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Deportation: 10-Year-old Nigerian girl attempts suicide in Britain

Posted by 9jabook.com on October 25, 2009 at 8:34pm
From Tunde Oyedoyin, London A 10-year-old Nigerian girl, Adeoti Ogunsola, described as "charming," by her head teacher, attempted taking her life last on Sunday, as Immigration officials were making plans to deport her and her mother from Britain for the second time this year. advertisement A couple of months ago, Miss Ogunsola, a pupil at the St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, Gillingham, Kent, was detained at the Yarl's Wood immigration centre in Bedfordshire, before being released. According to Friday's edition of the London Evening Standard, which featured the story, the 10-year old made the attempt on her life at the Tinsley House Immigration removal centre at Gatwick airport, where she was detained alongside her mother, Clementina, who was asleep at the time. The paper also disclosed that Ogunsola, who was taken from the custody of her aunt and brought to the removal centre on October 15, eventually won a last minute legal battle on Thursday, when a High Court Judge stopped the family's deportation. However, both mother and daughter had been returned to detention, pending a judicial review next Wednesday. Though the paper didn't make it clear why Miss Ogunsola attempted the suicide, quoting a child psychotherapist's report, it stated that the girl's "mental state would deteriorate if she was detained again and she might attempt (again) to kill herself." But lobbyists, including Bernadette Long, the head teacher of her school, had campaigned that the pair should be allowed to remain in the country. "Adeoti is a charming, friendly, and intelligent little girl. She is passionate about her education and hopes to become a doctor," Long said, in a glowing testimony. But she noted that the detentions had started to take their toll on the aspiring doctor. "Her recent experiences while being detained have impacted on her and she has become very anxious about what will happen if she goes to Nigeria," Long said. However, the UK Border Agency doesn't seem to give a hoot about the girl's condition. David Wood, on behalf of the Agency said: "When the independent courts find a family has no need for protection, we expect them to return home. "If they refuse to leave, we have no choice but to enforce their removal and this can include detaining children, but only as a last resort."
Tags: 10-Year-old, Britain, Deportation:, Nigerian, attempts, girl, in, suicide
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