U.S. citizenship renounced

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 6

U.S. citizenship renounced

PA Wellington A prisoner due to be deported to the United States after he completes his sentence for drug convictions has renounced his United States citizenship, making himself a stateless person. The renunciation by Bruce McAboy, aged 35, of his citizenship, under oath before a United States Embassy consul at Mount Crawford prison, means, according to an embassy spokesman, that he cannot be deported to the United States. McAboy would have to fulfil the requirements of other aliens seeking entry to the United States, the embassy spokesman said. As a person with drug convictions he would not be allowed into the country. McAboy’s renunciation of his citizenship has prompted an investigation by the Immigration Department and the Internal Affairs Department into its legality. It is McAboy’s latest move in his efforts to stay in New Zealand after the completion of his 3Vz year prison term. He wants to stay in New Zealand to be with his wife, Lynda. She, because she also has drug convictions, would not be able to gain entry to the United States. Mrs McAboy said that she would also be bound to stay in New Zealand to retain contact with her two children by a previous marriage. The children are in her custody, though her former husband is seeking to gain legal custody of them. The McAboys were, earlier this week, sentenced in the District Court at Wellington after pleading guilty to charges related to an escape attempt by McAboy from Mount Crawford prison.

“It was a last chance thing,” Mrs McAboy said. “We did not have much going for us. We thought at least we would get some time together.” The couple’s counsel, Mr L. M. Antunovic, said in court the escape attempt, which had involved her tying a rope to a tree and then throwing it over the prison’s six-metre high perimeter wall so he could scale it, had been prompted by their fear they would never be able to live together again. Mr Antunovic said that the couple had only sought to have time together. The McAboys were married at the prison just before Christmas last year. McAboy arrived in New Zealand in March, 1981. He entered New Zealand on a false United States passport which he later destroyed. He came to the attention of the New Zealand police early last year when they served search warrants on a property on Takaka Hill in Golden Bay where the McAboys were living in an old bus. McAboy later pleaded guilty to charges of forging a passport, cultivating cannabis and having cannabis for sale. Mrs McAboy was also charged with, and convicted of, lesser charges related to the cannabis found on the property. McAboy’s counsel during that court appearance said McAboy had spent his youth in California in the 1960 s where most people were involved in drugs. It was the era of hippies and flower power. McAboy saw the horrors of Vietnam and then returned to California where he became involved in making money out of drugs. He had come to New Zealand to try a new way of life and had succeeded till

shortly before his arrest. Counsel said that though the charges involved 50 cannabis plants it was a bloodless crime. The most valuable part of the crop had been stolen. Mr Justice O'Regan, sentencing McAboy, said that he had come to New Zealand using false documents. He had earned his living in the United States by importing cannabis and dealing with it. His coming to New Zealand had been precipitated by a warrant for his arrest in the United States. He had been a fugitive since. Mr Antunovic said on Wednesday an appeal against deportation was to be made. There appears little hope of success unless the Minister of Immigration, Mr Malcolm, changes his mind. Mr Malcolm said on Wednesday evening that he would not be doing so. He said that some people might ask where his sense of compassion was. “I have a great sense of compassion for individuals. I have a great sense of compassion for New Zealand youngsters whose lives are destroyed by people who cultivate and sell drugs,” he said. Mr Malcolm has not totally blocked all hope of the McAboys being together again. In a Itter to Mrs McAboy he said that after her husband returns to the United States the way was open to him to apply to return to New Zealand. He could apply to the Minister for a certificate of exemption which allows a deported person to return. Such certificates were usually granted where a person had returned to their country and shown that they were suitable candidates for reconsideration. This might mean keeping out of trouble for a number of years.