Immigration court battle

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilydugan/a-man-who-could-be-killed-if-he-returns-to-jamaica-was?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bffbbuzzfeed&ref=bffbbuzzfeed

To all of the kind and compassionate souls in the world, my name is Romaine Murchison and I would like to thank you for listening to my story.

This is an unfortunate story, a story of mistakes and regret; a story of inequality and Racism.

A story in which I pray for a happy ending every time I close my eyes, before I attempt to sleep.

I had moved to England in the year 2000, when I was 5 years & old for reasons unknown to me at the time.

I had later learned that my father and I had fled our country of origin for fear of our lives and it was a real and serious fear to the point where my dad because paranoid and extremely anxious for many years, he would lock and blot his doors as best he could, make sure that all of his windows were locked and when ever someone knocked out door you would have to state your name so that my dad can hear your voice and tell if he knows you or not, it was a serious issue in my childhood and it became so bad that I had to move out (at age 16) and live with my uncle and my aunt.

At this point my step mother had already moved and taken my younger brothers, we just couldn’t live with him.

When I had arrived in England the first place I had lived was with my father, and his partner in Bristol, who he had met some years before when he used to travel too and from Jamaica, as well as two step siblings who I consider as important as my blood relatives.

Less than a year after arrival I had enrolled in primary school and a year after that I was granted indefinite leave to remain in England, which was effectively naturalisation as a British citizen, but with out a British travel document.
That was the beginning of my path to feeling like and becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom.

During my time at primary school I had a very stable life with lots of family around me, who where all British themselves other then my father and my uncle.

In 2006 I had begun secondary school and during my tenure I was considered a model student, even being awarded a learning hero and eventually I had l had left school with 11 GCSE’s.

During 2006 and 2007 my father had two children with his new partner whom he has been with for almost 15 years.

I have a deep connection with my little brothers as I had an active role in their upbringing and development, and they looked up to me and still do more so than anyone else, they are almost like my own children not my siblings, that is how important they are to my existence.

In 2012 I had finished school and started college where I studied, engineering, media studies and product design and I had planned to go to university to finalise my education.

Since leaving school I have always been in full time work and I would also do voluntary community work and mentoring, I am a kind and loving person at my core, I am not a danger to the public as the home office deem me to be..

It was in 2013 in the late evening when my father was coming home from work riding his bike and minding his own business when a young man (in his 20s at the time) stood outside of a pub shouted racial abuse at my father as he rode past on his pushbike ( it is important to know that my father is a Rastafarian with his hair wrapped up and a big beard) these men thought that my father was Muslim because of his appearance and possibly the fact that he was riding past a mosque.

(I also want to point out that fact that individuals from that same pub had hospitalised a Somalian Muslim that I know personally but nothing was ever reported to the police by him)

This man then proceeded to walk over to my father and start to throw punches, my father had to defend himself despite being 50 years old at the time

While they were exchanging blows, a woman walks out of the pub and sees the fight and runs back inside

Within seconds more men emerge from the pub and start to asult my father, about 5 men in total.

Over the next few seconds they had robbed my father of his bike, his money and phone as well as inflicting a severe beating on him, my father thought that he was going to die but somehow managed to escape with his life but was left in a state.

His clothes were ripped to shreds and he has lumps bruises abs scrapes all over his face and body.

My father finally made it home barely standing and stumbling through the door, I was in total shock and confusion, I have never seen my father so weak and vulnerable.

He then went on to tell me and my step mother what had happened and that he is going back to the pub to face the men and get his property back ( my father is a prideful man )

My father is usually a rational and logical thinker but it was clear that he was in disarray and was not thinking clearly but neither was I, my young immature mind did not stop and think of the consequences that my actions my lead to in my life.

I decided to arm myself and follow my father back to the pub and when we had arrived there two of the men were still present, drinking and partying as if they were celebrating (one of the two men was the owner of the pub )

We first retrieved my fathers bike and then went inside the pub to confront the men, to which a fight broke out.

Ironically my father ended up having a fight fight with the owner of the pub and I had a fight with his son (unknown to us at the time ) during the fight I had carried a weapon which had not been used as I only carried it for protection, but I had thrown two kicks at my victim, and also threw a bar stool.

We then left the pub and was arrested that very night. The other men in the fight were never charge despite the fact that they had started the saga of violence and although it was wrong to retaliate we were the only ones punished (I would also like to point out that this was both mine and my fathers first offence in the entirety of the time we have been in England and that the men we had fought already had criminal convictions for violence and other things)

I can honestly say that those actions of mine was the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life and I have learned countless lessons from that experience and from being in prison for 3 years, and a deportation centre for 3 months.

After being charged me and my father was on bail for over 2 years up until I was almost 21 years old, the case constantly being postponed because the witnesses who were our victims did not show up and despite the fact that my father was their victim and the first victim, he was never asked to be a whiteness and although he pressed charges on his attackers, nothing ever came of it.

I was eventually sentenced to 7 years with 3 & a half years to serve in custody, this was eventually reduced to 6 years on appeal.

During my time in custody I was never once disciplined or involved in any kind of violence or illusive activity, despite living with some of the most violent and dangerous people in a compressed and heightened environment.

I was given access to most areas of the prison with more freedoms as I was considered a trustworthy prisoner and was given multiple important rolls.
I was even commended by the staff of the prison and the prison governor himself.

After 12 moths into my 3 year sentence I was granted category D and was allowed a move to an open prison, where I would be able to work in the community and take day leaves to go home and slowly fit back into society, but this was blocked by the home office due to the fact that if I were to work in the public I would prove myself not to be a danger to the public and their case would then become flawed.

I was considered a danger to the public and a flight risk despite the fact that I had only committed one offence in my life and the fact that they had never done a risk assessment to come to that conclusion.

On the other hand, the prison service who have monitored me and kept notes on my behaviour over a span of 3 years are of the belief that I am not a danger to the public, I am of low rink of danger and reoffending and that I am not a flight risk, hence the reason I was given the lowest security category possible in the prison service.

This was a direct contraction to the home offices views and claims yet the prison service had all right to make those claims with the factual evidence to prove it.

I eventually started going back and forth to immigration court and when ever the staff at the court house would talk to me, they would show genuine shock and disbelief that I was potentially being deported as they saw me as no different to a British citizen.

I am a product of the Uk, I was raised here, schooled here, fell in love here, my entire family reside here in the Uk. My actions are not a result of the fact that I am Jamaican or that I was born in Jamaica so it is beyond my understanding as to why I am being treated like that is the case. I consider myself a Jamaican born British male, I identify as British just like my siblings that were born here and my friends that were born here.

I eventually lost my immigration claim to negligence and mishandling of my case by both my old solicitors and the immigration judged and my new solicitors do not understand how the case was handled so poorly and how we did not win !

At the end of my prison sentence I was sent to a deportation centre and was set to be removed on a mass deportation and had it not been for my new solicitors I would likely be in Jamaica, homeless and scared or dead ! This is not an exaggeration

We have hired a private investigator in Jamaica confirm our claims and fear of safety and it has been confirmed that if either me or my father were to return we would surely be wiped out as the threat is still there all these years later.

I was refused bail from the home office two times for ludicrous claims and they even went as far as to lie about some of he points that they had made, we then went around them and presented the same claim and points to the tribunal and they were more than happy to grant me bail.

As of now I am not incarcerated but I am being monitored by immigration and have to sign on weekly, i am not allowed to work, voluntarily or otherwise.

I am not allowed to seek further education or take driving lessons etc they have set me up to fail so that they can put my back into custody but luckily I have a loving and supportive family who have bern my my side 100%

Unfortunately this case has exhausted all of our resources and money with the old solicitors and the new, we have had to bower thousands of pounds from family and friends in order to fight this battle and my case will soon come to an end.

We are very happy with our new solicitors and are confident that we will get a positive result but we now owe them payment and without it our case collapses and I will be deported.

If I am deported I will not be allowed back to England for a minimum of 10 years and even then it is not guaranteed

I will not be able to see my family and loved ones properly and that is something that I know I will not me able to handle mentally and emotionally.

The fact that I am being given a 10 year sentence of exile on top of a 6 year sentence just because I was not born here is a very challenging pill to swallow, and I just pray that my life can find some balance again and I pray that I am not deported back to Jamaica where my life span will surely be cut short.

Jamaicans do not appreciate deportees as they are Jamaicans that left and were forced to come back against their will, deportees are seen as traitors hence the reason they are targeted assaulted and killed, but that is only the half of my fear and I cannot live a life of fear, constantly anxious and watching over my back wondering if I will make it through the day.

I would appreciate any kind of help, generosity or compassion in this matter as it is honestly a matter of life and death and I by no means have I exaggerated any of my claims or told any lies, I fact, this story is just a summarisation, a nutshell of Information and what I have bern through to stay here and to keep my mind healthy.

thank you all so much for the time you took out of your lives to read this and to care and to do what ever to help even if it is just passing on the word.

Much appreciation and love

Romaine Murchison.