The Age

Farah Farouque
December 21, 2007

AN ELDERLY dementia sufferer who spent three nights in jail because no other accommodation could be found for her stood in a court dock yesterday and described the incarceration as "intolerable".

The woman, 75, won a reprieve, however, when she was released late yesterday into the care of her son.

Although she spent last night at home, state authorities have still to find long-term accommodation for her in the community.

The woman is under the guardianship of the Office for the Public Advocate. Earlier this year she tried to kill herself and allegedly her elderly husband, who also has dementia. She has been charged with attempted murder, and faces a committal hearing early next year.

During a bail hearing yesterday, Melbourne magistrate Donna Bakos noted it was "very apparent" that the woman's fragile emotional health had declined during her jail spell.

"Clearly, her mental health has deteriorated very badly," her barrister, David McKenzie, also told the the court. Police escorted the Greek-born woman, who needs an interpreter and is clinically depressed, to the high-security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on Monday.

Against the pleas of her legal representatives, she was discharged from St George's Hospital in Kew, part of the extended St Vincent's Health service, after having been a patient there for five months. Her carers were advised that she no longer needed acute care. She had previously been bailed on the basis that she stay in hospital.

As part of new bail conditions, the woman can stay at home until January 15, and the Department of Human Services has agreed to provide daily mental health support.

The woman has been forbidden to contact her husband, 82, who lives in a nursing home. Her son, Nick, said that while he was relieved his mother was out of jail and home with him, he could care for her only in the short-term. He was anxious for a longer-term accommodation option to be found.

"There seems to be a real gap in the system for somebody in my mother's situation," said Nick, who asked that the family's surname be withheld to protect his mother's privacy. "It's a big shame that a bad situation has to happen before people move to action on this."

Acting Public Advocate Barbara Carter who convened urgent talks with the DHS to negotiate the woman's release this week said it was important to remember the woman had not been found guilty of any charge.

"This a tragic and stark example of the plight of facing many people with disabilities who find themselves in the criminal justice system," she said.

"The number of elderly people with dementia in prison will inevitably increase with our ageing society. Prison should not be part of the service response to people with disabilities in a humane society … I am very disappointed that it took (media) publicity to get this far."

Ms Carter was "cautiously optimistic" that satisfactory accommodation would be found for the sick woman after January.

Mental Health Minister Lisa Neville declined to discuss the broader issues the case raised.

The elderly woman's Victoria Legal Aid solicitor, Sarah Rozenbes, said there was a long way to go before the woman's accommodation and status were resolved.

The woman is accused of trying to end her husband's life by stabbing him with a kitchen knife during a visit to his nursing home.

She also stabbed herself, and it is believed sustained more serious wounds.

Her mental fitness to make a plea in court has not been determined. If a trial proceeds, it could be up to a year before her case is heard.

As she emerged into the rain from the Melbourne Custody Centre, however, she gave a small smile. For now at least, her ordeal was over. "I am happy to be out," she said as she sipped a coffee with her son in a cafe.