Autistic child is seen as a 'witch' says mother

Olivia Agbonlahor, who was deported to Nigeria this week along with her two children, has said she is running out of money and…

Olivia Agbonlahor, who was deported to Nigeria this week along with her two children, has said she is running out of money and cannot find a school for her son who is autistic.

Speaking to The Irish Timesfrom Lagos yesterday, she said the family were living with a friend on a temporary basis.

She said she was considering travelling to Ghana in an attempt to find a school for her six-year-old autistic son, Great, but was waiting for her luggage to arrive from Ireland on Monday.

Ms Agbonlahor claimed that people in the street who saw her son when he displayed signs of autistic behaviour believed that he was a "witch" or possessed of "voodoo".

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"He keeps crying and weeping and asking for his special needs assistant. He doesn't want to eat, I have to take him to a special supermarket. It just makes me weep," she said. "I had a little money with me when I came here, we are almost running out of money. But how will I go to work when he has no school?"

"We just can't go out on the street . . . the situation is really bleak."

However, Onochie Amobi, charge d'affaires at the Nigerian embassy in Dublin, yesterday denied that Great would be treated as an outcast in the country.

In relation to the educational opportunities available to the boy, he added that if he remains in one of the country's large cities, including Lagos, then "all sorts" of institutions were available to him. These included medical facilities and schools.

"The gentleman will not be treated as an outcast," he said. "This is purely an affair for the Irish Government, it is purely an Irish process and we are an entity that respects the rule of law.

"It is entirely up to the Irish people to decide who they want and who they don't want in this country . . . the only thing we ask is that they show respect to our people."

Ms Agbonlahor and her six-year-old twin children Great and Melissa were deported to Nigeria on Tuesday, after a last minute High Court application to restrain the Minister for Justice from deporting the family failed.

However, the family's solicitor Kevin Brophy has since said that the case is "not closed here" and will be heard again before the High Court on October 1st.

In an emotional e-mail sent to Mr Brophy on Thursday, Ms Agbonlahor claims her family is facing a life on the streets, while her son will end up in a psychiatric home.

"We arrived Lagos airport . . . and immediately the effects of Great's illness manifested: he ranted, raved and shrieked ceaselessly, closing both ears with his infant fingers," she states. "People immediately gave a distance and some tried to stop him in the hard way, by smacking him harshly on the head.

"Even when I tried to explain that he was a special need child, people just laughed, ridiculing me in their jest and maintaining that special needs children are supposed to be in the psychiatric hospital."

The decision made by the Irish authorities to deport her autistic son was a "harsh one" that contravened his right to live, Ms Agbonlahor's e-mail continues.

The Irish immigration authorities had provided her with a one-night stay in a hotel, for which she was extremely grateful. But she says the house itself, was "almost brought down" by Great's erratic behaviour.

"Worse still, my ailing son keeps tugging at people's clothes even along the streets. As you know, he was exhibiting this behaviour in Ireland and had since improved notably, as a result of the treatment he was undergoing," she says.

"However, it suddenly resurfaced again this morning . . . I, in my anguish, do not know how to explain this to the people here."