** New Brunswick paramedic pleads guilty to drug charges;sentencing next month
** Coroner’s report into cruise ship death of New South Wales paramedic expected this month
CANADA NEWS
** Sentencing has been set for next month for a New Brunswick paramedic who pleaded guilty in May to drug charges. The CBC (Julianne Hazlewood/June 9) said Travis Thomas, 26, admitted guilt in relation to tags of possession with the purpose of trafficking LSD, ecstasy, magic mushrooms, cannabis resin or hash or marijuana. According to the news site, Thomas originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his mind on May 5 of this year. Arrested July 10, 2014 in St. John, he had his EMS licence suspended this past January. Thomas has also allegedly been suspended from his job with Ambulance New Brunswick, but a spokesman for the company refused to confirm this fact citing privacy reason.
AUSTRALIA NEWS
** A New South Wales coroner is expected to make public his report into the 2013 cruise ship death of paramedic Paul Rossington by the close of June. Yahoo 7 News (AAP/June 10) said the paper will likely conclude the death was accidental, resulting from Rossington jumping from the ship into the water after his girlfriend fell overboard. According to the newspaper, neither the body of Rossington nor Kristen Schroder, 26, have ever been found. Both apparently died in the waters of the Tasmanian Sea on May 8, 2013 about 120 km off the coast of New South Wales. Although CCTV footage showed the duo falling from the ship, neither was reported missing until the following day after the vessel docked in Sydney. As part of his report, Coroner Hugh Dillon will make recommendations on how future deaths similar to the pair’s can be avoided. The cruise line itself has said it is close to installing an automated alarm to detect when a passenger goes overboard.
