Sudden end to inquiry

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 10

Sudden end to inquiry

PA Wellington Evidence by the Director of Mental Health, Sir Basil James, brought an inquiry in the High Court at Wellington, expected to last three days, to an abrupt end yesterday.

Sir Basil said a man detained at Lake Alice Hospital would be transferred to Tokanui Hospital as soon as possible. The inquiry, which concerned the man’s detention at the hospital, was adjourned sine die by Mr Justice Ellis. Publication of the man’s surname is suppressed. Earlier, Mr Michael Bungay, Q.C., applying under the Mental Health Act, said if the Court thought that in spite of the fact the applicant had a paranoid personality his state of mind did not require his detention or treatment as a mentally disordered person, the Court should order' his immediate discharge. Mr Bungay said that during a search for the perfect woman, the applicant had met Ms X. Ms X had made it clear to him he was not her ideal man and she did not intend to marry him. He did not accept this rejection and was persistent and possibly intimidating

to the extreme, he said. The man wound up in Lake Alice Hospital in 1984 after being jailed for two months for breach of periodic detention, said Mr Bungay.

He had remained in the maximum security unit for four years and three months.

Mr Bungay yesterday asked Sir Basil if it was intended the applicant would go to an open ward at Tokanui Hospital. Sir Basil said there had been some discussion between himself and the superintendent of Tokanui Hospital.

The superintendent would explore the possibility of a therapeutic programme for the applicant and would let him know within four weeks whether the proposition was possible. If so, the applicant would be transferred and would become a committed patient at Tokanui. Sir Basil was asked by Mr Justice Ellis whether if all went well the programme envisaged the applicant’s returning to the community on parole. Sir Basil said he hoped the situation would soon improve so that the applicant’s time in the community would be gradually extended.