Source : Perth Now news
A socialite has pledged to be good and continue drug treatment as she was sentenced for possessing a “massive amount” of drugs.
Brynne Edelsten was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond on Wednesday after admitting to possessing methamphetamine and a precursor to GHB.
The American-born former wife of deregistered doctor and businessman Geoffrey Edelsten was arrested and charged after police raided her Fitzroy apartment in December.
More than two kilograms of GHB precursor 1,4 butanediol and 185 grams of almost-pure ice were uncovered.
But Edelsten, 34, did not know the quantity of the drugs, a prosecutor told Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The socialite’s lawyer described the offending as straightforward, isolated and not complex.
Edelsten’s life became an “unrelenting circus” after her 2009 marriage to Mr Edelsten, a man 40 years her senior, and moved to Australia, barrister Veronika Drago told the court.
She faced “tasteless” reporting, ridicule of her appearance and “humiliation” on a reality show, Ms Drago said.
After the marriage broke down publicly in 2014, Edelsten attempted to move on but experienced difficult relationships.
It was during this period she was introduced to methamphetamine, the court was told.
She later experienced homelessness and was declared bankrupt before trying to turn her life around after she found out she was pregnant in 2021.
Edelsten began a relationship with a man but experienced post-natal depression after seeing him arrested on television.
She moved through several crisis accommodations with her young daughter before settling in her Fitzroy home with the help of community service The Orange Door.
The drug bust followed the rekindling of a past relationship and triggered Edelsten’s daughter being placed into foster care.
“(That) was devastating and it was a wake-up call,” Ms Drago said.
After “hitting rock bottom”, Edelsten sought drug and alcohol help and became abstinent, the court was told.
Edelsten listened to the submissions, supported by her mum and siblings.
While the drugs found were a “massive amount”, Magistrate James Henderson found Edelsten was remorseful and spared her a conviction.
He ordered her to continue treatment with her psychiatrist and drug and alcohol support provider and make a $3000 donation to Orange Door via the court.
“Her rehabilitation is certainly an important consideration, but a message must be sent to the community that this type of offending will not be tolerated,” Mr Henderson said.
Asked if she agreed to the undertaking, Edelsten replied: “Yes, Your Honour”.
Her former husband, Mr Edelsten, was a former GP and entrepreneur who was known for saving the Sydney Swans AFL team from extinction in the 1980s.
A controversial figure, he spent time in jail in 1990 after soliciting a hitman to assault a former patient, having already been struck off the medical register in 1987 for overservicing patients.
He died in 2021, aged 78.
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