DRUG DEATHS DEFY AN OPTIMISTIC HOPE

Kathleen Horan took 20 minutes to gather herself inside the Melbourne
Coroner's Court after hearing the clinical, legal finding on how her
daughter Alisha died of a lethal cocktail of drugs.

Arm in arm with her husband, with her late daughter's siblings and friends
running interference through the 30-strong media pack, she walked to her
car and began the long drive back to Geelong.

It was left to the policeman who investigated Alisha's death, and the role
in it played by former football superstar Gary Ablett, to talk about how
Kathleen Horan and her family were feeling.

"They are very happy it is at a close, and they can get on with their
lives," he said.

But the sudden death of a healthy, confident 20-year-old daughter can never
really be closed for a mother who described their relationship as "the best
of friends and it was really only a coincidence we were mother and daughter".

As a mother, and a friend, Kathleen Horan had done all the right things to
keep Alisha out of trouble with drugs. A loving home, open communication,
always aware of where Alisha was and who she was with. And after giving her
honest and frank advice, trusting her to make the right decision.

What else could she have done? What else can any parent do?

When you strip away Ablett and the headline-grabbing cliche of deadly
celebrity decadence in a five-star hotel, that was what this case - and 30
other drug-related deaths on the coroner's desk so far this year - was
really about.

Kathleen Horan said she separated from Alisha's father, Alan, 18 months
after Alisha was born.

When Alisha was 12, Mrs Horan moved in with her new partner, Russell Jose.
"Alisha got on with Russell very well," she said. "For all intents and
purposes she considered Russell her father. She was as close to him as you
could be to your stepfather.

"She and I had this wonderful relationship. She would tell me things,
probably not everything, but she would tell me who she liked and what she
was doing."

But did Kathleen Horan miss some telltale sign through being as starstruck
with her daughter as the teenage Alisha was with Ablett, whose image
plastered Alisha's bedroom walls?

Not according to Alisha's best friend, Laura Potter. They met in 1995 at
Christian College, where Alisha also became friendly with Ablett's daughter
Natasha. Once she stayed overnight with Natasha at the Ablett house.

In her police statement, Ms Potter described her best friend as "faultless
- - I mean some people are bitchy or rude or have some sort of fault, but
Leash didn't have any that I can think of."

Part of the reason for Alisha going to Christian College was its strong
sports program. She was a talented tennis player, and her mother said "she
could out-kick and out-run the boys".

After she left school, like most of her friends, she drank alcohol.
Sometimes too much. "She loved being around her friends and other people
and drinking was just part of that," said Ms Potter.

Alisha would take a puff of a marijuana joint if it was going around, but
did not seek it out. And she had tried ecstasy.

This was one thing she kept from her mother, but Ms Potter did not think it
was a problem. "She would have tried it more out of curiosity than anything
else. She told me she didn't really like those sort of drugs or the people
who were into that scene. Things heavier than that, like amphetamines or
heroin, she was not into at all. She thought those kind of drugs were
disgusting."

Besides, she had too much respect for her body. She was a regular gym-goer,
spurned junk food or anything fatty, often choosing vegetarian meals.

She didn't have a boyfriend but that was not an issue, said Ms Potter. "She
used to ignore a lot of interested guys because she was so independent."

When it came to Ablett, though, she had a blind spot. "I didn't like him
muc h and told Leash so. We used to talk about the rumors about Ablett and
what he got up to. She would tell me to shut up."

So when Ablett walked into the Horseshoe Bar of the Wild West Saloon, where
Alisha worked as a barmaid, in the early hours of February 12 last year,
she jumped at the chance to introduce herself.

When the bar closed around 5.30am, she was invited by her boss to drink on
with the star guest at the bar, and then at his house.

When she hadn't arrived home by late that morning, her mother began phoning
Alisha's friends.

When Alisha still hadn't called by 9.45pm the parents drove to Ablett's
house. "She seemed as if she had had a couple of drinks, but she was
walking and talking all right," said Kathleen Horan. "I said, 'Come on
love, get in the car and we'll take you home'. She said, 'No, no. I'll be
all right'.

"Alisha wanted to stay and I didn't want to fight with her. I also thought
that he (Ablett) was a father with his own daughter and would be
responsible as far as she was concerned."

Two hours later, Alisha came home, apologised for worrying her parents and
went to work.

In the morning, Kathleen talked to Alisha about her concerns, especially
the age difference. "Gary rang up later that afternoon and I answered," she
said. "I gave the phone to her, something I will now regret forever.
Afterwards, she said she was going out to Gary's."

That was Sunday. The next night, when Mrs Horan got home from work, Alisha
said she was going out with Ablett, his daughter and her boyfriend. That
night Alisha left for Melbourne with Ablett to stay in the free room laid
on by the Park Hyatt.

When Alisha didn't arrive for work the next day, her mother was again
quickly on the phone. Alisha said she had cleared her time off with work
and would only be staying another night.

The next day they talked again. "I told her I was really worried about
her," said Kathleen Horan. "I said I thought she was out of her depth. I
told her I was scared he was into drugs and that he might try to get her
into them as well. She said, 'Oh no, he's really nice and kind and looking
after me'.

"I told her he was going to break her heart and she said no, she was going
to break his. I offered to go and pick her up but she said she was fine.
She indicated she was going to be home on Thursday because she was missing
Kevin, our dog."

The inquest heard it was only a few hours after this that Ablett watched
Alisha wash down an ecstasy tablet. Coroner Noreen Toohey said it was most
likely the tablet was supplied by Ablett's friend Clayton Brown, whom he
had invited to the hotel.

Analysis of the drugs in her body indicated she may have already taken
amphetamine (speed) the previous night, when, according to Ablett's
evidence, the pair stayed up all night.

What she took, and what she was told she was taking the next night, remains
unclear because Brown has left the country and Ablett refused to answer
questions that might lead to criminal charges against him.

Witnesses said Alisha seemed "out of it" and "on a downer" before Ablett
helped her into a taxi back to the Park Hyatt around 12.30am.

According to Ms Toohey's findings, the most likely scenario is that Alisha
snorted or smoked some heroin, and possibly took a second ecstasy tablet,
before passing out, never to regain consciousness.

In her view, Ablett was affected by alcohol and drugs when he woke at 8am
to find her past the point of no return.

What more could Kathleen Horan have done to prevent this? What could anyone
have done?

Had Ablett not passed out himself and been able to raise the alarm earlier,
Alisha might be alive today, Ms Toohey said. Ablett had failed to take
seriously his responsibility as a role model to young people, she said.

Outside the court, Detective Nairn resisted a reporter's invitation to wrap
up the lessons of the case in a sound-bite pinning the blame on sporting
celebrity.

"This has highlighted the dangers of illicit drug use for anyone," he said.
"I don't think it matters who you are. There are a lot of people in the
community who have influence over others and the use of illicit drugs in
any circumstances is dangerous."