Kiwi with history of armed kidnappings, carjacking, home invasion to be deported from Australia

Falefitu Alapati Toatoalei held a gun to the faces of his victims, forced one captive person into a car boot, and choked another into unconsciousness.

At the height of the Kiwi man's offending in Australia, he was abusing alcohol and methamphetamine and executing a flurry of armed kidnappings, as well as a carjacking and a home invasion.

But the now 39-year-old has spent more than a decade locked up and he said he was no longer the angry person he once was.

He wished to remain in Australia, where he had been living and committing crimes since he was a teen.

Toatoalei's plea, however, has been denied, and he has been ordered to leave Australia to return to New Zealand.

A decision released last week by the Administrative Review Tribunal of Australia stated that Toatoalei arrived in Australia when he was 12.

After spending some time in Sydney, he was sent to live in Melbourne with a family member who, he said, physically abused him.

Toatoalei ran away several times and eventually left high school, where he showed a talent in music and art, in Year 11.

He began heavily drinking alcohol around 14 and also smoked marijuana and huffed substances.

According to the decision, Toatoalei had accumulated a significant number of convictions since he turned 18, some of which he was sentenced to short stints of imprisonment for in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

His most recent offending occurred in 2016, only months after he was released from custody.

'You're being jacked'

In March of that year, Toatoalei and two co-offenders met with two men in a shopping centre car park.

The decision said the meeting was to carry out a meth supply deal.

One of the men got into the vehicle Toatoalei was in and smoked meth before Toatoalei suddenly grabbed him in a chokehold.

Toatoalei's co-offender punched the man, and then they drove away while Toatoalei continued to choke him. He was unable to breathe and lost consciousness on the journey.

They later stripped him of his shoes and shorts and stole $1400 cash from him, as well as his phone, cigarettes and half a gram of meth.

The keys to the man's father's car were also taken and the car was later stolen. Toatoalei admitted taking the vehicle, and to crashing and dumping it.

The following month, Toatoalei and a co-offender drove to a hotel where Toatoalei approached a person known to him in the car park.

Toatoalei put a gun to his face and ordered him to get out of his vehicle and into the boot.

The man complied and Toatoalei drove the victim's vehicle away from the scene while his co-offender followed in convoy.

But at some point in the journey, the car stopped and the victim manipulated the lock of the boot, got out and jumped into the front passenger seat.

He pleaded with Toatoalei but Toatoalei punched him several times and also used the butt of the shotgun to hit him in the face.

Toatoalei ordered him to get back into the boot and took his shoes and pants. He told the man that he was to sign over his car and that they would drive to sort out the necessary paperwork

As they were driving, however, the man was able to pop the boot of the car and run away.

Toatoalei and his co-offender continued to the man's house, armed with a shotgun and a knife, and forced three people out of their bedrooms and into the lounge where they were ordered to lie down.

Toatoalei continued to ask where the victim was, and threatened "he's dead", before he and his co-offender stole several items from the house.

Later that month, Toatoalei pulled up next to a man and a woman who were sitting in a car.

Toatoalei held a firearm to the man, grabbed the keys from the ignition and said: "You're being jacked".

Toatoalei's co-offenders got out of his car, also armed, while the man and woman got out of their car and allowed the others to enter it and drive off.

In October 2016, Toatoalei was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court for multiple offences including false imprisonment, kidnapping, theft, armed robbery, aggravated burglary, blackmail, firearms and a drug charge.

The judge noted Toatoalei had been abusing alcohol and meth but felt rehabilitation was still achievable.

He was jailed for eight years and six months with a non-parole period of five years.

As a result, Toatoalei's visa was cancelled in January 2020 under section 501 of Australia's Migration Act.

He went on to unsuccessfully seek revocation of the cancellation decision before finally turning to the tribunal to review the non-revocation decision.

Toatoalei, who is now being held in an immigration detention centre, had his appeal hearing this month.

He told the tribunal he accepted responsibility for his actions, held himself accountable and acknowledged he had hurt his loved ones and the victims of his conduct.

Toatoalei noted that at the time, he was an angry person, but said he was no longer that person and would now seek help when needed.

The tribunal accepted that Toatoalei has ties to Australia and wished to remain in the country with his family, and that being removed would initially cause "some level of practical, emotional and financial distress and hardship".

But it did not consider that distress or hardship would be ongoing or insurmountable.

The tribunal concluded that the protection of, and the expectations of, the Australian community weighed heavily in favour of it affirming the decision to revoke Toatoalei's visa.

According to the decision, he was now an "unlawful non-citizen and will remain in immigration detention and be liable for removal from Australia as soon as reasonably practicable".

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.