Disabled NT man died naked in cell wearing spit hood and cuffs, inquest told | Australia news

A prisoner who suffered a seizure was handcuffed and placed in a spit hood by guards who left him naked in an “at-risk cell” before he died two days later.

At the inquest into his death in Darwin on Monday, Northern Territory prisons and health departments apologized to Wayne Hunt’s family for his treatment and told coroner Elisabeth Armitage that procedural changes would be made.

Hunt was just days away from being sentenced to prison for dangerous driving causing death when the incident occurred at Darwin correctional center on August 29, 2024.

He had just turned 56 and was considered healthy enough to serve his sentence.

Lawyer Mary Chalmers, assisting the coroner, said Mr Hunt’s assessment by medical staff and his treatment by prison officers would be reviewed.

Chalmers told the inquest that two nurses and prison guards attended when a “code blue” medical emergency was called after Hunt suffered a seizure, but his post-seizure agitation was interpreted by prison staff as behavioral noncompliance.

He said Hunt, instead of being taken to the prison medical center for a medical assessment, was handcuffed and taken to an “at-risk” cell with a spit hood, where he was “stripped naked and left lying on the floor.”

Instead of being observed by medical personnel, he was kept on suicide watch overnight by officers.

Hunt was found unresponsive on the floor of his cell the next morning and never actually regained consciousness as his life support was turned off in hospital two days later.

Chalmers said Hunt’s family and the community need to know how a relatively healthy 56-year-old man who was taken into custody with his medication died within three days.

Hunt was a butcher by trade but lost his leg and suffered brain damage in a motorcycle accident in 2008.

In December 2022, Hunt accidentally hit and killed an 11-year-old boy while driving in a supermarket car park.

He was using cannabis and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and was sentenced to three months in prison.

When he was released, he was sentenced to an additional nine months in prison after prosecutors appealed the initial sentence as inadequate.

A few days after this sentence, the incident in August 2024 occurred.

Chalmers said body camera footage of the “confrontation” would be shown at the inquest into Hunt’s move to the at-risk room and said it was not what the public expected from agencies responsible for the care of people in custody, particularly a disabled man suffering from seizures.

NT corrections lawyer Michael McCarthy said the department acknowledged the pain and grief felt by Hunt’s family.

He said the officers involved admitted they acted unprofessionally and regretted their actions.

Paul Morgan, on behalf of Hunt’s wife Rhonda Phillpps, read a statement saying they had been together for 20 years and that her husband, who had no children of his own, was a wonderful father to her children and 18 grandchildren.

“Everybody loved Wayne… if anyone needed help, Wayne was there for them.”

Phillips said Hunt was deeply remorseful for killing the boy in the supermarket.