J.N v Refugee Appeals Tribunal and Others
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Judge | Mr. Justice Colm Mac Eochaidh |
| Judgment Date | 29 January 2013 |
| Neutral Citation | [2013] IEHC 20 |
| Court | High Court |
| Date | 29 January 2013 |
[2013] IEHC 20
THE HIGH COURT
BETWEEN
AND
STATE (KEEGAN) v THE STARDUST VICTIMS COMPENSATION TRIBUNAL 1986 IR 642
R (I) v MIN FOR JUSTICE UNREP COOKE 24.7.2009 2009/47/11866 2009 IEHC 353
O (R)(AN INFANT) v MIN FOR JUSTICE & REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL (LEVEY) UNREP HIGH 20.12.2012 2012 IEHC 573
N (N) v REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL (O'BRIEN) & ORS 2008 1 IR 501
MEREDITH & ANOR v WMA MERRICK & CO (A FIRM) TLR 31.1.1996
LYONS & MURRAY v FINANCIAL SERVICES OMBUDSMAN UNREP HOGAN 14.12.2011 2011/31/8710 2011 IEHC 454
A (TT) v MIN FOR JUSTICE & REFUGEE APPLICATIONS COMMISSIONER UNREP COOKE 29.4.2009 2009/2/443 2009 IEHC 215
K (M) v MIN FOR JUSTICE & REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL UNREP MCGOVERN 23.1.2008 2008/31/6780 2008 IEHC 9
IMMIGRATION
Asylum
Application for leave to seek judicial review - Telescoped hearing - Nigeria - Credibility assessment - Obligation to give reasons - Questions to discern if adequate reasons given for credibility findings - Rationality of credibility findings - Role of court - Whether adequate reasons given for credibility findings - Whether credibility findings rational - Omidiran (An Infant) v Minister for Justice and Equality [2012] IEHC 573, (Unrep, Mac Eochaidh J, 20/12/2012); State (Keegan) v The Stardust Victims Compensation Tribunal [1986] IR 642 and R(I) v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform [2009] IEHC 353, (Unrep, Cooke J, 24/7/2009) applied - Leave refused (2009/230JR - Mac Eochaidh J - 29/1/2013) [2013] IEHC 20
N(J) v Refugee Appeals Tribunal
Facts: The applicant was a Nigerian national who applied for asylum upon entering the country on the 30 th October 2007. The applicant”s asylum application was rejected at first instance and on appeal due to doubts about her credibility. It was her claim that in 2000 she had been living in Lagos but fled to Benin City and hid there for seven years as she feared she would be captured and tortured by Nigerian police authorities due to her boyfriend”s connection with an armed robbery. She claimed that her boyfriend”s brother had already been arrested and tortured by police which left him with fatal injuries. She claimed she returned to Lagos in 2007 but was very soon after arrested when she admitted to police who her boyfriend was. She stated she was subsequently raped by three police officers before managing to escape and eventually fleeing to Ireland with the aid of a stranger. She further claimed that she would be in fear of persecution by state authorities if returned to Nigeria due to her membership of a particular social group.
There were several negative credibility findings. Firstly, it was felt that if the applicant had been in hiding in Benin for seven years it was implausible she would return to Lagos if she was still in fear of persecution. The fact the police visited her almost immediately upon her return there was also deemed to be unlikely as well as the fact that she accepted she was still in a relationship with her boyfriend after seven years of separation. It was further considered incredible that the applicant was unable to give anything more than vague details of her boyfriend, his family and the individuals she had lived with through the years. Finally, the fact that a stranger helped aid her in her passage to Ireland was also considered unlikely. Because of these negative credibility findings, it was held that the resulting incidents of rape were also implausible.
The applicant applied for leave to apply for judicial review to challenge the decision of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. The grounds for the challenge were that the credibility findings were irrational and that no adequate reasons were given for the credibility findings.
Held by Mac Eochaidh J that there was an obligation on the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal to provide adequate reasoning for negative credibility findings unless the reason was patent. The reasons should be among other things discernible, intelligible, cogent, specific and rational. Applying those considerations to the written reasons given by the Tribunal, it was held that the obligation had been fulfilled. The rationales given were logical and flowed from the correct reading of the facts.
It was argued by the applicant that even if all negative credibility findings were upheld, the incident of rape could stand alone if believed and even give reliability to other aspects of her story. In that regard, she argued that the Tribunal was wrong to make a negative credibility finding in this aspect simply because other aspects of her story were not believed. It was held that the Tribunal was entitled to take such an approach as the incident of rape was dependent on the overall account and could not be separated.
Leave to apply for judicial review refused.
1. This application for leave to seek judicial review was dealt with as a 'telescoped' hearing with the consent of the parties. This means that only one hearing is required to determine whether leave should be granted and if so, whether to grant or withhold the substantive reliefs sought.
2. The applicant in this case is seeking an order of certiorari quashing the decision of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (the "Tribunal") of 2 nd February 2009 affirming the recommendation of the Refugee Appeals Commissioner notified to the Applicant on 16 th February 2009 refusing her refugee status and an order that the matter to be remitted to the Tribunal.
3. The applicant is a Nigerian national, born on 17 th May 1982. She states that her father died when she was very young and that her mother died when she was four years old. She claims she was looked after by her father's brother and that they lived in Benin City. He died in 1997, when she was fifteen years old, and in 1999, she moved to Lagos. In Lagos, the applicant claims that she worked as a street hawker and that she was taken in and lived with a woman named "Tina".
4. The applicant claimed that while in Lagos she met a man named "Obi" who became her boyfriend. In March 2000 he told her that the police were looking for him in connection with an armed robbery and that the police had tortured his brother, Titus Obi, and had requested 7000 Naira from his mother to take Titus to hospital. The applicant states that Titus Obi subsequently died of his injuries in hospital. She claims that her boyfriend Obi told her to go somewhere safe as the police would torture her too if they captured her. At this point the applicant claims she went back to Benin City where she stayed with an old school friend from the year 2000 to 2007. She claims that she did not leave the compound in which she was staying for the duration of this seven year period out of fear of capture.
5. The applicant stated that she returned to Lagos in 2007 in order to get on with her life. She had not seen or heard from Obi during the seven years while she was in hiding. The applicant claims she was living with Tina during this time and that three uniformed policemen came to the house looking for her within a short time of her return to Lagos. The policemen asked her if she knew Obi and she admitted to them that he was her boyfriend. At this point the policemen told her that they were arresting her and taking her to the police station. The applicant alleges that the three policemen took her instead to an unfinished building and raped her. She claims that she managed to escape the three men by crawling away while they were having a cigarette and that she was helped by a nearby stranger, "Mr. James". The applicant alleges that Mr. James took her in, called a doctor for her and later made arrangements and brought her first to England and then Belfast, before putting her on a bus to Dublin. She arrived in Ireland and made her application for asylum on 30 th October 2007 claiming fear of persecution as a member of a particular social group.
6. The Office of Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) made a negative recommendation on the applicant's claim for refugee status in their report. The applicant essentially claims she fears persecution from the Nigerian police and that she was raped by three police officers in uniform who were looking for her boyfriend Obi. Her claim was recommended for rejection primarily as there were concerns about her credibility, ORAC stating: "…there are a number of credibility issues in the applicant's account. She lived in Benin City without incident for seven and a half years and there is no reason to believe that the police would have any knowledge of her. She has very little knowledge of her former boyfriend and his family and after such length of time it would not be reasonable for her to know of his whereabouts. Furthermore, it is considered unlikely that the police in Lagos would still be investigating an armed robbery case for over seven and a half years. The actions of the police in relation to her allegation of rape by them may well have been opportunistic and as such must be seen as a criminal matter. Her claim does not appear to be founded on any of the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion as defined in the 1951 Geneva Convention".
7. Following...
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