The Supreme Court of Western Australia made an extended custody order for four years under s 110(1) of the Criminal Law (Mental Impairment) Act 2023 (WA) in respect of a supervised person with chronic treatment-resistant schizophrenia who had stabbed her mother with a knife causing life-threatening injuries. The Court applied the two-stage test under s 110(3), finding an unacceptable risk of future serious offending and that an ECO was necessary for adequate community protection, on the basis that the respondent's psychotic symptoms remained refractory to treatment, she had been unable or unwilling to engage in risk assessment or therapeutic work, her family lacked appreciation of the risk she posed, and a community supervision order could not provide adequate protection given her inability to comply with conditions. The Court adopted and consolidated the principles from WAW, PHB, DAMD and BWG regarding the standard of proof (high degree of probability, between civil and criminal standards), the relevance of s 47(1) factors, and the requirement that the ECO term be no longer than necessary for adequate community protection.
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