The management of the Maribyrnong detention centre in suburban Melbourne was unaware a man who took his own life had made a suicide attempt seven weeks earlier, a coroner has been told.
Indian citizen Dalvir Singh, 27, committed suicide in the centre on February 13, having also tried to take his life while in custody at Pakenham police station overnight on Boxing Day last year.
But the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and Serco, the company that manages the Maribyrnong centre, did not know of Mr Singh's self-harm risk, according to an inquest opening previously tendered to the Coroners Court and obtained by Fairfax Media on Friday.
The inquest has heard there was conflicting evidence whether police at Pakenham told Serco guards of Mr Singh's suicide attempt when the guards transferred him from the police station and into their care on January 10.
According to an opening prepared by Simon McGregor, the counsel assisting the coroner, police noted the man's suicide attempt on the Victoria Police database, but neither Serco or the department has access to the database.
Neither asked for specific information about Mr Singh of either Victorian or federal police, Mr McGregor said.
Mr Singh did not disclose his suicide attempt to detention centre staff during mental-health assessments in January, the opening said.
Mr Singh arrived in Australia in 2007 on a student visa that was cancelled in 2009.
His failure to extend a bridging visa meant he was declared an unlawful citizen.
He married in Australia in 2013 and became a father but was arrested on Boxing Day last year over a family violence matter.
He had a blood alcohol level of 0.137 at the time. He was again arrested in January for allegedly breaching an intervention order.
Coroner Jacqui Hawkins is investigating whether there should have been better communication between the agencies about Mr Singh and what they knew, or should have known, and what they did, or should have done, given his risk of self-harm.
The inquest is scheduled to continue next week.
