Suicide man's family sues for $600,000

The family of a man who hanged himself after a probation officer told him he would be raped when he went to prison is suing the Government for $600,000.

Father-of-two Damon Machiavelli, 32, hanged himself three years ago in his west Auckland home days before he was due to be sentenced on drugs charges. Papers have been filed in the High Court at Auckland on behalf of Mr Machiavelli's widow, Tassia, and his parents, Jill Campbell and Graham Ambrose, against the Corrections Department.

Lawyer David Garrett said there were two causes of action - negligence and, in the alternative, misfeasance in public office. A total of $600,000 was being sought, $100,000 in compensatory damages for pain and suffering, and $500,000 for exemplary damages.

Last June, a coroner found that the probation officer was partly to blame for Mr Machiavelli's suicide. Mr Machiavelli had pleaded guilty in May 2002 to manufacturing methamphetamine. The judge in the case had indicated that a non-custodial sentence was the most likely outcome because the drug was for his own use.

But the woman probation officer allegedly told Mr Machiavelli he faced years behind bars where, as a "pretty boy", he would be gang-raped.

- NZPA