A Nigerian migrant, Olajide Shinaba, who was jailed for threatening a British woman with a knife in front of her child, has won a human rights case allowing him to remain in the United Kingdom.
Shinaba, now 32, was sentenced to 11 months in prison in December 2018 after admitting to affray for pulling a knife on a woman described as his friend, who had earlier taken him in after finding him homeless.
The court heard that Shinaba had told the woman he was moving out but returned two days later to collect his belongings. During an argument, he reportedly produced a knife and lunged at her while her young daughter watched, later saying he would have stabbed her if she had been a man.
Following his conviction, the Home Office initiated deportation proceedings, arguing that his removal was conducive to the public good. His initial appeal was dismissed.
However, an immigration judge later allowed his appeal on human rights grounds, ruling that he would face significant difficulties reintegrating into life in Nigeria, having left the country as a child.
Evidence before the tribunal showed that Shinaba arrived in the UK in 2003 at the age of 10 and had lived in the country for more than two decades. Although his early residence status was revoked, he was later granted discretionary leave to remain, which expired before he applied for indefinite leave in 2017.
Since his release from prison, Shinaba married a British woman in an Islamic ceremony and has two children with her. He also has a British daughter from a previous relationship, with the court noting that he maintains a genuine and subsisting parental relationship with his children.
The tribunal was told that Shinaba blamed his behaviour on a head injury sustained in 2008, which left him with a fractured skull, although it was also noted that he had completed his GCSEs and applied to attend university in the UK.
In its ruling, the Upper Tribunal held that Shinaba had built strong private and family ties in the UK and lacked any meaningful adult experience of life in Nigeria, concluding that he would face very significant obstacles to reintegration if deported.
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