Prisoner beaten in van, court told

A father acquitted of murdering his severely brain-damaged baby daughter says police escorts kept on driving when other prisoners viciously attacked him in the back of a van.

Rikki Davis, 32, Isaac Guyer, 23, and Johnathon Smith, 34, have denied intentionally injuring the Richmond man on May 30 last year.

They went on trial before a jury of eight women and four men on Monday in the Nelson District Court.

The 34-year-old complainant, who has permanent name suppression, told the court he was "absolutely petrified" during the attacks, which took place while he was being taken from Christchurch to Nelson.

"I was concerned they would kill me."

He said he was viciously assaulted on two separate occasions in the van.

Shortly after leaving Paparoa Prison Davis, who was in a separate compartment, put his face up to the grill and asked, "Did you kill a kid?"

The complainant said he ignored the question, but the prisoners continued to threaten and taunt him for an hour and a half until the first attack erupted near Cheviot, south of Kaikoura.

Five other prisoners who were in his compartment all punched, headbutted and kicked him when he pushed Guyer aside in self-defence.

All he could do to protect himself was to put his fists up around his face and curl up into a ball.

When the attack subsided, he banged on the van wall and yelled for the van to stop, but Davis gave the drivers a thumbs-up signal and it kept going, he said.

A short time later, he was set on again in another vicious attack lasting about a minute. His attempts to stop the van after this beating were successful.

The complainant was charged with smothering his 5-month-old daughter last year after learning she would never lead a normal life. A jury subsequently acquitted him of murder.

Under cross-examination, he became upset at one defence lawyer's suggestion that the prison van beating happened because it was believed he had killed his child.

The man said he did not think the beating had anything to do with children.

"I've been through that case, I don't want to comment on that case again," he said. "I'm not on trial."

The man said he was injured all over his body following the attacks.

Police escort Tod Kirker of Nelson did not give any evidence in court about receiving a thumbs-up signal from Davis after the first attack.

He said he first became aware of an assault about 10am when he heard banging on the door and someone "shouting and screaming".

The complainant appeared "terrified" when the doors were opened, Mr Kirker said. As the man got out of the van the defendant Guyer called him a "kiddie killer", he said.

Two other inmates in the van were jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty last September to attacking the complainant.

- NZPA