Jail mental-health probe

Coroner looking into murder of North Hobart shopkeeper

THE Coroner investigating the death of North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios will visit the secure mental-health facility where mentally ill prisoners are treated.

The inquest into Mrs Delios’s 2016 death starts on August 19.

In the Hobart Coroners Court yesterday, counsel assisting the coroner Jane Ansell said Coroner Simon Cooper would hear opening addresses then be taken on a tour of the Wilfred Lopes forensic mental health centre on day one of the inquest.

Ms Ansell said Tasmanian Prison Service head Ian Thomas and prison chaplains Luke Campton and Jared Khu would be among the witnesses to give evidence at the inquest on August 20, and Tasmanian forensic mental health service head Dr Leila Kavanagh and a representative from Community Corrections would give evidence on August 21.

“You will also hear from Mrs Delios’s family,” Ms Ansell said.

In September last year, a now 37-year-old man was found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering Mrs Delios, 68, in her North Hobart grocery shop on July 23, 2016.

The man, who later told police he was waging a war against “heathens”, stabbed Mrs Delios 22 times.

The Supreme Court heard the man, a diagnosed schizophrenic who was psychotic before and at the time of the killing, was released from prison the day before he killed Mrs Delios. Justice Gregory Geason sentenced the man to indefinite detention in a secure mental health unit.

The inquest into Mrs Delios’s death will examine the processes and procedures relating to prisoner mental health care and assessments, and prisoner release. It will also identify options for ensuring that prisoner mental health care assessments and related processes are appropriate.

Ms Ansell previously told the court she did not propose to call anyone who was in North Hobart the day Mrs Delios was killed.

It is understood the man who killed Mrs Delios will not be called to give evidence.

Mr Cooper adjourned the inquest to August 19.

Mrs Delios’s shop, the North Hobart Grocer, closed after her death. The store opened as a boutique wine shop, Blackhearts and Sparrows, in March.

A temporary plaque was installed in memory of Mrs Delios, but there are plans for a more substantial memorial.