A mental health facility reported a patient missing 15 minutes after he allegedly tried to murder two Australian National University students.
The Canberra Times also understands it was the second time in a few weeks that an involuntary detained mental health patient was reported to ACT police as missing.
Alex Leonard Ophel, 24, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after an alleged stabbing rampage at the university campus on Monday, September 18.
He is understood to have been let out of the Gawanggal Mental Health Unit in Bruce, where he was involuntarily detained, to go for a bushwalk by himself.
ACT Policing had previously told The Canberra Times they received a call from Gawanggal at 2.45pm, and the first triple zero call about the incident came at 2.47pm.
However, they have since said those were inaccurate timestamps due to typos.
A mental health nurse first called ACT police to report Ophel missing 15 minutes after he allegedly attacked four students with a knife and frypan.
Police said the first call to triple zero about the ANU incident was at 2.45pm, while a registered nurse from Gawanggal called them 10 minutes later, at 2.55pm.
On that triple zero call, police told the Gawanggal nurse a missing patient was "not an emergency" and that they should call the police assistance line, which is for non-urgent matters.
The nurse made that call at 3.03pm, police said.
The directorate responsible for public mental health facilities, Canberra Health Services, has refused to answer questions about when Ophel was released and when staff knew he was missing.
The ANU said CCTV footage shows the alleged attacks started at 2.40pm, and somebody first called university security about the incident at 2.44pm.
Meanwhile, alleged victims were being given first aid by members of the public.
Eleven minutes after the alleged attack, members of the security team and ACT police were on site.
Ophel was in police custody by 2.51pm, the university said.
Emergency services were also on the scene and attending to the alleged victims.
This masthead was first aware of an alleged stabbing attack at the ANU just before 3pm.
The Gawanggal nurse had a 19-minute conversation with police after calling the assistance line at 3.03pm, which may have been when both parties connected the missing patient to the ANU incident.
Police said they record all triple zero and police assistance line calls.
Meanwhile, at 3.13pm, ACT Policing communications called Dhulwa to get more information about Ophel.
Timeline of alleged stabbing
Monday, September 18
- 2.40pm: Alleged attack begins
- 2:44pm: ANU security receives first call about the attack
- 2:44pm: Members of the public administer first aid
- 2.45pm: Police receive first triple zero call
- 2:50pm: Police and ANU security on the scene
- 2.51pm: Police apprehend Ophel
- 2:51pm: Emergency services attend to alleged victims
- 2.55pm: Gawanggal nurse calls triple zero
- 2.57pm: The Canberra Times first told
- 3.03pm: Gawanggal nurse calls police assistance line
- 3:13pm: ACT Policing communications call Dhulwa
- 3.13pm: The Canberra Times publish first story
Ophel has previously spent time at the 17-bed, high-security facility in Symonston.
Dhulwa helps mental health patients needing a high level of care.
Some patients have "moderate to severe mental illness [and] are or are likely to become involved with the criminal justice system," Mental Health Minister Emma Davidson has told the ACT Legislative Assembly.
A patient at Dhulwa Mental Health Unit was reported missing in the four weeks between August 30 and September 27, police confirmed. There is no suggestion this incident is connected to the alleged stabbing.
At the time of the alleged attacks, Ophel was a patient at a lower-security facility, Gawanggal.
Gawanggal is a "community transition mental health unit" helping former Dhulwa patients transition back into the community, the Canberra Mental Health Forum wrote in 2021.
Patients practice things like shopping, cooking and managing finances, and become more independent so they can re-enter society, Ms Davidson has previously said.
A 2022 inquiry made several recommendations for both mental health units, including relaxing rules around leave, partly to avoid upsetting or agitating patients.
There is no suggestion policy changes had any impact on either missing person reports.
