Undisclosed review shocks lawyers in murder trial
An external review was conducted on treatment given to a mental health patient who, just days after being released from hospital, allegedly killed an Auckland pensioner, but the findings weren’t disclosed to a court hearing his murder trial — shocking the lawyers involved.
The Auckland District Health Board’s (ADHB) treatment and diagnoses of Gabriel Hikari Yad-Elohim — a man with a history of schizophrenia — in the days before the death of Michael David Mulholland has come under fire during Yad-Elohim’s High Court murder trial.
Dr Peter (William) McColl, the service clinical director at ADHB’s mental health unit Te Whetu Tawera, was questioned yesterday under cross-examination by defence lawyer Matthew Goodwin.
The doctor said an external review has already been completed on Yad-Elohim’s treatment — surprising Goodwin and others in the courtroom unaware of the report.
The review, McColl said, showed the medical notes kept on Yad-Elohim were “misleading” but added he did not think he or his staff “dropped the ball”.
Yad-Elohim, a 30-year-old Japanese man, was a patient at Te Whetu Tawera.
The Tokyo-born man was released from its care last September just three days before the body of Mulholland, 69, was found in the stairwell of flats at Western Springs.
The defence team, led by Annabel Cresswell, is seeking a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Earlier yesterday, McColl spoke of when Yad-Elohim went to Auckland City Hospital’s emergency room on September 17 before later being admitted to the mental health ward.
Medical notes show YadElohim was agitated and disorganised when first assessed by the on-call psychiatrist.
The notes also said YadElohim wished to kill Africans and Koreans.
Yad-Elohim’s condition, however, appeared to improve after he was given antipsychotic medication, according to the doctor, and by September 20, Yad-Elohim had stopped hearing voices.
However, before YadElohim’s release a doctor had noted he was “still” having hallucinations to kill people.
“I think she’s mistaken,” McColl told the court.
Goodwin said: “You’re trying to throw her under the bus because you’ve got a medical record indicating that only a few days before the killing that he’s still suffering from hallucinations to kill.”
McColl denied the accusation. “It was a good discharge, it was well thought through,” McColl said.