Escapers bash five warders in break-out

Press, 19 August 1977, Page 1

Escapers bash five warders in break-out

By

PETER COMER,

police reporter

All five officers on duty at Addington Prison were beaten unconscious with their own batons last evening in New Zealand’s most violent prison break-out.

One of the warders was in the intensive care unit at Christchurch Hospital early this morning with severe head injuries. Chief Officer Peter Crichton suffered a depressed fracture of the skull as he fought singlehanded to stop the breakout. Four inmates escaped after unlocking the main gates with keys taken from one of the warders. All four were still at large early this morning despite a big police hunt. The escapers are all dangerous, and should not be approached, according to the police. The descriptions of the men are:— Maurice Houkamau, aged 31, dressed in blue or black and white hooped tee-shirt, jeans. Paul Murphy, alias Frewen. aged 29, dressed in a brown jacket, and light green trousers. Larry Hemi Matthews, aged 26, dressed in a red and maroon tee-shirt, and jeans. He is described as

being professionally tattooed.

Joseph James Ward, aged 24, dressed in a brown jacket and jeans.

The five officers on night shift at Addington had no warning of the savage

attack, which came soon after 6 p.m. Several inmates broke into the prison guardroom, armed themselves with the batons, and began methodically hunting down the guards. One of the officers managed to raise the alarm before he was bashed unconscious with the leg of a chair. Before they left, the escapers ripped all the telephones they could find off the wall. By the time the escapers reached the main gates, Chief Officer Crichton, aged 55, was the only warder still on his feet. After the struggle at the gate he was left lying in a pool of blood, and was still on the operating table in Christchurch Hospital at midnight. Prison Officer Roger Jones and Prison Officer George Gemmell were also admitted to the hospital with head injuries. Their conditions were not available late last evening. The two other injured warders, Harold Pontifex and Douglas Holden, were both treated and discharged. Two ambulances took the injured warders away while police using tracker dogs scoured the area around the prison. Road blocks were set up on the main routes out of Christchurch, and a television news flash asked residents to secure their cars. Matthews is on remand

until August 23 on charges of robbing the manager of the Addington T.A.B. and causing him grievous bodily harm. He also faces two charges of burglary and two of car conversion.

A tight security clamp was put on the prison after the break-out, and off-duty staff from Addington and Paparua Prison were recalled to replace the injured officersThe Superintendent of Christchurch Prisons (Mr H. S. Stroud) said the inmates who escaped had been helped by others in the early stages. “It was well planned,” he said.

The police are treating the incident as extremly serious, according to the officer in charge of the manhunt, Detective Inspector N. J. Stokes. A team of detectives worked on the case throughout the night, interviewing inmates at Addington and checking the known haunts of the escapers.

Several sightings of the men were reported but all the trails were cold at midnight.

On August 1 four other men escaped from custody outside the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court after throwing pepper in the eyes of policemen. They were recaptured several days later.