KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's most secure psychiatric ward was home to an illicit love triangle between an insane triple killer and two workers.
Staff at Auckland's Mason Clinic have also been accused of taking patients home to mow their lawns.
The killer, who has name suppression and can only be known as X, accused a female nurse of having an inappropriate relationship with him.
The nurse, known as Ms L, was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal last month and now faces being struck off.
But she remains nursing elsewhere until the penalty is decided.
The Weekend Herald can now reveal that a female psychiatric assistant was also involved in "alleged misconduct" with X at the same time in 2004.
The assistant, known as Ms C, left the clinic before she could be dismissed.
X claims to be in a relationship with a woman believed to be Ms C, who is understood to be working in medical circles in Australia.
The misconduct Ms L was found guilty of included taking X on unauthorised visits to her home.
Documents obtained by the Weekend Herald show a clinic staff member appeared before the tribunal in her defence, saying other workers took patients home with them.
"Most recently, staff members have taken patients home for labouring jobs such as lawn-mowing," he said.
Ms L's misconduct with X led to the clinic calling a rare "serious incident review" after it was found she ignored a possible escape bid involving another patient _ also with name suppression _ who went on to become one of New Zealand's most notorious murderers upon his later release.
The tribunal ruling has also highlighted the clinic's policy of community visits for patients such as X _ Ms L is accused of using these to sneak him away to have sex at her home or in toilets at the nearby Unitec polytechnic, Pt Chevalier library and McDonald's.
The Waitemata District Health Board's clinical director of forensic psychiatry services, Dr Sandy Simpson, declined to comment directly on matters raised by the case.
