'Doesn't bring Blake back' - inquest into 25-year-old murdered in maximum security prison concludes

Little could have been done to prevent an attack that led to the murder of a 25-year-old hours after he was moved to Auckland's maximum security prison, the prison's general manager says.

Blake Lee was shanked to death by another inmate in an exercise yard inside Auckland Prison at Paremoremo in March 2020.

A coronial inquest into his death at the Auckland District Court heard details about Lee's transfer to the prison hours before he was murdered.

Lee was killed in the prison yard soon after his transfer from Whanganui prison to Paremoremo.

The man responsible for his murder, Siuaki Lisiate, was a senior member of the Crips gang while Lee was an affiliate of the Mongrel Mob.

Auckland prison's current general manager Stephen Parr told the inquest's last day that he stood by his management of gangs inside the prison.

"I do mix gangs at Auckland prison," he said.

"In terms of the complexity, I would say we are pretty successful at it."

The inquest had earlier heard that at the time Lee was murdered, there was no set policy on where gang members should be placed in the prison.

Parr was asked by Coroner Alexander Ho about the difficulties of balancing a mix of different gang members in the prison yard, and about the potential of preventing what happened.

"Absent any overt indication to you that something was wrong, and I don't want to sound defeatist here, but there's little you can do to either foresee or prevent that?" Ho asked.

"That's correct sir, unfortunately, yes," Parr replied.

Yard numbers reduced

Parr had told the inquest on Thursday that current prison protocols would have prevented Lee from being placed into a mix on the day of his arrival.

The inquest heard from the principal corrections officer at the time, Gavin De Swardt, who said they had decreased the number of prisoners allowed to be in the yard, from seven or eight at a time to four.

At the time of Lee's murder, there were eight gang members in the yard, De Swardt said, including two members of the Mongrel Mob, two Crips, two Killer Beez and two others.

He was asked by Susan Gray, the lawyer representing Lee's mother, how much he knew about Lisiate's history of violence.

Lisiate had attacked double murderer Graeme Burton with a shank while both men were in Paremoremo, two years before Lee's murder.

"Is it fair to summarise that all you knew about Mr Lisiate was that he had a history of some serious violence?" Gray asked.

"That, and the day-to-day interactions with him, talking to him, and all that," De Swardt said.

Lisiate is one of 16 inmates in Auckland prison's Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit, the same unit housing the Christchurch terrorist.

Counsel assisting the Coroner, Martin Smith, asked De Swardt about mixing the gang members in the yard.

"It was just so we could even up the numbers," De Swardt said.

He was asked if bringing a new gang presence onto the prison wing could lead to tension.

"Sometimes it does, sometimes it has a calming effect," De Swardt said.

"I can give you examples of where we actually put Mongrel Mob with Mongrel Mob and they assault each other, it's like playing chess and trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together..."

De Swardt described Lee's murder as a spontaneous attack.

"It just came out of the blue," he said.

'Doesn't bring Blake back' - mother

Coroner Ho acknowledged Lee's mother, Teresa Absolum, who had been at the back of the courtroom since the beginning of the inquest.

"I would just like to express my condolences to you for Blake's death," he said.

"I'm sorry about the circumstances that have led you here. I hope that some of the matters we have discussed over the last two days has given you some answers, and that the burden that has been on you has lifted slightly."

Absolum told RNZ the inquest had answered some of her questions but "it doesn't bring Blake back".

She had earlier said it was painful to listen to the evidence as it brought up feelings of sadness and anger at the way her son died.

"I am trying to remember all the good things about my son," Absolum said.