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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Hannah Neale

Jail jugging of volunteer labelled 'betrayal of friendship'

A volunteer who worked tirelessly to change the lives of drug-addicted inmates in Canberra's jail was jugged in "a betrayal of friendship".

"I went to the Alexander Maconochie Centre to help people and I was violently attacked," the victim said in an impact statement read to the ACT Supreme Court on Friday.

In 2022 Rebecca Katherine Krutsky, 51, poured two cups of boiling water on the Narcotics Anonymous volunteer, who suffered burns to her chest and neck.

After a judge-alone trial last year, Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson found Krutsky guilty of recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm.

The victim had visited the jail in November 2022 as a volunteer in order to facilitate a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

On Friday, prosecutor Marcus Dyason read her victim impact statement to the court.

It detailed the victim meeting Krutsky and becoming friends with her while both women were imprisoned.

When the victim was released from jail, she decided to turn her life around and stop using drugs.

She then spent four years trying to organise Narcotics Anonymous meetings for female prisoners.

"I have a passion for helping women like me find a better way of life," the statement read.

"I never gave up."

While the first meetings were a success, about 10 minutes into the third Krutsky walked into the room carrying two cups of boiling hot black tea.

When Krutsky walked towards the victim, the woman thought she was approaching to give her a hug.

The prosecution had argued Krutsky, standing about 20 centimetres away, then poured both cups over the woman's upper chest and back area.

Rebecca Katherine Krutsky stands outside ACT courts during a previous case. Picture by Karleen Minney

The victim was taken to Canberra Hospital with blisters over her neck, back, chest and underneath her breasts.

In the statement read on Friday, the victim said the meetings in the jail had now been cancelled which was "incredibly sad".

"They are missing out on experiencing a program that has not just saved my life but so many other lives as well," she said.

The woman said she was left permanently scarred by the attack.

"I struggled to return to normal life. I was scared to leave the home alone. I was even scared to go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

"Not knowing why I was attacked, and permanently damaged, still plays on my mind today."

Justice Loukas-Karlsson labelled the jugging "a betrayal of friendship".

Krutsky's barrister, Stephen Robinson, argued since the attack his client had been a model prisoner.

"Someone who was very poorly behaved in prison ... since then has quite literally changed," Mr Robinson said.

Krutsky was in jail after purposefully driving at two pedestrians before she crashed into a garage door.

She also masterminded a drug robbery that led to the bashing death of Andre Le Dinh in 2010.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson is set to hand down her sentence for the most recent crime at a later date.

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