The Ministry of Health has been accused of a lack of transparency for refusing to say why mass killer Stephen Anderson has been recalled to a psychiatric institution.
Anderson shot dead six people, including his father, at Raurimu in the central North Island in 1997 but was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity.
After his trial he was detained as a special patient for 12 years, until his release two years ago.
Associate Health Minister Jonathan Coleman confirmed last week Anderson had been recalled to psychiatric care.
The Sensible Sentencing Trust said today the recall highlighted the lack of reliability of psychiatric assessments of dangerously ill mental health patients.
The trust's spokesman on mental health issues, Graeme Moyle, said it was impossible to predict when Anderson would have another violent psychotic episode so the best place for him to be treated was in a secure psychiatric hospital, for the sake of his and the community's safety.
He said the ministry should say why Anderson was being recalled.
"Refusing to give the reasons for Anderson's recall also shows a lack of transparency by the Ministry of Health and only leads to speculation and suspicion."
Anderson killed his father Neville, 60, Andrea Joy Brander, 52, Anthony Gordon McCarty, 63, John Frederick Matthews, 28, Stephen Mark Hanson, 38, and Henk van de Wetering, 51.
