A convicted child sex offender from Sierra Leone has won a second Federal Court challenge against the refusal of his protection visa—but he has not been granted the visa.
The court ordered the Administrative Review Tribunal to consider his application again after finding it had not properly assessed whether the security of permanent residency could reduce his risk of reoffending.
The 50-year-old man, identified by the pseudonym MFKF, has multiple convictions involving 16-year-old boys and is living in the Australian community on a bridging visa.
In a judgment delivered on August 12, Justice John Halley overturned the tribunal’s latest decision to refuse MFKF a protection visa.
The Federal Court did not decide that MFKF should receive permanent residency or be allowed to remain in Australia permanently.
It found an error in the way the tribunal assessed his case and returned the application for another decision.
Permanent visa raised as protective factor
The tribunal received evidence from therapist Graeme Randall, who specialises in assessing and treating men who have committed child sexual offences.
Mr Randall considered that permanent residency could give MFKF greater security and reduce the stress caused by the possibility of being removed from Australia.
He said removing that stress could help protect against further criminal or sexual offending.
Consultant psychologist Tim Watson-Munro also assessed MFKF’s risk of reoffending as low, provided he continued treatment, remained free from drugs and alcohol, maintained employment and retained other supports.
Justice Halley found the tribunal had not properly dealt with the “incontrovertible fact” that MFKF would remain in the community whether his protection visa was granted or refused.
The tribunal had placed significant weight on community safety and the expectation that non-citizens who commit serious crimes should not be permitted to remain in Australia.
However, the Federal Court found the tribunal needed to compare the danger under both possible outcomes: MFKF remaining in the community on a temporary bridging visa or receiving permanent residency.
Child sex offender : previous convictions
MFKF arrived in Australia on a partner visa in 2011.
He was sentenced to six months in jail in 2012 after being convicted of indecent assault and assault with indecent intent involving two 16-year-old boys.
Tribunal records state MFKF approached the first teenager while the boy was waiting for a bus, squeezed his buttock and attempted to persuade him to return to a hotel room.
About 15 minutes later, MFKF approached another 16-year-old who was described as a vulnerable young person living in a shelter.
When the teenager refused to accompany him, MFKF punched him in the chin, grabbed him by his jumper and intimidated him into going to the hotel.
Inside the room, tribunal records state MFKF struck the terrified teenager, removed his trousers and attempted to rape him.
The tribunal said the attack had a profound and lasting effect on the victim.
MFKF committed further offences in 2014 after approaching another young male at a shopping centre and asking whether he used crystal methamphetamine or drank beer.
After the man accepted an invitation to accompany him, MFKF drove to a park, produced an ice pipe and methamphetamine, repeatedly attempted to kiss him and touched his groin.
MFKF was sentenced to 70 days in jail in 2016 after being convicted of two counts of indecent assault.
His offending occurred while he was affected by drugs and alcohol.
Evidence presented during the visa proceedings indicated MFKF has since abstained from those substances and received treatment for mental-health conditions.
His visa was cancelled on character grounds in 2018.
Second visa refusal overturned
This is the second time MFKF has successfully challenged a decision to refuse his protection visa.
In August 2025, the Federal Court overturned an earlier tribunal decision made in April that year and sent the application back to be considered again.
The tribunal again refused the protection visa in February 2026 after finding MFKF presented a danger to the Australian community.
That refusal has now also been overturned.
The application will return to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a third decision.
The tribunal can still refuse MFKF’s visa. However, it must properly compare the potential risk under a permanent visa with the risk of leaving him in the community on a temporary bridging visa.
Why has he not been deported?
Australian authorities have accepted that MFKF faces a risk of persecution in Sierra Leone because of his sexuality.
That protection finding means Australia says it cannot presently return him to Sierra Leone, despite his criminal record and the cancellation of his visa.
The High Court has also ruled that a non-citizen cannot be held in immigration detention indefinitely when there is no real prospect of removing that person in the foreseeable future.
MFKF is therefore living in the community on a bridging visa while his immigration status remains unresolved.
The government could attempt to remove him to another country willing to accept him, but there has been no public confirmation that any country has agreed to do so.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced in February 2025 that Nauru would resettle members of the broader group of people released following the High Court’s landmark NZYQ decision.
However, the government has not confirmed whether MFKF is included in that arrangement or whether it is attempting to send him to Nauru.
At a press conference announcing the arrangement, Mr Burke declined to reveal how many members of the group remained in the Australian community.
He has not been granted permanent residency.
Until the tribunal makes another decision or the government secures his removal to a third country, he remains in Australia on a bridging visa.
The law has gone soft ,seems you get a harder sentence if you steal a lolly. We don’t need these sort of people in the community and there is definitely an option to deport.decision maker’s have a “duty of care” to the community.