Neighbours angry at public housing deaths

Robert Roll's body was not discovered despite neighbours raising concerns for his safety with the Department of Housing. Source: PerthNow

IT wasn't the nauseating stench but an overflowing mailbox that prompted the Department of Housing to check on a 75-year-old cancer patient who had been dead in his Perth apartment for two years.

Robert Roll's skeletal remains were found slumped in the bedroom of his Wellington Street public housing unit on July 7, 2011 - two years after he discharged himself from Royal Perth Hospital, after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Home-based care arrangements were not made for Mr Roll because he had discharged himself.

The elderly man - who had lost contact with his UK-based family several years earlier and had no close friends - was pain free and insisted he wanted to maintain his independence, although he ultimately agreed to some assistance.

The WA Coroners Court heard today that nurses from in-home health and care provider Silver Chain only visited Mr Roll once, after he was "not compliant with their services''.

After he died, there were several signs that something was amiss.

He missed an oncology appointment, his gas and electricity bills weren't paid, resulting in the services being disconnected, and a vile smell permeated the apartment block during the hot summer months.

Neighbours Leanne Scobell and Ashley Wilson initially thought Mr Roll had moved out or been put in a nursing home.

They put the foul odour down to being a dead animal possibly trapped in the lift shaft.

Outside court, Ms Scobell said they complained about the smell more than once but the Department of Housing did nothing.

"It was like a dead animal - it was horrendous. It would make you want to vomit the minute you'd walk in the foyer,'' she said.

Then in late 2010, she noticed Mr Roll's mailbox was overflowing and went next door to the department's headquarters to inform them.

"I thought they would do a routine check and see if he was okay,'' Ms Scobell told the court.

In May 2011, she and Mr Wilson also asked during a property inspection if Mr Roll had moved out.

It wasn't until another neighbour, Barbara Mansell, contacted the department twice about the mail that housing officers made the grim discovery during a welfare check some two months later.

"It was shocking really,'' Ms Scobell said.

"And it happened again afterwards - the lady next door had been left (dead) in her unit for two weeks.''

Mr Wilson said property inspections were not done regularly enough but if they had been, Mr Roll would have been found earlier.

Ms Scobell said it was frustrating the department didn't pay heed to her various concerns.

"It was like you were smacking your head against a brick wall,'' she said.

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