Ex-warder admits affair with prisoner

A former Hawkes Bay Prison officer has admitted having a relationship with an inmate which involved bringing him clothes, telephoning him from within the jail and taking photographs of him.

Name suppression was lifted for Theresa Dawn Manuel, 39, of Havelock North, when she appeared in Hastings District Court yesterday.

She pleaded guilty to charges of communicating with an inmate, photographing an inmate and supplying an inmate with clothing.

An earlier charge of fraud was dropped and replaced with the communication charge.

The court was told that between July and the end of November last year, Manuel worked at Hawkes Bay Prison, covering the unit in which Junior Poka Leota was incarcerated.

Manuel began an intimate relationship with Leota, and used a departmental phone to ring two cellphones owned by Leota.

She had conversations with Leota lasting up to 90 minutes, and did not tell her superiors of the phone calls, or that Leota had two phones in his cell.

A debt of $583.12 was incurred against the office extension.

Manuel also took clothing from her home into the prison for Leota, and took photographs of him and his associates with a camera. On some occasions photographs were taken of Manuel and Leota embracing.

Leota originally told the Department of Corrections the cellphone numbers belonged to her daughter, who was suicidal, and her partner. She also said one of the cellphone numbers belonged to a sports coach named "Tim".

She later admitted her offending to police and resigned.

In a statement read out by her lawyer, Manuel accepted that her conduct fell well short of the high standards expected and usually achieved by the Corrections Department.

Judge Paul von Dadelszen fined her $300 on each charge and ordered her to pay $130 court costs and $583.12 in reparations.

- NZPA