Overstayer challenge

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 17

Overstayer challenge

PA Auckland A schoolboy overstayer who was protected from deportation by a decision of an Auckland District Court - Judge last year now faces a renewed legal battle to stay in the country. The Labour Department has appealed to the High Court against Judge Hall’s decision to discharge Siaosi Ramsey, aged 17. without conviction. Ramsey, a sixth former at St Paul's College, had admitted overstaying a temporary immigration permit. The Judge found that he was a diligent scholar, honest, and a well-respected member of the school, and used his discretion to discharge him. A Labour Department spokesman yesterday said that the appeal was lodged on legal advice because it believed the Judge had no discretion to discharge a defendant who admitted to overstaying. “The law is the law and if it is not being followed we have to do something about it,” he said. The appeal has been set down for a hearing in the High Court at Auckland on _ February 4. It will hinge on whether section 20 of the Immigration Act lays down deportation as a minimum penalty for Overstaying. In dealing with offences which carry a minimum penalty, judges have no discretion to discharge a defendant under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act.