Latest in litany of tragedies among refugee community
MERCY Baguma’s death is just the latest tragedy to hit the refugee community in Glasgow.
In June an asylum seeker went on a knife rampage in a Glasgow city centre hotel which was housing immigrants.
The attacks by Badreddin Abadlla Adam, 28, from Sudan, left six people injured, including 42-year-old police constable David Whyte.
Armed officers were called out to the Park Inn Hotel on West George Street
just before 1pm on June 26 and Adam was shot dead.
The hotel was being used to house around 100 asylum seekers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Friends of Adam, who was from Sudan, said he had mental health problems which had worsened when he was asked to self-isolate for three weeks.
He had threatened to attack fellow asylum seekers he said were making too much noise.
A Sudanese community leader in the city said he had begged to be sent back to his home country.
Adam’s family later apologised for his stabbing spree. Adam Abadlla Adam, 41, said his brother’s life began spiralling out of control as his bid to make a fresh start in Scotland derailed. Speaking from Sudan, Mr Adam, a police officer, said: ‘We wish a quick recovery for the victims and we are sorry for what happened, for what our brother did.’
Charities said other asylum seekers in Glasgow are also suffering from mental health issues and poor housing.
On May 6, a 30-year-old Syrian refugee, Adnan Walid Elbi, was found dead in his room at the McLays Guest House on Renfrew Street.
Last month, a charity claimed that dozens of asylum seekers had been left malnourished after being housed in substandard conditions.
It was claimed some were served food ‘not fit for human consumption’, while others had been placed in accommodation in Glasgow which was blighted with bed bugs, according to charity Positive Action in Housing.
They have been left isolated, with no money even to buy top-ups for phone cards to call family, friends and support workers, it has been claimed.
However, the Home Office has insisted that all ‘essential living needs are met, which is all paid for by the taxpayer and there is no cost to the individual’.