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Ricardo Young was aboard one of the first flights for Kiwi deportees out of Australia almost a decade ago. Adrift in New Zealand, he found solace in the Comancheros and became embroiled in a drug ring. Now he’s been given a second chance and avoided jail. George Block reports.
At his sentencing, Judge Evangelos Thomas described the effects of the controversial Australian immigration policy on New Zealand as “brutal” in reducing his sentence from a starting point of several years in prison.
They required the cancellation of the visas of any foreign national sentenced to a prison term of over a year. Their visas can also be voided on “‘bad character” grounds or for associating with known criminals.
Many have struggled since being uprooted under the new rules over the better part of a decade, with minimal connections to New Zealand beyond their passport.
Young told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2015, as he awaited deportation in the notorious Christmas Island detention centre, that he had lived in Australia since age 4 and had a partner and daughter in Sydney.
He said he had previously played grade rugby league for the St George Illawarra Dragons.
His sentence of two years for aggravated robbery ended that year. Upon his release he was transferred first to Villawood Detention Centre then to Christmas Island after a raid in the middle of the night.
On Monday, he appeared in the Auckland District Court for sentencing after admitting charges of money laundering, possession of methamphetamine for supply and possession of ammunition.
His lawyer Jasper Rhodes said the process of deportation and estrangement from his family was traumatic for Young.
“He was on the first or second plane out of Australia,” he said.
The conditions he endured while held at Christmas Island thousands of kilometres from his family were appalling, and he had little support upon his return to New Zealand, Rhodes said.
“He came back to New Zealand not really knowing what to do with these people.”
His initial response was to turn to the only group of people who seemed able to offer him support - The Comancheros - a feared Australian biker gang that set up a Kiwi chapter after over a dozen members were deported as 501s.
Young has now cut ties with the gang, Rhodes said.
A Harley-Davidson was seized in the raids executed after police organised crime investigators initiated Operation Maddale. Photo / NZME
Alongside other Kiwi Comancheros, Young went down for his involvement in a methamphetamine syndicate in Auckland, though he does not appear to have been a ringleader.
In 2018, two men joined forces to run a car importation business from a yard in Bentinck St, New Lynn.
It was not long before their venture became a vehicle for importing methamphetamine into New Zealand and distributing the drug up and down the country.
Many of the cars had hidden compartments to conceal the drug.
It was a wholesale operation, with a principal supply chain leading directly to the Head Hunters and Comancheros.
The syndicate employed a large number of people in various roles.
Twenty people were charged when the police investigation into the syndicate, Operation Maddale, was terminated in 2019.
Young’s role was mainly collecting cash from Bentinck St in order for it to be remitted offshore for drug payments.
While making his cash pick-ups, he was followed on four occasions by an undercover police surveillance unit.
On May 5, 2019 police searched his car and found $165,000 in cash.
Three months later they found $114,000 in his house alongside 9mm rounds of ammunition and 43g of meth.
Crown prosecutors accepted the meth wasn’t his and Young was simply acting as a custodian for the Class A drug.
Judge Thomas said Young would have laundered at least $300,000.
“You would have known where that cash would have come from.”
Judge Evangelos Thomas sentenced Young to nine months home detention. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The judge adopted a starting point of four years on all charges.
He applied a 20 per cent discount because Young had admitted the charges soon after the Crown offered a plea deal.
Young had offered to plead guilty to the same deal much earlier in the court process, the judge noted.
The judge offered further substantial discounts for cultural factors outlined in a report.
“We know that people don’t offend simply because they want to offend,” Judge Thomas said.
“They have choices they can make every day. We understand for a lot of people, they don’t see a lot of options for themselves.
“You fit exactly in that category.”
Added to that was his status as a 501 deportee.
“It’s not for me to comment on the policies of a foreign government,” Judge Thomas said.
“But what I will say is we all know is the effects of that policy are brutal.”
Judge Thomas noted he had earlier sentenced Young to a term of intensive supervision for family violence. He had complied well with that sentence, the judge said.
He sentenced Young to a term of nine months’ home detention, with conditions not to use alcohol or drugs and not to associate with the Comancheros.
