Leroy Tsuro arrived in New Zealand in September 2016 – one day after police interviewed him about his alleged participation in a robbery at a Perth restaurant.
Leroy Tawanda Tsuro, now Leroy Lucas, is fighting extradition to Australia for a 2016 robbery.
He flew to Auckland one day after police questioned him about the incident.
The process has been delayed to the point that extradition would be “oppressive”, Tsuro argued.
One day after 18-year-old Leroy Tawanda Tsuro was questioned by police in Perth — on suspicion of participating in a violent robbery in which two people were attacked with meat cleavers — he got on a plane to Auckland.
That was in 2016, and he has beenin New Zealand ever since.
“Catch me if you can, motherf*****,” he is alleged to have dared Western Australia police on a phone call some time later.
It’s now been nine years, but Australian authorities are one step closer to catching up with Tsuro, who has since changed his name to Leroy Lucas.
In a decision issued yesterday, High Court Justice Mathew Downs upheld an extradition order issued by a District Court judge last year.
For a brief period, the robbery elicited widespread media attention in Australia. It was reported two masked men brandishing meat cleavers had entered a McDonald’s in the Perth suburb of Morley one night in September 2016.
“One of the men grabbed the female staff member ... and held the meat cleaver to her throat while banging on the till to get her to open it,” Detective Constable Ian Slivkoff said in a press conference a month later,the Western Australianreported.
Leroy Tsuro, who is also known as Leroy Lucas, flew to Auckland in September 2016, one day after police in Perth questioned him about a restaurant robbery in which two people were attacked with meat cleavers. He is fighting extradition. Photo / Western Australia Police Force
The other robber went to a back room to look for a safe and dragged out another employee, police said, describing both victims as having suffered minor injuries but still traumatised by the experience.
Police had initially questioned Tsuro 15 days after the robbery, but he was released due to lack of evidence, court documents for the extradition case showed.
The teen, a New Zealand citizen, arrived in Auckland on a flight with his stepfather.
Police later revealed a breakthrough in the case: a DNA test allegedly linked Tsuro to a piece of clothing worn by one of the victims. A warrant was issued for his arrest on a charge of aggravated robbery in December 2016, the first step in the extradition process.
Meanwhile, Tsuro’s co-defendant, Sun Lin Oo, pleaded guilty in January 2017 and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
But what might have otherwise been a straightforward process was significantly complicated in September 2017 when Tsuro committed aggravated robbery in New Zealand and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. He remained in prison or on parole until July 2020, during which time he was not eligible for extradition.
Australia’s extradition request was delayed again the following month due to Covid-19 border restrictions. The process did not resume until late 2022.
By that point, Tsuro’s lawyer argued, he had grown into adulthood and settled in as a New Zealand resident. It was argued it would be “oppressive” to surrender a person with so much time having passed, especially given his age at the time of the alleged offence.
Tsuro had turned his life around since leaving Australia, and extradition could endanger his rehabilitation efforts, lawyer Guneesh Jubal argued.
“It is respectfully submitted, due to the extensive time delay, the appellant has been able to assimilate in New Zealand, forming meaningful and positive relationships in New Zealand,” he said.
But Auckland District Court Judge Andrea Manuel disagreed that the passage of time was enough to warrant disregarding an extradition request.
Authorities in Western Australia want to extradite Leroy Tsuro, otherwise known as Leroy Lucas, following the September 2016 armed robbery of a McDonald's in Morley, a suburb of Perth. Photo / Google
“The delay in this case is neither extreme nor entirely due to the fault of the Australian authorities,” she decided.
“Moreover, he has contributed in part to the delay. He has not demonstrated that he has moved from childhood to adulthood or that he has a new and settled life, to the extent that oppression would arise if the application was granted.”
The judge endorsed the extradition order in January last year and Tsuro was arrested the following month. He has been in custody ever since.
Tsuro denied having made the “catch me if you can” comment or even characterising his move to New Zealand as having “fled” his circumstances in Australia. It was the partial basis for his appeal.
But Justice Downs sided with the District Court, stating the judge did not err in “drawing an inference of flight” given the evidence that was before her.
“No error has been demonstrated in relation to the judge’s decision surrender would not be oppressive,” Downs stated in his 11-page judgment. “The appeal is dismissed.”
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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