NZ judges stop Kiwi athlete's extradition over historical Australian sex charges

New South Wales Police want a New Zealand man extradited to face trial in Sydney for historical sex charges. Photo / Supplied

Australia may seek further means to extradite a champion New Zealand athlete over historical sexual offending allegations when he was 14, despite our courts now refusing to surrender the young man.

The ongoing case is one of many extradition scenarios released to the Weekend Herald by the Ministry of Justice under the Official Information Act.

Born in New Zealand in the mid-1990s, the Kiwi man moved to Australia in 2008 to stay with his father, who began living with his partner and her 10-year-old daughter.

However, in 2010 the girl, with the support of her family, made a complaint to New South Wales Police, alleging the Kiwi man sexually abused her.

But our Court of Appeal has now blocked the prize-winning athlete's extradition, saying the "high threshold has been crossed".

"This is one of these rare cases where surrender to Australia should be restricted."

Before the courtroom debates and diplomatic arguments were held, the then teen's family, including his father, and with the help of outside agencies, agreed he would be sent to a youth refuge home to receive treatment and counselling after the incident.

Sydney police also accepted the family's wishes, rather than prosecute.

In the final days of 2010, with consent of the community centre and the girl's family, the Kiwi teen travelled with his father and his partner to New Zealand for a holiday.

They visited the teen's mum and other family members, who decided the young man would stay with his mother, who had legal custody of him, and later attend high school in Auckland.

But, in 2011, New South Wales Police decided to lay seven sex charges against the teen after the girl's family asked for a prosecution.

The following year, the teen's father committed suicide after an argument with the girl's mum.

Justice Minister Andrew Little may yet have to make a call on the Kiwi man's case. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Australian prosecutors proceeded with the case and in mid-2012 a Sydney court issued an arrest warrant for the Kiwi. Later that year, Detective Senior Constable Robert Potts, the Sydney officer in-charge of the case, also obtained approval to commence extradition proceedings.

In December 2012, Potts visited the teen at his home. A New Zealand detective spoke to the teen in the driveway about his school life and also spoke to his grandmother, while Potts waited by the police car.

At no stage throughout 2012, as Potts and Australian authorities planned their case against the teen, was the young man or his family told of the charges or a potential extradition.

New South Wales Police submitted an extradition request along with the first arrest warrant eight months later, but New Zealand authorities rejected it because of "differences in our countries' youth justice systems".

In mid-2013, Potts provided a replacement arrest warrant - but a second extradition request was also refused by New Zealand. Australian authorities have declined to disclose why the second attempt was rejected - claiming legal privilege.

A third extradition request was submitted in January 2016.

Justice Denis Clifford was one of three judges who said the delays had deprived the man the opportunity to be dealt with in Australia as a youth. Photo / File

In the meantime, however, the teen had voluntarily visited Australia twice - in January and March 2016.

There was an arrest alert issued which should have alerted New South Wales Police of the teen's return, but it had inadvertently lapsed and so he was able to return to New Zealand without incident.

The warrant for his arrest was finally served on the Kiwi in May 2016 and court proceedings here commenced as he fought to stay in the country.

Despite a delay of almost six years between the police complaint and the extradition papers, the New Zealand District Court ordered the teen be surrendered to Australia.

The High Court upheld the decision on appeal.

But three Court of Appeal judges disagreed.

Justices Christine French, Raynor Asher and Denis Clifford quashed the surrender order and warrant for detention order in their December judgment.

Judge Raynor Asher was on the Court of Appeal bench which decided surrender to Australia should be restricted. Photo / File

The judges said the delays in the case were the fault of the Australian authorities and not the teen and the hold-up "deprived [the teen] of the opportunity to be dealt with in Australia as a 14 or 15-year-old youth".

"Had he been dealt with then his chances of avoiding a custodial outcome would have been better than now, because the mitigating factors relevant to sentence arising because he actually was a child at the time of sentencing would have been available.

"Today he will be sentenced as an adult, albeit his culpability will be assessed taking into account that the offending took place when he was a child."

The judges said if the man was extradited his transition "from childhood to adulthood will be materially disrupted, if not destroyed".

"This oppression would not be remedied if there were a stay hearing in Australia. There is nothing before us to indicate that a stay would certainly be granted, and the Australian prosecutor will strongly oppose it."

Affidavits filed by the Australian Government also say bail will be opposed and claim the delay will also have a neutral effect on sentencing.

No decision has yet been made on whether Australian Government lawyers will appeal to the Supreme Court.

The teen, who denies the allegations and has no criminal convictions, has also asked for his case to be referred to the Minister of Justice because of its extraordinary circumstances.

Andrew Little's office did not reply to a request for comment on the case by deadline.

Other extradition requests

• Foreign governments have made nine extradition requests to New Zealand last year, but the details of all but one of the cases has been hidden by authorities.

•From 2014 to 2018 there have been 39 requests made by other countries to extradite people from New Zealand, Ministry of Justice records show.

•Some 19 have come from Australia, six from the United Kingdom, while 10 had the countries redacted by the Ministry of Justice.

•All but one of the extradition requests made last year were ongoing.

•The only extradition request unredacted from 2018 was for Paul Maroroa over the killing of Robert Sabeckis, who was shot dead on January 13, 2000 in an Adelaide carpark.

Paul Beveridge Maroroa was extradited to Australia last year over a cold case killing. Photo / Doug Sherring