Robert James Cummings (31) is serving a life term along with three other men after the group killed Justin McFarlane in his North Otago home in September 2013.
He came before the Dunedin District Court yesterday for a judge-alone trial after pleading not guilty to a charge of assault with intent to injure, following an incident at the Otago Corrections Facility on March 10.
When Judge Kevin Phillips was delivering his decision and it became clear Cummings’ claim of self-defence would be rejected, the defendant stood up to register his disapproval.
"I don’t give a f... anyway. I’m getting out of here. I’m doing a life lag anyway," he said.
Security initially tried to force Cummings back into the dock but the judge requested his removal and finished the hearing in his absence.
The defendant, a Mongrel Mob member, barked noisily on his way to the cells.
Earlier, CCTV footage of the assault was played for the court.
Cummings and the victim speak briefly before quickly adopting a fighting stance.
After the defendant misses with a couple of punches, he pins the smaller man against a wire fence and delivers 23 punches.
The victim covers his head as Cummings knees him nine times and there is a brief respite when another inmate tentatively intervenes.
The 87-second onslaught ends with nine more punches, two attempted stomps and "a flying kick", before the men retire to opposite ends of the exercise yard.
Shortly afterwards, Cummings called a friend and the short conversation was recorded on the Corrections phone system.
"I was just ringing to tell you I got him. I wasted him . . . I’ve got a sore hand," he said.
"That’s for you, because I love you."
When police spoke to the victim — a Black Power member — after he had been transferred to Christchurch Men’s Prison, he stressed he did not support a prosecution.
"It was just a gang fight," he said. "Things happen on the outside and get sorted out on the inside."
Cummings, who opted to give evidence yesterday, agreed that the brawl began because of "existing beef"; it continued, he said, because he believed the victim had a weapon.
Rewai Taylor, one of three OCF inmates called as defence witnesses, said he saw the victim put a "shank" down his pants before the violence erupted and then later flush it down the toilet once it was over.
Against that background, Cummings said he felt he had no choice but to dish out the prolonged beating.
"If I stopped and let him get back up I didn’t know what was going to happen, so I carried on," he said.
Judge Phillips said there was no evidence from the prison footage of the existence of a weapon, nor did any witness say they had warned Cummings about one.
Whether the victim initially agreed to a fight, he said, was "totally irrelevant".
"[It] quickly developed into a savage attack and the only person doing the attacking was Mr Cummings . . . There was no exchange of blows, there was this all-out attack over a period of a minute and a half."
There was clear intent to cause the victim serious harm, said the judge.
Cummings will be sentenced next month.
He is scheduled to see the Parole Board for the first time in September 2031.
