Boyfriend of Marli Cartmer-Congiu urges teenagers to learn from her drug death

The grieving boyfriend of a teenager who died from an accidental drug overdose in January has begged others to think twice before trying drugs — and to look after their mates.

The heartbroken boyfriend of a teenager who died from an accidental drug overdose has spoken of his devastation at her loss, saying it is a stark reminder that just one bad decision­ can have fatal consequences­.

Marli Cartmer-Congiu, 18, died in January after ingesting GHB — or Liquid G — as she partied with friends at a house in Zetland.

Gully Thomas, the boyfriend of Marli Cartmer-Congiu, who died of an accidental drug overdose from liquid ecstasy at house party in January. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Her boyfriend Gully Thomas, 19, said he would never forget the moment he found out she was in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

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“A friend called me and told me … I didn’t believe it,” Mr Thomas said. “I just got out of the car and started screaming.

“We rushed to the hospital to say our goodbyes to her and she was in an induced coma. I walked in and her family was there, just sitting there around the bed.

It was the worst moment of my life.”

Gully Thomas with his dad Doug Thomas.

Marli died a few hours later, and the shock of the tragic incident was only intensified by the fact she had never before tried drugs.

“She never had taken anything before … I knew her so well, it was the first time,” Mr Thomas said.

“(With) Liquid G you have to take a tiny little bit and get a syringe and put it in your drink. And she took too much.

“Marli just got passed it by a friend. The friend didn’t say anything and then she took too much. Her friends could have said what it was. Her friends were all drunk and she had a few drinks, and they were not thinking at the time.”

Gully says Marli had never taken drugs before.

Because no one was looking after Marli she was left alone in a room where her condition deteriorated.

“It’s peer pressure ... I want people to be aware and not just be a bystander but an upstander, and if a friend has taken the drug, be around them, look after them, and if it seems something weird is happening, call an ambulance,” he said.

Gully and Marli.

He said in the event of an overdose watching out for a mate could save them.

“If Marli wasn’t left alone they could have known something and that’s when they could have saved her life,” Mr Thomas said.

“I know I’m not going to be able to stop drugs. I know that people are going to take them but I want them to be aware.”

Marli’s father Enzo Congiu lamented that it was the one mistake cost his daughter her life.

“Marli was a great girl, she was the sort of child people imagine their children will be,” Mr Congiu said. “She only made a mistake, being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.”

Even though Mr Thomas is still grieving, he has spent the past four months raising funds for his local hospital — Prince of Wales in Randwick — after seeing the efforts staff went through to try to save Marli.

One mistake cost Marli her life.

This Saturday at Maroubra Marli’s friends and family will watch him surf his 1000th wave in her honour, and he has invited members of the public to attend and donate to the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation.

Mr Thomas his being guided by his father Doug Thomas, the principal at Claremont College which is in the same community as Marli’s former school Brigidine College.

Marli’s death has left Doug Thomas a lot to grapple with as well, including what to tell students in the event of an overdose.

He is busy setting up new support networks at his school to help students tackle any early issues their friends might have.

“I think educators, and our community at large, we need to be collaborating more on how we solve these kinds of problems,” he said.

“Marli was rushed to intensive care and we want to do everything we can to help people think — and hopefully save someone’s life through all this awareness.”