Home Hill backpacker killer going back to France
A MENTALLY ill French man who fatally stabbed two fellow backpackers at a north Queensland hostel is set to be sent home, a court has heard.
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A MENTALLY ill French man who fatally stabbed two fellow backpackers at a north Queensland hostel is set to be sent home, a court has heard.
In the Mental Health Court in Brisbane this morning, Justice Jean Dalton said that Smail Ayad still lacked “proper insight or understanding into his mental illness”.
“And there is evidence that he has been dishonest to those treating him about taking his medication,” Justice Dalton said today.
Today’s hearing comes two months after Justice Dalton discontinued criminal proceedings against Ayad for the deaths of British backpackers Mia Ayliffe-Chung and Tom Jackson after finding he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack at Home Hill, south of Townsville in August 2016.
Ayad appeared in court today via video link from a high security unit within The Park mental health centre in Wacol, south of Brisbane, where he is detained.
He wore a Nike T-shirt and had grown a beard.
After hearing evidence from a senior immigration officer, Justice Dalton told the court that the Immigration Department was “at the beginning of a process of liaising with Queensland Health to look for a way in which Mr Ayad can be safely repatriated” to France.
The court heard that Ayad wishes to go home to France, and no date has been set for his repatriation.
“It seems to me that he will soon be detained by the Immigration Department and that while he remains in Australia he will either be in The Park high secure service — which is very much like a jail, it’s a secure area — or he will be in immigration detention,” Justice Dalton said.
Today’s hearing was to decide whether Justice Dalton should add a “non-revocation period” onto the forensic order she made in April.
The forensic order authorises Ayad to be held in The Park for treatment or care, the court heard.
Justice Dalton ruled that she would not add a non-revocation period to the forensic order.
Originally published as Home Hill backpacker killer going back to France
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