Other Stuff
Code of silence clears
inmate of attempted murder
01 November 2006
A notoriously violent gang member has been cleared of a vicious murder bid
inside Paparua Prison after prosecutors failed to break through the inmates'
code of silence.
Highway 61 member Patrick O'Brien, 39, is serving a nine-year jail term for a
gang-related attempted murder.
He faced the same charge for allegedly stabbing Harley Edmondson, a member of a
rival Auckland motorcycle gang, within hours of Edmondson being moved into
O'Brien's block at Christchurch Men's Prison.
The latest charge against O'Brien was dropped yesterday in the High Court in
Christchurch after prosecutor Anne Toohey accepted that the two crucial
eyewitnesses to the November 9 incident – Edmondson and his cellmate – now claim
they saw and remembered nothing. Justice Panckhurst discharged O'Brien, who will
remain in prison serving his previous jail term.
Detective Senior Sergeant John Rae, the officer in charge of the case, said
outside court that it was the second time he had investigated a potentially
fatal attack in jail that had failed to end in a conviction because of the
inmates' code of silence.
"Of course it's a problem for us. If these two witnesses had had the wherewithal
and conscience to give evidence, then O'Brien would almost certainly have been
convicted," he said.
Rae said he had investigated an inmate who suffered spinal injuries after being
thrown off a balcony inside jail, but the victim refused to co-operate with
police in naming his attacker.
"There were no charges at the end of the day," he said.
"If these people want to adopt this attitude I can't do anything about it, and
I'm not going to bash my head against a brick wall."
Rae suggested their reluctance to help should be a factor when they appeared
before the Parole Board to seek their release.
"My observation is that gangs play a pivotal role in preventing evidence being
given, through either threats or their mere presence which is enough to
intimidate. That's a real concern," he said.
"There are different stages. Some don't complain and some make a complaint – as
in (O'Brien's) case – but subsequently are unco-operative.
"Usually there is a very dominant party involved and I suspect that's the case
here, where one party is perhaps considered to be sufficiently well connected
and sufficiently well supported or sufficiently intimidating."
O'Brien's lawyer, David Ruth, successfully sought for the charge to be dropped
at a pre-trial hearing on the basis that there was insufficient evidence to put
before a jury.
A former prison officer told The Press that inmates formed hierarchies within
prison, often victimising other inmates who were too fearful to report
incidents.
A lecturer at the Institute of Criminology at Victoria University in Wellington,
Trevor Bradley, said the code of silence was a "well-known facet" of prison life
in New Zealand and throughout the world. "There's a captive environment and
there's the ability to be got at if it becomes known that you've narked," he
said.
The origin of the attack was said to be rivalry between O'Brien's Highway 61
gang and an Auckland motorcycle gang, previously known as the 45s, with which
Edmondson was connected. The attack in Edmondson's cell left him with a
punctured lung and a lacerated liver.
He made a statement to police, but when the preliminary hearing to assess the
evidence was held in the Christchurch District Court in August, Edmondson
claimed to have no memory of who attacked him. He gave evidence via a video link
from an Auckland prison. Cellmate Aaron Warden refused to answer questions but
denied involvement in the stabbing.
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