Incestuous 501: Australian-born Kiwi deported back to NZ after half-sister gave birth to his son

An Australian-born Kiwi citizen has been deported back to New Zealand after being convicted of incest. Stock photo / Australian Border Force

WARNING: This story contains distressing content and offensive language

A man’s drunken decision to have sex with his half-sister has resulted in him being deported to New Zealand, after Australian police caught wind that his sibling’s child was born out of incest.

The man, whose name is suppressed by Australian authorities, had sex with his half-sister while he was 25 and she was 16. She later gave birth to a boy.

While born in Australia to parents who were New Zealand citizens, he moved back to New Zealand when he was 4 and grew up here. He moved back to Australia when he was 21.

According to the decision of the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the siblings had sex while they were living in their mother’s Melbourne home several years ago. The man’s half-sister later fell pregnant and gave birth to a son.

Victorian Police later received a tip-off suggesting the child was born as a result of incest. They seized a nappy and took swabs of the boy’s dummy.

The man “largely provided no comment responses” to police, but provided a DNA sample. Results concluded he was 1.6 million times more likely to be the biological father than any other person.

The man was charged with sexual penetration of a half-sibling in the County Court of Victoria in 2021.

He pleaded guilty to the charge in May 2023, but a psychologist’s report noted he had difficulty accepting responsibility. “I was just p***** and she came at me like a dirty s***,” he said.

He later somewhat accepted the impact of his actions, saying “she’d be pretty messed up, I suppose”.

The man was convicted in the Victoria County Court. Photo / NZME

The sentencing judge said reports concluded the man was “unsophisticated, impetuous and immature” and there was no evidence he had groomed or exploited his half-sister.

But the judge added the man was remorseful, moving out of his mother’s home he shared with his half-sibling immediately after the intimacy.

When the child was born he moved back into the home and tried to parent his son, but after he was arrested he was barred from contacting his half-sister.

The Australian Minister of Immigration then cancelled the man’s visa, concluding he did not meet the character test defined in section 501 of the country’s immigration legislation.

He had multiple other convictions, including for affray and assault after an altercation he said came after the victim bullied his brother. He was also charged with possession of cannabis in 2023. He told the court he began using cannabis and alcohol at 11.

The man appealed the decision to the tribunal, who heard from witnesses including his mother and half-sister.

His mother said he was a good son who was a good father “considering the circumstances”. She had taken the man’s son to visit him in the immigration detention centre.

His half-sister and mother of his child told the tribunal he was “not a bad person” and had learned from his mistakes. Their son looks up to him, she said, and would be upset if he was deported.

While the tribunal noted there was a low risk of future sexual offending, it said the court determined the man had a high risk of general reoffending. Other than the incest conviction, he hadn’t been convicted of a crime since 2017.

“Incest itself carries a degree of public repugnance in part because of the destructive effect it can have on the people involved and other family members,” the tribunal said.

“As [the judge] observed about the victim ‘her life has changed irrevocably and she has been transformed from a child into an adult overnight as a consequence of this offending.’”

“He is not a person who has lived in Australia from a young age. His formative years were spent in New Zealand and he returned to Australia as an adult. His offending began within a short time after his arrival. While he has been in Australia for some nine years, he has made little positive contribution to the community.”

It concluded there was no significant reason why the deportation order should be revoked, and dismissed the appeal.

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.