A man in the grips of methamphetamine-induced psychosis was sent home from a mental health hospital after telling staff about a violent rape fantasy involving his neighbour – and then broke into her house within days of being released.
The woman has now engaged lawyers after making a complaint about the Swanston Centre. The case marks the latest in a string of violent and traumatic events involving the Barwon Health facility that have sparked police, WorkSafe and coronial investigations.
The case comes after a 31-year-old man was killed in his room at the Geelong facility on February 22, allegedly by another patient with whom he had been sharing a bathroom. No charges have been laid and a police investigation into the man’s death continues.
The woman, who spoke to this masthead on the condition of anonymity because of concerns for her safety, said the man, who was her neighbour at the time, was in the grip of drug-induced psychosis and should never have been released from hospital when he was.
In a complaint to Barwon Health, seen by this masthead, the woman wrote the man had made “numerous and concerning” disclosures to staff, including that he had been in her bedroom previously “in the pursuit of a rape fantasy”.
She also alleged that in the days after treating the man in October 2024, a clinician from the Swanston Centre was so concerned about the danger he posed to the woman and her family that he wrote to local police.
“These warnings were not passed on to me or my family by either Barwon Health or police,” the woman alleged.
“I am empathetic to the enormous and difficult task of treating those in our community who are suffering from acute mental ill health … I do not expect ‘perfection’ from any health service, but rather seek to understand how my vulnerable daughter’s experience could (and should) have been avoided.”
Within 24 hours of his release from the Swanston Centre on October 31, the woman observed her neighbour behaving erratically and driving up and down the street.
The same day, he was captured on camera at a neighbouring property attempting to enter her yard. CCTV footage showed him climbing over the back fence before crawling on his stomach for six minutes and attempting to break into her house.
On November 3, CCTV captured him again crawling through the woman’s yard just before 10pm. He then squeezed his body through a dog door and quietly made his way into the woman’s teenage daughter’s bedroom.
The teenage girl’s screams alerted the woman and her partner that the man had broken into the house.
The woman said the neighbour had displayed worrying behaviour in the lead-up to his week-long involuntary admission at the Swanston Centre, including breaking into her house several times.
On the evening of October 16 in 2024, he walked into the woman’s bedroom in the middle of the night.
“I threw myself out of bed and just yelled, ‘get out of my house,’” she said. “I chased this man out of my house while he just silently and calmly navigated my house in the dark and just left.”
He also violently assaulted her partner and made threats to kill them both before he was arrested by police and admitted to the psychiatric hospital.
The woman said he had left a “love note” in her letterbox in which he claimed to have named a “new cannabis strain” after her.
The man, who this masthead has chosen not to name to protect the woman’s identity, was jailed for four years with a non-parole period of two years after pleading guilty to several criminal charges including stalking and assault last year.
The woman said she was alarmed when he was dropped off in the street by a taxi following his hospital admission, and alleged that neither the health service nor police informed her that he had expressed thoughts about harming her and her family while he was in the care of the Swanston Centre.
“I’m a layperson. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I can tell you, there wasn’t an ounce of difference in his behaviour, before and after he was hospitalised,” she said.
“He was still clearly completely in the depths of psychosis and required ongoing care.”
As revealed by this masthead, staff and the grieving families of former patients at Swanston Centre say they have been trying to raise the alarm for a decade.
They allege outdated wards with shared bathrooms and blind spots, as well as staffing shortages, have compromised safety of patients and staff.
Estelle Petrie, a senior associate at Robinson Gill, acting on the woman’s behalf, alleged there had been a system-wide failure in her client’s case.
“The thing that really struck me was that mental health services are there for the welfare of the people using them, but also for community safety as well,” she said.
“It’s quite striking that in the aftermath there’s been such a brick wall response to her concerns.”
In a second complaint lodged with the health service in November last year, the woman sought to clarify Barwon Health’s legal and clinical obligations regarding warning people if an unwell patient had made threats about them, and the psychiatric standards required to justify releasing an involuntary patient who was in a psychotic state.
She also asked for a full investigation to be undertaken and requested detail on the level of mandated community monitoring following her neighbour’s discharge.
‘I’m not a psychiatrist, but I can tell you, there wasn’t an ounce of difference in his behaviour, before and after he was hospitalised.’
The woman, speaking anonymously to protect her safety.
She alleged that Barwon Health was hiding behind patient confidentiality, rather than addressing her concerns, and said she and her family had been left traumatised by the events of 2024.
“All I want is some kind of assurance that this will never happen to anyone else,” she said.
In a response to the complaint, Barwon Health’s acute intervention services medical director, Dr Alison Taylor, wrote that while she understood the woman’s frustration, the hospital was bound by strict privacy obligations and legal requirements to protect health information.
In a statement, Barwon Health’s chief medical officer, Affiliate Professor Ajai Verma, said he recognised and appreciated the public and media interest in individual cases.
“However, our responsibility to protect patient privacy and confidentiality means we are unable to comment on specific matters, the details of individual patients or their care,” he said.
“All patients are assessed and managed by qualified clinicians in accordance with established clinical guidelines and policies, with a strong focus on safety, risk assessment and appropriate follow-up care.”
He added that all adverse outcomes and feedback from patients, families and the community were taken seriously and comprehensively investigated. Any required recommendations are implemented to support continuous care improvement, Verma said.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said stalking was an incredibly harmful behaviour and police took any reports of the crime extremely seriously.
“We recognise that stalking is a gendered crime, with the majority of perpetrators male and the majority of victims female,” she said.
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Melissa Cunningham is a health reporter for The Age. She has previously covered crime and justice.Connect via X or email.
