Category Archives: Crime – Australia

‘Betrayal’: Indigenous and legal groups condemn Victoria’s backflip on raising the age

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Jacinta Allan says age of criminal responsibility won’t be raised to 14 amid concern about youth crime

Indigenous organisations, legal experts and human rights groups have condemned the Victorian government’s decision to abandon plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, describing it as a “betrayal” of vulnerable children.

As revealed by Guardian Australia, the premier, Jacinta Allan, made the major policy reversal on Tuesday, as she announced several changes to the government’s 1,000-page youth justice bill.

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Melbourne learner driver fined $600 after unintentionally driving off as sister clung to door in fatal accident

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Asyai Luk fined without conviction after judge found she was unaware her sibling was at car door before she accelerated forward

A woman has walked free from court with a $600 fine after unintentionally driving off while her sister held on to a car door following an argument in a Melbourne street.

Her sister later died in hospital.

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Ruqia was murdered by the man she was forced to wed. Her mother has now been jailed over the marriage

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Sakina Muhammad Jan to serve at least 12 months in prison in Australia’s first forced marriage conviction

Ruqia Haidari wanted to marry for love.

Instead, she had an arranged marriage at the age of just 15, with the relationship ending in divorce when she was 20.

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Greg Lynn to appeal conviction in Victorian high country murder case, court hears

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Jury had found former Jetstar pilot guilty of killing Carol Clay, but not of murdering Russell Hill

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn will appeal against his conviction for the 2020 murder of elderly camper Carol Clay, a Victorian court has heard.

After a five-week trial, a supreme court jury last month found Gregory Stuart Lynn guilty of murdering Clay and acquitted him of murdering Russell Hill in Victoria’s high country in 2020.

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‘Harrowing’ footage sparks calls for Queensland government to remove children from police watch houses

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Exclusive: Labor MP Jonty Bush among those speaking out about state’s youth justice policies after Guardian Australia investigation

Queensland’s most prominent victims’ rights groups say the state government must remove children from police watch houses after the release of confronting footage showing the “brutal” treatment of children in the adult holding cells.

The videos, published after a year-long investigation by Guardian Australia and SBS The Feed, showed young people locked in “freezing” isolation cells, becoming panicked and struggling to breathe.

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Three men found guilty of Newcastle buck’s weekend gang rapes

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Maurice Hawell, his brother Marius Hawell and Andrew David were convicted after the February 2022 incidents involving three teenage women

Three men have been found guilty of luring three women to be gang-raped in an apartment they were renting in Newcastle for a buck’s party weekend.

Maurice Hawell, 30, his brother Marius Hawell, 22, and Andrew David, 30, have faced an almost four-week-long trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre district court.

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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 500 2222. 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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Police seek Sydney woman’s partner over alleged stabbing death – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Australians feel ‘crushing burden’ from humanitarian crises

Many Australians are feeling a “crushing burden” as they see images from multiple humanitarian crises around the world, a prominent charity says.

I think sometimes people see this stuff on the news or read about it in the newspaper and they feel like they have to carry this burden on their own shoulder, and so they have nothing in between crisis and themselves.

And they look at something like what’s happening in Gaza and Israel, what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening now in Sudan, and think how can they possibly make a difference? What can they possibly do to make that situation better? And so it feels like a crushing burden.

Abortion is a very personal choice, and every Queenslander deserves the level of support and care we are offering with this investment.

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Melbourne airport staff accused of smuggling drugs for organised crime cartels

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Scores of workers allegedly breached security checks, and air crew accused of stashing illegal products in false-bottom suitcases

Dozens of Melbourne airport staff have been accused of working for organised criminals trying to smuggle drugs into Australia.

Aviation workers were the subject of a Border Force investigation targeting criminals in airport supply chains.

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Charlise Mutten trial: Justin Stein found guilty of murdering partner’s nine-year-old daughter

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Jury finds 33-year-old drugged and fatally shot Mutten in the Blue Mountains in January 2022

Justin Stein has been found guilty of the murder of his then-partner’s nine-year-old daughter Charlise Mutten.

Charlise’s body was found dumped by the Colo River, north-west of Sydney, four days after she was reported missing, with gunshot wounds to her head and lower back.

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Two NSW police officers charged with assaulting 92-year-old man in Sydney

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Elderly man taken to hospital with a fractured and significant bruising after alleged assault in Picton, police say

Two New South Wales police officers have been charged with assaulting a 92-year-old man who was later admitted to hospital with a fractured elbow and significant bruising to his head and arms.

The alleged assault occurred at a home in Picton, in Sydney’s south-west, in January after police were called to a domestic violence incident by the elderly man’s wife, who had made two calls to triple 0 and “likely” had dementia.

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Chris Dawson loses appeal against conviction for murdering wife more than 40 years ago

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Dawson’s lawyers had argued in the NSW court of criminal appeal that the 2022 verdict was unreasonable

Chris Dawson has lost his appeal against his 2022 conviction for murdering his wife more than 40 years ago.

A panel of judges in the New South Wales court of criminal appeal delivered their ruling on Thursday after Dawson’s lawyers earlier argued that the guilty verdict against him was unreasonable.

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Court condemns soccer fans’ Nazi salutes at 2022 Australia Cup final

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Three men were convicted and fined $500 for ‘deliberately and intentionally’ performing the salute

Three Croatian men have been convicted and fined after separately making Nazi salutes during the 2022 Australia Cup soccer final.

Nikola Marko Gasparovic, 46, Dominik Sieben, 25, and Marijan Lisica, 45, performed the salute at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium on October 1 2022, during the match between Sydney United 58 and Macarthur FC.

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Charlise Mutten murder trial: alleged killer admits version of events changed but blames it on ‘confusion’, court hears

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Justin Stein says he made ‘a number of mistakes’ when he told his mother about nine-year-old’s death, trial told

The man accused of murdering schoolgirl Charlise Mutten has blamed inconsistencies in his versions of events on his confusion over details, including when the nine-year-old was killed.

Justin Stein has pleaded not guilty to murdering Charlise in January 2022, claiming it was the girl’s mother, Kallista Mutten, who shot her.

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Charlise Mutten murder trial: alleged killer Justin Stein says he didn’t know schoolgirl’s body was on back of ute

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Justin Stein, who denies murdering the nine-year-old, gave evidence in the NSW supreme court as his defence case began

The man accused of killing Charlise Mutten says he didn’t know the schoolgirl’s body was on the back of his ute when he was caught on camera towing a boat and buying bags of sand.

Justin Stein has pleaded not guilty to murdering nine-year-old Charlise in January 2022, claiming it was the girl’s mother, Kallista Mutten, who shot her.

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Labor minister denies direction 99 was a mistake and says community safety ‘number one priority’

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Federal cabinet minister Murray Watt also claims Labor has deported more criminals in its first year than under Peter Dutton’s reign

A new ministerial direction on deporting foreign-born criminals will prioritise “community safety” over their ties to Australia, federal cabinet minister Murray Watt has said as he denied the government made a mistake with the controversial “direction 99”.

But mystery still surrounds the government’s purported use of drones to monitor people released from immigration detention, with no confirmation of which agency is operating them.

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Fewer than 10% of sexual assaults reported to NSW police end in a conviction, report finds

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Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research study finds no legal action was taken in about 85% of reported sexual assault incidents

Only 8% of contemporary child sexual assault incidents reported to New South Wales police end in a conviction, according to a Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research report released on Tuesday.

The number is lower for reported historic sexual assault incidents (7%) and lower again for reported adult sexual assault incidents (6%).

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Ex-Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby spared prison for perjury and fraud

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Mosby, who led prosecution of police over Freddie Gray death, sentenced to 12 months home confinement

A former Baltimore city prosecutor who achieved a national profile for charging police officers in a Black man’s death was spared prison time in her sentence on Thursday for perjury and mortgage fraud.

Former state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s sentence includes 12 months of home confinement, 100 hours of community service and three years of supervised release.

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New details of Wieambilla police shootings revealed in case of US conspiracy theorist Donald Day Jr

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Premillennialism advocate who has pleaded not guilty to five federal charges in Arizona allegedly posted videos saying family who killed officers were ‘martyrs’

An American man allegedly told the family who fatally shot two Australian police officers he sent his “comfort and assurance” before they died in a gunfight with a tactical response team.

United States prosecutors have unveiled new details about the December 2022 shootings at Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, as part of their case against Arizona man Donald Day Jr.

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‘Not a significant possibility’ Chris Dawson innocent of his wife’s murder, court told

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Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC says judge was correct to convict Dawson who had a ‘possessive’ relationship with a teenager

Chris Dawson’s possessiveness of his teenage babysitter meant his claims of innocence after being convicted of murdering his wife should be rejected, a court has been told.

The 75-year-old is trying to overturn an August 2022 New South Wales supreme court murder verdict by Justice Ian Harrison, who found the ex-teacher killed his wife, Lynette, and disposed of her body in January 1982.

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Former Wallabies star’s wife plagued by ‘graphic memories’ of Brisbane home invasion

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Rachel Kefu told Queensland’s supreme court about the impact of the violent attack that left her husband, Toutai Kefu, fighting for his life

Rachel Kefu is plagued by vivid images of her Wallabies star husband and her son bleeding after teenagers armed with a cane-cutting sickle broke into their home.

August 16 had been a special day for her family: in 2003 Toutai Kefu played his 60th rugby union Test match for Australia and their daughter Madison was born.

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