The mother of a man shot dead outside Lismore Base Hospital says she is looking forward to the coronial inquest into his death to find out more about his final few hours.
Forty-three-year-old Dwayne Johnstone was shot and killed about 7:30pm on March 15, 2019, in the custody of Corrective Services NSW officers.
A coronial inquest into his death is now set for a hearing in Ballina in October.
Detectives from the Richmond Police District have prepared a brief of evidence which has been provided to the Coroner's Court of NSW.
In a statement, a Corrective Services NSW spokesperson said it deeply regretted the death of Mr Johnstone and every death in custody was thoroughly reviewed by its investigations team and independently by NSW Police.
The brief of evidence before the Coroner is expected to include video footage from the hospital's CCTV cameras.
It allegedly shows an officer shooting the inmate on the street outside Lismore Base Hospital as he tried to escape custody after a warning shot was fired.
Mr Johnstone had been taken into custody that day after he was refused bail by a Lismore magistrate.
Mother seeks answers
His mother, Kerry Shanahan, said she was still distraught and had not been able to get clear answers as to the order of events.
"I am shocked, but I know things take time," she said.
Ms Shanahan says she has had little contact from either Corrective Services NSW officials or NSW Police.
"I would have liked a few people to ring. I haven't even heard from the police," she said.
The 66-year-old retired aged care nurse said she was informed of her son's death by her ex-husband.
"He just rang and said Dwayne's dead … he was shot," she said.
"I was stunned, of course."
Ms Shanahan said her son was always in trouble as a child, even "kicked out of preschool".
Custody was shared between his parents and grandparents.
She said despite her misgivings, she had strong memories of him accompanying her to weekend work at an aged care home in Summer Hill.
"Dwayne would sit there and help me feed the oldies, cleaned their teeth. He loved old people, just loved them," she said.
"He could make anything with matchsticks, that's what you learn when you are in jail.
"He just always fell in with the wrong crowd."
Ms Shanahan lives at Lumeah, in south-western Sydney, but said she would make the 800-kilometre trip north to finally get some answers.
"Nothing will stop me. Even if I have to hitchhike, I'll get there," she said.
The inquest is set for October 26 to 30 at Ballina Court House.
Death prompted new procedures
The Health Services Union is confident changes made to hospital procedures since the shooting have made it a safer place.
"It was such an awful event that happened. We are very lucky that no other people were injured in that incident," HSU organiser Peter Kelly said.
Changes include advanced warning that prisoners are coming and leaving the hospital, and moving the prisoner transfers to the ambulance bay where there is a safe room, rather than on the main street outside the hospital.
"What we never want to not ever happen again is for a prisoner transfer to happen on Uralba Street," Mr Kelly said.
The procedural changes have been agreed to in an interim memorandum of understanding between the Northern New South Wales Local Health District and the Corrective Services NSW, which is expected to be finalised later this year.
