{"id":390101,"date":"2026-04-21T08:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/390101\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:01:12","slug":"medics-locked-out-of-australian-refuge-as-kiwi-mum-called-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/390101\/","title":{"rendered":"Medics locked out of Australian refuge as Kiwi mum called for help"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Zealand woman who fatally self-harmed at a refuge centre rang triple zero but a locked door delayed paramedics from reaching her for an hour, a coroner has heard.<\/p>\n

Warning: This story contains references to self-harm<\/p>\n

They finally gained entry with a fob key from refuge centre staff after Toko-Harieta Maki had harmed herself, Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage was told in Darwin on Monday.<\/p>\n

Police put 33-year-old Maki in handcuffs behind her back to stop her ongoing self-harm attempts as paramedics struggled to treat her, counsel assisting Chrissy McConnel said.<\/p>\n

The coroner is examining whether authorities met their obligations in attending to Maki who was at a centre in the Greater Darwin area.<\/p>\n

The court on Monday heard the emergency call made by Maki on July 25, 2024, in which she said: “I am saved by the Lord Jesus Christ”. <\/p>\n

The operator told her to unlock the door and wait for help to arrive. <\/p>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

Where to get help. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The court heard one ambulance set to attend had mechanical issues so a second crew was called but faced a further delay due to a locked gate at the refuge.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage shows two paramedics enter the room before exiting 33 seconds later, closing the door and immediately calling police to say Maki was still actively self-harming. <\/p>\n

The door was then locked.<\/p>\n

The court heard Maki, a New Zealander, had been assessed at Royal Darwin Hospital overnight before getting a room at the refuge.<\/p>\n

Maki was upset she would not get custody of her son, the court heard, and the next morning she self-harmed and made the emergency call.<\/p>\n

When her door was unlocked, an hour after the call, she was handcuffed and given a sedative but went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived, McConnel told the court.<\/p>\n

Maki had a history of mental health, self-harming, domestic violence and alcohol addiction issues, the court heard. <\/p>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

Where to get help for domestic violence. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The inquest will examine whether agencies recognised the level of risk in the case of Maki and whether they moved fast enough to respond.<\/p>\n

That included questions over the hour-long delay in reaching her after the triple-zero call.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for St John Ambulance told the court the paramedics who attended were confronted by a highly distressing scene but they provided the best care they could in trying circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Zealand woman who fatally self-harmed at a refuge centre rang triple zero but a locked door…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,42,134,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-390101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}