NSW’s most dangerous freed men need to receive equal treatment

The probable release of a sexual sadist held in the high-risk forensic hospital facility attached to Long Bay Prison has again focused attention on difficulties NSW authorities encounter in monitoring the state’s most dangerous.

According to the Herald’s Perry Duffin, the man has a history of serial rapes and violence dating back to the 1980s, including attacking a woman in front of her children while on unsupervised leave from the hospital. In more recent times he was discovered watching gory footage and making concerning remarks about rape.

The State of NSW last year said the man posed “an unacceptable risk” if released by the Mental Health Review Tribunal and asked the NSW Supreme Court to make him the first forensic patient to be placed on an Extended Supervision Order, a specialised court order which enables authorities to force released individuals to wear an ankle monitor.

Credit: Nick Moir

The Forensic Hospital’s clinical director, Christina Matthews, told the court the Mental Health Act’s powers were “not fit for purpose” when it came to the sadist.

Medical privacy laws prevent reporting the man’s name but forensic patients are people who the courts have found so psychologically unwell they cannot face either trial or punishment in the criminal justice system. They represent just a few of the mentally unwell people in care and can remain indefinitely detained, until the tribunal decides they begin undertaking day or overnight leave before fully reintegrating into the community.

The man’s return to the community required convoluted legal footwork by authorities as he is regarded as a patient rather than a criminal and the existing ESO system relates only to people convicted of violent crimes who show no intention of leaving aberrant behaviour behind when released.

In an unrelated move, last week the government introduced “immediate” changes to the Mental Health Act after families of murder victims learned the killers had been quietly released on leave by the tribunal. The reforms included a ban on patients using social media while on leave and a requirement for magistrates and judges to sign off on unescorted leave.

But the government and opposition stopped short of supporting a third proposal, put up by Orange’s independent MP Phil Donato, for ankle monitors on the most dangerous and psychologically unwell patients who have committed horrible crimes. Donato’s proposal followed a girlfriend killer granted escorted leave from Bloomfield Hospital, a forensic facility in Orange, who was discovered using dating apps.

Clearly, there is one rule for violent criminals and nothing for forensic patients. But the government suggests it does not have the resources to extend effective supervision of high-risk domestic violence and violent offenders after their release from hospital.

The arrest last month of the North Shore Rapist, Graham James Kay, drew attention to the porous and ineffective controls for released violent criminals. The public is unlikely to differentiate between violent and sick men. Kay’s arrest and the sexual sadist’s mooted release demands a holistic fix to both assuage public fears and maintain public safety.

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