Home detention bid for man in HIV case

A Ghanaian with HIV who was jailed for six months for lying on his application for New Zealand residency was this week allowed to apply for home detention.

Ishmael Asamoah, 39, was found guilty in the Auckland District Court last year of ticking the "no" box on a 2001 medical questionnaire on whether he was HIV-positive, when he knew he was.

He then used the document to obtain a residency permit.

In the High Court at Auckland, Justice Marion Frater dismissed his appeal against conviction and sentence, but allowed him to apply for home detention and deferred sentence until the Parole Board decided the issue.

Asamoah, who was on bail pending the appeal, came under the spotlight in 2003 when his Australian wife, who contracted HIV, was awarded $727,437 in a negligence action against two Sydney doctors for not telling her of her husband's condition.

The pair have since separated and he has been refused a visitor's visa to return to Australia to see his daughter.

It is likely that Asamoah's residency application would have been rejected if he had declared his condition.

The courts were told that it cost $10,000 to $13,000 a year to treat him.

Asamoah's lawyer, Melanie Coxon, told the judge that her client ticked the "no" box because he was "in a life-or-death situation".

Justice Frater said Asamoah had "no apparent defence" and the six-month term was "somewhat generous".

In granting leave to apply to the parole board, she said there was no evidence that Asamoah, who was in a stable relationship and stable employment, was a risk to others.

The Immigration Service is seeking to revoke his residency.

Ms Coxon said if Asamoah's residency were revoked, he could appeal to the Deportation Review Tribunal.