Deportation order for husband

Press, 31 October 1979, Page 4

Deportation order for husband

Nelson reporter A Canadian, who entered New Zealand in 1972, was found recently to have committed indictable offences in Canada and therefore was a prohibited immigrant under the Immigration Act, Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M., was told in the Magistrate’s Court, Nelson, yesterday. The Magistrate convicted Thomas Gaylord Weiss, aged 36, an opossum hunter, on a charge of unlawfully landing in New Zealand, fined him $l5O, and ordered him to be deported. The Magistrate said the deportation order was mandatory. Mr D. J. Maze, appearing for the Labour Department, said it came to the knowledge of the Immigration Department that the defendant had been convicted in 1961 and 1963 in Canada of indictable offences. These convictions precluded him from landing

'in New Zealand. He was,; therefore, a prohibited immigrant. For the defendant, Mr C. IN. Tuohy said the offences referred to were committed by Weiss at the ages of 18 and 20. He came to New Zealand openly in 1972, and entered the country under his own name in the hope of making a fresh start. He was now married to a New! Zealander and the couple had three adopted children. He was a good worker and? while in New Zealand had not offended. It was while talking with an officer of the Labour Department that he had admitted coming to New Zealand after offending in Canada. He had not tried to hide anything, said Mr Tuohy. An appeal was to be made to the Minister of Immigration to have the mandatory deportation order set aside, said Mr Tuohy.