The family of a man who was bludgeoned and burned to death are pleading that the killer not be allowed to leave Auckland’s Mason Clinic by himself.
The charred evidence where 55 year-old Colin Moyle met a gruesome death has faded over time but his family's concern about his killer has not.
Matthew Ahlquist poured boiling water over Moyle, beat him with a spade and set him on fire but he was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
Moyle's brother, Graeme, finds it hard to believe psychiatrists who say Ahlquist is now safe to mix with the community.
As of next week, Ahlquist will be allowed to go walking for an hour by himself within the grounds of the Mason Clinic.
The unescorted leave will eventually extend outside of the clinic as long as he says where he's going, a strategy which has the government's support.
“We're talking about low, low levels of risk here. Obviously in life you can never 100 percent guarantee anything but you have to look at the evidence and the evidence is that it's safe and it's part of the strategy and I have to trust the experts on that,” says Associate Health Minister Jonathan Coleman.
“We can't guarantee the future as you would know, what we do have is a very long experience with this type of client,” says Dr David Chaplow, Director of mental health.
Matthew Ahlquists family raised concerns about his lack of psychiatric care when the attack happened in 2007.
3 News spoke with his mother today and she said that concern has dissolved over the years.
She says she's seen quite a change in Ahlquist since he started psychiatric care at the Mason Clinic and since he changed his medication.
3 News
source: newshub archive
