Stoke Sentinel
She was terrified of being sent back to Namibia where she had had experienced ‘extreme trauma’
An asylum seeker who feared being forced to leave the UK tragically ended her own life in Stoke-on-Trent after experiencing extreme trauma. Veurika Kariahua had been struggling with the death of her ex-boyfriend and her dad in her country of birth.
The 31-year-old, originally from Namibia, was also living with the threat of being ‘removed’ from the UK. She ended her own life at her brother’s home in Pittshill, just one week after being discharged from the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Now North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust has been criticised for its treatment of asylum seekers struggling with mental illness. An inquest into her death heard there had been a lack of communication due to the language barrier and a follow-up appointment to check on her welfare didn’t take place within the correct timeframe.
Veurika had been admitted to the Harplands Hospital – run by North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust – in August 2023 after suffering a “psychotic episode”. She was discharged with antipsychotic medication, which she stopped soon after leaving.
Veurika then made an attempt on her own life on May 31 last year and was admitted to the Royal Stoke where she tried to kill herself a further three times during the night. Staff successfully managed to “settle” her and she went to sleep, and woke up seeming that her “mental state had improved sufficiently”.
Veurika was given accommodation in Kidderminster by the Home Office and was supposed to return there following her discharge from Royal Stoke but she failed to attend a 48-hour follow-up appointment. The North Staffordshire Combined NHS Trust was informed that she had remained at her brother’s home in Benson Street, Pittshill. Three days later she was found dead on June 10 last year.
Doctor Bashir, consultant psychiatrist at North Staffordshire combined NHS Trust, said: “The first 12 hours of her admission to Ward 3 [of the psychiatric ward] she remained extremely distressed. There were cries of despair and she indicated that she felt that she wanted to end her life.
“The indications were that there were a lot of background stresses. Veurika had a very traumatic life in Namibia and she was left with a lot of emotional hurt and vulnerability from her experiences. Her partner ended his life in Namibia some years earlier, and Veurika was deeply affected by those experiences.
“She had a real overwhelming fear of being removed back to where she experienced huge amounts of trauma in Namibia by the Home Office. We noted in that review that there had been a significant improvement in Veurika’s emotional states. In her communication, and in her attitudes to engage with our support going forward.
“My recommendation was that Veurika’s care and treatment could be that she no longer required inpatient psychiatric treatment, and that supported supervision should be transferred back to the community team in Kidderminster. Arrangements were made for a review within 48 hours with the care coordinator.”
Natalie Larvin, clinical director for the acute and urgent care at Harplands Hospital, told the inquest how there had been a language barrier, and so the team didn’t understand the full extent of Veurika’s trauma. On the day she died, the team was discussing how to arrange a follow-up appointment but they were struggling to do so because the service doesn’t tend to help asylum seekers who aren’t registered with a GP.
The inquest heard Veurika’s cause of death was asphyxiation. Emma Serrano, area coroner for Staffordshire, concluded her death was suicide.
She said: “What I did hear from Doctor Bashir is that if an interpreter was used and family had been spoken to at an earlier point, there may have been further information that could have been taken into account when making a decision to discharge.
“It’s quite clear that she is supposed to be followed up 48 hours after she’s discharged into the community. That’s due to take place on June 5, and it doesn’t take place because she’s not in Kidderminster, she’s living in Stoke.
“But on June 7, they are made aware that she is now in Stoke, but still the 48-hour follow up appointment does not take place. I make the finding that that should have taken place and it has not. What I can’t tell you is what would have happened if that meeting had taken place.
“I’ve got one concern in relation to the issue about being registered with a GP surgery, otherwise you can’t have access to the early intervention team. I’d like a little bit more information about that.”
