A coroner probing the death of a Brisbane bus driver who was killed in a petrol bomb attack has found his attacker should not have been discharged from a mental health facility three months earlier.
Tomorrow marks seven years since 29-year-old Manmeet Alisher died, after he was attacked by one of his passengers.
Anthony Mark Edward O'Donohue boarded Mr Alisher's bus at Moorooka in Brisbane's south in October 2016, before lighting a backpack containing petrol and throwing it at him.
Mr Alisher, also known as Manmeet Sharma, was dead within seconds after being engulfed in flames.
He suffered burns to 84 per cent of his body.
A total of 14 other people, including three children were initially trapped on the bus by the blaze but escaped after forcing open the back and side doors.
Mr O'Donohue was charged with murder and 14 counts of arson and attempted murder but was deemed of unsound mind and unfit to stand trial for the murder in 2018.
He was ordered to be treated at a mental health facility for 10 years.
Suffering from 'homicidal ideations'
An inquest at the Coroners Court into the management of Mr O'Donohue's mental health by the public system was held in March last year.
The inquest heard Mr O'Donohue possessed homicidal ideations and suffered from a psychotic illness.
He was discharged from a mental health facility in August 2016, three months before he killed Mr Alisher.
In delivering his findings today, coroner Terry Ryan said, "I agree that the decision to discharge Mr O'Donohue from the mental health service, which took place over a 10 month period leading up to August 2016, was not satisfactory".
"However, that conclusion is reached with some hesitation knowing the benefit of hindsight.
"Mr Sharma's death might not have occurred if different decisions had been made at different times in the course of his treatment."
Mr Alisher's family believe that his death was caused by a series of "systemic failures" in the mental health system, and that Mr Alisher was "the unfortunate victim of those failures".
However, the coroner found, "it could not have been predicted that Mr O'Donohue could have gone on to kill someone, particularly in the manner that he killed Mr Sharma".
"Although he was a very unwell man, seemingly obsessed with revenge against his perceived persecutors, up until the point of his discharge from [the mental health facility] Mr O'Donahue was the beneficiary of a compassionate response to his mental health needs which was very effective in keeping him and the community safe for over six years," he said.
"I am not able to conclude with any certainty [that the way his mental health treatment was handled] established any direct causal link to the killing of Mr Sharma."
'Who is responsible for the murder?'
Mr Alisher's family spoke outside court saying they were disappointed by the findings, and believed justice had not been delivered.
"In 2016, when we landed in Brisbane, we asked one question; who was responsible?" family member, Winnerjit Singh said.
"Who is responsible for the murder of Manmeet Alisher? They said, 'O'Donohue'. If he was mentally sick, then why was he in the society?
"He was listed as low risk. Who is responsible for that? Who gave that decision to discharge him from the mental institute?
"We are again fighting for justice. It's delayed and it's been denied."
In his findings, the coroner acknowledged the work of the local and state government since Mr Alisher's death to provide de-escalation training to bus drivers, ensure emergency exits on public transport were highly visible and increase security in and around terminals.
It also included the installation of full and half protective barriers for bus drivers.
But the tram and bus union said only a few dozen full barriers had been installed and the half-barriers were "useless".
"The biggest mistake that happened in this whole seven years has been the implementation and the installation of the partial barriers in our buses," assistant state secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, Tom Brown, said.
"These partial barriers did nothing to stem the flow of assaults. They actually assisted the attacker in the fact that they've locked the bus driver into a vulnerable position."
Despite the half-barriers being installed in over 1,000 buses, the union said assaults on drivers were rising.
"725 [assaults] so far this year, so that surpasses the record already. That doesn't even include October figures," Mr Brown said.
"We do understand the screens are coming, but I mean it's a full seven years and the screens are just only being installed now."
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIzLTEwLTI3L3FsZC1jb3JvbmVyLWlucXVlc3QtYnJpc2JhbmUtYnVzLWRyaXZlci1kZWF0aC1tYW5tZWV0LXNoYXJtYS8xMDMwMzE0OTjSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAzMDMxNDk4?oc=5
2023-10-27 04:47:57Z
2567155984
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Queensland coroner examines mental health management of Anthony O'Donohue after Brisbane bus driver set alight - ABC News"
Post a Comment