An Indian taxi driver, who was jailed for sexual assault of two female passengers in Perth, has been deported from Australia.
Both the incidents happened on Jan. 8, 2011. Simardeep Singh sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman passenger after telling her that “they could come to an arrangement” over the cab fare. He later raped an 18-year-old female passenger on a park bench in Daniella after he told her that he had to stop the car to check it, the West Australian newspaper reported.
Singh fled to India after he was questioned over the sexual assault charges, where he was arrested in 2015. When he was presented in front of the West Australian District Court in 2016, Singh’s lawyer told the court that he experienced a cultural difference when he moved to Australia as in his community women dress more conservatively. The court also heard that Singh was exposed to drunk women and prostitutes and acted out of “misconception.”
The court said that cultural difference cannot justify his violent behavior toward women.
Singh, now 33, was sent to prison in 2016 and released earlier this month.
He moved to Australia in 2008 with a work permit as a Swan Taxi driver while still completing his master’s in computer science.
The news of his deportation was confirmed by an official from the Australian Border Force. “The Australian government takes its responsibility seriously to protect the community from the risk of harm arising from foreign nationals who choose to engage in criminal activity or other serious conduct of concern,” the publication quoted an official as saying.
“Foreign nationals who do not hold a valid visa will be liable for removal from Australia, following the completion of any custodial sentence,” the official added.
According to Migration Law 1958 under section 501, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has the power to refuse a person’s application for a visa, or cancel a person’s visa, if that person fails to satisfy the Minister that he or she passes the ‘character test’. Visa refusal or cancellation can have serious consequences for a person, including placement in immigration detention for lengthy periods of time, separation from family and friends, removal and effective exclusion from Australia.