MALA Jayhindaran was cooking rice when the call came that she was being given just one hour to pack and leave her home of three years. 

She couldn't move now, she told the official. She had food on the stove and washing in the machine. 

Ms Jayhindaran, who fled political persecution in Malaysia to seek asylum in the UK, paints a picture of domestic tranquility suddenly and traumatically punctured by a command to relocate to hotel accommodation.

She, and her son Shawn Nicholas Fernandez, spoke at the launch of the report into asylum accommodation in Scotland, having given evidence to Baroness Helena Kennedy KC's inquiry.

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Fighting through tears, Ms Jayhindaran, who had been a community leader and politician in her home country, described how welcoming and supportive her neighbours in Glasgow's Govan had been.

They cooked for one another, she said, while Mr Fernandez would walk the neighbour's two dogs, a Border collie and a German Shepherd cross.

Of the day they were moved, she said: "I said, 'Where am I going?' I was told we were being moved to another house. 

"I packed and cleared out my fridge. I gave the all the food we had that we couldn't pack up to my neighbour.

"It was only when we were in the car he said we were going to a hotel. He said you won't be cooking there, it will be like you are going for a holiday.

"We didn't want to go. But you can't [speak out] against the Home Office."

The mother and son were taken to the Park Inn Hotel where they both witnessed the tragedy of June 2020.

Mr Fernandez, who had been a police officer in Malaysia, was one of the first who ran downstairs to help.

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He said: "I heard people screaming and there was a loud commotion. I helped two stab victims before the police arrived. 

"The whole reception area was covered with blood. What I saw that day will stay with me the rest of my life."

His mother added: "I am trying my best to be how I was before. I used to be a role model in my community.

"Back in Malaysia I was a public speaker, I was a politician, I was working with the government, I knew who I was.

"Now I am a mental health patient because of the Park Inn incident.

"I came here to safeguard my life and the Park Inn incident has recalled all my previous traumatic experiences."

Mr Fernandez has since been diagnosed with PTSD but, two years on, is still waiting for a mental health appointment. 

Not allowed to work due to his asylum status, he has multiple volunteer roles and was last year named Volunteer of the Year.

He added: "To have a peaceful and productive life - is that too much to ask for?" 

One of those helped by Mr Fernandez was Mo, now 21, who was stabbed around six times during the Park Inn attack.

As he stood to speak at the inquiry launch event he said Ms Jayhindaran's tears had prompted him to throw away his speech notes. 

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He said: "All this stuff I write here, it is in my mind. Even when I die I will not be free, it will all come to the grave with me."

Mo detailed how he had left his room to get food when, just two steps from his door, Badreddin Abadlla Adam stabbed him in the stomach, slitting him open.

He came to lying on the pavement outside the hotel, feeling fresh air on his face.

Mo said: "Two other people who were stabbed were lying down too. 

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"One of them was saying, 'You need to take care of Mo.' That's the day I decided to say, 'These people are not asylum seekers to me, they are my family.' 

"Someone is suffering, injured and dying and he still said, no, leave me, go and care for Mo."

The kindness of people in his adopted city has been of profound support to the 21-year-old, from Sierra Leone.

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He spoke of how he was surprised at how poorly Scottish people must eat when he received his meals in the Park Inn - but a woman heard he and his brother talking about the food and, in that great Glasgow tradition, prepared them "very delicous" soup.

The young men decided to take it back to the hotel to eke out over the coming days but a staff member poured it down the sink.

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"That is the day I realised we are living in a prison," he said. "We tell you what to eat, you don't decide what to eat."

Mo spent 11 days in hospital before being well enough to leave and he is now in his own flat. 

He said: "When Badreddin stabbed seven people he did not choose who to stab. He stabbed a Scottish police officer, two stabbed Scottish citizens, he stabbed two black boys. 

"What does that tell you? When the system is not good, it is not good for anyone."