War hero drank sanitiser in Gold Coast aged care home, Coroner’s Court now looking for answers

WORLD war II hero Maxwell Murphy helped saved his country from invasion as the Japanese bombed Darwin in February 1942. Seventy-years later his family are searching for answers about why no one was able to save him.

Max Murphy, 88, an anti-aircraft gun ammunition runner during the Bombing of Darwin died after drinking surface sanitiser in Lions Haven for the Aged.

WORLD war II hero Maxwell Murphy helped saved his country from invasion as the Japanese bombed Darwin in February 1942.

Seventy-six years later his family want to know why no one was able to save him.

Mr Murphy — in the early stages of dementia — died on November 21, 2014 after he drank surface sanitiser from a bottle in his bathroom at Lions Haven for the Aged at Hope Island.

A pre-inquest hearing in the Coroner’s Court at Southport on Monday heard that caregivers took three hours to call triple 0 as the 88-year-old spat up blood, complained of a burning sensation in his mouth and could not breath.

Maxwell Murphy at the Adelaide War Memorial Cemetery in February 2014 — nine months before his death. Picture: Supplied

Mr Murphy died three days later while in intensive care at Gold Coast University Hospital.

The hearing was told an autopsy showed the inside of Mr Murphy’s oesophagus was burned and he had ammonia in both lungs. There was also damage to his upper large intestine.

Coroner James McDougall on Monday officially opened the inquiry into the war veteran’s death to help give Mr Murphy’s two children and five grandchildren answers.

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Counsel assisting the coroner Joanna Cull told the court a number of issues needed to be looked at, including:

• How much of the sanitiser, Bacban, Mr Murphy ingested;
• How the bottle of Bacban ended up in Mr Murphy’s bathroom;
• The information provided by the poison information lines in Queensland and NSW;
• The response from staff at Lions Haven; and
• The accuracy of the information provided by Bacban manufacturer Dominant Pty Ltd.

Ms Cull said it was not clear how much of the sanitiser Mr Murphy had swallowed. Lions Haven estimated 10-15ml while paramedics believed it was closer to 200ml.

She said CCTV showed a staff member leaving a bottle in his bathroom but that staff member claimed it was a different product she had been using.

Outside the court, Mr Murphy’s daughter Rhonnda Willems son Jeff Murphy and granddaughter Lisa Willems questioned why it had taken so long for answers.

“We need to make sure the same circumstances don’t happen again,” Rhonnda Willems said.

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Rhonnda Willems said her father had moved to Lions Haven in 2009 to be closer to his wife, Gwen, who was a resident there as suffered from severe dementia. She died in 2012.

Mrs Willems said her father was a family man who loved to dance with Gwen.

Max Murphy, 88, was an anti-aircraft gun ammunition runner during the Bombing of Darwin.

When 16, Mr Murphy lied about his age so he could join the Army and fight during the World War II. He was an anti-aircraft gun ammunition runner based in Berrimah, Darwin.

Nine months before his death he returned to the Northern Territory for the 72nd anniversary of the Darwin bombing.

“If you got in the road, you got bombed. That’s about it,” he told media during that visit.

Mr Murphy stayed in the Army for four years after enlisting in 1941.

Ms Willems said her father spent 30 years as a security guard for the Commonwealth Bank in Canberra before moving to Yamba for 18 years.

The Bulletin attempted to contact Lions Haven for the Aged but were told no one was available to comment.

The inquest hearing is expected to take three days, starting on December 3.