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The Corrections Department has defended the actions of two staff members who attended a work Christmas function dressed as former prison inmates Ahmed Zouai and David Bain.
The staff members turned up as asylum seeker Zouai and accused murderer Bain for a themed party where head office staff dressed up as their favourite notable New Zealanders.
National Party Corrections spokesman Simon Power said the workers' choice of dress was irresponsible given their role in a government justice organisation.
However, Corrections acting chief executive Phil McCarthy told the Dominion Post newspaper the pair were juniors and not directly involved in managing offenders, even though most staff went as sportspeople.
"In the context of a staff Christmas party, I don't think it matters a jot."
It would be different if the two workers were employed as probation officers or warders, or had had contact with the former inmates, he said.
However "they're as likely to have been a clerk or information officer".
The pair were simply masquerading in costume -- "in David Bain's case it involved no more than a rather large cardigan", Mr McCarthy said.
He said he did not know how Ahmed Zaoui had dressed but said "a certain physical resemblance" was thought to have been the biggest motivation for the costumes.
- NZPA