Thomas Caler

Thomas Caler was convicted of the murder of 22-year-old Gladys May Ibrahim and her 8-month-old daughter Aysha Emily Ibrahim and sentenced to death.

He cut their throats at 52 Christina Street, Cardiff on 14 December 1919. He had also raped Gladys Ibrahim after killing her.

Thomas Caler was a coloured seaman and a native of East Africa.

Gladys Ibrahim had been a white British born woman and the wife of an Egyptian lodging house keeper at 52 Christina Street.

Her husband had gone to London on 12 December 1919.

Thomas Caler had arrived on the steamship Fountain Abbey on Saturday 13 December 1919.

He had known the Ibrahims' as a customer of theirs and a few weeks before he had left a suitcase in their house.

He was seen at 7pm at 15 Maria Street, which was near 52 Christina Street and at 8pm he was seen leaving 52 Christina Street.

At 10pm Gladys Ibrahim and her child were seen quite well at the door of their house and at 11pm Thomas Caler was seen again at 15 Maria Street, but left at about 11.10pm, going off in the direction of 52 Christina Street.

At about 12.30am Thomas Caler was on the quay hailing the Fountain Abbey for a boat to take him aboard. He had with him a gramophone and a bundle of gramophone records wrapped up apparently in a coat, and a coat belonging to Gladys Ibrahim was found under his bunk the next day. The records wrapped in the coat fell into the water as he was getting into the boat that fetched him, but they were recovered and he got them on board.

At about midday the following day, 15 December 1919, Gladys Ibrahim was found lying dead with her throat cut on the floor of her sitting room, whilst Aysha Ibrahim, also with her throat cut, was lying on her arm.

Gladys Ibrahim's legs were stretched wide apart and there were stains of blood on her legs above the stockings and at her private parts. It was suggested that Thomas Caler had violated her body after death.

The bedroom upstairs was in disorder and the contents of Thomas Caler's suitcase had been scattered, it being thought that he had searched it for the razor that he had killed Gladys Ibrahim and Aysha Ibrahim with. The empty razor case was left on the floor under the suitcase.

A £20 note that had been in Gladys Ibrahim's husband's wallet in his coat pocket was missing but the wallet remained. However, it was noted that a £10 note and a bag with £2 in silver on the mantlepiece had apparently been overlooked by Thomas Caler in his hurried search.

Another child aged 2½ was also found asleep in the bedroom and the gas had been turned on full and left to escape and the room was full of it.

When the police arrested Thomas Caler on the Fountain Abbey they found that he had that morning washed some of his clothes that he had been wearing the previous night, and Gladys Ibrahim's coat, which was found under his bunk was clearly identified, not only by Gladys Ibrahim's husband, but also by her neighbour.

The gramophone was also identified by her husband as his gramophone, it being noted that the horn had been left at 52 Christina Street and there was no horn on the gramophone in Thomas Caler's possession. Thomas Caler tried to make out that the gramophone was in fact his and that it was one of three that he had bought at various times and that he had in fact recovered it that night from a railway station where it was deposited. However, his defence on that point broke down and it was stated that there was no doubt that the gramophone found in his possession was in fact the gramophone stolen from 52 Christina Street.

In addition there were small blood stains found upon the waist-band and at the knees of the pants that Thomas Caler had been wearing.

A razor that was also found in his bunk had some small blood stains inside the horn handle, and it was slightly notched, as was the spine of Aysha Ibrahim, whose throat had been cut to the bone.

At his trial Thomas Caler denied the murder. He said that he came ashore at about 2pm, borrowed some money from a boarding house keeper, and spent the evening in a public house and next went to 15 Maria Street where he smoked the Indian hookah, and that it was untrue that he had passed through Christina Street or that he had been seen coming out of 52 Christina Street.

When the prosecution summed up they noted that the crime otherwise seemed impossible, unless the man had by drink reduced himself to the level of a brute beast. The prosecution then suggested that Thomas Caler had taken the lives of Gladys Ibrahim and Aysha Ibrahim almost before they knew of the awful fate standing over them and that the death of Aysha Ibrahim was probably necessary if Thomas Caler was to consummate his passion on the body of the dead woman.

The defence noted that there were no eye-witnesses to the crime and that the evidence  brought forward by the prosecution was circumstantial, noting that there was a complete absence of proof that Thomas Caler had any motive for committing the crime, and that it was only suggested by the prosecution that Thomas Caler had carried out the acts in a mad fit of passion.

At the beginning of the trial it was noted that Thomas Caler appeared to understand the questions put to him, but that it was impossible to understand some of his answers and the judge pointed out that it would have been much more satisfactory if an interpreter had been provided. However, it was noted that every effort had been made by the police to secure a man who could understand Thomas Caler's language, but without success. However, the judge said that it was unsatisfactory, noting that Thomas Caler was on trial for his life, and the case was adjourned until arrangements for an interpreter could be made.

However, he was convicted with no recommendation to mercy and his appeal was dismissed. The police report stated that it had been a cruel murder of the worst possible kind and that there could be no doubt whatever of his guilt.

Thomas Caler was executed at Cardiff on 14 April 1920.

All the housing around Maria Street and Christina Street has since been demolished and the area redeveloped with new housing, although the streets themselves still exist in part by name.