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Lawyer who robbed chemist with ‘knife and acid’ to be struck from roll
Wearing a baseball cap and a surgical mask, a Brisbane lawyer handed a pharmacist a note that said he had a “knife and acid in my bag” and demanded she give him opioids “without making a scene”.
Naomi Neilson
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) recommended Ned McGrane Hunter’s name be removed from the roll of practitioners following a series of drug-related criminal offences committed between November 2020 and August 2021.
President Kerri Mellifont, assisted by QCAT members Susan Forrest and Dr Julian Lamont, said that although Hunter’s offending occurred during a time of poor mental health, “much of his offending conduct can only be described as fundamentally dishonest”.
“The roll of practitioners is ‘an endorsement of the fitness of those who are enrolled’,” Mellifont said in reasons published late last week.
“By leaving the name of the respondent on the local roll, the tribunal would in effect be endorsing [his] fitness to remain on the roll.”
The behaviour was found to amount to professional misconduct.
On the afternoon of 1 November 2020, Hunter briefly entered a Jindalee chemist but left after being approached by the owner.
Not long after this, on the same day, Hunter re-entered the chemist wearing a baseball cap and a surgical mask, approached the pharmacist and handed her a note he claimed was from his doctor.
The note read: “Don’t panic. I have a knife and acid in my bag.
“I want you to go to the back and put all your Oxycodone’s in my bad without making a scene.”
Later that evening, police arrived at his Taringa home and found the tablets and several similar handwritten notes.
Hunter pleaded guilty to a charge of entering a premises with intent to commit an indictable offence and a charge of armed robbery.
He was handed two years probation for the first charge and three years imprisonment – but wholly suspended, with an operational period of four years – for the armed robbery charge.
The following May, he entered a Cannon Hill chemist, provided a pharmacist with a prescription and left without paying.
Just under two weeks later, Hunter went to an Everton Hills medical centre and provided a forged referral letter from a doctor at a Canberra hospital that purported he was to present before a general practitioner if additional analgesia – an opioid – was needed.
After the practice manager called the hospital, additional inquiries uncovered there had been 252 prescriptions for Oxycodone issued to Hunter between March and July 2021.
In August, police went to the Kingaroy Hospital and were told Hunter entered, was denied Oxycodone, and stole a prescription book.
The same month, he presented false scripts to two chemists and attended a Kenmore medical centre where he identified himself using a false name and a discharge summary from a Brisbane hospital.
Hunter was then caught driving erratically on a motorway and police found a large quantity of drug paraphernalia on the front seat.
In December, Hunter pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing, seven counts of forgery, four counts of personation with intent to defraud, one count of uttering a forged document, one count of fraudulently obtaining property, one count of driving under the influence, and one count of wilful damage of police custody.
He was ordered to perform 18 months probation and later served 94 days behind bars because all but three of the charges were committed during a period of probation.
In submissions to QCAT, Hunter explained he turned to drug use because of the “negative developments in my personal and professional life caused by the London COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020”, which saw him relocate to rural Queensland.
“For three years, I have lived with considerable remorse and anxiety for those of my friends, family and fellow citizens who suffered harm as a result of my actions,” Hunter said.
“The professional help I have received following my incarceration helped me to develop strategies to avoid relapse, by being as open and honest as possible about this situation.”
Hunter has worked in the software industry since May 2015 and said he has no desire to work in the legal profession.
The National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline provides free and confidential advice about alcohol and other drugs and automatically directs the caller to the appropriate state/territory service. They can be reached on 1800 250 015.
Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 for mental health-related services. State and territory law societies and bar associations also have support resources on their websites.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
