The force used by a prison officer on an inmate after an attack on guards was "excessive and disproportionate", the trial of three officers has heard.

The claim comes as graphic footage of the incident at Auckland Prison, played to the jury, showed the attack and officers' reactions, which led to a prisoner's ankle being broken.

The accused are Wiremu Paikea, 34, Desmond Faafoi, 26, and Viju Devassy, 31.

Paikea faces a charge of causing grievous bodily harm, Faafoi is charged with assault with intent to injure and Devassy is accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice after he allegedly turned a camera away from the incident.



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*Crown: guard kicked inmate in head

All three deny the charges.

Giving evidence on Tuesday afternoon, senior tactical operations adviser, Rob Hoogenraad, who has worked part time as a Corrections instructor in control and restraint for 14 years, explained the restraint methods taught to officers.

Hoogenraad said Paikea had applied a four leg lock during the incident in May last year.

"There was no need for it at that time, because the prisoner was under control, with the person at the head and the other two officers at the arms," Hoogenraad said.

"The level of force was excessive and disproportionate."

STUFF CCTV footage shows the moment inmates at Auckland Prison are involved in an altercation with guards.

In the footage played to the jury, Paikea could be seen crouching over prisoner Mitai Angell's legs for about five minutes.

"I believe that he was pushing down onto the top of the foot or sideways onto the foot, it appeared to be in a sideways motion," Hoogenraad said.

Angell sustained a compound fracture to his ankle and leg and the injury is visible in the video.

Hoogenraad said all three accused were up to date in their training of control and restraint methods.

But Faafoi's defense counsel Todd Simmonds disputed whether the training given to officers adequately prepared them for a real incident.

"I would say the training isn't like the real thing, I am suggesting your training isn't entirely useful," Simmonds said.

The force used by the people being restrained during training may not reflect the force used in an actual incident, he argued.

The footage played in court showed the initial attack on Faafoi.

Inmate Samuel Hutchin's can be seen launching himself onto Faafoi with a homemade shank, after which he is seen bleeding from head wounds.

Blood is splattered and smeared on the walls and floor as Correction's officers swarmed in to assist.

Voices were audible during the body camera footage and the phrases "Des", "enough, enough, enough, enough" and "camera, camera" could be heard from an unknown Corrections' officer.

In his opening address in the High Court at Auckland on Monday, David Wiseman, representing the Crown, told jurors the incident started with prisoners attacking prison officers.

Those prisoners have already been bought to justice and this trial was about the Corrections officers' reaction to that attack, Wiseman said.

At about 2:30pm on May 20, 2017, three prisoners, Samuel Hutchins, Trent Wellington and Mitai Angell, were in the recreation wing of Bravo block waiting to return to their cells on the prison's upper landing.

Faafoi was on duty at the bottom of a stairwell with another officer.



When Wellington was halfway up the stairs, he came back down and attacked Faafoi.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Three Auckland prison guards deny grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard, assault with intent to injure and for perverting the course of justice in relation to the incident.

​Hutchins and Angell then "followed Wellington's cue" and Hutchins hit Faafoi across the head with a shank several times.

In response, two Corrections officers came to assist Faafoi and after the prisoners were forced off him, he rushed in to "take down Angell", Wiseman said.

At that point, Angell was lying curled up, surrounded by various Corrections officers, and was clearly restrained and under control, the court heard.

Faafoi then kicked Angell in the head three times while Devassy's body camera captured the kicks.

Simmonds, said on Monday that he disputed the "intent" aspect of his client's charge.

"He may have lashed out, but did he have that specific intent? I submit on his behalf, he did not," Simmonds said.

DAVID WHITE/STUFF The incident happened at Auckland Prison in May last year.

The third guard, Devassy, faces a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.



"About a half minute later, Mr Devassy goes up the stairs, into the command room of Bravo block and, the Crown says, interferes with the camera that is recording the incident involving prisoner Angell," Wiseman said on Monday.

In the CCTV footage, the camera is at one point angled towards a piece of clothing on the floor and away from the prisoners.

On Tuesday afternoon, Constable McIvor, who investigated the incident, read aloud Devassy's statement from the day of the incident.

It did not mention the adjusting of any cameras in the control room.

Instead, he described how he removed a shank from the scene of the incident and took it to the upstairs middle office in Bravo block.

The trial continues.