Category Archives: Crime – Australia

Six men charged over international drug ring after Sydney dawn raids seize cash, cocaine and crypto

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NSW police say several transnational organised criminal networks were collaborating on drug imports

Six Sydney men have been charged and millions of dollars in cash and drugs seized after a multi-agency police investigation into an international drug ring.

Another man was arrested in Los Angeles as part of a joint operation with US homeland security.

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Australian mother jailed for baby deaths should finally be cleared, say scientists

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Inquiry will hear new evidence of fatal gene mutation that may be to blame

In 2003 Kathleen Folbigg was convicted of smothering and killing her four young children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura. She was given a prison sentence of 40 years and dubbed Australia’s worst female serial killer.

Folbigg had to be kept in protective custody to prevent violence from other inmates but has steadfastly maintained her innocence, a claim that has slowly gathered support over the years. Scientists, including several Nobel prize winners, have since argued that a mutant gene was responsible for the children’s deaths.

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Medibank hack: Clare O’Neil says new cybercrime operation will hunt down ‘Russian thugs’

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Officials drawn from AFP and the Australian Signals Directorate to form ‘joint standing operation’ against cybercriminal syndicates

Australia has awoken from a cyber “slumber” and will “day in, day out hunt down the scumbags” who have stolen the health data of nearly 10 million Australians, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has said.

After the Russian embassy complained it had not been informed the Australian government would publicly accuse Russian cybercriminals of being behind a hack on private health insurer Medibank, O’Neil did not resile from publicly blaming Russians for the hack.

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Queensland offers $1m reward in pursuit of man in India suspected of Toyah Cordingley’s murder

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The 24-year-old’s body was found on a beach north of Cairns in 2018, prompting international manhunt

A $1m reward is on offer to help catch a man who police suspect may have murdered Toyah Cordingley on a Queensland beach before fleeing to India.

It has been four years since the 24-year-old was found in the dunes of Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, after what police have called “a personal and intimate attack”.

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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Billions in ‘dirty’ money going into NSW pokies should be addressed by cashless gaming card, crime commission says

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Review finds measure is needed to break ‘link between organised crime and gaming machines’

New South Wales should introduce a cashless gambling card to address the billions of dollars in “dirty” money being gambled in pubs and clubs in the state every year, the state’s crime commission has found.

On Wednesday a joint law enforcement agency inquiry into money laundering in NSW issued a damning final report that found “large sums” of the proceeds of crime are gambled by criminals in pubs and clubs across the state, “rewarding and perpetuating crime in the community”.

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Woodchipper murder accused boasted of killing man in meat grinder, court hears

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Peter Koenig said he pushed man into Adelaide abattoir’s meat grinder, fellow murder accused Gregory Lee Roser told Brisbane supreme court

It was while allegedly scoping out the best spot to murder Bruce Saunders that Gregory Lee Roser says Peter Koenig boasted of having killed before.

Koenig thought it was funny, Roser has told the Brisbane supreme court.

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Unlicensed driver who killed two young brothers walking home from NSW pool jailed for 13 years

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Shane and Sheldon Shorey, aged six and seven, died after Jacob Steven Donn crashed a car in Wellington, in central west NSW, while he was drug-affected

A driver who caused the deaths of two young brothers returning home from the local swimming pool in regional New South Wales has been jailed by a judge who said cars were not playthings.

As a mother and four boys walked along a footpath after visiting the pool in Wellington, she saw an out-of-control red Commodore heading straight for them.

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‘We’re not lying down on this one’: John Barilaro to fight assault charge in court

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Former NSW deputy premier’s lawyer pleads not guilty on his client’s behalf over altercation with freelance cameraman

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro will contest charges he assaulted a news camera operator and damaged equipment, a court has been told.

Barilaro, 50, was not required to appear at Manly Local Court on Wednesday when his lawyer entered pleas of not guilty on the former Nationals leader’s behalf.

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Third person arrested in fatal Brisbane shooting while two suspects remain on the run

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A 38-year-old man died after being shot in the chest at close range at a home in Oxley in the early hours of Tuesday morning

A third person has been arrested after a man was shot dead in the front yard of a home in south-west Brisbane as two male suspects remain on the run.

Officers from the Acacia Ridge criminal investigation branch and homicide unit arrested the 30-year-old east Brisbane man on Friday evening after he was intercepted in a vehicle at Riverview.

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Fraudster who described older people’s super funds as ‘the ultimate jackpot’ pleads guilty

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Jasmine Vella-Arpaci has admitted conspiracy to defraud and conspiring to deal in crime proceeds

A Melbourne woman involved in an international syndicate to defraud millions of dollars from Australian superannuation accounts described older people as the ultimate jackpot.

Jasmine Vella-Arpaci, 24, is the only conspirator to have been charged over the fraud, which led to the group obtaining more than $3m from superannuation accounts and $238,000 from share trading.

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Man jailed over involvement in identity theft syndicate that laundered millions of dollars

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Detectives found Karthik Pappu’s fingerprints on a book containing information about 305 bank accounts and 68 compromised identities

A man who was part of a syndicate that stole identities before laundering millions of dollars through jewellers and a coffee shop has been sentenced to six years in jail.

Karthik Pappu, who pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering, was identified by police investigating a cold calling scheme in which victims provided offenders with access to their computers before being tricked out of money, a Brisbane court was told on Wednesday.

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‘Confused’ Anthony Koletti excused from giving evidence at Melissa Caddick inquest

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Coroner tells husband of businesswoman who vanished in late 2020: ‘If you are unable to give truthful answers that is not going to assist me’

The husband of alleged fraudster Melissa Caddick was too distressed to continue giving evidence at his wife’s inquest on Wednesday after saying he couldn’t understand the “confusing” questions.

Anthony Koletti returned to the witness box at the New South Wales coroner’s court but the deputy state coroner, Elizabeth Ryan, asked him to step down about lunchtime as his answers were not helpful.

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Queensland lab at the centre of DNA testing failures allegedly beset by workplace conflicts

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Exclusive: state government was aware of problems at forensic lab, which included bullying complaints and ‘vendettas’ against managers

Alleged serious DNA testing failures at Queensland’s troubled forensic lab developed alongside a “chronic toxic culture” in the workplace, including a large number of bullying complaints, claims of “vendettas” against managers and staff requiring stress leave.

Guardian Australia can reveal the state government engaged consulting companies, psychologists, mediators and lawyers in an attempt to fix long-running cultural problems at the Queensland Health forensic and scientific services facility.

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Suggestion Queensland man fell into woodchipper by accident ‘didn’t make sense’, murder trial hears

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Property owner Sharon Beighton tells court she thought ‘where’s Bruce?’ before being told 54-year-old had fallen into woodchipper

Sharon Beighton was initially in shock when told Bruce Saunders had fallen into a woodchipper during a “terrible accident” on her property in 2017.

But Beighton later thought it did not make sense after she asked Gregory Lee Roser questions about the incident, the Brisbane supreme court heard on Tuesday.

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Melbourne Tinder swindler sentenced to 22 months in a Victorian prison

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Christopher Collins pleaded guilty to 24 charges including financial deception offences, fraud and theft

Within hours of meeting Christopher Collins on Tinder, a Melbourne woman had been swindled of thousands of dollars, a court has heard.

But that was just the beginning of her nightmare. As the court was told, weeks of manipulation followed, including threats of blackmail.

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The virtual jury’s out as appetite for true crime podcasts grows

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The Teacher’s Pet helped solve a 40-year-old murder but the popularity of real crime dramas raises questions and legal concerns

For the makers of The Teacher’s Pet, the result could not be better: an Australian man who murdered his wife 40 years ago was convicted after a detailed reinvestigation of the case by the true crime podcast.

It uncovered flaws in the original police investigation and an unwillingness by prosecutors to charge Chris Dawson with the murder of his wife, Lynette.

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The Teacher’s Pet podcast: husband guilty of murder in four decade-old Australian cold case

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Hit podcast examines Chris Dawson’s extra-marital affair with teen student and 1982 disappearance of wife Lynette Dawson

An Australian former teacher who was the subject of an investigation by a wildly popular true crime podcast has been found guilty of the 1982 killing of his wife.

The New South Wales supreme court on Tuesday found Christopher Dawson, 74, guilty of murdering his former wife Lynette Dawson, who he had wanted to leave so that he could pursue an uninterrupted relationship with a teenage schoolgirl known in the trial as JC. Dawson pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence.

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Chris Dawson found guilty of murdering wife Lynette in Sydney 40 years ago

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Supreme court verdict in case that was the subject of popular Teacher’s Pet podcast will be appealed, Dawson’s lawyer says

Christopher Dawson has been found guilty of murdering his former wife four decades ago on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Dawson, 74, had been accused of killing Lynette Dawson in 1982. Her body has never been found and Dawson has always maintained he was not involved in her disappearance.

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Comanchero bike boss Tarek Zahed to face murder charge after dramatic arrest in Sydney

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Tactical police fired bean bag rounds into Tarek Zahed’s black BMW on Edgecliff street

Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed will face a Sydney court on a murder charge just months after narrowly surviving an attempt on his own life.

The sergeant-at-arms of the outlaw motorcycle gang was arrested in dramatic scenes on Sunday when tactical police fired bean bag rounds into Zahed’s black BMW on an Edgecliff street.

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Schoolboy who raped girl at Blue Mountains party to be held in youth detention for at least two months

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Magistrate says teenager ‘has shown no contrition’ but accepts his prospects for rehabilitation are ‘strong’

An unremorseful teenage boy who attacked and raped a fellow high school pupil at a house party in the Blue Mountains will be held in youth detention for at least two months.

The boy was initially involved in consensual activity with his victim before pushing further, sexually assaulting her six times and intentionally choking her over a two-hour period in the living room of a home west of Sydney.

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