Prison guard Amy Meshell Connors sentenced over behind-bars relationship with a cop killer
Prison guard Amy Connors has been sentenced over her relationship with cop killer Sione Penisini, as details have emerged regarding the interactions between the pair before they were caught out.
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THERE were little chats and sly giggles, professions of love in Valentine’s Day cards, matching tattoos and quiet rendezvous out of sight of closed circuit television footage.
But prison guard Amy Meshell Connors — who was charged with misconduct in public office — escaped a jail term after a court heard the relationship she had with cop killer Sione Penisini inside a maximum security jail was “intimate and not sexual”.
Instead, the 35-year-old mother of two was placed on a 12-month community corrections order after her relationship with Penisini inside Mid North Coast jail at Kempsey was outed.
Judge Leonie Flannery determined in Port Macquarie Court that Connors’ offending was on the “low end” of the scale and she had become removed from society because of the backlash and media reporting of her relationship.
An agreed statement of facts said prison authorities began a covert investigation in July last year into Connors and Penisini – who is serving 34 years for the murder of police officer Glenn McEnally - after receiving information they had become friendly.
In a nine-day period where authorities were watching, Connors was seen to have constant interactions with Penisini, including visiting his cell and taking him on escorts.
There were also two occasions, including one in an interview room from 9am on July 5, where CCTV footage could not see the pair.
“In the minute or so after Penisini enters the room, the accused can be seen standing at the doorway seeing outside into the courtyard through the glass window,’’ the facts said.
“The pair remain in the room alone until 9.19am.’’
Five days after the interview room meeting, their ruse was up. Penisini had bashed another prisoner and a search of his room discovered evidence.
It included a Valentine’s Day card addressed to “Sione” which contained “a declaration of love and affection for Sione.’’
The card was signed “Lydia”, a pseudonym Connors used to keep their relationship secret from authorities.
Also found was a drawing of the word “Kismet” together with handwriting “forever tied to my heart’’.
Connors had a tattoo of the word “Kismet” in the same design on her collarbone. Penisini had the word tattooed on his left forearm.
There was also a calendar where Connors’ birthday and those of her children were pencilled in, and evidence of some shoes being bought for her children as presents.
When asked by authorities about when the relationship started, Penisini said it was before she had left for a stint at Kempsey.
“Yeah it was before then,’’ he said. “We just started out talking and were friends and then when she came back it just happened.
“I didn’t seek her out or go looking for it.’’
The court heard there was no suggestion Connors smuggled anything in or out of jail for Penisini, did not deposit any cash into his jail account or give him preferential treatment.
Defence barrister Allan Conwell said Connors had been the victim of significant and erroneous media attention, including false claims she had fallen pregnant with Penisini’s child.
She was remorseful and horrified at the ridicule she and her family had encountered after the relationship was uncovered.
Connors had lost her 15-year career as a prison guard and had been sacked from another job after her boss discovered the allegations against her.
Solicitor Scott James said outside court that Connors was: “Grateful that the accurate facts had been portrayed to the court and have been taken into consideration by her honour quite fairly despite months and months of misreporting by multiple media agencies... about matters that were completely untrue and have caused her the utmost distress, and her family, for a considerable amount of time.’’
In her sentencing, Judge Flannery said similar incidents involving other guards and prisoners had not resulted in prison terms despite a new charge carrying a maximum two-year jail term.
The judge said the relationship was “intimate but not sexual’’.
She cited Connors’ lack of criminal history, the unlikelihood she would reoffend and prospects for rehabilitation as reasons to place her on a community corrections order.