Jacquan Tumai Kokiri, 27, was ordered to serve an additional 10 months on top of his current prison sentence for his role in the riot at Spring Hill prison in August last year.
An attack on a newly transferred prisoner over lozenges triggered a group of inmates to riot after becoming upset their break time was over.
The inmate was surrounded by two prisoners, including Jacquan Tumai Kokiri, also known as Jacquan Ngawhika, at Spring Hill prison on the afternoon of August 16 last year, when Kokiri struck the victim in the back of the head.
The other prisoner then struck the victim before he ran off to seek help from Corrections staff.
The attack caused a “code blue” event, meaning inmates had to end their “recreational time” and return to their cells.
But Kokiri and his co-offender, along with others, refused and, after initially using food trays as weapons against prison officers, destroyed a kiosk, phone and windows before starting two fires, with one reaching 4.5m high.
The 27-year-old was in the Hamilton District Court this week for sentencing on charges of riotously destroying property and common assault for his key role.
NZME understands many others have already been sentenced.
At the time, all defendants were housed in Wing D and were in the yard with the victim at 2.09pm.
Kokiri confronted the victim and the pair began arguing over lozenges before the fight erupted.
After being told recreational time was over, the defendants ignored instructions to return to their cells and instead gathered around a bench.
One became argumentative and others refused to move, with one yelling, “Get f***ed, we’re not getting locked up”, while “walking staunched and fists clenched”, court documents state.
Nine others, including Kokiri, immediately began “rioting”, swearing at approaching prison officers and forming a parallel line while assuming fighting stances.
For a moment, the two groups were at a standoff.
Prison officers used pepper spray, which led to the defendants briefly retreating, only to arm themselves with food trays before rushing towards the guards, hurling them and some of the trays striking staff.
One defendant destroyed the kiosk by kicking and punching it multiple times, while two brothers used a tray to help smash it.
Kokiri destroyed a phone next to the kiosk by smashing the handset against the wall multiple times.
Four windows were smashed, then a fire was started at 3.10pm by lighting bundled toilet paper.
A prisoner carried the small fire to a mattress and cardboard box that had been stacked up. Other items were added, including sheets, toilet paper, cardboard, plastic and clothing.
The inmates then dragged the fire next to a wooden beam that supported the roof of a walkway, eventually engulfing it and reaching the ceiling.
Thick, dark smoke wafted over the compound, triggering sprinklers and a response from Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews.
Before the fire was put out, the inmates started multiple smaller fires around the yard, including one that grew to about 1.5m high, damaged another beam and burned for 35 minutes.
They then gathered in a “stacked formation” in front of a gate, waiting for Corrections officers who decided not to engage, as the group threw trays and yelled and taunted staff.
At 5.15pm, the inmates surrendered.
When later questioned about their actions, one said, “just a couple of guys refusing to get locked up”.
While Kokiri had earlier accepted a sentence indication from Judge Arthur Tompkins, his lawyer, Amy Borton, sought further credits than already agreed upon.
She sought discounts for Kokiri’s background and the effect of his institutionalisation, noting he’d been in and out of prison for his whole adult life, leading to a normalisation of violence.
“These factors should be recognised by the court,” she told the judge.
Judge Tompkins largely agreed, and from a starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment, reduced the sentence by two months and jailed Kokiri for 10 months, cumulative on his current term.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.
