Traumatised!

A Jamaican man who says he suffered mental torment and was sexually harassed in a British detention centre is exhaling after a deportation case brought by the Home Office against him fizzled.

Former banker James Matthews, 34, who fought against his deportation to Jamaica, won the right to remain in the United Kingdom (UK), after the Home Office accused him of overstaying his visa in 2020.

A judge allowed Matthews' appeal last Wednesday, a day after the hearing began, because representatives from the Home Office were a no-show.

Matthews had his case handled by Senior Solicitor Naga Kandiah and his team at MTC Solicitors in Kilburn, UK.

In a Gleaner interview yesterday, the Rocky Point native recounted that he travelled to the UK in October 2019 to visit his fiancée, his father and siblings and to attend a christening.

He had made several prior trips to the European country.

Weeks into his visit, he said news began emerging of the coronavirus, which later evolved into a pandemic, forcing countries to close air and seaports, as businesses to shutter.

Matthews said his planned return to the island was halted amid the widespread cancellation of flights and the Jamaican Government ordering the borders closed on March 24, 2020 to incoming passenger traffic.

Not wanting to overstay a six-month visa, the former Jamaica National employee said that he applied to the Home Office for an extension which was granted.

“That’s one thing I didn’t want on my record because once you overstay, it’s problem to get another visa,” he said.

But, by the time that extension expired, Jamaica’s borders were still closed. He received an automatic extension, he said, to July 31.

Matthews said it was at that point he decided that it was pointless to return to the country, since the bulk of his family was in the UK and an aunt with whom he was close died during the pandemic.

He said he had contacted a solicitor that month who confirmed that he could apply for leave to remain in the country.

He applied on July 28 and from there he and his solicitor awaited word from the Home Office.

REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS

Months later in October, the Garvey Maceo High past student said he received an email from the Home Office with a request for additional documents. This was honoured.

However, months later, and after several checks with his solicitor, there was no update. The dormant period carried over into the first half of 2021 but still, there was nothing from the Home Office.

“It was just a waiting game. And what made the information seem accurate is that my brother had applied to have his leave to remain renewed but he didn’t get a response either,” Matthews recalled.

The Home Office had also indicated that it was dealing with a severe backlog, he said.

The year ended with Matthews still awaiting a response.

He said he kept checks with his solicitor and the Home Office but there was no update on his application up to May 5, 2022.

“I was concerned. I wanted to be able to work and to visit places. My life was on pause. Health care for me was near impossible. My GP (general practitioner) said that I couldn’t see him without my passport. The Home Office had it. So everything was on pause. Most of the money I received was from my fiancée, my dad, my family members and even her family,” he said, noting that his mother died when he was fairly young.

On May 6, Matthews told The Gleaner that he awoke to a loud argument at his in-laws’ house in London.

He said this was in the wee hours and so he thought he was having a dream.

But it was UK immigration.

“They came upstairs and told me that I was under arrest and that a warrant was out for me,” he recalled.

Confused and frightened, he said he asked for an explanation and was told that he had overstayed his visa.

He was told that his application had been refused more than a year prior in February 2021.

He was shocked.

The officers told him not to worry, he recalled, because he was going back to Jamaica.

Embarrassed, he said he went without protest.

He arrived at the detention centre at approximately 6 a.m. and was “criminally processed”.

He said that he was not fed until hours later when he was relocated to a Harmondsworth immigration removal centre.

There, a Jamaican he met who was also facing deportation, gave him some biscuits sometime after 10 p.m.

He said, as a black man, he was ignored.

“Lighter people came in after me who got food. I was in a truck and then I was at London Bridge and then Harmondsworth and still nothing to eat,” he said.

His new Jamaican cellmate, after hearing his story, introduced him to an immigration advocate who then introduced him to Kandiah.

His previous solicitor maintained that no refusal from the Home Office was ever sent.

Matthews said though the Home Office, when challenged, could not produce a copy of the refusal, he remained in detention until May 18, the date on his ticket to return to Jamaica.

While in custody, he said he was constantly reminded that he was to be deported on that date. He said he was also handed four similar documents with the date and notes that he was to leave the country soon.

MENTAL TORTURE

“It was mental torture,” he said.

That was made worse when Matthews said that he was approached by a worker at the detention centre who made a sexual advance towards him.

He said that an alarm was raised and the man was removed.

Matthews said he and his Jamaican cellmate were later moved to cells that, he insists, were meant to intimidate them.

He recalled that they were unbearably cold, had large metal doors and the only available window was not easily accessible to them.

They had to jump to see the outside, he said.

But his new solicitor assured him that his case was simple and that he would have him out before long.

British Member of Parliament Wes Streeting was also advocating on his behalf.

“I was more trusting in my prayers that God will do what he needs to do. I had been praying since I was in there asking for faith and strength,” he said, though adding that he remains grateful to men and team.

Matthews said shortly after 6 p.m. on May 17, he heard immigration officers outside the cell of the other Jamaican who was now known to him as ‘Steve’.

He remembers being on his knees praying and thinking that this was it. He would be sent back to Jamaica to start over.

But more traumatising was the fact that he would be labelled a deportee though he had never been in trouble with the law and had done things by the book while in the UK.

While awaiting his turn to be escorted to the airport next door, a call came in from his fiancée informing him that Kandiah’s application for a judicial review of his case was successful.

The solicitor had also secured an injunction blocking his deportation.

An officer subsequently told him that he would not be going on the night’s flight. He was released the following day.

While out, he was instructed to report his whereabouts in Crichton once monthly.

“It was a part of their game to break me,” he said.

Behind the scenes, his solicitor worked to retain the service of a barrister who in September defended his case at the Upper Tribunal – a superior court of record that is similar to a High Court.

The case was sent back to the First Tribunal and an application for it to be heard was filed in February.

Armed with character references from his Jamaican-born in-laws and his British-born fiancée, who are medical doctors, proof of financial stability and accommodation, Matthews was ready for his day in court.

That day happened to be last week Tuesday, which was celebrated as Emancipation Day in Jamaica.

The Home Office did not show up for the hearing.

The judge returned the following day after reviewing the documents submitted for Matthews. He reportedly informed him that he was “successful” and would be remaining in the UK.

“It was the best news I had heard in so long,” he said. “I didn’t think that trying to do everything right and by the books would be this hard. It has been a traumatic experience.”

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com