Ruth Money: Chief Victims Advisor calls for 'urgent' action after mental health patient commits second killing

There's belief a man who killed a second time after being found insane after a killing more than two decades ago shouldn't have been released. 

RNZ has revealed the man was recently found not guilty of murder by way of insanity again - as he'd believed the victim was possessed. 

He'd been a special patient under the Mental Health Act, but was freed more than 10 years ago. 

The Government's Chief Victims Advisor, Ruth Money, say she'd like a Royal Commission inquiry of how people are assessed to ensure they won't reoffend. 

"People are going on to kill - and it is not good enough. It's too dangerous for the community and there needs to be a level of inquiry that has teeth."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Look, it's been revealed that a man who killed a

(00:01):
person more than twenty years ago, who was ruled insane
at the time, has gone on to kill again. So
after the first killing, the man was found not guilty
of murder by way of insanity. He was then detained
in a special secure unit, and then he was released
into the community about ten years ago, and since then
he stabbed a person to death. Ruth Money is the
chief Victims advisers to the government have Ruth Hi Ruth.

(00:22):
Was this a case of this guy having another breakdown
that no one could see coming? Or did everyone know
he was a risk and they should have been watching
him and they didn't And there's a system breakdown here?
Which of the two is it?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I believe there is a system breakdown and that is
why I am very involved in calling for reviews of
this and other mental health status changes.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
What is the system breakdown? What went wrong here?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well? Mental health forendsic. Mental health units are there to
protect the person who was the patient, but also the community. Essentially,
you will be sentenced either via the court and into
a corrections facility so a prison or a community service,
or you will be sentenced and sent off under the

(01:11):
Mental Health Act to live in a forensic unit. The
problem that I believe is that in those units we
are treating people and we are not looking with a
view of risk assessment and the risk assessment to themselves
and all the community.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
And so are you arguing that, Okay, so he didn't
get the right kind of treatment that you think should
have happened, or the right kind of assessment. But are
you saying then he shouldn't have been let out.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I am somewhere in this person's history and it will
all come out. I am sure this person's status has
changed to be able to be released back into the community. Now,
there are senior people, There are assessments that need to happen,
and there are senior people that sign off on that.
And this is not a one off event, which is

(02:04):
why I am involved and why I think there needs
to be a review, probably actually a Royal commission into
how are we assessing people in these forensic mental health
units to make sure that they are not released and
will reoffend.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
So reading the case, and to be fair, there is
not a lot of detail that is available publicly because
of all the suppression around it, and so there's a
lot of secrecy. But what is available suggests that he
was let out ten years ago and he's actually been
okay mentally and then there was a breakdown. So would
you say that even if he looks okay, he stays
in there.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
No, But what I would say is he needs to
stay or this person people in this environment need to
stay engaged with care and therapy and treatment. Just as
when you kill someone and you get a life sentence,
you may get out on parole, you're always recallable, and

(03:02):
so we need to be really clear here that while
the offenders in this environment go into a forensic mental
health unit, they then are treated and sent back into
the community, whereas if you go to prison with life
and of course victims that way, then you are always

(03:23):
recallable and you are always managed by the prole board.
What is happening in the mental health space is not
good enough. These people are going on to kill and
it is not good enough. It is too dangerous for
the community, and there needs to be a level of
inquiry that has teeth. We've got the issues in Hilmorton

(03:43):
and now we've got the issues here revealed with this
particular person. What else is happening.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Ruth, thanks very much for talking us throud to appreciate
it as Ruth Money, the government Chief Victims Advisor. For
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