An elderly Creswick man who murdered his wife on Christmas Day in 2019 remains in prison waiting on assessments of his suitability to live in a specialist dementia facility.
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A Supreme Court hearing was held on Thursday for a doctor to provide an update on progress in the assessment of Edward Alan Rowen and what had caused the lengthy delays.
Justice Lesley Taylor handed down her finding in June last year that Rowen, now 85, committed the murder of his 78-year-old wife, Rosalie Rowen, at their Creswick home. She declared Rowen liable to supervision, which means a different supervision regime to the usual sentencing process will be imposed.
Rowen has been in custody since the offence date and will remain there until a decision is made on an appropriate location for his supervision. A report on available services and on Rowen's mental state is yet to be prepared and must be provided to the court before a decision is made.
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Forensicare forensic psychiatrist Dr Ria Zergiotis said on Thursday there had been delays with assessments, but there had been ongoing liaison with relevant agencies to make them happen as quickly as possible.
She said she was hopeful Rowen would be assessed for a specialised dementia care unit at a Wintringham facility in May and there were two other facilities that could assess him if this one resulted in a rejection.
"I am hoping those assessments will occur very quickly," Dr Zergiotis said.
"Everything that can be done is being done to expedite these placements for Mr Rowen."
Rowen bludgeoned his wife in the head 20 times with what was believed to be a solid wooden elephant and later told police 'he lost it' on the night of the murder.
The specialised dementia facilities are the best longer-term options for someone like Mr Rowen for longer-term management and quality of life.
- Doctor
Mrs Rowen was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital after the assault between 8.30pm and 9.45pm and died in the early hours of the next morning. The couple had been married 56 years and had four children together.
A judge-only special hearing for the case was held in March last year, after Rowen was found unfit to stand trial.
The court was told Rowen was not able to provide an account of the offence or instructions to his defence counsel due to his mental impairment, likely Alzheimer's disease. Rowen's defence counsel said there had been no reported history of family violence and Rowen had no criminal history.
Crown prosecutor David Glynn asked Dr Zergiotis whether the specialist dementia facilities assessing Rowen would be made aware of the crime. She confirmed they would.
"To be blunt about it, they will know the last time he was in a home setting a tragedy occurred?" he asked.
Dr Zergiotis also responded to questions from defence barrister Tim Marsh about Forensicare's oversight of Rowen's assessment process.
She confirmed Forensicare clinical services director had direct oversight over cases like this and there had been an increase in elderly people in this situation awaiting placement over the last few years.
"The specialised dementia facilities are the best longer-term options for someone like Mr Rowen for longer-term management and quality of life," Dr Zergiotis said.
"What has complicated matters is over the last few months with COVID-19 restrictions, some of the assessments have been delayed. There are a lot of stakeholders here that need to come together and they have come together at various points for case conferences to try to make sure assessments that are needed are streamlined and expedited.
"There are barriers with the way the system is set up at the moment."
Rowen refused to join the video link to the prison from custody for the short mention hearing on Thursday morning.
Justice Taylor said the case was complex and would be adjourned for another two months to allow assessments to be completed.
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