Corrections have admitted the man who viciously assaulted disgraced real estate agent Aaron Drever in a prison kitchen last month should not have been there – because he’d committed another attack just a week earlier.
Stuff revealed on Monday that Drever, a former best-selling agent who was jailed for 26 months for dishonesty offences, was attacked in the kitchen of Ngawha prison, Northland, with a metal grille hook. Drever’s face and nasal cavity were slashed open in the assault.
Sources had told Stuff that Drever’s attacker shouldn’t have been there because he had committed a previous assault – but Corrections originally denied that, saying the offender was a kitchen worker, some of Stuff’s information was wrong, and “there is nothing on the prison system to suggest he should not have been in that area at that time”.
But Corrections have now backtracked, saying further investigations have revealed staff made the “wrong decision” to allow the man to return to kitchen work.
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In a statement, Northland prison director David Pattinson said the man had committed an earlier assault, been charged through their internal misconduct system, and been confined to his cell for four days, from November 8 to November 12.
He also had a seven-day loss of privileges, until November 15, and was allowed back to his kitchen job on November 16: the day when, at 10.30am, he assaulted Drever.
Pattinson said the man’s return to work “should not have happened”.
”There appears to have been a miscommunication with a staff member permitting the perpetrator to return to work without managerial signoff. I have asked for an event review to be completed so that we can understand what occurred to prevent this happening again.”
Ricky Wilson/Stuff
Aaron Drever at his sentencing in August.
Pattison said Drever, who was treated initially at Bay of Islands hospital and then at Whangarei hospital, had been placed on two-hour welfare checks and “while these have lessened in regularity, they are still occurring” and he said Drever’s case manager had met with him to check on his welfare.
The offender has also been moved to another prison.
It’s the second time Drever has been assaulted in custody after an earlier attack at Mt Eden Prison in Auckland.
Drever was jailed in August for defrauding a bowling club and a speedway promoter of over $500,000.
He’s awaiting a verdict on an appeal he has lodged against his sentence, in which he argued he was due a greater discount for previous ‘good character’ which would have brought him under the threshold for home detention.
At his appeal hearing, his lawyer James Olsen said jail had “shot home” to Drever the nature of his offending.
Drever, once known as the ‘Voice of Speedway’ for his commentary work at the iconic Western Springs track in Auckland has had a colourful career which included success as a real estate agent.
That ground to a halt when he was barred from the industry in 2016 after accumulating a record number of disciplinary findings. He also ran an upmarket grocer’s, which went bust, was bankrupted, and faces further charges, which he is defending, relating to operating a business while bankrupt.
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