The death of Joe Cinque occurred in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on 26 October 1997. Cinque's coffee was laced with rohypnol, a sedative, at a dinner party, after which he was injected with a lethal dose of heroin by his girlfriend Anu Singh, who was a law student at the Australian National University at the time. Singh was convicted in 1999 of manslaughter. She was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but was released early in 2001. Since her release, she has undertaken criminology research. The crime was portrayed in Helen Garner's non-fiction book Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004), which was later adapted into a film of the same name.
Singh-Cinque relationship
Joe Cinque and Anu Singh met in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1995. The following year, the couple were living together in Canberra while she was a law student at the Australian National University. During the 1998 trial, one of Singh's friends testified that she had been highly obsessed with her self-image, particularly her body, since 1991 and had briefly taken ipecac after Cinque mentioned it, something she was later angry with him for. Singh was also reportedly obsessed with fad diets and would spend hours working out at the gym—she had told friends "she'd rather be dead than fat". In May 1997, Singh told a friend that she wanted to kill several people, including Cinque, her ex-boyfriend Simon Walsh and her doctors.
Death
Singh's close friend Madhavi Rao invited acquaintances to two dinner parties in October 1997 and told them that a crime would be committed. Witness Sanjeeva Tennekoon reported that the first dinner party on 24 October was normal and that Singh and Cinque appeared loving. However, another witness told the court that Rao had told her afterwards that Singh had tried to kill Cinque that evening but did not deliver a sufficient dose, and that the witness had threatened to go to the police. The day after the first dinner party, Singh and Rao went to a friend, Len Mancini, and told him they had given Cinque drugs the previous evening.
Cinque died on 26 October 1997, the morning after the second dinner party. Toxicology reports showed high levels of heroin and rohypnol in his body.
Witness Ross Manley claimed that Singh bought more heroin from Manley's friend on the morning of 26 October. Singh called an ambulance for Cinque at 12:10pm on 26 October, and the ambulance officers found that he had had a cardiac arrest. Singh made it difficult for the ambulance to respond quickly, giving a false address. Singh told police at the scene that she had administered drugs to Cinque. Police reported that when they arrived at the scene, Singh was hysterical and struggled with police and ambulance officers when they took her away from Cinque's body.
Trial
Singh first appeared in court on 28 October 1997, charged with murder. She had told police that she had injected Cinque with heroin so that he would not interfere with a suicide attempt. Rao was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and released on bail on 5 November. The prosecutor noted that both Singh and Rao had been indiscreet about their actions. Singh applied for bail in December, and a psychiatrist presented evidence of a personality disorder. The prosecution pinpointed Singh as someone who embodied strong narcissistic traits.
Singh and Rao were tried jointly in October and November 1998, but this trial was aborted on 11 November, with Justice Ken Crispin saying that one of the pieces of evidence was problematic as it was unclear as to which of Singh or Rao it was admissible against. For the second trial, Singh elected to stand trial by judge alone, forgoing a jury. Justice Crispin ruled that Singh and Rao should be tried separately in the interest of fairness.
In her 1999 trial, Singh's defence presented evidence that she was mentally ill and had diminished responsibility, proposing an insanity defense. The court was told that Singh believed she was dying from a muscle wasting disease, complained of "not being able to feel her head on her body" and was bulimic. The prosecutors called an expert witness to testify that Singh had appeared rational and assertive on the night she was arrested. On 23 April Justice Crispin found Singh guilty of manslaughter and the following day sentenced her to ten years' imprisonment with a minimum four-year non-parole period. Cinque's mother was deeply unhappy with the short sentence. In Rao's second trial, she was charged with murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, and administering a stupefying drug and was acquitted of all charges.