MIXTURE LED TO DEATH, COURT TOLD

A mouthwash swallowed by a 21-year-old St Albans woman hours before
her death contained 10 times as much cocaine as mouthwashes used to
treat cancer patients, Geelong Coroner's Court was told yesterday.

Giving evidence at an inquest into the death of Jacqueline Mary Kelly
in Lorne last May, David Thirlwall said that cocaine was generally
used in mouthwashes in concentrations up to 1 per cent for severely
ill patients. He said he was surprised the mouthwash Ms Kelly took
contained 10 per cent cocaine.

Mr Thirlwall, a senior pharmacist with the Pharmacy Board of
Victoria, said that while solutions with up to 10 per cent cocaine
were used at the Royal Melbourne and Freemasons hospitals in nasal
packs, the hospitals used mouthwashes with 1 per cent cocaine to
treat only severely ill cancer patients.

He said the Peter MacCallum Institute used mouthwashes with 0.5 per
cent cocaine to treat patients after radiotherapy. It was rarely used
in general practice, he said.

Ms Kelly died on May 13 last year after suffering a series of fits
while taking a spa at a party for her sister's 25th birthday in
Lorne's Cumberland Resort.

In previous evidence, Ms Kelly's sister Natalie said a friend,
Michelle Slowik, had told her that Ms Kelly had taken a quarter of a
spoonful of mouthwash containing cocaine out of a 100millilitre
bottle.

But Ms Slowik, who had been prescribed the mouthwash for pain relief
after a tonsillectomy, said yesterday that after she had taken the
mouthwash at the party, Ms Kelly had swallowed what remained on the
spoon.

Forensic pathologist Matthew Lynch said yesterday that Ms Kelly had
died from combined drug toxicity involving cocaine and alcohol.

Ron Gibb, representing the Kelly family, suggested that the amount of
cocaine in the $3.30 solution prescribed to Ms Slowik could have a
street value of $1000.

The inquest was adjourned to March 21.