Convicted man can stay in N.Z.

Press, 18 May 1984, Page 2

Convicted man can stay in N.Z.

The Deportation Review Tribunal last week decided to allow a Dutch immigrant, convicted of possession of cannabis, to continue living in New Zealand. In its decision the tribunal said that Mr Adriaan Stroes, aged 28, was served with a deportation order as a result of his conviction in Nelson last May.

Mr Stroes arrived in Auckland from the Netherlands with his wife in December, 1981,. after being granted permanent entry.

A few weeks after their arrival, Mr Stroes found work as a commercial diver for an Auckland firm. At the end of 1982 the couple decided to visit the South Island. They subsequently found employment picking fruit near Motueka.

During a police search of their bach a small amount of cannabis was found and Mr Stroes was charged with possession, the decision said. He was convicted in Nelson and fined $2OO.

During the next three months the Stroes’s marriage began to deteriorate. Prolonged absences when Mr Stroes had been diving in Auckland, and when he

took a trip to Australia, were named as prime causes.

Mr Stroes moved to Christchurch, and after only two short periods of unemployment he found a job as a contract painter, the decision said.

His counsel, Mr W. Rosenberg, told the tribunal that the amount of cannabis had been small, and its possession had been treated as a fairly minor offence by the Nelson court. He said also that the offence was “one false step arising out of the readily available temptations in a fruit pickers’ camp.” Counsel for the Minister of Immigration, Mr P. J. Gunn, submitted that it could be seen as condoning the offence if Mr Stroes were allowed to remain in New Zealand. He also said that Mr Stroes was doing a job (house painting) that could be done by a New Zealander.

The tribunal’s chairman, Dr J. M. Priestley, said that it would be unduly harsh to deport Mr Stroes. “Mr Stroes appears to have adjusted to life in New Zealand fairly speedily,” he said.