SUPREME COURT Six Paparua Prison Rioters Sentenced

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30895, 30 October 1965, Page 25

SUPREME COURT Six Paparua Prison Rioters Sentenced

Handcuffed in pairs, and with an escort of a constable and five prison officers, six prisoners from Paparua Prison heard sentences of up to three extra years’ gaol pronounced on them in the Supreme Court yesterday for their part in the riot at the prison on July 25.

All six had pleaded guilty j to charges of riotous damage ® to prison property, and two ' to assault on prison officers. s Mr Justice Macarthur, in r passing sentences, said that the public interest required ; that the deterrent element i must loom large. All sentences would take 1 eftect from the expiry of the i prisoners’ present terms. His Honour imposed sen- s tences as follows: i

George Fiso, aged 21: two years’ imprisonment for riotous damage, and one year’s imprisonment on each of four charges of assault on prison officers (concurrently). Total extra sentence, three years. George John Bryenton, aged 23: two years’ imprisonment for riotous damage, and one

year’s imprisonment for assault on a prison officer. Total extra sentence, three years. Michael Edward Dockerty, aged 31: one year’s imprisonment for riotous damage. William Walter Holster, aged 23: one year’s imprisonment for riotous damage. Te Awamarapi Tuhura, aged 25: nine months’ imprisonment for riotous damage. Robert John Moore, aged 20: six months’ imprisonment for riotous damage.

Some of the prisoners stamped their heavy boots loudly on the courtroom floor as they were led out. In imposing the sentences, His Honour made the following comments to the prisoners: To Fiso: “You are blameworthy in a high degree. On

your own admission, you took part in the fighting in the prison yard. You admitted striking officers, and doing damage to property in the east wing.” To Bryenton: “You were one of the ringleaders, and you were one of those responsible for the start of the riot. At a later stage you assaulted, seriously, a prison officer.”

To Dockerty and Holster: “You do not appear to have taken a particularly active part in the early stages of the riot but you damaged property in the later stages.”

To Tuhura: “You are slightly less blameworthy, but the first to cause damage in the east wing.” To Moore: “You have admitted damage to property, but you appear to be the least blameworthy of the prisoners here.”

Thirteen other prisoners who have pleaded not guilty to charges of riotous damage or assault on prison officers, arising from the riot, will be tried by jury in the Supreme Court as from November 8. Each of the 13 will be tried individually.