NEWS: Party drug claims Victorian Life

[hoptis]

Help not quick enough Coroner probes GHB death
By Natalie Tkaczuk Sikora

VICTORIA'S first fatal victim of the illegal drug GHB would still be alive had she received medical attention, a court heard yesterday.

Instead, Belinda Maree Davey, 21, lay unconscious for five hours in the front seat of the car of a drug dealer, who thought she was sleeping off the cocktail of drugs she had taken.

Belinda fell into a coma shortly after drinking GHB -- a colourless and odourless liquid she mistakenly thought was water. She also had ecstasy and speed in her system.

The 21-year-old nurse died in the Saville Hotel car park in the hours that followed, after partying at Melbourne's Pure Hard Dance club -- a rave recovery club in Bullens Lane, off Russell St, on February 19 last year.

The Coroner's Court heard others, including the drug dealer, stood around the car doing drugs, believing she would come around, and failed to call for any help.

The inquest was told GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) was a cheap party drug widely used in the rave scene, and that most people were unaware of its dangers.

Convicted drug dealer Abraham Welly Wong told police he checked on Belinda occasionally to make sure she was "snoring or something".

He had also rubbed extra speed in her mouth, mistakenly believing it would counteract the GHB effects, after she fell asleep after noon that day.

Belinda was finally discovered about 6pm by an off-duty police officer, who had coincidentally parked in the same car park.

Sen-Constable John Hollis choked back tears as he told the inquest of his desperate attempts to save her life.

The inquest was told that community ignorance of drug effects and fear by those in the drug scene that calls for medical help would attract police attention were two major obstacles between overdose victims and appropriate medical help.

Coroner Graeme Johnstone heard that the public needed to be educated that it was a misconception that if someone was asleep and snoring, this meant they were OK.

"They are probably not asleep; they are probably unconscious with the risk of death," Mr Johnstone said.

"An ambulance needs to be called. They need to be taken to hospital." He also said the fear that users would attract police involvement by calling for help needed to be dispelled.

Earlier, a forensic doctor told the hearing that she was almost certain that had Belinda received medical attention early "she would have survived this overdose".

Dr Helen Parker said Wong rubbing speed into Belinda's mouth would have done nothing to counteract the effects of GHB but might have compounded them.

Wong was convicted last November over offences including trafficking GHB and sentenced to six months' jail.

Mr Johnstone will hand down his finding on Belinda Davey's death on May 26.

From Herald Sun Edition 1 - TUE 09 MAY 2006, Page 015

 

[Spinnin]

scare tactics?

[EDIT: I've merged your thread into this one]

The herald son Recently republished the article about Belinda Davey, the 21 year old nurse who overdosed on ghb on febuary 19th of last year...now my question is why???

There was ansolutley no new evidence in the article at all and they Convineintly forget to mention that this all took place last year. it is just said "on febuary 19th" which would lead the reader to believe that it was this year. It seems as though news papers and other sorts of media are having to run with old stories and dig deeper in the barrel to get readers.....i believe it does not inturn help anyone nor the media itself, however it does support the scare tactics theory.

Just wonderin what everyone else thought, the article was on the top of page 15 in monday the 8th of may.

(in no way do i mean to not be compassionate for what happend to Belinda Davey as that is not my point at all)

 

[Spinnin]

Just wrote a thread on this completly didnt see this was added...awell accidents happen....either way i do not see it right to display the article again in the paper for no apparent reason...if i am not mistaken there is no new information??? this kind of thing annoys me immencely

 

[katmeow]

^ The story has been published again because it is currently being investigated by the coroner's court. It's not uncommon for deaths of any kind to be re-reported at the time they reach the court if it has been a notable story.

 

[hoptis]

On Friday the State Coroner released his findings into this death. Shame there seems to be nothing about making any comment on how deaths like this could be prevented in future; i.e. educating drug users on the importance of calling for medical assistance and how the police won't be called.

Clubber left to die in carpark
Ewin Hannan
May 27, 2006

BELINDA Davey had partied past dawn but she was in no mood to go home. At 7am, the 21-year-old nurse left the Bass Station Rave Club in St Kilda and drove her friends to the Pure Hard Dance Recovery Club, a favourite haunt hidden off a city laneway.

Inside the club, Davey met Abraham Welly Wong, a drug dealer who sold GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), known as grievous bodily harm, in a nearby basement car park.

Friends say Davey had only started taking illicit drugs a few weeks before. But within hours of arriving at the club, on February 19 last year, she was dead.

Yesterday, a coroner criticised friends and patrons for failing to call an ambulance when they saw her unconscious in Wong's car.

During her first visit to Wong's car, Davey consumed GHB and ecstasy (she had earlier taken ecstasy at Bass Station).

At 12.35pm, she returned to his car and took speed before going back to the club. An hour later, Davey was back in his front passenger seat.

Davey drank from a bottle containing GHB, a clear, odourless liquid, which police believe she mistakenly thought was water.

She reacted badly, spitting out the liquid. "You didn't drink from that bottle, did you?" Wong said, suggesting she take speed to "neutralise" the effect. After smoking speed from a "crack pipe", Davey subsequently passed out.

Wong, who later insisted he was monitoring her breathing and pulse, gave her more speed by rubbing 1g inside her mouth and around her gums. Nine patrons stood and watched him.

Throughout the afternoon, Davey was left in the car while Wong continued to sell drugs and socialise with friends. Rubin Bevan, a friend of Wong's who was in the car at the time of Davey's collapse, left the carpark and went shopping.

Several patrons suggested Wong call an ambulance but he refused. At 3.15pm, Davey's friend Steven Gibson saw that "her eyes were half open, and her mouth was half open".

Another person checked to see if Davey was alive.

"She barely was," Mr Gibson later told Victorian Coroner Graeme Johnstone.

"Lee (Wong) said: 'Don't worry, she'll be fine. I've already put half a gram of speed in her mouth.'

"I said, 'No, call an ambulance'. He said, 'No, because it will be all right; I've just spent 300 bucks on this stuff; I've already put in two lots'."

Mr Gibson said he "was afraid she was going to die, so I left by myself in a taxi and went home".

Mr Johnstone said Gibson "took no positive action to save his friend".

At 6pm, an off-duty police officer found Davey and called an ambulance crew, who attempted resuscitation. Davey remained in cardiac arrest and, at 6.46pm, was declared dead.

Mr Johnstone found Davey's death was preventable. "For whatever reason, from the dealer (Wong) either thinking she would recover and the use of speed would assist in that recovery, or as is more likely, not wanting police attention with the risk of being discovered, to the individuals in the drug scene not wanting to take any responsibility, what occurred was clearly very wrong," he said.

Wong later pleaded guilty to eight charges, including trafficking, possessing and using drugs. He was sentenced to three months' jail.

From The Australian

 

[mr king]

i wanna put 2 cents in i have meet this wong guy befor ages befor the death i new him for about 2 mins befor i wanted to smash him during this time he had lost his stash it was found lying on the ground cant belive the person was honest enough to give it back to him.

just shows how careless he is

i also got told that the g was not in a drink bottle but in some sort of jar im sure i got told it was a mustard jar, another thing i got told was he put 3+ grams into her mouth. its just a waste of life i feel so sorry for her mum and dad

i dont think that cop was off duty undercover cops walk through that car park all the time

does anyone know for 100% that it was im a drink bottle??????????

 

[mr king]

someone i no today got 4 years jail he was caught at a shopping center carpark with about 20g cash 20,000 pills and a gun why the fuk should he get four years and this fuking swine gets fuk all because he has found god