A gay man who fled the Caribbean island of St Kitts after he was the victim of repeated homophobic attacks is facing deportation by Canadian authorities after his bid to seek asylum was rejected.

Rolson Ryan has been working productively as a baker in Toronto after he fled St Kitts for Canada with the help of LGBTI refugee support group Rainbow Rainbow.

Ryan had been working in customer services in the tiny Caribbean nation of just 50,000 people but after being attacked by mobs on two separate occasions he no longer felt safe in his own homeland.

‘It is really tough being gay there,’ Ryan told the Toronto Star.

‘You have to do everything hidden. It is a very small, tight country. If people know that you are gay, they are going to beat you up.’

Ryan still bears the scars from being stabbed in one of the attacks but that was not enough to convince Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board that he is in danger if he returns despite homosexuality being a criminal offense in St Kitts, with a refugee judge ruling that ‘the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis provides adequate protection to its citizens.’

Those found guilty of ‘the abominable crime of buggery’ in St Kitts can be jailed for up to 10 years, with or without hard labor.

However the Immigration and Refugee Board said it could not find sufficient evidence of the law being enforced against LGBTI people in the island nation.

‘While the evidence in the record establishes that there are laws which prohibit same-sex conduct, the record does not provide persuasive evidence of the enforcement of that legislation,’ the board found.

‘There is insufficient evidence in the record which suggest that an individual’s sexual orientation would preclude the availability of state protection for crimes committed against them.’

But Ryan has not given up hope of remaining in Canada and he and his supporters hope to launch an appeal against the verdict against him in Canada’s federal court.