By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
A 13-year-old boy from the United Kingdom (UK) has initiated legal proceedings against his parents, alleging they “brutally” took him to Africa, enrolled him in a boarding school, and subsequently “abandoned” him there.
During a hearing that began on Tuesday, the boy’s lawyers urged a judge to order his return to the UK, where he has lived since birth.
Lawyers for the boy’s father, however, argued that he should remain abroad, contending that the decision to “relocate” him was “a proper exercise of parental responsibility.”
Deirdre Fottrell KC, representing the boy, stated in written submissions that the parents’ actions were predicated “on the idea that there is no other way to respond to this potential risk than to remove [him] from the country.”
She added: “The steps that this boy, not yet 14, has taken to try and remedy the awful situation he finds himself in are extreme.
“There is clear evidence that he is being harmed emotionally, psychologically, and possibly physically in the environment in which he has been placed,” as quoted by DailyMailUK.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, reportedly contacted the British Consulate and a child welfare organisation after his parents left him at a school in Africa and returned to the UK.
Barristers representing the boy claim his parents “physically and emotionally abandoned” him due to concerns that he was becoming involved in gangs in London—an accusation the teenager “denies in the strongest terms.”
Vanguard