Modified razor found after prisoner slashed

Press, 9 December 1988, Page 14

Modified razor found after prisoner slashed

A prison-issue, disposable plastic razor, with part of the head burnt away to expose more of the blade, was found in a cell at Addington Prison. The razor • was found after one of the two inmates sharing the cell had been cut on the side of his neck. Evidence of this was given in the District Court yesterday at a preliminary hearing. A prison inmate was charged with assaulting another inmate, with intent to injure him, in their cell in the early morning of May 26. After hearing evidence of prosecution witnesses, Dr J. F. Mann and Mr D. Wilson, Justices of the Peace, held there was sufficient evidence to commit the defendant for trial by jury in the District Court. They remanded him pending a date for his trial. The Justices said they reluctantly extended the order for interim suppression of the defendant’s name. The order, sought by defence counsel, Mr B. J. Callaghan, will continue until the prisoner’s trial is set.

The name of the complainant, who is now on parole, was also suppressed. Sergeant B. M. Roswell prosecuted. The complainant’s evidence was that in May and June he was a remand inmate at the prison. He became depressed and upset, as he was about to lose his fiancee and everything “just sort of happened at the same time.” He tried to slash a wrist with a blade he took from a razor issued to him. Because of this, he was placed under observation round the clock, with the cell light on during the night. He was also given medication. On May 25, he was transferred to a cell with the defendant The defendant did not like the light left on as he could not sleep, but the complainant said he could not do anything about it as he was under observation. That night he saw the defendant using a small plastic lighter, and smelt plastic burning. Early the next morning the defendant began arguing with him and punched

him several times. He had his arm round the complainant’s neck. He suffered a cut lip, bruised ear and a gash on the side of his neck. He did not see anything in the defendant’s hands during the attack. The complainant said his razors were taken from him after his attempt to slash his wrist. The two razors he had seen in his cell when he shared with the defendant were not his. He had not seen the razor (exhibited), with the head partly burnt to expose more of the blade, before. Cross-examined, the complainant said he had removed the blade from a razor when he attempted to slash a wrist. He had not burnt away part of the head in the way the razor (exhibited) had been burnt. The complainant said he had been given psychiatric treatment, before his time in prison, and had just completed an angermanagement course, which he was directed to by the Court. He denied having punched the defendant first, and said he did not punch or lay a hand on

him. The complainant said the only time the injury could have occurred was when the defendant had his arm round his neck. He denied that he had cut his own neck. Prison officers gave evidence of going to the cell after the complainant had been heard banging on a door and asking to get out of the cell. As an officer approached, he heard the defendant tell the complainant: “Keep your mouth shut or I’ll get you.” The complainant was treated for an injury to his neck. Two razors were found in the cell, and one of these had the head partly melted off to expose more of the blade. No lighter was found. When questioned about the matter, the defendant did not say anything. Mr Callaghan submitted that even if there was a prima facie case to answer to an assault charge, there was no evidence of an assault with intent to injure. The complainant’s evidence of what occurred was “somewhat vague and conflicting.”