A 25-year-old Tongan man who overstayed in Australia on an expired visa, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment last Thursday by the Mildura Magistrates’ Court in Victoria, after he pleaded guilty to assaulting and damaging the property of his ex-girlfriend, as well as resisting police and carrying a weapon.

Court reports did not reveal the name of the man but stated that he was a Tongan national who arrived to Australia in November 2018. He worked on a farm near the town of Mildura in Victoria and lived with a girlfriend, the victim, and her children in the town.

The Mildura Magistrates’ Court heard that the victim kicked the accused out of her home and soon after he became physically abusive towards her. In September last year, the victim left a nightclub after seeing the accused at the venue but was followed and hit across the face before she left in a taxi. When the woman was at home she hid with her children in a closet and called police after hearing the accused walking outside her home. The accused entered the home and searched for the woman until police arrived, when he locked himself inside. He tried to escape police by running but was caught and arrested. A steak knife was found in his pocket.

He faces likely deportation in accordance to Australian case law.