An inquest in Christchurch has heard that a growing number of patients at Hillmorton Hospital were being given community leave around the time one of them killed a woman in 2022, RNZ reports.
Laisa Waka Tunidau was stabbed to death outside her home in Sockburn in June 2022 by Zakariye Mohamed Hussein, who was on unescorted leave from the hospital's forensic mental health unit. He was later jailed for life.
As the second phase of the inquest opened before coroner Alexandra Cunninghame, a former senior nurse said a culture of making an effort to grant leave had developed, and that there were no clear rules on which records staff had to check before approving a request. More than 20 clinicians who treated Hussein are due to give evidence.
Source: RNZ