Vaughan Hunt: Ex Long Bay Prison guard details smuggling plot

A judge has expressed her shock at the ease of which a guard smuggled in contraband, declaring it could be the reason why there are so many drugs in jail.

A former prison guard has spoken of the simple way he smuggled drugs, phones and steroids into jail for inmates – in his pockets.

On each of the 12 occasions when Vaughan Vati Teleni Hunt, 29, brought contraband into Long Bay Prison over three months in 2019, he entered work normally through the prison scanners with the contraband in his pockets, a court has heard.

“(The scanners) went off a few times but the officer who was behind there just let me go,” a hulking but softly spoken Hunt told the court in evidence.

“They just wand me and then let me through,” he continued, referring to a handheld detection wand.

Vaughan Hunt seen leaving John Madison Tower Courts in Sydney. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Later Judge Penelope Wass commented: “(They were) checking him every day … But no one seemed to really care when the scanner went off. It might answer the question as to why there are so many drugs in jail.”

Hunt has pleaded guilty to corruptly receiving benefit, and dealing with proceeds of crime, both relating to the $12,000 he received for the “bad work” he did for the inmates.

Judge Wass listed Hunt’s sentence again for May 28, saying she needed time to think about it.

Hunt’s barrister Matthew Breeze told the court there were a number of circumstances in Hunt’s favour.

When police approached Hunt to tell him they had evidence of six communications made from his mobile phone to prison inmates, he admitted to six further offences which the police didn’t know anything about.

Mr Breeze also told the court that an inmate approached Hunt to bring goods in, not the other way around, and that he initially rejected the inmate’s request “until he succumbed to temptation”.

He worked in corrections for two years before he started moving the contraband, the court heard.

Vaughan Hunt will be sentenced this month. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

There was very little planning, Mr Breeze told the court, and he simply entered the jail with the packages on his person.

The court heard Hunt needed the money to “fund his raging gambling habit”.

Hunt told the court in evidence he was gambling away about $2000 per week at the time, which included his entire paycheck plus the money he received for “the stuff I was bringing in for the inmates during that time”.

Crown solicitor Shaun Croner argued Hunt used his good standing as a public servant to commit the offences.

Hunt told the court “It was very stupid of me”.

“It was really bad what I did. I put a lot of people in danger not only officers but inmates as well. My family. I’m just really sorry about it,” he said.

The court heard Hunt was worried about the possibility of spending time in prison as a former prison guard “because the crime I did was not a very good look on me .... betraying your fellow officers and receiving a lot of bad messages when it did happen and death threats as well”.

Hunt will be sentenced at the end of the month.