A two-week trial deciding the fate of three Auckland Prison guards involved in a violent fight with inmates has ended in a not guilty verdict.
The struggle happened after prison inmates connected to the Killer Beez gang tried to attack staff with metal shanks in May 2017.
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Officers Desmond Fa'afoi and Wiremu Paikea responded with an attack of their own, while colleague Viju Devassey moved a CCTV camera away from the incident.
Fa'afoi and Paikea were charged with injuring an inmate, while Devassey was charged with perverting the course of justice.
The jury heard gruesome details of the "bloody attack" which ended with an inmate suffering a dislocated ankle and broken leg as a guard knelt on him in an attempt to restrain him.
Fa'afoi suffered stab injuries to his head and face from the inmates' attack. All inmates involved have been charged separately.
The public gallery was full of family members and fellow Auckland prison guards supporting the defendants.
Justice Christine Gordon summed up the case for the jury who then retired to deliberate. They returned with a verdict of not guilty on Friday afternoon.
Newshub.
