Court refuses to release psychiatrists’ report on killer Rhys Austin

Queensland’s Mental Health Court has refused to release reports from psychiatrists on killer Rhys Austin.

Sonia Anderson read her daughter’s last words in the book Killer Instinct: Having a Mind for Murder by Donald Grant.

Queensland’s Mental Health Court has refused to release reports from psychiatrists on killer Rhys Austin, saying they contain information that has not been tested.

Sonia Anderson, whose daughter Bianca Girven was killed by Austin, applied for the reports after being angered by psychiatrist Donald Grant’s book on killers he had assessed.

Ms Anderson says the ruling confirms her position that the book, Killer Instinct, contains information about the case that was not available to the families of victims or the public.

She last year told The Australianthe book had revealed a significant detail she was unaware of — her daughter’s purported last words.

“I did my best to get access to all psychiatric reports as a member of the community and also as the mother of one of the murder victims,” Ms Anderson said.

Sonia Anderson. Picture: Glenn Hunt

“It was refused, which proves the point, what I said to Donald Grant on the night of the book launch: The psychiatric report he was paid by Queensland Health to do for the Mental Health Court, was at no time ever allowed to be accessed by the public.”

Austin was found by the Mental Health Court to be insane when he killed Ms Girven, 22, his on-again off-again girlfriend, in 2010.

He initially claimed they were attacked while in a van at Brisbane’s Mt Gravatt lookout, but eventually said he had a “mission to kill” and had put Ms Girven in a stranglehold for 10 minutes. Dr Grant was one of the psychiatrists appointed by the court to assess Austin.

Ms Anderson said that when she confronted Dr Grant at a book launch about it containing information she was unaware of, he said psychiatric reports to the Mental Health Court were available to the public.

Dr Grant, former state director of forensic psychiatry, later said in a statement he believed families of victims should be given access to expert reports. He has said his lifework has been to increase understanding of why violence and murder happens.

Judge Jean Dalton, in a decision published on Tuesday, said the court received reports from numerous psychiatrists. Those psychiatrists gave oral evidence in public that could be published after appeal periods expired.

However the written reports were exhibits that by law could not be accessed by the public — or “used for any purpose” — without the leave of the court.

In declining to release the reports, Justice Dalton said she did not know if the reports contained accurate or truthful information as they were “divorced from cross-examination and clarification which would occur if the information was given orally in court”.

Forensic psychiatrist Donald Grant.

Dr Grant wrote in the book that it took a long interview to “break through the secrecy and communication barriers” with Austin.

“In our interview, I asked Rhys whether Bianca had said anything to him during the attack,” the book states.

“He paused for a long moment, looking distracted and distressed, before finally answering, though only at the behest of the voice in his head.

“He told me that Bianca had said, `I want to say goodbye to my son’, and that he’s replied, `No, he’ll know’, before tightening his grip for about ten minutes until she stopped moving.”

Justice Dalton said Austin had spoken about Ms Girven’s last words only to Dr Grant, and the claims might have been a product of his psychosis.

“There remains questions about whether, in fact, they were said by the deceased lady,” Justice Dalton said.

“That raises a difficulty about using parts of reports in circumstances other than the court hearing, because if it had been relevant to something in the court hearing, questions would have been asked about it and those questions would have been explored.”

Justice Dalton said she did not think Ms Anderson needed the reports to provide effective representations to the Mental Health Review Tribunal, which will make decisions on Austin’s return to the community.

The case “does lead me to wonder whether or not there could be mechanisms whereby the direct victims of crime dealt with in this court are given more information sooner”, Justice Dalton said.

“She certainly made me think about whether there are ways this court could address someone in her position better than we do. I have had other cases that have caused me to think the same thing.”

Ms Anderson said she had been continuously told there were things she couldn’t know about her daughter’s death and killer, or that she was legally barred from discussing the information she was given.

She renewed her calls for the book, published by MUP, to be removed from sale. MUP has been approached for comment.