A former Queensland nurse, Karenjeet Kaur Warburton, has been barred from practising in the healthcare sector for four years after she attempted to hire a patient to carry out a brutal attack on her ex-boyfriend, a senior police officer.
Warburton, who had been in a relationship with Inspector Don McKay between March 2020 and early 2021, reportedly offered a patient, Andrew Bown, the sum of $3,000 to mutilate her former partner and severely disfigure him with acid.
According to tribunal records cited by Daily Mail Australia, Warburton handed over photographs of McKay and his home address between 1 April and 6 October 2021. She allegedly believed Bown was the “type of person who might be up for the task.”
“She had paid a significant amount and offered an even more significant amount to the proposed assailant,” tribunal member Julie Dick wrote in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s judgment.
The tribunal heard how Warburton instructed Bown — who later cooperated with law enforcement to carry out unspeakable acts. “Warburton instructed a law enforcement participant to have Inspector McKay’s ‘penis and tongue cut off, his face burnt with acid, his spine to be severed with a knife for the purpose of causing paralysis, or to break every bone in his body so that he could no longer walk or talk’,” Ms Dick noted.
Authorities apprehended Warburton before the plot could materialise. She pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to procure grievous bodily harm and one count of attempting to procure a malicious act with intent. In March 2023, she was sentenced to five years in prison, with the term suspended after 16 months.
The tribunal’s decision, handed down in March but published last week, confirmed Warburton’s professional ban. She did not contest the misconduct allegations during the health tribunal proceedings.
“It is unfortunate that this serious behaviour has led to the respondent being in the difficult circumstances in which she now finds herself,” Ms Dick remarked. “The tribunal is aware she will have to reapply for registration. Upon doing so, she will be confronted with having no recency of practice, and there will be other steps that she might have to take.”
The man she approached, Andrew Bown, was also prosecuted for his involvement. He was convicted of arson, attempting to procure grievous bodily harm, and possession of a dangerous article to facilitate a crime. In November 2022, the Cairns District Court sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in prison.
