By TONY WALL
Just months before he killed Auckland journalist Kylie Jones, Taffy Hotene teamed up with a notorious child murderer to teach anti-violence techniques to fellow prison inmates.
The Herald has learned that rapist Hotene - who this week admitted murdering Miss Jones - was "mentored" inside Paremoremo prison by Paul Dally, killer of Hutt Valley schoolgirl Karla Cardno.
The two became "facilitators" of an Alternatives to Violence Programme (AVP), spending hours at a time with female volunteers from the Quakers who had come into the prison to run the programme.
And the Herald has spoken to two Paremoremo prison guards who say that Hotene and Dally's relationship continued even after Hotene was released from jail in April.
One said Dally used a prison telephone to call Hotene at a pre-approved number in Glen Innes.
Hotene is now being held in maximum security at the prison, away from Dally.
Those who have studied Hotene say the stabbing murder of Miss Jones in a Glen Innes reserve on June 6 was opportunistic and would have happened anyway, as he had a history of attacking women to get back into prison.
But the guards believe that Dally also "influenced" him.
There was a public outcry last year when it was revealed that Dally had been allowed out on weekend leave pending possible parole.
In 1989, he snatched 13-year-old Karla as she cycled home. He kept her alive for a day, subjecting her to indecencies in his house while out of his window he could see her family searching for her. He then killed her and buried her in a shallow grave.
Speaking exclusively to the Herald on the condition of anonymity, a prison officer told how Dally and Hotene became inseparable in Paremoremo's unit five. Both became interested in the AVP, which aimed to teach offenders such as rapists and murderers techniques for avoiding violence.
"They did about four or five courses and then became trained facilitators and were preaching it to other inmates. It was a joke," the officer said.
Hotene's attitude to the women running the courses was alarming. "His body language told us he hated females. You'd see him leering at them, his eyeballs were just about popping out. He was a real deviant."
Hotene and Dally were always together outside the courses too.
Dally, who always settled Hotene's debt problems, was "his mentor, his monitor, his buddy."
Both suffered "gate fever" - fear of being released. Hotene threatened suicide and was moved to a special needs unit about three months before his release.
"Every prison officer in the place said he shouldn't be released. It's time these parole boards started taking notice of what prison officers say - at the end of the day we're the guys who look after them 24 hours a day for eight years like we did, but we get no say in the matter."
A Corrections Department spokesman confirmed last night that the AVP programme was still running in prisons.
The Minister of Corrections, Matt Robson, said he would investigate Dally and Hotene's involvement in it. Such programmes were being reviewed.
Killer sent signals: minister
Editorial: When justice must be preventive
Rapist and child killer ran anti-violence course in jail
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.