Wayne Hunt death in custody inquest told critical warning signs from post-seizure recovery missed for grandfather in solitary isolation
The partner of a beloved epileptic grandfather started to weep as CCTV of his naked, weakened body was played during his death in custody inquest. WARNING: Distressing
A man recovering from a violent epileptic seizure was stripped naked and left in solitary isolation overnight without proper oversight or medical checks.
On the third day of an inquest into the man’s death, coroner Elisabeth Armitage was shown distressing CCTV of Territory grandfather Wayne Hunt laying naked on the floor of a small ‘at risk cell’, too weak to control his own body.
The Victorian-born butcher had only been in custody for 72 hours when he suffered a violent fit while in Darwin Correctional Centre on August 29, 2024.
The prison nurse who responded to the ‘Code Blue’ emergency said Mr Hunt’s confused and aggressive demeanour indicated he was in a ‘postictal phase’ following his seizure, which could last up to two hours.
The medical worker — who cannot be identified —agreed the more Mr Hunt was restrained by the guards, the more he resisted in his ‘confused’ state.
The one-legged man was pinned to the ground, sedated, handcuffed and restrained to a wheelchair.
Despite no evidence of him intentionally spitting, Mr Hunt was bound in a spit hood.
The nurse said had she known her patient was put in the controversial bag-like restraint device “I would have told them to take it off straight away”.
She said it risked causing respiratory issues and prevented his breathing from being observed.
Rather than being taken for a medical assessment or to the medical housing unit, the 56-year-old was taken to the ‘at risk’ mental health observation unit, where he was stripped naked and left alone in a cell.
The coroner was told Mr Hunt was never assessed by the doctor on duty.
The senior Corrections officer who placed Mr Hunt ‘at risk’ said even with the benefit of hindsight, he still believed he made the right call.
He said he was concerned by the “red flags” shown by Mr Hunt in his “erratic”, “reckless” and “chaotic” reaction following his seizure.
The senior officer said at the time he did not believe it was a seizure, and instead repeated he believed Mr Hunt had “consumed something” and it was an adverse reaction to drugs.
But counsel assisting the coroner Mary Chalmers said even if that was the case, “that wouldn’t turn it into a non-medical issue”.
The experienced officer confirmed there was a practice of using the ‘at risk’ cells for people requiring medical observation.
“From my experience of prisoners going to medical, sometimes they’re sent back prematurely,” he said.
Ms Armitage also heard the official ‘at risk’ procedures were not followed by the very junior officer tasked with watching Mr Hunt and the five other people in the suicide watch cells.
The Corrections ‘at risk’ procedures states everyone should be under constant CCTV observation, with guards to physically “have eyes” on each prisoner every 15 minutes.
Yet the junior officer said in practice, guards would simply make notes based on the footage every 15 minutes.
The junior officer said he noticed at some point between the 15 minute checks, Mr Hunt fell off his bed, but was not “curious” enough to check in on him.
He said he was not told he suffered a seizure, but knew he was brought in following a ‘Code Blue’.
The junior officer also did not see Mr Hunt projectile vomiting while in the observation cell, which the nurse said was a critical warning sign for a post-seizure patient and should have triggered his hospitalisation.
Mr Hunt was left naked on the floor of the cell overnight, as the junior officer said it was not his job to dress prisoners in their ‘at risk’ uniforms.
CCTV showed Corrections officers and a nurse checking in on Mr Hunt two hours after his seizure, with the grandfather still on the floor of his cell, too weak to sit up, climb on the bed, drink water or take his medication without assistance.
A recent trainee officer told Mr Armitage he overheard a more senior officer asking: “Why has this man not gone to hospital?”.
Ms Armitage also questioned how it could have been considered safe to leave a patient in a cell when they were too weak to reach the duress button.
As CCTV of Mr Hunt in the at-risk cell was played, his long term partner Rhonda Phillips started to weep.
“I imagine if Wayne had been home, and you observed him in that state there would have been actions you would have taken, and you would expect others to have taken,” Ms Armitage told her.
The next morning Mr Hunt was found laying on his belly, his breathing heavy and garbled, and turning “purplish blue” at 7am.
He was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital, but was taken off life support three days later while surrounded by his loved ones.
The inquest continues on Thursday.
