NZer set to be deported dies in Australian prison

He was waiting to be deported to New Zealand, after finishing a prison sentence for armed robbery.

Nearly 200 New Zealanders are now being held indefinitely in Australian detention centres awaiting deportation.

A source inside the jail said prison officials were aware of Togatuki’s declining mental health (he battled schizophrenia and anxiety), and that the 23-year-old had spent weeks in isolation in one of the jail’s notorious “dry cells”.

Mr Togatuki had told Immigration Minister Peter Dutton he would be “lost” once he was deported to New Zealand because he would have no family or friends, no home, and no job.

Some New Zealanders are being held on isolated Christmas Island near Indonesia, and the New Zealand Human Rights commissioner David Rutherford today called for such centres to be closed down.

New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission has urged Kiwis with concerns about loved ones in Australian immigration detention centres to contact the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The Government must seek an urgent explanation from the Australian Government about the treatment of New Zealand citizens being held in detention centres after the tragic death in custody of Junior Togatuki, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says.

Labour leader Andrew Little said it makes a mockery of the supposed close relationship between the two countries. “The Government must do something about this now”, Mr Little said.

Prime Minister John Key, who’s at the United Nations in New York this week, says Foreign Minister Murray McCully has texted the Australian foreign minister about the issue.

“It is time our Government stopped sitting back and watching this appalling treatment of New Zealand citizens and sought an urgent clarification of Australia’s policy”.

The coroner is looking into Junior Togatuki’s death, before his grieving family say they’ll take the issue to court.

Authorities say he committed suicide.

It’s understood that in the days leading up to his death, Junior Togatuki was told he’d be deported in a couple of weeks.

It’s a question the Australian government is so far refusing to answer.

“These people being are denied basic rights like access to medical care and lawyers”.

He believed New Zealand still had a special relationship with Australia, and thought it was likely Kiwis were “collateral damage” in a broader policy shift.