Sudanese youth wins right to stay in Australia after jail time

A talented Sudanese youth who grew up in poverty in Tasmania has won the right to stay in Australia after he was jailed interstate for fraud crimes.

A SUDANESE refugee who grew up in Tasmania has successfully fought a ministerial decision to deport him after he was jailed for a “sophisticated enterprise” using stolen credit cards.

The man, now 21, arrived in Tasmania under a global humanitarian visa when he was six years old with his mother and three siblings, but the family struggled financially and at first spoke only Dinka.

As a teenager, he excelled in basketball and was selected to train at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra but his family couldn’t afford for him to compete in tournaments held across the country, according to a recent Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision.

About three years ago, the court heard, the youth moved to Perth to join his two older brothers but started committing crimes of dishonesty and fraud.

“He said that he initially committed offences of dishonesty in order to gain money so that he could attend basketball tournaments,” tribunal member Tigiilagi Eteuati said in his decision.

“However, the applicant said that eventually, he was simply offending to gain money to spend.”

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The youth and an accomplice would buy stolen credit cards from the internet, often from an overseas website, then visit stores and approach junior staff members who lacked experience.

He was jailed in Queensland during August 2018 for 18 months, to be suspended after serving four months, after fraudulently obtaining about $30,000 worth of goods including two second hand vehicles, scratchy cards, iTunes cards, iPhones, crypto currency, a laptop and jewellery.

The man argued that if he were deported back to Africa, it would be unlikely he’d ever see his Australian partner or baby daughter again.

He also said Australia was the only country he knew and the home of all his family and friends.

“The applicant indicated that his father had been killed when he was very young, resulting in him growing up without a father,” Mr Eteuati said.

“He indicated that he did not wish for his daughter to have to grow up without a father. He said that he now realised that his fraudulent offending for financial gain was ‘not worth it’.”

The tribunal member, in revoking the decision to cancel his visa, noted the man had been imprisoned twice for a number of offences, but hadn’t committed violent or sexual crimes.

“The tribunal has found that the applicant’s crimes are at the lower end of the spectrum of seriousness,” he said, noting the man had “strong and enduring ties to Australia forged over a lifetime”.