I caught a snippet of something on the Radio Live TV3 News simulcast on the way home from work tonight, something along the lines of “excessive alcohol, type 1 diabetes” so I looked it up when I got home. Apparently last week the guy on the right, Manly Sea Eagles league player Brett Stewart was arrested and charged over the alleged sexual assault of a 17 year old girl while highly intoxicated.

Commentators are pointing out that this is worrying for the image of league. What I find more worrying (those who know me will know I could care less about the game) is that this guy is a type 1 diabetic, and there has been some speculation that Stewart could use his diabetes as a defence:

A leading expert in diabetes, Paul Zimmet, the emeritus director of Melbourne’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, said people with Type 1 diabetes were at risk of having a hypoglycemic attack – or blood-sugar crash – as a result of excessive drinking, especially on an empty stomach. The effects of drinking could then compound the problem, by impairing the person’s ability to recognise the symptoms of the drop in blood sugar levels – which include changes to sensory perception and consciousness.

Alcohol could make the liver more sensitive to insulin, increasing the likelihood of hypoglycemia, Professor Zimmet said. But this depended on individual factors, as well as the form of alcohol and the circumstances in which it was consumed.

More on this story here: http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/diabetes-defence-stewart-could-argue-he-didnt-know-what-he-wasdoing/2009/03/10/1236447217385.html

At this point this is merely speculation and I’m eager to point that out… it has not come from Stewart’s lawyers or an official source. So I am giving him the benefit of the doubt on this situation. All I can say is that I sincerely hope he doesn’t drag the diabetes through the courts as well. I don’t know about you but I’ve been low loads of times and never been tempted to touch someone up inappropriately during that time. On the other side of the venn diagram, I’ve been drunk (and diabetic) plenty of times, and to date, never ended up in jail. So – I really hope he doesn’t try to use it as a defence – and if he does, I’ll be calling ‘bullshit’ on it, very loudly.