Addict uses ice to mask mental illness symptoms

‘She does want to get away from drugs.’

Smoking a crack pipe. Photo:John Gass

AN ADDICT said she used the drug ice to mask the symptoms of her mental health illness.

Samantha Rose Oram, 32, pleaded guilty to 13 charges in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on December 3.

The charges included trespass, drinking alcohol in public, shop steals, fail to appear in court, assault police, failure to properly dispose of syringes, possessing marijuana and failing to provide identifying particulars.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Peter Rumford read out the facts of the offending in court which included Oram trespassing on a Mt Morgan property and telling the occupier she was looking for a screwdriver to fix a skateboard, drinking from a 700ml bottle of rum out the front of Mt Morgan Foodworks and then kicking a police officer in the knee, repeatedly going to a “friend’s” place despite being told not to as it was putting that man’s tenancy at risk and stealing cheesecakes and an iced coffee.

The offending took place between June 17 and December 2.

Oram had a 10-page criminal history.

Defence lawyer Dominic Jorgensen said Oram, a disability support pensioner managed by the public trust, concedes she suffers from a drug problem.

“She takes ice to mask some of the symptoms of schizophrenia,” he said.

“She does want to get away from drugs.”

Oram received a head sentence of six months’ prison with immediate parole and ordered to pay restitution of $40 for the cheesecakes and $4.28 for the iced coffee.