Taofik Sekoni came to the UK in 2015 after his life was threatened in his home country of Togo. He was forced to leave behind his wife and child who later moved to Ghana. He did not see them again before he died on 1 July 2020.

Finding himself homeless in the UK, Taofik ended up in Dublin, not knowing it was a different country to the UK. After a week in prison there, he was transferred back to the UK where he was treated as claiming asylum. An unsubstantiated allegation was made against him by a member of An Garda Síochána (the police service of the Republic of Ireland) that he had broken the shoulder of a Garda (police officer). This led the UK Home Office treating him as a violent person and was the reason behind his detention in the UK until a Home Office doctor reported that he was a potential victim of torture.

Taofik’s asylum claim was refused and dismissed on appeal at which point he lost access to housing and financial support. Several years later, he was eventually able to make a new application after lockdown and he again claimed asylum support. The Home Office had planned to arrest him when he made a new application but they could not do so during lockdown. Instead, without any warning, SERCO (a company with a government contract to provide accommodation to asylum seekers) moved him mid-May 2020 from emergency accommodation in Wolverhampton, where he had friends, to a hotel in Chester. Taofik said that the Home Office had a ‘deportation service’ in the hotel and feared he would be sent to Togo. A request to transfer him back to Wolverhampton was refused.

Taofik did not get any money from the Home Office to provide for himself and the food he received was not suitable for him. On 22 June he was transferred to hospital in Chester due to severe abdominal pain. He died on 1 July 2020. The cause of death is unknown but COVID-19 has been ruled out. The Coroner’s office in Chester is carrying out an investigation into the cause of death. An interim death certificate has been issued to allow for Taofik to be buried.

Taofik has no family in the UK so his friends at Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary (registered charity no. 1176101) wish to arrange a funeral in a Catholic Church in accordance with Taofik’s faith. The charity will also be responsible for administering any funds for the cremation or burial and funeral. If the funds raised are not enough for a burial, a cremation or memorial service will be considered. Any funds received in excess of those needed for a burial will be transferred to his family. His family do not have any funds to pay for a burial and funeral.

Taofik’s friends remember him as a very friendly man who was good company and always willing to help. “Due to his past trauma, he had deep fears of going back to Togo, and he would have loved to create a life here in the UK,” said one friend, who added, “in the four years that I knew him, I never heard him say an unkind word.”