Young Apex-linked offender faces deportation after visa cancelled
PREMIER Daniel Andrews has backed the deportation of young thugs who have committed serious crimes and “abused the privilege” Australia offers. A young thug linked to Apex has had his visa cancelled and faces being booted from the country.
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PREMIER Daniel Andrews has backed the deportation of young thugs who have committed serious crimes and “abused the privilege” Australia offers.
A 17-year-old thug, linked by police to the Apex gang, has had his visa cancelled and faces being booted from the country once released on parole.
Investigators have described him as the “leader of the pack”.
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Mr Andrews said serious offenders placed little value on the opportunity to start a new and better life in Australia.
“I have a very common sense view of this,” he said.
“If you invite people around to your house and they behave appallingly, then you would ask them to leave, wouldn’t you?
“You might even say ‘well, you’ve got not say in it, you’re out’.
“Where there are people convicted of serious criminal offences, I fully support Victoria Police’s opportunity to make application to the Commonwealth and for those people to be sent on their way.”
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The thug, involved in home invasions and armed robberies, is only the fifth person under the age of 18 to have had their visa cancelled by the Australian government in the past decade.
A decision to cancel his visa by the Department of Home Affairs came after the Herald Sun revealed on Saturday that the teenager was now eligible for parole.
Once he is released from custody he will immediately be taken to an immigration detention centre for a brief stay before he is booted from the country. Barring a last-ditch appeal, the teen will then be put on a plane back to his country of birth.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has committed more than 100 offences and delights in violence and humiliating his victims, sources said.
He was also involved in the notorious Parkville Youth Justice Centre riot last year.
Investigators say the teen is a “high-risk recidivist offender who has an atrocious and consistent record ... he is only a minor but has faced over 100 criminal charges”.
Crimes he has committed include assault with a weapon, assault and aggravated burglary — breaking into a home while a victim is present.
He also has convictions for robbery, armed robbery, vehicle theft, dangerous driving, unlawful assault and threatening to inflict injury.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton refused to comment on the case but said he was open to a recommendation the age for visa cancellation be lowered from 18 to 16, as a general rule.
He said the government was considering how that could operate.
“We haven’t made a final decision, but the fact is that if you’re a 17-year-old kid running around in Melbourne smashing car windows, or following people home from restaurants of a night time to break into their house to steal their car, frankly you don’t deserve to become an Australian citizen,” he said.
“The fact that we have an arbitrary age of 18 at the moment, it is sensible to review that and to have a look at it because if you’re conducting yourself in the way that an adult criminal would just because you’re 17 years of age doesn’t mean the consequence shouldn’t follow.
“I’m going to continue to look at all of these ways that we can tighten up and make Australia a safer place and if we do that the public will have greater confidence in the migration program and ultimately families across the country will be safer if we rid ourselves of these criminals.”
A spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs said: “The Department continues to work closely with Victoria Police and other agencies to identify and, where appropriate, cancel visas of foreign nationals engaging in gang violence or other criminal activity.
“Foreign nationals who engage in criminal activity or other serious conduct of concern, regardless of their age or nationality, should generally expect to be denied the privilege of coming to, or to forfeit the privilege of staying in, Australia.”