Duke Schafer inquest: Sinister details of Woodford prisoner’s laundry unit murder revealed
The decision to reintegrate a “sadistic” prisoner back into the mainstream population at the Woodford Correctional Centre will be one of several examined at an inquest into the murder of Duke Schafer.
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A “sadistic” prisoner who attempted to stab another inmate with a shiv had been back in the general jail population for just four months before he strangled another man to death with ligature fashioned from a bed sheet.
The decision to reintegrate Carl William Sedgwick Bloomfield back into the mainstream population at the Woodford Correctional Centre will be one of a number of issues examined at an inquest into the murder of Duke Allan Wayne Schafer.
Mr Schafer was serving a short term of imprisonment for drug trafficking and was 18 months shy of parole release when he was murdered in the prison’s laundry unit which was not fitted with CCTV.
At a pre-inquest conference in the Brisbane Coroners Court on Wednesday, counsel assisting the coroner Nicole Macregeorgos said 36-year-old Mr Schafer was found unresponsive by other prisoners on May 6, 2020.
Bloomfield made full admissions to the crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 after pleading guilty to murder.
The court heard the day prior to the attack, Bloomfield had shown Mr Schafer a photograph of his daughters.
“Mr Schafer asked if he could buy the photo and laughed,” Ms Macregeorgos said.
“Mr Bloomfield has since advised that he took offence to this and formed the opinion that Mr Schafer was a pedophile.
“On the morning of the 6th of May 2020, Mr Bloomfield decided that he was going to kill Mr Schafer as he, and I quote, ‘just thought he was a kid f****r and shouldn’t have said what he said’.”
He fashioned a ligature by using a razor blade to cut the hem off a prison-issued bed sheet and concealed it down his pants.
“After the afternoon muster, Mr Bloomfield approached Mr Schafer in the meal room, he shook Mr Schafer’s hand, placed his arm around Mr Schafer’s shoulder, and they walked to the laundry together.
They entered the laundry which was not fitted with cameras at 2.47pm and spoke briefly before Bloomfield killed Mr Schafer.
“At 2.51pm, Mr Bloomfield exited the laundry alone and entered the exercise yard where he disposed of his shiv behind the wall-mounted telephone, socialized with other inmates, and changed his shoes to train,” Ms Macregeorgos said.
About 20 minutes later, Mr Schafer was discovered by other prisoners who raised the alarm with prison staff.
The court heard Bloomfield had been serving a nine-year prison sentence for a violent robbery in which he sadistically attacked two teenage boys, severing one child’s ear and cutting into the other boy’s tongue.
Prosecutors at the time asked for him to be given an indefinite sentence for the “sadistic” attack but the judge declined, saying he was not satisfied Bloomfield was a serious danger to the community provided he “received the recommended treatment”.
“His honour made recommendations to QCS as to the psychiatric treatment to be provided to Mr Bloomfield in custody,” Ms Macregeorgos said.
The coronial inquest will also examine the appropriateness of the psychological treatment provided to Bloomfield in custody, including whether recommended treatments and medication can be enforced.
Six witnesses are expected to be called at the inquest before State Coroner Terry Ryan in May.
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