Caribbean reporter granted asylum in UK has baby son taken from his care
A Caribbean journalist granted asylum in Britain after saying he was at risk as a result of exposing human rights abuses by police has become embroiled in family court litigation and had a baby taken from his care.
Social workers raised concern after the man’s son suffered a head injury.
They placed the boy in temporary foster care and asked a family court judge to examine the case.
Detail of the case emerged in a written ruling by Judge Clifford Bellamy following a private family court hearing in Derby.
Judge Bellamy said the baby could not be identified, but he indicated that the man, in his early 40s, had lived in Derby with the baby’s mother and was now living in Liverpool.
He said the baby’s mother, who was in her 20s and had also been granted asylum after leaving the Caribbean, was still living in Derby.
Social services bosses at Derby City Council launched family court litigation after the baby was taken to hospital with skull fractures.
Judge Bellamy said he had concluded that the baby’s injuries were “non-accidental” and had been caused by the mother or the father.
He has not made decisions about where the baby should live in the long term.
The judge said the man had worked as a reporter in the Caribbean.
“He arrived in England in 2013,” said Judge Bellamy in his ruling.
“He applied for asylum. The basis of his application was that he claimed to be at risk from the authorities in the Caribbean for exposing human rights abuses by the local police.”
He said the man had been granted asylum two years ago, and the baby’s mother had been granted asylum a year ago.
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