Judge throws out 27yr-old benefit fraud fine after man threatened with arrest at Auckland Airport

Warren Egan. Photo / Supplied

A 56-year-old Kiwi on a disability pension who has lived in Australia for decades faced not being able to leave the country and possible arrest for an outstanding fine of $1900 that he received more than a quarter of a century ago.

Warren Egan arrived in New Zealand this month for a holiday to visit family and friends.

His trip quickly hit a major snag when he was greeted at Auckland International Airport by two police officers telling him he has a historical active fines warrant that he needed to sort out.

“We weren’t expecting anything like that when we came off the plane,” he said.

For days officials told Egan his only option to be able to return to Australia would be to pay the fine in full, which he did not have the means to do.

Now, just two days before he was due to fly back to Australia, a judge in Whangārei has thrown out the fine, Egan said.

“When they came down today and just gave me a piece of paper saying the sum was $0 I was quite shocked. I wasn’t expecting that sort of a result,” he said.

Egan said he had spent most of the week stressed because he only had about $400 to pay towards the fine.

He has been on a disability pension since 2013 after suffering a brain injury in a car crash near Tauranga in 1987.

If he wasn’t able to leave the country on Saturday he was concerned he would run out of medication and wouldn’t receive his pension payment.

“I am excited about this in a lot of ways because without my medication I would go nuts,” he said.

Egan said he received the fine in 1995 for benefit fraud. At the time the fine was $5000.

He also was required to do six months of periodic detention.

Egan said he had been paying off his fine but after a move to Australia in 2000 his brain injury got worse and he suffered memory loss.

“I lost all memory of it [the fine] and I never received anything from them about anything else.”

A police spokesperson said information about the fine could not be given as it was a historical matter.

“The man was advised to contact the Ministry of Justice to resolve the matter,” they said.

Ministry of Justice and the Whangārei District Courts have been approached for comment.