New Zealand deportation

Deportation for paralysed Tongan woman justified - lawyer

Taipaleti Vaeatangitau was injured playing netball in Tonga. Her injury worsened, so her doctor referred her to a neurosurgeon in Auckland.

She and her husband, Loni Vaeatangitau, told the Immigration and Protection Tribunal that they sold their belongings to pay for flights and in December 2015 came to New Zealand with the youngest two of their six children.

She had surgery in Auckland in 2016 but woke to find herself a paraplegic.

Her family's visas expired in June 2018, so they applied to the tribunal for permission to stay in New Zealand.