A Comancheros bikie boss has lost his lengthy appeal to avoid deportation to New Zealand, after years of exile on Christmas Island.
Former sergeant-at-arms of the Canberra chapter of the Comancheros Sosefo Tu’uta Katoa, 28, faces being kicked out of Australia after he lost an appeal to the High Court on Wednesday.
Former Home Affairs minister David Coleman ordered Tu’uta Katoa’s expulsion from Australia by way of cancelling his visa on character grounds in 2019.
Tu’uta Katoa had been remanded over charges including bomb possession and blackmail at the time.
He had also previously been convicted of multiple other offences including a serious assault charge.
Ex-Sergeant-at-arms of the Comancheros Canberra chapter Sosefo Tu’uta Katoa has been detained on Christmas Island as he fought to remain in Australia
Tu’uta Katoa (pictured) had multiple previous convictions and was up on other serious charges when the then-Home Affairs minister ordered his visa be cancelled
Tu’uta Katoa has witnessed riots on Christmas Island and has made multiple appearances in New Zealand media to complain about the conditions during his stay on the island
In 2019, the ACT Magistrates Court heard police also suspected the bikie was involved in as many as 28 gang shootings and 33 arsons.
The Comanchero has been confined off mainland Australia in immigration detention on Christmas Island under the Migration Act as he has appealed the decision to cancel his visa.
Tu’uta Katoa told New Zealand media he didn’t enjoy the conditions on Christmas Island on multiple occasions.
He spoke to a New Zealand podcast The Felon Show about the ‘horrendous conditions’ on the island in an episode on detainees.
‘Sometimes I say to myself I’d prefer to die than being in this place (Christmas Island),’ he told New Zealand’s Newshub following a riot on the island last year.
Tu’uta Katoa missed the original deadline to review Mr Coleman’s visa decision in 2019 but had his lawyers submit for an extension of time to argue the minister had failed to give him due presumption of innocence by factoring in the unproven charges.
‘In relying on the charges laid against the (Tu’uta Katoa) in support of a determination that (he) posed a risk of reoffending and/or a risk to the Australian community, the Minister… acted contrary to the presumption of innocence and therefore committed jurisdictional error,’ Tu’uta Katoa’s lawyers submitted.
In August last year, a Federal Court justice dismissed his case.
Tu’uta Katoa then made a successful application for special leave to appeal that decision to the High Court.
Tu’uta Katoa battled his visa cancellation while in detention on Christmas Island (pictured)
Tu’uta Katoa (pictured) has exhausted all the avenues for appealing his visa cancellation by former Home Affairs minister David Coleman, who declared the Comancheros bikie a threat to the ‘national interest’
Tu’uta Katoa was up on charges of affray and possession of a bomb when he was sent to Christmas Island (pictured) after his visa was cancelled
On Wednesday, the High Court closed the door on Tu’uta Katoa’s final attempt to stay in Australia.
The unanimously dismissed the application, finding the Federal Court justice had acted within jurisdiction in refusing Tu’uta Katoa’s earlier appeal.
With no avenues left to appeal, Tu’uta Katoa now faces deportation to New Zealand.