501 reprieve: Kiwi allowed to stay in Australia after police suspected Comanchero gang links

A 24-year-old Kiwi man is allowed to stay in Australia after his visa was cancelled due to suspicions he was associated with the Comanchero motorcycle gang.

Amieki Unu successfully appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that he should not be deported under Section 501 of Australia’s Migration Act.

Unu has been living in Australia since 2019.

He was convicted of assault in 2021 for what the sentencing magistrate called a serious episode of drunken street violence.

Unu and a group of people he knew had “fixated” on a car occupied by a man and his wife in what turned into an unprovoked attack in which several blows were dealt to the victim’s head.

Later that year, Unu was seen on CCTV footage in an apartment elevator with people the federal police believed to be Comanchero gang members.

In early 2022, he was photographed at the Comancheros’ “national run” in Melbourne.

A year later he was again convicted of assault after he got into a fight following a game of pool.

Unu was notified of the decision to cancel his visa in September 2023 on the grounds he did not pass the character test under Section 501 of the Act.

Unu told the tribunal his criminal offending happened when he was at a low point in his life physically and mentally - he had turned to alcohol and drugs and fell in with the wrong crowd.

He said he was striving to be a better person and recognised he needed to change for himself, his family and his fiancee.

Unu admitted becoming friends with one of the gang members he was seen with inside the elevator, Zack.

However, Unu said he didn’t realise Zack’s gang involvement until he saw him at the national run wearing gang apparel.

Unu maintained he was not a gang member and was only at the run to support his friend.

He denied being a nominee for the Comanchero gang and said it was possible some people may have thought that because he was seen hanging around with Zack at nightclubs.

Zack left the gang in 2022, and Unu cut ties with him after he received notice his visa could be cancelled.

The tribunal decided there was no reasonable suspicion of Unu having a gang association and he therefore passed the character test.

“The tribunal hopes that Mr Unu’s interactions with the criminal justice system and the migration system, most recently through the cancellation of his visa and a subsequent period of immigration detention, coupled with his desire to remain in this country to live and raise a family with his fiancee, and to also continue to provide for his family in New Zealand, will all act as protective factors to ensure that Mr Unu makes the most of the opportunity now provided to him to remain in the Australian community.”