Source: Radio New Zealand
From left, Nemani Tunidau, Eparama Tunidau and Laisa Waka Tunidau Supplied
An inquest into the death of a Christchurch woman – who was killed by a forensic mental health patient while walking home from work – will be held in August.
Laisa Waka Tunidau, a mother of four, was fatally stabbed in June 2022 by Zakariye Mohamed Hussein, a patient at secure mental health facility Hillmorton Hospital.
Hussein was on community leave at the time of the killing outside Tunidau’s home in Sockburn, which happened while her then 11-year-old son looked on.
He was jailed for life with a non-parole period of 13 years.
Hussein had previously served more than six years in prison for kidnapping, stabbing and intimidating multiple people across Christchurch in March 2012.
Earlier, Tunidau’s husband Nemani Tunidau told RNZ he wanted compensation for what he saw as carelessness by health agencies in the leadup to his wife’s death.
The killing prompted an inquiry into Canterbury’s Mental Health Service.
But last year Nemani Tunidau said his family had not heard from authorities for more than a year, and felt forgotten.
“It just makes me angry and feel that they don’t want to blame themselves for what has happened to my wife,” he said.
The inquest is scheduled to run for about five weeks from mid-August in the Coroner’s Court at Christchurch.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
