![Guy Roberts, who appeared in court on Friday. Picture Facebook Guy Roberts, who appeared in court on Friday. Picture Facebook](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/DaHt57RjVSvtvCBUgFzTWj/ec279e91-9f1e-4cc5-8c5d-e62abc288c49.jpg/r0_42_443_291_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
There was "some degree of information sharing" between two correctional officers who wrote "virtually identical" reports claiming a failed prison escapee had a shiv, a court has found.
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The finding comes after a disputed facts hearing, which also decided accusations the inmate threatened to stab guards during an attempted prison break could not be proven.
Guy Pearson Roberts faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday after pleading guilty to attempting to escape from custody and obstructing a territory public official.
Agreed facts state the 43-year-old and fellow prisoner George George used a metal stool to break through their cell window in the Alexander Maconochie Centre about midnight in March 2022.
The pair struck the window out of its frame before fastening one end of tied-together bed sheets to a bolted metal stool in their cell, throwing the other end out the open window.
Roberts and George then "rappelled down the outside of the sentenced block".
The noise caused by the window smashing alerted ACT Corrective Services officers, who apprehended the two inmates after using capsicum spray.
About 20 minutes later, police located a blue duffel bag along a perimeter fence. The bag contained a reciprocating saw, thick cut rope and towels.
On Friday, special magistrate Gregor Urbas dismissed claims Roberts was in possession of a shiv and suggestions the inmate had said words to the effect of: "Have you got your blade? I've got my blade", and "we are going to stab you if you come near us".
Dr Urbas said while a toothbrush with an embedded razor was found near a fence the day after, there was not enough evidence to establish it was the same blade.
"This found item may be have been thrown or placed in the area by other persons unknown," he said.
The special magistrate also found accounts given by two correctional officers "may need to be treated with caution" due to the "virtually identical words" of the reports.
"It defies common sense to suppose they were independently authored with no co-ordination," Dr Urbas said.
"It's only logical to infer that there must have been some degree of information sharing.
"The court must express some dissatisfaction at being handed reports that appear to have significant similarity."
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Giving evidence on Thursday, both officers, the only people to allegedly see the shiv, said they had written their reports from their own memories and described having seen the weapon in Roberts' hand during the attempted prison escape.
On Friday, Dr Urbas also ruled there was "a degree of uncertainty" about whether Roberts made the threats to officers and who had said the words.
He found due to "prisoners shouting and some confusion", the words may have been said by someone else.
Roberts is set to be sentenced in the Galambany Court at a later date.
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