T (F) [Eritrea] v Refugee Appeals Tribunal (Brennan) & Min for Justice

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: MS JUSTICE M. CLARK
• Judgment Date: 29 September 2010
• Neutral Citation: [2010] IEHC 370
• Docket Number: [No. 847 J.R./2008]
• Court: High Court
• Date: 29 September 2010

[2010] IEHC 370

THE HIGH COURT

[No. 847 J.R./2008]

T (F) [Eritrea] v Refugee Appeals Tribunal (Brennan) & Min for Justice

[2010] IEHC 370

JUDICIAL REVIEW

BETWEEN

F. T. [ERITREA]

APPLICANT

AND

REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL (OLIVE BRENNAN) AND THE MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND LAW REFORM

RESPONDENTS

IMMIGRATION LAW

Leave

Political asylum - Lack of detail - Medico-legal report - Injuries consistent with account - Negative credibility finding - Whether inadequate assessment of medical evidence - Whether insufficient regard had to psychological condition - Whether failure to assess directly relevant submissions and country of origin information - Leave granted (2008/847JR - Clark J - 29/09/2010) [2010] IEHC 370

T(F) v Refugee Appeals Tribunal

Facts The applicant sought and was granted leave to apply for judicial review of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal's decision against granting her political asylum in Ireland. She contended that there was inadequate assessment of the medical evidence and insufficient regard paid to her psychological condition.

Held by Clarke J in granting the application that the Tribunal had erred in its approach to the medical evidence. That the conclusion reached on credibility and medical evidence was unreasonable and irrational. Lack of fair procedures was evident in assessing submissions and country of origin information.

Reporter: BD

MS JUSTICE M. CLARK

1 The applicant, who claims to be a national of Eritrea, applied for political asylum in Ireland in February 2006. According to her narrative which was remarkable for its lack of detail, her husband was arrested in 2005 and she was instructed by a friend who phoned her, to destroy his papers. While engaged on this task the police came to her home and she too was arrested. She was maltreated by the arresting authorities and detained in a police station and then in a prison where she suffered various forms of ill-treatment including beatings, cigarette burns, sexual assault and rapes over a three month period. When she became unconscious she was taken to hospital where she was treated for a further three months before her brother arranged for her to escape. Her brother paid an agent to make arrangements for her leave Eritrea by bus, foot and boat which brought her from Port Sudan to Ireland.

2 The Refugee Applications Commissioner found that her account was not credible and recommended that she should not be declared a refugee. The vague nature of her answers at interview was detailed and it was found that her inability to give any details of her arrest, detention and ill-treatment was not consistent with her detailed narrative of her escape and travel to Ireland. Reports prepared by a HSE Psychologist which described "somatic symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and depression" in the applicant were considered not to be "conclusive evidence" of what had occurred to her in Eritrea and it was noted that at interview she seemed a quiet and reserved woman who did not appear to be distressed or upset.

3 The applicant appealed to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and, of significance to this challenge, she furnished additional medical evidence including a SPIRASI medico-legal report. The examining physician from SPIRASI noted Ms. T's multiple severe psychological difficulties and her history of maltreatment and multiple rapes at the hands of the police and prison authorities. She told the physician that she was taken to hospital because she had severe nose bleeds and vaginal bleeding and had been unconscious. She says she was given a lot of medication and does not remember a lot of things that happened in prison because she has blanked them out. Physical examination found a very unstable right knee and a large number of scars on her inner thighs and chest. The report states that the very numerous scars on her inner thighs"would be consistent with cigarette burns" and that:-

"It is the professional opinion of the Examining Physician that Ms. [T]'s current symptoms and the findings on her physical and mental state examination are consistent with the history that she gives of the...