Released detainee accused of burglary to plead guilty to curfew breaches

Kimbengere Gosoge opted not to apply for bail during a brief appearance via video link in the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Kimbengere Gosoge opted not to apply for bail during a brief appearance via video link in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday.

A Perth magistrate will decide next week whether a Burundi-born man should become the first former immigration detainee to be jailed for breaching his curfew conditions, in the latest test of the judiciary’s treatment of the cohort.

Kimbengere Gosoge opted not to apply for bail during a brief appearance via video link in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday, with his lawyer instead indicating that he wished to plead guilty to six charges related to breaches of his visa-mandated curfew.

Gosoge, 42, was arrested by Australian Federal Police two weeks ago after allegedly breaching his curfew requirements five times in as many days.

He was also charged with one count of failing to maintain a monitoring device.

Gosoge was out on bail at the time of his latest arrest, having previously been charged this year with one count of aggravated home burglary.

He is due to appear in court on that matter in early June. Each of the six curfew-related charges against him carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and/or a $93,900 fine. While several former detainees have been charged over the curfew breaches, Gosoge’s early indication of a guilty plea means it is likely he will be the first to be sentenced.

Gosoge had previously faced deportation after being convicted of burglary and stealing in 2017. In that instance, he was given a six-month community-based order for a charge of being armed or pretending to be armed in a way that may cause fear and one charge of burglary, and was fined $500 for three counts of stealing and one count of breaching a bail undertaking.

He had languished in indefinite immigration detention ever since, before he became one of the 152 people in indefinite immigration detention to be released following last year’s High Court decision.

Gosoge is one of several former detainees to have been arrested for curfew breaches in recent months.

Some, such as Sudanese-born Abdelmoez Mohamed Elawad, have been arrested several times over breaches. Elawad appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday night after being arrested on curfew breaches for a fifth time. He has also been charged over an incident last month in which he threatened a police officer with a knife after he had stolen some groceries, while late last year he was arrested after he stole luggage from a traveller who was asleep at Melbourne Airport.

Another former detainee, Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, was last month charged over his involvement in an attack on grandparents Ninette and Philip Simons in the Perth suburb of Girrawheen, in which he and his accomplices allegedly stole more than $200,000 of jewellery and other items and bashed Mrs Simons into unconsciousness.

Doukoshkan, a Kuwait-born Iranian, had previously been bailed over several curfew breaches and convictions of trespass, and driving without a valid licence. He had been unable to be deported after he served a sentence of eight years in prison for his role in trying to distribute “serious” amounts of methamphetamine across Western Australia. Doukoshkan is now behind bars and will face court with his co-accused next month.