Give people a chance.

RIVERSIDE MP Louise Ellman pointed to the recent case, highlighted by the ECHO, of 19-year-old rape victim Charlie Happi Kouamaka who escaped Cameroon and had her son here.

Mrs Ellman said: "She could speak her own language and French fluently, but didn't have a word of English. Within a year her English was so good she started studying medicine at college.

"It's important immigrants learn English as guickly as possible, both to operate on a day-to-day level and to take advantages of the opportunities on Merseyside.

"But to insist they must pass English tests beforehand is unrealistic, unworkable unfair."

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CHARLIE HAPPI