Mum Faces Deportation and Separation from Her Kids Due to Her Criminal Past

A mother is facing deportation that could lead her to be separated from her kids because of her criminal past. 

Mum-of-five Kelly Webb, 30, originally from England, migrated to Australia as a two-year-old but never became a citizen. She was raised in Tasmania and South Australia, but she now faces deportation to England because of her extensive criminal past.

As a young woman, Ms Webb killed her stepfather with a hockey stick and a kitchen knife after a decade of child abuse. She was served with a good behaviour bond after the court heard the ‘monstrous’ details of what she had endured.

Her criminal record reportedly includes theft, robbery, document fraud and drink-driving. She was also reportedly diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and turned to the drug ice as a means of coping.

News Corp reported that Ms Webb served an 18-month jail term in 2014 for burglary armed with a steak knife.

Several days before her release, Ms Webb’s visa was reportedly revoked by the Australian Border Force and she was sent to Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Victoria.

In the law, Australian immigration can order the removal of a person deemed not to be ‘of good character’ and that foreign nationals who have served more than 12 months in prison face mandatory deportation.

Now, Ms Webb, who said she was informed of the deportation law three days before she was released from prison, was devastated by the news and pleads to stay with her five kids — Tyson, nine, Nakita and Chase, six, Matthew, five and Shae-Lee, one. She told News Corp she would ‘die of a broken heart’ if she were to be deported, saying she had never been back to England.

“If they send me there (to England), I will die… because my kids will be here…I was going to be with my kids and my mum”¦ I had never heard of the law, I cried for two days,” she said.

Her mother, Cheryl Webb, 51, told NewsCorp her daughter had been drug-free for the length of her sentence and had ‘pulled it together’ for her family. “I can’t believe this has happened. She has done her time”. She also feared that her daughter would be left with no family or resources in England and would be forced back into a life of crime.

Ms Webb did not hide her past, and now issued a plea to the government for one last chance. However, she will have to wait on the pity of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton if she wants to stay in Australia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that Ms Webb could appeal to have the ruling reconsidered, like anyone in the same situation. “There are various criteria, family ones being an obvious one, which can be taken into account,” he said.

Source: Au.news.yahoo.com