Dangerous doc fails to get jail term cut

A FORMER GP who attempted to kill a pharmacist, and who has been described as “dangerous” by Supreme Court of South Australia Justice Anne Vanstone, has failed to appeal his 15-year jail sentence.

The South Australian Court of Criminal Appeal rejected Brian Holder’s claim that the 10-year non-parole period handed down by Justice Vanstone was excessive.

Court documents revealed a 28-year-old pharmacists working in Port Lincoln reported Holder to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, after eight indigenous patients came into the pharmacy she was working in on the same day, with private scripts for benzodiazepines, provided by the Adelaide-based GP, despite all having regular local doctors.

On 10 Oct 2017 Holder went to the Terry White store in Port Lincoln where the pharmacist was working, and lured her out from the dispensary.

Holder attacked the pharmacist with a fishing knife, inflicting three lacerations to her arm, but she managed to defend herself, while a customer tried to grab Holder before he fled the scene.

Court papers reported that police found Holder “barely conscious” in a hotel room, having taken several insulin injections and other drugs.