{"id":309316,"date":"2026-03-02T11:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309316\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:39:08","slug":"coroner-examines-nuku-strange-prison-death-and-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309316\/","title":{"rendered":"Coroner examines Nuku Strange prison death and treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

An inquest is now considering how Department of Corrections<\/a> staff handled risk assessments, management, wellbeing and treatment processes in the lead-up to his death. <\/p>\n

The actions of Corrections staff on the day he died will be of specific interest to the coroner during this week\u2019s hearing in the Invercargill District Court<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Coroner Amelia Steel<\/a> said the inquiry would examine the circumstances in which Strange died and look for opportunities to reduce the chances of others dying in similar circumstances. <\/p>\n

The inquiry was not about blame but about accountability, Coroner Steel said.<\/p>\n

Ex-prisoners give statements<\/p>\n

Prisoners in custody with Strange at the time of his death gave statements, as did Corrections staff from the prison. <\/p>\n

In a statement read to the court, Strange\u2019s former partner said he had been using methamphetamine before he was taken into custody, about four months prior to his death.<\/p>\n

They would speak regularly over the phone and she became increasingly concerned about his wellbeing in prison after she heard he had attempted suicide. <\/p>\n

The woman said she rang the prison and told a staffer Strange needed to be put on watch. <\/p>\n

Strange, who was on remand, had told her he was facing an eight-year jail sentence, she said. <\/p>\n

She struggled with the relationship and decided to end it, but said she remained on good terms with Strange.<\/p>\n

She said Strange rang her twice on the day he died, angry and crying, saying he had been put on a management plan at the prison. <\/p>\n

Told partner he loved her<\/p>\n

He rang a second time and told her he loved her, she said.<\/p>\n

Strange\u2019s cousin was in the same unit at the prison and said Strange had attempted suicide in June 2022. <\/p>\n

He was in a neighbouring cell and alerted prison officers. <\/p>\n

\"NukuNuku Strange died in Invercargill Prison. Photo \/ Otago Daily Times <\/p>\n

The pair were sent to the ISU after the incident.<\/p>\n

He said Strange was released into the general prison population too soon after that incident. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was back, he wasn\u2019t good, he seemed really down, I could tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t coping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strange visibly upset<\/p>\n

Another inmate said he saw Strange on the day of his death on the prison phone, visibly upset. <\/p>\n

He said he told an officer he was concerned about Strange and saw them go to speak with him. <\/p>\n

The inmate said he was aware of the earlier suicide attempt and of the time Strange had spent in the ISU. <\/p>\n

He said he was also aware Strange had attempted suicide in July. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo have two attempts like that, something was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had just come back from ISU. Someone needed to check on him; he was upset.\u201d <\/p>\n

A senior Corrections officer who interviewed Strange on the day before his death said he had known him for a number of years. <\/p>\n

He said he felt comfortable with Strange leaving ISU. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we exit out of ISU, we do it on understanding and conversations. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had assurity at that moment in time that he could be exited out of ISU.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another officer said they knew Strange well as he had been in and out of the prison over several years. <\/p>\n

The officer said they spoke with Strange on the day he was released from ISU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got on quite well with him. He was always polite. It appeared he was pleased to be back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said all the things at the right time that led me to believe he was okay.\u201d <\/p>\n

The inquest is scheduled to run for five days. <\/p>\n

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamat\u0101. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An inquest is now considering how Department of Corrections staff handled risk assessments, management, wellbeing and treatment processes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61279,95,536,12629,634,6179,168660,134,1885,111,43,139,168661,69,8442,19764,13172,2189,2766,25592],"class_list":{"0":"post-309316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-adequacy","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-care","11":"tag-coroner","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-died","14":"tag-examines","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-mental","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-nuku","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-prison","23":"tag-received","24":"tag-spotlight","25":"tag-strange","26":"tag-treatment","27":"tag-weighs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}