Ashburton income and job killer Russell Tully on hunger strike behind bars

Double Work and Income killer Russell John Tully has been on a hunger strike behind bars for 24 days, protesting that his strange self-medication regimen has been blocked.

Tully, who is serving a life sentence of at least 27 years without parole for the 2014 Winz murders, stopped taking food on April 8.

Otago Correctional Center prison director Dave Miller confirmed Tully’s 54-year hunger strike to the Herald.

“The staff is doing everything possible to encourage you to continue eating and is committed to supporting your health and wellness,” said Miller.

Tully is understood to claim that prison heads have stopped his preferred method of treating what he says is a recurrent ear infection that is resistant to penicillin.

Throughout his 2016 trial in Christchurch Superior Court, it became clear that Tully was concerned about what he felt was a debilitating skin condition, and that he was using peroxide to treat it.

When an Ashburton Winz manager first met Tully in July 2014, he told her he had “some kind of skin disorder” that he used peroxide to treat.

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He was upset when Winz staff said they couldn’t help him with cash to buy the bottles of hydrogen peroxide that he stuck in his ear.

A pharmacist told the court that “I would not recommend it for a skin condition,” saying it was generally used as a cleaning product or to bleach fabrics.

Tully is believed to be planning to continue her hunger strike until her medication is reinstated.

Tully embarked on several self-induced hunger strikes while awaiting and during the trial, protesting her perceived lack of medication.

After 33 days of a hunger strike in prison, he says he almost died.

“They knew he was a chronic criminal, they were waiting for him to die,” he said.

This week Miller said that the physical and mental health of all inmates is paramount and that Tully is being closely monitored by health and custodial staff on a regular basis. It includes “extensive and ongoing consultations” with on-site doctors, as well as mental health services.

“The prisoner remains well, and there are no concerns at this time that he is in immediate danger,” Miller said.

“[Tully] He has previously turned down the food to try to convince the staff to fulfill his requests. “

The Otago Correctional Center in Milburn, some 40 km south of Dunedin, has comprehensive procedures for handling prisoners who refuse food voluntarily, including housing people in the Intervention and Support Unit (ISU) to provide “a better supervision of them “; provide treatment and support to registered nurses, mental health physicians, and other staff; ensuring continuous contact through phone calls with the family; keep nominated family members regularly updated on the person’s well-being, if requested or required; and facilitate contact with other support people as requested.

“Corrections will continue to work with this prisoner to ensure adequate support and treatment,” said Miller.

“My site takes its duty of care and the safety and well-being of those who run it very seriously, and I would like to recognize them for their professionalism in this matter.”

Tully, who spent years working in the mines of Western Australia, is appealing his conviction and sentence.

An appeals court spokeswoman confirmed to the Herald on Sunday that her case has been rescheduled for a one-day meeting in Wellington on June 10.

The Herald understands Sunday that Tully believes he has connective tissue disease, which affected his mood at the time of the shooting and during his trial.

Tully was convicted in 2016 of breaking into the Ashburton Winz Center at 9:51 a.m. on September 1, 2014, and of shooting the 67-year-old receptionist Peggy Noble from the shooting range and case manager. Shooting Susan Leigh Cleveland, 55, Three Times While Begging For Her Life

Judge Cameron Mander described the shooting as “cold-blooded executions” of a “very dangerous person” capable of extremely violent actions.

In his sentencing, Tully alleged a “significant cover-up by the Crown” regarding the disclosure and evidence, and further stated that he had no access to a lawyer.

“If I was guilty and I went out and killed two people, I would take it and say, ‘That was me.’ But obviously that was not the case and I rejected the charge,” Tully said.

Tully was found to be mentally capable of facing double murder and attempted murder charges after a previous hearing under the Criminal Procedure (Persons with Mental Disabilities Act) of 2003.

In 2018, Tully was interviewed behind bars by a high-ranking detective who was reviewing the 20-year-old unsolved case of the murdered Ashburton schoolgirl Kirsty Bentley.

Tully, a former local diesel mechanic who grew up in Ashburton, was dismissed as a suspect after police were satisfied with his alibi. The case remains unsolved.