Sharon Irwin was on duty at Auckland Prison, otherwise known as Paremoremo, when she was attacked. Photo / NZME
Sharon Irwin was on duty at Auckland Prison, otherwise known as Paremoremo, when she was attacked. Photo / NZME
A prison officer badly injured in an attack by a violent maximum security inmate has been given the green light to take a private prosecution against Corrections.
Sharon Irwin’s arm was broken in two places when she was attacked at Auckland Prison, also known as Paremoremo, byprisoner Hemi Te Poono more than three years ago.
The Corrections officer with more than 30 years of service also suffered post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression in connection with the assault and had to take an extended break before returning to work.
A prison manager reported the attack to WorkSafe, the regulatory agency charged with enforcing workplace health and safety laws, six days after it happened.
Irwin then attempted to launch a private prosecution, but was blocked when a District Court judge ruled it had not been received within two years of her being injured - grounds that Irwin called a “stupid technicality”.
Irwin appealed that decision to the High Court, which has now given her the go-ahead to start her private prosecution back in the District Court.
Irwin was injured when she was attacked by Te Poono, an inmate with more than 90 convictions, at the specialist maximum security prison on the night of October 24, 2020.
The prisoner, who has a history of attacking prison officers and other inmates, had earlier broken out of his cell by repeatedly kicking at the door until it opened.
After leaving his cell, Te Poono waited on the landing for staff to come by. When Irwin and a colleague arrived to do safety checks, they were unaware he was lurking on the landing in the dark.
He took both officers by surprise by charging at them, pushing Irwin in the chest and causing her to fall and break her arm in two places just above her wrist.
Te Poono then turned on Irwin’s colleague before the two of them were able to fight him off and retreat.
When other prison officers arrived, Te Poono moved back to another part of the landing and refused to follow orders from them, and a standoff resulted.
After about two hours of negotiations, Te Poono was persuaded to enter another cell and made secure.
Irwin, who is still working as a Corrections officer, told NZME her arm “will never be the same again” and still swells when she does physical work.
WorkSafe, which enforces the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, aimed at minimising risks in the workplace, decided in March last year not to take action on Irwin’s case.
Sharon Irwin has been a Corrections Officer for more than 30 years. Photo / NZME
While court documents state the agency had contacted Irwin’s lawyer, she said it had never been in contact with her personally to ask her about what happened.
On October 7, 2022, Irwin’s counsel lodged charging documents for a private prosecution of the Department of Corrections, within the act’s two-year cut-off period, since the attack was on October 24, 2020.
A judge requested the evidence she intended to file on October 11, and this was lodged in the court on October 18.
Another judge determined Irwin’s charging documents should be accepted for filing on November 10, 2022, which was by then outside the two-year window.
Because of this, Judge Mina Wharepouri ruled the prosecution could not proceed.
However, High Court Justice Geoffrey Venning has now over-ruled that interpretation, in the newly released decision.
“It cannot be right that a charging document could be lodged within the two-year period but then sit within the registry of the District Court for an indefinite period and ultimately be held to have been out of time by the time it is approved for filing,” Justice Venning said.
“A person in Ms Irwin’s position filing the charging document would have done everything they possibly could, but could be denied access to justice because of an administrative delay in the District Court.”
Irwin said her private prosecution is costing her “a lot of money”.
“There is not much I can do about that.”
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
