Prisoner abuses victim from jail

A prisoner abused his victim from jail and Corrections errors allowed it to happen. Photo / Doug Sherring

Massive failures by prison staff gave a violent sex offender the chance to contact one of his victims repeatedly and compel him to change his evidence.

The man was able to repeatedly ring a phone number at which he could contact one of his victims.

An official report obtained by the Herald on Sunday shows no one at the Department of Corrections blocked the phone number, despite repeated requests. The prisoner was stopped from ringing the number only after this newspaper exposed the breach.

The serial abuser's name cannot be revealed to protect his victims' identities. He is now serving 19 years in prison for rape and multiple sexual assaults on his nephew and niece, aged under 16 at the time. He was on bail until 2009 when he embedded a 10cm knife blade in his nephew's lung and neck to prevent him from testifying on the sex and assault matters.

At his sentencing in the High Court at Auckland, it was stated that the man had called the boy more than 10 times from Auckland Central Remand Prison before his trial.

The report was released under the Official Information Act and shows numerous failures by Corrections staff allowed the man to make the calls.

The report said the phone number was lodged on an official approved list even though no screening process had taken place.

Police learned on October 28 that the prisoner had been making phone calls from the prison and had possibly spoken to the victim at that phone number. Police told the inquiry that they immediately asked for access to the phone number to be blocked while they checked voice recordings.

After listening, officers told prison staff they had to stop the prisoner from using that phone number. The request was passed through three Corrections staff without any action being taken.

Three further paperwork failures allowed the prisoner to continue calling. Reports detailing the police request were written but not sent. Then reports were sent without explaining the police request for the number to be blocked.

On March 21, after the Herald on Sunday revealed the prisoner had contacted his victim, the phone number was finally blocked.

The investigation into the breaches found basic systems failed. Phone numbers nominated by prisoners should be checked by prison officers. It emerged the numbers were being called by the prison receptionist, who did not follow the checking processes.

In a statement, Corrections chief custodial adviser Eric Fairbairn said staff had been held "accountable" but offered no detail. He said official processes were not followed.