Immigration officials have been barred from deporting a 31/2-year-old girl and her mother from Hong Kong for a further two months by a High Court judge who yesterday extended an injunction. Teresita Trumpo Failano, 39, and Shaina Maria Janine were strapped in their seats for a flight to Manila on June 10 when a Court of First Instance judge issued an injunction stopping the Director of Immigration removing the child from the jurisdiction. That injunction expired yesterday but, in a closed-door hearing before Justice David Yam Yee-kwan in the Court of First Instance, the injunction was extended to August 18, when the mother and child will appeal against the Legal Aid Department's decision not to grant them funds to push for maintenance. The main hurdle to having Shaina declared a permanent resident has been that the girl's father, a Hong Kong permanent resident of Pakistani origin, has refused to sign a copy of the birth certificate. Ms Failano is seeking a court order to quash the removal order, as well as a declaration that the execution of the order was invalid. The writ states the director was too hasty in ordering the pair's removal as the legal aid appeal was still pending. The director is also facing a damages suit in relation to the removal order after it emerged the mother sustained injuries that she alleged were inflicted when the officials dragged and pulled her by her handcuffs. Ms Failano alleged the officers also pulled her hair, punched her arm and kicked her in front of her daughter after separating the pair. Doctors at the Queen Mary Hospital also treated the toddler for an injury to her right wrist and swelling to the left eyelid. Police have launched a formal investigation into the complaint and have seized a video taken by immigration officials during the arrest of the mother and child.
