Kiwi who killed a Melbourne motorcyclist in a hit-and-run to be deported from Australia

RNZ News

9 hours ago

By Tara Shaskey, Open Justice reporter of
Melbourne man Keith Stevens was fatally struck and dragged on his motorbike by a Kiwi teenager who failed to stop the car he was driving.
Photo:
Open Justice / NZME
The "inhumane" and "cruel" actions of a young Kiwi who killed a motorcyclist in a fiery hit-and-run have raised concerns for Australian officials and resulted in him being exiled from the country.
The New Zealand-born man was 17 when he failed to give way at a Melbourne intersection in a stolen BMW he was driving and collided with a motorcycle.
The bike and its rider, Keith Stevens, became trapped under the vehicle but the then-teenager continued to drive, dragging them for 85 metres.
The friction caused the motorcycle to burst into flames, engulfing Stevens and causing burns to 80 percent of his body.
When the driver, who had lived in Australia since he was 1, finally stopped, he reversed off the motorcycle and drove off at speed, leaving the 33-year-old father for dead.
Australian media reported the teen only paused to dislodge Stevens when his three teenage passengers begged him to do so.
Stevens died in hospital the next day after his life support was turned off.
After the November 2017 fatal crash in Mitcham, Melbourne, the car driver, who has not been named because of Australian laws around reporting youth offender matters, was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to six years' imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of four years.
In sentencing him, Judge Irene Lawson was brought to tears and needed a moment to compose herself when describing the void left by Stevens' death, according to Australian media.
She described the actions of the teenager as inhumane and cowardly.
As a result of his offending, his visa was cancelled in 2020 under section 501 of Australia's Migration Act.
His plea to have that decision revoked was declined and he then applied to the Administrative Review Tribunal of Australia for a review.
The review hearing for the now 25-year-old, who is currently detained in immigration detention, was held last month.
According to the decision, he moved to Australia as a 1-year-old with his family in 2001.
It stated he had a "difficult upbringing" that had, in part, influenced his offending.
He began smoking marijuana at 12, drinking alcohol around 14 and progressed to methamphetamine use at 16.
The decision reported he had displayed "anti-social behaviours" that had manifested into violence since he was young.
His conviction history showed frequent and repeated offending and that he was on youth parole for offences including burglary when he fatally hit Stevens.
Immediately after that collision, the teen ditched the stolen BMW and he and his associates ran up an embankment and jumped over a fence into a property.
They tried to kick down a door at the house but a female resident threw her weight against it so they couldn't get in.
They gave up but moved on to another home in the street, breaking in and stealing a car, a cellphone and a wallet.
That car was later found abandoned and destroyed by fire.
At his sentencing, the court heard the teen was egocentric, addicted to meth and had limited capacity for remorse at the time.
Australian media reported that he had called a friend in juvenile detention after the crash and said: "Even after the accident, bro, I didn't feel anything. Like, I didn't feel no pain, no emotions about it."
His friend then asked him if he cared about the life he had taken.
"Yeah, bro, I f***in' murdered a f***in' innocent 33-year-old man," he responded.
At the recent appeal, he told the tribunal he had not been remorseful for killing Stevens at the time but now accepted full responsibility and made no attempt to excuse his behaviour or to attribute blame to anyone else.
The tribunal accepted that he had matured and was truly remorseful.
The man attributed several factors to his youth offending, including parental neglect, poor mental health, anti-social peers and drug use, including meth, cannabis and ecstasy.
But his mental health and emotional and psychological issues have not been professionally addressed and he remains a risk of reoffending.
In his plea to remain in Australia, the man said he had no family support in New Zealand and was unfamiliar with the country.
His mother had "grave fears" that if deported, and without his Australian support network, he would fall into gang life and drugs and be at risk of serious physical, emotional and mental harm.
The tribunal accepted that, because of being incarcerated since he was a teen, he has no experience as an adult in the community and would face difficulties in adjusting to life in New Zealand without family support.
But the decision stated he was not unfamiliar with New Zealand, as movement records showed he had travelled to New Zealand 15 times during 2001 and 2015, and had a relative in Wellington.
While the tribunal accepted the man has strong and enduring ties to Australia, they were diminished by his extensive criminal record and his "very limited" positive contribution to the community.
In declining to revoke the cancellation of the man's visa, the tribunal stated the nature of the offending had raised serious character concerns about the man.
"The nature of the applicant's offending and the harm that would result if it were repeated are so serious that the countervailing considerations are insufficient to outweigh considerations of the protection of the Australian community and the expectations of the Australian community so as to justify revoking the cancellation of the applicant's visa."
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This story originally appeared in the
New Zealand Herald
.
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