First Victorian man sentenced to four-and-a-half years for ‘exit trafficking’

A controlling and violent husband has been jailed for four and a half years after he deliberately stranded his wife abroad without a passport.

Mohamed Ahmed Omer, 52, is the first person in Victoria to be found guilty of “exit trafficking” after the incident a decade ago.

Exit trafficking is a person coercing, coercing or threatening another person to leave Australia against their will.

Omer, an Australian citizen, secretly withdrew support for his then-wife’s visa in June 2014, making false claims to authorities that she had abused and “abandoned” their two young children.

In September 2014, Omer booked a holiday from Melbourne to Sudan with his wife and children.

He abandoned her in Sudan after quietly changing the return date, took her passport and identification papers and boarded a plane back to Australia with the children.

The District Court heard it took more than a year for the woman to regain her visa and return to Australia. She has since been reunited with the children.

“Their deception was deliberate and resulted in this [the woman’s] Compliance with the rules when leaving Australia,” Judge Frank Gucciardo said on Tuesday.

“They had assured her that she could return to Australia at any time.”

After a month-long trial, Omer was found guilty of emigration trafficking by a jury in April.

Omer was described by former friends as “humanitarian” despite his crimes

The court noted that Omer was a food security and agriculture expert who held several university degrees, including a doctorate in applied chemistry.

The judge said former friends and colleagues had provided “impressive” character references on his behalf, describing him as a humanitarian committed to helping people in his home country of Sudan.

This compassion was at odds with the crime he committed, which deprived his children of their mother’s care, Judge Gucciardo noted.

The woman first came to Australia in April 2012, two years after the couple married in an arranged marriage in Sudan.

Judge Gucciardo said he accepted evidence that Omer behaved aggressively during the marriage and threatened the woman.

Omer was also accused of controlling the woman’s phone usage and bank accounts, the court heard.

Nurses who visited the woman during the period of abuse described her as a “gentle, caring and attentive mother” who became depressed by Omer’s treatment.

Jury rejects defense arguments

Prosecutors said the family’s trip to Sudan in 2014 was portrayed by Omer as a month-long vacation.

Omer told police in 2016 that he feared for the health and safety of his children while in Sudan – claims the judge said the jury must have rejected in finding him guilty.

Judge Gucciardo said the offense had had a “lasting and traumatic impact” on the woman.

Omer, who has already spent six months in custody, could be released on parole after serving his three-year and three-month sentence.