A CESSNOCK prison officer who pleaded guilty to assaulting a colleague has lost an appeal to keep his job due to doubts about the "genuineness" of his remorse and two previous findings of using excessive force against inmates.
Owen John Kemp lost an appeal in the Industrial Relations Commission last week after Commissioner Damian Sloane ruled he had "significant reservations" about Kemp's expressions of remorse and contrition.
Mr Sloane also found that Kemp's previous employment history was relevant to the case and had to be taken into account.
"Prior to the events giving rise to the present matter, Mr Kemp had twice been found guilty of misconduct and been subjected to disciplinary action, in separate findings on 7 August 2020 and 19 August 2021," he said.
"Relevantly for the purposes of this appeal, Mr Kemp was found in each instance to have used more force on an inmate than was reasonably necessary. He was fined $600 and $1000 respectively for the incidents."
Fellow prison officer Jake William McCaig and Kemp were both sacked by Corrective Services NSW in June after they pleaded guilty in Cessnock Local Court to assaulting another prison officer at a Cessnock house on February 16 last year.
McCaig successfully appealed to keep his job after Mr Sloane found he had a good work record and was remorseful.
McCaig was reinstated as a prison officer, reprimanded and fined $1000.
The IRC heard that Kemp and McCaig went to fellow prison officer Carl Budda-Deen's house in the early hours of the morning after they had been drinking.
Kemp said he wanted to confront Mr Budda-Deen for allegedly calling one of his family members a "sex offender and paedophile".
The court heard that Kemp and McCaig had been drinking at fellow prison officer Dayle Mickle's house in Cessnock on February 15 last year when McCaig told Kemp that Mr Budda-Deen had been overheard describing one of Kemp's relatives as a "sex offender and paedophile".
Kemp decided to confront Mr Budder-Deen and the three prison officers went to the victim's nearby house arriving about 12.30am.
Exactly what took place afterwards is heavily disputed, but Mr Budda-Deen denied calling the relative a "sex pest".
"There is significant controversy as to the events comprising the Incident, and the nature of the physical altercations which took place," Mr Sloane said.
McCaig and Kemp both pleaded guilty in Cessnock Local Court to assault and other charges against them were withdrawn.
Magistrate Robert Stone found the pair guilty but did not record convictions, sentencing them both to 24-month conditional release orders.
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