Australia: Jail over drug injection death

A MAN whose girlfriend died after she allowed him to inject her with amphetamines has been jailed for six years.

Victoria Supreme Court judge, Justice Stephen Kaye, today ordered Paul Anthony Toms to serve a minimum non-parole term of four years.

Toms, 36, originally charged with manslaughter, pleaded guilty to one count of reckless conduct which placed 18-year-old Stephanie Gracie in danger of death.

Justice Kaye said that Toms first injected himself after he and Ms Gracie had driven to Stevenson's Falls near Marysville in central Victoria on January 14 last year, to discuss problems with their relationship.

Toms told police that Ms Gracie, who, according to her mother, was terrified of needles, then tried to inject herself.

He took over because she was doing it the wrong way.

The judge said that Toms injected Ms Gracie, who had never before used amphetamines, knowing she was too scared to inject herself.

"Accordingly, you injected her with what you say was a small amount of amphetamines," said the judge.

The couple then drove home to Altona and, at about 6am, Toms put Ms Gracie to bed when her eyes rolled back in her head and she began foaming at the mouth.

Toms claimed he fell asleep in front of the television and didn't check on her until 1pm when he found her dead.

A post-mortem examination found she died from toxicity to amphetamines.

The judge said the least Toms could have done was to take Ms Gracie to a doctor.

"Having recklessly imperilled Stephanie Gracie's life by injecting her with amphetamines, you failed to take any appropriate steps to redeem the situation when it became apparent that her life was indeed at risk," said the judge.

By pleading guilty Toms had accepted he was reckless in that he foresaw that the probable consequence of injecting his girlfriend would be that she died.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2005
Source: Advertiser, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 Advertiser Newspapers Ltd
Contact: advedit@adv.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/
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Author: AAP