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Sri Lankan girl restrained on flight

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Sri Lankan teenager, expelled from New Zealand after being refused asylum, was heavily sedated and restrained during her flight home this weekend.

The 16-year-old girl, who claimed she suffered years of sexual abuse by male relatives in Sri Lanka, was taken to a Catholic convent in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the Dominion Post reported.

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The girl was "heavily sedated and motionless in a wheelchair" when she arrived at the airport, a New Zealand One News reporter said from Colombo Sunday night.

The girl's grandmother, Somawathy, fled to New Zealand with her via Hong Kong in 2002. She claimed her granddaughter was not well enough to travel back to Sri Lanka after her immigration ordeal.

"She was screaming there (New Zealand) and they dragged her to the plane also," she said.

Her mother, who works in Hong Kong as a domestic servant, said she could not afford to lose her job by returning to Sri Lanka and her daughter would be unable to gain a long-term visa for Hong Kong.

"I thought New Zealand was one of the good countries; I never expected it to do such unfair things to my daughter," she said.

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