NSW: Prisoner took pleasure in confessing homicidal urges, court

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2009
NSW: Prisoner took pleasure in confessing homicidal urges, court

By Josh Jerga

SYDNEY, Aug 27 AAP - A Long Bay prison inmate who confessed he had homicidal urges
took pleasure in telling a psychologist he wanted to bash someone in the head with half
a brick, an inquest has been told.

Three days later, Michael Allan Heatley kicked his cellmate to death.

Craig Behr, 24, died of severe head injuries less than an hour after he was locked
in a cell with Heatley on March 27, 2004.

Heatley, a convicted armed robber, pleaded guilty to Behr's manslaughter and in 2006
was jailed for 18 years for the crime.

In an interview with forensic psychologist Danielle Matsuo on March 24, 2004, Glebe
Coroner's Court was told, Heatley said "he wanted to kill someone" and that he "had homicidal
urges".

In Ms Matsuo's subsequent report, she noted: "He took pleasure to describe how he wanted
to kill someone and how that urge felt".

She said Heatley had also remarked: "My little secret's out now".

Ms Matsuo's report stated her belief that Heatley would not need to be provoked into
killing someone and that he posed a genuine risk to other inmates.

"My opinion was he could not guarantee me, by his thoughts or verbalisation of those
thoughts, that he would not follow through with those words," she told the inquest on
Thursday.

Immediately after the interview, Ms Matsuo informed both Long Bay jail's deputy governor
Nigel Lloyd and assistant superintendent, Ben Martin, that although Heatley wasn't at
risk of harming himself, he was a serious threat to the safety of other inmates.

Ms Matsuo recommended that Heatley be put into a one person cell.

"I verbally informed them (separately) that he was not a risk to himself but a risk
to others and (should) be put into a one-out cell," she said.

She said she was assured by Mr Lloyd appropriate action would be taken.

"The only thing he said to me was that Ben Martin would get a copy of the report and
action would be taken," Ms Matsuo said.

"He did not specify what action."

Deputy State Coroner Malcolm McPherson is examining whether it was reasonable for Corrective
Services officers to have locked Behr in the same cell as Heatley.

In her evidence, Ms Matsuo said there were communication problems when trying to notify
prison management of a prisoner's risk to other inmates.

She said there were procedures in place for the notification of a prisoner's risk of
self-harm, but there was "no such documents for inmates who were a risk to others".

Counsel assisting the inquest Christopher Lonergan asked Ms Matsuo whether she thought
Heatley was manipulating her to get his own cell.

"I had considered that. There could be an element of manipulation but I was confident
the risk of him harming someone far outweighed any manipulation," she said.

The inquest continues.

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KEYWORD: BEHR WRAP

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