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United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal >> HY (Medical Evidence) Turkey CG [2004] UKIAT 00048 (17 March 2004) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2004/00048.html Cite as: [2004] UKIAT 48, [2004] UKIAT 00048 |
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HY (Medical Evidence) Turkey CG [2004] UKIAT 00048
Date of hearing: 24 February 2004
Date Determination notified: 17 March 2004
HY |
APPELLANT |
and |
|
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT | RESPONDENT |
Assessment of medical evidence
"These tests are important tests of concentration and reflect what was apparent clinically that this gentleman has some loss of concentration which is probably due to a combination of his anxiety and anger.
Also he is not fully literate; he is disorientated in time and is lacking in numeracy.
It is possible these difficulties may combine to affect his ability to present his case in a fully coherent way and you may wish to give consideration to them".
"He [Dr Steadman] diagnoses some loss of concentration which he attributes to the Appellant's anxiety and anger. The Appellant did not seem unduly anxious at the hearing and I am satisfied fully comprehended the questions being put to him and was given the time and opportunity to answer".
"44. Accordingly, the judge went on to consider, under a distinct subheading "The Personality and Capabilities of the Father", the evidence and submissions advanced. This makes up seven full pages of his judgment. He correctly cited the evidence of Dr Black to which I have already referred. However, in his citations from the evidence of Dr Asen, he seems to me to focus more on attachment considerations -- that is, M's attachments to Mr G [his paternal uncle] -- rather than on personality disabilities. Furthermore, in his citations from Dr Freedman's first report he seems to omit her clinical assessment of the father's emotionally unstable core. He does, however, centre on the passage in her second report which I have cited. But he rejects it on his differing assessment of the father's performance on practical levels since his release from prison. In that he was plainly justified. But he went on also to reject her assessment of the father's emotional instability by relying on his own assessment of the father in the witness box. He said at page 41, line 14:
"I myself have seen the father at length, both in the courtroom throughout the hearing and during the course of his long day in the witness box. Whilst paying full weight to the assessments and opinions of the experts, I am entitled to, and indeed must, make my own assessment too. I found him to have considerable intelligence and to be thoughtful in his answers. He was not shown by cross-examination to have been untruthful or unreliable on any significant issue of fact, although I am well aware that there are numerous points, for example as to whether he was "on the game" or a "rent boy" in the early/mid-1980s, on which his answers are in conflict with statements in contemporary documents".
....
46. Of course the assessment of the father's credibility was primarily the judge's task. But the assessment of his core personality and the extent to which damage resulting from his early life experiences was disabling and permanent was primarily for the experts, whose professional training, qualification and clinical expertise equipped them for the task. In my judgment, given that the experts were unanimous on this vital aspect, it was not open to the judge to reject their conclusions, either on the basis of his own impressions of the father or upon the basis of the prejudice to the father's case caused by management decisions of the local authority and prison authority during the interlocutory stages. The assessment of the section 31 threshold could not admit of any redress to the father for that factor, nor could the assessment of considerations relevant to M's welfare" (emphasis added).
"65. Moreover the judge gave no real explanation of why his conclusion appeared so inconsistent with the views of the guardian and the experts. Whatever difficulties he had in preparing and giving his judgment (and I do not in any way underrate those), this was a very serious defect in his judgment. It was not sufficient for the judge simply to say or imply that he took account of the views of the guardian and the experts but that he took a different view. Even the most experienced and insightful family judge does not have the specialised training and skills of consultant psychiatrists and paediatricians who spend their lives working with damaged adults and children. Discourse between a judge and a witness in the course of a contentious hearing is very different from that which can take place in a consulting room" (emphasis added).
Rejection of court document
"I reject the note from the Judge as highly implausible. I do not see why such a document would be prepared in 2003 in respect of activities by someone back in 1996 who remained in the country until 1998".
"As regards the length of time such intelligence material is held, a well-known human rights activist showed us a copy of an indictment with which he had been served and in which he had been charged (amongst other things) with an alleged offence under Article 312 of the Criminal Code [incitement to racial, ethnic or religious enmity] alleged to have been committed ten years ago. This, he felt, clearly demonstrated the extent to which intelligence material is both recorded, retained and used against someone even after an extended period of time. He also mentioned another example of a charge being brought against a particular individual some 22 years after the alleged event".
Photograph of demonstration
"I think it significant that the Appellant was unable to produce either Article. The photograph reveals that the appellant was involved in a protest but not having had the opportunity of inspecting the origin [this is clearly a misprint for "original"] in the light of the conclusions which I reach below. I am not satisfied that this alone was enough for me to accept the Appellant's story".
Suicide risk
"It is difficult to give a prognosis with regard to suicide in any given individual but one can look at risk factors and the following would appear to be risk factors in this case;
A. His past psychological difficulties.
B. His current psychological difficulties (see below).
C. His physical difficulties (physical difficulties predispose to mental health difficulties).
D. His statement that he fears his life would be in danger were he to return to Turkey.
E. His statement that he would kill himself were he to return to Turkey.
In my view these factors would be likely to combine to place such a person at significant risk of suicide".
"I have already commented upon what I see as a significantly increased risk of suicide in this gentleman were he to be ordered back to his country".
"Fortunately, so far, this gentleman appears to have avoided developing a syndrome of either post traumatic stress disorder or depression although does (sic) appear angry and anxious" (emphasis added).
Signed Dated
L V Waumsley
Vice President