Updating our report of Oct. 16-17: “A man acquitted of murder because he was psychotic has won a $300,000 payout after suing a hospital for negligently releasing him into the community.” (Louise Milligan, The Australian, Aug. 20). Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams “found Hunter Area Health Service and a psychiatric registrar had breached their duty of care by failing to detain [Kevin Presland] in Newcastle’s James Fletcher psychiatric hospital.” After Presland’s release he brutally murdered his prospective sister-in-law, Kelley-Anne Laws. Justice Adams “noted that while it was generally unacceptable for someone to recover damages where they had committed a crime, in this case ‘he was insane at the time of the killing and innocent of any crime'”. The murder victim’s mother “was devastated at yesterday’s judgement. ‘Don’t give it to him,’ said Christine Laws. ‘Put it back into the mental health system to help people … It was his choice to take marijuana, his choice to drink — nobody else’s. No one made him do it, yet the system sees fit to pay him. I can’t understand the law.'” (Leonie Lamont and Miguel Holland, “Judge awards woman’s insane killer $300,000”, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 20).
Australia: “$300,000 payout for psychotic killer”
Updating our report of Oct. 16-17: “A man acquitted of murder because he was psychotic has won a $300,000 payout after suing a hospital for negligently releasing him into the community.” (Louise Milligan, The Australian, Aug. 20). Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams “found Hunter Area Health Service and a psychiatric registrar had breached their duty […]
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