Abduction-accused mum 'allowed to walk out of hospital'

A Hillmorton Hospital patient accused of kidnapping her daughter was allowed to leave the institution despite allegedly holding a knife to another patient's throat days earlier.

The woman, 33, walked out of Hillmorton Hospital last Friday, sparking a police hunt following concerns for the safety of her eight-year-old daughter, who had also disappeared.

Several days later, she returned and her daughter was put back in the care of her aunt.

Yesterday, the mother was in the Christchurch District Court charged with abducting a child, threatening to kill and assault with a knife. She has been remanded until December 6 into the care of Hillmorton Hospital.

She has been ordered not to make contact with her daughter.

Both her and her daughter's names have been suppressed.

The woman's sister - her daughter's carer - said she was going to lodge a complaint with the Health and Disability Commissioner over Hillmorton Hospital's supervision of her sister.

"Why did they just let her walk out of the place ... Why didn't they section her under the Mental Health Act? She was obviously dangerous," she said.

She said the woman had been in Hillmorton Hospital voluntarily but had lied to her nurse, claiming she had permission from a supervisor.

The nurse allowed her to leave, without checking the story or her files, her sister said.

Vince Barry, the general manager of the Canterbury District Health Board mental health services, said he would not discuss individual patients.

However, he said, in order to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act, patients had to meet legislative criteria.

- © Fairfax NZ News