Ziggy Ojiegbe

A Nigerian migrant who threatened a British mother with a knife in front of her child has been granted the right to remain in the UK after the Upper Tribunal ruled that his long residence and family ties outweighed the case for deportation.

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The Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber allowed the appeal of Olajide Shinaba, 32, finding that he had established a strong private and family life during his 22 years in the United Kingdom and would face very significant obstacles if returned to Nigeria.

In his ruling, Upper Tribunal Judge Luke Bulpitt said Shinaba had lived in the UK since the age of 10 and had been educated in London, developing a sense of belonging to the city that formed a central part of his identity.

“Overall, I find that [Shinaba] has during his twenty-two years of residence in the United Kingdom established a strong private life,” the judge said, citing close relationships with his parents, stepfather, siblings, wife and children.

Shinaba was jailed for 11 months in December 2018 after pulling a knife on a British woman who had taken him into her home after finding him homeless. Two days after telling her he was leaving, he returned to the address to collect his belongings and became involved in an argument.

During the confrontation, he produced a knife and lunged at the woman as her young daughter looked on. He later told police that had the woman been a man, he would have stabbed her. Shinaba pleaded guilty to affray.

Following his conviction, the Home Office moved to deport him, arguing that his removal was conducive to the public good. His initial appeal was rejected, but he later challenged the decision on human rights grounds.

The court heard that Shinaba did not intend to stab the woman and acted in a “moment of madness.” He attributed his behaviour to a serious head injury sustained in 2008, which left him with a fractured skull and impaired cognitive processing. The tribunal noted, however, that he had achieved GCSEs and had applied to attend university.

Since his release from prison, Shinaba has married a British woman in an Islamic ceremony and has two children with her, born in 2022 and 2023. He also has a British daughter born in 2018 from a previous relationship, and the court was told his wife is currently pregnant.

Judge Bulpitt accepted that Shinaba has a “genuine and subsisting” parental relationship with his children and noted that his family life was formed while he was awaiting a decision on his immigration status.

The judge said Shinaba left Nigeria at the age of 10 and returned only once the following year. He has no adult experience of living, working, or accessing housing or state support in Nigeria.

“As a returnee who left Nigeria as a child and who has not returned since the age of eleven, [Shinaba] cannot reasonably be regarded as an insider,” Judge Bulpitt said.

While acknowledging that Shinaba remains physically fit and retains some cultural connection to Nigeria, the tribunal concluded that he would face very significant obstacles to integration due to his lack of adult experience in the country and the lasting effects of his childhood head injury.