Harriet Wran was a privately-schooled Sydney socialite, the daughter of a Labor icon and the goddaughter of Kerry Packer.
But this week, the nation is watching in horror as the 26-year-old beauty dramatically falls from grace.
Ms Wran, the daughter of late NSW premier Neville Wran, told police she was ‘numb on ice’ when she allegedly stabbed a man to death on Sunday night, according to Fairfax Media.
It’s also being reported that Wran had been living in a ‘crack den’ littered with pipes, cigarette cartons and dirty dishes in 2012.
Wran was arrested on Wednesday and charged with murder, attempted murder and aggravated breaking and entering following a fight on Sunday in Sydney suburb Redfern. The altercation, which the Daily Telegraph reports erupted over an alleged $70 drug deal, left Daniel John McNulty, a 48-year-old suspected drug dealer, dead. It also saw Brett Fitzgerald, 42, hospitalised with stab wounds.
Two others, 35-year-old Michael Lee and 29-year-old Lloyd Haines, have also been charged in relation to the incident.
Yesterday at a brief appearance at Liverpool Local Court, the court heard Ms Wran — who once worked as a producer on The Weather Channel — was a self-confessed ice addict.
The former Sydney University student had been in recovery, but ran away from the family home and had relapsed shortly after her father’s death on April 20 this year, the Daily Mail reports.
Ms Wran was also reportedly living on the dole and had no cash or credit cards on her at the time of her arrest, despite being one of the main beneficiaries of her father’s multi-million estate.
Sources told Fairfax Media she was living on the streets in recent weeks.
Ms Wran was by her father’s side when he passed away, and the Daily Telegraph reports she recited a Shakespearean sonnet at his state funeral.
She did not apply for bail and her lawyer, high-profile barrister Winston Terracini, said she would plead not guilty.
She will remain behind bars until her next court appearance on October 8.
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Top Comments
No sympathy. Whatsoever. My uncle was a meth head for many years so i know the devastation it causes. I look around at some of my closest school friends and i can't even look at them - not because i pity them/ think i am better than them etc, but because they are shells of their old selves and even if they kick the habit, that shit causes irreversible damage to your brain cells. In 50 years our society will be completely ruined. Because of meth. Regional towns are being flooded with meth to get young teenagers hooked and get rid of any other potential competition (such as pills, mdma etc). FIFO workers are big fans because they can get on it when they first get back and by the time they head back north it is out of their system. Not enough is being done to stop this epidemic - i look around and it is all i see in terms the party atmosphere.
Also with the 'wealthy, coming from a good family' argument, does any one realise how hard it would be growing up with a high range figure as your family member? Look at Karl O'callaghan's son - police commisioner of WA has a meth head son stung for cooking when his lab exploded. Ice attacks all socio classes, i have very high achieving friends at uni who do it on 'weekends' not realising the threat of it filtering into their daily lives.
addiction may not discriminate, but unless your drink or dinner is spiked, you can.
take responsibility for the fact that you choose to take a substance and then do nothing to remove yourself from its clutches.
i have no problem with people who are/ were addicts. but i have a problem with people who neglect their charges, and cause harm to others, emotional violence and doing ugly crimes; in this case; murder. its very sad, for all the families harmed by this case, and others like it. we all have choices, sometimes they are hard.