Hijacker gets a day on town
A PARANOID schizophrenic man who tried to hijack a Qantas jet has walked from the Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital on day leave without minders, according to an insider.
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A PARANOID schizophrenic man who tried to hijack a Qantas jet has walked from the Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital on day leave without minders, according to an insider.
Sources said David Mark Robinson walked from the secure hospital about 1pm yesterday with no visible staff to monitor him.
Executive director of the Department of Human Services' mental health and drug division, Dr Ruth Vine, last night did not deny Mr Robinson was absent. She would only confirm he was a patient, saying she could not talk about specific cases.
The Thomas Embling source told the Herald Sun: "He walked out on day leave with no escorts. It's crazy."
The State Government also declined to comment.
Dr Vine said many patients had access to a day-leave program. "As part of (the Crimes Mental Impairment Act) it is expected some patients at stages during treatment will access a leave program. That program is carried out under very strict supervision and criteria.
"It is closely monitored."
Mr Robinson, 43, is serving an indefinite sentence at the hospital after being found not guilty of attempted hijacking, attempted murder and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm on the ground of mental impairment, relating to an unsuccessful attempt to hijack Qantas flight 1737 from Melbourne to Launceston in May 2003.
He was armed with sharpened wooden stakes, a cigarette lighter and aerosol cans to use as flame-throwers, and said to be suffering "grandiose religious delusions".
A cabin manager and flight attendant thwarted his attempt to kill all 56 passengers.
A court heard it was Mr Robinson's second attempt to hijack a plane, after a locked cockpit door prevented him trying to take control of a Hobart-to-Melbourne flight four months earlier.
The hospital and adjoining Statewide Forensic Services centre was recently branded by a whistleblower as one of the worst centres of its kind in the state for security.