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An inmate who attacked former real estate agent Aaron Drever in a prison kitchen because he was refused chicken has been jailed for an additional four years and two months after causing horrific facial injuries that left the victim “permanently disfigured”.
Corrections later admitted Lisipa had been involved in another violent incident two weeks earlier, should not have been working in the kitchen that day, and launched a review into the internal failure.
Lisipa appeared for sentencing today in Kaikohe District Court after being convicted at trial in November of causing grievous bodily harm.
His lawyer tried to argue Drever had made a racial slur to Lisipa but Judge Shortland said the attack was unprovoked.
“The victim, whatever you think of him, was vulnerable and you whacked him. The injury he suffered was extremely serious.”
Drever was once a high-profile Auckland agent who earned millions of dollars selling homes before being stripped of his licence for repeated misconduct.
Aaron Drever appearing at Auckland District Court for sentencing in 2022. Photo / Michael Craig
The court heard both Drever and Lisipa were working in the prison kitchen preparing food when the attack took place.
Lisipa asked Drever for some chicken. When Drever said he couldn’t have it, Lisipa attacked him.
Drever suffered a “complex nasal laceration” and nasal bone fracture. He was left in a pool of blood on the prison floor and required significant medical treatment for his injuries, which the Crown said left him “permanently disfigured”.
“This was extreme violence meted out with a weapon to the victim’s head which has caused serious injury ... and ongoing effects on the victim’s life,” prosecutor Danica Soich said.
While prison was a “high risk environment”, inmates were entitled to protection while under state custody.
Soich said there was also a need for prisons to “maintain a state of discipline”, which Lisipa’s behaviour had undermined.
The court heard that CCTV footage showed Lisipa holding the metal hook shortly before the attack. While the Crown said the extent of Drever’s injuries and the incision caused during the assault were consistent with Lisipa using the hook, Judge Shortland said he could not be sure this was the case.
Lisipa’s lawyer Aaron Dooney claimed his client threw the hook at Drever “but missed” and that Drever’s serious injuries were actually caused by a “powerful, single punch”.
He also claimed his client was provoked, alleging Drever made a “racial slur” to Lisipa before the attack.
However Judge Shortland said there was no evidence of a racial slur. While it was unclear whether Lisipa used the hook during the attack, what was clear was the seriousness of the injuries inflicted.
Judge Brandt Shortland. Photo / Michael Cunningham
“You struck the victim with such force that it did a lot of damage. The victim fell to the ground ... and blood pooled all around him.
“It was an attack to the face. It was an attack in prison.”
The judge said “we all know it’s a rough place to be and things happen” in prison, but inmates were entitled to be safe.
Judge Shortland also referenced a cultural background report which indicated Lisipa - who has previous convictions for violence - had a traumatic upbringing and was exposed to poverty, alcohol, drugs and abuse.
Lisipa, who has a young child, wrote a letter of remorse ahead of sentencing.
And while his lawyer had argued for a sentence of home detention, the judge said prison was inevitable.
“You’ve got to find a way to rise above all this. You can’t keep going back inside, you’ve got a family who loves you.”
‘My moral compass was off track’
Following the assault, Drever wrote to his legal team saying: “I was attacked in the kitchen by an inmate who used a steel grate hook to slash my face open across my nose, exposing and damaging my nasal cavity.”
He was treated by a specialist at Whangārei Base Hospital and advised his facial injuries were likely permanent.
Corrections told the Herald Lisipa was placed on directed segregation, charged with misconduct and then transferred to another prison following the attack.
Former West Auckland real estate agent Aaron Drever sold hundreds of homes and made millions of dollars in commission. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Drever was released on parole in October after telling the Parole Board he had learned how to cook while behind bars and intended to work as a chef upon his release.
He admitted his offending had been “fuelled by greed and self-entitlement” and he now wanted to live a “simple life.
“My moral compass was off track and led to where I am today.”
In a statement, Corrections said its staff managed the country’s most complex and dangerous people.
“We have a zero-tolerance for violence policy, and no violence or assault on prisoners or staff will be tolerated in prisons. Any prisoner using such behaviour will be held to account for their actions.”
The threat of violence could not be eliminated entirely, “but we do everything possible to provide the safest environment possible for staff and people in prison”.
Lane Nichols is a senior journalist and deputy head of news based in Auckland. Before joining the Herald in 2012, he spent a decade at Wellington’s Dominion Post and the Nelson Mail.
