A 77-year-old man has been charged with murdering his cellmate at Sydney’s Long Bay jail.
New South Wales police have alleged that the man assaulted his 71-year-old cell mate about 10.50pm on Monday, causing significant head injuries.
In a statement, police said prison guards tried to administer first aid to the man who was then taken in an ambulance to hospital, where he later died.
The deceased man is reported to be Frank Townsend. Police have not confirmed reports he was bashed to death with a sandwich press, but did say that “a number of items were seized from the cell”.
A spokeswoman for Corrective Services NSW said the incident occurred in the Kevin Waller unit, which caters for aged and frail prisoners
Long Bay is a maximum and minimum security prison, catering to both men and women, 14km south-east of the Sydney CBD. The NSW government announced in March that the land would be sold and a new, much larger jail, would be built at Wollondilly, south-west of Sydney.
It is just over 12 months since Aboriginal man David Dungay Hill died in custody at Long Bay, after being forcibly removed from his cell in the mental health ward by guards in riot gear.
An inquest will take place into his death, but no date has yet been set.
