A British-Nigerian woman who claimed to have been tricked into thinking she had given birth by Nigerian fraudsters has lost her fight to care for the baby she brought home to the UK from the African ‘clinic’.
MailOnline reports that the woman(file image), of dual British and Nigerian nationality, travelled from London to Nigeria in 2010 after struggling to conceive naturally.
After being ‘drugged’ and undergoing ‘a process which resembled birth’, the woman returned to the UK with the infant who has severe disabilities.
Within months the baby was taken into social care, with a judge ordering earlier this year the boy be permanently looked after by the state.
The woman, who thought she was his biological mother despite DNA tests revealing otherwise, fought the decision, but has lost an appeal at the High Court.
Today a judge ruled the woman should not have any part in the child’s upbringing despite ‘hoping against hope’ he was her son.
The court heard how the woman travelled to Nigeria in 2010 to undergo ‘herbal treatment’ she thought would help her conceive a baby.
Despite being told by a British GP that she was not carrying a child, the woman returned to Nigeria where, following ‘a process which resembled a birth’, she was presented with the child.
‘Her state of mind at that point was that she continued to hope against hope that it might just be the case that she was the baby’s mother.
‘She closed her eyes to all of the pointers in the other direction,’ Lady Justice Black said.
In 2012 the pair returned to the UK where, despite her efforts, the boy’s health suffered due to severe disabilities.
Visits to health services raised concerns over how the woman and the child were related, and the boy was entrusted to the care of foster parents.
After launching an appeal to win back custody of the child, the woman was described as being ‘hostile to social workers’.
Judge Pamela Scriven QC told the court the woman ‘saw the world through a narrow and self-justifying lens.’
It was ruled the boy be permanently cared for by local authorities, a decision which the woman and her legal team appealed.
However in a separate ruling, Lady Justice Black today said their efforts had ‘no real prospect of success’.
‘I consider that these various grounds of appeal have no real prospect of success on appeal.
‘The judge made careful factual findings, which rightly identified the many problems in the way in which this woman approached the child’s welfare.’
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
