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An inmate who stabbed a fellow prisoner to death with a garden fork had unsupervised access to garden tools and had had a heated row with a prison officer just weeks before the murder, a coroner says.
On March 4, 2004, Rex Leonard Hopper was found dead in
the grounds of Unit 7 at Rimutaka Prison with a one-metre-long garden fork embedded in his neck.
In December that year, Emani Seu was convicted in the High Court at Wellington of Hopper's murder and later sentenced to life imprisonment.
Wellington coroner Garry Evans yesterday released his findings into the prisoner's death.
Unit 7 is a faith-based unit formed around Christian principles and beliefs, housing 60 inmates.
Within the unit a number of prisoners deemed to be trusted were employed in various roles.
Seu was employed as a gardener, with three others. He had unsupervised access to the external compound of the unit and unsupervised use of the garden tools. Hopper was the unit maintenance worker.
On the day of Hopper's death Seu wanted his radio fixed and had a confrontation with Hopper.
After threatening Hopper, Seu walked away and returned with a garden fork.
He struck Hopper in the head with the fork and after he fell face down "mounted a frenzied attack" on him, striking him in the head with the fork at least six times, using extreme force.
He then rolled Hopper on to his side and "grasped the garden fork in his hands and thrust it deep into Mr Hopper's neck", Mr Evans said.
Seu then returned to his cell, removed his clothes and showered.
Seu had originally been sentenced to 9 1/2 years' imprisonment for rape, unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault on a girl under 12. The sentence was increased to preventive detention on appeal.
At the time he was in Rimutaka Prison he was classified low-medium security.
At another prison earlier in his sentence he was charged with misconduct for assaulting another prisoner and pushing a staff member.
Case management notes showed he had the potential to be well-behaved but at times let himself down with aggressive behaviour and unreasonable outbursts.
Seu had been transferred to Unit 7 on February 11, 2004, and two days later had a row with a Corrections officer over property confiscation.
The officer's report said Seu "worked himself into a state of near rage, swearing, pointing his finger at my chest".
Seu stood "toe to toe" with the officer and said he wanted to "punch over" an officer from another unit.
Seu was later apologetic and cried about the way he had behaved.
He was given a second chance and was not charged with misconduct.
A senior Corrections officer said in an incident report that while no further action would be taken, Seu's behaviour should be monitored.
A prison manager told the court the incident between Seu and the prison officer was the kind of thing that happened in prisons every day.
But he accepted that because there was an ongoing need for monitoring Seu it was unwise to have placed him in a gardening gang.
In his findings Mr Evans agreed this was unwise, because the gardening gang was not supervised, but accepted that the murder could still have happened.
Corrections Wellington regional manager Leanne Field said that before the incident Hopper and Seu were both "trusted prisoners".
- NZPA
