Heartbreaking story of brutality faced by asylum seeker supported by Yorkshire charity - Greg Wright

His new friends promised him could earn good money working in restaurants; everything would be fine if he just did what they told him and that the cost of his journey would be taken from the money he earned. They provided him with a fake passport and took him to the airport, but instead of travelling to China, Dai found himself on a flight to Angola.

Once in Africa, his ‘friends’ changed. They took Dai to an enclosed compound where he was put to work in an ice factory. When he asked for wages they beat him.

Dai believes he was held in Angola for around a year before he was put in the back of a truck and driven to Portugal.

He was ordered to work inside a warehouse, not seeing daylight, for more than two years. Then, when he believes he was around 17, Dai was taken from the factory and driven for 10 hours to a port.

Dai was taken to the UK where he was driven to the middle of a forest before being let out and put under the control of two men. They took him to a house and ordered him to cook for them while they taught him how to care for cannabis plants. He was then driven to Liverpool and locked in a house to look after a cannabis factory. He was threatened with violence if he did not comply.

After months trapped in the house, and further beatings, Dai finally escaped.

A police officer found Dai running down the street, disorientated and exhausted. He gave him food and drink and took him to a hotel while he arranged a place for him in a safe house run by the South Yorkshire anti-slavery charity City Hearts, which has been relaunched under the name of Causeway. He is now living in a Causeway safe house specifically for Vietnamese men, and has a place in college to learn English.

“My childhood was extremely difficult,” he said. “All I’d ever known was the orphanage, work, and being beaten. Causeway have been good to me. I finally have my own room, and can come and go as I please.

“I would like to stay in England,” he added. “Life is better here than it was in Vietnam. There I was helpless, homeless, but nobody helped me. At Causeway, the people are very kind, and are always ready to support me.”

Dai has applied for asylum in the UK, and says if he is allowed to stay he would like to study, and work as a chef.

“I just want to work so I can support myself,” he said.

“But after all I’ve been through, I don’t dare feel any optimism about the future yet. I still have so many uncertainties in front of me.”

Causeway runs five safe houses for survivors of modern slavery and trafficking in Sheffield, as well as outreach programmes to survivors living in the community. This support and safety net supports men, women, and children who have escaped exploitation and abuse, and helps them feel safe again.

Thousands of asylum seekers remain in limbo as they wait for the Home Office to decide their fate. Stories like Dai’s should certainly prick our conscience.

Greg Wright is the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post