"How could the pitiful cries of an ill, for all intents and purposes, totally trapped human being yearning aloud desperately for the comfort of his wife and children, not be heard in the midst of assembled police manpower poised in readiness supposedly, to keep the community safe?"
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TVNZ - The lawyer for the family of a mentally ill Auckland man who was killed in a Samoan prison wants to know what the Samoan government is going to do about prison cruelty.
Hans Dalton, 28, was found dead in a water barrel at Tafa'igata prison, outside Apia, on Christmas Day 2012 after his "pitiful cries" for his family were ignored by officers.
A report of a commission of inquiry chaired by Samoa's ombudsman Maiava Iulai Toma has found that none of the prison officers could be bothered to help.
Police initially declared Mr Dalton's death a suicide. Another prisoner was later charged with murder but he was found not guilty. Mr
Dalton's family in Auckland are suing the Samoan Government.
The family lawyer, Olinda Woodroffe, has told ONE News she's pleased that the Prime Minister of Samoa has accepted the report.
"I would like to see the small print of what will follow from the acceptance by the government of this report because it was long overdue," she said.
"Many people have suffered, many lives have [been] lost that we don't know about or buried, and we know it's been done," she said.
Mr. Dalton had been on holiday in Samoa but was caught in a hurricane and lost access to medication.
On Christmas Day, Samoa Police sent him to the prison at Tafa'igata where he was thrown into a punishment cell. Prison officers failed to give him any help.
The Ombudsman said Mr Dalton screamed loudly and shook the bars and punched the concrete walls, screaming and occasionally swearing throughout the night.
He was "heard to call out 'Lisa', his wife's name to the deaf world around him".
Maiava asked why senior officers did not help Mr Dalton.
"How could the pitiful cries of an ill, for all intents and purposes, totally trapped human being yearning aloud desperately for the comfort of his wife and children, not be heard in the midst of assembled police manpower poised in readiness supposedly, to keep the community safe?"
At 7.15 am the next morning he was found dead, with his head down in a large drum half full of water in the prison cell.
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