Dickson chainsaw wielding bandit on a spree

IrishPete said :

Flossie said :

We’re was the CATT team??? This was a perfect opportunity to suggest a warm bath and a cup of tea as something to assist a person in great distress. Could have made all the difference.

Mental health services in this town are disgustingly inadequate.

Eh? MH services may be inadequte, but CATT don’t have chainsaw-proof clothing. As soon as there’s the hint of violence, or the need for force to be used to restrain someone, it’s a police job. Not the fire brigade, not the ambulance service, and not the mental health service. Though they might get involved once the risk of violence is gone.

Incidentally, I’ve seen nothing in this guy’s behaviour (nor on his Facebook page) that couldn’t be explained by a chip on his shouler and a big problem with alcohol. Have seen dozens of people like that.

IP

CATT is a bonafide disgrace. I have a good friend who tried to get his friend assessed after she started cutting herself so bad the wounds became infected and they wanted none of it. She was admitted and discharged the next day, at which point he called them again (she was self-harming again) and was ignored. This went on for two weeks and she was hospitalised some four or five times.

Several acquaintances recount similar experiences.

A number of people have also told me the staff deal with callers not only brusquely but extremely rudely, even to those simply reporting a friend or loved one’s spiral. I wouldn’t be surprised if CATT has helped lead to twice as many suicide attempts (and suicides) as they have prevented. For all the increased awareness (which is great) the actual hardware of mental health assessment and treatment is abominable.

I’m forever thankful I don’t have something like depression or bipolar disorder. That’s bad enough for a person to deal with without an unfeeling mental health worker making things much worse.

IrishPete said :

Flossie said :

We’re was the CATT team??? This was a perfect opportunity to suggest a warm bath and a cup of tea as something to assist a person in great distress. Could have made all the difference.

Mental health services in this town are disgustingly inadequate.

Eh? MH services may be inadequte, but CATT don’t have chainsaw-proof clothing. As soon as there’s the hint of violence, or the need for force to be used to restrain someone, it’s a police job. Not the fire brigade, not the ambulance service, and not the mental health service. Though they might get involved once the risk of violence is gone.

Incidentally, I’ve seen nothing in this guy’s behaviour (nor on his Facebook page) that couldn’t be explained by a chip on his shouler and a big problem with alcohol. Have seen dozens of people like that.

IP

IP I was being snide about the mental health system in the ACT. Family members of this bloke have commented on the problems they have had with mental health services spanning two years. I have family members who have been collecting the ingredients for a well researched death and, when discovered, the CATT team have recommended a warm drink or a warm bath as a suitable intervention. I have been told by other relatives of people with significant mental illness that warm liquids seems to be quite the panacea. Maybe, if the kettle had been put on just a little bit sooner, this incredibly serious event may not have happened?

Pork Hunt said :

IrishPete said :

He’s posting on Facebook from a psychiatric ward? Oh dear…

IP

I think you will find that the facebook posting (referred to in #38) was made on Thursday BEFORE the event. Having read the post on his facebook it would seem that he was expecting to cause casualties.

Yes it was before the event, but if you look at the comments you’ll see he added a link to the news report on the incident.

Pork Hunt said :

IrishPete said :

He’s posting on Facebook from a psychiatric ward? Oh dear…

IP

I think you will find that the facebook posting (referred to in #38) was made on Thursday BEFORE the event. Having read the post on his facebook it would seem that he was expecting to cause casualties.

Some people on RiotACT really test my resolve not to descend to personal abuse…

Pork Hunt – he also posted at 1.07pm and 1.08pm on Saturday, perhaps with a hint of pride in what he did.

IP

IrishPete said :

He’s posting on Facebook from a psychiatric ward? Oh dear…

IP

I think you will find that the facebook posting (referred to in #38) was made on Thursday BEFORE the event. Having read the post on his facebook it would seem that he was expecting to cause casualties.

Flossie said :

We’re was the CATT team??? This was a perfect opportunity to suggest a warm bath and a cup of tea as something to assist a person in great distress. Could have made all the difference.

Mental health services in this town are disgustingly inadequate.

Eh? MH services may be inadequte, but CATT don’t have chainsaw-proof clothing. As soon as there’s the hint of violence, or the need for force to be used to restrain someone, it’s a police job. Not the fire brigade, not the ambulance service, and not the mental health service. Though they might get involved once the risk of violence is gone.

Incidentally, I’ve seen nothing in this guy’s behaviour (nor on his Facebook page) that couldn’t be explained by a chip on his shouler and a big problem with alcohol. Have seen dozens of people like that.

IP

He’s posting on Facebook from a psychiatric ward? Oh dear…

IP

We’re was the CATT team??? This was a perfect opportunity to suggest a warm bath and a cup of tea as something to assist a person in great distress. Could have made all the difference.

Mental health services in this town are disgustingly inadequate.

IrishPete said :

Apparently the Magistrate thought, or someone else in court convinced the Magistrate, this gent required a mental health assessment – http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/mental-check-after-attack-with-chainsaw-20130330-2h0p9.html – if the hospital decides otherwise he’ll be returned to police, the watchhouse and court, and probably thence to AMC. Depending on how quickly the hospital returns him to police, he could end up in AMC before returning to court.

Incidentally, an acquaintance of mine has a major grudge against a well-known hardware store because they sold his wife hose and tape which she then used to run from her car exhaust into the boot (hatchback) and kill herself. As noted by others, hardware stores’ checkouts are not staffed by experienced mental health workers.

IP

AMC?
He has a long history of mental instability. If you look him up on Facebook you can see he left a public post just minutes before the incident that sounds quite threatening.

If someone wants to hurt themselves or others there are a myriad of tools they can use. It’s not possible to restrict people from accessing everything and anything that could be used to cause physical harm. He needed medical intervention well before this happened.

Apparently the Magistrate thought, or someone else in court convinced the Magistrate, this gent required a mental health assessment – http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/mental-check-after-attack-with-chainsaw-20130330-2h0p9.html – if the hospital decides otherwise he’ll be returned to police, the watchhouse and court, and probably thence to AMC. Depending on how quickly the hospital returns him to police, he could end up in AMC before returning to court.

Incidentally, an acquaintance of mine has a major grudge against a well-known hardware store because they sold his wife hose and tape which she then used to run from her car exhaust into the boot (hatchback) and kill herself. As noted by others, hardware stores’ checkouts are not staffed by experienced mental health workers.

IP

Roundhead89 said :

Damn! Someone got in before me with the NRA reference. It’s the quick and the dead here, if you’ll pardon the expression 😉

Sorry to cut in on you like that … so to speak

Damn! Someone got in before me with the NRA reference. It’s the quick and the dead here, if you’ll pardon the expression 😉

ScienceRules said :

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

Clearly we must equip all security personnel with TWO chainsaws. It’s the only rational response.

Are you from the National Rifle Association?

ScienceRules said :

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

Clearly we must equip all security personnel with TWO chainsaws. It’s the only rational response.

I agree. And we should start the National Chainsaw Association, and advocate that every adult should have the right to own a chainsaw and carry it in public. Oh, wait, we already can do that.

OK… then… carry on as you were.

It comes down to the difference between “insanity” which is a legal term of diminished responsibility and “mental illness” which is a medical term of suffering.

I don’t like it because anyone who commits a crime must have some problem to deal with and neatly dividing the minority off for mental health parole while sending most for punishment doesn’t help anyone to find a law abiding place in society.

They may just be unhappy or they may be hearing voices. They may have a vomit worthy paraphilia. So fix the problem.

Yeah maybe sane people wield chainsaws. But healthy people don’t.

So many giggles in this thread, which is a bit guilt-inducing given the subject matter, and the fear the people in workplace must have gone experienced.

But why is he obviously mentally ill? I have a bit of experience in this field, and sane people sometimes wield chainsaws too. His mother says he is mentally ill, but mothers will often say that, unwilling to accept that their offspring is just bad. (Of course we have our prior knowledge of the ACT Mental Health system to draw on, which pushes the scales in one particular direction.)

I note he was taken off to face court, not hospital for psychiatric assessment, but we shouldn’t even infer too much from that, as the police aren’t expert mental heath triage workers.

So not knowing the circumstances of this case, I can’t say which is true, so I’m going to keep an open mind for now.

IP

How can anyone be shocked and horrified to learn that unrestricted hardware is sold without restriction? I mean, one might not feel comfortable supplying a chainsaw to someone who seems “odd” but one is not a trained and licensed psychiatrist. Can you imagine the headlines if a shop asked a man buying an axe to prove that he wasn’t planning on using it in battle?

Pork Hunt said :

gooterz said :

bundah said :

We now have news that the mother of chainsaw man has apologised to those affected and mentioned that her son has been mentally ill for quite sometime.She said that they approached mental health on a number of occasions and apparently they failed to act.

Yet another one that has slipped through the cracks!

Why does mentally I’ll persons have access to a chainsaw?

Anyone know which place this was? There’s a real estate agent and used to be a coffee shop on one side. Or was it the upstairs place?

If he used to work there he can’t be that mentally ill?

People can go to a hardware store and buy all manner of items such as rope, cutting tools, power tools, chainsaws and digging tools (they come in handy for body disposal purposes).
I once saw a mentally ill person buying an axe and to my shock and horror, no checks were made.
This made me follow them home so that I knew where they lived incase the axe was meant for me.
When in line at Bunnings, I often look at other people in an effort to identify the nutters.

http://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/

Hardware stores also supply mirrors.

bigfeet said :

So it is a very serious offence. And probably the most appropriate offence.

There is no doubt that the person is suffering a mental illness, and presumably at the height of an episode – so how would the courts see that in terms of judgement (and if so, sentencing?) Asking the question thats all.

Pork Hunt said :

People can go to a hardware store and buy all manner of items such as rope, cutting tools, power tools, chainsaws and digging tools (they come in handy for body disposal purposes).
I once saw a mentally ill person buying an axe and to my shock and horror, no checks were made.
This made me follow them home so that I knew where they lived incase the axe was meant for me.
When in line at Bunnings, I often look at other people in an effort to identify the nutters.

http://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/

Yeah, following him home would have definitely made him less paranoid. Well played. Poor bloke probably just wanted to cut down a tree.

I think we need another amendment to our laws (lets call it the second amendment) which allows everyone to carry a chainsaw for personal protection, and maybe allow licences to be issued for “covert carry” chainsaws. Only then will society be safe.

LumpySpacePrincess said :

Surely he will be charged with more than burglary related offences, he threatened people with a deadly weapon FFS!

Actually this is exactly what burglary is…. Entering a premises as a trespasser with intent to cause harm to anyone in the building…(S311(1)(b) ACT Criminal Code)

And the fact that he was armed makes it aggravated burglary (Sect 312 ACT Criminal Code)…which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

So it is a very serious offence. And probably the most appropriate offence.

gooterz said :

bundah said :

We now have news that the mother of chainsaw man has apologised to those affected and mentioned that her son has been mentally ill for quite sometime.She said that they approached mental health on a number of occasions and apparently they failed to act.

Yet another one that has slipped through the cracks!

Why does mentally I’ll persons have access to a chainsaw?

Anyone know which place this was? There’s a real estate agent and used to be a coffee shop on one side. Or was it the upstairs place?

If he used to work there he can’t be that mentally ill?

People can go to a hardware store and buy all manner of items such as rope, cutting tools, power tools, chainsaws and digging tools (they come in handy for body disposal purposes).
I once saw a mentally ill person buying an axe and to my shock and horror, no checks were made.
This made me follow them home so that I knew where they lived incase the axe was meant for me.
When in line at Bunnings, I often look at other people in an effort to identify the nutters.

http://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/

gooterz said :

bundah said :

We now have news that the mother of chainsaw man has apologised to those affected and mentioned that her son has been mentally ill for quite sometime.She said that they approached mental health on a number of occasions and apparently they failed to act.

Yet another one that has slipped through the cracks!

Why does mentally I’ll persons have access to a chainsaw?

Anyone know which place this was? There’s a real estate agent and used to be a coffee shop on one side. Or was it the upstairs place?

If he used to work there he can’t be that mentally ill?

umm?

bundah said :

We now have news that the mother of chainsaw man has apologised to those affected and mentioned that her son has been mentally ill for quite sometime.She said that they approached mental health on a number of occasions and apparently they failed to act.

Yet another one that has slipped through the cracks!

Why does mentally I’ll persons have access to a chainsaw?

Anyone know which place this was? There’s a real estate agent and used to be a coffee shop on one side. Or was it the upstairs place?

If he used to work there he can’t be that mentally ill?

We now have news that the mother of chainsaw man has apologised to those affected and mentioned that her son has been mentally ill for quite sometime.She said that they approached mental health on a number of occasions and apparently they failed to act.

Yet another one that has slipped through the cracks!

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

There was no security to get passed. Just a glass door you need a pass to open….. Or a chainsaw

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

Clearly we must equip all security personnel with TWO chainsaws. It’s the only rational response.

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

Anyway he wants to if the chainsaw is running!!

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

I’d say by waving around said chainsaw

goggles13 said :

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

Hmm.. I’d say by waving around the chainsaw?

I am a Jedi! I am a Jedi!

gooterz said :

It would seem mental health needs more funding.

Doesn’t sound much like a burglary at all, sounds more like he had an axe to grind.

??? It falls under the very definition of burglary. Plus he’ll no doubt be charged with possessing an offensive weapon with intent.

how does an ex-employee get past security with a chainsaw?

gooterz said :

It would seem mental health needs more funding.

Doesn’t sound much like a burglary at all, sounds more like he had an axe to grind.

i think also if they spent a bit of the time examining the rights of the community to feel safe instead of just only considering the rights of the patient, this sort of thing may not have got to this point.

Surely he will be charged with more than burglary related offences, he threatened people with a deadly weapon FFS!

Pretty sure the intention was to have the police shoot him rather than to kill himself with the chainsaw. If he was anywhere other than the ACT they probably would have too.
The mental health system leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you consider how many people can be affected when one person doesn’t get the help they need.
While no one was hurt physically, I’m sure there will be some long term emotional effects for some. What a traumatic experience!

The public service cuts will be much worse under an Abbott Government.

Stevian said :

Mr Evil said :

I’m sure he’s sorry for what’s he’s done.

.

One mind with but a single thought. It’s rather sad really

I’m sorry, Stevian.

Mr Evil said :

I’m sure he’s sorry for what’s he’s done.

.

One mind with but a single thought. It’s rather sad really

I’m sure he’s sorry for what’s he’s done.

Actually, I’m lead to believe he was saying sorry during his visit to the building – except nobody could hear him over the top of the high revving 2-stroke he had in his hands.

PBO said :

It was apparently going to be a murder suicide as it was his former workplace, that’s all I am saying for now.

Suicide with a chainsaw – that’s hardcore! The dude sounds seriously messed up. Glad everyone is OK.

It was apparently going to be a murder suicide as it was his former workplace, that’s all I am saying for now.

WIN news reported tonight that the raider was an ex-employee of whatever dept it was, and he had previously gone there with a gun.

It would seem mental health needs more funding.

Doesn’t sound much like a burglary at all, sounds more like he had an axe to grind.

Sounds like he was a little revved up about something!

A chainsaw? What the hell is that all about?