A Ghanaian mum who was jailed for three years for causing the death of her 10 month old baby through force feeding has won the right to remain in the United Kingdom.
The mum who happens to be a nurse was granted lifetime anonymity.
After serving the three year sentence the woman was due for deportation but following an appeal citing Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, she will now be able to remain in the UK together with her husband and three other children.
The clause protects a person’s right to “private and family life”.
The decision to allow the woman to stay did not go down well with someConservative MPs as UK law that states any criminal jailed for 12 months or longer faces automatic removal after serving their sentence.
Throughout the high profiled criminal trial, the first of its kind the woman identified as GHA claimed she was concerned about herdaughter Baby D who she said was under weight.
In court she explained that using a milk jug to pour liquidised porridge and chicken soup into her daughter’s mouth was common practice in Ghana.
Dominic Raab, the Conservative MP said: “Many people will look at this case, a mother jailed for force-feeding her baby to death then claiming her right to family life trumps deportation, and feel it reflects the warped nature of our human rights laws today.
“We need a Conservative majority government to put an end to these perverse outcomes, and restore some balance and common sense.”
According to a report released, Baby D died of respiratory pneumonia in March 2010 due to the force-feeding which had caused her to breathe food into her lungs.
The pathologist who conducted the post mortem told police he had never seen so much food in the lungs of a dead child.
GHA was released from prison in April 2013 and was allowed to rejoin her family who are based in London, court documents revealed.
The nurse, who arrived in Britain in 2000 on a student visa, lodged an appeal after the Home Secretary, Theresa May, attempted to deport her but was successful.
May legally challenged this decision but a panel, chaired by Mrs Justice Andrews, last month upheld the immigration tribunal’s first decision.
In a statement, a Home Office spokesman said: “We firmly believe foreign nationals who break the law should be deported. We are disappointed by the tribunal’s decision in this case and are seeking to appeal against it.
“Through the recently passed Immigration Act, we are making it easier to remove people from the UK and harder for individuals to prolong their stay with spurious appeals, by cutting the number of appeal rights from 17 to four.
“It will also ensure that judges deal with Article 8 claims in the right way — making clear the right to a family life is not regarded as absolute and unqualified.”
Comments
About Author
