Mercy plea in refugee eviction

A TAMIL couple being held at a hotel in Darwin has cried as they begged Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to show mercy and let their family live in safety in Australia.

Priya and her husband Nadesalingam have been holed up at the Mercure Darwin Airport Resort since the early hours of yesterday with their Australian-born daughters after a federal judge halted their deportation from Melbourne to Sri Lanka.

An urgent court hearing in Melbourne yesterday granted the family a further reprieve, with the Federal Government banned from expelling them until another hearing next Wednesday.

In a tearful plea yesterday, the couple implored Mr Dutton to grant them and their children Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2, a safe future in Australia.

“We are begging him to listen to us. We are scared what will happen in Sri Lanka. We want him to give our life back,” the asylum seekers said.

Priya said Australian security officers carried her onto the flight that left Melbourne, where the family was being held in detention, late on Thursday, causing her injury.

She believes she has a broken or badly sprained wrist but hasn’t been able to access medical care. She also says her shoulder was injured and she suffered bruising.

Priya recounted a distressing flight from Melbourne to Darwin, where the plane stopped to refuel. Her children cried and screamed after she was denied permission to sit with them and her husband.

“It was a terrible time for us. They would not let me see my daughter. I had to sit at the back of the plane. She was screaming for nearly three hours before she fell asleep,” Priya said.

When the plane landed they were taken off the aircraft, in compliance with the urgent interim injunction granted over the phone by Judge Heather Riley. The couple doesn’t deny they came illegally to Australia by boat but, Priya says, they had no other choice if they wanted to escape a civil war in Sri Lanka.

The pair arrived separately in Australia with the aid of people smugglers in 2012 and 2013.

Mr Dutton has taken a hard line, saying not a single court, including the High Court, found in the couple’s favour.

“I would like the family to accept that they are not refugees, they’re not owed protection by our country,” he said.

WE ARE SCARED WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN SRI LANKA. WE WANT HIM (PETER DUTTON) TO GIVE OUR LIFE BACK. PRIYA AND NADESALINGAM