When the man who raped Sonya at her work was released on parole, she was told he would “never be free in Australia” as he would be held indefinitely in immigration detention.
But on Saturday Queensland police called Sonya, telling her that her rapist, Mohammad Rafiq, would be released after the high court’s landmark decision last week that it is unlawful to hold those with no realistic prospect of deportation.
“They have been released into Brisbane city … I don’t think I’m fully safe, knowing that he is somewhere, I don’t know where,” said Sonya, who asked not to use her real name.
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, revealed on Monday that 80 people have so far been released from immigration detention since the high court’s ruling on Wednesday. The plaintiff in that case, a stateless Rohingya man who raped a 10-year old boy, was released immediately.
Sonya says there is “a little too much emphasis on the victimhood of the perpetrators” who were held in immigration detention indefinitely rather than “the victims themselves, people who have lifelong damage” from criminal conduct.
Rafiq was sentenced in April 2018 to seven years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of rape and one of sexual assault. Sonya says she was raped at her work, held up against a shelf in a blind spot without cameras in a retail store about 4pm on a Thursday afternoon.
Her victim impact statement, read in the Brisbane district court, describes the crime as “heinous and life-altering”, including that it caused her anxiety, nightmares and a feeling of anger and disgust “that has and will stay with me for the rest of my life”.
Sonya says the crime “put [her] into a world of fear”, too scared to do basic things like take an Uber, thinking that she could “see him everywhere”.
When Rafiq was paroled in late 2020, liaison for the prosecutors told Sonya that “due to him going to indefinite detention he would never be free in Australia, so I didn’t need to worry”.
The purpose of immigration detention is solely to facilitate the removal of an unlawful non-citizen, not to punish them or segregate them from the public.
But Sonya says her rapist’s ongoing detention lessened the sense of “injustice” she felt that he had received parole, that his shorter sentence was not “fully punitive”. She personally called Brisbane’s immigration detention centre “to ensure he was there”.
When Queensland police notified her that her rapist would be released, the officer was “really lovely” and seemed upset himself, but was unable to answer basic questions such as whether Rafiq had conditions placed on his visa, and whether he was prohibited from approaching her.
“They didn’t particularly have a plan, from what he could see.
“We just wanted to know: does he have to report? Do we get protection orders? Is there some sort of system set up to keep track, to make sure they’re behaving appropriately?
“Are they on parole? Because they weren’t paroled appropriately – because they went back into detention, they didn’t have conditions when they were paroled.”
Sonya says she started “crying immediately” then felt a “numbness”.
A Queensland police service spokesperson said it “is aware of a number of people being released from immigration detention over the weekend”.
“While we are unable to comment on specific cases, any police responses will be in line with ensuring community safety.”
Giles told question time on Monday that the commonwealth had “argued against” the case seeking to overturn the two-decade-old precedent of Al-Kateb, which had authorised indefinite immigration detention.
“We were prepared for this outcome,” he said. “Throughout this, community safety has been our number one concern.”
Australian Border Force and federal police “have been working closely with our state and territory authorities”, planning for which “commenced prior to the decision being handed down” because of the “seriousness” if the government lost, he said. Cooperation now includes a joint operation between state and territory police.
“We moved quickly to ensure that we issued visas to impacted individuals with appropriate conditions to ensure community safety can be upheld including requirements to report regularly to the department to inform the minister of any changes of personal details, address, social media profiles, restrictions of industries of employment and a range of other strict conditions.”
“We continue to consider all measures that may be available to lengthen our protection of the community,” Giles said, noting the court had yet to give its reasons for the decision.
On Monday the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, also confirmed that legislative options were being considered to respond, after the Coalition called for powers for courts to order continuing detention as occurs in relation to terrorism offences.
More than half of the 92 people in detention the government warned it would have to release had their visas cancelled by ministers due to serious concerns about criminal conduct, although advocates say this is not always proven by a conviction.
Sonya says she can “see the reasoning” of the court that those in detention had been left “in limbo” but doesn’t think it was a fair decision “in all cases”.
She thinks the government should “look harder” if they are unable to take Rafiq back to Myanmar. “I don’t even know if they have looked for a country to take him.”
“There has to be a middle point or solution created, I don’t know what that is … The safety net was not there at all.”
“This is probably the final letdown of the system. To me, this is an unnecessary letdown for me and other people who went through really heinous things.”
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
