Memuna Wheatley, who lives in Kenmare, came to Ireland with her husband, whom she met in Ghana. They got married on 19 May last year.

Her husband Sean Wheatley went missing shortly after they returned to Ireland for a visit in December last year.

"He didn't say 'I'm going', he just said, 'I'm going for a walk, '" Memuna told the Sunday Tribune, "So I don't know if he is alive or dead, no contact or anything."

The last person Sean, a property developer, spoke to was his brother Patrick, telling him he was getting a flight to be with their dying mother in Dorset.

"I can't make head or tail of it to be honest, " Patrick told the Sunday Tribune. He believes that if his brother is alive, he may be living in west Cork. Patrick has searched the area in vain.

Memuna, who is in her early 20s, worked for a while in a local hotel in Kenmare but then had to stop.

"Now they say if I work they will arrest me, " she told the Sunday Tribune. "I feel so sad because I can't continue like this. They [immigration officials] want me to leave immediately. I don't have money to buy a ticket, so now I'm waiting until 30 August [when her return ticket expires]."

Memuna will return to her family in Ghana but she said rumours around Kenmare about her husband's disappearance have deeply upset her.

"Some people said they found Sean's body in the lake. Some people say he is staying with his brother. All of this is not true. I don't think he will come back. He used to say he would want to die."