A Tamil Manus Island refugee who ‘killed himself’ on Manus Island was facing rape charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenager girl.
Rajeev Rajendran, 32, was charged for raping a teenager ‘three times’, believed to be 18 or 19-years-old, at a hotel on the island in January this year.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul confirmed the rape charges to Daily Mail Australia.
When the young girl managed to escape, she allegedly ‘fainted on the riverside’ before being rescued and taken to hospital, The Guardian reported at the time.
A Tamil Manus Island refugee (pictured) who ‘killed himself’ on Manus Island was facing rape charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenager girl
Rajeev Rajendran, 32, (pictured) was charged for raping a teenager ‘three times’, believed to be 18 or 19-years-old, at a hotel on the island in January this year
The case was yet to go before a court but it is believed Rajendran was going to deny the charges, Mr Rintoul told Sky News.
The refugee reportedly took his own life early Monday morning at Lorengau Hospital on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, Australia’s immigration department confirmed.
The Australian Government asked the 32-year-old’s family to pay $7500 to send the body back to Sri Lanka, but the family are demanding it be sent back to their home country for free.
‘We have lost a son, a brother, a cousin and a wonderful friend,’ the man’s cousin told Tamil Refugee Council.
‘After all the trauma he was put through, the Australian government now wants to put his grieving family through more.
‘Why would they do this to us? They have taken our dear Rajeev from us – is this not enough? But now they demand a fortune as well.’
The case was yet to go before a court but it is believed Rajendran was going to deny the charges, Mr Rintoul told Sky News (stock image of Manus Island Detention Centre)
The Tamil Refugee Council said the 32-year-old had been ‘threatened by the Sri Lankan military’, was ‘denied asylum in Australia’ and found out his ‘father had cancer’ two months ago which ‘finally took its toll’.
Rajendran’s death is reportedly the second suicide on Manus Island in the past two months and is the sixth fatality in four years.
Former Manus Island MP Ron Knight said the magistrate on the island will be conducting a coroner’s investigation over coming days.
‘It seems like a suicide but it’s not confirmed yet,’ Mr Knight told AAP.
He said locals had become increasingly frustrated with the problems that have come with hosting the immigration detention centre, which is slated for closure at the end of the month.
The man’s death is reportedly the second suicide on the island in the past two months (stock image)
More than 50 refugees last week left Manus Island and Nauru for a new life in the U.S (pictured are asylum seekers leaving the detention centre on September 24)
‘It’s given the island a bad name, it’s given the people a bad name, when people are being looked after by our government and the Australian government have to resort to something like this to prove a point, it means that something is terribly wrong with the whole system,’ Mr Knight said.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the man had been sent to the hospital three days earlier.
Greens senator Nick McKim said the case was ‘catastrophic neglect’ from Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
‘This man had suffered for years in a system that Australia’s Labor and Liberal parties deliberately designed and operated to cause mental harm,’ he said in a statement.
The body of Iranian refugee Hamed Shamshiripour was found near refugee accommodation in early August.
The death comes as more than 50 refugees last week left Manus Island and Nauru for a new life in the U.S.
More are expected to follow in coming months.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Multicultural Mental Health Australia www.mmha.org.au.
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