http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/administrative-appeals-tribunal-overturns-...

A SADISTIC criminal with a history of violent offending spanning almost three decades was free to rape a Melbourne woman after a tribunal overturned orders to deport him.

The Herald Sun can reveal New Zealand-born man Carl Stafford, who has admitted to savagely raping his victim after breaking into her home, had his visa cancelled in 2013.

He had already racked up hundreds of charges and was convicted and jailed for years of offending.

But the Administrative Appeals Tribunal overturned the deportation order after Stafford promised: “I know this is the last chance. I’m too old to keep offending. If I can stay, I will not let you down.”

Stafford, 42, confessed to raping a woman in 2015 after breaking into her St Kilda home at about 2am.

He brutally raped her during a 45-minute ordeal before she managed to escape and find help.

The attack was the most serious in Stafford’s escalating history of ­offending, which started when he was a teenager and is littered with ­dishonesty and violence offences.

Stafford was charged with 90 ­offences as a child and then a further 275 offences before he was issued with a Notice of Intention to Cancel his visa in 2004.


Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas.
He was warned any further offending would almost certainly lead to ­deportation. He was subsequently charged with another 179 offences, but no action was taken until 2013, when his visa was cancelled.

But the AAT refused the deportation order, saying Australia must take responsibility for letting Stafford down.

AAT senior member John Handley said welfare agencies should have intervened to help Stafford avoid a life of crime.

“Had ... welfare agencies intervened, the applicant’s drug abuse and offending from an early age may not have eventuated,” Mr Handley wrote.

“Much of his offending was impulsive and connected with his poor mental health. The Australian community should bear some responsibility for the absence of intervention and should not, in my view, dismiss the applicant by returning him to his place of birth.”

Stafford said at the time: “I know this is the last chance. I’m too old to keep offending.

“I have accommodation, job, counselling, girlfriend, psychiatric care. If I can stay, I will not let you down.

“Dad’s crook. Don’t want to lose him. I want him to be proud of me.”

Stafford, a drug addict with no ties in New Zealand, moved to Australia as a three-year-old in the late 1970s with his prostitute mother and was brought up in brothels.

He attended five different schools in Richmond and Collingwood during his primary and early secondary education.

He was enrolled in an alternative school that allowed ­students to smoke cigarettes.

By 13, he and the other students would steal marijuana plants from neighbours’ backyards.

At 22, Stafford moved next door to a heroin dealer, which led to him becoming hooked on the drug. Stafford is set to be sentenced for his ­latest crimes in June.

The AAT refused to say whether the shocking case would prompt a review of procedures or address questions about whether it had let the community and the rape ­victim down.

shannon.deery@news.com.au



he came here when he was 3... we have to accept responsibility...as his mum was a prostitute he shouldnt have been here in the first place.....