Fiona Joy Taylor blames bad batch of drugs for setting bins on fire

A Mount Gambier woman who set two bins alight has blamed a batch of ‘crack’ which ended up being LSD and led her to hear voices, a court heard.

The Mount Gambier woman who caused two bin fires has blamed a bad batch of drugs for her arson attack, a court has heard.

Fiona Joy Taylor, 53, said methamphetamine that turned out to be LSD caused her to hear “voices” and commit her latest offending.

The Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard Taylor was found near a bin set alight along Penola Road on March 20.

She was found again at a bin fire at Brunning Place on March 22, where she was later arrested.

Remains of a wheelie bin after it was set alight. File picture: Alix Sweeney

Taylor said bad drugs led her to hear voices.

“When I take the drug, I hear this voice that says ‘help me, help me, help me’,” she said.

“It’s supposed to be ice, but I did do a test and it was LSD … it’s supposed to just be crack.”

Taylor was also sentenced for an assault charge after her neighbour heard her screaming outside her home in January, 2021.

“Ms Taylor was holding a steel pole — she was holding the pole in one hand and trying to hit the screen door at the same time,” a police prosecutor said.

“The victim was terrified.”

In another January incident, Taylor was found on another person's property “waving a shovel above her head”, agitated there might have been foster children inside the unit.

Taylor pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including assault and damage property by fire.

Fiona Joy Taylor pleaded guilty to five separate charges between January 2021, and March 2022 in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court. Picture: File

Taylor told the court she had attempted to overcome her ice addiction but still needed help.

She said a previous sexual assault allegedly committed by her former flatmate had contributed to her poor mental health.

“I don’t know if I was drugged — I woke up next to the person the next morning with no clothes on,” she said.

Magistrate Paul Foley told Taylor she needed to deal with her mental health and drug abuse or risk seeing “more of the court system”.

“The penalties will probably increase,” Mr Foley said.

He also warned setting fires had the “potential for things to go well beyond what happened on this occasion.”

Taylor was sentenced three months jail, which was backdated to March 22.

However, she will be released after one month on a 12-month, $200 good behaviour bond.

Taylor was also ordered to pay $200 in compensation to the Mount Gambier Club.