KEY POINTS:
One moment the prisoner was walking out of the corrections officer's office. The next, he was on the ground as two officers subdued him using control-and-restraint techniques.
The few seconds in between ended up costing principal corrections officer Rakai Tawhiwhirangi, who served the Corrections Department for 22 years,
his job.
The Employment Court in Wellington yesterday saw jerky video footage of the incident, which took place at Rimutaka Prison in February last year. It shows Mr Tawhiwhirangi walking closely behind a prisoner, whose name cannot be published, as they left his office.
The footage, which has no audio and came from cameras recording three frames a second, shows Mr Tawhiwhirangi making contact with the prisoner's shoulder or ear as they walked out of the office. He continued to follow the prisoner into the corridor where corrections officer William Collins, who heard threatening shouts, entered the corridor in front of the prisoner.
The prisoner was then forced to the ground.
Paul Radich, counsel for the department, said the use of control and restraint was found to be appropriate and was not the issue.
The heart of the matter was whether an assault had taken place before the prisoner was taken to ground and, if so, whether it was severe enough to warrant dismissal.
The hearing followed an Employment Relations Authority decision in May that found there was insufficient evidence of assault, and if assault had occurred it was towards the minor end of the scale.
The authority ruled that Mr Tawhiwhirangi be reinstated and paid for lost wages and a further $5000 in compensation.
In his opening submission, Mr Radich said the department had found Mr Tawhiwhirangi had pushed and hit or slapped the prisoner before the control and restraint took place.
The assault was a serious breach of the code of conduct. The department has several policies that governed the handling of agitated prisoners, and violence was always a last resort.
Further, Mr Tawhiwhirangi was a senior officer and a role model for others, which held him to higher standards.
The prisoner had gone to see Mr Tawhiwhirangi to ask for contraband - cellphone and drugs - to be smuggled in.
The footage showed that Mr Tawhiwhirangi, after hearing the request, rose from behind his desk to stand beside the prisoner, who was seated in a chair.
Rimutaka Prison assistant manager David Kilbride, who conducted the employment investigation into the matter, described Mr Tawhiwhirangi's stance as "aggressive and intimidating".
He said Mr Tawhiwhirangi appeared to push the prisoner towards the door as soon as he stood up, then hit or slapped him near the ear as he walked out of the office door.
In the corridor, the footage appeared to show Mr Tawhiwhirangi raising his arm and hitting the prisoner again, he said. "There was no evidence the prisoner was the aggressor."
The prisoner suffered a swollen eye and sore ribs. He did not lodge a complaint with the police because he "couldn't be bothered and didn't want to", Mr Kilbride said.
Defence counsel Barbara Buckett said her client did not assault the prisoner, but handled the situation appropriately given the circumstances. Mr Tawhiwhirangi had placed his hand on the prisoner's shoulder to guide him out of the office, she said.
The hearing continues.