Dawit

Dawit was born in Ethiopia and has been living in the UK for several years where he sought asylum and went through lengthy legal proceedings relating to this, before they ended with him being refused refugee status. Whilst in Ethiopia Dawit experienced violence but at the end of his case the Tribunal Judge decided that Dawit would be safe if he returned there.

Dawit had regular visits with Pat, whilst he was awaiting removal. Pat noticed that he was becoming increasingly withdrawn and seemed to be losing weight. Initially, Dawit said that he found the food to be “horrible” and hard to eat, but over time he spoke more and explained he was finding detention to be really stressful. He could not stop thinking about his time in Ethiopia. The memories of his time there were really strong and kept waking him up at night. Pat explained about a process called Rule 35 which would allow him to speak to a doctor about how he was feeling in detention. She explained that there can be delays in getting an appointment.

With this information Dawit asked about a “Rule 35” appointment. He was seen by a GP who made a record of his experiences in Ethiopia in a Rule 35(3) report and also completed a Rule 35(1) report. To complete this process the GP undertook a mental health assessment which showed that Dawit was experiencing depression and had some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Her opinion was that Dawit’s mental health symptoms could increase as he remained in detention. On their next visit, Dawit asked Pat when he could expect to hear from the Home Office. Pat explained that the Home Office must review this information by the end of the second working day after receiving the report and that he should receive a written response then, with the caveat that the policy is not always followed and there can be delays. Pat also asked whether Dawit has spoken to his solicitor about his Rule 35 report. He said that he hadn’t and Pat suggested that it was a good idea to discuss this, explaining that it could support his application for release. Dawit’s Rule 35 report was then successfully used by Dawit’s legal representative to obtain his release.