Martha Fretton, left, Christina Kewa-Swarbrick and Antony Swarbrick at sentencing in the Te Awamutu District Court today. Fretton's sentencing was adjourned to a later date. Photo / Mike Scott
Martha Fretton, left, Christina Kewa-Swarbrick and Antony Swarbrick at sentencing in the Te Awamutu District Court today. Fretton's sentencing was adjourned to a later date. Photo / Mike Scott
A couple deliberately set out to “slide around” immigration and employment laws when they convinced 16 Papua New Guinea residents to fill out false visa information, a judge says.
Antony Swarbrick, Christina Kewa-Swarbrick and Martha Fretton were found guilty at a trial in the Hamilton District Court in February on nine representative charges of aiding and abetting, completion of a visa application known to be false or misleading, and provision of false or misleading information.
Instead of filling out work visas, Kewa-Swarbrick got the 16 workers to unwittingly complete visitor visas after failing in her bid to get them into the country under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.
Their offending occurred between 2013 and 2016, when they arranged for groups of seasonal workers from Papua New Guinea to work illegally at a Hawke’s Bay vineyard and in Cambridge for low wages.
However, as proceedings kicked off, Fretton’s sentencing had to be adjourned as she had not consented to an electronically monitored sentence at her South Auckland home.
Judge Spear said it appeared she wasn’t taking her offending seriously and, if she didn’t, she could expect a jail term.
Fretton’s counsel Gavin Boot agreed to have her sentencing adjourned and have her property assessed by Corrections for such a sentence.
Crown prosecutor Kaleb Whyte said Kewa-Swarbrick was the architect of the scheme - which he said was “commercially motivated”, as each of the 16 Papua New Guinea nationals paid between $1100 and $1500 to come to New Zealand.
Both she and Fretton were deemed to have gained a material benefit from the scheme.
Whyte said the evidence was clear: the migrants paid the money expecting to work full-time in New Zealand at a pay rate much higher than they could expect at home.
The court heard that, about 2014 or 2015, Kewa-Swarbrick came up with the idea of bringing the workers to New Zealand under the RSE scheme, which attracts thousands of employees each year.
However, she struck difficulties getting her visas cleared under the scheme, and there was a suggestion she needed clearance from the Papua New Guinea Government for it to be approved. She found that “unacceptable”.
Christina Kewa-Swarbrick was found to be the orchestrator of the Papua New Guinea worker scheme. Photo / Mike Scott
Kewa-Swarbrick, who is from Papua New Guinea, then held various meetings in her home city to gather interest.
As well as paying up to $1500, the workers also paid money for a medical examination. At trial, Antony Swarbrick said the payment was more akin to medical insurance, in case anything happened to them while in New Zealand.
Unable to get them into the country under the RSE scheme, Kewa-Swarbrick “dreamed up” another idea - bringing them in for “work experience”.
She then submitted the workers’ applications as visitor visas rather than work visas.
They were also told what to say to Immigration New Zealand if questioned at the border.
Antony Swarbrick’s counsel, Ashleigh Beech, urged the judge to hand down a sentence of community detention to allow his client to continue to take his children to school each day and in line with his lack of monetary benefit from the offending.
He had no previous convictions, was remorseful and deemed at low risk of reoffending and harm to others.
He was also now in a worse financial position than before the scheme began.
Jared Bell, on behalf of Kewa-Swarbrick, also said his client had not offended before and had genuinely hoped to bring the workers into New Zealand for a better life.
“Mrs Swarbrick accepts that this was her concept but she maintains that the purpose of that was to help the people of Papua New Guinea.”
He said the couple were “open and transparent” about what the workers were doing in New Zealand. “There were no attempts to hide them.
“They thought they were putting in place a way that they could legally do it ... what they did was futile ... but they honestly held beliefs there were ways of making the programme work.”
Antony Swarbrick was deemed less culpable than his wife in relation to the offending. Photo / Mike Scott
The workers were split between Hastings and Cambridge and run by Fretton and the Swarbricks respectively.
At a meeting, it was agreed between Fretton and Kewa-Swarbrick that a “sponsorship contribution” would be paid to Kewa-Swarbrick.
“This was your so-called clever idea, to attempt to circumvent New Zealand’s immigration and employment laws,” Judge Spear told her.
“I accept that some of that was applied against accommodation, food and living expenses, but Mrs Fretton, of course, benefited some $11,000 for doing very little.
“Is that your fault? The answer is yes.
“You arranged the opportunity for these vulnerable people to be exploited.
“They were exploited by Mrs Fretton and they were exploited by you, Mrs Kewa-Swarbrick.”
The group worked up to eight hours a day, six days a week, and received little if anything for their efforts apart from accommodation, food and a small amount of spending money.
“The evidence was clear that they felt duped by you,” the judge said. “They expected to be paid and, of course, were entitled to be paid for their work.”
They came to the attention of Immigration New Zealand after about five weeks.
Judge Spear accepted the Swarbricks’ marriage had since suffered - they now lived separately - and the proceedings had slowly dragged through the courts as charges were first laid in 2018.
However, he said his sentence needed to reflect the real risk that “cavalier and maverick attitudes” could have on immigration laws.
After applying 45 per cent worth of discounts, Kewa-Swarbrick was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention, while her husband would serve eight months.
