A violent Sudanese immigrant accused of murdering another African man in a Brisbane park on Mother’s Day had his visa uncancelled and was released from immigration detention just weeks before the alleged fatal stabbing.
Emmanuel Saki, 29, had his humanitarian visa revoked in 2019 after being jailed multiple times in three states for violent offences including assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and choking a person unconscious.
But the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) deputy president Stephen Boyle decided to overturn the visa cancellation, finding Saki was a low risk of reoffending, was remorseful, and taking into account that he had spent his formative years in Australia, having arrived as an 11-year-old with his sibling from Egypt.
On May 12, only four weeks after being released, Saki allegedly stabbed his fellow Sudanese acquaintance Bosco Minyurano, 22, to death in a park where a group of African men were drinking until midnight .
Minyurano was found by emergency services at Mortimer Road Park in Acacia Ridge with a stab wound to the chest just after midnight on Sunday, but died at the scene.
Saki remains in custody and will appear in Richlands Magistrates Court on August 19.
The AAT decision to overturn the visa cancellation relied on Direction 99 guidance handed down by embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles in January 2023, which included a call to consider whether a non-citizen facing deportation had spent their “formative years” in Australia.
The police investigation into the alleged murder sparked complaints from the local Indian community as singer Kanwar Grewal was set to perform in the park later on that day, and organisers were denied access.
“He’s a big name … most of the people in India know him,” said Ricky Singh, who told ABC News he was upset police would not allow him into the grounds.
He said a change in venue would be difficult, and that Indians from all over Queensland were travelling to Acacia Ridge for the show, and “they’re not going to be happy” if the concert is cancelled.
The performer later announced that the concert has been moved to a new venue.
“Due to unavoidable circumstances we have made a tough call to relocate the venue for today’s live show. We are thrilled for the event is now shifted to Springwood School Hall,” Grewal wrote on Sunday afternoon.
