A Sydney pharmacist who repeatedly drugged a female colleague after she refused his sexual advances has been sentenced to a minimum of 10 months in jail.
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Yan Chi "Anthony" Cheung, 34, spiked the water and coffee of his colleague Pamela Leung as they worked together in a pharmacy on the University of NSW's Kensington campus.
He immediately appealed against the decision of Waverley Local Court magistrate Michael Barko and was granted bail.
Mr Barko sentenced Cheung to a minimum 10 months but a maximum of 12 months' imprisonment.
In handing down his sentence, Mr Barko said the offence had caused substantial harm to the victim.
"This was pre-planned, premeditated, execution of criminal offending over a long period of time involving the same victim," Mr Barko said.
Cheung's own lawyer told the court his client's actions were "disgraceful".
In her victim impact statement, Ms Leung described the offender's actions as "sadistic".
"The incomprehensible experience has robbed me of my trust towards people," she wrote.
"I painfully struggle to process what has happened."
Ms Leung also said that she could not understand why Cheung had prayed for her health in public at their church and then continued to drug her.
"I'm unsure how I can ever make sense of this," she said.
In May, Cheung pleaded guilty to using a poison to injure or cause distress or pain at their work Pharmacy@UNSW.
Cheung and his victim had been friends since they met at the Surry Hills Chinese Presbyterian Church in 2010.
"The victim felt as though [Cheung] became obsessed with her," the police statement of facts said.
Ms Leung told police that she asked Cheung to stop making sexual advances towards her after he brushed past her breasts and bottom.
But Cheung later told police he began putting prescription drugs in her water and her coffee to make her "suffer" for refuting his advances.
Over the course of a year, he drugged her 23 times using Phenergan, doxylamine, Endep, Seroquel and Deptran.
At one stage, about March 2016, he put 150 milligrams of Deptran into Ms Leung's tin of instant coffee meaning she poisoned herself each time she made a coffee.
Some of the drugs can also cause infertility with prolonged use, police said.
"As a pharmacist, [Cheung] had detailed knowledge of these drugs and the effects through his studies and employment," police said.
Ms Leung told police she had felt ill during shifts a number of times since May last year.
Security footage taken by police at the time showed Cheung pouring a liquid into Ms Leung's drink.
