A South Australian Deputy Coroner has released a young man’s harrowing ten minute call to a mental health helpline that could have potentially saved his life before he was shot by police.
Kobee Huddy, 20, sought the state’s mental health triage service for help as he was “dripping blood” after inflicting self-harm on May 25, 2019.
Just hours before the call, he was discharged from hospital after undergoing treatment, with doctors telling him to dial the service if he ever had thoughts of hurting himself.
Mr Huddy rang the service in the early hours of the morning and after providing the triage nurse on the other end of the line his location details, he told her he was thinking about self-harm.
“I got told every time I thought of self-harm – ” Mr Huddy explained before he was interrupted by the nurse.
“I missed what you said, every time you what?” she replied.
“Every time I think of self harm, I got (sic) told to call you guys,” Mr Huddy said.
“Every time you think of self-harm? Is that the only strategy you’ve got for self-harm” the nurse responded to which Mr Huddy acknowledged was his strategy.
“So you have had a thought of self harm and then what happens now?”
“I got told to call you guys,” Mr Huddy said.
The nurse then asked the man in distress for “what purpose” the call was for, with Mr Huddy desperately pleading for help.
She then explained it was the therapist’s responsibility to help with such situations rather than her role, before proceeding to ask if he had seen a psychologist.
Mr Huddy explained he had just been discharged from hospital hours earlier after receiving medical treatment.
“You should have had a mental health assessment clearly,” the nurse commented, before saying Mr Huddy should receive long-term therapy.
She then explained some “fairly simple” strategies like “delaying” the decision to self-harm.
“When you have the thought, don‘t go further … just (tell) yourself, ‘well I’m not going to do anything for the next five minutes,’ … and you keep extending the delay until eventually you get to a full day and then sometimes you might get to a whole year,” she said.
“And that’s a really simplistic strategy.”
Mr Huddy replied by telling the nurse such coping mechanisms are “easier said than done”, to which the nurse explained he needed to fulfil such strategies in long-term therapy.
“Ringing us, we couldn’t teach you therapy over the phone,” the nurse said in response.
At this point, Mr Huddy reiterated how a change in thought after a self-harm incident the day before motivated him to seek medical help at the hospital.
He claimed he received stitches and was sent home, however at the time of the call required help again as he was in the bathroom “dripping blood”.
“I’m dripping a little bit of blood right now … how do I stop from doing that?” Mr Huddy asked the nurse.
“Stop from doing what Kobee? I’ve got no idea what you’re doing. Stop what, dripping blood, is that what you’re asking me?” she snapped back.
Mr Huddy told the nurse he had inflicted self-harm and was appealing for a solution about how he could stop the habit in the future.
“I don’t know, you just have to stop. If you keep doing it, you need to be in therapy. Mental health triage isn’t somewhere to teach you those skills, I just don‘t have that ability over the phone,” she said.
The nurse explained Mr Huddy required hospital treatment again, to which he responded: “I don’t know how to deal with this”.
Mr Huddy was told about his options once again, however he sounded reluctant to go back to the hospital and asked if there was any other advice the nurse could provide.
“Advice? There’s nothing. It’s just nonsense to think mental health triage could do that, so I’m sending an ambulance.”
After the phone call, Mr Huddy dialled emergency services and informed them he had a gun and was going to shoot police officers.
The tone of the two phone calls, which were both heard in court, were completely different despite being minutes apart.
Both calls were released publicly by Deputy Coroner Ian White, with the nurse on the other end of the first call given the opportunity to be part of an inquest into the incident, without being named.
Peter Longson, the counsel assisting the Coroner, told the court multiple police cars converged in the South Australian suburb of Seaton prior to confronting Mr Huddy.
A lone officer was instructed to drive past Mr Huddy’s residence where they saw a car leaving and consequently pulled it over.
The court heard Mr Huddy was in the passenger seat before exiting the vehicle with a 30-cm long kitchen knife, according to The Advertiser.
With his gun drawn, the officer walked away from Mr Huddy, backing up about 30 metres while radioing for assistance.
As more police cars pulled up on scene, Mr Huddy took two steps towards the officer, who in response, fired a single bullet into the 20-year-old’s chest.
Mr Huddy fell to the ground where he was searched and told the first officer that approached him he was “sorry”.
Two hours after the incident Mr Huddy died in hospital, with an inquest into the police shooting continuing next week.
The state’s department of health was contacted for comment.