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Family pleads for help after Irish man locked in notorious WA detention centre

The family of an Irish man living and working in Perth have pleaded for help after the 26-year-old was allegedly arrested and detained by immigration officers.

Bernard Lee has been living in WA for the past seven years while working in the fitness industry, but he was arrested at the Highgate home he shares with his partner on Monday night.

Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee

Authorities claimed Mr Lee was issued a letter advising his application for a resident’s visa had been refused and his current business visa was cancelled. The letter allegedly advised Mr Lee he had 20 days to leave the country, but Mr Lee and his lawyer insist they never received that letter.

Perth man Bernard Lee. Source: Facebook
Perth man Bernard Lee. Source: Facebook

Mr Lee’s distraught father fears his son could be locked away in a detention centre for months, if not years, if the family appeals the decision.

“Bernard does not want to appeal the decision of the Department of Immigration and Border Control because we have been advised that such appeals take months or years, during which time the person is kept in detention. He just wants to come home on the flight he booked for next week,” Bernard’s father Norman told the Irish Independent.

Bernard's Australian girlfriend Amal issued a plea on Facebook.

Bernard Lee. Source: Instagram
Bernard Lee. Source: Instagram

"You never think this would happen to you until it happens to you," she said.

"(Bernard) has been detained by an error made by (sic) the Department of Australia.

"Please I need your help."

Mr Lee’s family is pleading with Australian authorities to release the 26-year-old who was originally due to depart Australia next Wednesday to join Amal in Europe.

The trip had been to celebrate Mr Lee’s brother’s engagement in Ireland.

But now the family is faced with the harsh reality that the 26-year-old is stranded in a detention centre, notorious for self-harm.

Mr Lee is being housed at the Yongah Hill detention centre in Northam, where last September a man doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire.
Another man also died after three years inside the facility.

The notorious Yongah Hill detention centre in WA. Source: 7News
The notorious Yongah Hill detention centre in WA. Source: 7News

“We have been advised that the Australian Immigration authorities regularly detain people in this facility for months without reason while they process paperwork,” Mr Lee’s brother Robert told the Irish Independent.

The Lee family claims officers from the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection made a mistake and admitted the letter was never delivered.

Mr Lee had recently applied for an employer-sponsored residents’ visa before he was put into detention.