Mother secretly drugged daughter

A nurse who secretly gave her daughter anti-psychotic drugs that were not prescribed for her had a warped sense of doing the right thing, a judge has said.

The woman, who cannot be named, was sentenced in the Wellington District Court yesterday, after pleading guilty to charges of mistreating a child.

She took home risperidone, an anti-psychotic drug with potentially serious side-effects, from her work at a district health board, and hid them in her daughter’s yoghurt in mid-2015.

The drugs, which had not been prescribed for the girl, caused her to fall asleep in class, and led to her being in the sick bay three to five times a week.

In July 2015 the girl was admitted to hospital in what was described as a ‘‘very abnormal state’’. She was confused, and had slurred speech.

During her stay, her mother, 37, was in her room with her, and continued to give her risperidone without telling doctors.

The girl’s condition worsened and she was taken to hospital in Christchurch, where she was monitored, and soon got better.

But as soon as she went back to her local hospital, her mother again started giving her the antipsychotic drug. The drugs were detected in toxicology tests, and the woman admitted she had been giving the girl risperidone for six to eight weeks.

She told doctors she had been frustrated with the medical help given to the girl, and thought the drug had appeared to help her stress and reduced seizures.

Judge Denys Barry noted she had a clean criminal record, and had suffered underlying mental health illness.

He sentenced her to six months’ home detention, and 150 hours’ community work.

The judge said the woman would be given arranged access to her children.