By SCOTT MACLEOD
The next steps in a High Court battle over whether a dangerous psychiatric patient should be released are likely to start tomorrow.
Mental health officials last week won their immediate fight to stop the patient - who once doused his partner in petrol and set her alight - from being released yesterday.
But Justice Hansen's order that the man be kept in Auckland's Mason Clinic was short-term only. He said the matter needed more time in court.
Crown lawyer Grant Liddell said yesterday that the High Court would consider a timetable for hearings tomorrow.
The man, whose details are suppressed, had a history of mental illness and anti-social behaviour dating back to childhood, the court earlier heard. He had assaulted women, raped and threatened to kill.
The case came to the High Court after a mental health tribunal found that the man did not fit the legal definition of being mentally disordered, meaning he could be released.
But the Director of Mental Health, Dr Janice Wilson, challenged the decision. She needed to prevent his release urgently because she would have been barred from applying to make him a restricted patient once he was set free.
Restricted patients can be released only on the orders of the Minister of Health.
Psychiatric patient's right to release pending
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