Wayne Hunt’s death in custody inquest to investigate adequacy of medical care in prison

A disabled Territorian who was sentenced over the death of a boy while driving high may have suffered a seizure 48-hours after losing his freedom, the Territory coroner has heard.

Wayne Peter Hunt. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A Territory grandfather with a known history of seizures died in custody just days after losing his freedom, the coroner has heard.

On Thursday Elisabeth Armitage heard that Wayne Hunt passed away just 96-hours into a fresh nine-month sentence, following an appeal over a tragic driving incident.

The 55-year-old disabled man was high on cannabis and driving an unmodified ute when he accidentally pinned an 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo to the wall of a Palmerston supermarket in December 2022.

Daemarius Purcell-Appo, 11, was killed after being pinned to the wall of a Palmerston supermarket in December 2022. Picture: Supplied by family

The Supreme Court heard the drug-driver suffered from “harrowing forms of remorse and guilt” for the young Queensland boy, who was killed days before Christmas.

In February this year, Hunt pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death and was sentenced to three months in prison, followed by a nine month home detention order.

This sentence was found to be “manifestly inadequate” on appeal, and he was hit with an additional nine months in prison.

Two days after returning to prison, it is believed the Hunt suffered a seizure while in Darwin Correctional Centre.

Wayne Peter Hunt comes out of the Supreme Court trial after allegedly killing 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo with his ute in a car park. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Counsel assisting the coroner Chrissy McConnel said Hunt was taken to a medical wing of the prison on August 29.

The next day he was transported to the intensive care unit at the Royal Darwin Hospital.

After a day on life support, Hunt passed away on August 31.

Ms McConnell said his exact cause of death had not been established.

However, she told the coroner the standard of medical care offered in his “brief time” in prison would be a “matter of interest” in the inquest.

Ms Armitage heard investigators were still waiting on toxicology and autopsy reports, as well as statements from prison and hospital workers.

Hunt entered the prison with known health issues, with the sentencing and appeal judges noting he suffered from seizures and post-traumatic stress disorder after a motorcycle accident in 2008 which claimed one of his legs.

The Court of Appeal decision said while Hunt suffered a seizure during his previous stint in prison, “it has not been suggested that conditions in prison contributed to the occurrence”.

In her initial sentencing, Justice Meredith Huntingford said Hunt’s mental health conditions and disability would have made prison more “onerous” on him.