A psychiatric nurse said he would have put a mental health patient — who hanged himself at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute — under closer observation had he known of his final conversations with family members.

Michael O'Neil, who was on duty shortly before Shandal Richardson was found hanging from an upturned bed, told an inquest yesterday he believed Mr. Richardson was in the mental health facility for self harm, and not suicide.

Mr. Richardson, 35, was admitted to MWI on March 4 last year after trying to stab himself with a knife at his Southampton home.

He was deemed to be a suicide risk by an Emergency Room doctor at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital before being admitted to MWI where he was placed in the acute care Somers' Annexe.

However, in MWI he was under "routine monitoring" according to paperwork filled out.

The inquest has previously heard that Mr. Richardson was initially placed in a room at MWI used for "observation and seclusion", which only had a bare mattress and a urinal bucket. However, he was moved to a different room before his death in the early hours of the next day, March 5, when he tied one end of a bedsheet around his neck and the other to a bedpost.

Earlier in the inquest Shakera Richardson told the court she spoke with her cousin, Mr. Richardson, on the evening before his death. She told the court Mr. Richardson kept repeating "it's too late" and that his family no longer wanted him when she told him to be strong and think of his family. The conversation was never reported to the staff on duty.

Nor was a conversation which took place the evening of March 4 between Mr. Richardson and his wife, Denise Richardson. During that conversation she told him she would speak to him soon but he replied "I don't think so".

Mr. O'Neil told Magistrate Juan Wolffe he may have treated Mr. Richardson differently had he known about these conversations. While he acknowledged he would not have been moved to the seclusion room, because a violent prisoner was already there, he said he would have put Mr. Richardson on "one-on-one" watch where a member of staff sits with potentially suicidal patients.

Supervisor Marlene Taylor also spoke at yesterday's inquest saying she monitored the patients every five to 20 minutes through CCTV footage and did physical checks every hour. She told the court that she found Mr. Richardson hanging from his up turned bed at approximately 2.30 a.m.

Earlier in the evening she had noticed him taking his mattress off the bed but added this did not concern her as patients often do that.

The inquest continues today.