KILLING AS EASY AS DOING AN ESSAY

A LAW student who drugged her boyfriend before injecting him with a
lethal dose of heroin, later said planning the killing was like "doing
a university assignment", a court heard yesterday.

Anu Singh was once a gifted student whose borderline personality
disorder led to her suffering a "slide from grace", the ACT Supreme
Court was told.

After becoming obsessed with her health and believing she was
suffering numerous diseases including multiple sclerosis and AIDS
Singh set out on a path to kill.

Blaming her boyfriend, Joe Cinque, for giving her a drug which she
thought had caused her to suffer a degenerative disease, she planned a
"payback". At a dinner party organised for Mr Cinque, 26, at her
Canberra home, Singh placed the drug Rohypnol in his coffee.

Later, after he had passed out, Singh injected him with heroin,
leading to his death a short time later.

Singh, 26, was found guilty of manslaughter in April, after Justice
Ken Crispin ruled she was suffering an "abnormality of mind".

During a sentencing hearing yesterday, a senior probation officer said
Singh's lethal plan had given her "a purpose" in life.

"(Singh) said planning the offence gave her a focus and allowed her to
take the focus off her own health," parole officer Naomi Buick said.

"She claimed the reality of the situation did not hit her until she
saw Mr Cinque gasping for breath.

"She said she did not think about murder or death, rather that her
actions gave her something to do, a purpose. She likened it to doing a
university assignment."

Reading from a report she prepared after interviewing Singh, Ms Buick
told the court the killer had described her offence as "bizarre" and
was "still grappling with the consequences". "She said the
consequences should have seemed obvious, particularly as she was
studying law. She said she could not explain why she did not simply
stop and think of the implications."

The court was told Singh whose parents are doctors had unfounded
concerns about her physical health which became more severe in the
lead-up to Mr Cinque's death.

"She stated she began to become increasingly obsessive and visited a
multitude of doctors and undertook almost every conceivable test," Ms
Buick said.

"She said she thought she had central nervous system problems ... and
when the doctors said there was nothing wrong, she became angry.
(Singh) stated she checked her parents' medical books and decided she
had multiple sclerosis and later AIDS."

Despite her parents attempting to convince their daughter she was
suffering from a psychological disorder, Singh was "too headstrong" to
believe them, Ms Buick said. "She said she prided herself on her level
of intelligence and was discouraged from co-operating with treatment
because of the stigma attached."

But, since receiving medication in jail, Singh said she is "freer now
behind four walls".She is expected to be sentenced on Thursday.