Sunderland, England - A TEENAGER who fled to Britain after she was given up for sacrifice to a voodoo cult is facing being sent back to her African hell.
Reine Dohami fled Benin for Wearside after her father tried to hand her over to black magic and force her to marry a man who had raped her.
But the Home Office has ruled that her life is NOT at risk if she returns, and unless she wins an appeal, Reine faces a return to the horror.
She was smuggled into Britain aged 15 by a well-wisher, who dumped her in London before the authorities sent her to Sunderland in January.
The head of Unicef in Benin, Philippe Duamelle, said voodoo had been linked to child trafficking there, and natives speak of huge numbers of children "disappearing".
Reine's plight is featured in a BBC documentary tonight.
Seeking asylum from voodoo
Every day our courts have to make life-changing decisions on claims made by people seeking refuge in Britain. Reporter CHRIS JACKSON has been to investigate the story of one girl seeking asylum in Sunderland. His journey took him thousands of miles and into a country gripped by voodoo practices. This is what he discovered.
SHE'S reluctant to talk, but a girl now surviving on her own in Sunderland has an extraordinary story.
Reine Dohami says she is the target of a terrifying voodoo practice.
She says her cousin has already disappeared – like many children in her home country of Benin, in West Africa.
What's become of them no one knows. What Reine says is a certainty is she faces a forced marriage, circumcision and her body will be cut and scarred with a knife if she has to return home.
The person behind this unimaginable ordeal? Her own father.
You couldn't make it up, or could you? The Home Office thinks so. Reine has had her application to stay in Britain rejected. The Government doesn't believe her life is at risk if she returns.
I first met Reine earlier this summer in the house in Roker where she lives along with others seeking asylum.
She seemed introverted, uncertain. She told her extraordinary story in a deadpan way with just occasional tears.
A medical report from a paediatrician confirms she has been raped. Reine says she was attacked by the man her father intended to force her to marry.
Terrified of what was to happen, Reine told me that aged 15 she'd been smuggled out of Benin by a good Samaritan at her church who then abandoned her in London.
She arrived in Sunderland in January, where she saw snow for the first time in her life.
She was sent here by the authorities. She knew no one and could hardly speak a word of English.
It was clear the only way to begin to verify what she was saying was to go to Benin. So this summer I packed my bags and set off to report from one of the poorest countries in the world.
First we tracked down Reine's mum. She told me we couldn't talk in the family home and we had to meet in secret.
She said after Reine disappeared her husband had beaten her – believing she had helped Reine escape. Mrs Dohami has now fled the family home.
So what about the voodoo claim? Mrs Dohami was emphatic. It got to the point when Reine's father wanted to sacrifice her, to kill her as an offering to voodoo.
We gave her some pictures of her daughter and a taped message. She seemed relieved to see Reine was well, but was adamant she couldn't return
"Reine's story is the truth. You white people don't understand voodoo. If you don't live with it, you'll never know how wicked it is," she insisted
We asked a guide to find Reine's family home. He went, but then refused to return with us, giving no explanation.
Our research was becoming disturbing. The head of Unicef in Benin, Philippe Duamelle confirmed that voodoo is a real force in Benin society and that it has been linked to child trafficking.
We travelled on this time to a voodoo ceremony in a village. It was great colour for the camera – a dancing and chanting ritual that lasted all day. Some of the villagers told me they'd been preparing since four in the morning.
It's common for animals, rams and chickens to be sacrificed as part the event and lots of alcohol is consumed.
But what we then learned at Reine's school was much less innocuous. Her old headteacher showed me a photograph of Reine in the school register. She said losing children to voodoo cults was not uncommon
In a family that isn't Christian, uncles, aunts and brothers of a child can demand to give that child to voodoo.
Usually it's the first born boy or girl of the family that is taken, usually by force, into the voodoo convent, she said.
But off camera there was more. The headteacher told me her own cousin had been taken into a voodoo convent aged nine – she is now dead.
It was becoming clear that voodoo is a really potent force in Benin. Although it exists alongside Christian churches, voodoo is the country's most prominent religion. It seems to have a hold on people, which to Westerners like me, is hard to understand.
Our last port of call was an extraordinary evening at a church where Reine said she had met her good Samaritan.
You can see what happens on Inside Out on BBC1, tonight at 7.30pm.
It is impossible to say exactly what has gone on behind closed doors at Reine's home, and in my short time in Benin I couldn't stand up every part of her story.
It was clear though that cruel, degrading practises against children as part of voodoo ritual are widely talked about, and feared.
Now a court has to decide whether it believes Reine is telling the truth as she appeals the decision to deport her. Just one asylum seeker among many.
Statement from the Home Office
THE Home Office said it could not comment on individual cases, but gave the Echo the following statement:
"We are committed to the protection of genuine refugees who seek asylum in the UK. The Home Office assesses cases on their individual merits, providing protection to those who need it and seeking to remove those who do not. This is essential if the system is to be seen as both robust and fair.
"This means that individuals who meet the definition of a refugee in the 1951 Geneva Convention are granted asylum.
"If they do not qualify for asylum, but there are other circumstances that make them particularly vulnerable and engage our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, they are granted humanitarian protection or discretionary leave.
"If their application is refused, they have a right of appeal to the independent Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. If the appeal is unsuccessful, that means that it has been judged safe for that particular individual to return to their country of origin.
"The Immigration Service seeks to remove people as safely and humanely as possible which, where necessary can include enforced return or detention."
Benin
THE Republic Of Benin is one of the least known countries in West Africa, sandwiched between Nigeria on the East, Togo to the West and Burkina Faso to the North.
It is roughly the same size as Cuba or Denmark and has a population of 6.7million
It boasts miles of unspoilt coastline bordering the Atlantic Ocean said to be among the most beautiful beaches in West Africa.
Benin has been a democracy since 1991 and is a relatively safe country to visit.
It is a poor country with few natural resources and its economy relies largely on trade with its larger neighbour Nigeria. Life expectancy is 50.
A former French colony, the official language is French but people speak other ethnic languages including Fon and Yoruba.
Voodoo
MOST Beninois practice traditional African religion, including voodoo, also known as vodun.
About 60 per cent of the population practice voodoo and many see it as a benign religion, without the sinister associations it has in the West.
Many people worship voodoo deities, spirits and practice traditional healing alongside Catholicism and other forms of Christianity, without seeing it as a contradiction.
However, recent research by Unicef has linked child trafficking – which is a big problem in Benin – to voodoo convents.
Victims have been forced to take part in voodoo ceremonies and take a special vow, using a piece of hair or drop of blood. These were kept in packets at the shrine and used by the traffickers as a hold over the children.