Mercy's video testimony

“I would rather die than go back to Kenya. I flew a thousand miles to be safe in this country, so if they take me back, it’s just like killing me. I’d rather die here tomorrow than go back there.”

Mercy was born in 1979 in Kenya. After her father’s death, she went to live with her uncle’s family in Mombasa. Between the ages of 11 and 16, her uncle sexually abused her.

During this time there was a lot of tribal rivalry between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu. One day, returning from French classes, she was set upon by four men from a different tribe. They surrounded her, covered her head with a dark cloth, and dragged her into a hut. She was brutally gang raped, bitten and battered.

“Animals wouldn’t be treated the way these men treated me. I wondered why they were so angry at me just for being from a different tribe”.

The men tried to forcibly circumcise Mercy. Then one took a knife and slashed her face, saying that other men would now recognise her as having been violated. They urinated on her, promising to do the same to any Kalenjin girl they catch. Near death, she was abandoned by the roadside.

Mercy says that her experiences of seeking asylum in the UK have compounded the trauma she experienced in Kenya. Whatever the merits of a specific case, The Testimony Project insists that it is unacceptable that victims of torture and rape are exposed to ill-treatment when being decided.

Around May 2008, Mercy was detained in Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre. There a nurse told her that she had twenty minutes to explain her problems, ignoring the obvious scars on her body and face. Her requests that male members of staff should not come to her cell were ignored, causing her flashbacks and panic attacks. Following a suicide attempt, Mercy was put on a suicide watch where she was constantly watched by male guards, including when she used the lavatory or shower. Mercy is, lest we forget, a survivor of rape, kidnap and torture.

Since her release, Mercy has spent two weeks in the Grove Centre of the Royal Free Hospital and has been referred to the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture so that a medico-legal report can be prepared. This will assist the Home Office to make an initial decision on the merits of her asylum application. Mercy is now also on a waiting list to finally receive counselling after years of trauma that has never been dealt with.

She is still waiting for a decision from the Home Office on her status.

Everyone has the right to seek asylum. The Testimony Project believes that those seeking refuge in our country should have the right to dignified, humane and fair treatment that respects their human rights, protects their physical and mental wellbeing, and that follows a fair and efficient process. Deliberate destitution, violent deportation, the splitting of families, and dehumanising detention run counter to the original spirit of asylum and should cease immediately. Please, hear our voice.

Mercy's video testimony

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