NZ News
Daughter of woman murdered by mental health patient backs calls for independent inquiry
The decision to call a non-emergency line to notify police about a mental health patient’s admission that he had attacked a woman with an axe is forming part of a review into the double-killer’s care.
It comes as the daughter of Faye Phelps backs calls for an independent inquiry into the mental health system.
The 83-year-old was murdered by elderly mental health patient Elliot Cameron in October last year.
A suppression order was lifted on Monday, allowing RNZ to report Cameron killed his brother Jeffrey Cameron in 1975. A jury found him not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and detained as a special patient.
At sentencing it was revealed that Cameron separately told two nurses at Hillmorton Hospital about 4pm on the day he killed Phelps that he had assaulted a woman on the corner of Mt Pleasant Road and Belleview Avenue with an axe and to call police.
Hillmorton Hospital in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Logan Church
The nurses reported his comments to police communications at 4.36pm, but this was not taken further as a result of a number of factors.
On Tuesday police confirmed the initial call to police came via the non-emergency 105 number. The address was the corner of Mount Pleasant Rd and Bellview Avenue. This was incorrect as the actual address was Belleview Terrace.
Police said given the limited information available at the time the job was not coded as serious or a grievous assault, resulting in a unit not immediately being dispatched.
At 10:43pm, another Hillmorton staffer called police and left a message to say Cameron had since told them he made up the claim of assaulting someone.
Police acknowledged the job should have been coded a serious or grievous assault, however they believed it would not have changed the outcome of the “terrible tragedy”.
A review of the case had resulted in the introduction of training for Emergency Communicator and Dispatch staff to assist with the decision-making process when coding events as they occur.
Faye Phelps Photo: Supplied
Karen Phelps told RNZ she was astounded by the hospital’s response, given Cameron’s “constant threats” he would kill someone.
“I find that unbelievable. To me that is a high-alert situation that should have been taken much, much more seriously. What if Mum had been alive still and could have been saved? That wasn’t the case as it turns out but the DHB didn’t know that,” she said.
“At the very least in Mum’s case it could have prevented a member of the public who knew her discovering her body and carrying that trauma for the rest of their lives. Why did the DHB not question Elliot more that day as to where he had been and ask him for an address and contact details so they could check Mum was okay? The DHB’s processes are beyond appalling.”
In relation to the wrong street address supplied, Phelps said if someone had used Google Maps and looked at Mt Pleasant Rd she believes they would have found Belleview Terrace.
A Health New Zealand spokesperson told RNZ they were unable to comment specifically on the case.
“However, as general comment there are various circumstances in which we would contact police. How we do this is based on the information available to staff at the time.
“We can confirm however, that the response following notification is part of the review.”
A spokesperson for Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said it would be his expectation that the review would cover all aspects, including the call to police.
A coroner’s court spokesperson has also confirmed an inquiry has been opened into Phelps’ death.
Second case
Ruth Money Photo: RNZ / Niva Chittock
RNZ earlier revealed another case involving a man who has twice been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity for two separate killings.
After that article, chief victims advisor Ruth Money called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into forensic mental health facilities.
On Monday evening, Money said she stood by her recommendation.
“Now four weeks on, we learn of 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.”
Phelps backed Money’s calls for an independent inquiry.
“The experience of our family certainly indicates that there are obvious and big problems and nothing is changing and internal reviews seem to never be completed and results released to the public. There is a distinct lack of accountability.
“I would like to see faults identified and real change made. It’s the only good thing that can now come out of my mother’s death and I can’t stand by and not try to do anything when I know the public and mental health patients are at risk and we are just waiting for the next unfortunate death to occur.”
Source: RNZ
Latest News
Opportunities to mitigate multi-million-dollar RNZ budget blowout likely missed – experts
Multiple opportunities to identify and mitigate a multi-million-dollar budget blowout at RNZ appear have been missed, according to the former executive director at Audit New Zealand.
The public broadcaster on Monday revealed a near $12 million shock financial loss after a litany of financial blunders, which will now lead to sweeping job cuts.
The $11.8m loss is more than 25 times the $470,000 RNZ had expected to lose over the year to June.
CEO Paul Thompson took responsibility for the result, and said internal reports gave an inaccurate picture of the finances, meaning the scale of the loss only became clear in October.
RNZ’s former chief financial officer Hilary Parker resigned unexpectedly in early October.
The board said it would commission an independent review into what went wrong.
Independent contractor Stephen Walker, who left the Audit Office earlier this year, said the size of the loss was surprising, as was the length of time it took to identify it – months after the financial year ended.
Supplied / OAG
“Probably more of a concern is that they had seemingly been unaware that they were running up a significant deficit until they were in the preparation stage of their annual report in October.”
Walker said public entities typically produced monthly financial reports.
An interim audit also took place before the end of the financial year, he said, but if the organisation hadn’t identified significant losses at that stage, the auditor could also be in the dark.
“It seems that there’s a real weakness in forecasting and budgeting that’s occurred here and that the monthly accounts, when they’re produced, either haven’t identified these significant variances against budget or the magnitude of them really hasn’t come to light until right towards the end of the financial year,” Walker said.
“And really at that point, there’s no opportunity for the chief executive, the leadership team to take, and the board to take, any corrective action because the year has effectively been completed.”
Walker said the “significant miss” was difficult to account for given it was more than 10 percent of RNZ’s total funding.
He said based on RNZ’s annual report, financial complexity didn’t appear to be a factor.
“This $11.8m loss isn’t made up of one particular item … it seems to have been contributed to by a number of separate expense lines running over budget. So I don’t think it’s necessarily to do with complexity.”
Among the errors, RNZ wrongly counted $2m from land sales as income in its budget. Staff costs also came in $3.2m over budget, including $1.4m in redundancy payments.
Professor at Auckland University’s business school Norman Wong said based on media reports the issues identified were “significant and troubling”.
Supplied / University of Auckland
“But recognising the sale of land as income in their budget is a basic error that one would have expected to have been caught and corrected well before it got to this point.”
With funding reductions at RNZ over the past two years, Walker expected greater scrutiny of financial results.
“Virtually every public entity has had their annual budget reduced. And so you would expect … the leadership team on a monthly basis and board – I’m not sure how frequently the board will consider the information – but you would expect them to be interrogating the results on a regular basis throughout the year,” he said.
Walker said initiating an independent review was the correct course of action and that he’d want to understand what information the leadership team and the board were regularly receiving.
He said he’d “love to say” surprising financial results were rare, but conceded they occured on a semi-frequent basis during his time leading the Audit Office.
“The benefit of independent scrutiny by the Audit Office – and the auditors providing that support to the Auditor General – [is] that the reporting is fairly presented at the end of the year, whether it’s good, bad or ugly.”
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