Hours before a young man plunged a knife into his father’s back, he told a mental health nurse he feared his life was in danger. He’d been released from hospital only 11 days earlier, after filming a woman with her child at Wellington Airport and accusing her of shaking babies. Now, he was convinced that the bangs from automatic bird scarers that resonated across his family’s lifestyle block were real gunshots and that people were after him. Despite having no history of violence, he also
armed himself with a couple of knives, one of which he used to stab his father later that day after he stood up to embrace him. As his father ran screaming from the room, with the knife still in his back, the son followed, threatening his mother with a second knife if she didn’t get off the phone to the ambulance. That same morning, his father had also been in touch with mental health services, telling them he was kicking his son out after they’d
argued. In the past, the father would have called the police, but since changes to mental health callouts, he says, police would politely refuse to come and instead refer him to mental health services. The young man’s father told NZME that the policy change had a massive impact on their family, and he’s convinced it contributed to events that fateful day. Now, he’s pleading for change so there is real help available for families struggling with a loved one in mental distress. Earlier, the young
man, whose name is suppressed, had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his father, on the grounds of insanity. At a recent High Court hearing to decide if the young man should be detained as a special patient, his father made a heartfelt plea to the judge. “I just want my kid to get better,” he told Justice Karen Grau. Speaking without notes, the father told the court of the difficulties getting help for his son, especially when he was acutely unwell. “There
used to be help; we would call the police, and they would come,” he said. In the 18 months before the changed police policy took effect, he estimated, police visited their home seven or eight times. Sometimes it was enough for them to show up and have a chat with their son. Other times they’d convince the son to get in the patrol car and drive him to the hospital. They didn’t have to use force. “Personally, I think a uniform is powerful. “When our
son was going through a crisis, when he’s not necessarily a danger to society or himself, but he’s just not himself – they were there to help. That was fantastic. “I felt like we had support; we could call someone.” But about six months before the stabbing, things changed. Whereas under the former system the police would turn up and be a calming presence, mental health services as first responders under the new system weren’t as responsive. The father estimates he called mental health services
twice before the stabbing, to be told that they couldn’t assemble a team at short notice and that he should make an appointment in the coming weeks. “They say we don’t have enough people to send a team … it can’t be just one person coming up because it could be dangerous.” Instead, they suggested he bring his son into the hospital. But when his son refused to get in the car, the father was told he couldn’t force him, because that was against the
law. Breathtakingly stupid, poorly conceived: lawyer The young man’s lawyer, Phil Mitchell, was more direct, describing the policy change as “breathtakingly stupid, poorly conceived” and adamant that it will result in a loss of life. Mitchell says it’s only luck that his client wasn’t charged with murder, simply because the knife didn’t sever an artery. As it was, the father’s wound required stitches, and he spent a night in hospital under observation. “It’s absolutely 100% inevitable that a number of people are going to be
killed by their family members or random members of the public are going to be killed.” Justice Grau expressed similar sentiments. “This is a very serious event that resulted in serious harm that could very easily have been fatal,” she said, adding that treatment in the community hadn’t been effective. “Unless and until [the young man] receives the help he needs, his risk to others will remain high,” she said. Meanwhile, the police insist there is no blanket direction preventing them from attending mental health
callouts. They will turn up where there is an immediate risk to life or safety, or where a crime has been committed. But for non-emergency requests for assistance, these calls are prioritised and, where appropriate, are referred to mental health services. The changes were introduced under the Mental Health Response Change Programme, which also aims to reduce the handover time of people detained by police at emergency departments and make changes to mental health assessments in custody. “Ultimately, the intent of these changes is to
achieve better outcomes for individuals, their families and the wider community, ensuring people receive the right care, at the right time, from the right service,” police said in a statement. But one mental health provider says the policy change has left gaps in the system. John Moore is the chief executive of Yellow Brick Road, a charity that provides support for whānau who have a loved one experiencing mental health challenges. “Where there is a gap, there is risk; it doesn’t take much to go
wrong for this sort of situation to arise, and while we are waiting for that gap to be plugged, I can see potentially other severe consequences.” I’m being monitored and targeted That morning, the young man told a nurse from the community mental health team, under whose care he was, that he feared his life was in danger. His diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder (formerly known as manic depression) caused mood swings that fluctuate between depression and elevated mood status and can be associated with
periods of psychosis. He’d asked the nurse if her phone was being monitored, and told her his internet was being monitored and his phone was being hacked. However, his father wasn’t aware of any of this until he heard it in court. He wants to know why, given his son’s comments to staff and his own text, more wasn’t done. “To me, it sounds like there were signals that my son needed help, but nothing happened.” He says he’d earlier been given assurances by the
doctor that “the minute there is a problem, we’ll be there”. “Well, it [the stabbing] was six hours later, and they weren’t there.” When the father was asked why he’d texted mental health services that morning, rather than call them, he said that given their past interactions they were unlikely to turn up at short notice anyway. And he didn’t call the police because although he and his wife were worried about their son, they didn’t feel there was an imminent threat. Once alerted after
the stabbing, the police arrived quickly to find the young man and his father struggling, his son still adamant that his life was in danger. At the hearing, Justice Grau made it clear that neither parent should blame themself for what happened. “It’s a bigger picture, and the illness is bigger than all of you could cope with,” she told them. In a statement, Police Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny says the mental health response change programme, which is being introduced in four phases, is focused
on improving how people experiencing mental distress are supported, ensuring they receive timely care from the most appropriate professionals. She says specialist mental health services are trained to assess, manage and de-escalate individuals experiencing mental distress, including those who present with challenging or unpredictable behaviour. . Meanwhile, Health NZ’s director of specialist mental health and addiction, Karla Bergquist, says if a person is in serious mental distress or crisis, they should contact their mental health crisis team. “Our crisis and treatment teams provide 24/7 access
for people experiencing acute mental health or addiction crises and are mobile in the community. “Crisis teams support those experiencing serious mental distress or crisis and their family and will help to develop a plan to ensure the person receives the appropriate care and support.” In addition, the Government has also announced plans to expand co-response teams, which see specialist mental health clinicians paired with frontline police to attend mental health-related callouts. The teams already exist in the Waitematā, Waikato, Taranaki, Wellington and Southern districts.
Last year’s Budget provided $10 million to fund 10 new co-response teams, the first four of which will be in Auckland, Counties-Manukau, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury, as well as to support the existing teams. Health NZ says the teams will help improve the experience for those experiencing mental distress, ensuring more people receive the right support from the right services at the right time. The teams may also connect people in distress with other agencies or support networks within the community who can help
provide wraparound support, such as housing support teams. Yellow Brick Road CEO Moore says it’s clear police will still respond where there’s a risk, or if an offence has been committed. But he says families have yet to report any increase in resourcing in relation to the co-response teams, adding that they would welcome them. Asked if families have reported any changes as part of the mental health change programme, Moore said he hadn’t seen any developments that suggest mental health services were picking up
the slack from police in non-urgent cases. “There hasn’t been a complementary initiative from health, so we’ve got police pulling out of certain mental health call-out response, and we don’t have any new service provision to meet the needs that they were previously meeting.” One of the practical barriers is getting a mentally unwell person to a hospital, so they can be seen by health professionals. As a result, he says, some families are reluctant, or unable, to take their loved ones to a hospital,
something police did in the past. “So we’ve got a mental health system response that’s inaccessible to them now, because the police aren’t helping them to get their acutely unwell person to see a professional.” As a result, he says, families who are already in a heightened state of fear and anxiety are having to wait for the situation to deteriorate before calling the police. ‘It’s insanity; the policy is insane’ Announcing plans to introduce new, higher thresholds for attending mental health callouts in August
2024, then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster cited the need to relieve demand pressures on police time. “Mental health demand accounted for 11% of all calls to the police emergency communication centre in the year to May 2024.” He explained the policy change would give the police more time to do the work that only police can, and which communities expect them to do. But Phil Mitchell, the young man’s lawyer, who spent nine years as a police officer, rejects that. “They’re being asked to come
and take someone who is either acting violently or about to act violently, and the police are the sole agency that is trained to deal with violent people and to talk people down and to use reasonable force if necessary.” Mental health staff don’t have Tasers or handcuffs and aren’t trained to restrain people with various wrist and arm locks. “The fundamental role of the police is to protect life and property. That’s what their job is, that’s what their essence is, and this policy
removes that obligation from them.” As for the drain on police resources, Mitchell says a car is driving around patrolling, waiting to be sent to a job. “They are there anyway; why not use the resources which are there, rather than say ‘ring the hospital’, which is often very difficult. They’ll just say, ‘We don’t have the staff, we don’t have a team, we can put a team together, but it will take four hours.’” Moore also says families reported they felt police were doing
a good job. “The fact that they didn’t come in as mental health experts and came in with a fair amount of humanity, whilst also having the ability to manage situations if they escalated, was quite positive”. Mitchell says the change has left a vacuum. “There is no other government agency that is trained to deal with people who are in a psychotic state, and so the absurdity of the situation is that police are now saying to families, and I know this, you call
us when a crime has been committed. “So once your deeply unwell son has committed a violent crime, then we will send someone, but we are not going to send someone until he’s done that. “It’s just – excuse the pun – it’s insanity; the policy is insane.” Insane at the time To find someone not criminally responsible by reason of insanity, a judge must make an order under the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003. A judge can then make someone a special
patient, a category of persons who warrant “extraordinary precautions” and require “optimal care and treatment”. It is a restrictive detention order with serious limitations and obligations, lasting indefinitely and remaining in force until the Minister of Health discharges or varies it. The Crown, represented by prosecutors Claire Hislop and Michaela Waite-Harvey, sought an order that the man who stabbed his father be made a special patient on the grounds of public safety. Neither Mitchell nor his client opposed it. At the hearing, two psychiatrists agreed
that the young man met the criteria for an insanity defence. The court heard the young man had a longstanding and complex psychiatric history, was in a psychotic state at the time of the offending and was incapable of knowing right from wrong. He also had a recurring pattern of not taking his medication after being released from mental health facilities. When he stopped taking his meds, he got unwell and was admitted to the hospital, where, once medicated, he’d improve to the point of
discharge, only to then have a swift relapse when he stopped taking his medication. It also emerged that during his latest stint in hospital, he’d minimised his symptoms to secure an early release. Justice Grau concluded that repeated admissions and mental health orders had failed to manage his illness or his risk to others. She also noted that when he deteriorated, these changes weren’t easily detected by clinicians or his family. In her ruling, Justice Grau said she was satisfied with the expert reports that
the young man was suffering a disease of the mind and had a relapse of his bipolar disorder at the time he stabbed his father. She said it was also clear from the experts that the young man was incapable of understanding that his actions were morally wrong that day, and his actions were driven by his delusional beliefs. “I find he was insane at the time he committed the offence.” She was in no doubt that a special patient order was necessary. ‘I want
my son to have a normal life’ Moore says he would love to see the police and health working together on a joint response, encompassing the skills and attributes that they bring to this kind of work. He’d like them to come up with a system that doesn’t have gaps and gets the right resources to families when they need them. Mitchell says there’s no logic to the policy, and it should be revoked immediately. “There’s no point in having ‘oh, once you’ve stabbed someone,
give us a call’.” They are sentiments that the father echoes. “We need to walk back on that decision; it was a mistake. The programme was really good; it was successful. “I want my son to have a normal life, to follow his dreams, like everybody else,” he said. – Catherine Hutton, Open Justice reporter
New Zealand, mental health response, police callouts, Mental Health Response Change Programme, co-response teams, bipolar affective disorder, insanity defence, special patient, High Court, Justice Karen Grau, Yellow Brick Road