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An axe murderer who escaped from a minimum security prison could not have his prison sentence extended because he is already serving life behind bars, a Wellington District Court judge said today.
John Ericson, who was jailed for murdering his wife by striking her repeatedly in the back of the head with a tomahawk in 1999, walked away from an unsupervised prison work party outside Wellington Prison on November 2.
The escape sparked a massive manhunt involving helicopters, armed police, dogs, and the police maritime unit.
The search came to an end 26 hours later when he surrendered near the Wellington ferry terminal.
He was armed with a 6cm weapon made from a small Stanley knife blade bound between two pieces of wood.
Judge Michael Behrens said today that as Ericson was serving a life term, any sentence he imposed would have to be concurrent.
He sentenced the 45-year-old to 18 months' imprisonment for escaping and having possession of a weapon.
Ericson's lawyer Keith Jefferies said Ericson was suffering from psychological problems and never really intended to be free for long.
"I don't think he expected to remain out of the clutches of the authorities. He expected to get caught."
Mr Jefferies said Ericson was about a year and a half away from being eligible for parole and his escape attempt was to his detriment.
Ericson is now imprisoned at the higher security Rimutaka Prison and has had all his privileges removed.
Judge Behrens agreed Ericson had psychological issues and they should be brought to the attention of the prison authorities.
He said he did not think the knife Ericson had was for "sinister purposes", but was something he had used while working in the prison gardens.
Judge Behrens said he understood the stress Ericson would have been under from the other prisoners because of his work privileges, as he was in a position to bring things to them from the outside.
"For most of the time being in prison you were under stress," he said.
- NZPA
