Tribunal overturns deportation of New Zealand man with violent criminal past in Australia

A New Zealander has avoided Australian deportation, with caring for his autistic brother being given as the main reason. Photo / 123rf

A New Zealand man involved in a gang-organised assault at a teenage birthday party has been allowed to remain in Australia because of the vital care he provides to his autistic brother.

The Australian Administrative Review Tribunal has overturned a mandatory visa cancellation decision against New Zealand citizen Cameron Ansah, finding that despite his serious criminal past, his strong family ties and low risk of reoffending outweighed the case for deportation.

Ansah was 7 years old when he moved from New Zealand to Australia.

Between 2018-2020, he was convicted of a series of violent crimes. His most notable offence was in August 2019, while a member of the Sydney youth gang “Greater West”, when he involved himself in an orchestrated assault on several victims at a house party using weapons such as machetes and knives.

The group were said to be looking for a rival from the “inner west” gang and although Ansah was found to have not used a weapon, he did participate in inflicting violence, putting two 19-year-olds and a 17-year-old in hospital.

Ansah was jailed for four years and four months for his role and, while incarcerated, was involved in several incidents that saw him not only as the aggressor, but also the victim of a stabbing to the neck.

He was released and went into an immigration detention centre in March 2023 to face mandatory deportation.

Ansah fought the deportation and in a recently released tribunal ruling, senior member Nicholas Manetta found there were a number of factors influencing the revocation of deportation, with the main one being his role in the family.

As the older brother of a sibling with autism who requires round-the-clock care, Ansah and his family said his brother’s condition had deteriorated markedly since Ansah’s imprisonment.

The tribunal accepted Ansah acted as a father figure in the household and his mother was struggling to cope with his care.

“These are important contributions that Mr Ansah makes to family life and his absence in New Zealand would be a significant blow to the family,” Manetta said in the decision.

The tribunal also found at the age of 25, Ansah had shown signs of remorse, a willingness to engage in psychological counselling and had refrained from seeking out former associates.

“A 25-year-old who has experienced jail and immigration detention as the precursor to deportation stands in a very different position to a 20-year-old who finds the prospect of engaging in a ‘war’ with other gangs exciting.”

The tribunal accepted that Ansah had no ties to New Zealand and would face significant challenges if deported. He also had a job offer from a friend willing to support his reintegration into the community.

However, the tribunal stressed that Ansah’s continued presence in Australia was conditional on his commitment to rehabilitation and avoidance of antisocial peers.

After weighing the seriousness of the offending against the low risk of future harm and the exceptional burden his removal would place on his family, the tribunal set aside the original decision and reinstated Ansah’s visa.

“This is very much a decision on balance having regard to the unusual factors in this case,” Manetta concluded.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.