Traumatised girl's picture of lost hope

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

A traumatised teenage girl left behind a wrenching image of New Zealand as she was expelled last night to an uncertain future in her homeland, Sri Lanka.

The image, a painting given to her lawyer, shows a tree with leaves on one side and stripped bare by a volcanic explosion on the other.

It is said to represent the girl's wretched state of mind and hope of staying in New Zealand, where she has lived illegally for nearly two years.

Despite a series of appeals, the girl and her grandmother were bundled out of the country last night.

The grandmother told the Herald yesterday the painting depicted her granddaughter's desperate hope of remaining in New Zealand.

"She is thinking about the fruitful side, which she wants to get to from the barren side," said the woman, a dental nurse who left behind a long career to rescue the girl after years of rape and abuse by male relatives.

"I want to stay in this country to save my granddaughter's life - she's my life, I want to save her," she said, wringing her hands with anxiety.

This was before she received word from Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor that he was standing by a decision not to let the pair stay. They left NZ about 10 pm with a doctor and two police.

The pair were taken from the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre under the nose of a lawyer who has been battling for more than a year to keep them here.

They entered New Zealand illegally in 2002 and have been twice refused refugee status.

Lawyer Carole Curtis was scathing of the minister's decision in view of a psychiatric report commissioned by his own officials which pronounced the girl unfit to travel.

But Mr O'Connor said last night that the women had been declared fit to travel prior to departure.

The 16-year-old, whose name is suppressed, and her grandmother were taken by ambulance under police escort to Auckland Airport for a long flight to Sri Lanka.


Ms Curtis was furious at not being able to assess what medical support had been provided for the dehydrated and malnourished girl and her 58-year-old grandmother.

Psychiatrist Craig Immelman reported after assessing the girl a week ago that she was dangerously dehydrated and not eating. The option of forcing her back to Sri Lanka was "horrible to contemplate", but he recommended steps to take to ensure their safe return if the Government insisted on expelling them.

Mr O'Connor said the teenager would receive ongoing protection, supervision and medical care in Sri Lanka. The International Organisation for Migration and a leading charity would support their resettlement, he said, adding he was satisfied the pair would get a safe haven and secure accommodation.

"This has been an extremely difficult and distressing case for all those involved. While I personally found the issues very difficult to grapple with, I stand by my earlier decision not to intervene," Mr O'Connor said.


Ms Curtis said the girl remained traumatised after days of hiding under her bed, where her company was a stray cat she had adopted, and screaming at anyone who approached.

Ms Curtis said the ambulance arrived about 5.30pm just as the grandmother was "pouring her heart out to her".

She did not have a chance to say goodbye. But she did later have brief phone contact with the grandmother, who was sobbing. The lawyer could hear the girl screaming.

In response to the expulsion, the president of the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties, Barry Wilson, asked: "What have we come to as a nation when we cannot find a place for a child who is a victim of continuous sex abuse at the hands of her family in Sri Lanka?

"However you look at it, her future is at best uncertain. At worst, she is in danger back in Sri Lanka."

It was a betrayal of "our common humanity" that we cannot protect a young girl from another country, he said. "All this under a Labour Government."