Senior constable shot mentally ill man after warning he had phobia of police, inquest hears

I can't even think about a comment to the following story. Just stupid!

Jodie Minus From: The Australian October 11, 2010 1:10PM

NSW Police officers were warned a mentally ill man, who was shot dead by a senior constable, had a phobia of police and should be approached with caution.

Elijah Holcombe, 24, died after being shot in the chest by Senior Constable Andrew Rich in Armidale, in northern NSW, on June 2, 2009.

On the opening day of a two-week inquest into Holcombe's death, Armidale Coroner's Court heard that police were warned the psychology student suffered from a mental illness characterised by paranoid episodes and a phobia of police.

Officers were told over the police radio to "approach with caution'' and that Holcombe was "extremely frightened of police''.

Counsel Assisting the Coroner Chris Hoy told the court that Holcombe, a Macquarie University student, had been living with his parents, Jeremy and Tracey at Wee Waa, in the state's north-west, following concerns about his declining mental health.

On June 1, Mr Holcombe drove his son to nearby Narrabri for a doctor's appointment but while running another errand, Holcombe took his father's car and made the four-hour drive east to Armidale.

Mr Holcombe reported his son missing to Constable Brett Allison at Narrabri Police Station at 4.30pm, telling the officer that Holcombe was suffering from paranoid delusions and was afraid police would extradite him to the United States.

Mr Holcombe warned Con Allison his son would run away if approached by police but that he "would not hurt anybody''.

When Holcombe arrived at Armidale he went to the police station and told the officer at the front counter, Senior Constable John Aitken, that he had stolen his father's car, which was parked on a nearby residential street and that he wanted to be taken to hospital.

Sen Con Aitken organised for Holcombe to be taken to Armidale Hospital by Senior Constable Paul Shelton, while Sen Con Rich was asked to locate Mr Holcombe's silver Falcon.

Holcombe was assessed by registered nurse Carla Rutherford about 1.45pm, on June 2. In her witness statement Ms Rutherford said Holcombe appeared paranoid and could have been experiencing hallucinations.

Holcombe told Ms Rutherford that the "Boongalarees were after him'', but when she questioned who they were, he said he was leaving the hospital and because he was a voluntary patient the nurse could not stop him.

Holcombe was later spotted by Sen Con Rich and his partner, Sen Con Christopher Dufty, walking along Rusden Street, in Armidale's city centre.

The officers pulled up alongside Holcombe in their police vehicle and there was a brief exchange before the young men fled and was pursued on foot by Sen Con Rich.

Holcombe ran through Caffeinds coffee shop, grabbed a bread knife, and then ran out the cafe's back door to Cinders Lane.

Sen Con Rich continued his pursuit, asked three times for Holcombe to drop the bread knife and then shot him in the chest.

State Coroner Mary Jerram said the inquest was not about "pointing the finger, not finding innocence or guilt . . . (but) just how it came to be that Elijah died''.

Mr Hoy said an "integral component'' of the inquest would be to determine whether Holcombe's death resulted from justifiable homicide or not.

The inquest, which will hear from 71 witnesses, would also look at the role of police officers and how they interact with people with a mental illness.

"It is a sad fact that it is so often frontline police officers . . . who generally come in to first contact with troubled citizens,'' Mr Hoy said.

Outside the court Mr Holcombe said he would not speculate on the outcome of the inquest but said he loved his son "more than words can say''.

TF Journey Four Weeks Down

Been doing well on the Tony Ferguson Weightloss Program. I've finished my fourth week and have lost a total of  8.4kg. The weight is probably falling off slightly too fast at the moment (not that I'm complaining, mind you), but I'm sure it will start to slow down to only 1kg or a little less per week soon. If all goes well this coming week though, I should break below the 100kg barrier. That would be nice. I would love to be under 100kg and I do very much hope that I will never get to above 100kg again. Hell, I've joked with the hubby a couple of times that I will weigh less than him. He's 80kg (one of those tall thin type of people the bugger). It definitely would be nice to get underneath 80kg, but that is a long way off in the future just yet. It is achievable however.

Now, exercise has been a different matter completely. I'm doing a little bit of it, mainly on an old exercise bike I have at home. Walking the dog has gone by the wayside. The last few times I was out with the dog, the social anxiety really kicked in, so I've not been able to take poor Nikki for another walk since then. The exercise bike is good enough for the moment, however I will need to become more regular with it. One day I might even see if the old home gym outside still works. :)

Anyway, there's probably so much more to write, but I think this time I will write the mental health stuff in my hand written journal. I've just eaten a portion of shepherds pie for dinner and I'm way too full and tired to get into much more tonight. :D

One Week Down

The first week on the Tony Ferguson Weightloss Program went well. I stuck to it 100%. The big change for me was that I cooked every day, except for Wednesday when I spent the night in Semi Big Smoke after my pdoc appointment. Lost 3.7kg. I know that first week losses are higher than the average due to the "water weight" issue, but still, gotta be happy with that.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to muster any excitement about the first week weight loss. Head-wise I am feeling very flat. I'm not feeling as seriously depressed as I have been, but I'm not feeling all that good either, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I feel like I just can't win, but hey, that's just the way it is I guess.

In a way, I think I'm missing "my guys". The mind has been too quiet. Nobody has made their presence known during pdoc appointments for a while. I'm missing Kelly's silliness and Mel's strength; even Alki. It's lonely not being able to feel them.

Anyway, the in-laws are arriving tomorrow. I should be getting stuck into the housework. Motivation is very lacking though. It might be time for a cup of tea and then I spot of action I think.

Oh My!

It's 5:20pm and I've just (almost) finished my first day on the Tony Ferguson Weightloss Program. Actually, there's a few more hours to go yet before I even attempt to go to bed but half of those will be filled with trying to clean the kitchen after I made a mess cooking dinner. I am not a neat cook by any stretch of the imagination. Actually, I rarely cook much at all; only basic dinners for my husband to take with him to work. I tell you though, tonight's dinner may (hopefully) change that cooking aversion for me if all TF recipes taste that good.

Dinner was Beef and Green Bean Casserole with Cauliflower Rice. Both recipes came from the Tony Ferguson website. Let me just say, I'm completely sated. I can see this recipe combination will become a favourite for me. Together both dishes tasted amazing. I hope the hubby likes it because he's going to get it quite often regardless.

Mental health wise, things weren't too bad today. I had to do a huge shop at the local grocery store so I would have some healthy food options in the house for the start of my TF journey. As always seems to be the case, I was nervous about heading down to the shopping centre. It took me until mid afternoon to be able to take that step. Thank goodness for the need for healthy food otherwise I would not have gone. The Body went through the familiar height changes as I entered the shopping centre. It didn't shrink too much though, considering how much the height can change at times, so it wasn't too off-putting. I survived the entire shop with minimal discomfort, although by the time I was ready to head towards the check-outs I was ready to dump the full trolley and run out of the centre. I didn't, but you know what it's like.

Depression and Weight Loss

Gawd, I feel shocking today. Wish I could get rid of this freakin' depression. It's been hanging on for so bloody long now ... months on end ... not that I'm ever really free of it.

Totally over it! Give me dissociation any day (over depression at least). Pity the two seem to go hand in hand though, at least for me.

How I wish that my psychiatrist would just give me some anti-d's. In my journal, which he reads during every appointment, I've written enough about the possibility of going back on the anti-d's. However, during appointments I've been unable to actually ask for them, so ... *sigh*.

Anyway, I've been reading through the Tony Ferguson Weightloss Program website and forum over the past handful of days. I followed the program for a time back in 2007 and did lose quite a bit of weight if a shirt I bought for a new job I got back then is anything to go by. Memory fails me regarding how long I stuck with the program and how much I lost though. After two plus years break, I've even ordered a month's worth of shakes and associated paraphernalia. I'm not sure which part of me wants to lose weight or why they want to lose weight, but I think I'm totally behind them on this one. Let's go for it!

What is Love?

Pearls of wisdom from some random poster on a relationship forum I've been reading lately ...

There is romantic love and there is mature love. Mature love is about mutual differences, it's about learning to communicate, to appreciate, and to show sincere affection. It is about being someone who can support a partner, it's about being someone who doesn't blame the other for the failings of the relationship. It's about owning your own crap.

Boooo!

Bloody duoDERM! Every time I use it on a wound, the wound seems to get at least some over-granulation in it. I must be doing something wrong; using duoDERM when perhaps I should be using some other type of dressing. The wound nurse at the Semi-big Smoke's hospital that I've seen a few times in the past used to use the stuff on me every visit though. However, Semi-big Smoke is a two hour drive away, and the staff at the local hospital just don't seem to have a clue about wound dressing, so my options are limited. Anyway, I put one of those silver type dressings on it today just to tide me over to my trip to the Semi-big Smoke on Wednesday. I think a pharmacy visit is in order.

Aussie Kindergarten Children to be Tracked for Mental Health Issues

The following article appeared on "The Australian" newspaper website on 25 June 2010. Here's the link for the article, if it remains current that is.

Kindy kids to be tracked for mental health

EVERY kindergarten student currently enrolled in NSW will be tracked for the next 20 years in an attempt to find clues on mental illness.

Using the data, which includes birth and education records, researchers from the University of NSW hope to identify early markers that may be associated with the development of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and other mental and social disorders.

The data is being made available by the Department of Education and the Department of Health for more than 80,000 five-year-olds currently enrolled in NSW. It has been approved by the two major research ethics committees in NSW.

Individual children and schools will not be identified in the study, which if successful may lay the groundwork for an Australia-wide model.

"The study will focus particularly on children's emotion regulation, social behaviour, academic achievement and cognitive function and may eventually help to establish effective early detection and prevention programs," study chair Professor Vaughan Carr told The Weekend Australian.

News of the study, set to begin in the next few months, comes on the back of calls for the introduction of a national mental health curriculum in schools.

Australian of the Year and mental health advocate, Pat McGorry, said it was "crucial" mental health awareness was incorporated into the school curriculum, and believed it may help to reduce the amount of deaths related to mental illness.

"Mental illness is the main health issue for young people . . . awareness around the associated risks and warning signs should definitely be mandated in schools," Professor McGorry said.

"Every student should be taught about ill mental health and how to recognise it, because then it might not become so serious."

There is currently no mandated program in Australian schools to teach students about mental health, despite several successful voluntary initiatives.

Tracy Zilm, the national training co-ordinator for MindMatters -- one of the largest voluntary mental health education programs -- echoed the call for a national curriculum, but feared there could be resistance among teachers if such a syllabus was forced on them.

"It's tricky because the attitude that teachers bring changes when you mandate things," she said.

MindMatters was launched in secondary schools across Australia 10 years ago.

"I believe that every student in our school system should be exposed to a curriculum that deals with issues around mental health," Ms Zilm said.

Parent Stephen Grieve, 62, said he would be "more than happy" for his six-year-old son Ben to learn about mental health.

"If we can create a greater level of knowledge and sensitivity around mental illness from a young age, then kids will be able to take that knowledge with them when they move into the greater community," he said.

However, Australian Parents Council executive director Ian Dalton said schools and teachers "should not have to bear the burden of dealing with mental health" and he did not support implementing a national mental health curriculum.

"It would be something we would approach quite cautiously," Mr Dalton said.

"Getting (mental health) education right is important but it should be a more strategic approach that encompasses service providers, families and schools."

It's an interesting concept, that's for sure, and one hell of an undertaking.

If the study and the mentioned mental health curriculum works to dispel mental health stereotypes, misinformation and prejudices then the study and curriculum are both positives. The same could be said if they help save lives.

Focusing solely on the introduction of a mental health curriculum in schools, I do wonder about teachers' abilities to provide such a curriculum. As a whole, are teachers knowledgeable enough to provide non-judgemental, well-informed education when it comes to mental health? I would be more comfortable about the idea if mental health studies were included in education/learning management degrees, if they aren't already. In this way, then the odd prospective teacher who just hasn't got a clue could hopefully be weeded out. Teachers are everyday people after all, and some people hold some pretty horrible ideas in regards to mental health issues.

Still, an interesting study, and I do hope something positive ultimately comes out of it.

Simple Together

You’ve been my golden best friend
Now with post-demise at hand
Can’t go to you for consolation
Cause we’re off limits during this transition

This grief overwhelms me
It burns in my stomach
And I can’t stop bumping into things

I thought we’d be simple together
I thought we’d be happy together
Thought we’d be limitless together
I thought we’d be precious together
But I was sadly mistaken

You’ve been my soulmate and then some
I remembered you the moment I met you
With you I knew god’s face was handsome
With you I suffered an expansion

This loss is numbing me
It pierces my chest
And I can’t stop dropping everything

I thought we’d be sexy together
Thought we’d be evolving together
Thought we'd be healing together
I thought we’d be family together
But I was sadly mistaken

If I had a bill for all the philosophies I shared
If I had a penny for all the possibilities I presented
If I had a dime for every hand thrown up in the air
My wealth would render this no less severe

I thought we’d be genius together
I thought we’d be growing together
I thought we'd have children together
Thought we’d be adventurous together
But I was sadly mistaken

Thought we’d be exploring together
Thought we’d be inspired together
I thought we’d be flying together
Thought we’d be on fire together
But I was sadly mistaken

At That Particular Time

My foundation was rocked
My tried and true way to deal was to vanish
My departures were old
I stood in the room shaking in my boots
At that particular time love had challenged me to stay
At that particular moment I knew not to run away again
That particular month I was ready to investigate with you
At that particular time

We thought a break would be good
For four months we sat and vacillated
We thought a small time apart
Would clear up the doubts that were abounding
At that particular time love encouraged me to wait
At that particular moment it helped me to be patient
That particular month we needed time to marinate in what "us" meant
At that particular time

I've always wanted for you what you've wanted for yourself
And yet I wanted to save us high water or hell
And I kept on ignoring the ambivalence we felt
And in the meantime I lost myself
In the meantime I lost myself
I'm sorry I lost myself; I am

You knew you needed more time
Time spent alone with no distraction
You felt you needed to fly
Solo and high to define what you wanted
At that particular time love encouraged me to leave
At that particular moment I knew staying with you meant deserting me
That particular month was harder than you'd believe but I still left
At that particular time

Relationship Stuff

Wow, I'm sitting here shivering, which is a pretty amazing situation since I live in a place where the temperature rarely plunges, even in winter like it is now.

Arrived home from my weekly trip into the "Semi-big Smoke" a few hours ago. Been not-so-aimlessly surfing the internet since then.

It was an interesting couple of appointments with the pdoc, focusing primarily on the relationship with my husband and the issues surrounding leaving or staying with him. Although he would never say so, I think the pdoc is hoping I separate from the husband.

I wish I knew what was for the best. My husband is not an asshole by any stretch of the imagination. I wish he was. It would make my decision so much easier (I think) if that was the case. However, and he admits this, the husband is unable to cope with my illness or offer any meaningful support; apart from practical I guess since he goes off to work every day while I sit at home.

I am tired of trying to cope by myself. We essentially live in different ends of the house, only sharing a bed when he is working day shift. The vast majority of the time, we are sitting in front of our respective computers in separate rooms. My "job" in the relationship seems to be for me to cook and clean for him, and lend an ear when he comes home from work if he needs to talk about his day.

What is his job supposed to be? Is he supposed to provide me with more than a roof over my head and plenty of food to eat? Is he supposed to be there for me emotionally too? Years ago, when things went south with my health, should he have done some research about it, even through Google or something, and learnt how to support me in some way? Hell, I wish he had. I feel lost and alone.

The pdoc as suggested I write a letter to the husband since I seem unable to talk with him about the situation. That's not a bad idea. Even if I never show it to him it might help me identify what is going on inside me. It might help me identify what I really want from the husband if the relationship was to continue. 

Grocery Shopping and Social Phobia

I feel like something yummy for dinner tonight. Yes, its only 3pm but I'm dreaming of dinner already. The only problem is, while there is meat in the freezer, there are no vegetables left in the house. A trip to the grocery store is definitely required. Pity I'm scared shitless about leaving the house and stepping foot in the shopping centre. Gotta love social phobia, right?!?

Maybe its worth browsing through some cookbooks and seeing if there is something I really want. Maybe that will help with the leaving the house thing. One can only hope.

New Blog Beginnings

Something dies inside almost every time I leave "Semi-big Smoke" to return to the little town in which I live.  It's a horrible feeling, one of sadness and hopelessness. There is just no other place to be though. One day, it will be nice if that changes.