Kiwi murderer deported from Australia has allegedly killed again

The killing occurred last week and the man has made a preliminary appearance in court. He cannot be named. Photo / iStock

A man deported from Australia after being convicted of a violent murder is before the courts for allegedly killing again in New Zealand.

It is understood he returned to this country about seven years ago.

The killing occurred last week and the man has made a preliminary appearance in court.

He cannot be named.

It is unlikely he was monitored after his return home because a supervision regime that allows the police and the Corrections Department to keep tabs on deportees was not put in place until last November.

The Government put the new regime in place to cope with the expected influx of deportees after Australia adopted a hard-line deportation policy at the end of 2014. Under it, Canberra can send home criminals who have served more than a year in prison or failed good character tests, even if they have spent most of their lives in Australia.

Prime Minister John Key has asked his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, to soften the policy but has so far been unsuccessful.

Mr Turnbull has said Canberra will apply its discretion in some cases, such as where the criminals have lived in Australia for a long time and have low-level convictions.

Labour's Corrections spokesman, Kelvin Davis, said he knew of the case of the man now before the courts and it showed the need for the supervision regime such as that put in place last year, as well as social support.

"It is an example when a deportee comes back and there is a Kiwi victim. Back when he came back, deportees were just let out of prison, put on a plane and came back here. Which is why the law put in place last year was so important. But while it's fine to have parole conditions, there are also social needs to look after."

Justice Minister Amy Adams said she could not comment on individual cases.

"But what I can say is that these situations highlight that New Zealand has been grappling with the issues of deported offenders for a long period of time before I took steps to institute a supervision regime."

She said those being deported back included serious and violent offenders and there was always a risk of reoffending, as there was with offenders released from New Zealand prisons.

"But the law change has gone a long way towards mitigating that risk."

Ms Adams has previously said it was possible deported criminals would reoffend once back in New Zealand. That was why the Government had bolstered information-sharing from Australia so it knew who was returning and when, and put in place processing and supervision for the more-serious offenders.

Last week, the minister released figures showing 105 had been deported to New Zealand since November, of whom 73 were immediately placed under supervision.

The rest did not qualify for supervision because they had served less than a year in prison or were deported on character grounds rather than for a conviction.

Of the 73 placed under supervision, 40 had special conditions imposed, such as electronic monitoring or a residential restriction.