Category Archives: Crime – Australia

Child safety officer incorrectly assessed Elizabeth Struhs as ‘safe’ day after she was admitted to hospital in coma

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Inquest into death of eight-year-old Queensland girl who was denied insulin by her religious parents told her case was complex

A child safety officer incorrectly assessed Elizabeth Struhs as “safe” one day after she arrived at hospital in a coma and nearly died due to the neglect of her parents, a coroner’s court has heard.

A Queensland coronial inquest heard evidence on Wednesday from one of the two child safety officers who ultimately decided to return the then six-year-old, who had type 1 diabetes, to the care of her parents at their home in Toowoomba.

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Child safety staff determined to send Elizabeth Struhs home with parents despite doctors’ concerns, inquest hears

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Queensland coronial inquest into death of eight-year-old girl continues after 14 members of religious sect were convicted of her manslaughter

It was impossible to change the mind of child safety staff after they had decided to send Elizabeth Struhs home with her parents despite some of her doctors’ concerns, a police officer has told a coronial inquest into the young girl’s death.

Child safety staff decided in 2019 that it would be “more detrimental” to not return Elizabeth, aged six at the time, to her Toowoomba home upon her discharge from hospital after suffering a coma due to diabetic ketoacidosis, a Queensland coroner heard.

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Men accused of shooting Australian surfer brothers and US friend dead in Mexico to learn fate as trial concludes

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Martin and Debra Robinson, the brothers’ parents, will address the court before a Mexican judge hands down the verdict

A Mexican judge is expected to hand down his verdict on Thursday in the high-profile murder trial of three men accused of killing two Australian surfers and their American friend in 2024.

Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33 respectively, and their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state in an alleged robbery.

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‘Anywhere, anytime’: Victoria police and PSOs to get random stop and search powers after Labor backflip

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Premier Ben Carroll adopts Coalition’s stance on Jack’s Law, which gives police and PSOs power to randomly search people for knives with metal detectors

The Victorian premier has made another policy backflip, announcing a re-elected Labor government would give police and protective services officers the power to stop and search people for knives using handheld metal detectors – despite experts warning of a lack of evidence that the measure reduces violent crime.

Ben Carroll on Wednesday announced he would match a commitment made by the Coalition opposition last year to introduce Queensland’s Jack’s Law, named after 17-year-old Jack Beasley, who was fatally stabbed in Surfers Paradise in 2019.

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‘It’s hell’: father of slain Australian surfers tells Mexico homicide trial about identifying sons’ bodies

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Three men are on trial over the death of brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend, US citizen Jack Carter Rhoad, in Ensenada

The father of two Australian surfers killed in Mexico two years ago testified in court on Tuesday that his life had been turned into hell, as the high-profile trial continued into its second day.

Three men are charged in the killing of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and their 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, who were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast in April 2024.

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Queensland concedes law imposing mandatory jail on some offenders as young as 10 breaches human rights

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State government says ‘breach bail, go to jail’ laws raise risk of overcrowding in jails, while one expert warns they may lead to ‘cruel outcomes’

The Queensland government’s latest law and order crackdown – subjecting some children as young as 10 to a mandatory sentence of a year behind bars – could lead to “cruel outcomes”, according to human rights lawyers.

In documents tabled with the legislation on Thursday, the government conceded its laws, dubbed “breach bail, go to jail”, would breach human rights and risk further straining the state’s overcrowded jails, youth detention centres and police watch houses.

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Deepfake Anthony Albanese used in celebrity scams duping Australians out of $7.4m, Asic warns

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Australia’s corporate watchdog says PM is the figure most commonly used in deepfakes to promote phony investment opportunities

There has been a steep rise in scammers luring victims into phony investment opportunities using deepfakes of celebrities and politicians, Australia’s corporate watchdog has warned.

And Anthony Albanese is the figure most commonly co-opted.

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Good Samaritan dies days after being attacked while trying to stop Melbourne shoplifters

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Van Viet Truong was critically injured after coming to the aid of a fellow retail worker in Sunshine

Council flags are flying at half-mast in honour of a good Samaritan who died days after he was allegedly attacked by shoplifting youths outside a Melbourne shopping strip.

Van Viet Truong was critically injured after he rushed to the aid of a fellow retail worker trying to stop the group stealing clothes in Sunshine in Melbourne’s west on Saturday, police allege.

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Good Samaritan dies days after being attacked while trying to stop Melbourne shoplifters

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Van Viet Truong was critically injured after coming to the aid of a fellow retail worker in Sunshine

Council flags are flying at half-mast in honour of a good Samaritan who died days after he was allegedly attacked by shoplifting youths outside a Melbourne shopping strip.

Van Viet Truong was critically injured after he rushed to the aid of a fellow retail worker trying to stop the group stealing clothes in Sunshine in Melbourne’s west on Saturday, police allege.

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Peter Falconio murder: British expert says he has identified a ‘most likely’ burial location

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UK police adviser in the early 2000s and global consultant in ‘no-body’ homicide cases says he has narrowed down the outback search area

• Peter Falconio murder 25 years on: new footage shows dying Australian outback killer’s refusal to reveal body’s location

The former British government expert who consulted on the search for the remains of the murdered backpacker Peter Falconio says he has now identified a “most likely” potential burial location – an abandoned racetrack only 8km from the scene of the infamous outback attack at Barrow Creek.

In July 2001, Falconio and his partner, Joanne Lees, both from Yorkshire, were ambushed and attacked by Bradley John Murdoch as they drove along a remote stretch of road in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 300km north of Alice Springs.

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Peter Falconio murder 25 years on: new footage shows dying Australian outback killer’s refusal to reveal body’s location

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NT police release body-worn camera vision of Bradley John Murdoch denying knowing where UK backpacker’s body is weeks before his death

Infamous killer Bradley John Murdoch aggressively denied knowing where the body of still-missing backpacker Peter Falconio was during a police interview weeks before he died.

NT police released body-worn camera vision of the interview on Saturday, days before the 25th anniversary of the killing of the 28-year-old British man on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, in July 2001.

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Child protection services contacted before four-year-old’s alleged murder as police investigate cannibalism claim

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Police charge woman with murder after boy’s body was found in a Central Coast home on Saturday

The New South Wales department in charge of child protection received “a number of reports” about a four-year-old child before he was allegedly murdered by his mother, the minister revealed, as she announced a review into how the case was handled.

Kate Washington, the NSW minister for communities and family, announced the independent review into the child’s case on Monday afternoon, two days after police found the preschooler’s body at a home on the Central Coast.

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Third teenager charged after 15-year-old Melbourne boy allegedly left to die from stab wounds

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Darweish Mohamed was found critically wounded outside Craigieburn community hospital on Wednesday evening

A third teenager has been charged over the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy found outside a Melbourne hospital.

A 14-year-old from Victoria’s Hume area was arrested on Friday evening and was charged with murder, police said.He has been scheduled to appear before a children’s court.

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Paedophile teacher William ‘Rob’ Gilfillan sentenced for sexual offences against two Victorian schoolgirls in the 1980s

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Former PE teacher will serve time for crimes perpetrated at Traralgon high school in Gippsland concurrently with prior 48-year sentence

A former physical education teacher serving Australia’s longest sentence for child sexual abuse offences against his daughter has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for “brazen and forcible” sexual crimes against two schoolgirls in his care in the 1980s.

In December, William “Rob” Gilfillan was found guilty of indecent assault of a person under 16 and sexual penetration of a child under 16. The five counts against two victims took place at Traralgon high school in Gippsland, Victoria.

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Multiple teens arrested over alleged machete brawl in Melbourne as government says crime laws working

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Commuters were forced to run for cover after a group of youths allegedly fought with knives at Flinders Street station on Saturday night

The Victorian government has defended the effectiveness of its machete ban after multiple teens were arrested over an alleged machete brawl in the heart of Melbourne.

Shocked commuters ran for cover after a group of youths – some armed with machetes – brawled at Melbourne’s Flinders Street station concourse on Saturday night.

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‘Terrifying’: political candidate violently abused and schoolboy thrown into bin, antisemitism royal commission hears

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The third day of hearings of the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion heard further evidence from Jewish Australians

Violent antisemitic abuse was allowed to proliferate across a Jewish political candidate’s social media as part of a broader trend designed to intimidate Jewish Australians from public life, a royal commission has heard.

Joshua Kirsh launched a campaign as an independent candidate for the New South Wales upper house in late 2025 but found his advertisements online bombarded by antisemitic tropes, abuse and threats.

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Australia’s use of methamphetamine has doubled in a decade, wastewater monitoring reveals

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Consumption is at a record high along with that of cocaine, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission figures show

Methamphetamine use in Australia has almost doubled in the past decade and stimulants are being taken at record highs, new wastewater monitoring reveals.

On Wednesday evening the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (Acic) released its latest annual report after testing wastewater samples from 64 treatment plants across the country between August 2024 and 2025.

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Podcast interviews of NSW couple jailed for abusing their daughter in the spotlight

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Exclusive: Corrective Services investigates how Richard Guilliatt of The Australian was able to interview Rob and Karen Gilfillan for Shadow of Doubt

Corrective Services New South Wales is investigating how a journalist from The Australian was able to interview a man and a woman convicted of abusing their daughter for a podcast that raised questions about their guilt.

After legal restrictions were lifted last month the victim said the podcast had been highly detrimental to her mental health.

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Victim of ‘disgusting paedophile’ serving Australia’s longest sentence for child sex abuse tells of ‘lost decades’

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Woman tells court ‘I lost my teenage self’ from abuse by teacher William ‘Rob’ Gilfillan, already in prison for offences against daughter

A woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted in the 1980s by her high school PE teacher has told a court how the man’s actions resulted in her life being changed “negatively for decades”.

In December, William “Rob” Gilfillan was found guilty of indecent assault of a person under 16 and sexual penetration of a child under 16. The five counts against two victims took place at Traralgon high school in Gippsland.

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UK man jailed for sexually abusing nine-year-old step granddaughter has Australian visa reinstated by tribunal

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The man successfully appealed the automatic revocation of his permanent resident visa after being sentenced to 14 months in prison

An elderly UK man who served a prison sentence for sexually abusing his step granddaughter when she was nine years old has had his Australian visa reinstated by a tribunal because of his “strong ties to Australia”.

The man was sentenced to 14 months prison in the Western Australia district court in February 2024 for molesting the girl in the presence of another child.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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