Immigrants earn reprieve from deportation
5:00AM Tuesday March 11, 2008
By Patrick Gower
A Tongan man who sexually abused a 14-year-old girl is allowed to stay in New Zealand - because his family could not cope with village life back in the Islands.
Siale Fehoko was convicted of two counts of sex with an underage girl in 2004, which he said was "consensual".
He spent 18 months on home detention, then received a deportation order as the offending was within five years of getting permanent residence in 2000.
Fehoko successfully appealed against the order at the Deportation Review Tribunal, with a ruling released yesterday saying he could stay because leaving would be "unjust or unduly harsh" on his New Zealand-born-wife and their five children.
The tribunal said the wife, Tanya Cleaver, gave "compelling evidence" she would not be able to cope in Tonga, or cope with the children on her own in New Zealand.
This included Ms Cleaver's previous experience of Tonga where violence was "normal", how taro made her feel ill, how they would have just one meal a day.
Fehoko, 32, came to New Zealand in 1997 and became an overstayer shortly afterwards when his permit expired.
The couple married before he was removed back to Tonga in 1999.
Their first child was born shortly afterwards in New Zealand, and Ms Cleaver and the baby visited Fehoko in Tonga.
He was allowed back in 2000.
They had their fifth child after the deportation order was issued in 2005.
The tribunal said Fehoko had described how Ms Cleaver "was scared of the dark, the food made her sick and she could not handle the heat" during the 2000 visit.
Ms Cleaver described how his family "didn't even have a proper house", how her fair skin burned and an injured leg became so infected it nearly had to be amputated.
She said their children had illnesses that would be difficult to treat in Tonga, she had a part-time job here and they were trying to pay off debts.
The tribunal was also told that Mr Fehoko's offending was out of character and that he had a steady job with the support of his employer.
The tribunal found Fehoko's deportation would result in the "disintegration of the family unit".
Because there was such a low risk of reoffending, the tribunal said it would not be contrary to the public interest to let him stay.
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A Samoan man who chased a neighbour with a machete has been allowed to stay - because his son suffers severe autism and would miss out on specialised care.
Kalolo Tupuola, also known as Kalolo Talo, was convicted of assault with a weapon in 2005 and sentenced to 20 months' jail.
His deportation order was overturned by the Deportation Review Tribunal in a decision released yesterday that said the "humanitarian circumstances" involving his New Zealand-born 9-year-old son meant it would be unduly harsh.
Tupuola arrived in 1996 and was here unlawfully until obtaining a work permit in 2000.
His assault conviction related to an incident where he chased a Tongan neighbour into a garage, slashing a sheet over the doorway with the machete, then swinging and missing the offender with the weapon.
The tribunal said there was no suggestion Tupuola hit the neighbour.
Tupuola had other convictions for drink-driving, careless use of a vehicle, breaching a liquor ban and assault with a blunt instrument that involved throwing a chair at a friend during a drunken argument.
The tribunal said the autistic son needed 24-hour care for the rest of his life.
In New Zealand the son could get medication, treatment, special education, respite care and the support of extended families that he could not get in Samoa.
Tupuola had a good work ethic and a supportive employer.
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