Iranian man says he rammed into back of police car on Gold Coast so he would be deported
A court has heard a foreign national who drove into the back of a police car on the Gold Coast this morning told officers he did so for a very unusual reason.
Crime and Court
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AN Iranian national accused of ramming a police car which injured two police officers on the Gold Coast today allegedly did so in an attempt to be deported from Australia, a court has been told.
Ramin Kazemi, 30, fronted the Southport Magistrates Court today where he wanted to plead guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
He allegedly drove a car into the back of a marked police car on Peninsula Dr in Surfers Paradise at 2.35am today.
Police objected to allowing Kazemi to plead guilty today because the matter was still under investigation.
Police prosecutor Caitlin Usher said police allege Kazemi “smirked” at officers following the crash.
She said he allegedly stated he rammed into the car because he wanted to be deported back to Iran.
Ms Usher said Kazemi showed “absolutely no remorse” for his alleged actions.
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Ms Usher said police objected to bail over concerns Kazemi would commit offences in an attempt to be deported.
Defence lawyer Lisa Searing said Kazemi had recently had his permanent residency refused.
Ms Searing said Kazemi did not have any money and was not allowed to work on his current visa.
She said Kazemi told her he was allegedly involved in the crash because he wanted to be deported.
She said he said he was not aware of any other way to go about being deported.
She said the work Kazemi was doing had recently finished and now he was “waiting for his temporary visa to run out”.
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Ms Searing said Kazemi was “teary” and “stressed” while explaining his situation to her in the watchhouse.
She said he now knows he has other options to get deported like contacting immigration directly and asking them to revoke his current visa and going into immigration detention until authorities were ready to send him home.
In making an application for bail Ms Searing said Kazemi was not likely to be imprisoned for the offence if he pleaded guilty.
Ms Searing said Kazemi had heard of recent high profile cases of foreign nationals being deported for committing serious offences.
Two police officers involved in the collision this morning received whiplash.
Magistrate John Costanzo refused bail and adjourned the matter until Thursday.
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