Visa immigrants face shocking list of serious crimes including child abuse and domestic violence

EXCLUSIVE

A Bangladeshi man convicted of sexual assault last month is among a group of visa holders who walk freely in the community despite being taken to court for serious crimes.

The list includes a Syrian man on a protection visa who is out on bail, charged with multiple domestic violence offenses and will not face a hearing until next year.

A Pakistani national on a student visa has also been released on bail after being charged with crimes including deliberately recording and threatening to distribute an intimate image without consent, as well as attempted stalking and theft.

And a Sri Lankan man who was recently granted a protection visa is behind bars after he was allegedly caught with child abuse material, drugs and ammunition, but has not tried to apply for bail.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has been under increasing pressure to resign since the release late last year of more than 150 detainees, including murderers and sex offenders.

The High Court ruled in November that it is unlawful to detain foreigners indefinitely if there is no prospect of them being removed from Australia.

Daily Mail Australia has now obtained a list of visa holders who recently appeared in New South Wales courts who are not part of that cohort.

The 24-year-old Syrian man on a protection visa was brought to trial in May, charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of intentionally strangling a person with recklessness, three counts of common assault and one count of stalking /intimidation.

All of these charges relate to domestic violence and the man is also the subject of a temporary violence order.

Earlier this year, the same man was sentenced to 18 months’ parole after pleading guilty to driving with an illegal drug in his blood.

He has previous convictions for traffic offences, including driving while never having a driver’s license.

The 23-year-old Bangladeshi man on a student visa was convicted in May of two counts of sexually touching another person without consent.

A magistrate at a regional court sentenced the man to twenty months in prison, which he had to serve under an intensive correction order.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has been under pressure to resign since the release late last year of more than 150 detainees, including murderers and sex offenders. Mr Giles (left) is pictured with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

This means that he will not spend a day in prison, but will have to perform 250 hours of community service.

The 21-year-old Sri Lankan man on a protection visa was stopped and arrested by police in the state’s central west late last month after failing a roadside drug test.

A search of his car reportedly uncovered a large quantity of child abuse material, as well as cannabis, methylamphetamine and ammunition.

He was charged with possessing and distributing child abuse material, two counts of possessing a controlled drug and possessing ammunition without a licence.

The man, who lived in Queensland before his arrest, did not apply for bail.

A Home Office spokesperson said the ministry did not comment on individual cases.

In the latest debacle to rock the Department of Immigration, Mr Giles has backed away from claims that drones were used to monitor detainees released after the High Court ruling.

After saying drones were being used to monitor released prisoners, Mr Giles later admitted the technology had not been used for that purpose.

“I relied on the information provided by my department at the time and which has since been clarified,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Mr Giles has also said an updated ministerial directive allowing foreigners convicted of serious crimes to keep their visas will come into force within days.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal had used the controversial ‘direction 99’ to reinstate the visas of foreigners found guilty of such crimes.

Direction 99 had prioritized an offender’s ties to Australia and was established after New Zealand raised concerns about its citizens being deported despite having no ties to their home country.

Mr Giles has said the revised direction would place greater emphasis on the safety of the Australian community.

“It is clear that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal’s decision to reinstate these visas did not meet community expectations, and Ministerial Directive 99 has not worked as the government intended,” he said on Monday.

“The government is on course to review this regime and set a new course before the end of the week.”

Mr Giles said on Monday that 30 visas had been revoked last week for foreigners with serious criminal records.

“Community safety is our first priority and we will always act in the best interests of Australians,” he said.