Woman denies claims she faked death of child
Pamela Izevbekhai has been seeking asylum in Ireland since 2005 and says her two daughters Naomi Alero, 7, and Jemima Temisanre would be subject to the same procedure should they be sent home.
She has appealed her case to the European Court of Human Rights and also on some technical grounds to the Supreme Court.
The Department of Justice this week obtained a new Garda report which claims forged documents were used to back Ms Izevbekhai’s claim that her first daughter Elizabeth died from female genital mutilation (FGM), in Lagos, Nigeria.
The report says Nigerian obstetrician Dr Joseph Unokanjo has dismissed her claim that she gave birth to a daughter in 1993 and that the girl died in July 1994 following FGM.
A senior source familiar with the report yesterday confirmed the consultant was disputing the Nigerian woman’s claim that he also had signed a certificate of death.
Dr Unokanjo’s challenge to her claims though contradict an interview given to an RTÉ reporter in 2005.
In this, the obstetrician is heard describing how the child had died from FGM. The radio report has been added to the European court appeal.
A Supreme Court hearing next Friday will hear a Department of Justice motion to strike out the Nigerian mother’s appeal because of the new Garda evidence.
However, Ms Izevbekhai’s solicitor yesterday said his client would be fighting the Garda claims at the highest level. Gabriel Toolan said: “This claim that she did not have a child, she utterly rejects that.”
She would stand over her claim that her first-born daughter had died after suffering FGM, said Mr Toolan.
“She completely insists that that’s true, utterly,” he added.
Gardaí and human rights lawyers are watching the case closely as the result could likely dictate future Government policy on asylum claims involving FGM.
Ms Izevbekhai went into hiding after deportation orders were issued in November 2005 but was arrested in Sligo in December 2005. She was freed by court order in January 2006.
A legal challenge to the deportations was dismissed in the High Court last January.
The family’s deportation remains on hold as a result of a request to the Government from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which is considering the case.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr Kemafo Nonyerem Chikwe, disputes her case. In an interview on RTÉ’s Would You Believe on Sunday week, she says: “The reasons why she (Pamela) has these fears are very ridiculous to us. She may have problems with her husband’s family but certainly not FGM. FGM is not a problem (in my country). It is not even discussed.”
