RA (Ghana) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Davis |
| Judgment Date | 24 February 2016 |
| Neutral Citation | [2016] EWCA Civ 337 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | Case No: C5/2015/0410 |
| Date | 24 February 2016 |
[2016] EWCA Civ 337
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
(UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE MCGEACHEY)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Davis
Case No: C5/2015/0410
The Applicant appeared in person, assisted by Ms R. Edem
The Respondent did not appear and was not represented
This is a renewed application for permission to appeal against a decision given by Upper Tribunal Judge McGeachey, sitting in the Upper Tribunal. The decision was promulgated on 7 November 2014. The Upper Tribunal judge refused permission to appeal on the papers. An application was then made to this court for permission to appeal and permission to appeal was refused by Kitchin LJ on the papers. The matter now comes before me today by way of renewed application for permission to appeal.
The applicant, Mr Attah, has appeared before me today in person and has addressed me politely and courteously throughout. He has also been accompanied by his partner, who has also addressed me.
The position is this, and I put it very shortly because it is all set out in the judgments below. The applicant is a citizen of Ghana who was born in 1982. He came to the United Kingdom in due course and, although on occasions he went back to Ghana, he was granted indefinite leave to remain in this country on 16 January 2004. Thereafter he appears to have led a thoroughly citizen-like life. Unfortunately, he became involved in a serious dispute with a neighbour and, suffice it to say, this resulted in his conviction after trial of a count of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and ordinary assault, which attracted a sentence of 27 months' imprisonment.
Before that he had no previous convictions of any kind. Before he was sentenced a detailed pre-sentence report was obtained, which is not altogether entirely favourable to this applicant in terms of likelihood in the future of further offending. The applicant has a partner who is a British citizen. They have been in a relationship for some years and, in addition, the partner has a daughter who, in effect, is treated as the applicant's step-daughter and inevitable ties have developed accordingly. It appears that the daughter's natural father has relatively limited contact with her.
Because of his conviction and because he received a sentence of 27 months' imprisonment, by reference to section 32(5) of the 2007 Act and the related rules, in effect the applicant stood to be removed to Ghana. He does not come within the rules as being someone who should not be removed; and, in effect therefore, by reference to the wording of the section and related rules, he has to be removed unless there are compelling circumstances whereby he should not be removed. The position is set out in some detail by the decision of this court in MF (Nigeria) v SSHD [2013] EWCA Civ 1192 and other related cases.
There are a number of grounds raised in writing. The first ground is that it is challenged that the Upper Tribunal judge should have set aside the original decision of the First-tier Tribunal. The First-tier Tribunal, having considered the case and heard evidence, decided in effect that it would not be proportionate for this applicant to be removed to Ghana. That decision was set aside, and it is said that there is no justification for setting aside the decision of the First-tier Tribunal which, it is said, accordingly should stand.
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