'Pharmacalogical nightmare' sent home

Photo / File

Kiwi killed two teenagers when driving while high on alcohol and prescription medication.

A New Zealand woman described as a pharmacological nightmare will be deported from Australia after running over and killing two teenage boys while high on prescription medication.

Tania Winifred Paula Clark, 40, is serving a nine-year jail term for the manslaughter of Jye Strong, 15, and Nathan Sprecak, 16. Her sentence had been reduced from 10 years' jail on appeal.

She killed the boys when she deliberately drove on the footpath in her Ford Falcon to pass another car in February 2008 in Labrador, on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Clark, who had been running late for meetings with probation and benefit officers, had pleaded guilty to man-slaughter.

She was in the third week of an 18-month probation period after stealing 425 temazepan tablets from a pharmacy.

Tests showed she had alcohol, valium, Oxazapam, Temazepam, cannabis, codeine and doxylamine in her system and the sentencing judge described her as a pharmacological nightmare.

An Immigration Australia decision released last week said Clark was extraordinarily reckless.

The 22-year resident of Australia will have her visa cancelled and she will be deported to New Zealand when she is released from prison.

Clark, who is married to an Australian, said she was a very different person now and had accepted responsibility for her actions.

She had paid the price by completing her sentence and was no longer a threat to the community.

However, Immigration said there was a risk she would relapse into drug-taking and driving, putting the Australian community at risk.

Her husband's support was not enough to stop the 2008 incident and would not be sufficient now.

Clark's immediate family live in Australia, but have not indicated they would support her.

Her husband has said he would move to New Zealand.

She has a previous conviction for breaking into a pharmacy and stealing drugs in 2007.