Goya Dmytryshchak
A New Zealand citizen will be deported after serving 30 months’ jail for family violence, including kidnapping and assaulting his former spouse at Altona.
The 37-year-old man, identified as XLML, this month lost his bid to have his mandatory visa cancellation revoked by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia.
The tribunal heard that XLML, who first arrived in Australia in 2008, had appeared in Australian courts for sentencing over the period spanning from February, 2016 to May, 2019.
He was convicted and sentenced to a total of 30 months’ jail for aggravated burglary, theft, contravention of a family violence intervention order, intending to cause harm/fear, assault with a weapon and false imprisonment.
Senior Member Theodore Tavoularis, in upholding the visa cancellation, told the tribunal that XLML’s offending revealed a “predisposition towards violent offending in a domestic context” against his former spouse, that had affected their young children.
A Victoria Police report from 2015 stated that XLML had thrown a baby cot towards the victim and their children resulting in the first imposition of a Family Violence Safety Notice.
In another incident, in 2017, XLML had gone to the victim’s house and then driven her to an Altona boat club.
“The victim tried three or four times to get out of the car, and when she managed to get out of the car, the accused grabbed her and dragged her back in,” the police report states.
“The accused then drove to the Altona Roosters Rugby League Club and parked in the car park around the back.
“The victim’s window was slightly open and she tried to yell to another car that was parked in the car park for help but they didn’t hear her. The accused then put his hands over her mouth to stop her yelling.”
The tribunal heard XLML then drove the victim to two other locations and then back to Altona, dragging her back after she escaped from the car several times.
In the weeks before and after the kidnapping, XLML had on multiple occasions punched the victim in the face with his closed fist.
In one of the most recent incidents in 2018, the victim awoke to find XLML crouching beside her bed holding two butchers knives in his hands. He held one knife to her throat and the victim sustained wounds defending herself.
Mr Tavoularis said he had considered the expectations of the Australian community and risk of re-offending in rejecting XLML’s bid to remain in the country.
