Killer admits stabbing at Paremoremo

RSA murderer William Bell was attacked with a home-made weapon. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Convicted murderer Dean Joseph Shepherd has pleaded guilty to a frenzied attack on RSA triple-killer William Bell who was stabbed through the left eye with a weapon made by sharpening the workings of a lever arch folder.

The attack happened on December 10, 2007 at Auckland Prison's maximum security Delta Block as Bell was when using a pay phone in a telephone room.

Shepherd, 48, pleaded guilty yesterday at the Auckland District Court to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He had been due to stand trial on the charge.

Shepherd, who is serving a life sentence for murder, walked into the telephone room about 2.45pm carrying a red plastic bucket. He put it on a table and started his cleaning duties around the room.

According to court documents, he then began pacing around in and out of the room as he "mentally prepared himself for the attack".

When he returned to the room he reached into the bucket and pulled out two sharp metal instruments that seemed to have been made from the workings of a lever arch folder - they had been sharpened at one end, with the other end wrapped in white bandages to form a handle.

Shepherd walked up to Bell and, after pausing for a moment, lunged at him, stabbing him in the left eye with one of the implements.

The impact of the strike forced Bell off the chair and down on to the floor.

The documents said Shepherd jumped on top of Bell "in a frenzied rage" and hit him on the back of the head with the metal instruments and his fists as he attempted to get to Bell's eyes.

Bell was screaming for help as he protected his face from the attack. Prison guards had to forcefully pull Shepherd away to stop the attack.

Bell was treated in Auckland Hospital for a puncture wound penetrating through his left eyelid resulting in internal bleeding on his head, a fractured eye socket and numerous contusions to his scalp and face.

When police asked Shepherd for an explanation of why he did it he declined to answer.

Prosecutors have indicated they will seek a sentence of preventive detention for Shepherd.

However, his lawyer, Shane Cassidy, argued since Shepherd was already serving a life sentence that would mean the preventive detention option would be "relatively defunct".

Shepherd was remanded in custody until today when there will be legal argument on whether preventive detention applied to a life prisoner. He will be sentenced on September 11.

Bell killed William Absolum, 63, Mary Hobson, 44 and Wayne Johnson, 56, during a robbery at the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA.

He was sentenced to life in prison with a 30 year non-parole period - New Zealand's longest sentence.

Shepherd was jailed in 2006 for the murder of Darunee Aphiromlerk. After arguing with Ms Aphiromlerk about money he tied her up in a duvet and threw her into the Waikato River.