UK: Illicit love child saves killer Zim driver from deportation after jail; caused fatal crash while high on drugs and drink

By The Telegraph

After he was released from prison, a DNA test revealed that he was the father of a boy whom another man had, until then, believed was his son.

LONDON: A Zimbabwean jailed for killing a man in a car crash has been allowed to live in the UK under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) after it was discovered he had an illicit love child.

The Zimbabwean, who has been granted anonymity, has fought off an attempt to deport him by the Home Office after claiming his removal would breach his Article Eight rights to a family life under the ECHR.

He was jailed for five years and eight months after causing the death of a man and seriously injuring another when he crashed his car at “break-neck” speed while high on drugs and drink.

After he was released from prison, a DNA test revealed that he was the father of a boy whom another man had, until then, believed was his son.

The boy was three years old and had been living with his biological mother and the other man whom he believed was his father.

An immigration tribunal said the Zimbabwean, the appellant in the case, should be granted the right to remain in the UK and not be deported because of the “emotional impact” it would have on the boy if he was removed. “To deport the appellant would be disproportionate and a breach of Article 8 ECHR,” it ruled.

‘When will we wake up?’

However, Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister and contender for the Tory leadership, said it was further evidence that the UK should quit the ECHR.

“Another killer gets to live in the UK using his rights under the ECHR. This time because he had an affair with a woman. When will we wake up? Our people are being placed in danger by these European laws – we have to do something about it, we must leave the ECHR,” he said.

The Zimbabwean came to the UK as a child on a visitor’s visa and had a series of temporary visas including as a student allowing him to remain in the UK. In 2018, he was convicted and jailed for 68 months for causing death by careless driving.

He had taken cannabis and drunk alcohol when he drove at “break-neck speed” on a night out with friends. The crash left one with “catastrophic” head injuries from which they died and a second passenger with “severe and life-changing injuries,” according to the court documents.

His visa ran out in 2021, meaning he was in the UK unlawfully, and the Home Office sought to deport him as a “risk” to the public because of the severity of his offence and length of sentence.

The year after he came out of prison in 2021, the DNA test revealed his three-year-old love child, although the court documents do not explain how it came to be conducted.

The child, now aged six and known only as A, was said by social services to have been left “confused” at having two fathers. The man who had been with his mother had left the home but family court officials said it was “emotionally harmful” for the boy to spend no time with him.

The Zimbabwean was said to be living with his mother but was having contact with his ex-girlfriend and the boy, which the family court recommended should continue “long term”.

“Taking A’s interests as a primary consideration, we are satisfied that it is in his best interests for the appellant to remain in the United Kingdom to enable their relationship to continue to develop,” ruled the immigration tribunal.