Stacie Renee Dutaillis charged with manslaughter over Mackay teen overdose

An accused killer who allegedly provided strong pain medication to several Mackay children leaving one of them dead from a ‘toxic’ brain injury plans to fight the charges.

An accused killer who allegedly provided strong pain medication to several Mackay children, leaving one of them dead from a “toxic” brain injury plans to fight the charges.

Stacie Renee Dutaillis, 36, faced Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with one count each of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, and two counts each of negligent acts causing harm and supply medicines or hazardous poisons.

Jerome Banu was age 15 when he died of a tramadol overdose at a North Mackay home in September last year, an incident that left his five of his friends in hospital.

Police allege Ms Dutaillis provided the opioid Tramadol to the six children at a Malcolmson St home on the night of September 29 last year telling them if they took the drug “they could get high”.

Police allege Ms Dutaillis was the sole adult at the property and that after the incident she “manipulated” the surviving children into giving a fictitious account of what occurred.

Magistrate Suzette Coates said the cause of death for the 15 year old was a “toxic brain injury”.

Police prosecutor Jane Macdonald said she wanted to “emphasise the extreme seriousness of the offence resulting in the death of one person”.

Ms Coates responded: “A child”.

Ms Dutaillis’s lawyer said his client would be contesting the charges at this stage and submitted strict bail conditions including a no contact provision and police reporting could ameliorate any risk of her failing to appear or interfere with witnesses.

He disputed the police assertion that Ms Dutaillis was homeless, saying she had accommodation at a Brisbane backpackers, and argued the matter could take a significant time to reach a trial.

“We’re looking at 18 months to two years, until this matter makes its way to trial. It’s unusual given its nature and the particulars of the offending. This is not a death by beating, suffocation, so on and so forth,” he said.

The lawyer said the crown’s position was that the woman’s alleged acts in supplying Tramadol to the children were “negligent”.

“They suggest … that there was no intent to cause, simply a negligent act,” he said.

He said the children had previously claimed “they themselves were responsible for the ingestion of the medicine” before providing a different version of alleged events that saw his client charged.

Ms Coates denied bail, noting Ms Dutaillis had an “unflattering criminal history” including nine fail to appear offences and she posed an alleged risk of failing to appear. The matter was adjourned to June 6 in Mackay.

Police on scene at a North Mackay home after teenage boy was reportedly taken to hospital, with five others receiving treatment. Picture: Matthew Forrest

At a media conference, Mackay Child Protection Investigation Unit Officer in Charge Emma Novosel said the woman had been legally prescribed the drugs in May last year for a chronic injury.

But instead of taking them as prescribed, Ms Dutaillis allegedly stockpiled the drugs.

“She told them if they took [the drug] they could get high”, Senior sergeant Emma Novosel said police alleged.

“She then distributed the tablets to each of the children who were there.”

Sergeant Novosel said police would allege Jerome Banu had woken up throughout the night unwell and vomiting.

“He had been showered and placed back to bed, then later in the early hours of the morning, one of the other [kids] located him unresponsive and triple-0 was phoned,” she said.

Emergency services were first called after Jerome went into cardiac arrest just after 10.20am on September 30. He died on October 1.

Ms Dutaillis was found and arrested in Brisbane on Wednesday.