1 August 2026, 4:48am
Doctors considering weight-loss drugs for detained man to be kept in physical restraints
Anusha Bradley
An autistic man who has spent more than 20 years in secure care has become so “obese” his doctors are considering giving him the weight-loss drug Wegovy so physical restraints he has outgrown can again be used on him, the Family Court has heard
The man, known only as ‘J’, has been taken on 10 outings in the past year but never been allowed to leave the van transporting him. He has also not seen a psychologist in the last year as she had been on leave, then left her role at Auckland’s Mason Clinic where he lived
A long-awaited Family Court review of whether J should remain detained under the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act began on Friday
The review was ordered by the Supreme Court in August 2025 after it ruled the previous legal test used to detain J was wrong. It told the Family Court to have another look at his case
The hearing has been delayed for almost a year due to trouble securing court time and the availability of witnesses
A specialist assessor told the court the outings were part of efforts to gradually increase J’s exposure to, and tolerance of, being in the community, despite him remaining inside the van each time
“But that does not take away from these experiences. He sees things outside the window,” the assessor, a psychiatrist, said
Clinicians were now considering taking J to a quiet beach and allowing him outside the van for the first time to test how he coped, he said
“It’s hard to know what [his] response will be to that kind of outing, but I think it certainly deserves to be tried.”
The court also heard J had begun spending more time outside his private rooms where he lived alone within the Auckland’s Mason Clinic to interact with staff and other clients
While he did not have access to his psychologist for the last year other staff interacted with him in a “psychologically informed manner”, the assessor said
He has recommended J remain in secure care for another three years to give him time to rehabilitate, and for a new home in the community to be found for him
“I think that’s a realistic timeframe.”
A February 2026 assessment of J found he continued to make threats and was occasionally violent but some of his behaviours, including an obsession with feet, were not sexual in nature
The assessor said J had more recently appeared “more cheerful” due to the gradual introduction of “socialisation” activities
However, he admitted the pace of rehabilitation had been slower than intended due to staff availability
The court heard J had become severely obese, which meant mechanical restraints could no longer be used on him. This limited the number of staff who felt comfortable accompanying him on outings
The Mason Clinic was considering treating him with weight-loss drug Wegovy so he could fit restraints again. These restraints were made of soft “leather-like” fabric wrapped around his wrists, attached to a belt, designed to restrict his movement
Under cross examination by the court-appointed lawyer for J, Andrew Finnie, the assessor said if J was released into the community, he would likely be arrested “in a short space of time” as he was likely to engage in “potentially aggressive…socially embarrassing behaviour”
The lawyer for J’s mother, Tony Ellis, argued J’s detention was not justified given the original offence of breaking windows would have resulted in only three months’ imprisonment. He likened J’s detention to being like a “gorilla kept in a cage”, saying he was being treated like an animal, not a human being
Now in his 40s, J has been detained since 2006 after breaking windows in 2004. Repeated assessments have found he was too dangerous to release. For the past five years he has spent almost all his time in seclusion within his “cluster” of two rooms and a bathroom at the Mason Clinic
Friday’s hearing was the first stage of the Family Court review. The second part would be heard in October
1 August 2026, 4:48am
