The family of a 96-year-old Highland grandmother at the centre of a deportation row have confirmed she will remain in Scotland after a flight of “torture” home from Australia.
Christina Grant, who has dementia and poor eyesight, was in transit for more than 40 hours with her son Allan Grant and his wife Diane after leaving her Australian home, following a visa mix-up.
Their flight was delayed for five hours and, to make matters worse, Mrs Grant fell ill several times on what became a six-hour car journey north to Dulnain Bridge from Glasgow Airport.
Christina Grant still owns a house in the village and her son and daughter-in-law will stay with her until November to find her a suitable nursing home.
Yesterday, Diane Grant said: “She won’t be going back to Australia. Her dementia has got a lot worse in the last six months. I would not put her through that torture again.
“When we took her over there (two years ago), we stopped in Dubai and went to a resort, but there’s no way we can even think about a stopover.
“We have to keep her going because she can not be in unfamiliar places due to her poor eyesight.”
The pensioner moved more than 10,000 miles from Dulnain Bridge in the Highlands to New South Wales in Australia in 2015 to be near family after her son Robert, who looked after her, died.
Her visitor visa required that she leave the country once a year – but this had expired and the authorities decided that a South Pacific Cruise booked for her by her family did not qualify.
Christina was then given an ultimatum to leave the country by July 26, and her family claim they have heard nothing since.
Mrs Grant’s relatives believe a new visa application would be rejected on health grounds, even though Australian government officials have intimated they are willing to resolve the situation, stressing that she should apply.
But Diane Grant added: “We are still absolutely devastated and disgusted with the Australian Government that they would put an individual through this at 96 years old.
“It’s just shocking. I would like to see any politician and bureaucrat do that with a member of their family.”
After arriving at Dulnain Bridge in their hire car at about 2am on Friday, Christina Grant went straight to bed and woke at 11am for some tea and toast, before going back to sleep.
She has been resting further over the weekend and has started to feel better.