Double murderer Jason Reihana cared for in a public ward during hospital stay

  • 20/02/2017
Waikato Hospital
Reihana was identified by another patient's visitor (file)

Waikato Hospital patients unknowingly shared a room with convicted double murderer Jason Reihana earlier this month.

He was treated in a ward alongside four men and was recognised by one of the other patient's visitors, Fairfax reports.

Reihana was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 for killing the mother of his children, Teresa Gunn, and her boyfriend George "Andrew" Grabner in a frenzied attack two years earlier. 

When police found Reihana at Ms Gunn's Tauranga home, the then 35-year-old told officers "I will teach that b*tch to f*** around with a honky", spitting on Teresa's face as she lay dead beside him.

He is serving one of the country's heaviest prison terms; life with a non-parole period of 21 years. 

A month after his sentencing, Reihana was diagnosed with leukaemia and received a $1 million dollar bone marrow transplant. Part of his post-care treatment included at least two guards around the clock during his stay in hospital almost a decade ago. 

However, this time, reports suggest security was more lenient - the anonymous visitor told Fairfax they only spotted one guard and Reihana was allowed to go to the bathroom alone.

Father of the victim, David Gunn, is in disbelief that Reihana would not be in a private room given his conviction. 

"Being in a general ward is wrong. He is a violent joker."

"I've been in hospital reasonably often and the jokers I have been with have been good people, good to talk, we've looked after each other. But I wouldn't like to be in there with a crim. He has threatened to get me and my wife, he did that in the courtroom, he said the only thing he regretted was not getting me and my wife and he would get us," Gunn told Fairfax. 

Waikato DHB could not comment on Reihana's treatment, or if he was still in their care today. 

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