A NEW mum died after taking "high end" cocaine as prosecutors urged two men to be convicted of killing her.
Rebecca Tollan, 23, passed away at a house in Bellshill after being on her first night out following her pregnancy.
Barry McAuley, 40, and Martin Stewart, 34, are charged with the culpable homicide of Rebecca.
READ MORE: Bellshill mum died after taking cocaine, Glasgow High Court hears
The duo are alleged to have "recklessly and unlawfully" given the "potentially lethal" class A drug to her on July 14 and 15 2019.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC made his closing speech to jurors on the third day of the trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
He told how Rebecca and her sister-in-law Pamela Tollan, 31, had met the men in a beer garden at the Railway Tavern pub in Motherwell.
McAuley had handed a "wee bag" to Pamela. The women eventually went to the ladies toilet where Rebecca took cocaine.
The four all ended up back at Stewart's then home in Bellshill.
Pamela believed Rebecca went on to take more cocaine there before collapsing.
Mr Prentice said Rebecca's death was not intended and that "things went badly wrong".
He told the court: "The crown says the act of supply of that high strength cocaine - a potentially lethal drug - was a reckless act causing her death.
"Accordingly, I invite you to convict the accused of culpable homicide."
Mr Prentice said jurors could make a "distinction" between each man when returning a verdict, but he suggested both were aware of this drug being available at the house.
Mr Prentice admitted no-one "forced" Rebecca to take drugs, but, in the men allegedly supplying, it was "reckless".
He said: "This cocaine was 65% pure and you have heard that cocaine introduced into this country comes in at 75% pure.
"This was high end cocaine. I suggest the accused knew it was high end cocaine.
"This was unusually high. I say that making that available is the reckless element."
McAuley's lawyer Paul Nelson later told jurors the man did not deal drugs to Rebecca that day or night.
McAuley had also ended up ill that night in Bellshill.
Mr Nelson saod: "Barry John McAuley is not criminally responsible for Rebecca Tollan's death.
"She did what she wanted to do. Sadly, she did too much of what she wanted to do."
He urged the jury not to "compound" what already was a "tragic" case by convicting McAuley.
Stewart's KC Donald Findlay will address jurors tomorrow (FRI).
The trial, before judge Lord Clark, continues.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article