28 criminals deported to New Zealand from Australia

A convicted paedophile who pretended to be pop star Justin Bieber to lure young girls is one of 28 criminals flown out of Australia during a special Border Force operation.

A paedophile who was jailed for six years for pretending to be an international pop star Justin Bieber online so that he could prey on young girls has been deported as part of a special Border Force operation

The man was among 28 criminals flown on two special Australian Border Force charter flights to New Zealand last week after having their Australian visas cancelled.

Among the crimes committed by the offenders included trafficking methamphetamine, causing grievous bodily harm, domestic violence, assault occasioning bodily harm and affray and child sex offences.

Convicted criminals board a chartered Australian Border Force (ABF) plane. Picture: ABF

The New Zealand citizens who were living and working in Australia prior their visas being cancelled after being convicted of a serious crime had spent the past few months in immigration detention centres in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne while awaiting their deportation.

With commercial flights grounded as a result of the pandemic — the criminals are flown under heavy security — the government has been forced to use charter flights.

The Auckland-bound flights took place on November 17 and 18.

Under the Migration Act, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is able to cancel a visa if a person is considered to not be of good character.

One of the men is led on to the plane by authorities. Picture: ABF

A person can fail the character test for a number of reasons, including but not limited to circumstances where a non-citizen has a substantial criminal record.

The majority of those removed last week had their visas cancelled under s501 of the Migration Act 1958 for failing the character test.

Non-citizens who are found to not meet character requirements, and whose visas are cancelled, are not entitled to remain in Australia.

One of the men boards the chartered plane back to New Zealand. Picture: ABF

In 2014, IT expert Kent Andrew Garrett, then 42, pleaded guilty to a total of 29 charges relating to grooming girls as young as 12 online while pretending to be singer Justin Bieber.

Garrett, who emigrated with his wife from New Zealand in 2007, had been regarded as a man of above-average intelligence who had come to Australia to pursue IT opportunities.

His online activities were uncovered by Australian Federal Police officers who accessed his laptop internet browser after his arrest to find that he had set up a fake Hotmail account with a profile picture of the Canadian pop star.

His court hearing heard how Garrett’s inbox contained emails with attachments of images of young girls exposing their breasts and genitals.

It also heard how he operated a Facebook and Tinychat account also claiming to be Justin Bieber.

The criminals were deported to New Zealand. Picture: ABF

Garrett pleaded guilty to charges including using a carriage service to groom a person under the age of 16 for sexual activity, using a carriage service to access child pornography, using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, using a carriage service to transmit child pornography and soliciting child pornography using a carriage service between 2009 and 2012.

Garrett was jailed for six years with a non-parole period of four years.

He was also placed on a sex offender register for life.

Home Affair Minister Peter Dutton said while the deportation program had been impacted by the pandemic, the Government’s resolve to remove criminal non-citizens was “never stronger”.

“The message remains very clear,” Mr Dutton said.

“Foreign criminals who cause harm to Australians are not welcome in our country and they will be deported as soon as possible.”

Originally published as 28 criminals deported to New Zealand from Australia