Psychiatrist exits public health system after Hillmorton Hospital patient murders woman

A psychiatrist has told the family of a woman murdered by a patient at Christchurch's Hillmorton Hospital that her death has changed their life forever.Laisa Waka Tunidau was stabbed to death by Zakariye Mohamed Hussein outside her Sockburn home in June 2022.Hussein was jailed for life, with a 13-year non-parole period, in November that year, and had previously been jailed for more than six years for kidnapping, stabbing and intimidating people across Christchurch in March 2012.At the time of Waka Tunidau's death, Hussein was allowed to leave Hillmorton Hospital on unescorted community leave.Laisa Waka TunidauRNZ / Nate McKinnonThe second phase of an inquest into the death resumed in Christchurch on Tuesday in front of coroner Alexandra Cunninghame.More than 20 doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and nurses who were part of Hussein's care were due to give evidence during the inquest.A clinician who treated Hussein between 2015-2022 began their evidence on Tuesday afternoon.Their identity was suppressed.Before beginning their testimony, the clinician addressed Waka Tunidau's family seated in the public gallery, saying how deeply sorry they were for what happened."What happened on 25 June has changed my life, and not a day goes by when I don't think about Ms Waka and her family."I have children myself and I just notice in the moments that we share, I'm constantly just thinking about what happened to Ms Waka, but what's happened to her family in the moments with her that you guys should still be sharing."I'm so conscious that, through that time, I've been able to return to the everyday moments of my life with my family, whereas you've had to live with the absence of someone who you should still be sharing those moments with."The court heard how Waka Tunidau's death, coupled with broader sector concerns, had prompted the psychiatrist to depart the public health system altogether."Ms Waka's death had a profound effect on me and changed the direction of my career."Alongside the concerns I had about the service during that period, it was a very significant part of why I felt I couldn't continue working within clinical medicine essentially, but at Health New Zealand and for the local forensic service."The clinican raised concerns in a letter to the director of mental health in January 2022, where instances of two acutely unwell patients being returned to prison, alongside "incidents" following efforts to move patients to less secure units, were outlined.Stephanie Grieve Counsel assisting coronerRNZ / Nate McKinnonThere were also wider difficulties with staffing facilities, and pathways between forensic and general adult mental health services, the witness said."We were trying to meet increasingly complex needs with limited resources, while staff were working under considerable strain."I was concerned about the care we could provide and about the sustainability of what we were asking of staff."I stepped down from the leadership roles in that context."Counsel assisting the coroner Stephanie Grieve KC asked the clinician about the decision-making process around permitting Hussein for unescorted leave within Hillmorton's grounds in early 2022.They said it was decided that Hussein would shift towards a rehabilitation-based pathway."I know that's perhaps going to be something that's going to be challenged, the very idea that he was someone who was deemed for rehabilitation... to not be locked up indefinitely in a ward."To my mind, you know, we reflected on five months successfully living in the community, three years prior to that of no violence, and saw capacity in him to try and move his life forward."The clinician will resume their evidence on Wednesday.