Wife of the Brisbane Ripper,who killed two prostitutes ...blames his Effexor !

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Wife of killer blames drugs

December 12, 2005

THE wife of a former ambulance officer who stabbed two Brisbane

prostitutes to death has blamed his use of anti-depressants for his

murderous spree.

Francis Fahey, 52, of Narangba in Brisbane's outer north,

was convicted in September this year of murdering inner-city

prostitutes Jasmin Crathern and McColl with a bayonet he kept

under the front seat of his utility.

Beth Fahey, the wife of the man dubbed " the Brisbane Ripper " , today

said she watched her husband transform from a respected paramedic

into a monster.

" I'm looking for explanations and probably the families are looking

for explanations ... I can't imagine how devastated they must feel

knowing that an ambulance officer has killed their daughters, " Ms

Fahey told the Ten Network.

An ambulance officer for 28 years, the father of three was medically

discharged in 2002 with post-traumatic stress disorder and was

prescribed the anti-depressant Efexor.

She said he then changed.

" He is truly a loving and gentle person, " Ms Fahey said.

" You can't possibly imagine what it's like to have a loving, caring

husband one day and then suddenly he becomes this feeble person who

would lay down on the ground and cry because he can't get better. "

She claimed the drug eventually turned him into a monster who preyed

on vulnerable sex workers.

" My God, you know, if these medical practitioners had done their job

the first one (prostitute) wouldn't be dead, the second one wouldn't

be dead – there's a lot of things that wouldn't have happened, " she

said.

Ms Fahey said dozens of ambulance officers were taking Efexor to

cope with the demands of their job.

" This could happen to anyone of us, anyone of us, " she said.

" It's important to me that they realise that he is not the monster

that people are making him out to be. "

The Ten Network said that British regulators last year recommended

the use of the anti-depressant be restricted after clinical trials

showed some patients became suicidal and even homicidal.

However, Efexor's manufacturers rejected the claims, saying 10

million people had used it safely for the past 10 years.

Fahey is in prison awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors have asked that an application be made to Queensland's

Attorney-General Lavarch requesting he never be released.

Fahey was still being prescribed Efexor, Ms Fahey said.

Fahey stabbed Ms Crathern 14 times on August 8, 2002. He stabbed Ms

McColl in the torso 24 times on February 26, 2003.

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