Category Archives: Crime – Australia

Innocent Queensland children pleading guilty to avoid harsh bail laws, lawyers say

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Many children on remand who may be exonerated or not sentenced are pleading guilty to escape long periods of detention

Young people in Queensland are pleading guilty to offences they did not commit – or where there is little evidence to support charges – to avoid spending extreme periods on remand in the state’s buckling youth justice system, lawyers say.

Queensland has the nation’s largest youth prison population, and recent data obtained by Guardian Australia reveals 88% of children in detention centres and police watch houses were being held unsentenced.

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Yamba shooting: man found dead with son, 15, had firearms licence reinstated

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NSW police minister hopes coronial investigation sheds light on ‘terrible’ circumstances that led to the deaths of Wayne Smith and son Noah

A firearms licence was reinstated to a man just months before he shot dead his teenage son and himself, in another horrific domestic violence incident that has left a small community in New South Wales reeling.

The bodies of 58-year-old Wayne Smith and 15-year-old Noah were found at their home in Yamba in the northern rivers on Thursday, in an apparent murder-suicide.

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Two men charged after police find $60m worth of cocaine in shipping container in Sydney

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Police were called to a container logistics company in Port Botany after reports of a break and enter on Thursday night

Two Greek nationals have been charged with numerous offences after police allegedly found $60m worth of cocaine in the walls of a shipping container in Sydney.

Police were called to a Port Botany container logistics company after reports of a break and enter about 11pm on Thursday.

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Australian police find huge haul of Mexican meth worth $273m in hydraulic press

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Federal police try to identify crime syndicate behind elaborate smuggling scheme into NSW, after drugs found at port inspection in Sydney

More than 300kg of methamphetamine concealed deep inside a steel hydraulic press has been smuggled into New South Wales from Mexico.

Australian federal police say the seized haul has an estimated value of more than $273m and could have made up 3m individual street deals.

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BHP worker found guilty of raping colleague at WA mining camp

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His victim said she woke up to find Ryan John Zabaznow raping her after she passed out after drinking heavily, a court heard

A BHP worker has been found guilty of raping a colleague at a mining camp after a night of heavy drinking.

Ryan John Zabaznow, 37, was convicted on Monday of sexual penetration without consent in the town of Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in 2020.

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Risk assessments used to justify Australia’s post-sentence terrorism detentions need urgent research, report finds

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The Australian Institute of Criminology reviewed several tools designed to gauge the threat posed by radicalised offenders

A new report has warned risk assessment tools being used to justify extraordinary post-sentence terror detention powers require urgent, independent research and validation.

The Australian Institute of Criminology on Friday released a report prepared for the department of home affairs on the use of four risk assessment tools, which are designed to gauge the threat posed by radicalised offenders and, in some cases, justify them being held behind bars or closely supervised after their sentences have been served.

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Disgraced former NRL player Jarryd Hayne sentenced to four years and nine months in jail

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Hayne was found guilty of assaulting a woman in her suburban Newcastle home on NRL grand final night 2018

Disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for at least three years after sexually assaulting a woman in her home.

The 35-year-old was found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent on 4 April and taken into custody 10 days later when his bail was revoked.

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Facebook blocks Rockhampton mob leader as Queensland MP prepares to meet with him

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Indigenous community says the plan to meet with Torin O’Brien only legitimises his offensive views

First Nations people in central Queensland say the state government is inflaming local tensions by pushing ahead with plans to meet with the former leader of a far-right “patriots” group, who was booted off Facebook after leading a mob to surround the Rockhampton home of an Indigenous teenager.

Guardian Australia on Tuesday revealed that the ringleader of the group, Torin O’Brien, is the former president of a group that regularly posted offensive anti-Islam content online.

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Brisbane man sentenced to 14 years’ jail for attempted murder of ex-girlfriend

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‘He said “I’m going to kill you” and that’s when I saw the axe,’ Mari Buci told the jury of the attack

A man found guilty of attempted murder after attacking his ex-girlfriend with a hatchet in a Brisbane has been sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Good Samaritans came to the aid of Maria Buci after Cameron Turgay Bardak ambushed her in a CBD car park in July 2020, a court had heard

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Mother who murdered her three children and burned their bodies sentenced to life in prison

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Margaret Dale Hawke will spend at least 25 years in jail for killing her daughter and two sons in the family’s Port Hedland home

A mother who stabbed, strangled and suffocated her three children before burning their bodies in a house fire will spend at least 25 years behind bars.

Margaret Dale Hawke, 36, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder after killing her 10-year-old daughter and two sons, aged seven and four months, in the family’s Port Hedland home in Western Australia on 19 July 2022.

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‘Very kind and sweet natured’: teenage girl among three killed in Maryborough crash, as boy, 13, is charged

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Paramedics attending crash scene recognised nurse who was killed while on her way home from work

A Queensland MP has paid tribute to one of his former students who was killed in a multi-vehicle crash that saw a 13-year-old boy charged with three deaths.

Two women and a 17-year-old girl died, while another woman was in a critical condition in hospital, after the three-car crash in Maryborough at about 10.45pm on Sunday.

Australian Associated Press contributed to this report

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Lawyers outraged by government failure to disclose terrorism-prediction tool’s serious problems

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Hayley Le, whose clients were assessed to be at risk of offending due to extreme beliefs, calls for judicial review of ‘confronting’ conduct

Lawyers for four men targeted using extraordinary terrorism powers are outraged at the failure to disclose serious problems with a tool being used to predict their clients’ likelihood of future offending.

The lawyers say the conduct should be subject to urgent judicial review.

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Raising age of criminal responsibility to 12 ‘falls short’ of First Nations’ expectations, Victorian attorney general admits

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Jaclyn Symes urges other jurisdictions to follow state after announcing ‘staged approach’ to ensure support services are in place

Victoria’s attorney general has acknowledged that plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 “falls short” of expectations from First Nations groups but described the move as a “first step” and urged other states to follow suit.

Jaclyn Symes confirmed the government will introduce legislation later this year to raise the age from 10 to 12, with no exceptions, which will come into effect in late 2024. It will then be increased to 14 by 2027.

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Australians report record $3.1bn losses to scams, with real amount even higher, ACCC says

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Investment fraud amounts for biggest share at $1.5bn, followed by remote access and payment redirection rorts

Australians lost a record amount of more than $3.1bn to scams in 2022, up from the $2bn lost in 2021, a new report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has revealed.

The Targeting Scams report, which compiles data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, major banks and money remitters, was based on an analysis of more than 500,000 reports.

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Six officers injured in ‘major disturbance’ involving juvenile detainees at WA’s Casuarina adult prison

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Authorities allege two youths assaulted a guard with a makeshift weapon and freed another 11 from their cells

Juvenile detainees being held in a maximum-security adult prison in Western Australia allegedly broke out of their cells and assaulted a guard overnight.

The state government has faced widespread criticism for moving juveniles from the Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre, some as young as 14, to the adult jail at Casuarina.

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Terence Kelly jailed for 13 years for abduction of Cleo Smith in Western Australia

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Judge acknowledges turbulent upbringing of man who pleaded guilty to abducting four-year-old from family tent in 2021

Terence Darrell Kelly, 37, the man who abducted four-year-old Cleo Smith from her family’s tent at a remote Western Australian campsite, has been sentenced to 13 years and six months in jail.

Kelly pleaded guilty in January 2022 to the single charge of abducting Cleo, and will have to spend at least 11 years and six months in prison before he is eligible for parole.

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University lecturer ‘deeply sorry’ for killing wife after argument, Melbourne court hears

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Adam Brown has pleaded guilty to murdering Chen Cheng at their home in April 2022

A university lecturer is “deeply sorry” for stabbing his wife to death after an argument about kindergarten plans escalated into the couple arming themselves with knives, a Melbourne court has heard.

Adam Brown, 40, a former Deakin University digital media lecturer who also taught gender studies and women’s history, last year pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife of five years, Chen Cheng.

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Australian Catholic order accused of waiting for paedophile to die and using death to shield it from abuse claims

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Marist Brothers approach in seeking to halt a survivor’s case over a clergy member’s death would be ‘absolutely perverse’, court hears

A Catholic order allegedly sat on its hands for almost two years waiting for a notorious paedophile clergy member to die and is now using his death to claim it could no longer receive a fair trial against one of his victims, an approach described in court as “absolutely perverse”.

The Marist Brothers order is currently seeking to permanently halt a survivor’s case alleging abuse by the late Brother Francis “Romuald” Cable, arguing his death renders it unable to fairly defend itself because it can no longer call him as a witness.

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Victoria police chief warns officers they’re not above the law after rise in disciplinary incidents

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Shane Patton reveals 17 officers were dismissed in 2022, and says it is the ‘type of offending’ that is concerning

Victoria’s police chief commissioner, Shane Patton, has publicly warned his force it is not above the law after a jump in disciplinary hearings last year, with officers accused of family violence, sexual harassment and unjustified use of police information.

Patton on Thursday revealed 17 police officers had been dismissed in 2022, while a further 31 resigned while their cases were being heard, when he says they saw the “writing on the wall”.

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Queensland human rights commissioner says police must watch for vigilante activity

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Police have repeatedly warned against vigilantism but there are growing concerns that recent heightened debate might increase risk

The Queensland human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, says police must closely monitor vigilante activity, amid concern about the role of anti-crime Facebook groups where residents have threatened children or called for violent responses to youth crime.

Debate about youth crime in Queensland last week prompted the state government to override its Human Rights Act to introduce new laws, which will result in children being charged with criminal offences for breaching bail conditions. Experts say there is no evidence to support such a move.

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