Mother Fears for Her Life

By HAYMAN, Kamala

A Christchurch mother-of-four fears for her life after her violent estranged husband was discharged from Hillmorton Hospital yesterday.

She said her husband of seven years, who cannot be named, did not regularly take medication to control his bipolar disorder, and after drinking he flew into violent rages.

She had called the hospital to beg it not to discharge the father of her young children but was told it was none of her business.

“But the first thing he’ll want to do is see the children and I’m scared if I say `no’ he’ll lose the plot,” she said.

The 32-year-old was like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, she said. “He flies into a rage and you don’t really see it coming. He’s a time bomb waiting to go off.”

He had attacked her and others eight times, most recently putting his stepfather into hospital. “The scary thing is, he has no remorse. He doesn’t see what he’s done is wrong in any way.”

She believed he could not cope in the community.

“We’ve tried to tell them. If he kills somebody, they have to live with themselves,” she said.

“I just hope it’s not me, because I’ve got four beautiful children who need their mum.”

Last year, her husband was sentenced to nine months jail for assaulting his flatmate, and on his release moved in with his mother and stepfather.

Last month, after a night of drinking, he pushed his stepfather to the ground, sat astride him and pummelled him before his mother flung herself between them.

The 62-year-old stepfather, who suffered from advanced prostate cancer, spent six days in hospital with broken bones and severe bruising and swelling. “I have never been as scared as that night,” he said. “Had my wife not draped across my face, I would be dead.”

He said his stepson could be “a bloody nice guy” but did not take his medication, and after drinking “just explodes”.

“It’s not just anger, it’s absolute rage. The weird thing is, when he’s finished he goes away and does a big primal scream. It’s bloody scary.”

The couple were now living behind locked doors “in a state of siege” fearing their son would return. “The thing I’m worried about is this is going to wind up like another Queenstown.”

In 2001, Mark Burton drove to Queenstown and fatally stabbed his mother soon after being discharged from Southland Hospital’s mental health unit in Invercargill.

Canterbury District Health Board mental health services general manager Vince Barry said a thorough risk assessment was part of any discharge planning.

While those living in the community could not be forced to take their medication, “if appropriate” the mental health service could do regular blood tests and discuss progress with the patient’s family.

“We have the ability to refer the person back for further assessment if we or the family-caregivers have any cause for concern. Our aim is always to ensure that the person is maintaining medical compliance.”

Barry said violence by someone with a mental illness may not be due to that illness and was more commonly related to that person’s character, combined with alcohol or drug use — “factors over which mental health services have much less influence”.

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