Deported boy ‘being attacked’ in Nigeria

THE AUTISTIC boy deported with his mother recently is being attacked on the streets of Nigeria because of his condition, the family’s solicitor claimed yesterday.

Solicitor Kevin Brophy said he would be returning to the courts next month in an effort to bring Olivia Agbonlahor and her six-year-old twins Great and Melissa home. He and his sister and mother were deported on August 14 after a long battle to prevent their removal from the State.

Mr Brophy said yesterday since their return to the Nigerian city of Lagos there was nowhere permanent for the family to stay and Great had already started experiencing discrimination. Any progress he had made overcoming his condition in Ireland being able to speak to people confidently would be eroded, he said

“I dread to think how he is getting on now. Olivia is giving me examples of him walking in the streets of Lagos. He walks up to people, it’s part of what he does, and he’ll hold them and call them ‘daddy’ — every black person is ‘daddy’. And kids, he follows them and he’ll get a whack on the head and negative comments are made about him. And he has no school to go to. It’s a very bleak future for Great at the moment.”

On October 1, an application will be made by Mr Brophy to the courts to have Great brought back into the asylum process.

“We’ve provided substantial additional information to the Minister [for Justice] and we’re saying that this has not been properly taken into consideration and we’re asking him now to take that into consideration.”

Protesters, including members of Residents against Racism, gathered outside the Department of Justice yesterday to campaign for the return of the Agbonlahor family.

It has also emerged that Great’s mother is contemplating moving to Ghana to help find appropriate care and education for her son.

“That’s like me saying I’ll send my kids to school in Germany because there is a good school there. It’s an extraordinary thing she is considering doing,” added the solicitor.

He added that the community of Clonakilty, Cork, had offered the family free schooling if they returned, which would lessen the burden on the State.

Neither of the Agbonlahor children are in school in Lagos and the family are staying with friends, according to Mr Brophy.