John MacDonald: A closer look at our mental health hospitals is overdue

It was bad enough that a patient at Hillmorton Hospital who had threatened to kill was still allowed to come and go and ended up killing an innocent woman at her Christchurch home.   

The fact this person had killed someone else previously, before taking the life of Faye Phillips last year, makes the circumstances behind the tragedy worse.  

On both occasions he was a mental health patient, which is why Ruth Money —who is the Government’s Chief Victims Advisor— is saying that we must have a Royal Commission of Inquiry into our mental health hospital system.  

And I’m with her. I think it has to happen.   

Last week we were astounded to learn that Elliot Cameron had been allowed to leave Hillmorton as he pleased, because he was a voluntary patient.  

Apparently, it had been decided at some point that he didn’t have to stay, but because he didn’t want to leave, he wasn’t forced out and he’d made all sorts of comments about killing people if he was forced out.  

And from the reports I’ve read, it seems staff had been helping him clean up his room, which may have led him to believe that he was about to be moved on.  

But who knows. Whether that was his motivation for murdering Faye Phelps, we’ll probably never know.  

Either way, last week he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.  And today, we’re finding out that it wasn’t the first time he had killed someone.  

In 1975, he killed his brother. Shooting him while he slept at his parents' house.  

And when he committed that killing, he was a mental health patient. Just like he was a mental health patient when he murdered Faye Phelps.  

We haven’t known this until suppression orders relating to the 1975 case were lifted last night, which means we now have more context for this terrible, terrible situation.  

Last week, I couldn’t understand how anyone at Hillmorton could think that someone who had threatened to kill was fine to walk out the gate, get a bus to Mt Pleasant and do some gardening work for an innocent elderly woman.    

There is just no way that should have been allowed to happen.  

But the fact that he had already shown himself capable of killing someone makes that decision to let him come and go even worse.  

And if I was a member of Faye Phelps family —or if I was a friend of Faye Phelps— I would be absolutely livid, given these new revelations.  

What’s unclear to me, from the reports I’ve read, is how aware Hillmorton was that Elliot Cameron had killed his brother 50 years ago.  

I think it’s probably safe to assume that the hospital had some knowledge of it, given he’s been a mental health patient for 57 years. And that he was found not guilty of murdering his brother back in 1975 because he was deemed to be insane at the time.  

So it beggars belief.  

As Faye’s daughter Karen said last week: “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.” 

And that’s where the Government’s Chief Victims Advisor Ruth Money is coming from too. She’s saying: “Another patient who has warned of his intent and distress numerous times and yet he too has gone on to kill for a second time.  

"The public deserves an inquiry that can give actionable expert recommendations, as opposed to multiple coroners inquests and recommendations that do not have the same binding influence. The patients themselves, and the public will be best served by an independent inquiry, not another internal review that changes nothing."  

And I couldn’t agree more because this is not the first time public safety has been compromised.  

Three years ago, there was the case of the Christchurch woman walking home after getting the bus from work and being stabbed to death just a short distance from her home by a mental health patient at Hillmorton.  

No updates on where the internal investigation into that is going. I understand it’s “ongoing”, but that’s exactly why Ruth Money wants a top-level inquiry. She wants more than internal inquiries and toothless coroner’s inquiries.  

She thinks a Royal Commission of Inquiry into our mental health hospitals is way overdue. I think so too. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from newstalksb.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
As if it wasn't bad enough, As if it wasn't
bad enough that a patient at Hillmoorden Hospital who had
threatened to kill and was still allowed to come and
go and ended up killing an innocent woman at a
christ your time, As if that wasn't bad enough, we

(00:34):
can now report that the same person who had threatened
to kill and was still allowed to come and go,
had actually killed someone else before, and on both occasions
he was a mental health patient. Which is why Ruth Money,
who was the government's Chief Victim's Advisor, that's why she
said today that we must have a Royal Commission of

(00:56):
inquiry into our mental health hospital system. And I'm with her.
I mean it has to happen. I have no doubt
about that. But let me come back to that. So
last week, you remember, we were astounded to learn that
Alliot Cameron had been allowed to leave Hilmorton as he
pleased because he was a voluntary patient and apparently it

(01:20):
had been decided at some point that he didn't have
to stay, but because he didn't want to leave, he
wasn't forced out, and he made all sorts of comments
about killing people if he was forced out. And from
the reports I've read, it seems staff had been helping
him clean up his rumor, which may have led him
to believe that he was about to be moved on.

(01:41):
But who knows whether that was his motivation for murdering
Faith Phelps will probably never know either way. Last week
he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non
parole period of ten years. It was last week, and
today we're finding out that that wasn't the first time

(02:02):
he had killed someone. In nineteen seventy five, he killed
his brother Shirting and while he slept at his parents' house,
and when he committed that killing, he was a mental
health patient, just like he was a mental health patient
when he murdered Fay. And we haven't known this until

(02:26):
suppression orders relating to the nineteen seventy five case were
lifted last night, which means, well, it means one thing,
we have way more context for this terrible, terrible situation.
You know, last week I just couldn't understand how anyone
at Hilmorton, I'm talking about the people there, at the staff,

(02:46):
how anyone there could think that someone who would threatened
to kill was fine to walk out the gate, get
a bust to Mount Pleasant and do some gardening work
for an innocent, elderly woman. There was just no way
that should have been allowed to happen. And last week
we were saying we're with it. You know, at the
very least people at Faith should have known that he

(03:08):
was sleeping at hill Morton, he was a patient at
hill Morton, but she didn't, nor did any of the
others that he had engagements with. But the fact that
he had already shown himself capable of killing someone made
that decision to let him come and go, or makes
that decision to let him come and go even worse.

(03:30):
And if I was a member of Faith Phelps family,
or if I was a friend of Faith Phelps, I
would be absolutely livid giving these new revelations. I mean,
it won't bring her back, but I would be absolutely livid.
What's unclear to me from the reports I've been reading
is how aware Hill Morton was that Elliott Cameron had
killed his brother fifty years ago. I think it's probably

(03:52):
safe to assume. I think we can assume that the
hospital had some knowledge of it. Given he's been a
mental health patient for fifty seven years, and that he
was a mental health patient when he killed his brother,
and that he was found not guilty of murdering his
brother back in seventy five because he was deemed to
be insane at the time. Just beggar's belief. As Fay's

(04:16):
daughter Karen said last week, quote, public safety must come
first and should always have come first. Sadly it wasn't prioritized,
and the result is what happened to my mum. And
that's where the government's chief victim's adviser, Ruth Money is
coming from too, She sawn today. Quote another patient who
was warned of his intent and distress numerous times, and
yet he too has gone on to kill for a

(04:37):
second time. Ruth Money says the public deserves an inquiry
that can give actionable expert recommendations, as opposed to multiple
coroners in quests and recommendations that do not have the
same binding influence. Ruth Money says, the patients themselves and
the public will be best served by an independent inquiry,

(04:59):
not another internal review that changes nothing. End of quote.
And I could not agree more because this is the
first time is the public safety has been compromised. Three
years ago there was the case of the christ Church
woman walking home after getting the bus from work being
stabbed to death just a short distance from her home
by that chair who was also a mental health patient
at Hill Morton. Now updates on where that internal investigation

(05:21):
is going to see one. Ruth Money wants a top
level inquiry. I understand it's ongoing. That's why Ruth Money
says that's not good enough. We need a royal commission
of inquiry. She wants more than internal inquiry. She wants
more than coroners or toothless coroner's inquiries. And she says
a royal commission into our mental health hospitals is way overdue.

(05:45):
I think so too.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
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