An inmate who punched an officer in the face at the Hawke's Bay Prison in January is also alleged to have been the man behind the wheel of a stolen WorkSafe ute rampage in March.
Raymond Punger Watson, 21, did not appear in the Hastings District Council yesterday morning but entered a guilty plea via defence counsel Richard Stone to one charge of assaulting a prison officer.
Not guilty pleas were simultaneously entered to charges relating to the burglary incident in late March where a WorkSafe ute was stolen from a Hastings property and the subject of several police pursuits before it was spiked.
According to the summary of facts obtained by Hawke's Bay Today, Watson was serving a sentence for an unrelated matter at the Hawke's Bay Prison on January 8 when a Corrections officer observed broken glass at his cell and went to investigate.
Watson failed to co-operate with several staff who attended his cell and then "swung a punch" that struck one of the officers in the face, knocking him down.