'We have suffered so much': Family demands answers after psychiatric patient murders mum

The family of a Christchurch woman who was murdered by a patient who absconded from a psychiatric hospital has asked why it took their mother's death for changes to be made at Hillmorton. Laisa Waka Tunidau was stabbed to death by Zakariye Mohamed Hussein outside her Sockburn home in June 2022. Hussein was jailed for life with a 13-year non-parole period in November that year and had previously been jailed for more than six years for kidnapping, stabbing and intimidating multiple people across Christchurch in March 2012. Killer's attack on prison officer due to ‘evil nature’ At the time of Waka Tunidau's death, Hussein was allowed to leave Hillmorton Hospital on unescorted community leave. On Monday, an inquest heard Hussein had left the hospital on 35 occasions and had returned without incident between being granted leave in late April 2022 and the day of Waka Tunidau's murder.