Malawi family in Ireland fights deportation

A Malawian family living in Dublin are running rings around the Irish authorities as they fight deportation from the country.

Chigaru
Chigaru

Clement Chigaru and his wife, Angela Peters, applied for asylum in Ireland, claiming that their daughter is at risk of rape from her grandfather as he seeks a cure for his HIV infection. That claim was rejected on its initial assessment, and again by the Refugee Asylum Tribunal, and steps were taken to deport them. Undeterred however, the family have launched various appeals to various courts to be allowed to stay.

In late July, they were granted an injunction by the Irish Court of Appeal halting their deportation. The judgement states that the family has been dishonest in its asylum claim, and has remained in Ireland illegally. However, the judges felt sorry for the two children being uprooted from their life in Ireland and granted the injunction stopping the deportation, until a full appeal can be heard and judged.

Chigaru and Peters arrived in Ireland with their one-year old daughter in April 2008. Their story when claiming asylum was that Peter’s father was HIV+ and had been told by asing’anga that to be cured he must have sexual intercourse with a virgin from his own bloodline. Bizarrely, it was claimed that the grandfather threatened to violate his baby grand-daughter for that purpose. This caused the family to flee Malawi.

When interviewed by the Irish authorities, Peters claimed that she did not know that she could be assisted in Malawi by the police or by NGOs. For his part, Chigaru said that the family could not have moved elsewhere in the country because his wife was six months pregnant with their second child, and he did not want her to experience any pressure in such relocation.

The Irish rejected the claims of the parents on credibility grounds, noting that police protection was available and that the highly educated parents were quite capable of relocating within Malawi. They also wondered how a pregnant woman could claim not to be able to relocate within Malawi, but could manage do so to Ireland, a country thousands of kilometres away and with which she was not familiar.

There was a period of time when the family absconded and the adults worked illegally, and it was only with some difficulty that the authorities were able to track them down and to start their attempts to deport them.

Even though deportation has been halted, the judges noted:

“It is plain that both the father and the mother have each engaged in wholescale abuse of the asylum system. In the period since the deportation orders were first made in against them in August 2011 they have each worked illegally and have also avoided their reporting obligations with the Garda National Immigration Bureau. If one looked at the cases of the parents in isolation, their applications for interlocutory relief would have little to commend them given that both of them have deliberately and [insolently] thwarted and evaded their obligations under the immigration system.”

However, the judges wrote a convoluted, legal decision halting the deportation temporarily on the grounds that it was unfair to penalise the children because of the behaviour of their crooked parents. They wrote:

“The deportation of these children to Malawi would be massively disruptive for them, as it would have huge implications for their schooling, friendships and family structures.”

In his LinkedIn profile, Clement Chigaru describes himself as a self-employed actor/writer. He says that he has attended two years at the Gaiety School of Acting, and is presently studying for a Bachelor’s Degree at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght. On the website StarNow he has posted pictures of himself in various acting poses.

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dull professor UK chapter
dull professor UK chapter
8 years ago

ndimaona ngati ndindekha amene sindikumvesa za nkhaniyi,a Nyasatimes times chonde timakupopani tikakhala moyendamu please osamatichitisa manyazi lembani nkhani mwa straight forward osazungulira zungulira

GLORIA
GLORIA
8 years ago

EISH! too bad

Mdifu
8 years ago

Sizikumveka why reporting zinthu zoterezi,pamenezambili mkulephera

Nachisale
Nachisale
8 years ago

Nena how can you let this stupid wife of yours turn you into such an idiot?
Iwe mwana wa bwino zedi wa chilungamo, olimbikira ntchito kukapezeka ndi nkazi ameneyu? Bambo ake akunenawo ngakhaledi anali amatenda ndimayesa anamwalira tinakayika kalekale? Bambo ameneyu wapita atawononga atsikana ambili mu 47. Ana ake onse kuphatikiza nkazi wakoyo anatengela bambo a wo za uhule. Bwerako kumeneko Ana akowo tidzasamala ife abale ako. Usatichititse manyazi ndi Jazebel ameneyu! Osayipitsa dzina LA bambo ako motele!

Marley
Marley
8 years ago

Lembani nkhani zothandiza Plz.

i love sindi simutowe
i love sindi simutowe
8 years ago

ka nkazi wayima nako kali bullet.

Bingu!
Bingu!
8 years ago

Your stupidity, zogogulisa ma passport kwa aliyese nde izi, this people are not malawians, anagula ma passport a malawi, kukalowela nawo ku asylum n fake names! I can’t believe how stupid our leaders are, mkhwimitsani malamulo inu, musamangone! Ntchito kumba basi

Nasan
8 years ago

Mumava bwanji mukamapanga malipoti A boza muzaziona akazakungwilani inuyo ku china mukupita kuja

wawa
wawa
8 years ago

Peter Nkosi you are stupid….How many people they are living illigaly in UK OR USA.. these people are not the first malawians to apply for assylum …in any country in the world.

why your are not reporting of nigerians ….our president did the same in USA.. SO WHAT?
Malawians open your eyes and see…..our friends are ahead of time …muzipusa choncho
Leave these people alone

myao
myao
8 years ago

Mukutibowa mwamva.

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