Suicide pact: Waikato woman to fight charges after man's death

Rhys Thomassen died while after escaping mental health care at the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre.

A woman facing a suicide pact charge after a man in mental health care died is going to trial.

The 28-year-old has name suppression until her trial in the High Court at Hamilton later this year.

She is accused of entering a suicide pact in which Rhys Thomassen died.

Thomassen had been in the care of the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre, in Hamilton, but ran away from an escorted leave walking group on November 11, 2019.

He was found dead by police at 3.45am, near the Hamilton Central Police Station.

The woman's lawyer, Kerry Burroughs, told Justice Graham Lang that his client would fight the charges and had requested a judge-alone - as opposed to a jury - trial.

She was remanded on bail to reappear then.