Further evidence in theft case against doctor

Press, 12 October 1985, Page 5

Further evidence in theft case against doctor

A Christchurch doctor appeared for a depositions hearing in the District Court for the second day yesterday on 18 charges of theft and five charges of false pretence.

He is alleged to have stolen controlled drugs from a man who was dying of cancer and a brain tumour, and to have obtained others by false pretence in June and July this year. The doctor, represented by Mr K. N. Hampton, was granted interim suppression of name by Judge Pain. Suppression was also granted in relation to activities alleged to have involved the doctor on June 16, this year. The defendant has elected trial by jury on all charges. For the Crown, Mr S. G. Erber confirmed on Thursday that the doctor had been the general practitioner for Mr Owen Cameron Smart, aged 60, who was suffering from lung cancer and a brain tumour.

Mr Erber said that members of the Smart family became concerned about the apparent disappearance of drugs from the house. They

began to make careful note of the various drugs both before and after visits by the doctor.

They also noted what was administered to Mr Smart, said Mr Erber. The stocktaking of drugs showed a discrepancy between what was in the house before and after visits by the doctor, taking into account what had been administered to Mr Smart.

The drugs alleged to have gone missing are morphine, methadone, diazepam (valium), and lorazepam. Russell Owen Smart told the Court on Thursday that his father had suffered from terminal cancer and a brain tumour from January this year and died in August. The first witness called yesterday was lan Cameron Smart, another son of Mr Owen Smart. He gave evidence about several visits by the defendant to the Smart house during June and early July. After a visit to the house by the defendant on June 6, Mr Smart said that five ampoules of morphine and one ampoule of valium were missing. On June 10 another ampoule of morphine was missing when the defendant left.

Six ampoules of morphine were missing in the house when the defendant left on June 14, the witness said. “There was an empty ampoule of morphine left with the top and vegetable matter on the bottom,” he said.

On June 15 the defendant administered a half-milli-litre of morphine from an ampoule, Mr Smart said. Witness did not know what happened to the rest of the morphine. On June 17 the defendant pretended to draw morphine from an ampoule, the witness said.

“There was a packet of five ampoules in the house when the defendant arrived and two ampoules there when he left,” he said. “He had placed an empty ampoule on the tallboy.” On June 19 the defendant had asked witness to ask another doctor to make out a prescription for methadone as there was none left in the house.

The defendant had said the Smarts would have to stop the other doctor from coming and using the defendant's drugs. He had said the other could use his own drugs. On July 4, the day of the defendant’s arrest, he swapped methadone tablets for other tablets, Mr lan Smart said. “I could tell because the pills in the bottle before he (the defendant) arrived had no markings on them. When he left the pills in the bottle had markings on them.”

The second witness yesterday, Gordon Matthew Smart, a brother of Mr Owen Smart, gave evidence relating to drugs he had collected from chemists by prescription throughout the

period under investigation. Mr Gordon Smart said that on some of the days concerned he had counted the drugs before and after visits to the house by the defendant. Drugs were missing after some of these visits and a note was taken of this.

During a visit by the defendant on June 28, Mr Gordon Smart said the defendant told Mr Owen Smart that he (defendant) was giving him two methadone tablets.

“I knew they were not methadone but temgesic tablets,” Mr Gordon Smart said. The witness said that he did not ask the doctor why he was giving Mr Owen Smart temgesic tablets. Messrs Russell and lan Smart have indicated that they did not tell the doctor about their suspicions about the alleged missing drugs. The third witness yesterday, Alan George Mason, a district cancer nurse, said that he had advised Mr Russell Smart to document

regularly all the medication in the house. Mr Mason also said he had found temgesic tablets in a bottle with a morphine label in the house. A pharmacist, William Ray Dobson, the fourth witness yesterday, said that the defendant had collected drug prescriptions labelled with the Smart name from his chemist

Evidence by the sister of Mr Owen Smart, Joan Emma Tomlins, regarding her presence with Mr Gordon Smart when he counted some tablets, was read to the Court.

Evidence by another pharmacist, Peter Harvey Croft, was also read to the Court. It indicated that drugs had been collected from Mr Croft’s shop by both the defendant and Mr Gordon Smart.

Another pharmacist, Christine Dawn Jorgenson, also gave written evidence about the collection of drug prescriptions. The hearing of depositions will continue on October 22. The defendant was remanded at large.