The High Court has quashed a decision refusing refugee status and subsidiary protection to a South African woman after finding that important psychiatric evidence was not properly weighed when her credibility was assessed.
In a judgment delivered on 2 March 2026, Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan held that the International Protection Appeals Tribunal had carefully considered many aspects of N.'s case but had failed to assess the potential corroborative value of a medico-legal report diagnosing her with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
N. claimed that she fled South Africa after her brother was murdered by a drug gang and that the same group threatened to kidnap her and force her into prostitution. The Tribunal accepted that her brother had been violently killed in February 2023 but remained uncertain about the alleged threats against N. herself.
A consultant psychiatrist diagnosed N. with complex PTSD and concluded that her symptoms were highly consistent with both the traumatic bereavement and subsequent terrorisation by her brother's killers. The report also explained that trauma could cause fragmented memory and difficulty recalling details.
The Tribunal quoted extensively from the report and accepted its explanation of memory difficulties. However, when deciding whether N.'s account of threats was credible, it did not assess the separate evidential value of the psychiatrist's finding that her symptoms were highly consistent with those alleged events.
Ms Justice Phelan held that this evidence was capable of providing objective support for N.'s account and had to be weighed alongside the other credibility evidence. It was not for the High Court itself to decide how much weight the report deserved.
The court also granted an extension of the 28-day deadline for judicial review. N. had instructed lawyers promptly, while the later delay arose from administrative oversight and counsel availability and did not materially slow the case.
The Tribunal decision was quashed, with final consequential orders left for a later hearing.