the offender's case on sentence. A copy of that report has been tendered to this Court in the Crown case.
54 When the offender saw Dr Nielssen via an audio-visual link on 18 July 2017, he told him that he had a long standing, very heavy heroin addiction, and had committed the Code offence for an expected payment of $10,000. He gave an account of having been addicted to heroin since the age of 13, which he attributed to discord with his father and (previously undisclosed) sexual abuse by a female friend of his mother that commenced at age six. He said that his mother had become aware of the sexual abuse only shortly before his consultation with Dr Nielssen.
55 The offender stated that he had been educated at Cranbrook and The Kings School, but (in contrast to what was noted in the 2017 pre-sentence report) had left school of his own accord in Year 9 because of his heroin addiction. He reported a drug overdose at around 16 years of age, which he said had left him with an hypoxic brain injury and slurred speech, although Dr Nielssen observed that any slurring or neurological effect appeared to have resolved. No further symptoms of any neurological disorder were reported or observed, and Dr Neilssen noted that the offender had given a seemingly coherent account to police when interviewed about the Code offence.
56 The offender gave an account of having been admitted to St Vincent's Hospital after an ecstasy overdose in May 2007 and, in January 2009 of another admission, to the Sydney Private Clinic after a suicide attempt. Records from the time noted a history of longstanding opioid dependence; no reference was made to any hallucinations. In October 2011, the offender was admitted to drug detoxification and rehabilitation programmes at Odyssey House although, by the following July, he was again hospitalised after an overdose. A diagnosis was then made of opioid dependence and other substance abuse. Further admissions to the Sydney Private Clinic occurred in July and November 2015. The offender acknowledged having abused drugs other than heroin, including methamphetamine, sedative medication, cannabis, and ecstasy, and having undertaken rehabilitation programmes from early adolescence with
