The son of a woman bashed to death by her neighbour wants support for people dealing with mental health, drug and alcohol issues bolstered to avoid the same devastation again.
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Maud Steenbeek was on a Skype call to her brother in the Netherlands when a stranger who lived across the street broke into her Melbourne home in January 2020.
Her brother heard her cry out and then the call cut off, prompting him to phone his nephews and ask them to check on their mother.
Her son Adam found Xochil Quetzal O'Neill standing over Ms Steenbeek in the front bedroom of her Heidelberg West house, armed with a decorative Samoan paddle he had picked up inside.
O'Neill appeared to be in a psychosis before he tried to hit Adam with the paddle, prompting Ms Steenbeek's son to strike him with the bat to incapacitate him while he checked on his mother.
The 61-year-old yoga and pilates teacher was in the foetal position and had suffered fatal blows to the head and upper back.
Neighbours had been calling police about O'Neill for 30 minutes before the attack.
O'Neill had spent periods receiving voluntary inpatient psychiatric care for a decade - most recently just weeks earlier.
He was in May 2021 found not guilty of Ms Steenbeek's murder on grounds of mental impairment.
Her son Luke Zecevic said he wanted a coronial inquest into her death to result in major improvements in Victoria's mental health, drug and alcohol support systems.
He was primarily focused on how people living with mental health issues were managed in the community.
"I've witnessed the gaps ... I lost my mum to this," Mr Zecevic told the Coroners Court of Victoria on Monday.
"Our mental health and drug system in Melbourne is bad and it's getting worse.
"If we can make some type of change ... it's something that's close to my heart."
Mr Zecevic pointed to lengthy waitlists for people in Victoria to access rehabilitation services, and said his current neighbour who was living with mental health issues wasn't getting the help she needed.
Police were called to her property frequently and she abused neighbours, Mr Zecevic said.
"Someone can just click and go on a rampage," he told the court.
Mr Zecevic wanted the coroner to look at police's lacking emergency response and help his family recover his mother's belongings, which he was unable to get during criminal proceedings.
He said he wanted the best for O'Neill and his recovery at the forensic mental health hospital Thomas Embling but asked that his toxicology be reviewed in case he was in a psychosis induced by undetected drugs.
Coroner Simon McGregor said he would help Ms Steenbeek's sons get her belongings, and told Mr Zecevic: "I can see that you're motivated to want a better society here in Victoria, and the coroners court wants that too".
The coroner noted earnest work was underway to fix the state's mental health system following a royal commission.
He will determine whether a hearing over Ms Steenbeek's death is needed, or whether he can solve the matter through an investigation.
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Australian Associated Press
