A man who didn't call paramedics for an overdosing 13-year-old girl to avoid getting himself into trouble "took no steps" to consider the vulnerable victim's wellbeing, a court has found.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"Your conduct is unacceptable," special magistrate Lucinda Wilson said on Thursday.
"The court hopes you understand the seriousness of your offending."
George Naiem Dawalibi, 43, was sentenced to a five-month-and-two-week jail sentence after admitting to contravening a protection order.
That court order had been taken out against the Reid man to prevent him from seeing or having any contact with the girl. They are not related.
The victim was found "lying face down on the ground" near the man's housing complex in November last year, only six days after Dawalibi was served with the order.
She had not long before entered his home and, as he watched on, "injected ... ice and some synthetic stuff".
MORE COURT AND CRIME NEWS:
He later admitted to police previously allowing the girl to take drugs at his house and, referring to her serious habit, told officers: "Live and let live."
Ms Wilson described Dawalibi sending the victim outside into the public after the injection, knowing he was in breach of the protection order, as "just a dire circumstance all around".
Before telling her she shouldn't be at his home, he first asked her "if she was getting the right vein".
Prosecutor Liam Taylor told the court the girl injecting herself with drugs in the man's home "could have been catastrophic".
"There is a need to protect young people and recognise the kind of harm this offending does to them," he said.
Police officers who found the overdosing girl said she had difficulty standing, appeared to have vomited, was slurring her words and "spoke of being very afraid".
She was rushed to hospital.
The special magistrate found Dawalibi was in a position of trust due to the considerable age difference between he and the young victim.
Defence lawyer Anastasia Qvist said her client had suffered a great deal of trauma growing up and was someone who needed assistance and support.
"Drug addiction has really spiralled and got its grips into him," she said.
Factoring in the time he has already spent behind bars for his crime, Dawalibi is set to be released from custody next week.
Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
