UK judge spares Somali migrant jail time for being ‘decent and hardworking'

Hiiraan Online

Thursday August 24, 2017

Judge Patricia Lynch QC  described the couple as 'otherwise perfectly decent and law-abiding people who have proved themselves to be hard workers and good citizens'. Credit: David Barrett

London (HOL) - A British Judge has given a Somali immigrant a suspended sentence for illegally entering the country with the assistance from her husband for being ‘hardworking people’.

Barwaaqo Ahmed, 43, flew into Stanstead Airport outside London last year from Munich and entered using someone else’s passport.

Ms.Ahmed and her husband, Saeed Osman Hersi, 43, have three young daughters including an eight-month-old.

Mr. Hersi also faced criminal charges for his role in assisting his wife in entering the UK.

Judge Patricia Lynch, QC, told Ms. Ahmed that under UK sentencing guidelines specified that she and her husband be placed behind bars.

“The long and the short of it is that the law is perfectly clear and I should pass a minimum custodial sentence,”

The judge opted for leniency and gave the East Dulwich couple a nine-month suspended sentence. She described the couple as being 'otherwise perfectly decent and law-abiding people who have proved themselves to be hard workers and good citizens'.

“I have to take into account, as I am entitled to, the article which looks after [the right] to family life,” she said. “I have to consider whether sending these two to prison immediately for some four and a half months [the couple would have served only half their sentences] is in the interests of the public. Clearly, the authorities are of the view that it is because it is so serious to enter this country with false documents.”

She also challenged the prosecution to appeal the sentence if they felt that the suspended sentence didn’t fall under an "exceptional circumstance.”

“If the Crown is of the view that my sentence is wrong then I encourage them to appeal me and let the Court of Appeal decide once and for all whether ‘exceptional circumstances’ are essential for suspended sentences when we are dealing with otherwise perfectly decent and law-abiding people who have proved themselves to be hard workers and good citizens.”

Last year, Judge Lynch made headlines after she called a racist defendant - accused of insulting and making racist slurs at Caribbean women - “a bit of a cunt” after he verbally abused her. The incident was sent to the Judicial Conduct Investigations office for review before being cleared of misconduct.