Website of the YearKEY POINTS:
Convicted rapist and killer Liam James Reid is sure to get a hefty jail sentence for his brutal crimes next month, but Mereana Aranga will not see justice for her family.
Her late father, Warren Aranga, cannot be classed as a victim like Emma Agnew, 20, the deaf Christchurch woman raped and suffocated to death by Reid, or the 21-year-old student Reid pulled off the streets of Dunedin and raped and almost strangled to death a few days later.
Yet a run-in with Reid in 2004 sent Mr Aranga's life into a tragic downward spiral that ended in his death at age 53. Today is the third anniversary of his death.
Mr Aranga was working as a prison officer at Christchurch Men's Prison where Reid was being held over earlier crimes. Reid provoked Mr Aranga by calling him a f***** black c***, and threatening to kill another prison officer, after Mr Aranga had responded to what he thought was a colleague in trouble.
Mr Aranga reacted by cuffing Reid around the head. The incident led to Mr Aranga being fired by the Department of Corrections. Police did not prosecute.
"What we are looking for is to clear his name, even though he's not alive," Mereana Aranga told the Weekend Herald. "What happened to him was wrong. He gave the department 25 years of his life and in return, a scumbag like Liam Reid got him sacked and it ruined his life."
After the incident, Reid sued the Attorney-General for $40,000 for "hurt feelings". His bid was rejected.
"Liam Reid should never had been released from prison," Ms Aranga said. "Not all inmates are bad, some learn from rehabilitation. Not him though."
Ms Aranga is also critical of the Department of Corrections - saying her father's life revolved around his job. "It broke him when he was dismissed. They offered no retraining, nothing. He knew nothing else either other than being a prison officer. My father ended up struggling to adapt to life outside the prison."
Mr Aranga became homeless, and later turned up on his daughter's door "sick and malnourished".
He had contracted hepatitis C, which his family believes was from being struck with a needle while working in the prison, and later died of cancer.
"My father was a very proud man, anyone who knew him could tell you that. It took a lot for him to come and find his family and ask us for help when he became very sick."
The Department of Corrections said the circumstances were tragic, but Mr Aranga was dismissed because he used "excessive force by seriously assaulting a prisoner".
"The department's decision was confirmed by the Employment Relations Authority, who declined an application to reinstate Mr Aranga," said southern assistant regional manager Ian Bourke.
Mr Bourke said the department did not have access to Mr Aranga's medical records, and had not opened his personnel file to see if he suffered a needle-stick injury at work.
Beven Hanlon, president of the Corrections Association union representing prison officers, said Mr Aranga was a highly respected officer who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time". Many believed he died prematurely as a result, Mr Hanlon said.
The association believes the department, by firing Mr Aranga, was protecting itself against being sued by Reid. The case highlighted the "very real risks" prison officers ran of being goaded, Mr Hanlon said.
"[Inmates] try to learn the boundaries of a prison officer. They just keep pressing it a little bit further. They see what it is that gets a reaction, and save that for a time they need a reaction."
Criminal career:
* Liam James Reid, 36, is to be sentenced next month for the rape and murder of deaf woman Emma Agnew and the rape and attempted murder of a Dunedin student.
* Reid has served time in prison in the past, including stints in Christchurch Men's Prison.
* In an incident in 2004, Reid directed a racial slur at prison officer Warren Aranga and threatened the life of another officer.
* Mr Aranga cuffed Reid around the head and was fired. The aftermath left him devastated, and he died a year later of cancer.