Rogue Darwin taxidermist to stay in Australia after appealing deportation on character grounds

Rogue Darwin taxidermist Keerthi Raja Eswaran who was jailed for more than a year for hundreds of wildlife offences last year will be allowed to remain in the country after successfully appealing his deportation.

Keerthi Raja Eswaran will not be booted back to India despite spending more than a year in jail.

A ROGUE Darwin taxidermist jailed for more than a year for hundreds of wildlife offences will be allowed to remain in the country after successfully appealing his deportation.

Indian national Keerthi Raja Eswaran was handed a 23-month jail sentence — to be suspended after 13 months — in May last year after breaching an earlier suspended sentence for more than 350 offences, making him Australia’s most prolific wildlife criminal.

Eswaran’s visa was cancelled on character grounds in November but he appealed that decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia shortly before he was due for release last month.

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A statement of facts tendered to the tribunal reveals further details of the crimes that first brought Eswaran before the court in 2017.

Tribunal member Rebecca Bellamy said the facts showed Eswaran and three others were on a hunting trip the previous December in which they “set out to hunt and collect wildlife across the NT”.

“They drove down a dirt road where they located a donkey — the applicant shot the donkey, cut off its head and left it there to collect at a later time,” she said.

Later in the trip, Ms Bellamy said Eswaran “fired several rounds at a group of camels, killing three of them”.

“He removed their heads and put them in bags which he put into the vehicle,” she said.

“The following day, they travelled back to the location where the applicant had killed the donkey and the applicant collected the donkey’s head and put it on the roof of the vehicle.”

Eswaran then shot and killed a number of protected native birds, including brolgas, grebes and wedge tail eagles and collected their carcasses.

The judgement also sheds light on the mysterious disappearance of four cats Eswaran adopted from animal shelters in 2013, with Ms Bellamy ultimately accepting he did not kill them.

Rather, Eswaran told the tribunal he put them in a cage for “three or four days” before “unexpectedly” going overseas.

“He said he was told that the neighbour’s dog subsequently broke into the property, opened the cage and the cats were gone — he did not explain how the dog could have opened the cage,” Ms Bellamy said.

“He said that he could get dead cats for free from animal hospitals if he wanted to so he had no reason to adopt cats and kill them. I am prepared to accept that.”

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In overturning the decision to cancel his visa, Ms Bellamy found that while there was “no doubt” Eswaran failed the character test, it would be in the best interest of his young, Australian-born son to allow him to stay.

“Remaining in Australia means (the child) will have access to the support services he needs but he will not have his father physically present in his life on a consistent basis (if he’s deported),” she said.

“I am satisfied that he would play a positive parental role in (the child’s) life if he remained in Australia.”