The family of a bus driver killed in a horrific firebombing have revealed health authorities contacted them repeatedly to asking for permission for their loved one’s killer to use public transport.
Manmeet Sharma’s family voiced their outrage outside court as the findings into the Brisbane bus driver’s death were released on Friday, seven years after the grisly attack in southside suburb of Moorooka.
The family, who had flown in from Punjab to attend the hearings, told media they felt justice had been denied when the court found it could not have been predicted that Mr Sharma’s killer Anthony O’Donohue would have gone on to kill after being released from a mental health facility.
“It has been seven years for justice,” family spokesman Winnerjit Singh told reporters.
“When we landed in Brisbane, we asked one question – who was responsible?
“Justice is delayed and denied.”
Mr Sharma, also known as Manmeet Alisher, was driving his bus in Moorooka on October 8, 2016, when O’Donohue boarded the bus just before 9am.
He was carrying a makeshift Molotov, consisting of a mixture of petrol and diesel fuel, concealed in a backpack.
State Coroner Terry Ryan said O’Donohue was captured on the bus’s CCTV dumping the contents of the bag on Mr Sharma and flicking a lighter.
A witness had described seeing Mr Sharma covered in flames which rose to the ceiling.
“All the passengers started screaming and moving towards the rear doors,” Mr Ryan said.
O’Donohue was charged with Mr Sharma’s murder but a court declared he was unfit to stand trial as he was of “unsound mind” and suffering from “a severe chronic psychotic illness”.
O’Donohue is currently being held at The Park Centre for Mental Health on a 10-year treatment order.
Outside the court, Mr Sharma’s family revealed authorities treating O’Donohue had been emailing them asking for permission to let him ride public transport so he could collect his medication.
“Every six months, every three months that O’Donohue … wants to travel on a train, he wants to travel on this one,” Mannerjit Singh said.
“Why? Why are they doing this? It’s hurting us.
“They ask us ‘Can we permit that?’ What about the impact to the family?”
Pinky Singh, president of the Punjabi Welfare Association Australia and a family friend, said the family were outraged at the move.
“The family do not even like to discuss this,” she said.
“They’ve lost their child, it’s very sad.”
Coroner Ryan said O’Donohue’s illness included chronic suicidal ideation, persecutory delusions and a homicidal intent targeted at “trade unions, union workers and public servants”.
They had been present for 10 years, he said.
“The gravity of the potential risk posed by such persons can be catastrophic, as was seen in the violent and tragic death of Mr Sharma,” Mr Ryan said.
The court was told O’Donohue had been discharged from his mental health service three months before killing Mr Sharma.
He had been in and out of treatment with mental health practitioners since 2012, the court was told.
Mr Ryan said Mr Sharma might still be alive if different decisions were made during the course of O’Donohue’s treatment.
But he did not agree with submissions that it could have been predicted O’Donohue would have gone on to kill someone.
“Risk assessment does not equal risk prediction in terms of homicidal and violent behaviour,” he said.
“Coroners and mental health professionals are aware that many of those who commit a serious violent offence, homicide or die by suicide have been assessed as low risk patients.
“Although he was a very unwell man, seemingly obsessed with getting revenge against his perceived persecutors, up the point of his discharge … Mr O’Donohue was the beneficiary of a compassionate response to his mental health needs which was very effective in keeping him and the community safe for over six years.”
Mr Ryan said steps had since been taken by Queensland Health and its health services to address the “systematic” shortcomings, including providing more detailed risk assessments and sharing information between health services.
New bus safety protocols were also being put in place, such as full driver protection barriers and increased security and de-escalation training.