fireplace and had been looking at the fireplace. He said that at the table in front of the door there were four white men, one of whom he knew. He said that they were drunk.

He said that when they came to pay the bill that they had been ten shillings short and that the waiter asked about three times for the correct money. He said then that one of the four men got up from the table and caught hold of the waiter's tie and hit the waiter and that then another of the four men got up to help his friend after which someone in the club got up to help the waiter and that it then gradually turned into a brawl which finished  up down the passage running to the club. He said that there were about fifteen or twenty people involved in the brawl, including the four white men and that the others were coloured.

He said that the waiter was knocked down in the passage and that the Cook then joined in. He said that the Cook came from the kitchen when the fight  first started to help the waiter and that he saw him punch at one of the four men a couple of times. He said that by that time the fight was gradually moving down the passage and that he saw the Cook go round the counter and pick up a knife and draw it out of its sheath. He said that it was an oriental knife and that he noticed that the top of it was brass. He later said that he would say that the knife was similar to the one shown at the trial, exhibit 7, but that he could not be quite sure about it.

He said that by that time the fight was in the passage that he saw the Cook run amongst the people who were fighting and that the next he saw was the injured man roll out of the crowd on to the floor before the fireplace. He noted that the injured man was the man that he saw catch the waiter by the tie. He said that at the time his attention was drawn to the man that was on the floor but that he thought that two of the white men were then pushed out of the cafe.

He said that he next saw the Cook about ten or fifteen minutes later after the police had arrived. He said that he had then been sitting at a table by the right wall as you went in and that he saw the Cook in the kitchen.

He noted that between the end of the fight and the arrival of the police that he saw about ten coloured men leave the cafe. He also noted that he did not recall how the Cook had been holding the knife when he had gone into the fight.

When he was cross-examined at the trial he said that he had gone into the cafe at about 10pm and that he was there before the four white men entered and that when they came in the cafe was full with about twenty people altogether, including some people walking around. He noted that he remembered seeing a woman being carried into the club at the rear and that before the brawl had broken out that he had seen the Cook going from the kitchen into the cafe as he always did, carrying food, noting that he had been wearing a white smock, but said that he didn't notice anything else in particular.

He said that when the fight got into the passage that a good crowd was engaged and that the passage was jammed full. He said that the man that had pulled the waiter's tie had, he thought, just gone into the crowd but said that he could not see him amongst the crowd in the passage. He said that the waiter had been in front of the crowd and that he had tripped and stayed on his back by the stairs near the cigarette machine, noting that he thought that the fight had centred around him, past the stairs in the passage. He added that the waiter had tripped over the stairs into the passage and that he could see his white waiter's jacket. He said that a mass of people then went back and that he probably went back with them and that he never saw him again.

He said that he remained seated at the table, jumping up a couple of times to get a better view, noting that he thought that there had been a few people walking in the centre of the cafe.

When he was further cross-examined, he said that he didn't know where the knife had come from, just that he saw it come from the counter and that the man with the knife went back towards the crowd and that he didn't see him again, noting that the man with the knife had been the Cook.

The owner of the club and cafe said that on 8 October 1961 that he had been in the club until about 10.30pm and that just before he left there had been four people there including himself and a girl who was drunk. He said that he heard a noise in the cafe somewhere around 10.30pm and at any rate before 11pm and that he then went out of the club and tried the second door in the passage but found it to be jammed and so he forced it, noting that it was jammed because the waiter had been lying against it on the floor.

He said that he then saw a lot of fighting in the passage, saying that there were a few people, some coloured, some white and that he said, 'Stop the fight all of you' and that they stopped.

He said that the man who died then went back and tried to sit on a chair by the fire but that he thought that he was drunk and when he went to chuck him out he fell on the floor.

He said that when he had first come into the place that it had been full up but that by the time the police arrived that people had left.

He said that he had employed the Cook and that when the police arrived they went back to see him and found him in the kitchen wearing his white coat. He said that he sent clothes to the laundry every Monday and that they would come back on the Wednesday and that the Cook had a number of coats and that he had lived on the floor above, his bedroom being on the right as you went up the stairs, it being the bedroom over the cafe. He said that he then went up to the Cooks bedroom with the police who had a look about. He noted that he had not seen a knife like the one shown at the trial, exhibit 7, in the cafe before but that he had seen Somalis with knives like it in Somaliland. He added that he had never seen the Cook with a knife like it before either.

The Cook was interviewed by the police at 2.30am on 9 October 1961 at Leman Street Police Station. When he was told that Noel Morgan had died at the hospital at about 1am that morning and asked whether he understood he said 'Yes'. when he was asked whether he had seen anything of the events that led up to Noel Morgan being stabbed, he said, 'No, me in kitchen all the time. I see nothing'.

When he was again interviewed at 9.30am the same morning he said that he had been working at the cafe for one week and when he was asked whether the knife with the brass knob was his he replied, 'No'. When he was told that a man had said that he had seen him strike out twice with his fists at the two white men that had been fighting he said that he had not. When he was asked who took the cash from the customers the Cook replied, 'The waiter'. The detective then said, 'The man who told us you were fighting has also told us he saw you take this knife from behind the cafe counter and draw the blade from it and that he saw you go to the passage with the knife where the men were fighting with the waiter' and the Cook replied, 'No, no'.

When the detective asked him how he liked working on ships the Cook replied, 'Yes, I save money'. The detective then asked him his age and he replied 'About 50', and when he was asked 'Where is your room, is it on the left or the right when you go up the stairs', the Cook replied, 'It is on the right'. The detective then said that he told the Cook, 'This knife was found hidden outside your room near a pram. Did you go upstairs at all after the fight or before the policeman came?', the Cook replied, 'No'. When he was then asked whether he had left the kitchen at any time during the fight he replied, 'No'.

When the Cook was interviewed again on Tuesday 10 October 1961 via an interpreter, he said, 'I will tell you what I actually saw. As far as I can remember I was in the kitchen when this took place. When I came out about the disturbance I saw a crowd, black and white. The proprietor came and told them to go. I then saw Mr Morgan lying unconscious near the fireplace'. He then again denied owning the knife and again said that he had not left the kitchen at all until he had seen the proprietor come out.

When he was asked about having been seen taking the knife out, he said, 'The knife does not belong to me. I work in the kitchen and if I intended to use a knife there were dozens round about'.

When the detective asked him, 'The knife was found in a recess on the landing adjoining your room, near a pram. Did you go upstairs at any time after the fight and before you were brought to the police station?', the Cook replied, 'I only went upstairs when the police officer who was there asked me if he could investigate the house. I never went up alone'.

When he was asked whether the waiter had asked him whether he had stabbed anyone, he replied, 'He never asked me'.

The Cook was later charged with murder on 10 October 1961 at 6.55pm. When he was charged he made no reply.

One of the men that had been with Noel Morgan in the Cafe was a merchant seaman who had lived in Oldwick Road, Wick, Caithness. He said that on the night of Sunday 8 October 1961 that he had gone to Abdullah's cafe at 12 Ensign Street, arriving at about 10.15pm, noting that they had all been drinking before that. He said that they had a meal there, sitting at the first table on the right, right in front of you are you enter the cafe and that when they came to pay that Noel Morgan  had been a bit short of money and that he had borrowed four shillings off of him and four shillings off of another of their group and that he then paid the waiter. He said that he didn't see how much, but said that the waiter then went away and that Noel Morgan went off towards the passage leading to the club.

However, he said that he then saw a crowd of Somalis round him who attacked him as he was in the passage. He said that they had all had a bit to drink, but said that Noel Morgan still knew what he was doing. He said that he then went to help Noel Morgan when he saw him attacked and that he was in the fight for a matter of minutes, but didn't know how many blows he struck, but said maybe two, and that he then felt a pain in his back. He said that that happened whilst he was fighting and that he didn't see anyone with a knife.

He said that when he felt the pain in his back that he walked back towards the front of the cafe and saw Noel Morgan lying in a pool of blood in the cafe by the fireplace and that he then sat down on the seat facing the window .

He noted that while the fight was going on that he didn't notice where Noel Morgan had been, he just said that he had run to help him and that the next time he saw him he was by the fireplace, adding that he didn't remember much more before he saw him there as it all happened in minutes. He said that after the police arrived he was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Another of Noel Morgan's friends, a merchant seaman who had lived at the Red Ensign Club in Dock Street said that he had gone to the Abdullah Cafe with his group at about 10pm on 8 October 1961, noting that they had earlier been in a pub since 7pm and that they all had a meal, a chicken curry and had sat at the first table opposite the door.

He said that Noel Morgan paid so much and that him and another of their group paid so much and that Noel Morgan then paid the bill. He said that the waiter had said something to Noel Morgan and that he had then walked away but come back to speak to Noel Morgan and that Noel Morgan got out of his chair as a result and approached the waiter and that he then got up intending to prevent any trouble but that he was then surrounded by about twelve people, all Somalis and that everywhere he turned he was getting punched. He said that he had got as far as the steps and that he was then punched right out into the street. He said that at that point Noel Morgan and the other merchant seaman were in the passage.

He said that he didn't see anyone with a knife of any sort.

He said that when he got back into the cafe he saw Noel Morgan lying on the floor of the cafe near the fireplace and didn't notice that he was injured until he saw the pool of blood by him. He said that he then waited in the cafe until the police arrived.

He noted that he Somalis that had surrounded him had come from everywhere and that quite a few of them disappeared from the cafe before the police arrived.

The waiter, who had lived at 25 Ensign Street, said that he had been working at the cafe at 12 Ensign Street on 8 October 1961 and that he remembered four white men coming in and ordering a meal just after the club closed, before 11pm. He said that he went to them for payment after they had finished their meal and asked one of them for the money and said that the man offered him sixteen shillings. However, he said that the bill was one pound eight shillings and four pence and asked for the further twelve shillings and four pence and that the man then asked his friends for some money and that he eventually gave him the right money and that he said to him, 'Thank you, brother'.

However, he said that when he said that that Noel Morgan held his tie and hit him.

He said that when Noel Morgan hit him that he dropped the money and fought back but that two of Noel Morgan's friends then got up and held his tie and hit him and that he eventually moved back towards the passage leading to the club but said that when he got there he found that it was shut and that he was then pushed and fell to the floor.

He said that from that point he couldn't see how many there had been in the fight and didn't see anybody except the three men. He said that when he fell down he had put his arm over his face because they had been kicking him. He said that he didn't see anybody else come into the passage then and that the men kicked him all round until the owner forced open the door behind him and drove the men out at which point he got up and went into the cafe where he saw Noel Morgan lying on the floor, noting that he was the man that had first struck him.

He said that after the fight that he saw the Cook in the kitchen, saying that he was still there washing the dishes.

He noted that the Cook had been wearing a white coat and the he himself had been wearing a white jacket.

He noted that he had never seen the knife shown at the trial with the brass knob, exhibit 7, in the cafe or anywhere.

The Cook was tried at the Central Criminal Court and on 21 November 1961 was found not guilty and discharged.