SHEFFIELD, UK — An ETHIOPIAN man who had sought asylum in Sheffield drowned in the River Don after a night out in the city centre. Efrem Woldemichael, who was in the process of appealing the Home Office’s decision refusing him the right to stay, was found near Effingham Street behind The Wicker, four weeks after he disappeared.
The 33-year-old had been out in Ethiopian restaurant Ethio Cubano in Arundel Gate on December 1 last year, when he was said to be drunk but his usual self.
Restaurant owner Davit Asmelash told a Sheffield inquest Efrem was a regular customer who never caused any trouble.
He said: “He was very decent, responsible and friendly. He was drunk that night but there was no trouble – he was not that kind of person.”
Mr Asmelash said Efrem had arrived around midnight and eaten his usual meal before going downstairs to join in the dancing.
He saw Efrem “unbalanced on his feet” and suggested to one of his pals that he go home – and even took £10 out of the till to pay for his taxi fare.
Freshwa Beranu, who was also drinking and dancing in the restaurant that night, said he had gone outside for a cigarette and helped Efrem into a black cab at around 4am.
He said he saw that the driver was Asian but couldn’t identify him further, and heard Efrem, of Fox Street, Pitsmoor, say to the driver that if he took him to Burngreave he would be able to find his way home.
His body was found 27 days later on December 28 by a member of the public.
Det Con Robert Whiteman told the court Efrem had been reported missing on December 8 and checks were made on his mobile phone and bank activity.
His phone had not been used since he went missing and the wages from his cleaning job had not been withdrawn from his account.
DC Whiteman said appeals were made in The Star and on South Yorkshire Police’s website to trace the taxi driver but they had come to nothing, and CCTV footage could not reveal images in enough detail.
He added the driver’s probable route from Arundel Gate to Burngreave – when roadworks were still taking place on the inner relief road – would have been down Corporation Street and then up to the junction with Rock Street in Burngreave.
He said if Efrem had got out of the cab there he would have been very close to the River Don, and, if he had fallen in, the water would have carried him in the direction of Effingham Street.
Pathologist Dr Christopher Milroy said a post-mortem examination suggested a “long period of immersion” in water. He gave the cause of death as drowning.
Toxicology reports from Dr Stephen Morley also found Efrem had more than twice the legal amount of alcohol in his blood for driving.
Assistant deputy coroner Donald Coutts-Wood recorded a narrative verdict and added: “Putting together the lack of use of his phone, with the fact that within seven days he was paid but never withdrew the cash as he normally did, it does seem to me he was probably in the River Don shortly after his taxi journey home.”
By Sarah Dunn, Sheffield Telegraph
One thought on “Ethiopian asylum seeker in U.K. drowned in a river”
Some times, hopelessness, unhappiness, Godlessness, and depression drive a descent person into drunkenness, and drunkenness into the River Don. As a result, Efrem Woldmichael had been in the water for a number of days, perhaps without knowing he was in the water, and he had lost his precious life there.
To avoid such a tragic death, and to be careful before it happens to some of us, we must get advice from the Holy Bible, which says: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the HIGH SEAS, lying on top of the rigging. ‘They hit me,’ you will say, ‘but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?’” (Proverbs 23:29-35). In this case, Ato Efrem could not get a chance once he was in the River Don to wake up and ask for another drink.
May the Angel of the Almighty God guard the soul of Efrem Woldmichael together with the other blessed ones in heaven till Jesus comes and take us all with him to his Holy Father and give each one of us an eternal home where there is no drunkenness or hopelessness but always joy and comfort!