The Court of Appeal has quashed a Refugee Appeals Tribunal decision refusing a Nigerian woman’s application for refugee status, finding that several material credibility concerns had been relied on without giving her a fair opportunity to address them.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Michael Peart on 15 November 2017, concerned two appeals: the woman’s challenge to the High Court’s refusal of judicial review, and the respondents’ challenge to a late amendment of her statement of grounds. The Court of Appeal allowed her appeal and refused the respondents’ appeal.
The woman said her husband, described in the judgment as a political group leader in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, was shot dead in October 2006. She claimed that members of the Asatoro Group later threatened her over money and documents, and that her husband’s family blamed her for his death. She feared returning to Nigeria. These were her claims, not findings by the Court of Appeal.
She arrived in Ireland in March 2007 and applied for asylum in September 2011. Because of the delay, her appeal to the Tribunal was determined on the papers, without an oral hearing. The Tribunal affirmed the recommendation that she not be declared a refugee, relying on cumulative credibility concerns.
The Court of Appeal said a person whose appeal is decided on the papers remains entitled to fair procedures. If a material credibility concern arises for the first time on appeal and the applicant has not had a fair chance to address it, the Tribunal must provide an opportunity to respond. That opportunity may be in writing or, depending on the circumstances, at an oral hearing.
Among the concerns the Court set aside were the Tribunal’s treatment of an alleged inconsistency between the woman’s account and a newspaper report submitted after her initial interview; its reliance on the absence of a marriage certificate; and its concern that her husband’s death certificate appeared to have been issued on the date of death. The Court also held that the Tribunal was wrong to say she had provided no newspaper report linking her husband to a Niger Delta group. It said the submitted report described his killing and identified him as a group leader.
The Court left aside a reference to “Gun Shot” on the death certificate, saying the point had been overlooked by those involved and raised only in submissions on appeal. It did not decide whether the woman qualified for refugee status. It quashed the Tribunal’s refusal because fair procedures had not been provided.
The respondents’ appeal concerned permission granted by the High Court to amend the woman’s judicial review grounds during the hearing. The Court of Appeal upheld that decision, noting that the trial judge had considered the relevant test and that no irremediable prejudice had been shown.