Voula Delios inquest told killer spent time in units for violent or non-compliant prisoners before release

UPDATED: The man who stabbed a shopkeeper a day after being released from jail had spent much of the previous year in “management units” for violent or non-compliant prisoners.

Tasmania Police forensics officers at the scene of Voula Delios’s stabbing murder in 2016.

THE man who stabbed North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios received a 2½-month reduction in his jail sentence despite being rated as behaving poorly in a number of ways in jail, a coronial inquest has heard.

The state’s prisons director Ian Thomas on Tuesday gave evidence at the inquest in Hobart into Mrs Delios’s death.

Daryl Royston Wayne Cook stabbed Mrs Delios, 68, 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.

Mr Thomas joined the Tasmania Prison Service after Cook’s July 2016 release but has prepared documents for the inquest.

He said prisoners were given remission as an incentive for good behaviour while in jail.

The court heard Cook initially had three months’ worth of remissions available to him, but 14 days of that was taken away.

Counsel assisting the coroner Jane Ansell read from a report that stated Cook’s compliance with prison rules, his behaviour, his commitment to rehabilitation and reintegration, and his completion of courses while in jail between July 2015 and July 2016 were all rated as “poor”.

Ms Ansell said the prison dealt with Cook’s behavioural issues monthly, and sometimes weekly, during that time.

Mr Thomas said while he could not comment on how remissions were managed at that time, he said that now he would expect all behavioural issues to be taken into account when deciding remissions.

From examining the records, Mr Thomas said Cook spent most of his time in custody before Mrs Delios’s death — from May 20, 2015, to July 1, 2015, and from July 15, 2015, to July 22, 2016 — in “management units” which house particularly violent or non-compliant prisoners.

INQUEST: QUESTIONS OVER MAN’S RELEASE

Director of prisons Ian Thomas at the inquest into the death of Voula Delios.

The court heard Cook had assaulted others while in jail, threatened to assault others, including prison guards, and that his probation officer would not meet him while he was in jail because of threats Cook made.

Some examples of his behaviour, the court heard, included assaulting another inmate, assaulting staff members, threatening to stab a staff member, brandishing a sharpened ruler and telling guards they “must surrender and agree to my demands”.

The court heard Tasmania Police was told on July 20, 2016, of Cook’s impending release.

“It would be a small number [of prisoners] that would sit in this category such as Mr Cook [about whom] we would engage or notify police,” Mr Thomas said.

The court also heard Cook had served sentences of imprisonment in other states, but records from other states were not easily accessible.

Mr Thomas told the inquest it would be desirable for records to be shared directly across state borders.

He said a new program Justice Connect, which is being developed, would help Tasmanian justice agencies share information more easily.

The inquest, before Coroner Simon Cooper, continues.