Mentally ill killer to be sent home to France

A MENTALLY ill Frenchman who fatally stabbed a Surfers Paradise nightclub waitress is set to go home, where it is unclear what sort of supervision he will have.

In April the Mental Health Court discontinued criminal proceedings against French national Smail Ayad for the brutal killings of British backpackers Mia Ayliffe-Chung and Tom Jackson, at Home Hill, south of Townsville in August 2016.

The Mental Health Court found he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the knife attack.

Miss Ayliffe-Chung, 20, was a popular VIP waitress at Surfers Paradise nightclub Bedroom. She had just started a three-month farm work stint at Home Hill to extend her visa another year when she was killed.

Australian Border Force (ABF) officer Odette Rappell, the inspector of removal operations for Queensland, yesterday told the Mental Health Court in Brisbane that Australian authorities would have no “control” of Ayad once he returns home.

Inspector Rappell told the court Australia has no legal power to demand French authorities treat Ayad in a mental hospital.

Insp Rappell made the comments when she was asked by Simon Hamlyn-Harris, barrister for the state’s chief psychiatrist, whether ABF takes “into account” what mental health “arrangements” France had made before returning Ayad home.

“So legislatively we don’t, we only need fitness for travel, we can’t, we don’t have any influence or any legislative grounds,” Insp Rappell told the court.

She agreed with suggestions the ABF was “in discussions” with Queensland Health officials to repatriate Ayad “if the hospital considers he is ready”.

Justice Jean Dalton told the court Ayad had told authorities he “wants to go” home.

“One would hope he is unlikely to remain in this country for too much longer,” Justice Dalton said.

Justice Dalton said it was concerning Ayad still lacked “proper insight or understanding into his mental illness”.

Ayad’s barrister Sally Robb, told the court doctors seemed to think Ayad was “well”.

“He is not psychotic. He is taking an antipsychotic orally,” Ms Robb told the court.

Ms Robb told the court Ayad didn’t know he had schizophrenia until the day of the killings, and more recently he had lied to his treating psychologist that he had received medication for a couple of months.

The state health department yesterday said they were unable to comment about whether Ayad would be freed in France without supervision, citing “patient confidentiality”.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesman said “the Department does not comment on individual cases”.