Category Archives: Crime – Australia

Woman jailed for attempting to suffocate father in Queensland aged care home

Posted on by

Rebecca Burden was visiting her brain-injured dad for the first time in six months when she says he asked her to kill him

A Brisbane woman has been jailed for at least 10 months after admitting a lapse of judgment when she tried to suffocate her brain-injured father.

Rebecca Louise Burden was visiting 68-year-old Steven Burden for the first time she was permitted after Covid-19 restrictions lifted at his aged care home when she says he asked her to kill him.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Film based on Daniel Morcombe murder case is ‘selfish cash grab’, parents say

Posted on by

Bruce Morcombe asks filmgoers to not see Thomas M Wright’s The Stranger, but producers say it does not name Daniel or depict his death

The father of murdered Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe has called for Australians to boycott The Stranger, a film based on the undercover police operation that led to the arrest of Morcombe’s killer, which is scheduled to premiere next month.

On Friday, Bruce Morcombe told Perth’s 6PR radio station that filmgoers should “save their 20 bucks” on a film ticket and instead donate it to the foundation set up in his son’s name.

Continue reading...

‘Instruments of injustice’: Victoria’s highest court denounces state’s mandatory sentencing

Posted on by

Justices Chris Maxwell and Terence Forrest said the ‘oppressive sentencing regime’ ignored evidence and was contrary to public interest

Victoria’s highest court has delivered a withering assessment of the state’s mandatory sentencing regime, saying it required “judges to be instruments of injustice” and showed a “profound misunderstanding” of the community’s best interests.

In a judgment published on Thursday, court of appeal president, Justice Chris Maxwell, and Justice Terence Forrest said introducing mandatory sentencing for a range of offences over the past decade showed that state governments appeared to have “ignored the incontestable evidence about the adverse impact of adult gaol on young offenders”.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

SMS scams: mobile companies could face fines of up to $250,000 under new Australian code

Posted on by

New regulations require scam messages to be traced, identified and blocked and for information to be shared with authorities

Mobile phone companies could face up to $250,000 in fines for failing to comply with a new code to block SMS scam messages.

The code, registered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) on Tuesday, will require the companies to trace, identify and block SMS scam messages, and publish information for customers on how to identify and report scams.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Man charged after nine-year-old girl is shot and injured in Sydney

Posted on by

Girl suffers non-life-threatening injuries after being shot outside her home in the southern suburb of Connells Point

A man has been charged after a nine-year-old girl was shot outside a home in Sydney’s south.

The child was rushed to hospital with non-life threatening injuries as the state’s anti-bikie and organised crime squad hunted for the alleged gunman.

Continue reading...

Safety threats to politicians spark 39 Australian federal police investigations related to election

Posted on by

One set of charges laid and 22 matters still under investigation from police group set up to tackle anything from threats of violence to false information

Federal police conducted 39 investigations under a special taskforce related to the federal election, with numerous politicians and political candidates the target of threats, menacing phone calls and social media harassment.

Police laid one set of charges over threats to the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, while police are still making inquiries around a further 22 matters that are ongoing.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Families of murder victims Hannah Clarke and Doreen Langham join call for specialist police stations

Posted on by

‘Women have had enough,’ says Prof Kerry Carrington, who has been advocating for domestic violence stations since 2015

The violent murders of Doreen Langham and Hannah Clarke by their former partners should be a wakeup call to all Australian jurisdictions to consider specialist domestic violence police stations, according to experts and family members of the victims.

A trial of specialist stations has been recommended twice this week by deputy Queensland coroner Jane Bentley, as she handed down findings from separate inquests into the murders of Langham, on Monday, and Clarke and her children – Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey – on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

NSW to give prisoners cold-case playing cards in hope of solving murders

Posted on by

Packs contain 52 photos of dead and missing people in initiative backed by victims’ families

Packs of playing cards featuring cold-case murder victims and missing people will be distributed to New South Wales inmates in the hope of solving serious crimes.

The cards, which were produced by prisoners working in Corrective Services Industries, feature photographs and information about 52 unsolved homicide cases or suspicious disappearances.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Craig Kelly’s adviser Frank Zumbo used ‘power and control’ to sexually touch staff, court told

Posted on by

Zumbo is accused by five women of 20 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault and has pleaded not guilty to all charges

Former MP Craig Kelly’s office manager promised young female staffers career development and mentoring but instead used his “power and control” to allegedly sexually touch them.

Francesco Zumbo, 55, faced Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Wednesday accused by five women of 20 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault between 2014 and 2020.

Continue reading...

‘Grossly inadequate’: families call for longer sentence over deaths of pregnant Queensland woman and her partner

Posted on by

Attorney general Shannon Fentiman awaiting legal advice about the possibility of an appeal

A Queensland teenager who struck and killed a couple in a stolen car while he was drunk and affected by drugs could have his sentence appealed.

The families of victims Matthew Field, 37, and his pregnant partner, Kate Leadbetter, 31, said the 10-year jail sentence handed to the 18-year-old was “grossly inadequate”.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Five Eyes must ramp up fight against rising organised crime, AFP commissioner warns

Posted on by

Pandemic has contributed to ‘destabilisation of world order’ leading to weaponisation of technology, Reece Kershaw says

The Australian federal police commissioner has urged his Five Eyes counterparts to ramp up the fight against organised crime, declaring the pandemic has fuelled “the destabilisation of the world order”.

Reece Kershaw issued a rallying call for closer coordination on law enforcement as he addressed colleagues from the US, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, who have been visiting Australia for talks since Monday.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Queensland to hold inquiry into DNA testing at forensics lab amid accusations it failed victims

Posted on by

Minister acknowledges family of Shandee Blackburn, who was fatally stabbed in 2013 in a case that sparked calls for reform

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced a commission of inquiry into DNA testing at the state’s Forensic and Scientific Services laboratory after accusations it has been failing victims of crime.

The inquiry will be conducted by Walter Sofronoff, the president of the court of appeal, and comes in addition to a previously announced review into the state-run forensics laboratory.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Hey Dad! actor and child sex offender Robert Hughes to be deported to the UK

Posted on by

The 73-year-old, who was sentenced in 2014 to a maximum of 10 years and nine months in prison, has been granted parole and will be deported to UK upon release

Disgraced Hey Dad! actor and convicted child sex offender Robert Hughes has been granted parole and will be deported to the United Kingdom after his release from jail this month.

Hughes, who starred as Martin Kelly in the TV comedy from 1987 to 1994, was sentenced in 2014 to a maximum of 10 years and nine months in prison, which is due to expire in January 2025.

Continue reading...

Sydney woman found guilty of murdering her mother and staging a home invasion

Posted on by

Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez strangled and stabbed her mother, but continues to deny any involvement

A woman found guilty of murder has wiped away tears as she continued to deny strangling and stabbing her mother to death two decades ago.

“I don’t understand, I didn’t do it,” Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez said to her legal counsel in the New South Wales supreme court on Wednesday.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Lynette Dawson seen with bruises on throat before she disappeared, Chris Dawson murder trial hears

Posted on by

A colleague at childcare centre where Lynette Dawson worked tells court she saw bruises in January 1982

Chris Dawson’s wife Lynette was seen with bruises around her throat three days before she disappeared in 1982, a Sydney court has been told.

Annette Leary gave evidence in Dawson’s murder trial on Monday saying she had seen Lynette Dawson with the bruises at the Sydney children’s centre where they both worked.

Continue reading...

Former Victorian orphanage carer, 81, jailed for sexually abusing five boys

Posted on by

William Parker Skelland abused children at Burwood boys’ home in 1973 and 1974

A former carer at a Victorian boys’ orphanage in the 1970s will spend at least four years in prison for sexually abusing five of the young children.

William Parker Skelland, 81, was living in the UK in 2019 when he was arrested for his crimes and extradited back to Australia to answer for them.

Continue reading...

Marist Brothers appointed known child abuser as principal of Melbourne school in 1980, court told

Posted on by

In lawsuit brought by victims, Catholic order disputes extent of its knowledge of Gregory Vincent Coffey prior to his appointment

A Catholic order made the “unthinkable” decision to appoint a known child abuser as the principal of one of its Melbourne schools, allowing him to molest boys in his office unchecked on a “regular basis”, a court has heard.

The Marist Brothers are being sued over the abuse of a series of boys at the Immaculate Heart College in Preston in the 1980s by Gregory Vincent Coffey, the school’s first lay principal and a former Catholic brother.

Continue reading...

Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed shot and brother killed in Sydney double shooting

Posted on by

Tarek Zahed in critical condition after he and his brother Omar were gunned down in the foyer of a gym in Auburn

Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed is in a critical condition and his brother Omar has died after they were riddled with bullets in the foyer of a gym in Sydney’s west.

Emergency services were called to the Body Fit Gym on Parramatta Road, Auburn, after reports of a shooting at about 8pm on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Former WA treasurer Troy Buswell given suspended sentence for ‘cowardly’ attacks on ex-wife

Posted on by

Charges related to incidents in 2015 and 2016 in which Buswell assaulted Melissa Hankinson multiple times

Former West Australian treasurer Troy Buswell has been handed a suspended prison sentence for repeatedly attacking his ex-wife.

Buswell, 56, pleaded guilty in Perth magistrates court to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated assault causing bodily harm.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Paddy Moriarty inquest hears NT police recordings of man allegedly saying he ‘killerated the bastard’

Posted on by

Moriarty, 70, and his dog went missing from Northern Territory town Larrimah, 430km south of Darwin, in 2017 with police suspecting foul play

Secret police recordings in which a man claims to have killed Paddy Moriarty with a hammer have been heard at an inquest into the Northern Territory man’s disappearance.

Moriarty, 70, and his dog went missing from the town of Larrimah, 430km south of Darwin, on 16 December 2017, with police suspecting foul play.

Continue reading...