First prison breakfast turns into vicious beating

Thomas Henry Owen was queuing for his first Mt Eden Prison breakfast when he was beaten up.

The attack left him with a broken nose, cuts to his face, eye injuries and bruising to his body that suggest he was kicked on the ground.

Owen, 55, described as a man who would not hurt a fly, began a two-month term on Friday after unsuccessfully appealing against the sentence imposed on him after a dog attacked 7-year-old Carolina Anderson in January.

Owen and Brian Clarke Hill, 44, pleaded guilty in February to owning Joey, the american staffordshire terrier that mauled Carolina. They later tried to overturn the pleas.

Saturday's attack, understood to involve gang members, appears to have been organised and was possibly motivated by Owen's high media profile.

Yesterday Owen's lawyer, Peter Boylan, said his client told him of queuing for breakfast and then feeling some jostling, presumably to get him away from prison guards. Mr Boylan did not believe the attack was an incident of gay bashing.

Owen was taken to Auckland Hospital but was returned to Mt Eden Prison's medical wing.

"The concept of the state detaining people so they can be dished out a bloody hiding ... is repugnant," said Mr Boylan.

He supported a call by North Shore and Waitakere Mayors George Wood and Bob Harvey for an investigation into Mt Eden Prison's "growing inability to protect inmates".

A Mt Eden Prison inmate is due to appear in the Auckland District Court today and is thought to be facing a serious assault charge.