John MacDonald: People should have known about mentally-unwell gardener

I’m not exactly sure where to start with this, because it is just so tragic and there is so much to it. 

I could start by ripping into the people who run Hillmorton Hospital, in Christchurch, for not doing more to try to prevent one of their patients murdering a woman at her home in Mt Pleasant – because I want to rip into them.  

I could start with the thought that ran through my head when more details emerged at Elliot Cameron’s sentencing yesterday for the murder of 83-year-old Faye Phelps, but I’ll come back to that. 

Where I’m going to start is with what the cousin of Elliot Cameron said after the sentencing. Because it doesn’t just relate to this tragic case, it relates to other tragic cases we’ve seen too.  

And it’s all to do with how out-of-kilter things have got when it comes to protecting people’s privacy versus protecting people from danger.  

Alan Cameron is the cousin of the killer, and he is saying that people like Faye, and anyone else this guy did garden work for or had dealings with, should have known that he was a mental health patient living at Hillmorton Hospital. Especially given his threats to kill someone if he was forced him to leave the hospital.  

They should have known that he’d been in mental health care for most of his life.  

Alan Cameron says: “Just shoving people out into the community isn't good enough, without ensuring that there are supports. I feel if more could have been done it might well have made a difference. 

"To protect his privacy they won't involve the family, but he wanted my involvement."  

He says people should have been informed that his cousin was living at Hillmorton because they could’ve then decided whether they wanted anything to do with him.  

He says: "It would have put others on alert to observe him and to keep a note.”  

And I couldn’t agree more.  

Because Faye Phelps had no idea. She was completely in the dark, all in the name of protecting this man’s privacy.  

Just like the probation people couldn’t knock on the doors of people living near that guy who was released from prison and ended up murdering the Colombian woman living next door to him. 

She was in the dark too, because it would have breached that guy’s privacy, as well.  

So when are we going to wake up to the fact that this obsession with privacy is killing people?  

Because there is no way that Elliot Cameron should have been allowed to come and go from Hillmorton and do gardening work for people without those people whose homes he was going to having any idea about him.  

You could say that anyone can ask questions but when you hire someone to do gardening, you ask them about things like their availability, price etc.  

Faye Phelps was never going to ask him if he was mentally unwell, was she? She should have been told. Because, if she had, she might still be alive.  

But we will never know that. Or more importantly, her family and friends will never know that. Either way, Faye Phelps and the people who loved her were let down big time.  

As Faye’s daughter Karen says: “Our family never thought in a million years something like this would happen. The reality is it could be any member of the public next.”  

Which brings me to what went through my head when I saw the reports on the sentencing yesterday. Straight away I wondered how many other patients are walking out the gates at Hillmorton, jumping on buses, and none of us have any idea. 

Faye’s daughter Karen is thinking the same, saying: “Public safety must come first and should always have come first. Sadly, it wasn’t prioritised, and the result is what happened to my mum.”  

As for Hillmorton Hospital – you would think, wouldn’t you, that the people running the place would have

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News TALKS'B. Now.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'll be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure where
to start with this morning's first topic of conversation because
it is just so tragic. I could start by ripping
into the people who run hill Morton Hospital in christ
Church for not doing more to try to prevent one

(00:33):
of their patients murdering a woman at her home in
Mount Pleasant, because I want to rip into them, and
I probably will. This is a guy who had talked
a lot over the years about killing people if he
was forced to leave hill Morton and forced to live
somewhere else. I could start with a thought that ran

(00:54):
through my head when more details emerged at Elliott Cameron's
sensing yesterday for the murder of eighty three year old
Faye Phelps, and I will, but I'll come back to that.
I think where I'm going to start is with what
the cousin of Elliot Cameron said after the sentencing, because

(01:17):
it doesn't just relate to this tragic case. It relates
to other tragic cases we've seen here in Christchurch and
elsewhere as well, and it's all to do with how
out of kilter, our bloody out of kilter things have
got when it comes to protecting people's privacy versus protecting

(01:39):
people from danger. So Alan camberon he's a cousin of
the killer, and he's saying that people like Faye and
anyone else that this guy did gardening work for or
who had dealings with, should have known that he was
a mental health patient living at Hilmoorton Hospital, especially given

(02:01):
his threats to kill someone if they forced him to
leave the hospital. Should have known that he'd been in
mental health care, not just currently, but also for most
of his life. Alan Cameron says, quote, just shoving people
out into the community isn't good enough without ensuring that

(02:21):
there are supports. I feel if more could have been done,
it might well have made a difference. And he says
to protect his privacy, they won't involve the family, but
he wanted my involvement. So Alan Cameron's saying that people
should have been informed, like I am, that his cousin
was living at Hilmingwooten, because then they could have decided

(02:43):
whether they wanted anything to do with them or not.
He says, quote, it would have put others on alert
to observe him and to keep a note end of quote.
And I could not agree more. Honestly, I could not
agree more because Fay Phelps shared no idea. She was
completely in the dark, all in the name of protecting
this man's privacy. Just like the you remember the probation

(03:07):
people couldn't knock on the doors of the people living there.
That guy who was released from prison and then within
a very short period of time ended up murdering the
Columbian woman living next door to him. She was in
the dark too, because it would have breached that guy's
privacy as well. So when are we going to wake up?
This is what we need to do. We need to
wake up to the fact that this obsession with privacy

(03:28):
is killing people. Because there isn't no way that Elliott
Cameron should have been allowed to come and go from
Hill Morton and do the gardening work for people without
those people whose homes he was going to having any
idea about him. Now you could say, oh, look, anyone
can ask questions. Would you hire someone to do gardening?

(03:48):
You asked them about things like their availability and their
price and all that stuff, don't you? I mean Fay
Phelps was never going to ask him if he was
mentally unwell? Was she she should have been told, because
if she'd been told, she might still be alive. But
we will never know that, or more importantly, her family
and friends won't even know that. Either way, Faith Phelps

(04:10):
and the people who loved her have been let down
big time. As Faye's daughter Karen says, quote, her comments
are powerful. She says, quote, our family never thought in
a million years something like this would happen. The reality
is it could be any member of the public next,
which brings me to what went through ahead. When I

(04:30):
saw the reports on the sentencing yesterday, straight away I
wondered how many other patients are walking up the gates
at Hilmorton jumping on buses without any of us having
any idea. And Fay's daughter care and she's thinking the same,
saying quote, public safety must come first and should always
have come first. Sadly it wasn't prioritized and the result

(04:51):
is what happened to my mum end of quote. As
for hell Morton Hospital, well, like Elliott, Cameron's cousin is
also saying today, not everyone working there is to blame
for what happened. But here's the thing. You would think,
wouldn't you, that the people running the place would have
learned a thing or two from that tragic case. Another

(05:11):
tragic case three years ago when one of their patients
stabbed a woman to death when she was walking home
from work in broad daylight. I mean, maybe they have
doesn't look like it to me, but they need to
learn pretty quick that protecting people's safety has to come first,
even if it means breaching someone's privacy. And I think

(05:33):
it's I think it's outrageous that hill Morton thought it
was fine for a guy who repeatedly threatened to kill
people to come and go as he wanted. It's outrageous
that they didn't tell innocent people, innocent people like Faith Phelps,
that the Garden was living at Hilmorton and had been
in mental health care for most of his life. Oh no, God,
look after his privacy.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
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