A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A prisoner says he was bullied into discontinuing court proceedings against the management of a correctional facility, after a fellow inmate who helped him — former Gisborne man Thomas Cheng — was transferred.
Thomas Zepackic and Cheng were housed at Auckland South Corrections Facility (ASCF) when Zepackic filed an application last November for a judicial review of the way the prison was being run.
Zepackic challenged decisions made by the prison director, alleging Bill of Rights and Privacy Act breaches, and that prison operator Serco New Zealand Limited had been negligent about its responsibilities.
The application was one of a number of proceedings brought by prisoners with the assistance of Cheng, at facilities operated by Serco or the Department of Corrections.
A similar application made by Cheng on his own behalf, was largely dismissed by the High Court, but with leave for Cheng to recalibrate and replead it.
In April this year, Cheng was moved from ASCF to Tongariro Prison.
On May 31, Zepackic (still at ASCF) sent a hand-written letter to the High Court saying he wanted to “retract” his application.
Justice Tracey Walker who received it, noted some ambiguity and took a cautious approach, inviting Zepackic to appear at a later hearing to confirm directly he wished to discontinue the proceedings.
The judge said she would be concerned if Zepackic’s reason for discontinuing stemmed from any practical impediment he perceived in accessing justice.
The matter was called before Justice Graham Lang on June 17. Zepackic said he had spoken at length with the Operations Manager of Serco before sending his letter. Zepackic confirmed to the court he wanted to abandon the proceedings.
The judge granted leave to discontinue, with no issue as to costs.
Zepacick was transferred to Tongariro Prison on June 29, where he again came into contact with Cheng.
On July 18, Zepackic applied to the court to have the previously-granted discontinuance set aside. He claimed that from April 2021 Serco staff curtailed his access to lawyers and the Registrar, declined his requests to print and photocopy legal documents and arbitrarily moved him between blocks and units.
It exacerbated his health issues, and he felt bullied and disincentivised to continue his proceedings, Zepackic said.
Other prisoners who had made complaints about Serco had also experienced difficulties in conducting their proceedings once Cheng was transferred out of ASCF, Zepackic said.
He and other prisoners were dispersed to different units and blocks and Serco staff warned them they were being watched by prison management.
Zepackic said he felt pressured into discontinuing his claims and that he would not otherwise have discontinued the proceeding.
Cheng wrote an affidavit supporting Zepackic’s application to set aside the discontinuance, saying he believed Zepackic’s claims of being pressured by prison management.
Cheng described difficulties he and others encountered trying to conduct other proceedings.
Considering the application, Justice Gerard van Boheman said Cheng and Zepackic’s affidavits contained serious allegations about the behaviour of staff at ASCF towards prisoners who make complaints of mistreatment, and about the practical ability of prisoners to access justice.
“While those allegations have not been tested and many fall outside the scope of Mr Zepackic’s application, I expect that Serco, the Department of Corrections and the Solicitor-General will want to consider them carefully,” Justice van Boheman said.
As far as the application itself, though, from the court’s perspective Zepackic had fully abandoned his previous proceedings and there was no legal circumstance in which it could be reactivated.
However, that did not preclude Zepackic from opening a new proceedings if he still wished to pursue his claims against Serco, the judge said.
Cheng, a Singaporean national, is serving a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking offences committed while he lived in Gisborne.
He faces further charges alleging similar offending that began soon after he was jailed. He is next scheduled to appear on those matters in the Wellington District Court on October 1.
In addition to these criminal proceedings, Cheng also has upcoming civil court appearances as a party, along with his Malaysian-based father and stepmother, to a forfeiture process that began after his arrest in 2016 and involves millions of dollars worth of assets, including several landmark Gisborne buildings.
The Chengs opposition to forfeiture is scheduled to be heard at a fixture set down for two weeks, starting May 2 of next year.