FAMILY FEARS KILLER'S RELEASE
14.09.1996
By: KOCH A
IN the early hours of October 25 last year, a strong young man argued
with his former girl
friend in a park near Coolum
State School.
Ross Farrah, 25, picked up the young woman ""like a spear tackle''
and threw her on to her back.
He then kicked her between
20 and 25 times in the face and neck, eventually killing
her by strangulation.
The body of Christine Nash, 32, mother of two young children,
was found later in the morning.
At 6pm that day, Ross Farrah
gave himself up to police
and confessed to the crime.
As a sufferer of schizo
phrenia, Farrah was referred to the Mental Health Trib
unal,
which found that at the time of the crime he was of unsound mind.
He was ordered to be detained
at the John Oxley Memorial
Hospital where his future
release would be decided by the Patient Review Tribunal.
The parents of Christine Nash claim that justice has not been done
and that Farrah could be out on the streets ""within months'' because
the hospital is concerned only with his clinical treatment, not
punishment.
They are also concerned that key witnesses who could have attested
to the violent history of Farrah towards Christine Nash were not called
to present evidence.
The prospective witnesses included the co-ordinator of the Tewantin
Salvation Army Emergency Accommodation Service, where Christine had
taken refuge from Farrah for three months.
Farrah can never be brought to trial over Christine Nash's death.
The judgment of Mental Health Tribunal head Justice Paul de Jersey
said that although Farrah would have the right to apply for leave from
the psychiatric hospital, caution should be exercised, including
obtaining external psychiatric opinions.
""That would undoubtedly be the appropriate course, allowing
for the dangerous propensity
of the patient and the grave importance in this case of allaying
public fear,'' the judgment said.
