Convicted criminal should receive $100k compensation - watchdog

Phillip Shayne Tapara was jailed for seven years for the 2009 road-rage attack. Photo / Thinkstock

A New Zealander who drove into a drunken pensioner on the Gold Coast should receive $100,000 compensation after being held in custody while awaiting deportation, Australia's human rights watchdog says.

Phillip Shayne Tapara, 49, who has convictions in New Zealand for kidnapping and armed robbery, was jailed for seven years for the "callous and deliberate" 2009 road-rage attack.

After serving 31 months behind bars, he was transferred to an immigration detention centre ahead of deportation.

In the 17 months he was there, he made ultimately unsuccessful legal appeals against being thrown out of the country.

But now, Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has claimed that Tapara's detention breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, according to The Australian newspaper.

The paper cites a report tabled in parliament this month where Professor Triggs argues that his detention was arbitrary and breached his rights under international law.

She claims that his detention arbitrarily interfered in relationships with his relatives, including with his wife and her children.

The government has rejected calls for compensation and an apology.