Accused partied while Dianne Brimble died

FOR an hour and 40 minutes after taking the party drug fantasy, Dianne Brimble's life hung in the balance, the Supreme Court in Sydney heard.

Standing accused ... Mark Wilhelm.

FOR an hour and 40 minutes after taking the party drug fantasy, Dianne Brimble's life hung in the balance.

She could have survived but for the actions of a stranger with whom she spent her final hours, the Supreme Court in Sydney heard yesterday.

Mark Robin Wilhelm arrived promptly for the first day of his criminal trial, where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter and supplying Ms Brimble with an illegal drug.

Crown Prosecutor Mark Hobart SC said the mother-of-three died on board the cruise ship Pacific Sky in September 2002 from a lethal combination of the drug GHB - also known as fantasy - and alcohol.

"The Crown says that if Ms Brimble had been treated earlier, if she had been assisted to breathe, it is likely she would have survived," Mr Hobart said.

Instead of calling for help as soon as he saw she was unconscious, the court heard that Wilhelm had been wandering between nearby cabins - one full of young women - wearing nothing but a life jacket and joking that he had just had sex with "a fat chick".

Hours earlier, Ms Brimble had boarded the ship in Sydney with her daughter, some friends and about 1600 other guests - including Wilhelm and seven of his friends.

The pair met in the ship's disco later that night and by 4am they were in the cabin Wilhelm shared with three other men.

There, he allegedly gave her a water-bottle capful of the GHB, or liquid ecstasy.

Mr Hobart said the jury would hear telephone intercept evidence in which Wilhelm admitted he gave Ms Brimble the drug before they had sex.

Similarly, his actions following the consumption of the drug also led to her "unlawful killing", Mr Hobart said.

The 37-year-old Adelaide man had told of feeling a faint pulse on Ms Brimble before her death but by the time the ship's nurse was called to the cabin at 8.43am she was "blue in the face, not breathing and had no pulse", Mr Hobart said.

Wilhelm and another man, Leo Silvestri, had also put her body in the shower and dressed her again before calling for medical assistance.

"The Crown says that these actions in dressing her are unusual . . . and of course further delayed treatment to Ms Brimble," he said. "There's an inference that Wilhelm didn't want to call for medical help because to do so he may well have to explain that he had given her the drug."

Wilhelm's counsel George Thomas said key parts of the Crown case were in dispute.