WARNING: This article includes discussion of family violence offending and may be distressing. 

A New Zealand citizen who avoided deportation from Australia six years ago is being kicked out after ignoring a warning about his immigration status, and committing crimes. 

The man has lived in Australia since he was 15 and has Australian children. 

The crime which finally prompted the authorities to cancel his visa was his theft of 11 bottles of booze from liquor stores. 

Before then, however, the man had amassed a long criminal history dating back to 2010, when he was still a teenager. 

He has been living in New South Wales. 

The man’s name has been redacted from a decision of the Australian Administrative Review Tribunal, which recently considered the latest cancellation of his visa, but the document mentioned that he grew up in Hastings. 

He still has a sister living in Hawke’s Bay who has previously offered him support. 

The man’s criminal record includes possessing restricted drugs, assaulting police, common assault, domestic violence against women, breaching protection orders and drink-driving. 

Evidence given to the tribunal records incidents in which he spat on and lashed out at police officers while being arrested or in custody, lightly injuring one, and urinated on the floor of a police station. 

On another occasion, he drove to the shops while drunk with his young daughter in the car. On the way back, he crashed into a tree. 

The man had often offended violently against his intimate partners and police officers, sometimes in breach of anti-domestic violence orders, the tribunal decision said. 

In one of the family violence incidents, his partner fled to a neighbour’s house with the children, only to have him follow and bash aggressively on the front door. 

Police came and found the house where the man and the victim were living in “complete disarray”. His partner said that he had “destroyed her property in anger multiple times in the past”. 

He has had long-standing issues with drug and alcohol dependency. 

His latest convictions involved 11 charges of shoplifting after he stole bottles of alcohol, including vodka, some of which he drank and some of which he gave to a landlord in lieu of rent. 

He was sent to prison, and then transferred to an immigration detention centre after his visa to be in Australia was cancelled. 

In turning down his latest bid to remain in Australia, the tribunal noted that “the applicant gave evidence that he is prepared to engage in criminal conduct by shoplifting again if he feels that it is necessary to do so”. 

“I do not accept that there is evidence … that the applicant has achieved rehabilitation with regard to his demonstrated propensity to steal,” tribunal member Greg Weeks said. 

“Individuals and the Australian community generally will suffer financial harm if the applicant commits further shoplifting offences,” Weeks said. 

Weeks said that despite the man’s convictions, and increasingly heavy sentences, his offending had been “frequent and repeated”. 

“There is a significant likelihood that he will reoffend, particularly because I am not satisfied that his abuse of alcohol and drugs, which has been a factor in so much of his offending, has been adequately addressed or that he has been rehabilitated,” Weeks said. 

“I have found that the risk that the applicant may repeat the violent conduct for which he has previously been convicted is unacceptable.” 

Weeks said the man’s visa to be in Australia was first revoked in 2019 after he was convicted of offences which included intimidating and assaulting a police officer, common assault and stalking. 

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison on the assaulting police charge, and his visa was cancelled under Section 501 of the Australian Migration Act. 

The man has been living in New South Wales. Photo / 123RF 

However, the cancellation was later revoked at his request, and immigration authorities warned him that; “If you engage in further criminal or other serious conduct, in particular assaults on police officers, this may again result in your visa being cancelled on character grounds”. 

His visa was cancelled again after he was convicted of the shoplifting offences in 2024, for which he was jailed for 13 months. 

Weeks found that the seriousness of the man’s offending outweighed factors which could be taken in his favour, including his ties to his children in Australia. 

Weeks found that another person provides primary care for each of the children, and the man’s offending had a negative impact on his older daughters. 

A stepchild had been exposed to his family violence, and the man had been locked up for the entire time his youngest son had been alive. 

“The applicant’s ties to Australia and the best interests of his children have both been affected to a considerable degree by the nature, seriousness and frequency of the applicant’s offending and his consequent removal from the community on numerous occasions,” Weeks said. 

He declined to reinstate the man’s visa. 

FAMILY VIOLENCE 

How to get help: If you're in danger now: 

• Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours or friends to ring for you.
• Run outside and head for where there are other people. Scream for help so your neighbours can hear you.
• Take the children with you. Don't stop to get anything else.
• If you are being abused, remember it's not your fault. Violence is never okay.
Where to go for help or more information:
• Women's Refuge: Crisis line - 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843 (available 24/7)
• Shine: Helpline - 0508 744 633 (available 24/7)
• It's Not Ok: Family violence information line - 0800 456 450
• Shakti: Specialist services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and children.
• Crisis line - 0800 742 584 (available 24/7)
• Ministry of Justice: For information on family violence
• Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga: National Network of Family Violence Services
• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men's violence towards women.
 

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.