Pilot refuses to fly prisoner
Pilot watched as one of the country’s most dangerous inmates assaulted a guard on the tarmac. Blair Ensor reports.
The pilot of a Corrections chartered con-air flight refused to let a maximum security prisoner board after watching him allegedly assault a guard on the tarmac.
Hemi Te Poono, who was acquitted of a 2015 murder, is one of New Zealand’s most dangerous inmates.
While behind bars, he’s committed a series of serious assaults on guards and fellow prisoners.
On January 9, Te Poono was flown from Auckland to Christchurch via Wellington on a taxpayer-funded flight chartered by the Department of Corrections to stand trial in the Christchurch District Court on charges of assaulting a prison officer and assault with intent to injure.
Corrections wasn’t keen on the idea of him flying south, given his dangerous and volatile reputation, and asked the court if he could appear via audio-visual link (AVL) from Auckland Prison, where he was housed as a maximum security inmate in Paremoremo.
That request was declined. Legislation states that AVL must not be used for a defendant’s appearance at a trial where their guilt or innocence is to be determined, unless the defendant consents to its use.
At Christchurch Airport, Te Poono’s flight, which was carrying eight other prisoners, was met by the Site Emergency Response Team, a group of specialist guards trained to handle violent inmates.
Despite their presence, and while wearing restraints, he allegedly assaulted a Corrections staff member as he exited the plane. The staff member was uninjured.
Police confirmed they were investigating the two alleged assaults by Te Poono.
On January 27, Te Poono appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the charges, meaning the judge-alone trial he’d been brought south for did not go ahead.
He was remanded in custody and scheduled for sentencing on March 5.
Three days later, as Te Poono and 10 other prisoners boarded a charter flight bound for Auckland via Wellington, he allegedly assaulted another staff member, who escaped without injury. The pilot witnessed the incident and refused to transport him, a prison source says.
It’s unclear how Corrections plans to return Te Poono to Auckland. One option is driving him in a prison van, but that poses problems as he would not be allowed to stay below deck on the Cook Strait ferry due to safety regulations.
He may be kept in Christchurch until after his sentencing next month.
Corrections chief custodial officer Neil Beales confirmed prison officials asked for Te Poono to appear in court via AVL, but that request was declined.
The department took safety ‘‘extremely seriously’’ and was ‘‘committed to minimising the risk that comes with managing some of this country’s most dangerous and volatile people – including through the increased use of AVL between prisons and courts to reduce the need for prisoner movements’’.
Beales said Te Poono remained in Christchurch. He would not discuss how Corrections planned to return him to Auckland ‘‘for safety and operational security reasons’’.
Beales said tens of thousands of prisoners were escorted between prisons, courts, specialist medical facilities and rehab centres each year.
Commercial or charter flights were the fastest way to transport prisoners between the North and South islands.
Corrections was ‘‘committed to delivering value for money’’ and AVL technology, which allowed prisoners to appear in court without leaving prison, had ‘‘significantly reduced’’ the department’s use of air travel, Beales said.
About two flights were chartered to prisoners.
Justice Minister Andrew Little said every defendant had a right to a fair trial, which included being in court to instruct counsel, and he had no plans to review the legislation around the use of AVL. ‘‘Extreme cases should not change the law for every other defendant who’s capable of exercising their rights.’’ Te Poono was accused of murdering Samuel Culling, who died from a gunshot wound in 2015. Culling’s body was found in Palmerston North and his blood was found in Te Poono’s car.
Te Poono said he saw Culling get shot, but had no idea who did it. a month transfer
He was found not guilty at the conclusion of a trial in 2016.
The jury wasn’t told that Te Poono had assaulted six people, prison guards and inmates, with crude weapons, while on remand.
In 2017, he was sentenced to eight years and six months’ jail for the attacks, which he said the devil and Culling instructed him to carry out.
A forensic psychiatrist found Te Poono was suffering from methamphetamine-induced psychosis when he committed the offending.