A 14-year-old boy has lost a court case he brought against his parents after they relocated him from London to Ghana to attend boarding school.
The teenager, described in court as a shy and articulate football enthusiast and aspiring cook, claimed his parents had deceived him by saying the trip to Ghana was to visit a sick relative. He stated that if he had known the true reason, “there would have been no way I would have agreed to it.”
The High Court in London heard that the boy’s parents were concerned about his safety and feared he was being “groomed” for criminal activity in the UK.
In a written statement to the court, the boy expressed distress over his situation: “I feel like I am living in hell. I really do not think I deserve this and I want to come home, back to England, as soon as possible.”
High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden acknowledged the difficult circumstances of the case, stating: “This is, in many ways, both a sobering and rather depressing conclusion.” He ruled in favor of the parents, explaining their decision was “driven by their deep, obvious and unconditional love” and that returning to the UK could expose the boy to greater harm.
The judge said the parents believed, “and in my judgement with reason,” that their son had at least some involvement with gang culture and had shown “an unhealthy interest in knives.”
The boy’s father told the court they made the decision to move him to Ghana because they didn’t want him to become “yet another black teenager stabbed to death in the streets of London.”
The teenager, who had lived in the UK his whole life, said he struggled to adapt to life at the Ghanaian boarding school. He described being “mocked,” getting into fights, and finding it hard to understand lessons.
In desperation, he reached out to the British High Commission in Accra and a charity called Children and Family Across Borders, who helped connect him with legal representation. “I am from London, England, and I want to go back home,” he wrote, adding that he felt “mistreated” at the school and was “begging to go back to my old school.”
Despite his pleas, the court heard that his parents believed the move was necessary for his safety. His mother emphasized that sending him to Ghana was “not a punishment but a measure to protect him,” referencing the tragic murder of Kelyan Bokassa, a 14-year-old boy fatally stabbed on a bus in Woolwich.
Rebecca Foulkes, representing the boy’s father, told the court the boy exhibited 11 out of the 14 risk factors for gang involvement, as identified by the NSPCC. These included school absences, unexplained money, new possessions, and carrying weapons.
The boy denied gang involvement, stating he didn’t know anyone in a gang or carry a knife. He admitted his behavior hadn’t been ideal and speculated that this may have influenced his parents’ decision to send him abroad.
The case centered around parental responsibility and whether the parents had acted unlawfully by relocating their son without his consent.
In a statement following the ruling, the parents said: “This has been a really difficult time for us all. Our priority has always been protecting our son, and our focus now is on moving forward as a family.”
The boy’s barrister, Deirdre Fottrell KC, argued that the relocation had disrupted his education. The teenager wrote that classes in Ghana were less challenging, and he had been out of formal education since the previous summer, relying on online studies. “I want to have an education again and grow up like a normal person,” he wrote. “I feel like my brain is hurt here. I feel like now I am dumber than people I used to be smarter than.”
The father told the court that he recently visited his son, and they had a positive interaction. He hoped his son would remain in Ghana and said they had toured another boarding school, which both found impressive. However, the court heard that the school had no available places until September, and the boy hadn’t expressed interest in attending.
James Netto, a lawyer from the International Family Law Group who represented the boy, noted a rise in similar cases. “Teenagers are often placed in exceptionally challenging or vulnerable situations, and are now beginning to turn to the court for protection,” he said, adding that parents sometimes resort to drastic measures when they believe their children are “falling in with the wrong crowd or are adopting what their parents see as unorthodox or challenging behaviours.”
(BBC)
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