More mental health patients allowed community leave at time of murder - inquest

An increasing number of patients at Christchurch's Hillmorton Hospital were given community leave around the time a woman was murdered by one in the street, an inquest has heard.

Laisa Waka Tunidau was stabbed to death by Zakariye Mohamed Hussein outside her Sockburn home in June 2022.

Hussein was jailed for life, with a 13-year non-parole period, in November that year, and had previously been jailed for more than six years for kidnapping, stabbing and intimidating people across Christchurch in March 2012.

At the time of Waka Tunidau's death, Hussein was allowed to leave Hillmorton Hospital on unescorted community leave.

An inquest into the death resumed in Christchurch on Monday in front of coroner Alexandra Cunninghame.

More than 20 doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and nurses who were part of Hussein's care were due to give evidence during the inquest.

A former senior nurse, who worked within Hillmorton's forensic mental health unit during Hussein's stay, gave evidence during the opening day of the inquest's second phase.

The nurse, whose identity was suppressed, was asked about community leave procedures at Hillmorton, after another witness previously said during the inquest's first phase that abandoning leaves would ease pressure on staff.

"Something I noticed being different to when I was [at Hillmorton during earlier years] was that the number of people that had leaves and the number of leaves we had to accommodate had increased in the years that I returned there in recent years," they said.

They later explained to lawyer for registered nurses Rebecca Scott that a "culture of making an effort to give people leave" had increased.

The court heard that community leave was largely determined by adequate staffing levels, which had improved by 2022.

They were also asked about regular multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings, where different healthcare specialists came together to review a patient's care and progress.

The inquest previously heard that case managers didn't always attend these meetings, including those on Hussein's file.

Lawyer Kiri Rademacher asked the witness whether this was still the case or whether there had been changes.

The nurse said it was "tricky" with shift work to ensure case managers could attend every meeting.

Counsel assisting the coroner Lucy Kenner also asked about how information was reviewed, when a patient had requested community leave.

The nurse said clear guidelines around what documents and notes were reviewed when considering a community leave request weren't stipulated.

Health NZ forensic mental health nursing director Patsy Tarrant began her evidence on Monday afternoon.

The first phase of the inquest heard that police emailed Hillmorton Hospital staff in February 2022 to say they intended to arrest and charge Hussein, and sought assistance to ensure it was not too disruptive.

The coroner heard the process took some time, partly because police were under the impression that Hussein was in a secure unit and would not be released into the community.

The inquest resumes on Tuesday.