ONE of Queensland’s most merciless killers is demanding compensation for being left incontinent and depressed after he was badly bashed in prison.
Lionel Patea, 28, who savagely beat his girlfriend to death, has been given the green light to sue a global prison giant for what he claims are permanent injuries.
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The former Bandidos bikie gang enforcer is serving two life sentences: one for the brutal murder of the mother of his child, Tara Brown, 24, whom he ran off the road and bashed to death with a metal fire hydrant cover as she lay trapped in her car in September 2015; and one for the bashing murder of father-of-two Greg Dufty, 37, who was killed in the Gold Coast Hinterland in July 2015.
His body has never been found.
A deputy registrar of Brisbane District Court ordered, by consent of both sides, that Patea be granted leave to launch his personal injuries lawsuit against the Geo Group Australia Pty Ltd.
GGA operated Arthur Gorrie prison on August 18, 2016, when Patea claims he was made incontinent and suffered a head injury during an assault, court documents state.
He claims he received treatment at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, however he has not received any rehabilitation or treatment since, according to a statement by his lawyer Amanda Tucker on May 1.
Patea, who is not eligible for parole until 2048, claims he suffers lower back pain, pins and needles down the front of his legs, shins, toes, fingers and his back, as well as anxiety and depression, neck stiffness and pain.
Court documents state his lawyers have obtained CCTV footage.
Patea was transferred to a prison in Townsville in February, court documents state.
Two Townsville neurosurgeons, Laurence Marshman and Eric Guazzo, were named in court documents as experts who may be called on to examine Patea in prison to give a medical report on his injuries.
“I am informed by the applicant and verily believe that the applicant suffered permanent injuries as a result of the negligence of the respondent,” Ms Tucker submitted to the court in documents.
Just three months after the alleged bashing, Patea who was still in Arthur Gorrie on remand awaiting trial for the murder of Miss Brown, threw “very hot” water at a fellow inmate after the man called him a name and challenged him to a fight.
Patea was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he was convicted of assault.
He was initially charged with grievous bodily harm in relation to the incident, but pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge.
Patea converted to Islam in 2017 to “rehabilitate” himself after he was sentenced for the murder of Miss Brown.
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