Confusion of identity in Sydney appeal case

Press, 18 December 1982, Page 26

Confusion of identity in Sydney appeal case

PA Nelson A former Murchison man now living in Melbourne has been wrongly linked with a New Zealand-born convicted armed robber who faces deportation from Australia and who uses the same name.

The Sydney-based former convict, who will appeal against a deportation order next week, calls himself Brett Anthony Collins. The real Brett Anthony Collins, who grew up in Murchison before going to Melbourne, had his student identification papers stolen while attending the University of Canterbury, about 15 years ago. It is believed that the man fighting deportation knew him at university then. The Brett Collins facing deportation was released

from an Australian jail in June, 1980, after serving a nine-year sentence for armed robbery. He has since attracted a lot of publicity in Australia for his views on prison reform. An Australian report has said he was from Murchison, and many people in Murchison, Nelson, and the West Coast have assumed the former convict is the Brett Collins whose parents run tea-rooms at Murchsion. Mr Charles Collins, father of Brett Collins, said the association had caused his family a lot of distress. “A lot of people obviously think it is our son but it is not,” he said.

Mr Charles Collins and his wife, Vesta, recently visited their son,’ his wife, Reida,

and their baby, aged 20 months.

The real Brett Collins worked for Matai Industries in Westport after gaining his university degree. He went to Australia about eight years ago and is now manager of a Melbourne plastics firm.

Mrs Vesta Collins said the link between her son and the former convict had caused a lot of embarrassment for her son in Australia. The real Brett Collins told NZPA from Melbourne that he though the man in Sydney was the one he had known at university but he could not be sure unless he saw him the flesh. He believes the other Collins originally came from Auckland.

No credits will be given for