Deportation order upheld for leader of cocaine gang

By ANGELA GREGORY

The ringleader of New Zealand's biggest cocaine smuggling operation has failed in a bid to stay in the country after he is released from prison.

In 1998, Epalahame Liava'a was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in jail after convictions for importing and conspiring to supply cocaine.

Last December, Liava'a, now aged 42, appealed to the Deportation Review Tribunal to overturn an order to send him back to Tonga.

The one-time international rugby player raised humanitarian grounds to stay in New Zealand where he has spent two-thirds of his life and has a family.

Liava'a told the tribunal that he loved his family and "they do love me too," and that it was not in his nature to commit crime.

Liava'a said he had a lot to offer his children and promised that it would never happen again.

Between May 1996 and January 1997, Liava'a imported 4.5kg of cocaine with a street value of $5 million.

At his sentencing, he was described as coming from a highly respected Tongan family. He was educated at one of New Zealand's leading secondary schools and had a distinguished sporting career.

Liava'a attended Auckland Grammar School and later became the youngest member selected for a Tongan national rugby team.

Between 1985 and 1987 he was also Tongan captain.

Despite his talents, Liava'a established and maintained contact with drug suppliers and became the main organiser of a cocaine distribution ring.

His lawyer, Phil Recordon, said at the hearing that Liava'a had made a monumental mistake.

Mr Recordon said it would be impossible for Liava'a to forge a decent life in Tonga as the family name had suffered over the past three years.

His brother was the Accounting-General of Tonga, a position he inherited from his father, but he had fallen from grace.

Liava'a said at the hearing that if he returned to Tonga he would have to "hide himself." He had no land, home or crops.

Welfare benefits were not paid to the unemployed.

If his children returned with him, Liava'a said, they would be "abused, ostracised and at a real disadvantage in terms of health care and education."

In a written decision, tribunal chairman Nigel McFadden said the offending had been extremely serious with a potentially large effect on New Zealand society.

Liava'a had admitted that he was motivated by money so there was a real risk of reoffending.

Mr McFadden said it was clear that Liava'a loved his children, aged 7 and 5, but his wife could choose to take the family back to Tonga.

Liava'a had already been separated from the family for a long time and they appeared to have coped well.

"We do not consider that, having regard to the interests of the appellant's family, it would be unjust or unduly harsh for him to be deported."

Mr McFadden confirmed the deportation order and dismissed the appeal.