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Arvind Ajay Singh in the Brisbane apartment where he stayed before leaving the country.
“No other family or child should be put through this,” she said. “Organisations are not communicating with each other. It’s fallen down at every step.
“How can immigration make a decision on somebody who is on a rape charge? How do they get to walk out of this country free?”
A Home Affairs Department spokesperson said it could not comment on individual cases “for privacy reasons”. Minister Tony Burke also declined to comment on the record.
A government source who was not authorised to speak publicly said the department blamed the Queensland Police Service for failing to pursue a criminal justice visa to keep Singh in the country – a claim it rejects.
A QPS spokesperson said it “worked collaboratively with partner agencies, including the Department of Home Affairs and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, to ensure all legislative and procedural requirements were met”.
“The Queensland Police Service remains committed to ensuring all persons criminally charged are held to account for their actions, and will explore all avenues available, including extradition if appropriate, to facilitate this.”
A spokesperson from the DPP’s office said if the defendant failed to return, it would seek a warrant for his extradition. It added that Australian Border Force was “made aware of the active charges and court proceedings in relation to Singh in June 2023”.
The victim’s father said the DPP repeatedly used the word “unfortunate” when describing how Singh had been allowed to leave.
“The wrong word to use, unfortunate. They must have said it 15 times,” he said. “Unfortunate is when it rains on your birthday. This is just wrong.”
Further questions have emerged about Home Affairs’ use of hotels for immigration detention, with the accused rapist housed in a Brisbane apartment while he was detained.
Pictures posted to social media in June by Singh’s mother showed her visiting him in an apartment with views of Brisbane’s CBD, as well as of him on an exercise bike.
Singh’s Brisbane apartment included an exercise bike and looked out over the city.
One picture captures Singh standing on a couch with arms raised in jubilation, just a few weeks before he was allowed to leave Australia as a free man.
“It’s not like he snuck out the back door or got on a boat and left the country,” the victim’s father said. “Someone stamped his paperwork and let an accused rapist out the front door.”
Singh’s bail conditions restricted him from trying to leave Australia, or even enter an airport terminal or seaport, without prior approval by police or the DPP.
His passport had also been surrendered to police. It was unclear how it was retrieved before his departure from Brisbane Airport on a flight to Fiji.
Sarah Borrows from Shine Lawyers, who is assisting the victim’s family, said authorities should do “absolutely everything within their power to get this person back into the country”.
“They’ve been waiting so patiently for justice, and then to be told at the very last minute that he’s been able to leave the country and they may not receive any kind of justice or closure is just absolutely heartbreaking,” she said.
“We’re also ignoring that he’s now overseas somewhere where there are also vulnerable children. He doesn’t have a criminal record.”
Singh’s court case is listed for a pre-trial hearing on Friday at Maroochydore District Court, where the DPP is expected to apply for a warrant and then extradition.
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