UK Teen: Parents Tricked Me, Left Me in Ghana

A 14-year-old British citizen sent to an African boarding school against his will has lost his legal battle against his own parents. The unnamed boy had sent an email to the British Consulate in Ghana, "begging to go back to my old school." He told London's High Court that he was sent abroad under the guise of visiting a sick relative. In fact, his parents put him in a boarding school, then left. "I feel like I am living in hell," the boy said in a written statement, per the BBC, claiming he was "mocked" at his new school and got into fights, and that his education was suffering. "I really do not think I deserve this and I want to come home, back to England, as soon as possible."

The judge, Justice Anthony Hayden, decided the boy would've only suffered greater harms at home, admitting this was a "rather depressing conclusion." The boy's mother argued the move was "not a punishment but a measure to protect" the teen, as his parents feared he was being "groomed" into criminal activity in London. An attorney argued the boy had met 11 points on a checklist offered by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to indicate signs of criminal exploitation or gang involvement, including carrying weapons, having unexplained money, and being absent from school. The boy's former school also feared criminal involvement.

"My behavior wasn't the best," admitted the boy. But he said he'd never been "involved in gangs in any way." And his lawyer described "clear evidence" of emotional, psychological, and "possibly" physical harm, per Ghana's Graphic Online. The boy's mother countered that she feared her son would end up dead in the UK and refused to be part of his "destruction." The case focused on parental responsibility, with the judge deciding that, in this case, the parents had good intentions and didn't act unlawfully. The boy's father noted that during a visit to his son, the pair toured a different boarding school and were both impressed, though a spot in that school wouldn't be available until September. (More United Kingdom stories.)