Sinister: Red Bull as Criminal Defence?

[David Clark.]

This came out of an Australian Newspaper the other week.....

Teenager Robbed Store in 'Red Bull Delirium'
>From the Sydney Morning Herald

A teenager who drove 300 kilometres to rob a supermarket of $17,000 at
knifepoint may have done so partly because he had drunk too much of the
energy drink Red Bull, a judge said yesterday.
The 17-year-old Darwin boy, who cannot be identified, was a conscientious
high school student with two part-time jobs, who also found time for
volunteer community work, the Northern Territory Supreme Court heard.
Psychiatric and medical evidence suggested he might have been suffering
caffeine intoxication when he drove from Darwin to Katherine on May 19 armed
with a butterfly knife and carrying a balaclava to rob the supermarket. The
boy was drinking up to 11 cans of Red Bull a day before the robbery - more
than twice the caffeine needed to cause significant toxic effects, the court
heard.
Caffeine intoxication may have altered the boy's state "such that his
judgment was impaired and he performed this robbery in the context of
experiencing delirium", the psychiatrist's report said. A pre-sentence
report also pointed to caffeine as a contributing factor.
"It appears there was a blurring between fantasy and reality, perhaps
induced by caffeine and chronic sleep deprivation," the report said. "Since
committing this crime, [the boy] has weaned himself off the Red Bull and no
longer has any caffeine. I've noticed the change in his ability to think
rationally and he sleeps well." AAP

So lets be careful out there,


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