There were nearly as many prison officers in Wellington District Court yesterday for the appearance of 10 prisoners accused of rioting as there were at Rimutaka Prison on the day they allegedly ran amok.
Ten people appeared on a range of charges for a depositions hearing after rioting
youths took control of their Upper Hutt prison block for five hours in May.
Graham Aspinall, Michael Best, Corey Douglas, Navarre Harbour, Teariki Malloy, Ricki McQueen, Danny Joseph Ryder, Raniera Wirihana and Tony Takiari all faced two counts of rioting and destroying property. Falcon Samuels was charged with assault with a blunt instrument and Malloy also faced a kidnapping charge.
Six of the accused are in custody and four on bail.
On May 26 when the riot occurred there were 38 prisoners ranging in age between 16 and 19 and six prison officers on duty, two staff in each block, one monitoring cameras in a control room and one supervisor.
The violence was centred on Kauri Block, where there were 16 prisoners in the recreation area and three other segregated prisoners, one of whom was exercising in an area away from the rest.
A prison officer told the court how tension rose when it was decided to lock down Kauri Block after a prisoner created a disturbance. She was told by a youth "you and what army are going to lock me down".
Prosecutor Tony Gilbert said that for five to six hours the defendants embarked on a wholesale destruction of property.
After trashing the unit the prisoners made their way on to the roof where they threw items on to prison officers. They remained on the roof for about three hours.
The prisoners eventually gave themselves up and came down off the roof.
Procedures have since been tightened at the prison.
The depositions hearing is set down for three days.
- NZPA
