Spring Hill prisoner Judge Heke sentenced for shank attack on fellow inmate

The shank was used by Spring Hill prisoner Judge Heke to stab another inmate. Photo / Supplied

Inmate Judge Heke was in the exercise yard at Spring Hill Prison when he launched a surprise attack on another inmate with a crudely-made shank.

Even after being ordered by Corrections officers to stop, Heke continued punching and stabbing the man in the head.

Once finished, he walked away and slipped the shank through a metal hatch of a cell.

Last week, Heke appeared in Hamilton District Court for sentencing on a charge relating to the shank attack and charges following repeated incidents where he beat up a woman.

The court heard he had been remanded in prison custody on the violence charges when the shank attack happened on December 4 last year.

He and the victim were in the same unit and, along with a handful of others, were finishing their exercise time when Heke approached the man and began striking his head.

The victim was caught by surprise and unable to defend himself as the attack continued.

Corrections staff yelled at Heke to stop but he ignored them and carried on striking the victim. Shortly afterwards, he stopped and walked to the other end of the compound.

Staff entered the yard, removed the victim and found he was bleeding heavily from a stab wound on the back of his neck.

Heke was taken to a holding cell and strip searched but nothing was found.

Corrections staff reviewed CCTV footage that showed Heke putting the shank through a metal hatch of a cell.

The cell was searched and the shank was found inside a milk carton that had been put in a small rubbish bin.

After being assessed, the victim was found to have a small, superficial, non-bleeding wound and a 3cm wound on his scalp that was bleeding profusely.

‘Why are you hitting me?’

Heke’s violence charges - of assaulting a person in a family relationship and injuring with intent to injure - related to incidents beginning in February 2023 when he punched a woman in the face.

Three days later he interrogated her about having a visitor and then punched her up to 10 times in the face and head area.

The following month, he again questioned her about a visitor and began punching her.

“Why are you hitting me?” she tried to ask him.

He eventually stopped and had a cigarette.

Then on May 5, Heke punched the woman and whacked her with a broomstick because he was upset by what he perceived as her taking too long to pick him up.

He later went to the victim’s house on May 14 and wished her a happy Mother’s Day.

She asked him to leave but he said “no” and instead punched her about nine times.

In court, Heke’s counsel Gerard Walsh said his client had pleaded guilty at an early stage to the wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm charge but admitted he’d get less discount for the family violence offending.

He said Heke’s background reports made for sad reading, with gang life, violence, drugs and alcohol a regular feature in his childhood.

Judge Noel Cocurullo took an overall starting point of four and a half years’ jail before allowing discounts for his upbringing and plea. Heke was then jailed for two and a half years.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.