Migrant allowed to stay in UK after threat to stab mum in front of her child | UK | News

A Nigerian knifeman jailed for threatening a British mother with a knife in front of her child has won his human rights case to stay in the UK.

Olajide Shinaba, 32, was chased off the streets by the British woman, but after telling her she was leaving, he burst in, pulled out a knife and attacked her as she watched. The immigrant claimed that the woman who was his friend would stab him if she were a man. He was later sentenced to 11 months in prison.

After his release, he married a British woman in an ‘Islamic ceremony’ and has two children with her.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs listed Shinaba for repatriation, but he has now successfully appealed.

An immigration judge allowed his appeal on human rights grounds because of the ‘serious obstacles to reintegration’ he would face in Nigeria.

Shinaba is a Nigerian national who has lived in the United Kingdom since June 2003.

He was issued a residence card in July 2003, but it was canceled in January 2006. However, in 2011 he was given discretionary leave to remain in the UK.

After this period expired, he applied for an indefinite residence permit, but while this application was being evaluated, he committed the crime of assault in July 2018.

He was sentenced to eleven months in prison in December 2018 after pleading guilty.

It was heard that he was friends with the victim because he took him in when he was homeless.

After saying he would leave later, he returned two days later and ‘barged into the address’ before an argument broke out.

He then took out a knife and attacked her in the stomach in front of her daughter.

He then said he would stab her if she were a man. It was accepted that he did not intend to stab, but only to scare ‘in a moment of madness’.

In December 2018, the Ministry of Internal Affairs decided to deport Shinaba due to his conviction, and his appeal was rejected due to it being “conducive to the public interest”.

He later blamed his actions on an incident in November 2008 that left him with a fractured skull, as it caused him to be slow at processing information.

However, the court found that he had passed his GCSE exam and applied to go to university in the UK.

He married a British partner in an Islamic ceremony in August 2021 and has two children with her, born in June 2022 and November 2023. He has a third daughter from a previous partner.

It was established that he now had a ‘real and permanent’ parental relationship and his wife was pregnant again.

After his human rights claim was initially rejected by the Home Office, he successfully appealed, only for the Home Office to counter-appeal and this decision was annulled.

However, his appeal was later accepted on human rights grounds in the Immigration and Asylum Department Superior Court.

Superior Court Judge Luke Bulpitt said: “Overall I think: [Shinaba] During his twenty-two years of residence in the United Kingdom, he established a strong personal life that included relationships with his mother, father, stepfather and siblings.

“Being developed and educated in London [Shinaba] He became familiar with and participated in the customs, languages ​​and practices of London life, thus gaining a sense of belonging to the city that was part of his formation.

“I also learned that he had been like that since he was released from prison and while awaiting sentencing. [Home Office] Family life was established after the decision was made on the application for indefinite leave to remain.

“[Shinaba] He left Nigeria when he was ten and returned only once, the following year at the age of eleven.

“He has no adult understanding of how life works in that country, no experience of working in the country, no experience of getting housing or government support.

“As someone who apparently left Nigeria as a child and hasn’t returned since the age of eleven [Shinaba] He cannot be considered an insider in Nigeria.

“The appellant remains young, physically fit and retains some connection with Nigerian culture.

“I have concluded that he will face very significant obstacles to integration there due to his lack of adult experience in the country, his lack of awareness of daily life there, and the limitations in his capacity to adapt and establish himself as a result of the traumatic injury he suffered when he was 15.”