Diane Elizabeth White, above, who was attacked and killed with a hammer by her neighbour Christine Judith Morris who remains untreated and therefore an undue risk to the public. Photo / File
Diane Elizabeth White, above, who was attacked and killed with a hammer by her neighbour Christine Judith Morris who remains untreated and therefore an undue risk to the public. Photo / File
A woman who bludgeoned her neighbour to death with a hammer remains untreated behind bars but won't be released as she continues to be an "undue risk".
Christine Judith Morris was a voluntary patient at Waikato Hospital's Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre (HBC) which she had left after threatening to killDiane White.
Later, on the afternoon of January 19, 2010, police found White, 53, dead in her Hamilton home, bashed to death with a hammer.
Morris, who is profoundly deaf, was convicted of murder in 2012 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
About 10am on the morning of the killing a Henry Bennett worker faxed and phoned police about Morris' escape and threats to kill White, but was unable to get through to the local station.
She eventually called 111 and spoke to the Police Northern Communications Centre.
At 11.13am two police officers were sent to Morris' address.
They were unable to find her, but spoke briefly with White as she mowed her lawn, and advised her to call police immediately if she saw Morris. The officers then left.
Shortly afterwards police received a second call from the HBC advising that another neighbour, who was not named, had reported that Morris was with her and was making threats to harm White.
A communications dispatcher mistook the information from this call as a repeat of the information from the first call, and subsequently no officers were dispatched.
At 12.19pm the neighbour called police to say Morris had just left her address.
After a few minutes she called again to say Morris had returned with blood on her face.
Officers arrived to discover that White had been attacked and killed in her home with a blood-stained hammer found nearby.
Diane White lived in a unit in Blackburn St, Hamilton, when she was bludgeoned to death with a hammer by Christine Judith Morris on January 19, 2010. Photo / Christine Cornege.
They quickly found Morris and took her into custody.
Morris was back before the parole board on August 5, her second appearance at a hearing.
When she was last seen by the board in March, they were concerned about her mental health and need for a report and lack of her participation in any rehabilitative programme.
Last month, the board found when Morris was on the appropriate medication she was "relatively stable".
Within the prison, she had "adopted a helpful attitude and was employed as a cleaner".
However, the board said the issue they were now confronted with was how Morris would take part in rehabilitation programmes as she needed an interpreter in order to be understood and to understand what others were saying to her.
The plan now was for her to undergo individual treatment with a psychologist, however she would also need an interpreter and the board said it was "essential that the necessary funding was available" for that to happen.
"Ms Morris complains that in the past she has not been able to get assistance when needed, on account of funding issues."
The board declined her parole as she remained an "untreated prisoner" and therefore was still an undue risk.
She would again be seen by the board in 12 months' time by which stage it was hoped she would have had some psychological treatment, had a referral made to an appropriate health facility and steps made towards a "proposed safety plan and release plan".
