Remote employee did not take jab before mass attack

A fly-in fly-out (FIFO) worker skipped his medication multiple times prior to assaulting seven people.

Authorities recently confirmed Ashley Dean Fildes did not have antipsychotic drugs for nearly five months before going on a knifing rampage.

Investigators revealed the maintenance employee failed to show up for regular injections between December 2019 and May 2020.

Colleagues expressed concern about the 34-year-old’s mental health state after just three days on the job. The employer sent him back to his accommodation for not following directions and behaving erratically on May 1.

Fildes allegedly used two kitchen knives to stab a male housekeeper in the arm, male pedestrian outside and another two men in a McDonald’s car park. He then knifed a mother and another man at the South Hedland Shopping Centre, before threatening to “f––king kill” police officers.

Officers ordered the FIFO employee to drop the weapon before shooting him three times in the chest, causing heavy blood loss and death at the scene.

Most of his victims were transported to Royal Perth Hospital for emergency medical treatment.

Psychiatrist Anthony Abish acknowledged Fildes was very unwell during the attacks. However, there was no way to mandate injections because he was a voluntary paranoid schizophrenia patient. He neither met requirements for involuntary mental health orders nor had any history of violence.

An inquest into quality of mental health care was launched into the incident.