By Own Correspondent.
London, (News of The South) – The Zimbabwean man who was blinded in the British prison Mr Sikhonzilwe Sibanda wins bid to suspend his deportation to Zimbabwe.
Mr Sikhonzile Sibanda the blind man convicted of rape in 2013 has been given a last-minute reprieve from deportation as a judge awarded a judicial review of his case. He was due to be deported on the 5th April 2019.
His representative in the case Dr Masimba Mavaza confirmed the developments.
Sibanda was found guilty in 2013 after he was alleged to have raped a Zimbabwean woman, and he was due to be deported to Zimbabwe on Friday. He was facing deportation because his indefinite leave to remain was revoked after the alleged crime. Under UK law, if a foreign national has been sentenced to more than four years in jail “the public interest requires deportation unless there are very compelling circumstances”. Sibanda who was sentenced to five years in prison became blind while he was in prison serving his sentence. The blindness was due to the negligence of the prisons. Sibanda’s deportation appeared all but sealed earlier on Wednesday when the immigration refused to consider his fresh application insisting that he must be removed. Home Office said the decision to deport Sibanda had been “upheld independently, at several stages, by the courts” and it would be inappropriate for them to stop his deportation.
With the hours ticking down to his departure, Sibanda’s submitted an application for an injunction in a last-ditch attempt to prevent his “banishment” from his friends and family in the UK.
Sibanda had already had an application for judicial review rejected by the courts, and his lawyers were not confident the final attempt – made on public interest grounds – would succeed. But a judge granted the appeal for judicial review and injunction against deportation.
Sibanda’s lawyers expect him to be freed from an immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport within days and released on bail until the outcome of the judicial review, which could take several months.
Dr Masimba Mavaza said “Common sense has broken out: sending a blind man to a country where he has no adequate reception was always madness, given that he has lived in Britain since 1999 and the UK is where his partner live and his British son where his family life is based. It is unquestionably his home. Let’s hope that will be the final judgment, as and when it is made.”
“After consideration of all the individual circumstances of his case, the Home Office was satisfied that Mr Sibanda’s case does not meet any of the exceptions in the 2007 [Borders] Act and a deportation order was served on him. The decision to deport him has been upheld independently, at several stages, by the courts. His application to appeal to the court of appeal was dismissed his application for a judicial review was refused.” continued Dr Mavaza.
The Home Office said the government was “committed to a fair and humane immigration policy” and rejected the suggestion that Sibanda’s treatment was unfair.
In dispelling the submission that Sibanda was a danger to society, Dr Mavaza submitted that Sibanda had his eyes when he was a delinquent. He paid for his sins by has sight. He came from prison not only a contrite person but a blind man. He is now blind to crimes he will never commit any crime again. He deserves a second chance. Mr Sibanda has been blinded while he was in prison; there is no amount of compensation which will restore his sight. He only stands a chance if he is to be taken for a surgery which he is on the waiting list for. Deporting him now amounts to making him blind for the second time.
Mr Sibanda is still held at Brook house detention centre where there are no facilities for the blind people. With a bail application launched Mr Sibanda might be given an immigration bail.
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