KEY POINTS:
A Maori man remanded on domestic violence charges watched a double showing of Once Were Warriors before being found hanging in his cell, a South Australian Coroner's Court was told today.
The New Zealand prisoner at the Adelaide Remand Centre, Marceilo Marstroianni Sciascia, was found hanging in his cell in April last year, the day after the New Zealand film Once Were Warriors was shown twice to prisoners, the ABC reported.
The powerful drama about domestic violence within a Maori family features a scene where the main character's daughter commits suicide by hanging.
The inquest is looking into admission procedures, particularly for Mr Sciascia on his first time in custody, and is expected to also canvass the presence of points within the cells from which a person could hang.
Coroner Mark Johns today was told that the remand centre might have breached its own guidelines when Mr Sciascia and other inmates were allowed to watch the movie twice, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
Mr Sciascia, 29, was found hanging from a bedsheet inside his cell in the early hours of April 28, 2007.
He had been taken into custody on domestic violence charges weeks earlier and had told other inmates and family that he was having suicidal thoughts.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Rachael Gray, said Mr Sciascia had told other inmates that he related to Once Were Warriors, which he watched the day before he killed himself.
"Mr Sciascia is said to have told his cellmate that he identified himself with the lead character of that movie, in that he could become violent when he had been drinking," Dr Gray said.
She said policies at the centre dictated that inmates should not be allowed to watch movies featuring violence and antisocial behaviour because of their potential to "negatively impact on their behaviour".
The inquest would also examine whether Mr Sciascia was properly evaluated as a suicide risk when taken into custody and the issue of hanging points within the remand centre.
"That is obviously an issue that has been before this court on numerous occasions," Dr Gray said.
- NZPA
