Newman's Ex-lover 'cocaine Addict', Court Told
The Age
Friday November 9, 2007
A FORMER girlfriend of AFL personality Sam Newman became a cocaine addict after being exposed to excessive drug use during their four-year relationship, a court has heard.
Louisa Glenda Larkin went from being a gregarious young professional when she met Newman in 1999 to a daily cocaine user who was admitted to hospital for drug-induced psychosis in 2004, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday.The claims were aired after Larkin pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $93,000 from The Footy Show star by altering cheques he wrote for her on six occasions in 2003 and 2004. Jeffrey Cummins, a forensic psychologist who met with Larkin three times this year, told the court the 37-year-old was a minor and sporadic drug user before she met and fell "very much in love" with Newman."As a result of being in that relationship she was exposed to excessive drug use and drug abuse . . . she became addicted to cocaine," Dr Cummins said.He said Larkin became physically dependent on cocaine during the relationship, from which she "fell very heavily" when the pair separated in 2003. "She had been infatuated by him," he said.In a statement tendered to the court, Newman said their relationship, which began as a business partnership after the pair met in Sydney, was "physical at best"."From my perspective, our personal relationship was brief and uncomplicated to the point where it was physical at best," he wrote in the statement."I subsequently learned that she may have had a different perspective on this, judging by the sizeable bundle of press clippings she delivered to me on one of her visits."When contacted by The Age yesterday, Newman declined to discuss Larkin's allegations. "I'll say to you what I've said to everyone else, I won't even dignify that with a response," he said. "She's a very nice girl, but whatever she's saying . . . well, good luck to her."In his statement to the court, Newman said Larkin, an interior designer previously of Sydney's Bondi Junction, sourced furniture for his home and a restaurant development he was involved in at the Middle Brighton Baths.He said that as the business meetings continued, confusion over what they owed each other developed into "invoicing mayhem".The court heard Newman wrote six cheques for Larkin over 13 months, which she altered by adding zeros or changing the position of commas.The amounts Larkin gained by doctoring the cheques varied from $600 to as much as $32,700. In one case, she changed a cheque from $300 to $33,000 and successfully cashed it at the Commonwealth Bank's Middle Brighton branch. Larkin's defence counsel, Paul Holdenson, QC, said Larkin committed the offences while mentally impaired and "out of frustration and anger" because she believed that Newman had been unfaithful to her. He said Larkin's drug use also led her to impersonate police officers while she was high on cocaine and in Newman's company in 2002 and 2004.When she committed the offences, Larkin was stuck in a traffic jam with Newman on the way to Sydney Airport. On another occasion, she was squabbling over a parking space while in Newman's company, Mr Holdenson said. "There was a real compromise on the defendant's mental state at the time of the offending," he said.Larkin's father, Leon Larkin, told the court his daughter changed during her relationship with Newman from a gregarious and kind-hearted woman to someone who was battling anorexia, bulimia and drug abuse."Her mental state was very poor. We thought we might lose her," he said.The court heard Larkin, now living in Ukraine with her parents, was employed and no longer using drugs. She was engaged to be married soon.Magistrate Peter Lauritsen convicted Larkin and fined her $25,000 for the offences.She was also ordered to pay ANZ bank $25,000 and Westpac bank $35,600, - the losses they incurred from her crimes. -- With BEN DOHERTY
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