worse than noddyland

I would say that what I am about to comment on is our first taste of Noddyland for 2007 but it is far too serious for that.

It involves three sex offenders supposedly locked up in a supposedly secure psychiatric hospital who escaped over night. And once again it involves the Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield which is fast gaining a reputation as a guest house.

But it gets worse. The hospital, the Police, the Government, have refused to release their names, their pictures or their descriptions – even though they are a real and present danger to kids in Melbourne.

And it gets worse. Police can’t even arrest them. As they were in the care of the Department of Human Services at the time of their escape. This is a sick joke.

I guess if they sexually assault another child then the Police can move. The argument being put forward – as an excuse – is that there are court suppression orders on their identities. Under normal circumstances I understand that. Even a child rapist’s name should be suppressed if publication may tend to identify the victim. And the have suffered enough. But when does the safety of the community as a whole come into it?

This is a desperate situation. These men went over the wall at 10.30 last night. Once again it was hours before the news leaked out. Often with Thomas Embling it has taken days. But if they couldn’t release the names why not physical descriptions. That couldn’t lead the general public back to the identity of the victim. Their ages. What they were wearing.

Another question. Well, Thomas Embling Hospital prides itself on being a secure facility for psychiatric inmates who have been through the criminal justice system. Although the perimeter is guarded by a private security service.

Maybe a line from their website gives a clue:

"Although undeniably a secure facility, care has been taken to minimise the impact that security has on patient care and treatment.’ Yeah, sort of walk in  and walk out. Wrap them in cotton wool. Pretend it’s a resort.

And don’t forget other scandals involving this hospital.A mentally deranged patient, a killer, went AWOL from the Thomas Embling Hospital and was missing for nearly two weeks before he was found asleep in Alexandra Gardens at the weekend. Robert Debruyn murdered his mother. He stabbed her nearly sixty times. And yet this man was out wandering the CBD, sleeping in parks, for days. And you were not told. You were not warned. The Police did not even issue a carefully worded alert for a week even though his own father described him as ‘ a sick man’.

And remember when insane killer Neville Garden ran away from that hospital while on a Sunday excursion at Southbank. They found him four days later at Mallacoota –having tried to keep his escape a secret.

Seems they’ve learned nothing. And you are again at risk.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2007