KEY POINTS:
Allegations that double murderer Graeme Burton had put out hits on prison guards were based on genuine information and were "probably true", according to the Corrections official who investigated them.
Despite this advice, the Corrections Department downplayed the allegations as unsubstantiated when it reported on Burton to the
Parole Board.
The board did not give any weight to the claims - along with others that Burton had attacked three other inmates, one suffering a broken arm - and granted Burton life parole.
On January 6, he murdered Wainuiomata father of two Karl Kuchenbecker. He pleaded guilty to murder in April and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 26 years.
During an inquest into Mr Kuchenbecker's death in Wellington yesterday, Coroner Garry Evans read excerpts of a report by the Rimutaka Prison official who investigated allegations that Burton and another inmate ordered a hit to "take out" two prison guards.
The report - completed in April last year, just three months before Burton's release - quotes a prisoner describing Burton as a "walking nightmare".
"[The prisoner said Burton] was the muscle in unit four and that everybody, including him, was scared of him," the report said.
The prisoner complained that Burton was "continually annoying him" and "that every time he went in another prisoner's cell, Burton would turn up and say, 'You're not trying to hide from The Bear, are you?'
"He explained that Burton would poke and push [him] but do it with a smile on his face ... [The prisoner] took this as a veiled threat and informed me that nobody said 'no' to The Bear," the report said.
The official's findings were that the allegations had "unknown reliability" but were "probably true", and the "original information is genuine and should be treated as high priority".
Mr Evans said the report "speaks for itself. It doesn't speak of unsubstantiation."
The report's contents were never considered by the Parole Board that freed Burton.
The Kuchenbeckers' counsel Nikki Pender contrasted the report with the information given to the Parole Board, which described Burton as compliant and friendly to staff and fellow inmates.
She asked Corrections general manager community probation and psychological services Katrina Casey whether the information heard by the board could be seen as "misleading or inaccurate".
Ms Casey replied: "It may have had that effect."
She said the prison manager was responsible for ensuring that the information supplied to the Parole Board painted an accurate picture of the prisoner. Quality assurance processes had since been tightened.
Earlier Ms Casey, under questioning from Mr Evans, conceded that events may well have unfolded differently if Corrections had taken legal action against Burton on December 13, when it should have been done.
Police had also approached Corrections with concerns that Burton was involved in beating up low-level drug dealers and that "there would be one punch too many" causing death. Both Corrections and the Parole Board have made substantial changes to the way parole is granted and monitored after Mr Kuchenbecker's the death.
