Re Williams

[2005] QMHC 21

MENTAL HEALTH COURT

CITATION:

Re Williams [2005] QMHC 021

PARTIES:

REFERENCE BY THE DIRECTOR OF MENTAL HEALTH IN RESPECT OF LENA WILLIAMS

PROCEEDING NO:

0199 of 2004

DELIVERED ON:

3 August 2005

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

3 August 2005

JUDGE:

ASSISTING PSYCHIATRISTS:

Holmes J

Dr J F Wood
Dr D A Grant

FINDINGS AND ORDER:

At the time the offence was committed the defendant was suffering from unsoundness of mind as defined in schedule 2 of the Mental Health Act 2000 (Qld).1.   

The defendant is to be detained as a forensic patient at for involuntary treatment and car.Logan Beaudesert District Authorised Mental Health Service2.   

I order limited community treatment in the nature of more than overnight limited community treatment to commence immediately on the following conditions:3.   

That the patient reside at a stated address or at a place approved in advance in writing by the authorised psychiatrist;(a)        

That the patient attend all follow up appointments and in-patient care as required by the authorised psychiatrist;(b)       

That the patient complies with the requirements of the authorised psychiatrist in relation to the taking of prescribed medication and other treatment;(c)        

That the patient abstain from using alcohol and illicit drugs and cooperate fully in random medical tests for those substances as required by the authorised psychiatrist;(d)       

(e)        That the patient not drive a motor vehicle unless permitted to do so by the authorised psychiatrist.

CATCHWORDS:

MENTAL HEALTH – DECLARATION OR FINDING OF MENTAL ILLNESS OR INCAPACITY – where the defendant is charged with arson – where defendant suffered from paranoid schizophrenia – where defendant felt persecuted and suicidal – whether defendant of unsound mind at the time the alleged offence occurred pursuant to schedule 2, Mental Health Act 2000 (Qld) – whether defendant deprived of one or more of the capacities in s 27 of the Criminal Code

Criminal Code (Qld), s 27

Mental Health Act 2000 (Qld), schedule 2

COUNSEL:

Ms C Morgan for the defendant
Mr W Isdale for the Director of Mental Health

Ms M Byrne for the Director of Public Prosecutions

SOLICITORS:

Legal Aid Queensland for the defendant
The Crown Solicitor for the Director of Mental Health

The Director of Public Prosecutions

1. HOLMES J:  Ms Williams is charged with arson allegedly occurring on 7 January 2004.  On that date, it is said, she set fire to the unit she was living in and was subsequently found in nearby bushland setting another fire.

1. The police QP9 sheet describes Ms Williams as intoxicated and says she had wine and wine glasses with her.  In later accounts, she maintained that she had been drinking after, not before, setting the fire in the unit; there is nothing to suggest the contrary.  At the time, Ms Williams said she had wanted to kill herself.

1. In a record of interview with the police in April 2004, Ms Williams expressed a belief that she was to be forced out of her unit because it was to be sold and said she wanted to commit suicide because of problems with her neighbours. 

1. That explanation is illuminated when one looks at the hospital notes and a statement that Ms Williams made over a period of time.  It begins on 10 January 2004 and has been added to over a number of dates, ending on 2 March 2004. It sets out Ms William’s belief that the real estate agents who managed her rental of the unit hated her, that her neighbours were hinting at her eviction and that they were deliberately causing her stress by smoking and doing other acts such as leaving cigarette butts pointing in her direction.  There are a number of themes across that statement, but they turn around her belief that she was being bullied and persecuted.

1. Two psychiatrists have given reports and evidence in this matter.  They concur in the diagnosis of Ms Williams as schizophrenic.  Dr Nielsen, however, while accepting that Ms William’s schizophrenia and delusions caused her to set the fire, considered her, nonetheless, not to be deprived of any of the relevant capacities. He considered she still had the ability to know that what she was doing was wrong; she was able to reason.  While Ms Williams felt justified in taking revenge, on Dr Nielsen's evidence, she was able to appreciate the disproportion of her response.  Even if one assumed that the delusions were well founded, he said, she could still reason with a degree of composure.  His point was that there was no element of self defence in her actions; that she retained a moral structure which was not driven out by her illness, so that she could choose between alternatives, even acting on the basis of her delusions.

1. Dr Fama, on the other hand, considered that Ms Williams was deprived by paranoid schizophrenia of the capacity to know she ought not to do the act of burning the unit.  She was acting under a perception that this was the way to seek justice; to deal with persecution.  He supported a finding of unsoundness.

1. The question largely comes down to what Ms William's capacity to reason was at the time she set the fire in the unit.  The evidence points to her being suicidal, delusional and extremely distressed.  I do not think that the subsequent statement she made affords much assurance that she could consider matters rationally at that time.  There is nothing to suggest that she appreciated any of the alternatives that a person thinking with any degree of composure would have; for example, finding other accommodation or seeking legal advice.  Her thinking seems to have turned around suicide, either by burning or drowning herself.  Her behaviour immediately after setting the unit fire, of setting a grass fire, again seems to have been a continuation of irrationality. 

1. The hospital admission notes bear out a strong set of delusions held by Ms Williams, of conspiracy against her.  There is reference to a sensation of being in a war.  There might have been some moral structure operating, in the sense that she believed she was in a fight for justice, but it was not a moral structure based in any reality.  It seems to me to have been a further manifestation of delusions.  I think that the subsequent statement was correctly characterised by Dr Fama as being coherent, but not rational; and, again, it is pervaded by delusion.

1. The weight of the evidence, in my view, indicates that Ms Williams was, at the relevant time, deprived of the capacity to reason or to tell right from wrong in any real sense.  I am satisfied that she was suffering from unsoundness of mind at the time the offence of arson on 7 January 2004 was allegedly committed.

1. I am satisfied that a forensic order is required. I order that Ms Williams be detained in the Logan Beaudesert District Authorised Mental Health Service. I will order limited community treatment to commence immediately on the following conditions:

(a)        That the patient reside at a stated address or at a place approved in advance in writing by the authorised psychiatrist;

(b)        That the patient attend all follow up appointments and in-patient care as required by the authorised psychiatrist;

(c)        That the patient complies with the requirements of the authorised psychiatrist in relation to the taking of prescribed medication and other treatment;

(d)        That the patient abstain from using alcohol and illicit drugs and cooperate fully in random medical tests for those substances as required by the authorised psychiatrist;

(e)        That the patient not drive a motor vehicle unless permitted to do so by the authorised psychiatrist.