A murderer’s appeal to avoid deportation has failed.
An appeal was made by Kamal Gyanendra Reddy, 46, on humanitarian grounds to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal whose decision was recently released.
Reddy was convicted in 2016 of murdering his girlfriend Pakeeza Yusuf of Bucklands Beach and her three-year-old daughter Juwairiyah “Jojo” Kalim in 2006 or 2007. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum period of imprisonment of 21 years. He will be eligible for parole in 2036.
Reddy’s liability for deportation arises from his convictions in 2011 and 2012 for drink driving. The primary issue on appeal is whether Reddy has established that there are exceptional humanitarian circumstances arising out of his connections to, and his time in, New Zealand.
Counsel for the Immigration Ministry Murray Denyer submitted Reddy does not have exceptional humanitarian circumstances.
Born in Fiji, Reddy first entered New Zealand in August 2004 where he intended to find work and establish a future for his son. He found work as a mechanic and started his own business in 2007. In September that year he was granted residence in NZ as a skilled migrant.
The decision notes the son, now 22, would be forced to live apart from his father for the foreseeable future whether the father is deported or not.
If Reddy is deported, the son had a genuine choice whether to follow his father to Fiji, said Denyer. Reddy has family in Fiji including his daughter, father and two brothers.
In early 2006, a couple, their young child and the couple’s parents came to live with Reddy at his house. After the couple separated there was an incident at his house in late 2006 which resulted in him being charged with assault with a weapon on the husband and threatening to kill the husband and the partner.
In January 2007, when the partner did not appear at the court hearing, police withdrew the charges of threatening to kill the husband and partner. Reddy admitted assault with a weapon on the husband and was granted a discharge without conviction.
Reddy confirmed that in 2014 he confessed to an undercover police officer that, in late 2006, he murdered the partner and her child and buried them on a construction site. Their bodies were found beneath a bridge on the North Shore.
The Ministry submits that there is a strong public interest in Reddy not remaining in New Zealand because of the public abhorrence of the appellant’s murders and his “modest ties” in New Zealand through his son.
The tribunal found there were no expectional circumstances of a humanitarian nature “that make it unjust or unduly harsh for the appellant to be deported from New Zealand. Reddy’s appeal was declined.
Police said in a statement following sentencing in 2016 that it was a difficult investigation from the outset due to the long period of time that passed between Pakeeza and Juwairiyah going missing and the investigation commencing.
Police said after sentencing they were pleased that Mr Reddy had been held to account for the murders and that the investigation also resulted in the location of their bodies in circumstances where it was unlikely they would have otherwise been recovered.
“We are pleased to have been able to provide answers to Pakeeza and Juwairiyah’s family. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the police staff who worked on various phases of the investigation to solve a brutal and tragic double murder.”
A statement from Mubarak Rojina Banu, the mother and grandmother of Pakeeza Yusuf and Juwairiyah Kalim at the time said:
“It has been a long time coming but finally justice has been served. My daughter and granddaughter were taken from me more than nine years ago. My family and I have gone through tremendous pain for seven years not knowing their whereabouts and then finding out what happened to them at the hands of the accused in 2007.
“All these years at the back of my mind I was thinking my daughters were living a better life in Australia but, in reality, they had a brutal death and ended up being dumped under a bridge.”
