THE mother of a man allegedly murdered in jail by Windale's Richard Reay has questioned how her son came to be sharing a cell with one of the state's most violent inmates.
Reay, now 46, on Monday pleaded not guilty to murder over the strangulation death of Geoffrey Fardell in the Mid North Coast Correctional centre in June 2019.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of excessive self-defence, which was not accepted by the prosecution, and Reay faced the first day of a two-week judge-alone murder trial in Port Macquarie Supreme Court.
Reay, who for the past two decades and across two states has established an almost unparalleled reputation for random and unprovoked acts of extreme violence, mayhem and bizarre behaviour behind bars, is accused of strangling Mr Fardell in a cell at the jail, near Kempsey, between when the pair were locked into cell 234 in F-pod at 3.20pm on June 10 and when another inmate did the morning milk rounds at 6.09am on June 11.
Mr Fardell was found face down under a blanket on the floor of the cell with ligature marks around his neck.
Police were unable to find what was used to strangle him. Mr Fardell's mother, Sandra Deveson, spoke to the Newcastle Herald about her shock and grief at learning her son had been killed behind bars, compounded by her discovery of Reay's extensive history of extreme violence.
"I was just absolutely horrified," Ms Deveson said. "I just could not believe it. You have a sense that he is in protective custody and he is going to be OK. I asked the question: 'What is the screening process where you put people together?' The response was: 'we're reviewing it'. Later, I asked the question again: 'Who does the screening process?'"
Ms Deveson says she was told there was an administrative process that determined which offenders were placed together.
"So what information have they got to see that [Reay] is high risk and shouldn't be in a cell with anybody else," Ms Deveson said.
Reay's notorious reputation behind prison walls includes dozens of assaults on prison officers, fellow inmates and jail staff as well as bizarre and compulsive behaviour like "simulating grave digging", drinking and showering from his toilet and "persistent masturbating", according to court documents and prison records.
In Queensland, Reay's reputation caused specific changes to cells that housed him, his interaction with other people became almost non-existent and when he had to be moved over the border it became a police operation performed with teams of officers and military precision. Assessments warned of him killing or maiming people who came into contact with him.
And in NSW, Reay's conduct in jail meant authorities considered him such a threat that in 2014 the state applied to have him declared a "high risk violent offender" and he was detained for an additional 12 months at the conclusion of his jail term.
And as far back as October 2003, Queensland prison records highlighted that "there is a high risk of [Reay] killing or seriously injuring other prisoners or persons whom he may come into contact with."
And it appears the years behind bars haven't made him any less volatile or violent. About 10 years after that assessment in QLD, a psychologist in the prison system in NSW conducted a risk assessment of Reay and formed the opinion that his "risk of future violence would likely include the real potential for further 'serious' violence" and Reay "seemed unable to comprehend the severity of his violent conduct over the years".
Those ominous premonitions have come true time and time again in prisons in Queensland and NSW and have led to Reay spending almost all of the past 17 years behind bars as he has repeatedly bashed staff and inmates.
Reay was serving a sentence for affray in March 2019 when he assaulted a prison officer at Lithgow Correctional Centre.
In June that year he was sentenced to a further 12 months in jail and a few days later allegedly murdered Mr Fardell at Mid North Coast Correctional Centre.
Meanwhile, Mr Fardell, from Ballina, was expected to face Ballina Local Court a week after his death on charges of driving while under the influence of prohibited drugs, destroying or damaging property, intimidation and breaching an apprehended domestic violence order.
He had been in custody less than three months and had been moved from Grafton Correctional Centre to Mid North Coast Correctional Centre after it is believed he had been receiving threats.
He arrived at the jail outside Kempsey on the same day as Reay and a few days later - despite his mother being assured he would be placed into protective custody - Mr Fardell was moved into a cell with one of the state's most violent inmates.
About a week later, Mr Fardell was found dead, allegedly strangled from behind overnight while the cell door was closed.
On Monday Reay admitted to killing Mr Fardell, but said it was the result of excessive self-defence.
He is expected to give evidence in the defence case to attempt to explain what happened in the cell, while both the defence and prosecution plan to run evidence that each man had a tendency to be violent. Reay, who asked to appear via audio visual link from jail during the trial rather than in person, was beamed into the court at Port Macquarie from a small room on Monday.
Stocky, with a shaved head and a thick, plaited mullet, Reay was dressed in prison greens and remained handcuffed throughout the day.
He interjected occasionally and repeatedly stood up to stretch. The murder charge against him does not seem to have deterred Reay from reacting violently or led to him being completely segregated from other inmates.
Court documents reveal Reay was convicted last month of assaulting another inmate at Cessnock Correctional Centre late last year and had another 12 months added to his sentence.
"The general public out there should be extremely concerned if he is ever released," Ms Deveson said of Reay. As for her son, Ms Deveson said she missed catching up for coffee or a swim in Ballina.
"He was generous to a fault," Ms Deveson said of her son. "He was always happy. He didn't hold any anger and he had heaps to be angry about. He was great to be around."
The general public out there should be extremely concerned if he is ever released.
Geoffrey Fardell's mother Sandra Deveson said of Richard Reay.
