British ‘neo-Nazi’ facing deportation from Australia over social media posts is dad-of-one
A British ‘neo-Nazi’ about to be kicked out of Australia for allegedly displaying Nazi symbols is a dad who lived in the country for 15 years.
Kayn Adam Charles Wells, 43, had his Australian visa cancelled after allegedly posting antisemitic content on social media, the Daily Mail reports.
He was arrested at his home in Caboolture, north Brisbane, on December 3 and now awaits his fate at an immigration detention centre in Brisbane.
The allegedly criminal posts on X date from between October 10 and November 5 this year.
After the social media platform blocked one account, he created a new one with a similar name and continued uploading the offensive and harmful content, police said.
The posts allegedly included a Nazi swastika and a call for violence towards the Jewish community.
One post allegedly reads: ‘There is no Aboriginal culture. It’s not a culture. Born here means Australian. Not skin colour.’
Officers searched his property on November 21 and allegedly found several weapons, including swords bearing swastikas, axes and knives.
The raid was carried out by Queensland Police Service and the AFP National Security Investigations (NSI) team, which focuses on groups and individuals harming Australia’s social cohesion.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: ‘He came here to hate – he doesn’t get to stay.’
‘If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest,’ Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.
He added: ‘Almost everyone on a visa is a good guest and a welcome guest in Australia, but if someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave.’
Wells was charged with three counts of displaying banned Nazi symbols and one count of using the internet to cause offense.
He was taken into immigration detention this week in Brisbane and is due to face court on January 7, police said.
The dad will be offered the chance to leave the country voluntarily or otherwise face deportation to the UK.
The Daily Mail reports that Wells made Australia his home in 2013, spending several years living in northern New South Wales before moving to Queensland in 2018.
Wells was known as ‘Adam’ until he legally added ‘Kayn’ to his name in late 2020.
He has an Australian wife, Kellie, and one son.
Ms Wells, however, has insisted her husband is not a neo-Nazi, but mentally ill and caught up in a government crackdown.
She claimed his mental health spiralled after he was viciously attacked by eight teenage boys while he was working as a carpark cleaner in January.
His wife says they kicked and beat him while he was on the ground, before hitting him over the head with a metal bar.
The attack gave him head injuries and psychological trauma, leaving him unable to work and isolated at home.
She claimed: ‘This isn’t someone who is pro-Nazi – he really isn’t. He has no associations with neo-Nazis. This is a case of a man with mental illness.
‘These kids almost killed him. He had no income all year. He went down a really bad path in his brain.’
Ms Wells, who condemned anti-Semitism as ‘horrific’, said her husband was not a violent person and called the posts a ‘PTSD outburst’.
She claimed the sword with a Nazi symbol allegedly found at their home was a plastic weapon her husband found in a car park and brought home because he is a sword collector.
Her and her son now risk being torn apart from Wells or face moving across the world to the UK with no money.
Australian authorities have been cracking down on visa holders who breach character requirements.
A South African neo-Nazi Matthew Gruter was sent home earlier this year after attending an antisemitic rally in Sydney.
The Australian government vowed this week to make it easier to cancel visas after the Bondi Beach attack on December 14.
Burke wants increased powers to revoke visas for people with a history of displaying hate symbols, or taking part in hate speech or vilification.
He explained: ‘Effectively, we will be making it easier for the Australian Federal Police to successfully bring charges against those who use and display hate symbols.
‘We’ll also be making changes to the Customs Act so that, as well as it being unlawful for them to be held in Australia, it is easier for them to be intercepted at the border if they’re seen there.’
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