the man who gave fentanyl to a sex worker thinking it was cocaine

An Inner West drug dealer who gave so much fentanyl to a sex worker that she was hospitalized has failed to reduce his sentence for drug supply because he wrongly believed the drugs were cocaine.

Shadi Salameh, 32, and an associate visited the Gateway Club in Petersham in January 2020.

The Gateway Club describes itself as Sydney’s oldest legal brothel, offering the “ultimate pleasure”.

Salameh gave a sex worker a fentanyl-spiked drink at the Parramatta Road brothel, according to his District Court case heard last year.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid at the center of the prescription painkiller epidemic that has devastated large areas of the rural United States. It was also discovered during the autopsy of four people found dead in a Melbourne home earlier this year, putting authorities across the country on alert. So far its presence in New South Wales is minimal.

The sex worker called the club manager when she felt distressed and disoriented, and Salameh fled.

Police raided his home several days later, seizing 175 grams of fentanyl in a sealed envelope and 3.8 grams in a plastic bag hidden in his bedroom closet.

Anything over five grams of fentanyl is considered a significant commercial supply under the nation’s drug laws.

Investigators also seized $29,530 and 152 grams of cocaine from the home.