Kiwi man who beat neighbours with roller skates, then ran a man down, to be kicked out of Australia

A man who attacked two neighbours with a roller skate and later deliberately ran down another man with his car had a long history of escalating violence stretching back decades.

Leslie Matthew Ruru, 67, was born in New Zealand and grew up in what he described as a “tribal community” spanning five generations, where he suffered abuse.

Removed from that environment as a teenager, he later moved to Auckland, finished school, found work, and then “escaped” to Australia in his early 20s.

He would go on to live there for the next 46 years.

But now, he faces being sent back to the place he once tried to leave behind.

Ruru’s offending led to the cancellation of his visa and an order that he be deported back to New Zealand under section 501 of Australia’s Migration Act.

Ruru has now made a plea to the Australian Government from the detention centre where he is being kept to allow him to remain in the country.

A history of violence

A decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia, which heard the appeal, stated Ruru’s criminal history began to build in the early 2000s, with convictions for offences including violence, obstructing police and repeated drug offending.

Over time, those incidents escalated, and he began serving short stints in prison.

In 2012, he assaulted a man he was living with, beating him with a large stick for about 10 minutes and striking him around 30 times while yelling abuse, including, “You’re infected. You’re infected. I’ve been sick because of you”. Ruru was jailed for that attack.

That same year, he was also convicted of animal cruelty after mistreating several puppies in his care, resulting in another term of imprisonment.

Years later, and following further offending, his violence again erupted in late 2020, this time against neighbours.

A dispute involving dogs spiralled into an attack in the early hours of the morning, when he struck his female neighbour in the head with a roller skate.

She suffered head injuries and was bleeding on her front lawn when her husband rushed outside to defend her.

Leslie Matthew Ruru will be deported from Australia after a spate of offending.

But Ruru turned on him and repeatedly hit him in the head with the same pair of pink and black children’s skates, also leaving him injured.

Despite serving further jail sentences, the offending continued.

In August 2023, Ruru attended a picnic at a creek with a man and his partner.

There, they consumed alcohol and cannabis. During the picnic, an argument broke out, and without warning, Ruru smashed a glass of wine into the man’s head.

The man walked away, but moments later, Ruru got into his vehicle, drove towards him and yelled “If you don’t get out of the road, I’ll run you over”.

While the man put his hands in the air and tried to move out of the way, Ruru drove “flat out” and steered his vehicle towards him.

The man threw a metal fence post at the car, and Ruru struck him, sending him on to the bonnet and windscreen before he crashed to the ground.

As the injured man was being helped to his feet, Ruru drove at him again, hitting him a second time and knocking him back to the ground.

He then got out of the vehicle and shouted, “I am going to f***ing kill you”.

The victim suffered spinal fractures and rib injuries, spent weeks in hospital, and was still wearing a back brace six months later.

Ruru was later convicted of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing grievous bodily harm and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2024.

Visa cancelled, and a plea to remain

After serving part of that sentence, his visa was cancelled and he was taken into immigration detention at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney.

Ruru appeared before the tribunal on May 25, giving evidence in his appeal against the cancellation of his visa.

He told the tribunal his violent past was shaped by trauma, pointing to a diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder linked to his childhood.

Ruru said years of untreated mental illness, combined with substance use, had contributed to his offending, and time in custody had brought change.

He said he had stopped using drugs, engaged in counselling, and developed a greater understanding of his behaviour.

After more than four decades in Australia, Ruru argued deportation would have serious consequences, cutting him off from his support network and returning him to a country where he said he had few or no social and family connections.

A psychiatrist warned his mental health would likely deteriorate if he were removed, and Ruru told the tribunal he was committed to continuing treatment in the community.

But the tribunal was not persuaded.

While it accepted Ruru’s history of trauma and recent efforts at rehabilitation, it found his offending was not an isolated lapse but part of a long pattern of escalating violence spanning decades, and reflected an ongoing inability to regulate his anger.

The tribunal found Ruru’s rehabilitation remained untested outside custody, and his refusal to take recommended psychiatric medication raised concerns about his capacity to manage his condition in the community.

While accepting his desire to change was genuine, the tribunal said there was no assurance he could do so, and assessed his risk of reoffending as at least moderate, if not higher.

Given the seriousness of harm that could follow, the tribunal found that risk unacceptable.

While the tribunal accepted Ruru would face hardship if deported to New Zealand, it ruled that this could not outweigh the need to protect the Australian community.

The tribunal ruled in favour of Ruru’s deportation.

Tara Shaskey is an assistant editor and reporter for the Open Justice team. She joined NZME in 2022 and has worked as a journalist since 2014.