Parents of beaten student accuse immigrants of exploitation

An Ashburton family, whose son is still recovering after being attacked at school, said they too were facing exploitation as migrants to New Zealand.

They said they remained in the country only to seek justice for their family members.

Earlier this month, a Year 9 student at Ashburton College was attacked by another student in class, leaving him with a fractured eye socket, neck injury and concussion.

The boy’s mother, Nandita, said the family was under huge stress as they had been working under the Accredited Employment Work Scheme but quit two months ago because she claimed they were being exploited.

She said she and her husband had lodged a complaint with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and had been granted a protection from exploitation visa while the ministry investigated their case.

Such visas are issued if the ministry is satisfied that exploitation has occurred.

Nandita said she never imagined they would go through this after coming to New Zealand.

She said now she just wants justice for herself, her husband and son.

She claims she was paid just $15 an hour, compared to the $23.15 minimum wage for adults, and that she was bullied at work.

Nandita refused to name her former employer, so RNZ was unable to seek comment from them.

She claims that she and her husband, who worked for the same company, also had about 400 hours of wages withheld.

She said that when she quit, she and her family were also evicted from their rental home because the owner had a relationship with their employer.

We have set up a Givealittle page to help the family.

Nandita said her son is still suffering badly from the attack and is a long way from returning to school.

She still doesn’t know what the school and police will do about the boy who hurt her son.

Ashburton College has not yet responded to Radio New Zealand’s enquiries.

Nandita said she was grateful for the help the Ashburton family had received from Safer Mid Canterbury, the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul.

Immigration New Zealand national investigations manager Jason Perry confirmed Nandita was granted an immigration protection from exploitation work visa in July.

He said the visa enabled migrants on supported work visas to resign quickly while allegations of exploitation were investigated.

He said Immigration New Zealand had received a complaint about Nandita’s former employer.

He said that in order to protect Process’s identity, he could not provide any further details as doing so could compromise any investigation or future inquiries.