Man who gave his mother the drugs that killed her avoids jail

A former baggage handler who gave his mum MDMA to try for the first time at a family barbecue before she overdosed and died has avoided a mandatory jail sentence for drug offences.

The death of a woman after she snorted MDMA given to her by her son in Alice Springs was ‘an unfortunate accident’ a court has heard.

A FORMER baggage handler who gave his mum MDMA to try for the first time at a family barbecue before she overdosed and died has avoided a mandatory jail sentence for drug offences.

Naudis Tago-Owens, 23, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court last month to one count each of possessing and supplying less than a commercial quantity of the drug in Alice Springs in July last year.

The court heard Tago-Owens was at the barbecue at his mothers house on July 25 when he organised for two grams of MDMA to be delivered to the party and chopped it up into lines.

He passed the plate with the drugs on it around to friends and family, including his mother, who all snorted it through a rolled up note at about 10pm.

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A short time later, his mother began to feel unwell and a concerned partygoer called triple-0 to report the suspected overdose but hung up when she seemed to start to recover.

Not long after that, she again deteriorated and started wheezing before lying on the ground with her body tensing before she finally stopped breathing.

Someone called triple-0 again and started CPR but by the time paramedics arrived shortly after midnight they were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at 12.48am.

In finding the particular circumstances negated the mandatory sentencing provisions, Justice Peter Barr said Tago-Owens later told police his mother had never used MDMA before the night she died and no one else at the party suffered any ill effects.

“Dr Anne Noonan, a consultant psychiatrist and a former colleague of your mother who for many years worked with her in remote communities where they were the only two remote health professionals, describes your mother as a highly competent and intelligent person who had made a significant contribution as a mental health nurse,” he said.

“Your mother’s death was an unfortunate accident after she suffered an idiosyncratic anaphylactic reaction to the MDMA which you had supplied to her. In my opinion, the fact that your mother died in the way she did, is not relevant for sentencing purposes.”

Justice Barr handed Tago-Owens a four month prison sentence, suspended immediately.

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