By ALESHA CAPONE
A YOUNG man with a history of committing crimes in the West has had his visa cancelled.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld the Minister for Immigration’s decision to cancel the temporary visa of the New Zealander, aged 20.
AAT deputy president Stephanie Ann Forgie re-affirmed the Minister’s decision on the grounds the offender’s violent behaviour posed a risk to the community.
Ms Forgie said since the male arrived in Australia with his parents in 2006, he had been convicted of a “considerable number of offences” in the Sunshine Children’s Court and the County Court.
The court heard the offender had his “first brush” with the law at 15 when the Hoppers Crossing Secondary College principal took a trespass order out against him, which he breached twice.
In January this year, the man faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to robbing and assaulting another male at Sunshine Railway Station.
His other criminal charges included criminal damage, unlawful assault, shoplifting, assault with a weapon, armed robbery, recklessly and intentionally causing injury and being drunk in a public place.
“His violence has led to one of his victim’s suffering a broken nose and another had serious injuries including a knocked out tooth and a fractured cheekbone,” Ms Forgie said.
“Others have been threatened with weapons including a pole, a broken bottle and, in his third reported offence, a pair of bolt cutters.”
Ms Forgie said she understood her decision to cancel the man’s visa would be difficult for his parents, who “have stood by him during at least five very difficult years”.
“He is, however, a young man who finds himself with a long list of very serious offences behind him and who, I have decided, is at high-risk of behaving violently and inflicting harm on the Australian community should he be permitted to remain,” she said.
