Detainees’ multiple unpunished curfew breaches revealed

A list of AFP charges abandoned after a visa bungle shows the majority of the 10 former immigration detainees had allegedly committed multiple offences.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The majority of the 10 former immigration detainees who had charges against them dropped after a visa bungle had allegedly committed multiple offences.

The Australian has obtained a copy of the list of Australian Federal Police charges that had to be abandoned in March after an error was discovered in the visas issued to the 152 detainees freed from indefinite detention in the wake of a High Court decision.

The document shows one of the individuals had been charged with 10 separate counts of breaching curfew, while another three had also been charged with contravening bail conditions after being arrested multiple times for curfew breaches. Six of the 10 faced more than one charge.

The charges were all laid between December 8 and March 5. Each curfew breach carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail and a $93,900 fine, and a minimum mandatory sentence of one year’s jail.

It was previously revealed all breach-related charges against the 10 had to be dropped after commonwealth lawyers stumbled upon technical issues with the detainees’ visas. All 152 visas had to be reissued in March, with Immigration Minister Andrew Giles saying the issue dated back to the creation of the visa class in 2013.

At least two of the 10 who had charges dropped have allegedly reoffended since. Kuwait-born Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, a declared drug trafficker, was arrested last month after he was one of three men who burgled and bashed an elderly couple in the Perth suburb of Girrawheen.

He had also been convicted of one count of trespass and one count of driving without a licence in the weeks between having the curfew charges dropped and allegedly joining in the Girrawheen burglary.

Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, centre.

Abdelmoez Mohamed Elawad faced court in Melbourne this week on some 16 ­charges, including assaulting an emergency worker and multiple failures to adhere to a bridging visa and electronic monitoring. Elawad had been given bail after being charged with breaching visa conditions three days before – and on two occasions after – he allegedly stole groceries and threatened a police officer with a knife.

The details of the charges against the 10 former detainees were provided in response to a query from opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson at a recent Senate estimates hearing. “Just when you think Andrew Giles’ incompetence can’t get worse, we learn his failure to issue correct visas has meant serious recidivist criminals have got off consequence free,” Senator Paterson told The Australian.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“It is a disgrace that people accused of multiple visa breaches have walked free to reoffend against Australians because the Albanese government can’t get the basics right.”

When the visa issue first emerged in March, Mr Giles said it dated back more than a decade and had been swiftly resolved.

“I can assure everyone that the issues around community safety haven’t been compromised because continuous monitoring has been maintained. We’ve acted quickly to regrant those visas,” he said.

The issue means only one former detainee to date has been sentenced over curfew breaches.

Burundi-born Kimbengere Gosoge this week was handed a suspended one-year jail term for each of six visa-related charges against him. He will serve that time only if he commits another offence in the next two years.

During sentencing, it was revealed that since his release in November he had been convicted of stealing, possessing methamphetamine, and trespass. He is also accused of committing an aggravated burglary this year.

The Albanese government is also facing criticism over the changes it made to the way visa cancellations are assessed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.