Man shot by cops after stabbing tourist
A man with schizophrenia who was shot dead by police in Brisbane’s CBD had been inconsistently taking his medication in the months leading up to his death, a coronial inquest has heard.
Mohamad Ikraam Bahram was shot dead after attacking a random British tourist with a knife on February 23, 2020.
The inquest into the death of the 24-year-old heard Mr Bahram had been under the guidance of a mental health treatment authority plan dating as far back to 2018.
Part of that plan saw the Logan man being ordered under the Mental Health Act to undergo regular depot injections to manage his schizophrenia.
Community psychiatrist Shuichi Suetani told the inquest about his interactions with Mr Bahram since 2018 and how in the months leading up to the shooting his mental health care plan had changed.
In September 2019, orders for Mr Barham to have depot injections stopped as part of his mental health care plan and he was moved to oral medication.
The inquest heard Mr Bahram’s family had become concerned in late 2019 that the 24-year-old had either stopped taking his oral medication completely or was infrequently using it.
He was later hospitalised in late December 2019 as his condition deteriorated and was given another depot injection by his doctor.
Dr Suetani said when Mr Bahram’s mother brought her son for his psychiatric review in early December 2019, the young man had not gotten out of the car and had been resistant to depot injections.
“When you’ve got a young man getting an injection against his will for the past 12 months … the anger and refusal to see me (someone who) has got that power to restart him on the depot injection he doesn’t want to take,” he said.
“His symptoms were so bad that he could behave in the way he would not do otherwise.
“Ikraam wasn’t like that, he was angry to see me but he was still there.
“At the time I felt that the degree of escalation was not enough for me to get him (to change his plan).
“The difficulties here are differentiating (between) Ikraam as a person and Ikraam’s mental illness and sometimes it’s hard.
“You have to keep reminding yourself that … we’re not treating the person we’re treating the illness.”
“I felt like in making the decisions I made I had think about not what just was happening in front of me but how Ikraam was going to engage with our services and his illness in the long term.”
The inquest heard Mr Bahram’s mental health continued to deteriorate over the coming weeks as he remained inconsistent with his oral medication.
Dr Suetani said it was decided in January by the medical team in charge of Mr Bahram’s case that he return to depot injections after “oral medication was no longer suitable”.
He received his final depot injection on February 7, 2019.
Mr Bahram’s had his final mental health review four days before his death on February 18, 2020 after his family had raised concerns about his ongoing isolation and deterioration.
Dr Seutani said Mr Bahram had again told him he didn’t want depot injections.
“He’s been consistent in not wanting depot even when he was well,” he said.
“I don’t know if I can contribute that to illness, I don’t know how many people would want depot.”
Mr Bahram’s case worker and social worker Saputra Mulyadi told the inquest on Thursday the 24-year-old was “fairly independent” but was resistant to depot injections as a form of his treatment plan.
Mr Mulyadi said Mr Bahram would complain some medication made him feel “sedated”.
“When he was well, when things were going well, he didn’t think he needed any treatment,” Mr Mulyadi said.
“We (the treatment care team) sort of gave him a good chance to comply with the medication as well.”
Mr Mulyadi said he didn’t believe Mr Bahram was suicidal when he died.
“I asked him directly if he had thoughts of hurting himself (and) he said no,” Mr Mulyadi said.
“I think part of it too, coming from his faith as well and his background, (suicide is) really not accepted within Islam.
“I’m just speculating now but if he had these types of thoughts I’d doubt he’d express them.”
As the inquest continues, Mr Bahram’s mental health plan and the actions of the police officers involved in the shooting are being probed.
Mr Bahram had been shot after officers were called following reports a British tourist had been stabbed on Edward St in Brisbane CBD, leaving him with minor injuries.
The officers can be heard on body-worn footage played before the inquest yelling out to Mr Bahram to “drop the knife, drop the knife, drop the knife, drop the knife” before shots were fired.
Mr Bahram then dropped to the ground and was declared dead minutes later.
The inquest was told Mr Bahram had in the past experienced delusions where he believed the police were tracking him after placing a device in him during a routine dental procedure.
The inquest continues on Friday.
