Voula Delios inquest: Coroner looks into the death of North Hobart shopkeeper

Shopkeeper Voula Delios’s attacker was released from prison the day before she was killed, despite his violent behaviour in jail, a court has heard.

A police officer outside Mrs Delios’s North Hobart shop after Mrs Delios was stabbed. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

THE man who stabbed North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios was released from prison despite violent behaviour by him, and threatened by him, while he was in custody, a court has heard.

A coronial inquest into Ms Delios’s July 2016 death began in Hobart today and will examine the management of her attacker’s mental health while he was in jail, the circumstances of his release and whether he was released with any remission, his interactions with Community Corrections, and interactions between Risdon Prison and the Wilfred Lopes forensic mental health centre.

Counsel assisting the coroner Jane Ansell in her opening address told the court Daryl Royston Wayne Cook stabbed Ms Delios multiple times to the neck on July 23, 2016 — the day after he was released from prison — while Mrs Delios was working alone at her grocery shop.

A Supreme Court jury last year found Cook not guilty of murder on the ground he was insane at the time.

Ms Ansell said the inquest would look at “how Mr Cook came to be in North Hobart on the 23rd of July”.

“He was eligible for release [from prison] with full remissions on the 6th of July 2016,” she said.

But Ms Ansell said Cook’s release was delayed “for internal disciplinary reasons” until July 22.

Michael Delios with his mother Voula Delios in the A and B foodstore in North Hobart.

She said he was released then “despite violent behaviour by him during his time in prison” and threats he had made to prison and Community Corrections officers.

“Mr Cook made threats that he would stab a male probation officer before his release,” Ms Ansell said.

She said Community Corrections arranged for a probation meeting — to be held after Cook’s release — to be with a female officer and at the Hobart Magistrates Court building so that Cook would be subject to security screening.

“Police were not alerted to the threat or his failure to attend the meeting,” Ms Ansell said.

“The inquest will specifically examine the management of Daryl Cook’s mental health whilst he was serving the sentence of imprisonment.”

She said Cook’s previous prison sentences were for crimes of dishonesty and violence, including for stabbing a male associate in Bellerive.

Ms Ansell said the Delios family had owned the shop for many years and on the morning of her death, Mrs Delios was working in the shop alone, as was common practice.

The inquest, before Coroner Simon Cooper, continues.

Tasmania Prison Service director Ian Thomas and two prison chaplains are expected to give evidence tomorrow. (TUES)