Young Liam's final ride - his parents devastated by his 2006 death in a NZ security van...

Young Liam's final ride - his parents devastated by his death in a security van in August 2006.

A most tragic case of parents tough love gone so sadly wrong - their youngest son loses his life!

A 17 yr old Auckland, New Zealand,youth was facing a charge of unlawfully converting his mother's car. His parents decided albeit wisely or unwisely, to try and teach their youngest son some responsibility for his actions. They persuaded the District Court judge to remand him in custody and enable him to gain some first hand knowledge of the justice system - a little time at the coalface, if you like! The youth, named Liam, was transported from the court with 13 other remand prisoners in a private security company's van which was divided into four compartments - the Corrections Department did not transport the prisoners to the remand prison - and Liam was put into one of the compartments with two other men, one of whom was a violent gang member with a string of 80 convictions behind him.

That man has now been arrested for Liam's death after allegedly beating and strangling the youth to death with his handcuffs on the way to the remand prison. He has since been found guilty and sentenced. The 25 yr old man is understood to be a member of a notorious local gang with convictions for firearms offences, escaping from custody and aggravated robbery.

His last court appearance which resulted in him being in the same security van as young Liam, was for aggravated robbery and wounding with intent, and had to be accompanied to court by four armed guards because of his violent history and unpredictability. How on earth was the youth, who has had no previous offences, placed with such a felon?

The devastated family find the situation that led to their son's death , untenable, intolerable and unacceptable under any circumstances, and obviously negligent.They, too,wonder just how their son could have been placed in the van with such a person.They do not need any reminding that it was their initial decision to have their son put into custody, when he could have been bailed. When the van had arrived at the remand prison Liam had not been breathing. Ambulance officers managed to resuscitate him, but such was the severity of his subsequent brain damage the family later had his life support turned off. A post mortem established the cause of death and an enquiry will be held to determine why Liam was put in the van with such a violent prisoner.

A devastated family continues to grieve for the death of their youngest son in such circumstances. The prisoner has now been officially charged and sentenced to a life term for the murder of the youth who had his own challenges; he was an at risk youth who had been assessed with ADHD earlier in his young life, something that undoubtably created its own difficulties. His behaviour during his teens proved challenging for his parents.

There has been a Government enquiry into this and other incidents involving the transport of prisoners by a private security firm, who will not be able to renew their contract in future. The New Zealand Corrections Department will take over the transportation of prisoners itself.

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