Assault Antidepressants & Alcohol 13/09/2010 Australia Man Assaults Police Officer: Out of Character Behavior: Escapes Jail Time
Assault Antidepressants & Alcohol 2010-09-13 Australia Man Assaults Police Officer: Out of Character Behavior: Escapes Jail Time

http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=4489

Summary:

Paragraph five reads:  "However, barrister Cedwynn Toweel, for Duffy, said his client had acted out of character because he had mixed alcohol with antidepressants."

SSRI Stories Note:  The Physicians Desk Reference states that antidepressants can cause a craving for alcohol and can cause alcohol abuse. Also, the liver cannot metabolize the antidepressant and the alcohol simultaneously, thus leading to higher levels of both alcohol and the antidepressant in the human body.


http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lawn-bowler-pushed-spat-on-police-officer-but-avoids-time-in-jail/story-e6freoof-1225920815552


Lawn bowler pushed, spat on police officer but avoids time in jail

A DRUNKEN bowls club patron who spat in the face of a policeman escaped serving actual jail time after the judge accepted his actions were totally out of character.

Prosecutor Julie Aylward told the District Court in Brisbane that police were called to the Deception Bay Bowls Club, on Brisbane's northern outskirts, when Kenneth James Duffy was arguing with staff.

She detailed how Duffy was arrested after pushing a policeman and as he was being taken away he spat in the face of another officer.

Ms Aylward said Duffy should be be jailed for four to nine months with an actual component of jail time.

However, barrister Cedwynn Toweel, for Duffy, said his client had acted out of character because he had mixed alcohol with antidepressants.

Mr Toweel said Duffy had very little memory of the incident and had apologised to police four times.

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Duffy, 39, pleaded guilty to serious assault on November 18, last year.

Judge Kerry O'Brien said while jail sentences were usual for people who behaved in the "disgusting" manner of spitting on police it was not inevitable.

He said he accepted Duffy's mitigating circumstances meant it was a case where he could impose a six months jail sentence but it be served as an intensive correction order (called jail in the community.)