Methadone `mix-up’ that killed sick child: [1 All-round Country Edition]
John Stapleton, Annabelle McDonald. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 Sep 2005: 1.
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Abstract
[Rose Marie Villanueva-Austin] died on Sunday after a sick, sleepless night during which Austin says she treated her with doses of the painkiller Dymadon. She claims she gave the child a dose of medicine out of the Dimetapp bottle at about 3am, then sent Rose back to bed.
Desperate to get off methadone, Austin claims she had over a period of months been weaning herself off the drug by collecting her takeaways from the chemist twice a week and taking only a small amount. The rest was being stored in order, she says, to help her get off the drug altogether and to save the $77 a fortnight in prescription costs. Some of that methadone was stored by King in the Dimetapp bottle on the fridge, Austin alleges.
Sergeant [Terry James] also tendered evidence yesterday from a phone conversation between the pair, obtained by a listening device placed in their home between September 20 and 22, in which Austin allegedly asked King how the two bottles could have been mixed up. “How could you put methadone in a Dimetapp bottle. They look the same, you dumb shit,” Austin said.
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SIX-YEAR-OLD Rose Marie Villanueva-Austin couldn’t eat. She was also vomiting and suffering from a severe head cold when her mother reached for theDimetapp last Saturday.
The bottle of cold and flu syrup was on top of the fridge with the rest of the family medicines.
Unbeknown to Rose’s mother, Julie-Anne Austin, her boyfriend had filled the Dimetapp bottle with methadone, the drug used inthe treatment of narcotics addicts suffering withdrawal and dependence.
Blacktown Local Court, in western Sydney, heard yesterday that a toxicology report on Rose found her system contained enough methadone to kill an adult.
Now Austin, a 44-year-old with a drug history, and her boyfriend, John King, 55, are charged with Rose’s murder, the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, methadone, and the cultivation of cannabis plants.
Police prosecutor Terry James said in court that police believed Austin’s and King’s versions of events had been fabricated. He described the pair as displaying “reckless indifference to life”.
The case has since exposed “systemic failures” within the state’s child protection agency.
Rose died on Sunday after a sick, sleepless night during which Austin says she treated her with doses of the painkiller Dymadon. She claims she gave the child a dose of medicine out of the Dimetapp bottle at about 3am, then sent Rose back to bed.
At 7am, Rose came into the bedroom and lay on a lounge at the foot of her mother’s bed. When Austin checked her at 9am, she found Rose covered in vomit and no longer breathing.
In the two days following Rose’s death, two of King’s children were taken to hospital also suffering methadone poisoning.
One had complained the medicine tasted bitter, and when Austin tasted it, she says, she realised the mix-up.
Like many such cases where a child dies in such a seemingly pointless series of events, it seems surprising that Rose fell through Continued — Page 2
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the cracks in the first place and once again the role of the Department of Community Services has come into question.
The Cattai home in Sydney’s northwest was described by police prosecutor Sergeant Terry James as a “supermarket of drugs”.
Police found an “extensive” amount of prescription drugs, 13 marijuana plants and two litres of methadone stored in three 500ml bottles and 14 other smaller bottles, known as “takeaways”.
Desperate to get off methadone, Austin claims she had over a period of months been weaning herself off the drug by collecting her takeaways from the chemist twice a week and taking only a small amount. The rest was being stored in order, she says, to help her get off the drug altogether and to save the $77 a fortnight in prescription costs. Some of that methadone was stored by King in the Dimetapp bottle on the fridge, Austin alleges.
In police facts tendered to the court, Austin is alleged to have said: “I can’t believe it, I had three boys before my girl. All I wanted was my little girl. I loved her but I killed her.
“I fed her the done (methadone), the Dimetapp, I gave her the done instead of the Dimetapp it was near.”
Sergeant James also tendered evidence yesterday from a phone conversation between the pair, obtained by a listening device placed in their home between September 20 and 22, in which Austin allegedly asked King how the two bottles could have been mixed up. “How could you put methadone in a Dimetapp bottle. They look the same, you dumb shit,” Austin said.
He replied: “I know.”
A tearful Austen told the court she had been living on her own in the inner-city suburb of Pyrmont when she met King on the internet. She wanted someone to look after her and her daughter and she found he fitted in well.
They moved out to the semi-rural suburb of Cattai, determined to start a new life with her daughter. Her new boyfriend’s partner had died and she helped get his children off to school each morning.
“Everything was going so well,” she sobbed yesterday.
Ending her dependency on methadone was part of her determination to start a new life.
Rose’s father, Tony Villanueva, has this week defended his former partner and described her as a loving mother.
The couple split two years ago and have remained amicable throughout the separation.
Sad, angry and confused, yesterday he held back tears describing the nightly trip he made from his Erskineville flat to the morgue at Westmead where his little girl now lies lifeless.
“I go out there every night, I talk to her, kiss her and cuddle her,” he said.
“My Rosie. I just want to be with her and I know she would expect me to do that. The gown they gave her at the morgue wasn’t a good fit so I brought her long-johns, undies, socks, a little hat and wrapped her in her favourite horse blanket and gave her her favourite little duck toy.
“It wasn’t until last night I realised the pillows there were so hard. I got her a new one today and am taking it to her.” Rose was, he said, “more than a joy and an honour to be around.” “I will live and breathe that kid until the day I die.”
In court yesterday Austin alleged that she had no idea there was methadone in the Dimetapp bottle until after her daughter had died, and King’s children became sick and was rushed to hospital.
“I had no idea, I didn’t do it, I had no idea,” the grief- stricken mother said.
King was refused bail. Austen was also formally refused bail and her application for bail continues this Wednesday at Blacktown Court.
NSW Opposition community services spokesman Andrew Humpherson said there were over 200,000 notifications a year to the help line.