The mother of a man shot dead by police after stabbing a tourist in Brisbane’s central business district told healthcare workers that she was “concerned he would do something to someone and end up dead”, an inquest has heard.
Mohamad Ikraam Bahram was shot dead by police on 23 February 2020, after lunging at officers with a knife.
Police were called to the scene after Bahram chased and stabbed a British man who suffered a laceration to his back, a fractured nose and a split and swollen upper lip.
An inquest on Thursday examining the death of the 24-year-old heard his mother, Nasera Rane, had told health workers he was not taking medication for his schizophrenia before the attack.
Barrister Peter O’Connor, representing the family, told the inquest Rane had warned workers on multiple occasions that her son could end up hurting someone and dying as a result.
Bahram was taken off antipsychotic injections and put on oral medication in October 2019.
The inquest heard Rane arrived at her son’s mental health service in early December 2019 to flag her concerns that Bahram was not taking his medication. Bahram was angry and refused to get out of the car.
Dr Shuichi Suetani, a community psychiatrist at Browns Plains Community Health Service, told the inquest that it was hard to differentiate between “the illness” and an individual “demonstrating frustration”.
He said Bahram had been “consistent” about not wanting the injections – even when he was well.
“When you’ve got a young man getting an injection against his will … [there is] anger and refusal to see me,” Suetani said.
“He was a young man, he only had the diagnosis for a couple of years in his 20s.
“There’s a whole lot of stigma that comes with depot [injections] because they have to come to a clinic.”
The inquest heard Bahram was admitted to hospital on 20 December 2019, after he “impulsively” attempted to take a flight to Sydney without telling his family and was stopped by federal police.
O’Connor said Bahram’s mother told health workers that after his discharge from hospital, he was experiencing paranoia and believed that “gangs were after him”.
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Bahram also told his brother the government wanted to kill him, the inquest heard.
As a result, he was given an antipsychotic injection on 7 February 2020 – about two weeks before the attack.
Bahram’s case manager, social worker Saputra Mulyadi, said oral medication is important for patients to take when restarting injections – something Bahram did not do continuously.
He was last reviewed by a mental health treating team on 18 February – four days before his death.
The inquest heard on Wednesday that Sr Const David Eiser, who was called to the scene, “feared for his life” as Bahram ran at him with a knife in hand.
Det Sgt Donna Green from Queensland police’s ethical standards command had also told the inquest she believed the officers who responded to the attack had acted appropriately and in “self-defence”.
Mulyadi said Bahram was unwell but he was “polite”, “caring” and had a lot of love for his family – particularly his mother.
“He was … polite, even when he wasn’t happy … I felt he was fiercely independent and hard-working,” he said.
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Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
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