Community should have been told Elliot Cameron was mental health patient, says cousin
Faye (Frances Anne) Phelps and her late husband Bill.
Photo:
Supplied
A cousin of an elderly mental health patient who
murdered a pensioner
at her Christchurch home believes more could have been done to ensure the man was supported in the community.
Elliot Cameron killed 83-year-old Frances Anne Phelps, known as Faye, in October 4 last year. He was sentenced to life in jail
He had made threats to kill over the last decade if required to leave Hillmorton Hospital, where he had been living for many years.
RNZ earlier revealed Phelps and other residents who had the 76-year-old do their gardens on Mt Pleasant for about a decade, did not know he was a mental health patient who had been living at Hillmorton Hospital.
Alan Cameron told RNZ he was "certain" his cousin would have expressed his "own vulnerability and risk of harm to the public" to staff at Hillmorton.
"I don't want to be seen to be part of a campaign to vilify Hillmorton as a whole - because there were people there who genuinely cared for Elliot and other residents.
"It's about holding the authorities to account for what they could reasonably have been expected to have done in response to Elliot's concerns… even given all the demands of managing this institution."
Photo:
Pool/ NZME / George Heard
Looking back, he believes more could've been done, in particular to make the family feel more encouraged to be involved and support Elliot.
"Just shoving people out into the community isn't good enough without ensuring that there are supports… I made it quite clear that I was prepared to be involved in supporting earlier. I feel if more could have been done it might well have made a difference.
"To protect his privacy they won't involve the family, but he wanted my involvement."
He acknowledges the difficulties around informing people that someone is a mental health patient, and the risk that Elliot might have lost his gardening work.
But, he said, people should have been informed so they could take precautions if necessary.
"You can't then put it all on him when something's happening to him that affects his mental state, given his institutionalization. He's quite vulnerable in many ways, even though he did as much as he could to keep himself informed and be independent.
"It would have also put others on alert to observe him and to keep a note. I'm not saying it's easy for the institution, but I just think that maybe it's a general societal thing as well, people's attitude towards those with mental disabilities."
Eight months on from her mother's death, Karen Phelps is still searching for answers.
She wants to know whether Elliot Cameron was getting adequate support and whether gaps in this support put the public at risk.
An independent review into what happened is under way.
She earlier told RNZ she was shocked when she was told by police that Cameron had been living at Hillmorton Hospital and that her family, and others who also employed him, were not told.
Three years ago, in June 2022, Hillmorton Hospital forensic mental health patient Zakariye Mohamed Hussein stabbed Laisa Waka Tunidau to death as she walked home from work.
Hussein was on community leave at the time of the killing. RNZ earlier revealed another case involving a man who was made a special patient under the Mental Health Act after his first killing was recently found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity for a second time, after killing someone he believed was possessed.
Karen Phelps says the mental health system is "beyond broken".
"All the DHB seems to be able to respond with time and time again in cases such as that of my mother is that there are specific processes to be followed and that reviews into what went wrong are being undertaken that take many years to complete if they ever eventuate at all."
She believes the public is at high risk.
"Our family never thought in a million years something like this would happen. The reality is it could be any member of the public next.
"There are unwell people in the community not getting the help and support they need all over the country. It's appalling and sad - for the person needing help, the people they harm as a result and the many people tragedies like this touch and traumatise for the rest of their lives."
She believes Elliot should remain in a secure facility for the rest of his life.
"Where he gets the help and support he wanted all along and for him to never be able to interact with the public again to keep both himself and the public safe.
"Public safety must come first and should always have come first. Sadly, it wasn't prioritsed by the DHB and the result is what happened to my mum."
Health New Zealand deputy chief executive Te Waipounamu Martin Keogh earlier told RNZ an independent review was underway.
Elliot Cameron was sentenced in the High Court at Christchurch on Tuesday by Justice Rachel Dunningham for life imprisonment, with a minimum period of 10 years.
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