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Topics: Australia, Crime, Drugs, World News
Joe Harker
Police in Australia have arrested a man as part of an investigation into an alleged 'end of life' business, which officers say operated under a 'front' of being a charity that provided euthanasia for beached whales.
The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reports that 53-year-old Brett Daniel Taylor has been accused of trafficking a drug normally used in veterinary euthanasia for the purposes of assisting suicide.
He has been charged with two counts of aiding suicide, one count of trafficking a dangerous drug, possession of the drug pentobarbital, and obtaining Australian currency associated with trafficking.
Taylor has also been accused of posing as a lawyer between 2019 and 2024, with the Legal Services Commission alleging that he prepared wills and other legal documents for 126 clients and was paid for his services through his business, End of Life Services.
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Police allege that the 53-year-old was a director for a charity called Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd, and they claim he used this as a front to acquire euthanasia drugs.
Detective Inspector Mark Mooney of Gold Coast Police claims that the charity, which claimed it was set up to euthanise beached whales, never carried out any legitimate business and that allegations could cover as many as 20 deaths.
The detective claimed that euthanasia drugs were being resold for 'significantly more' than their wholesale price, according to The Guardian, and that people were allegedly provided with 'suicide kits' and will arrangements.
He said: "The alleged conduct involves deliberately targeting vulnerable people and exploiting them in their most desperate moments.
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"We will allege he hasn’t acted compassionately at all. This is a business transaction for him … just for pure money."
Police started investigating the matter after a 43-year-old man was found dead in his Gold Coast home in April, and a post-mortem found that he had died due to the veterinary drug.
"He had suffered from medical conditions for a long period of time but his medical conditions did not meet the voluntary assisted dying laws of Queensland," Mooney said.
Taylor's 80-year-old father and an unrelated 81-year-old woman are also facing drug trafficking charges, while the woman is also looking at a charge of aiding suicide.
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Voluntary assisted dying is legal in Queensland, but a person has to meet strict eligibility criteria, as they must be terminally ill and mentally sound, as well as acting without coercion.
If found guilty of aiding suicide, then the maximum possible punishment is life imprisonment.
Police are investigating deaths as far back as 2021 to determine whether Taylor and his fake front charity were involved.