A victim of the Park Inn stabbings who is suing the UK Government for a public inquiry said he is haunted by the attack. The legal challenge, launched last week, claims how asylum seekers were treated in Scotland during the Covid lockdown contributed to the Glasgow tragedy, which saw six people knifed.
The man named in court as MG was stabbed twice by fellow asylum seeker Badreddin Abdalla Adam during his bloody rampage at the city’s Park Inn Hotel on June 26, 2020. MG was Adam’s first victim and was stabbed a number of times and left bleeding on the pavement.
He said: “I still can’t sleep. Every night I feel I am fighting to control the demons, the nightmares of what happened. I am a different person and no matter how I try, I can’t block out what happened.”
Adam then knifed another two asylum seekers, police officer David Whyte and two hotel staff before he was shot by an armed response unit. MG added: “I have had therapy but it never goes away. I am so scared when I am out.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Home Office contractors Mears placed hundreds of asylum seekers in hotels. Campaigners have said they were left isolated and without adequate support.
A leaked Home Office internal review found warning signs were ignored that Adam was mentally ill and hotel staff had received a report the day before the attack that he had talked of wanting to stab people.
It also found Adam contacted the Home Office, Mears, and Migrant Help 72 times about his health and accommodation.
MG said: “I forgive Adam because he was sick but I don’t forgive the Home Office, who treated asylum seekers like they were not human beings. The legal action is not about me. It is about stopping it happening again to other asylum seekers. We need an inquiry because we deserve answers and accountability.”
Last week, MG travelled with the support of Refugees for Justice to the Royal Courts of Justice in London for a hearing.
The action is calling for an independent inquiry to examine how asylum seekers’ human rights were potentially abused.
A Mears spokesman said “it would be inappropriate to comment”.
The Home Office has claimed an inquiry is not needed and that it has “undertaken a number of significant changes to keep asylum seekers safe”.
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