By Rex Martinich
AN elderly woman accused of supporting a dodgy euthanasia service allegedly brought life-ending veterinary drugs to an RSL seminar in a bid to sell them.
Elaine Arch-Rowe, 81, also allegedly tried to arrange the supply of the drug to someone who turned out to be an undercover police operative.
Last week, Arch-Rowe was released from a Gold Coast watch house after being granted bail despite the prosecution’s opposition.
The veteran is one of three people – including a father and son – charged over a police probe into the alleged assisted suicide of a Gold Coast man, with about 20 other deaths being investigated.
She is accused of assisting Brett Daniel Taylor, 53, with his end-of-life business which allegedly provided the victim with a veterinary euthanasia drug sourced under false pretences via a whale charity.
The other co-accused is Taylor’s 80-year-old father, police said.
Arch-Rowe – a long-time supporter of Philip Nitschke’s pro-euthanasia group – and Taylor are accused of attending a Maroochydore RSL seminar earlier this month with four bottles of the drug with the intention of selling them.
The court also heard an undercover operative presented as a client and exchanged numbers with Taylor and was later contacted by Arch-Rowe to organise the drug’s sale.
Police prosecutor Casey- Lee Beck told Southport Magistrates Court there were recorded conversations between Arch-Rowe and the undercover operative about allegedly supplying animal euthanasia drugs to kill people.
Magistrate Deborah Mitchell heard Arch-Rowe had told Taylor by phone she “always tried to give people knowledge to access end-of-life products that will work”.
Police also accused Arch-Rowe of discussing how to obtain two types of fatal drug and how “to get access to the product from the manufacturer we need to give a large percentage to be used legitimately”.
Arch-Rowe’s lawyer Michael McMillan told Ms Mitchell it sounded like evidence only of drug supply.
“There’s nothing there about killing people,” he said.
Arch-Rowe had no criminal record and had strong links to her local community, he said.
Ms Mitchell said she could not describe the prosecution case against Arch-Rowe as weak.
But before granting bail, she said Arch-Rowe was facing the possibility of spending more time on remand than any sentence she would likely receive if found guilty.
Mr McMillan said outside court his client would plead not guilty, describing the case against his client as “very weak”.
“(The prosecution) can’t demonstrate when she was engaged in conversations with the undercover operative, that the operative said at any stage ‘I’m intending to kill myself and I want you to supply these drugs’.”
Mr McMillan was asked by media about his client’s lengthy involvement in Exit International, Mr Nitschke’s pro-euthanasia group that has faced multiple prior police investigations.
“Plenty of people have these views,” he said.
Dr Nitschke is not accused of any wrongdoing in this case.
A police probe was launched after a post-mortem of the Gold Coast man who died in April revealed a lethal dose of the life-ending drug for animals, pentobarbitone, as his cause of death.
The drug is tightly controlled in Queensland, and police charged Taylor, his father and Arch-Rowe after an extensive probe.
The investigation has been widened to include about 20 deaths dating back to 2021.
Taylor has been accused of sourcing the euthanasia drug “under false pretences” by setting up beached whale euthanasia charity Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd and accessing it through a lawful supplier.
Arch-Rowe is charged with attempted assisting suicide, trafficking dangerous drugs, possession of dangerous drugs and sale of potential harmful things.
She was banned from contacting the co-accused and from possessing illegal assisted suicide drugs or participating in Exit International.
Her case will return to court on October 17 with Taylor due to reappear on Thursday.
CONTACTS
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
