Inmate uses lightbulb moment to take off
A prisoner who escaped custody while at Hawke’s Bay Hospital claims he was assaulted in prison – and ate a lightbulb to aid his escape.
Dion King, 19, surrendered at Hastings police station shortly after 8am yesterday, accompanied by his lawyer.
He had been on the run since escaping from the Hawke’s Bay Hospital accident and emergency department on Sunday evening.
Outside the police station before handing himself in, King still had handcuffs attached to both wrists after cutting the chain connecting them.
King, 19, claimed he was assaulted by a guard after being taken into the prison’s youth wing on Saturday.
On Sunday morning, he was desperate to get out of the prison so he smashed a light fitting, removed a lightbulb, smashed it and ate it.
‘‘I told the guards what I’d done and they told me I shouldn’t have done that. They said I had to go to hospital, so they took me to hospital.
‘‘I had X-rays and that. Then I saw an opportunity to run, so I did.’’
King said he was accompanied by two prison guards at the hospital, but it had been easy to escape.
‘‘I ran from the emergency department. But I didn’t have to run for long, then I started walking.’’
He ran from the hospital still wearing handcuffs. He later cut the chain between the cuffs and has been on the run for the past five nights.
King said he had been arrested on charges of assault with intent to rob, burglary, selling cannabis and using intimidating language and was being held on remand.
The charges of assault with intent to rob and burglary had since been withdrawn.
‘‘I’m really worried I’ll have to go back. I’m willing to testify and all. I’m honestly willing to go all the way,’’ he said.
King appeared in Hastings District Court later in the day, without the handcuffs. He was granted bail to his mother’s house with a 24-hour curfew and will reappear next month. He did not enter pleas to the charges of selling cannabis and using intimidating language, or a fresh charge of escaping custody.
His lawyer, Phil Jensen, said King would be making a formal evidential statement outlining his allegations in the coming weeks.
Hawkes Bay Regional Prison director George Massingham said Corrections was pleased the prisoner has turned himself into police.
‘‘We acknowledge that this prisoner had made some serious allegations and they will be investigated. We take any allegation of assault extremely seriously as we have zero tolerance for assaults in our prisons, however, at this stage, Corrections has no evidence of an incident occurring,’’ he said.