Prison Terms Extended For Assault On Warder
INZ. Press Association) AUCKLAND. December 9. A prisoner he was trying to restrain in the tailors’ shop at the Auckland Prison on October 10 fought like • madman, Victor Harold Taylor, a prison warder, told a special session of the Magistrate's Court in the chapel at the prison today. Appearing before Mr A. A. Coates. S.M.. were three prisoners. Walter Patrick Te H emar a, aged 31. John Hone Morrell, aged 24, and Clifford John Pihema, aged 27. All three were charged with assaulting Cecil John James Copeland, a prison officer. Te Hernara was also charged with assaulting Taylor The men. who pleaded not guilty, were convicted on all charges. Te Hernara was sentenced to a total of three months’ imprisonment Morrell to two months and Pihema to one month. The Magistrate ordered that the sentences should begin at the end of the men's p-esent sentences. Mr A. B. Lawson the police prosecutor said Taylor, a disciplinary officer ordered Te Hernara to get up when he found him reclining on a bench in tie tailors’ shop. When Te Hernara refused and began to abuse him he went to a platform at the end of the room to make out a report against Te Hernara. Te Hernara followed him and as Taylor was about to fill m the form struck him between the eyes. Mr Lawson said Te Hernara
struck Copeland to get at Taylor. Pihema and Morrell ran up the steps and obstructed Copeland as he was about to give the alarm. Mr Lawson said there were 23 other prisoners in the shop at the time. An ugly situation could easily have developed. Fortunately it did not. In evidence Taylo- said Te Hernara struggled violently. As a result of injuries he received he was treated at Auckland Hospital and was off work for five days. The men employed in the tailors’ shop represented a hard core of security-risk prisoners. Several prisoners gave evidence for the defence but the Magistrate said he refused to believe their evidence.
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Press, Volume CII, Issue 30310, 10 December 1963, Page 18
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342Prison Terms Extended For Assault On Warder Press, Volume CII, Issue 30310, 10 December 1963, Page 18
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