Solicitor says Yves Sakila died 'over a bottle of perfume' as family demands independent inquiry

The solicitor for the family of Yves Sakila, who lost his life after he was restrained on the ground following an alleged theft, said he died “over a bottle of perfume”.

John Cullen, who is representing Mr Sakila’s family, was speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning in Buswell’s Hotel organised by members of the Congolese and African communities as well as anti-racism groups.

The 35-year-old Congolese man, who has been living in Ireland since 1991, had suffered from drug addiction and was homeless.

On Friday he was held down on the ground by a number of security personnel on Henry Street and died afterwards.

He was alleged to have stolen a bottle of perfume from Arnott’s store; the incident was captured on video by onlookers.

Mr Cullen said: “The principal point here is that a loss of life has occurred as a consequence of a bottle of perfume.

“Mr Sakila was a member of a number of vulnerable social groups, he was homeless and had drug issues.”

He said he was concerned about aspects of the case, including the police investigation, the coroner’s role, and the pathologist’s office.

“The question is whether there will be an effective transparent investigation, the preservation of evidence, the preservation of CCTV footage of phones, and electronic records, witness testimony and so forth” he said.

“That is that is critical, and I'm also concerned about the compliance by the victims of crime unit.

“They have a duty to advise the family of the progress of the investigation and indeed the progress of any inquiry, medical inquiry into the cause of death.

“From what I can gather, the information provided has been very sketchy.”

  

He said the Sakila family and claimed the information from gardaí since Yves’s death was “granular,” but that members of the gardaí called to their house on Wednesday evening requesting a DNA test from family members.

He said the family were told that Mr Sakila may have died twenty minutes after the incident, “meaning he was in garda custody, but I don’t know the implications of that".

“I was also told that they were looking to do DNA tests on members of the family without any provision for DNA tests, I was a bit concerned about that, I didn’t see the materiality of that, they weren’t involved in the incident but there is a good deal of urgency in carrying out that inquiry in circumstances where we can get no information about the more fundamental matters of the police inquiry and medical inquiry."

He said he has written to Store Street Gardaí in Dublin city centre who are overseeing the investigation, describing the case as an “unlawful killing” and asked about the medical autopsy.

“I was told that an incident room has been set up to inquire into this matter” he said. “I wasn't advised any further as to the intensity of forensic data.

“In respect of the medical examination, I was told that coroner or a pathologist report had been carried out or examination had been carried out following Saturday and my understanding is that it's ordinarily that a preliminary report should be published in a matter of communicated in a matter of 12 or 24 hours. But the family have no such information, so we don't know about the cause of death.”

Mr Cullen said the family “may see the necessity of an independent pathologist carrying out such an investigation into the cause of death if it cannot be determined by the pathologist office".

Councillor Yemi Adenuga told the conference that Mr Sakila was “well known in the area and wasn’t a stranger even to the people in the shop".

People attend a vigil for Yves Sakila on Henry Street, Dublin. Yves became unresponsive and later died in hospital after security personnel detained him on Henry Street in connection with alleged shoplifting at a retail store on the same street after 5pm on Friday. Picture date: Tuesday May 19, 2026.

She said: “So, whatever it was that necessitated the need for him to die on the day, there has to be an answer and why it had to happen.

“If this was your son, would it still have been ok if five to six hefty men pinned him to the ground from head to toe, covered his head with his hoodie and then drove a knee to his neck before putting his hands on his head pushing it to the ground repeatedly while he groaned under the weight of those men would it have been ok to stop breathing under this restraint? What would you have truly thought?

“He was a human being we are building a future for our children which they will not thank us for."

She referred also to the deaths of George Nkencho, “a young man with mental health issues following an encounter with gardaí, and now this. They are not isolated cases; there is a pattern".

“We need people who will speak up in the moment, to say ‘stop this is not right,’ she said.

She then laid out five demands from the Government, saying: “They are not requests, they’re demands.”

They include:

• Full and transparent investigation with no cover-ups and no delays 
• Reform of Garda training with independent oversight and real accountability

She also referred to the case of Bertie Ahern, who was secretly recorded while out canvassing for Fianna Fáil. 

“Some people said he was speaking the minds of many people,” she said.

“It is time we stopped defending that these challenges don’t exist they are staring us in the face, look at any of our social media handles, it will tell the story.

“Some will say it is only a small minority – that’s the same story we were told 20 years ago, they have gathered disciples and are not an entire congregation they have the funding and the resources – they do damage.

“If a leader of influence past or present can choose to make inflammatory comments whether knowingly or unknowingly then they are also responsible for whatever damage happens in society.

“Our Minister for Justice needs to acknowledge the challenges that are there, in our immigration system, government has not properly delivered, the desire is there to make it work.

“The people who are sitting at the table have no clue what it feels like for your average migrant who should be at that table.

“We are losing out as a country when we assume that migrants are only here to do the menial jobs, they are professionals, professors’ doctors, technical people experts in all areas” she said.

Gardaí have been contacted.