The High Court has rejected a challenge by an anonymised patient, D.K., to a Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board decision continuing his detention at the Central Mental Hospital.
Ms Justice Denise Brett held that the Board’s June 2024 decision was adequately reasoned when read as a whole and alongside the psychiatric report and evidence considered at the review hearing.
D.K. had been charged with burglary, criminal damage and arson arising from events on 31 October 2016. A Circuit Court jury returned a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity on all charges in May 2019. He was subsequently committed to the Central Mental Hospital in December 2019 after the court found that he was suffering from a mental disorder and required inpatient care or treatment.
His detention has since been reviewed approximately every six months. At the June 2024 review, his treating psychiatrist reported that he suffered from schizophrenia and had made progress, including improved insight and increased accompanied community leave. However, she also identified continuing dynamic risk factors for violence and ongoing treatment needs.
She recommended continued detention and advised against either conditional or absolute discharge at that stage. The Board concluded that D.K. continued to suffer from a serious and chronic mental disorder requiring inpatient treatment and care.
D.K. argued that the Board had failed to give adequate reasons and had not sufficiently addressed matters including his earlier successful period living in the community or the possibility of conditional discharge.
The High Court disagreed. Brett J found the Board had identified the key basis for continued detention: his schizophrenia, continuing treatment needs and dynamic risks associated with his illness. The judge also held that the Board was not required, of its own motion, to conduct a separate examination of conditional discharge where that option had been addressed by the treating psychiatrist and was not pursued before the Board.
The judicial review application was refused.