Petition sparked to keep blind girl in NZ

A South African expatriate is urging New Zealanders to help fight the proposed deportation of a blind five-year-old South African girl living in Geraldine.

Justin McCabe, an IT consultant living in Wellington, has started a petition on the change.org website opposing the planned deportation of Caitlyn Davies.

Caitlyn , 5, her mum Charmaine and father and brother, both called Jonathan, live on a farm near Geraldine.

All of the family except Caitlyn have been granted visas to stay in the country by Immigration New Zealand.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal has ruled that Caitlyn, who is blind, suffers from global development delay, and has chronic medical conditions, should not be given a visa because her state of health would impose significant costs on New Zealand’s health and education systems. As the tribunal’s decision meant Caitlyn would have to be deported, the family appealed to the High Court. Their appeal was rejected.

McCabe, who is currently on holiday in South Africa, read about the family’s plight on the Stuff website. He said despite having never met the family, as a fellow South African their situation had compelled him to act.

‘‘I know what they are sending this child back to. As New Zealanders we have all these tools and education support systems in place ... coming back to South Africa she is going to have nothing, she is going to have a life of living indoors ... or living in a home care facility for the rest of her life.

‘‘I used to be a journalist here in South Africa so I am well aware of what she is coming back to. She’ll have no opportunity to advance herself or educate herself in secondary or tertiary study, she’s coming back to nothing.’’

McCabe said as a parent he appreciated Davies’ parents had come to New Zealand to try to provide a better life.

‘‘Now they have had that ripped out from underneath them because it’s not only the one child, it’s the entire family. The family’s not going to let the child go back ... the family unit will stay together.’’

McCabe understood the reasoning put forward by Immigration New Zealand’s decision. However he criticised the lack of humanity behind it.

‘‘You have still got to make decisions based on ‘are you able to go to sleep at night?’ You can’t hide behind bureaucratic process, it’s so cold and heartless.’’

He had already reached out to the family and had exchanged messages with Charmaine, who had thanked him for starting the petition, he said.

He said 856 people had signed so far. Given the South African population in New Zealand who knew what the family could be going back to, he was expecting more people to sign. Immigration lawyer Jennifer Bensley, who had been representing the family from the beginning, told them the petition could help their case.

‘‘Certainly it won’t be a bad thing to have a petition going, and we can present that to Immigration as part of everything we are doing for Caitlyn

‘‘Charmaine is cautious about what’s going to happen ... I think she is heartened by a lot of the positive feedback and the community certainly wants to support them and believes they are of value to the community.

‘‘But we have tried to warn her, Immigration is the decision-maker on this.’’

Bensley said she and the family were exploring other avenues to fight their case. She had also submitted another visa application for Caitlyn, which she was waiting to see the outcome of.

‘‘Whether or not we take the appeal further, that’s a discussion we need to have with them.’’ This little girl and her family need NZ compassion. (Jean Langbridge) This child has no chance in South Africa. Be compassionate, and let the family stay. Give little Caitlyn the opportunity of a better future. (Charleen Thorner) We need to be a more compassionate nation than this. As a Kiwi taxpayer I think Caitlyn is a good use of my tax dollars. Better than a yacht race or a flag referendum. (Bruce Bell) Caitlyn and her family deserve the right to live in a safe country. (Leanne Salisbury) Being a Kiwi of South African descent, I would believe our country has the decency to help this family. (Craig Lilford) They are quality people and are far more likely to contribute to NZ than be a burden. (Nicholas Sykes) I think it’s ridiculous that this little girl has to leave. Disgusting. (Rod Stehlin)