Australia’s Tamil community mourns suicide of 38-year-old refugee
The Tamil community is mourning the suicide of a 38-year-old refugee who had been living on a bridging visa in Australia for eight years.
Tamil community leaders say Koneshwaran Krishnapillai and many others in the community feared deportation following the recent high-profile case involving the Murugappan family from Biloela.
Krishnapillai, from Sunshine in Melbourne’s west, was working as a cleaner to support his wife and three children.
He had been in Australia for eight years waiting for a visa, after arriving by boat from India in April 2013. He had fled Sri Lanka as a child.
He killed himself on Friday last week after suffering from depression for several months, the Tamil Refugee Council said.
A Gofundme set up to cover Krishnapillai’s funeral costs has so far raised over $13,500.
Renuga Inpakumar, a spokesperson for the council, said the debate around the refugee status of the Murugappan family from Biloela had hit hard with Krishnapillai and other Tamil refugees, who feared they would be deported to Sri Lanka.
“Especially around the comments that were thrown around during the Murugappan family when they were being held on Christmas Island, how ministers were saying that they were going to deport Tamil refugees, which obviously struck fear in him and many Tamil refugees in the community,” she said.
Arguing against protection being owed to Tamil people seeking asylum in Australia, the federal government has largely relied on advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that states “Sri Lankans face a low risk of torture on a day-to-day basis”.
Advocates have called on the government to stop using the advice, including in the case of the Murugappan family.
A spokesperson for Australian Border Force said it could not comment on specific cases, but said Australia would not return people to “situations where they face persecution or a real risk of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
arbitrary deprivation of life or the application of the death penalty”.
“Each case is assessed on its merits and decisions, with the safety of particular countries being a factor of consideration,” the spokesperson said.
“Visa decision makers are provided with a broad range of open source, country of origin information (COI) to assist them to arrive at an independent assessment of an applicant’s claims. The COI holdings are monitored and updated daily.”
Nades Murugappan, his wife, Priya, and their two daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa are currently in community detention in Perth while the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, considers a brief on whether to allow four-yearold Tharnicaa to apply for a visa.
• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and ChildLine on 0800 1111. In the US, Mental Health America is available on 800-273-8255