A mental health nurse who interviewed a prisoner in Waikeria Prison not long before his suspected suicide says she felt like she was being “groomed” by the “warm, confident” man.
A three-day coronial inquest into the death of Grant Brent Whittal-Bell – who died on November 17, 2019 – is under way in the Hamilton District Court.
Whittal-Bell had been remanded in custody while awaiting court proceedings after what have been labelled “very serious charges” – however details of those charges have been suppressed by the court.
The Rotorua man had been detained in October and had only been in prison for a month at his time of death.
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On the second day of the inquiry on Wednesday the court heard evidence from Annette McWaters, a community mental health nurse working in the prison forensic team.
McWaters said she had interviewed Whittal-Bell on October 23. It was a meeting that stood out in her memory, she said.
“I recall him being overly confident, very warm in his engagement with me,” she told the court.
“That’s an unusual presentation. I remember thinking it being very odd.”
Most people who were experiencing prison for the first time were not quite so self-assured, she said. Whittal-Bell appeared to have a good understanding of his own mental health situation and history.
“That guy was very confident. I felt like I was being groomed by him.”
Whittal-Bell was adamant he did not need any kind of special attention from mental health staff, McWaters said, and his behaviour was “in line with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder” and therefore not particularly concerning.
“Sometimes you come across characters who are really confident, and that’s just the way they are.”
McWaters said she had worked at the prison since the start of 2019, and had conducted three to four such forensic assessments every week.
Regardless of Whittal-Bell’s assertions he was okay, McWaters had made a recommendation that he be referred to the Emerge Aotearoa rehabilitation service – which includes oversight of treatment for mental health issues – however it appeared her letter was not noted or actioned by the prison’s health staff.
Counsel to assist the coroner, Genevieve Haszard asked whether the staff of the former Waikato District Health Board the health staff employed by the Department of Corrections were as well aligned as they could be, or whether there was an effect of the two organisations being effectively “silo-ed”.
Haszard asked: Could this increase the likelihood of important information being missed?
It could, McWaters said – however some prisoners were not keen on their personal details being shared with Corrections staff, who in many cases viewed them as the enemy. There were also other restrictions to information-sharing that were governed by the Privacy Act.
Speaking generally, there needed to be much more information sharing across the board, McWaters said – including by the prisoners themselves.
“Prison is a horrible place to be … We have to keep on encouraging men and women in prison to stay open with their communication.”
Haszard also queried the nurse about prominent scarring on Whittal-Bell’s arms, and whether that was a firm sign he had suicidal tendencies.
“People cut for relief, people cut for euphoria … I have seen horrendous cuts and that person has said ‘I went a little too deep’ – they laugh it off.
“Yes, [Whittal-Bell] had horrific scarring, but that does not mean he cut himself to kill himself.”
McWaters said although Whittal-Bell’s case was the only suspected suicide she had been directly involved with, with hindsight she would not have changed a thing about her approach to him.
The court also heard evidence from Michelle Doran, Whittal-Bell’s case manager, who interviewed the “quiet, well-spoken” man the day after McWaters – but was unaware of that event.
“We were not privy to any of the forensic information at all.”
She also had recommended Whittal-Bell be referred to Emerge, however “he was well within his rights to decline an interview”.
She had a subsequent quick conversation with him on November 14.
“He was happy – as happy as you could be in there.”
Others who gave evidence included the prison’s clinical team leader Sheena Finlayson and nurse Helen Podmore, who faced numerous questions about why Whittal-Bell’s situation had not been actioned and what had become of the recommendations – not all of which they could answer.
This was partially because some of the information on him had been destroyed in the riot that happened at the prison soon after Christmas in 2019.