Apr 23, 2010
Jail, caning for overstayer
<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
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<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> A CAMEROONIAN, who overstayed and cheated a foreign worker of $5,600 by promising to get him a job and student passes for Australia was jailed nine months and ordered to be given four strokes of the cane. A district court heard on Friday that in July last year, Damen Priestley Dume, 25, posed as an 'agent' with connections to arrange for Australian employment and student passes for a fee. Mr Prince Mahfuz Rohit, 25, was taken in. The following month, the Bangladeshi, who works as a general worker here, handed over $3,000 to Dume to get a skilled migrant visa for an uncle. Dume then forged a letter from the Australian High Commission approving the application.
He also convinced Mr Rohit to hand over $2,000 to get a student pass for the Bangladeshi's younger brother, This time, Dume faked an approval letter issued by the Temporary Residence Processing of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. But the forged letter mistakenly stated that the department was based in 'Pretoria, Australia'. Pretoria is the capital of South Africa. Dume also cheated Mr Rohit of an additional $600 by claiming this to be the collection fee for the student pass. When Dume was arrested in March, he was found to have overstayed. His special pass had expired in November. He pleaded guilty to cheating, fogery and overstaying.
