Cy Walsh’s strict supervision relaxed five years on from tragic killing of Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh
Five years on from the tragic killing of Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh, his son Cy is making progress with his mental health recovery – and may be just months away from a significant milestone.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- “Impeccable”: Cy Walsh asks court to relax supervision conditions
- How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription
Cy Walsh – who killed his football coach father while affected by schizophrenia – could be out of strict, supervised mental health detention within six months, a court has heard.
On Monday, the Supreme Court signed off on Walsh beginning his transition from James Nash House – a secure mental health facility – to the low-security Ashton House.
Walsh may now walk between the facilities – which share the same grounds – unaccompanied as he acclimatises to greater freedom than he has experienced in the past five years.
He will be able to make full use of its facilities, including its vegetable garden, without close supervision and will eventually move into one of its 10 rooms.
However, any time Walsh spends outside the facilities will remain closely monitored and subject to personal supervision by mental health staff.
He will still be accompanied on doctor’s visits to treat his MS, and on excursions designed to reintegrate him with the community, such as solo or group visits to cafes, shops and gyms.
THE WALSH FAMILY TRAGEDY
Part One: The spiritual misfit who lost control
Part Two: A turbulent relationship between father and son
Part Three: The final 48 hours – and the spiral into psychosis
Walsh, 31, stabbed his father – Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh, 55 – at least 20 times in their family home while affected by undiagnosed, untreated schizophrenia.
A habitual user of hallucinogenic drugs, Walsh had an oft-turbulent relationship with his father and once spoke of wanting to “rip out” the older man’s heart.
In 2016, he was found not guilty of murder due to mental incompetence and ordered to spend the rest of his life under mental health supervision.
Under state law, that supervision can be conducted within a facility, in the community or a combination of both, depending on the needs of the person.
A year later, his counsel asked he receive limited, closely-supervised release in order to undergo treatment for MS – the court agreed in May 2018.
In March this year, the court heard Walsh had behaved “impeccably” in detention and was asked to consider further relaxing his supervision conditions.
On Monday, Walsh – wearing a while shirt and striped blue tie – appeared in court by video link with James Nash House.
Trish Johnson, for Walsh, said she and prosecutors had agreed on the terms and timing of her client’s gradual “step down” from James Nash House to Ashton House.
She asked the court reconvene in four months to assess his progress.
“We also ask the court order a report as to how things are going to either seek discharge (from James Nash House to Ashton House) or, if longer is needed, to delay it further,” she said.
Justice Anne Hampton agreed, and remanded Walsh under the terms of his new conditions until September.
