A Hamilton woman said her pleas for help with a mental health patient threatening her neighbour were ignored and the woman was dead soon after.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said she called the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre when a patient who was a friend came to her house and threatened her neighbour.
She said her pleas were ignored and not long after the calls her neighbour, Diane Elizabeth White, 53, was dead.
A 40-year-old Hamilton woman accused of murdering Ms White was remanded in custody until February 3 for psychiatric evaluation when she appeared in Hamilton District Court yesterday.
The neighbour told The New Zealand Herald the woman's erratic behaviour was frightening. She had run away from the psychiatric health centre but the neighbour said when she called the centre twice and nothing happened.
The first time she asked the centre to get the police. When the police did not arrive she called the centre a second time and was told to call police herself.
She told the newspaper she dialled 111 for help as her friend left and allegedly went to Ms White's house.
Waikato police district commander Superintendent Allan Boreham said police received three emergency calls but would not say how police reacted after the initial call.
NZPA