An ABC investigation has found authorities missed multiple opportunities to deport an NBL player and serial rapist, despite him sexually abusing and stalking multiple women and girls in Australia.
Key points:
- The federal government and a tribunal allowed Tiny Pinder to stay in Australia
- This was despite him abusing multiple young women and girls
- Pinder is awaiting sentencing for more rape charges in New South Wales
The revelations come as the federal government continues to grapple with the fallout from a High Court ruling that resulted in the release of dozens of detainees, including convicted murderers and sex offenders, into the community.
The ABC can now reveal how former Wildcats star Kendal ‘Tiny’ Pinder was permitted by the federal government — and later an independent tribunal — to remain in Australia, despite him using his fame to lure multiple young women whom he sexually abused over decades.
Pinder was granted Australian citizenship in 1986, even though he had been previously convicted of a sexual offence involving a teenage girl in the United States.
The former Harlem Globetrotter played for three NBL teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s, helping the Perth Wildcats secure their first two championships.
Despite spending stints in jail for sexual offences involving four girls – one as young as 15 — in the 1990s, his citizenship was not revoked until 2007.
An ex-citizen visa has allowed the now 67-year-old to remain in Australia indefinitely, but does not allow him to return should he leave.
Sexual offences span decades
In 1992, Pinder was convicted of attempting to rape a 17-year-old girl at his unit in Perth’s south two years earlier.
In the following months, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman and later a 16-year-old girl after offering her a lift home from a bus stop.
A year after he was released from jail on parole in 1995, Pinder was jailed again for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in his car in Wollongong in New South Wales.
More recently, in 2021, the notorious former basketballer was imprisoned for stalking a woman in her 20s from a train station in Sydney’s southern suburbs.
Pinder remains in the country today, currently in custody awaiting sentencing for further serious rape charges committed in NSW.
Basketball identities backed Pinder to stay
Administrative Appeal Tribunal documents revealed Pinder was arrested in 2005, on suspicion of raping a young girl a year earlier, but he was released without charges being laid.
He was also questioned by police in 2009 after a 14-year-old girl filed a report claiming he followed her and tried to coerce her to get in his car, but charges were not pursued.
The same year, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship notified Pinder that his visa may be liable for cancellation.
But several months later, the department advised him it would not be revoked.
Pinder’s visa was finally cancelled in 2017, but he successfully challenged the decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
A number of statements were submitted in Pinder’s support, including from his former coach Calvin Bruton, former Wildcats owner Robert ‘Bob’ Williams and Sydney Kings co-owner Andrew Lazaris.
On Tuesday the ABC revealed another one of Pinder’s victims has come forward, with her lawyers preparing what they say could be a “groundbreaking” civil action against Mr Williams, accusing him of failing to protect young fans like her.
Risk of harm ‘not an unacceptable one’
When handing down his decision to revoke Pinder’s visa cancellation in 2019, the Tribunal’s deputy president Stephen Boyle conceded Pinder did not pass the character test.
But Mr Boyle said Pinder’s risk of harm to the Australian community was “not an unacceptable one”.
“A common theme of the applicant’s sexual offending was the exploitation of his then status as a high-profile athlete,” he said.
“That is no longer the case. Even if he were minded to re-offend in the manner that he did when he was a high-profile player, the opportunity for such offending is significantly less now.”
Mr Boyle said the expectations of the Australian community, in the tribunal’s view, were marginally in favour of not revoking Pinder’s visa.
Revelations come amid immigration detention headache
The revelations come as the federal government faces significant pressure over the release of potentially dangerous detainees in the wake of a High Court decision on immigration detention earlier this month.
The ruling found it was unconstitutional to detain people indefinitely, resulting in the release of more than 100 non-citizens – including convicted murderers and sex offenders – into the community.
Emergency laws have been rushed through federal parliament to allow for the use of ankle bracelets and curfews to monitor the people released from immigration detention.
When contacted by the ABC, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said it did not comment on individual cases.
“The Australian Government will continue to act decisively to protect the community from the risk of harm posed by individuals who choose to engage in criminal activity or behaviour of concern,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“All non-citizens who wish to enter or remain in Australia must satisfy the requirements of the Migration Act and Migration Regulations.”
The department did not provide a reason for why it did not seek to appeal the AAT’s decision to revoke Pinder’s visa cancellation.
“There are several factors that may be considered when deciding whether to appeal or seek judicial review of a decision of the AAT and I will not comment on individual cases,” the spokesperson said.
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