Stephanie's video testimony

Stephanie speaks 10 languages. She never intended to come to the UK, and, until she got here, had never heard of asylum.

She fled Cameroon and a violent marriage in search of safety in March 2008.

A highly influential and wealthy member of the local community, her husband abused her both physically and mentally. He imprisoned her for three months, raping her daily, and pouring boiling oil over her body. When she reported what had happened to the police, she was held at the station while the officers telephoned her husband to come and collect her.

In March 2008, Stephanie escaped using a false French passport. Her then husband had her real passport, and it was the only means she had of leaving. She took just two pieces of luggage – leaving her family, including a three-year-old son, behind. The night Stephanie left, her husband went to her house with agents and had her mother put in jail.

Her flight was for Canada, where Stephanie has family. However, en route to Canada, the plane transited at Heathrow. There, Stephanie explained her story to passport control.

“I thought, ‘well I am not in Africa anymore. I can tell them the truth, so that they can send me themselves with their consent’….and I told them the truth about my life. I didn’t even know what asylum was then, all I was trying to do was get to my family in Canada and be safe.”

Stephanie was taken to Yarl’s Wood detention centre. She was told she was being taken to a hotel and that she could collect her luggage the following day. She was detained in Yarl’s Wood for three months.

“I nearly died, I was dying gradually. I was depressed, stressed and traumatised after everything I had been through. I got no help.”

She received no treatment for her trauma.

While she was in Yarl’s Wood, Stephanie’s entire family - including her three-year-old son - died in a mysterious fire.

Stephanie’s application for asylum was rejected in April 2008. She was served with Removal Directions and told she would be deported in June 2008.

At 2.00 am on 5th June 2008, she was collected from Yarl’s Wood by four uniformed Group 4 Securicor escorts: three men and a woman. After being subjected to an intimate body cavity search by a male guard, she was taken to Heathrow airport and put on a commercial British Airways flight.

She describes how she was treated by the escorts:

“The escorts threw themselves on me and beat me…They kicked me, they wounded me. They handcuffed me with my hands behind me. They held me by my head standing me up kicking me…all these marks are from the escorts….they put me in a seat at the back of the plane, they handcuffed me with my hand behind me with my neck under the seat. The escort twisted my neck, and till today I have a pain in my neck…I never had this pain in my neck before. They beat me and I was bleeding.”

Before having her mouth taped up so she couldn’t shout out, she states that, when she started crying, the guards said: "Shut up, stupid whore."

In Brussels, immigration officials were so concerned about Stephanie’s state that they refused to allow her onto the connecting flight to Cameroon. Stephanie was carried off the plane and onto the flight back to England.

Stephanie was taken back to Yarl’s Wood. She was so badly assaulted that she had to use a wheelchair for three weeks and was on crutches for two months.

During this time, her wheelchair was taken away from her for ten days which meant that she had no means of getting down to the dining hall. She was deprived of food for ten days and was only brought some food after her solicitor threatened legal action. A doctor assessed her as being ‘not fit to fly’, yet there was another attempt at deportation on 24 June 2008.

Stephanie made a formal complaint about the treatment she had received during the attempted removal on 5 June. She was told by the UK Border Agency that the matter would be investigated. On 11 July 2008, Stephanie received a letter from the UK Border Agency stating the investigation had been dropped and that she should instead direct her questions to Group 4 Securicor (G4S). G4S are private contractors paid for by the government.

Stephanie speaks ten languages including Arabic, Chinese and Portuguese. During her time in Yarl’s Wood, she saw a pregnant woman who had gone into early labour being told to ‘stop pretending’, subsequently losing the baby; a two week old baby being fingerprinted; and she reports that self-harm amongst female detainees was prevalent.

Stephanie recently submitted a fresh claim for asylum through solicitors and the Home Office is currently reviewing her case.

Stephanie’s story was reported in The Independent on 30 June 2008 by Robert Verkaik. The F Word has also covered Stephanie's story.

Everyone has the right to seek asylum. The Testimony Project believes that those seeking refuge in our country should have the right to dignified, humane and fair treatment that respects their human rights, protects their physical and mental wellbeing, and that follows a fair and efficient process. Deliberate destitution, violent deportation, the splitting of families, and dehumanising detention run counter to the original spirit of asylum and should cease immediately. Please, hear our voice.

Stephanie's video testimony

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