Richmond triple-premiership superstar Dustin Martin is mourning the death of his father as New Zealand police confirmed there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding Shane Martin’s death
Martin, who was in his early 50s, died this week in New Zealand where he has been living since being deported from Australia on character grounds in 2016.
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The cause of death is unknown.
NZ Police went to a property on the street on which Shane Martin lived, where a man was found dead.
NZ Police said there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
The Richmond star’s father attempted to return to Australia in early 2020 but was deported after flying into Sydney Airport, claiming he had Aboriginal heritage.
Since his deportation, he had launched a number of legal bids to return to Australia.
In 2019, Shane Martin revealed he’d been suffering from bouts of depression and badly missed his sons in Australia.
“I was depressed and angry for a while and took it out on my wife a bit,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
“It wasn’t her fault but she stood strong. Now we’re living together. We’d just got married, two weeks after that I got deported, separated for nearly three years.”
Shane was forced to watch Dustin win the 2017, 2019 and 2020 premierships from New Zealand, which was tough for Martin to swallow.
“It’s pretty hard to see it on TV when I should be there, really, but that’s another story,” Shane said last year.
“It’s still a proud moment but I would have loved to be there, but yeah, you know, it is what it is, don’t want to take the moment away from it.”
Shane had previously renounced his connection to the Rebels bikie gang and slammed government officials in Australia.
Richmond granted Dustin Martin permission to fly overseas to visit his father in April when the travel bubble opened, having not seen him for more than 12 months at that stage, due to the impact of COVID-19.
The pair shared a close bond but had not seen each other for 12 months prior to that visit because of travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s been a massive challenge, but it is what it is,” Martin told Fox Footy in March.
“I love my dad and he’s made me the man I am today.
“I’ve got full belief he’ll [be] back here to watch us win another flag.
“That’s my dream, to be able to have the old man up there [in the grandstand] with the rest of my family and watch the Tiges win another flag.”
Dustin Martin began a running programme in recent weeks after recovering from surgery to repair a lacerated kidney, which cut short his 2021 season.
The three-time Norm Smith Medal winner was expected to resume full-contact training in the new year, ahead of Richmond’s round-one meeting with Carlton on March 17.
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