Corrections staff cleared of assaulting prisoner

AUCKLAND: Three prison officers have been found not guilty of assaulting a prisoner in retaliation and perverting the course of justice.

Guards Desmond Faafoi, Wiremu Paikea and Viju Devassy have all been on trial in the High Court at Auckland for the past two weeks.

The trio were all working at Auckland Prison, Paremoremo, on May 20 last year when a group of inmates attacked them.

Faafoi was severely wounded in the incident and was stabbed several times in the head with a shank (a makeshift knife).

Police charged the three prisoners who instigated the attack, Samuel Hutchins, Trent Wellington and Mitai Angell, but also charged the three Corrections officers for their retaliation and actions afterwards.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon and in front of a packed public gallery, the jury returned its verdicts.

Faafoi was charged with assault with intent to injure Angell after kicking the prisoner in the head three times.

He was found not guilty.

Paikea was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard after CCTV footage showed Paikea kneeling down over the back of Angell’s legs.

The Crown said Paikea deliberately bent Angell’s ankle at a 90degree angle causing a compound dislocation.

The jury found Paikea not guilty.

And Devassy was charged with wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice after the Crown accused him of shifting a CCTV camera away from the incident.

He was found not guilty.

The gallery erupted in applause as the verdicts were read and the three men were free to go.

Supporters of the three guards also clapped as the jury left the courtroom.

Crown prosecutor Jo Murdoch said Faafoi ‘‘reacted to violence with violence’’ and as he was ‘‘pumped up with anger and adrenaline, he lost control’’.

‘‘He punched and kicked an inmate repeatedly to the point that he had to be restrained by

❛ He may have lashed out, you’ll see that on the footage, but did he

have the intent?

his fellow prison officers,’’ Mr Murdoch said.

‘‘Devassy saw this, it happened in front of him,’’ Mr Murdoch said of the incident.

‘‘He clearly saw Mr Faafoi kicking Angell’s head as Angell lay curled up in the foetal position. He clearly saw it because it was recorded on his body camera.’’

Earlier in the trial the court was shown the CCTV footage of the incident.

The video showed Wellington being wrestled by a Corrections officer near a stairwell, before Hutchins was tackled by Faafoi.

Faafoi could be seen bleeding heavily from his stab wounds and blood was soon smeared and splattered over the walls.

Angell was wrestled to the ground before more Corrections officers, including Devassy, came to help restrain the prisoners. A voice from an unknown Corrections officer was heard during Devassy’s body camera recording of the incident, as Faafoi lashed out against Angell. ‘‘Des[mond], Des, enough, enough, enough, enough . . . camera, camera,’’ the voice said.

Faafoi’s defence counsel Todd Simmonds argued his client had no malicious intent to injure the prisoner.

‘‘Multiple blows to his head, stab wounds, cuts, abrasions, bleeding and the effect that had on [Faafoi],’’ Mr Simmonds said.

‘‘His ability to think straight, to appreciate what he was doing at the time — that’s the defence.

‘‘He may have lashed out, you’ll see that on the footage, but did he have the intent?’’

The Crown said Paikea had effectively snapped Angell’s ankle, despite the prisoner already being subdued.

But Paikea’s lawyer Aaron Perkins QC said his client was wrestling with the struggling inmate and rejected any criminal intent or reckless disregard.

Devassy accepted redirecting the CCTV camera but his lawyer, Paul Borich QC, said the Corrections officer was trying to ‘‘locate other rogue inmates’’ who might have been a threat to other guards.

The prisoners have all pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and aggravated assault and will be sentenced later this year. — NZME