A cousin of an elderly woman killed by a mental health patient in Christchurch believes more could have been done to support the man in the community.
Elliot Cameron, 76, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for the murder of 83-year-old Frances Anne Phelps, known as Faye, on October 4, 2024. Cameron, who had lived at Hillmorton Hospital for years, had previously threatened to kill if required to leave.
RNZ reported that Phelps and others who had employed Cameron for gardening work in Mt Pleasant for nearly a decade were unaware of his status as a mental health patient.
Alan Cameron, Elliot’s cousin, said he believed his relative would have communicated his vulnerability to the staff at Hillmorton. While he emphasized the hospital staff’s care for Elliot and others, he criticized the authorities for not adequately responding to Elliot’s concerns about leaving the hospital.
“I don’t want to vilify Hillmorton entirely, but the authorities should be held accountable for what they could have reasonably done in response to Elliot’s concerns,” Alan Cameron said. “It’s about ensuring proper support for people being released into the community.”
Alan also felt more could have been done to involve the family in Elliot’s care. He expressed a willingness to support his cousin earlier but was kept out due to privacy concerns. He stressed that simply releasing patients into the community without adequate support is not enough.
“People should have been informed about Elliot’s mental health status so they could take precautions,” he said. “It would have helped others stay alert and potentially avoid harm.”
Meanwhile, Karen Phelps, Faye’s daughter, is still seeking answers about whether Elliot received adequate support and whether any gaps in this support contributed to her mother’s death. An independent review is currently underway.
Karen also highlighted concerns over the broader mental health system, citing a similar incident three years ago when another patient, Zakariye Mohamed Hussein, fatally stabbed Laisa Waka Tunidau during a community leave. She described the mental health system as “beyond broken” and expressed frustration over the slow process of reviews, which she said rarely lead to tangible change.
“We are left with processes that take years to complete, if they are completed at all,” Karen Phelps said. “The public is at risk because people in need of support are not getting the help they require.”
Karen believes Elliot should remain in a secure facility for life to ensure the safety of both the public and himself. “Public safety should always come first, and unfortunately, it wasn’t prioritized in this case,” she added.
Health New Zealand’s deputy chief executive, Te Waipounamu Martin Keogh, confirmed that an independent review into the incident is in progress.
Elliot Cameron was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum period of 10 years by Justice Rachel Dunningham in the Christchurch High Court on Tuesday.
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