From Eric Nnanna, Mercy’s partner and father of Baby Adriel:
On behalf of our son Adriel, I wish to thank the kind people of Glasgow, Scotland and all over the world for so generously donating to the CAF and GoFundMe appeals. All funds raised will go into a trust, after Mercy’s funeral costs are met. After this, it will be used to ensure Baby Adriel’s future welfare, hopefully and God willing here in Glasgow, Scotland where he is loved and well supported. A trust fund is being set up with an established firm of solicitors in Glasgow, for the benefit of Adriel. I wish to thank the Radiant and Bright charity; the wonderful staff of the NHS and Adriel’s health visitor; the police officers who attended on Saturday 22 August; Robina Qureshi and Positive Action in Housing for bringing Mercy’s plight to the public’s attention in the first place and raising questions about what happened. I am also grateful to the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon for speaking out strongly in condemnation of a hostile immigration policy that destroys lives. I hope that Ms Sturgeon can meet Adriel when the time is right. As we are grieving for our loss still, I would ask that any and all media enquiries are directed to Positive Action in Housing who are acting on behalf of me and my family.
From Positive Action in Housing:
Had we not highlighted the circumstances of Mercy Baguma’s death, no one would know her name. At the time of her death, not a single responsible agency had released a statement – not Police Scotland, Migrant Help, Home Office or Mears.We had to piece together bare information after a distressed asylum seeker contacted us. Although she had no recourse to funds, and was forbidden to work, Mercy had a network of support to sustain her during this difficult time. She sought help for a crisis grant from us. We assisted her the next day. She also had support from other charities because she was effectively destitute, forbidden to work after her limited leave to remain ran out. Mercy received food from an (African) food bank and sometimes from the restaurant where she used to work. Furthermore, Home Office Emergency Support was granted because of the fact that she was in need of accommodation and money. On a point of clarification, any reference to Mercy’s baby Adriel being extremely hungry was in relation to the window of time from August 18 to 22 when nobody had heard from her and the child was alone without food for 3 to 4 days, according to her father. It was NOT a reference to mother and baby’s general condition before August 18.
All media enquiries to home@positiveactionh.org