By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
NOT long after his 16th birthday, Justin punched his grandfather in the head after the older man urged him to get out of bed for school.
It was one of the lowest moments in the now 22-year-old’s short life, one bookended by tragedy and addiction but now finally lit by hope.
The young man currently runs a weekly bible study class in Casey where he helps others battling their own demons.
“I had extreme anger, I would go into fits where I couldn’t remember what happened,” Justin said.
“I calmed down and I walked out and I saw Dad (his grandfather) bleeding into the sink and my heart just broke. These are the people who chose to look after me – I can’t do that.
“So that day, I moved out.”
Justin abandoned school and took up TAFE, moving near Bendigo to fend for himself and soon fell into drug abuse, a story that eerily echoed that of his mother.
Marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol were staples in Justin’s life for too long.
He gave up his former life in Endeavour Hills where his grandparents, Walter and Danielle, raised him, aided by his aunt – Casey Councillor Rosalie Crestani.
Justin’s mother, Nichole, gave birth to her only son when she was 21 and as a single mother relied on her family as much as possible.
But Nichole died in 2000, aged 28, when her anti-depressant medication mixed fatally with the methadone she was using to wean herself off heroin.
She left behind seven-year-old son Justin.
“I remember going to sleep and she was there when I went to sleep and in the morning she wasn’t there. I didn’t really think much of it,” he said.
“I went to school. It was lunchtime and I saw my grandma and grandpa and I ran up and saw the look on their faces.
“They said your mum’s gone and I didn’t believe it.”
Hitting rock bottom when he was kicked out of his rental property, where he barely had enough money for food and with nowhere to go, Justin returned to his family, who had never given up hope.
“I knew there was always a way to the end of the tunnel, even if you can’t always see the light.
“I got out of it previously and I can get out of it again for the rest of my life now.”
After attending bible study himself, which helped him piece his life back together, Justin has now set up his own class to help others in Casey.
“Ever since then I’ve been trying to help close ones get off. I’ve had friends get off ice and really thank me and say I’ve helped a lot,” he said.
“2015 is actually the first year in my life that I’ve felt peace in my heart.”
