Petition launched in battle to bring soldier's daughter to Inverness
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A petition has been launched aiming to persuade the Home Office to reconsider a decision to to allow a serving British solider's daughter to join him in the UK.
The plight of Denis Omandi (40) was raised by Inverness MP Drew Hendry during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons last week.
Mr Omandi, from Kenya, joined the British Army as a Commonwealth soldier and is based at Fort George as a member of 3 Scots.
He only learned of the existence of daughter Annceline, known as Ann, when she was eight years old but has custody of her after her mother started a new relationship.
Now 14 Ann spends most of her time at boarding school in Kenya as the Home Office turned down an application to bring her to the UK, stating Mr Omandi failed to show he has spent enough time with her.
Mr Hendrypreviously called the situation “a disgrace”.
He said: “Denis visits Ann as much as he can. It beggars belief how they expect a serving soldier who has done a tour in Afghanistan and Iraq to also be in Kenya with his daughter.”
Prime Minister Theresa May said she would ask the Home Secretary to look into the case and thanked Mr Omandi “for his commitment to serving in our armed forces.”
Mr Omandi lives with wife Shelagh and stepsons Dylan and Lewis in Inverness.
She said recent moves had given them a boost.
“It makes me more hopeful – Ann is 14 and the longer this goes on the more she will be affected by it,” she said. “What we want most of all is to get her here to the UK to provide her with a safe, secure and caring home where she will be loved.”
Mr Hendry’s petition can be accessed at www.drewhendrymp.scot
He said: “Here in the Highlands, we value family and our communities know to rally round.
“That’s why I am joining forces with the Inverness Courier to launch a petition to bring this family together. Let’s all get behind this family to reunite Ann with her dad and step mum.”
