PSYCHIATRIC reports have been ordered for a man who assaulted staff in the emergency department of the Mount Gambier Hospital during two separate violent incidents earlier this year.
Daniel Peter Schenk, 49, appeared in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court for ongoing bail applications relating to two charges of aggravated assault yesterday.
The prosecution said the first incident occurred at around 4pm on February 8 when Schenk attended the emergency department of the hospital.
A female staff member told the defendant he did not require medical treatment, which caused him to become aggressive and abusive.
Another male staff member at the hospital recognised the escalating situation and intervened.
The defendant punched the man to the eye, causing a cut which required medical treatment.
Schenk pushed another woman before police attended and arrested him.
A similar incident occurred on March 4 at around 12.30pm when Schenk attended the premises again.
He was lying across the emergency department doorway smoking a cigarette before a female staff member told him he was not allowed to smoke in the area.
Schenk became aggressive and entered the building, where he began swearing at the staff member.
She became frightened and moved members of the public in the waiting area to nearby offices for their protection.
Schenk began pacing up and down the waiting room and threatened to kill the staff member.
She activated a code black distress signal, which is used to attract immediate police presence.
The defendant remained aggressive and abusive, throwing books over the counter until police arrived and arrested him.
The defendant’s lawyer said her client suffered from short-term memory loss.
Magistrate Teresa Anderson had significant concerns about the defendant’s behaviour and raised possible mental health issues that led to the offending.
More reports were ordered to determine those issues and the bail application was adjourned.
Speaking to The Border Watch last month, Country Health SA South East acting regional director Ngaire Buchanan said the Mount Gambier Hospital was safe and secure.
“Any breaches in security are dealt with quickly and appropriately and any patients or visitors to the hospital who behave in an unacceptable manner will not be tolerated,” Ms Buchanan said.
“All hospital staff are trained in techniques to manage such situations.”
While Ms Buchanan would not comment on the specific incident as it was now before the courts, she did indicate the Mount Gambier Hospital had provided police with security footage of the incident.
She said the hospital was armed with the appropriate resources to help deal with an incident that has the potential to escalate and become violent.
“Mount Gambier Hospital has video surveillance, secure swipe card access to non-public external doors and areas such as the emergency department treatment area and ambulance entry,” she
said.
“Duress alarms and other hospital systems are available to call additional staff to an area to help with de-escalation and management of a situation.”
When Ms Buchanan was asked if their needed to be an increased security presence at the hospital, she said private officers were already used at certain times.
“We use private security officers to provide services in the emergency department waiting room on occasion, including on some long weekends and our staff call South Australia Police when they are needed to intervene in situations,” she said.
