A jury has returned a verdict of misadventure at the inquest of a man who hanged himself at a young offenders' institute as he feared deportation back to Nigeria.To the usual suspects, this is a failure of the state to care for him. Of course.
I wonder if his English was as poor as that of the prison doctor?
Dr John Grenville, who carried out a review of the death, told the inquest: "Even under continuous supervision his chance of carrying out suicide would have remained high.
"In my opinion, the healthcare teams recognised that Mr Balogan was a vulnerable man and affected him with what help and support they could."Wha..?
Given the state of the NHS currently, is that all too prescient a statement?
6 comments:
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To be honest I have some sympathy for the lad, abandonned in a foreign country at the age of seven and left to fend for himself is pretty bad. Those in charge should have got him back to Nigeria when he was seven and not brought him up in the UK in the full knowledge that he did not have the right to be here and would be deported as soon as he became an 'adult'.
The blame shouldn't be attached to the prison but those responsible for his stay for fourteen years in the UK. Perhaps the person who allowed him to stay in the first place could have put him up? Helped him find a job and a trade?
"He had lived in Britain for nearly 13 years, but after falling foul of the law, "
-The whiney Voice
Oh he fell foul, did he? Silly me, I thought he'd committed a crime...or two.
But no, it seems the poor Christ-Like lamb simply got caught out by some obscure,ancient, law or legal finding, not his fault at all....could happen to all of us.
The blame shouldn't be attached to the prison but those responsible for his stay for fourteen years in the UK.
Problem is, his case wouldn't have been seen as an immigration issue until he reached 18. Rather, it appears he was passed between foster parents and children's homes until he was legally an adult. Only then would the authorities have taken steps to deport him.
The blame then can be further refined as a lack of joined up thinking between the various agencies. What do you do when a young foreigner is abandoned in London by a 'family friend' or 'suspicious auntie' (depending on which report you read)?
I'm also left wondering what the angle is here. Why bring a 7 year old child all this way? It's not the first time I've come across this type of situation. Are they doing it in the hope that the child becomes regularised in the UK which later allows a parent to legally join them here? Which, given that the boy's father is currently living in another African country might be the case. Or are the family or those left holding the baby after his mother's death (and perhaps a disappeared father) sending him to others in the UK to increase someone's 'head count' for benefit purposes?
There are a lot of unanswered questions here. The inquest tells us how he died... not really why.
We need to start thinking about putting these children back on a flight home on the day they arrive. At the very least, they'll be the responsibility of the State from which they came (assuming no one collects them from the airport) so enabling them to maintain their links with their own cultures. To do otherwise is cruel in my opinion.
In other news: A deportee suffers a serious case of head-butting the seat in front
Bunny
It is my comments at 10:41, I am with Mr Pickworth to have a person grow up in a foreign country and then deport him from that country is cruel. If he was involved in criminality that led to his deportation then my sympathies diminish somewhat. He should have been sent home when he was seven, given a decent standard of welfare while his status was being assessed by sent home never-the-less. This also goes for the alleged 'child' refugees from Afghanistan and especially for those who send Roma kids to England knowing that the UK government is daft enough to consider looking after till they are 18 and can then become benefit claimants.
As for the Cameroonian guy, four attempts to repatriate him, just sedate the bastard, job done. He now needs reconstructive surgery, oh dear what a pity how sad never mind, when he is sedated and strapped into his chair he won't be that bothered.
"To be honest I have some sympathy for the lad, abandonned in a foreign country at the age of seven and left to fend for himself is pretty bad."
Yup. Which is why he should have been repatriated earlier.
But as John Pickworth points out, our public sector is incapable of working together with itself.
"Oh he fell foul, did he? Silly me, I thought he'd committed a crime...or two."
That passive voice again!
"As for the Cameroonian guy, four attempts to repatriate him, just sedate the bastard, job done."
Full Hannibal Lecter treatment, strapped to a gurney and gagged.
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