The brother of a man allegedly murdered by a former immigration detainee said his family had been let down by a system that fails to protect the community.
Lambert Niyuhire said alleged killer Emmanuel Saki should never have been released from detention, given his long history of offending.
“To just be released into the public with no restrictions, no curfew, no nothing … how does somebody be out in the public like that?” Niyuhire told 9News.
“It’s ridiculous, it’s like a spit in the face. There’s no protection at all. This could have been prevented … definitely should’ve been prevented. Should’ve never happened.”
9News revealed this week that Saki was released from immigration detention in April after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) decided he was “now a low risk of reoffending”.
This was despite the AAT noting his “frequent” offending and its “trend of increasing seriousness”, which saw Saki convicted of more than 40 offences as an adult and one as a 17-year-old between 2012 and 2018, in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland.
Seven weeks after his release from Western Australia’s Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, he is alleged to have fatally stabbed 22-year-old acquaintance Bosco Minyurano at Acacia Ridge, a southern Brisbane suburb.
“Bosko was a great guy,” Niyuhire said.
“He was a brother, an uncle, a son, loving father. I’m just more devastated for my mum – this is her second loss in Australia. We came to Australia for a better life.”
Saki’s humanitarian visa was cancelled on character grounds in October 2019, after he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for strangling and choking his former partner until she was unconscious the year before.
AAT deputy president Stephen Boyle overturned the 2019 decision, saying he accepted that Saki’s “risk of reoffending is low, that he now accepts responsibility for his actions and is remorseful for the harm that he has caused”.
The Federal Opposition accused Immigration Minister Andrew Giles of contributing to Saki’s release by directing the AAT to give a “higher level of tolerance” to non-citizens who’ve lived in Australia from a very young age.
Saki, who is Sudanese-born, was 11 when he arrived in Australia from Egypt with his father and siblings on humanitarian visas.
Shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan said Giles should have used his ministerial powers to overturn the AAT decision and put Saki back into detention.
“Was the reason he didn’t make that ministerial intervention because of the changes he made to immigration law through Ministerial Direction 99 which requires the AAT to take into consideration the length of time an individual has spent in Australia?” Tehan asked.
“And if so, will he now rescind that Ministerial Direction? Andrew Giles has failed continuously in his number one duty to keep the Australian community safe.”
A spokesman for the Minister said Giles was “seeking urgent advice” about Saki.
“Our thoughts are with the victim’s family,” the Minister said through a spokesman.
“I want to reassure the community that this person is now in custody with a police investigation underway.
“This was a decision of the AAT to overturn the cancellation of the individual’s visa. The Ministerial Direction places a significant emphasis on serious offending and family violence – which needs to be considered in all matters.
“As this matter is before the courts I won’t comment further.”
