Jasmin O’sullivan, 23, was killed in a three-car accident at Black Hill last week.
On the surface it looked like another tragic car accident on a busy stretch of road, but underneath was a story of family heartache and the drug ice.
“Jasmin was a beautiful person,” her aunty Debbie Brock said.
“She was a full-time mum, she loved and adored those kids over everything else.
“But about eight months ago she started using ice and she was stripped of who she was, even the way she looked.”
Ms O’sullivan was a single mother to two boys under school-age and was living at Tarro when friends introduced her to the drug.
From there it was an eight-month downward spiral where the family-minded woman left her life, moved to Newcastle and lost her way.
Her parents, Mark and Karen O’sullivan tried to pull her out of the destructive lifestyle, but the addiction to ice was too strong.
Jasmine never got the opportunity to beat the addiction as her life came to an abrupt end when her car collided with another vehicle on John Renshaw Drive on May 21.
It is not known whether drugs played a role in the collision, but for her family the car accident was a tragic end to an even more tragic story.
Now the O’sullivans want to warn other families of the danger of ice in the hope that their stories can end differently.
“Ice destroyed my family, it is evil,” mother Karen O’sullivan said.
“It has taken my daughter away, it has taken the mother of two beautiful children.
“I am going to be a nanny mummy now because I couldn’t get my daughter to see.”
Ms Brock described the ice epidemic as a helpless fight for parents to rescue their children.
“How many people have to die before we do something about ice?” Ms Brock said. “Her parents couldn’t have done anything more to help her, you couldn’t get two better parents.
That car accident was the end of it all and hopefully now she is at peace.”
This helpless feeling is one many parents in Maitland can relate to – Jasmin’s mother Karen knows of at least three families who have children on ice.
“No one knows what to do,” she said. “The police don’t help you, you ring welfare and they don’t help you, there’s nothing.
“I feel like someone sent it here to destroy whoever will take it.”
The family has started a gofundme account to help with funeral expenses. Visit www.gofundme.com/v9rpdc to contribute money.
Friends and family have also used the fundraiser page as a place to post tributes to the much-loved young mother.
“This girl is my sister I love [and] miss her so much,” her brother Brett O’sullivan said.
Her aunty Donna Wignall described her as sunshine and a beautiful niece.
Any additional money raised after funeral expenses are met will go to Ms O'sullivan’s two young sons.
“If you are a parent in this position don’t be afraid to come out and say something,” Ms Brock said. “Come out and get help. Ice is so destructive and you would be surprised just how many families are dealing with it.”
