A man wanting to be deported to New Zealand fears he will instead die of a heart attack, blocked from leaving Australia because he's a witness in a murder trial.
The detainee who is in his 60s, said the Immigration Department was asking him to make a will, while it kept him locked up.
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He signed up 11 months ago to be deported, after spending five months at the Villawood detention centre in Sydney, saying he was jailed for seven months before that for assault.
That was last June, the same month he appeared as a witness in a murder trial in northern New South Wales.
He had shared a house with the murder victim and the accused, and found the body.
But the trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court has been put on hold. RNZ News has approached the NSW Department of Public Prosecutions seeking more information.
Its highly unusual to detain a witness. But the fact that he's awaiting deportation means Australia can. But in the process, by keeping him locked in a prison with inadequate medical care, they've effectively given him a death sentence.
And once again, Key's government is silent. Shouldn't it be sticking up for kiwis in Australia's gulags? Or are they so craven they won't even speak out against an obvious abuse of process which may result in the effective murder of a New Zealand citizen?