The person accused of a random daylight attack on a sushi chef in Melbourne\u2019s CBD is still suffering from\u00a0\u201cconsistent psychotic symptoms\u201d and \u201chearing voices\u201d in custody and is at \u201chigh risk\u201d of their mental health deteriorating further if released, a psychiatrist has told a court.<\/p>\n
Lauren Darul, 33, appeared before the Supreme Court of Victoria to apply for bail on Wednesday, after spending close to eight months on remand for allegedly stabbing Wan Li, 36, with a kitchen knife as she walked to work along Little Bourke St on the morning of October 2 last year.<\/p>\n
Mr Darul was on three counts of bail at the time.<\/p>\n
The sushi chef suffered a collapsed lung and spent three days in hospital.<\/p>\n
Mr Darul, who uses male pronouns, appeared via video link from custody.<\/p>\n
A consultant psychiatrist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Dr Vashti Wilman, gave evidence to the court about Mr Darul\u2019s \u201cserious\u201d mental illnesses but was apprehensive about his engagement with treatment. <\/p>\n
The court heard Mr Darul suffered from \u201cconsistent, active psychotic symptoms\u201d, may have an acquired brain injury and reported \u201chearing voices\u201d while in custody. <\/p>\n
Dr Wilman said Mr Darul\u2019s mental illnesses were serious enough to warrant mandatory treatment under the Mental Health Act but did not require inpatient treatment. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Lauren will try \u2026 and \u2026 will engage with us as it is in their capacity to do so. I do imagine it will be inconsistent and require multiple attempts to contact him as it did in the past,\u201d the psychiatrist said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLauren has previously experienced mental health treatment as burdensome and interfering with their life at certain times.\u201d <\/p>\n
The court heard Mr Darul told the psychiatrist he \u201cmay use\u201d meth upon release, felt in control of the amount he would consume and did not consider alcohol and drug treatment to be necessary. <\/p>\n
Mr Darul also told the psychiatrist he would see the mental health professionals but did not want them \u201cbreaking (his) balls\u201d. <\/p>\n
The psychiatrist\u2019s opinion was that Mr Darul remained at a \u201chigh risk\u201d of immediate relapse into substance abuse and said there was also a \u201chigh risk\u201d of his mental health deteriorating. <\/p>\n
But Mr Darul\u2019s lawyer argued the high degree of wrap around services available to his client alongside his support team\u2019s \u201cheightened awareness of the risk\u201d he posed to the community could help mitigate those risks. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat does not mean there is no risk, the question is whether that risk can be managed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a risk that can be managed and that should be managed. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a mental illness should not be a disqualifier to obtaining bail, being a person who is a risk of using illicit drugs should not be a disqualifier for obtaining bail and apparently committing a serious offence should not be a disqualifier for bail under the Bail Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point the community and our client has to engage \u2026 right now out client is positioned to benefit from a range of wrap around support services and close medical attention which not only suits our client\u2019s interest in freedom but the community\u2019s interest \u2026 that is almost as high as it gets for protecting the community.\u201d <\/p>\n
The prosecution strongly opposed bail on the basis he was on three counts of bail when the alleged stabbing occurred, as well as Mr Darul\u2019s \u201chesitant\u201d approach to mental health treatment. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile certain powers do exist to the community treatment team, it is a significant level of voluntary engagement which is being urged upon,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn circumstances where treating bodies saw no warning signs a violent incident would ensue.\u201d <\/p>\n
The prosecution also alleged Mr Darul had \u201cno or very little insight into his mental illness or the impact illicit substance abuse has on his mental illness\u201d. <\/p>\n
Justice Rita Incerti adjourned her bail decision until Thursday. <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the depth of evidence I have heard today \u2026 I am really not in a position to hand down my ruling today,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The person accused of a random daylight attack on a sushi chef in Melbourne\u2019s CBD is still suffering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18831,18837,18826,23,133,10246,18829,18827,18839,18833,18822,18834,18824,2601,18825,18835,18819,2602,18816,18817,18821,18832,260,3162,18820,18823,18828,18830,120,3300,18836,8961,4053,68,18838,18818],"class_list":["post-19431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-acquired-brain-injury","tag-active-psychotic-symptoms","tag-alleged-stabber","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-bail-application","tag-bail-bid","tag-bail-decision","tag-bashing-man","tag-community-treatment-team","tag-consultant-psychiatrist","tag-drug-treatment","tag-erin-constable","tag-facebook","tag-filming-kids","tag-horrific-random-attack","tag-illicit-substance-abuse","tag-inc","tag-inpatient-treatment","tag-kitchen-knife","tag-knife-police","tag-mandatory-treatment","tag-melbourne","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-professionals","tag-mental-health-treatment","tag-mental-health-treatments","tag-mental-illness","tag-oceania","tag-royal-melbourne-hospital","tag-support-team","tag-supreme-court","tag-sushi-chef","tag-victoria","tag-wan-lai","tag-wan-li"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}