Cy Walsh granted ‘rehabilitative leave’ into community from secure mental health facilities
CY Walsh, who killed his Adelaide Crows coach father Phil, has been granted tightly supervised leave from a secure mental health facility to assist with his rehabilitation.
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CY Walsh, who killed his Adelaide Crows coach father, has been granted tightly supervised leave from a secure mental health facility to assist with his rehabilitation.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court approved a bid by Walsh, who is being held in James Nash house, to go on escorted visits back into the community.
The leave will form part of his treatment, recovery and ongoing healing from the mental illness he was affected by when he fatally stabbed his father, Phil, in 2015.
The successful application is a standard part of the legal and medical process that follows a court finding a person not guilty of a crime due to mental illness or incompetence.
Walsh’s rehabilitative leave is in addition to the escorted medical leave he has already been granted for treatment of his relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Walsh, 29, repeatedly stabbed Phil inside the family home in 2015 while affected by undiagnosed, untreated schizophrenia.
Prior to the fatal confrontation, Cy Walsh had been a habitual user of hallucinogenic drugs.
He had also brawled with his father in the streets of Perth and spoken of wanting to “rip out” the older man’s heart.
Walsh has been held in the secure James Nash House mental health facility since 2016, when he was found not guilty, due to mental incompetence, of murdering his father.
Instead of a prison sentence, he received a limiting term – a period under mental health supervision equal to the jail time an unaffected person would serve.
Walsh’s limiting term is lifelong and, under state law, can be served either in detention of the community, depending on the opinion of doctors and the rulings of courts.
In 2017, his counsel asked he be granted limited, closely supervised release for treatment of his MS, which was granted in May this year.
His counsel have also sought “rehabilitation leave” for Walsh, saying his schizophrenia is stable and he has “had an excellent response” to antipsychotic medication.
On Wednesday, Walsh appeared in court via video link with James Nash House, wearing a white shirt, light blue striped tie and with short-cut hair.
He listened as his counsel, Trish Johnson, said three medical experts had agreed the time had come for Walsh to have leave.
“I understand the prosecution will not oppose that,” she said.
Lucy Boord, prosecuting, confirmed that was so.
“We are satisfied, on the reports, that any risk (to the community) can be adequately managed,” she said.
Justice Anne Bampton approved Walsh’s leave.