The second week of the inquest into the death of Christie Marceau has started with evidence from two mental health experts who dealt with her killer after he was bailed.
Christie died in her mother's arms in their North Shore home on November 7 2011.
She was fatally stabbed by Akshay Anand Chand.
The 18-year-old was on bail and facing charges of earlier kidnapping, threatening and assaulting Christie.
The inquest, before Coroner Katharine Greig, aims to ascertain what information was available to the judge who released Chand on bail and what police did to monitor him after his release, among other things.
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So far the inquest has heard from Christie's parents Tracey and Brian Marceau, police who arrested Chand and dealt with his case including fighting to keep him remanded in custody, prosecutors, North Shore District Court staff and mental health workers involved in the killer's care.
Community mental health nurse Louise Hayward-Rowse has this morning outlined her involvement with Chand after he was released on bail.
She told the inquest that she phone Chand's home on October 13 2011 and spoke to his mother.
"I inquired about Akshay's current mental well-being, asking questions about his current medication to which his mother replied that Akshay was 'doing well on his tablets' and she had noticed some improvements with regards to his mood and his motivation around the house," she said.
"His mother then passed the telephone to Akshay.
"Akshay stated that he was feeling good."
Hayward-Rowse asked Chand if he had thoughts of ending his life, injuring or harming himself or anyone else and whether anyone had made him upset or angry.
She also spoke to him about his court case and ascertained that he understood the process and what was expected of him.
He'd spoken to his lawyer, he said, and was "feeling optimistic" and would "try his best to put forward his case".
"I confirmed that he also had the contact details of the North Shore Mental Health Team should he have any further questions or need to contact the team for any reason," Hayward-Rowse said.
"I also confirmed that he had an appointment with his GP who would follow up the prescribing and continuation of his antidepressant."
On the morning Christie was killed, Chand's mother called Hayward-Rowse.
During the call at 9.29am Suchita Chand told the nurse that her son had left the house.
"I advised his mother to contact police due to her concerns for his whereabouts and that he was contravening his bail conditions," she said.
Hayward-Rowse noted the call on Chand's file.
She would later find out that Chand left the house just before 7am, walked to the Marceau family home and stabbed Christie to death.
Earlier today the inquest heard from forensic psychiatrist Sally French who was part of a team that assessed Chand at the Mason Clinic.
After that assessment they made the decision to pass Chand's care back to his GP.
French said at the time of Chand's assessment he would not engage with the team or discuss his offending.
"He wasn't forthcoming.... He was disinterested," she said.
French said Chand "was not presenting as being acutely mentally unwell" and she had "no further concerns".
It was noted that Chand had mild depression but was responding to treatment.
She noted that Chand's mother had no concerns and that he had a follow up appointment scheduled the next week with his GP.
Chand's file was effectively closed by Mason Clinic staff and handed back to his GP for ongoing treatment.
French told the inquest that it was common for 18-year-old males to "struggle with engaging with mental health services".
She said she knew the basic details of Chand's offending but did not have the police summary of facts, nor did she know how close his address was to Christie's.
She said that in her career she had "ever been in a situation" where a person she'd assessed had gone on "to commit that kind of crime that he did".
French maintained that if there were any concerns whatsoever about Chand - she would have raised that with the appropriate agencies.
Her job was to assess his mental state though, not to protect the public from him.
She assumed that Chand's bail conditions would adequately address his offending - her job was simply to assess his mental state.
She told the inquest she believed "the judicial system" had more accountability for monitoring Chand.
When asked by Greig's counsel Hanne Janes what could be done in future to prevent similar incidents, French was clear.
"Better sharing of information," she said.
"As this has evolved, it's become clear there was a lot of concern around information police had."
That information was not conveyed to mental health assessors.
"We haven't perfected the art of being able to read minds," she said.
"I wish we could."
