The son of Mercy Baguma, who was found in a distressed state next to his mother after she died in her Glasgow flat in August, has been granted asylum along with his father, who is now the boy’s sole carer.
Baguma’s death caused a national outcry as it emerged that the Ugandan, who had applied for asylum in the UK and was not able to work at the time of her death, had struggled to provide for herself and her baby during lockdown.
The charity Positive Action in Housing, which has supported one-year-old Adriel and his father, Eric Nnanna, in recent months, released a statement on Friday afternoon confirming that the pair had now been granted asylum in the UK.
The statement said: “Thank you to PM Boris Johnson for agreeing to intervene in the family’s case. Also to David Linden MP, Fraser Latta and Hannah Cosgrove of Latta & Co who raised the family’s case following the tragic death of Adriel’s mother, Mercy Baguma.”
Last month Johnson agreed to intervene in the case after he was pressed by the Scottish National party MP David Linden at prime minister’s questions to arrange an urgent meeting with the home secretary to resolve Nnanna’s pending asylum application.
Postmortem results confirmed that Beguma’s death resulted from alcohol poisoning and ketoacidosis, which causes symptoms including vomiting, weakness and rapid breathing. It stressed there was no history of alcohol abuse.
In early September, Nnanna spoke to the Glasgow Times about his relationship with the “charming and lovely” Baguma, whom he met in 2017. Nnanna is originally from Nigeria. They both first came to Scotland as students.
Nnanna revealed that Baguma’s ambition was to join Police Scotland, and the couple and their son had attended an open day at the Scottish police college at Tulliallan Castle in January.
