The Tribune

THE case of Joseph Amihere is not the first time we have seen the failings of the Immigration system come into the spotlight.

When Douglas Ngumi was locked away for six and a half years unlawfully, the paltry compensation he received from this country was $641,950 in damages.

Mr Ngumi’s case was largely unchallenged, with government lawyers not calling witnesses or producing evidence.

Not only was he locked away illegally for such a long time, he told of how he was abused at the detention centre, stripped naked, handcuffed under a table, and beaten repeatedly with a PVC pipe. He told of tear gas being used on detainees.

When it came to determining how much Mr Ngumi deserved as compensation for more than six years of his life being snatched away unlawfully, part of the calculation was how much he might have expected to earn per day had he not been locked up.

But this wasn’t a job that Mr Ngumi had. He didn’t apply to be locked up and ask a certain wage. It’s also grossly inequitable – does a rich man get a greater compensation than a poor one for being locked up illegally?

We wrote in November last year how there wasn’t enough of a punishment in the compensation award to stop this from happening again.

Essentially, Mr Ngumi just ended up being paid a salary, which is nowhere near enough to stop the failings of the system from being repeated. Indeed, it doesn’t even bring those to account who were in charge of the system that allowed this to happen.

Which brings us to the case of Mr Amihere.

His lawyer, Fred Smith QC, is seeking damages of $10.6m for illegally detaining Mr Amihere for nearly seven years at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

Again, during the time at the centre, we have heard stories of poor treatment including physical, psychological and emotional abuse.

A total of $1m of the damages being sought is for exemplary damages – in other words, making an example of the case to try to prevent a repeat.

Mr Smith called it appropriate to send a “lightning rod of a financial message” to the government that such crimes could not continue.

That’s what these are – crimes. Crimes in which people’s liberty is taken away with no serious consequences for those responsible.

They are far from isolated cases too – as well as Mr Ngumi and Mr Amihere, we might mention Matthew Sewell, locked up for nine years and nine months despite never being convicted of a single crime. Or Atain Takitota, locked up from 1991 to 2004 and initially only awarded a mere $1,000 in damages, later raised on appeal to $500,000 plus costs.

We also wrote in November of the need for an independent probe into the allegations of abuse, to find out who was responsible for the beatings and the tear gas. Where is that?

Time and again, this newspaper has reported on abuses in the Immigration system that have seen people locked up unlawfully and suffer brutal treatment while in detention.

Would you accept that if it were a member of your family? What would be the value of a year of your life taken away unlawfully, with you brutalised in custody before finally being tossed back out onto the street after fighting for your freedom?

If we simply pay out the cost of hiring someone, how is that ever going to stop this from happening again? Indeed, how do we know it isn’t happening to someone else right now?

There must be a reckoning.

Keep Mom safe

It is Mother’s Day this weekend and we wish mothers across the country a very happy – and safe – day.

As much as there might be a temptation to hold large gatherings to pay respects to our mothers, we are not yet out of the woods when it comes to COVID-19.

So hold off the large get-together, break out the Zoom call. Drop off the flowers and the chocolates and wave safely from a distance to ensure you’re not dropping off the virus at the same time.

We all want to make the most of these wonderful women in our lives, but let’s do it safely. And if you haven’t signed up for your vaccination yet, go and do so – it’ll bring those large family get-togethers closer to being a regular part of our lives once again.