An Indian man who was paralysed after a car and forklift toppled on him while he was working in New Zealand illegally has been allowed to remain in the country, a tribunal has decided.

The 31-year-old successfully appealed a deportation order against him, claiming exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian nature to the New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal.

In 2017, the man broke his spine when a car and a forklift toppled over him while he was trying to remove a drive shaft from underneath the vehicle at a car-dismantling yard.

His entire body below his ribcage became paralysed.

The man first arrived in the country in 2012 on a student visa, and was studying while working part-time at the car yard.

After his visa expired in 2014, he continued working to save up for a new visa and pay off a debt.

His employer tried to cover up the workplace injury by driving the man to his house to claim he was injured at home. An ambulance was called from the home, to hide the fact he was illegally working for the car yard, the tribunal report said.

A police investigation confirmed the accident occurred at the car yard.

In 2017, after being served with a deportation order from Immigration NZ, the man discharged himself from a spinal unit rehab centre and fled to Rotorua.

His former employer housed him at a car yard, in a house that had no power, running water or heater.

By mid-2018, the man had developed severe pressure wounds, sepsis and skin ulcers because he couldn’t care for himself properly, and was scared of using health services because of his immigration status.

A church member alerted Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and the man was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery, blood transfusions and more than 19 months of recovery.

In 2022, following a request for ministerial intervention, the associate immigration minister cancelled the deportation order and granted a one-day visa to allow the man to file an appeal with the tribunal.

The man appealed that while he suffered a traumatic spinal injury while he was in the country illegally, his former employer was negligent and attempted to cover up the workplace accident.

If he was deported, he would not receive the ACC-funded attendant care and nursing treatment outside New Zealand.

In its decision, the tribunal ruled that the paraplegic man’s need for ongoing care, rehabilitative and vocational support, and the potential risks to his health and safety were exceptional humanitarian circumstances.

The tribunal acknowledged the man’s ongoing care and medical needs would place demands and costs on the public healthcare system, but his spinal injury was in a New Zealand workplace and ACC had accepted to cover the costs.

He was granted a resident visa.

-Torika Tokalau/Stuff.