Donaldson case sparks inquiry

Press, 3 May 1983, Page 1

Donaldson case sparks inquiry

PA Wellington A commission of inquiry will look closely at the release of psychiatric patients into the community, said the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, yesterday. The inquiry was announced after the Cabinet considered the case of lan Donaldson, the man who was released from a psychiatric hospital and then found dead near Wellington last week after allegedly killing a man. Mr Donaldson was arrested by the police in April when he was caught trying to break into a Lower Hutt house at . night. A convicted child molester, he was barefoot and wearing just shorts and a long oilskin coat at the time.

He was released on bail, and the police said later they did not have a record of his psychiatric history.

Mr Muldoon said yesterday that both the police involvement and that of

psychiatric hospital authorities would be investigated by the commission. The psychiatric hospitals’ role would “certainly” be investigated.

“That is where- these people come from. That is where they are released into the community,” Mr Muldoon said.

“The police side is a single incident, maybe a coincidence or something like that. The long-term question is quite clearly on the psychiatric side.” Mr Donaldson’s case raised the question of whether psychiatric histories should be available to the police through the Wanganui computer. That and other questions would be included in the commission’s terms of reference, and he thought these might be ready to be put to the Government caucus as early as Thursday. Mr Donaldson had been a special patient in the security wing at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital for about

seven years. He was wanted for questioning by the police about the murder of Alan Henderson when he was found dead. At the time of the murder Mr Donaldson was on leave from Porirua Psychiatric Hospital where he had been a patient for about a year. His body was found by the police in his booby-trapped car. He had taken an overdose of pills. At an earlier press conference, Mr Muldoon had said that he had seen relevant files and “material that appears in the files disturbs us greatly in the context of his being at large and being in a position to commit further offences. “All of what is in front of the public suggests that there are certain questions to be answered. What is in the file goes well beyond that. There is no doubt in my mind that we have a situation which warrants a quite extensive inquiry into a number of different points and areas.”