It’s the quiet suburb that’s a jewel in the crown of Sydney’s lavish northern beaches.
But despite being one of the most picturesque parts of the city, even the small town of Avalon Beach has been affected by a reported major spike in drug use in the area.
Lanell Latta was this week allegedly stabbed to death by her son Joel Woszatka in a home she rented from international supermodel Gemma Ward.
The horrific killing of the 50-year-old left the community in shock, leaving her family and partner Geoff Robson-Scott to remember her as ‘a beautiful and kind woman’.
However, with claims Woszatka was battling drug and mental health problems at the time, the shocking incident raised concern among the community about an increase in the spread of ice.
Lanell Latta (left) was this week allegedly stabbed to death by her son Joel Woszatka (right) in a home she rented from supermodel Gemma Ward at on Sydney’s northern beaches
The horrific killing of the 50-year-old left the community in shock, while her family and partner Geoff Robson-Scott (centre) told how she’d ‘had a lot of trouble’ with her youngest son Joel
Ice use was up 60 per cent on the northern beaches (pictured) in 2017, while by comparison cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy were all steady
New statistics released by the Bureau of Crime show ice use in the area rose by 60 per cent last year alone, with experts telling Daily Mail Australia the worrying numbers aren’t in line with national trends.
Matt Noffs, drug expert and CEO of the Noffs Foundation, said methamphetamines and ice pose as much of a problem in Australia now as heroin did back in the 1980s.
‘If you look at our data and data from other treatment centres, we continually see an increase in ice use,’ Mr Noffs told Daily Mail Australia.
‘But why it’s shifting out to places like Dee Why and Avalon is that as our country gets wealthier, the middle class increases and we don’t have a disparity from poor to rich.
‘With ice, what we know is that people who become addicted to it often come from a background of trauma or poverty, and as the middle class grows drug use spreads.’
Statistics released by the Bureau of Crime revealed that in 2017 some 20 people on ice in Dee Why were charged with offences, an increase of 12 on the previous year.
By comparison cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy use was steady across the northern beaches on the year earlier.
While figures are up in what is one of the most lavish parts of Sydney, according to Mr Noffs ice use is trending down at a rate of knots across the rest of the country.
‘We’ve seen a huge reduction in heroin use compared to the 80s and that’s because when we talk to kids these days about why they don’t use it, they say: ‘It’s dirty’,’ he said.
‘We did very well under John Howard behind the scenes pushing really strongly with programs to help and turn it into a health issue, which took away from its sex appeal.
Drug expert Matt Noffs (pictured) said the rise of cocaine in areas on the northern beaches was likely due to an ever growing middle class of society in Australia
Figures show ice use in parts of the northern beaches increased 60 per cent in 2017, compared to the year prior (stock image)
Mr Noffs said he believes ice may decrease in popularity within the next decade, much in the way heroin use dropped off in the 1980s
‘But with ice we’re trying to also make it not sexy, in the very same way we’re trying to move away from terrorism, we’re pushing how you’ll end up in jail or very poor.
‘And we’re getting there way sooner than I thought. If we can be strategic and not let politics run our drug policy, I think within a decade we can knock ice on the head.’
Tom Carroll, a former surfing world champion born on the Northern Beaches, came clean on the ice addiction he battled for years during an ABC documentary in 2013.
The now 51-year-old told the four-part series ‘Ice Wars’ he thought he had his drug problem under control, but was unknowingly watching his life be torn apart.
‘It wasn’t me that started to emerge,’ Carroll told the ABC of his start on the drug.
‘It was someone very angry, someone who was toxic, someone who was falling apart emotionally and trying to hold up.
Tom Carroll (pictured), a former surfing world champion born on the Northern Beaches, came clean on the ice addiction he battled for years during the ABC ‘Ice Wars’ documentary in 2013
‘It doesn’t just tear the family, but the ripple effect goes right out to the whole community and it just destroys us from the inside out.’
Speaking outside the home where the shocking incident occurred a day earlier, Ms Latta’s current and former partners told of the battle she faced raising her son Joel.
‘She had a lot of trouble with her youngest son, he had a number of mental health issues,’ her current partner Mr Robson-Scott, who witnessed the incident, said.
Earlier, her former partner Guy Crawford revealed: ‘Recreational activities were a part of it, but a report has to come from police in due course.’
Woszatka’s arrest was the culmination of what locals regard as being a dark time for the young man.
Family friends said he habitually wandered the suburban streets at dawn and dusk with a long neck beer in his hand.
The current and former partners of Ms Latta (far left) said her son had mental health problems and had also been involved in ‘recreational activities’
Taking to Facebook on Friday, Mr Robson-Scott (right) paid tribute to his partner and claimed he’d heard her voice telling him: ‘I’m OK Geoff’
In response to the touching post, Ms Latta’s daughter Rebecca Crawford said Mr Robson-Scott had made her mother feel ‘the happiest she’d been in years’
People had been ‘trying to help Joel for a while, but it was having very little effect,’ a man told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Neighbours would see him walking along the street at 9am with a long neck in a paper bag, and he would do the same in the evening,’ he said.
Taking to Facebook on Friday, Mr Robson-Scott paid tribute to his partner and claimed he’d heard her voice telling him: ‘I’m OK Geoff’.
In response to the touching post, Ms Latta’s daughter Rebecca Crawford said: ‘Mum was the happiest I’ve seen her in years since she met you… Thank you for loving her, looking after her and for making her so happy.’
Mr Woszatka did not make an application for bail this week and will appear in Central Local Court on Tuesday, September 26.
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