Man who killed and stabbed mosque worshippers dies in psychiatric hospital

The man who stabbed four worshippers at a mosque in Melbourne’s north west, killing an elderly man, has died in a psychiatric hospital.

A man who went on a stabbing rampage inside a Melbourne mosque died in custody after he was placed in an isolation room at a maximum security psychiatric hospital, a coroner’s court has heard.

Erol Elmas stabbed to death a 68-year-old man, and seriously injured three others at the Turkish Islamic and Cultural Centre in Dallas on December 5, 2013.

Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher found Elmas not guilty of murder due to mental impairment, as the court heard he suffered from a schizoaffective disorder and drug-induced psychosis.

He was sentenced to 25 years of a custodial supervision order at Thomas Embling Hospital in 2016.

In a mandatory coronial inquest into his death on December 20, the court heard Elmas was found unresponsive on the evening of November 29 this year, as nursing staff who initially thought he was asleep noticed his breathing had slowed.

According to hospital reports, the 31-year-old Fairfield man’s mental state had deteriorated in the six weeks prior to his death, with increased aggressive, agitated and psychotic symptoms.

He was placed in a seclusion room one week prior to his death, as he was deemed as high risk for violence, and was prescribed additional medication.

The day before his death, staff reported Elmas had displayed increasingly erratic and aggressive behaviour and was administered a sedative medicine.

Nursing staff found Elmas unresponsive lying on a mattress in the seclusion room at 11.30pm.

Earlier that afternoon, staff had observed Elmas moving around his room and noted “loud and clear respirations (were) audible” at 11pm.

The medical cause of his death is yet to be determined.

A coronial brief will be delivered to the court on March 1.