Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Man charged over alleged New Year’s Eve sexual assault of NSW aged care resident

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Woman in 70s taken to hospital after kicking accused in groin and scratching his face during attack in Coffs Harbour nursing home, police say

A man has been charged with breaking into an aged care home and allegedly assaulting an elderly woman on New Year’s Eve on the New South Wales north coast.

Emergency services were called to an aged care home in Coffs Harbour at about 2.30am on Monday after reports a woman aged in her 70s had been sexually assaulted, NSW police said on Friday.

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Man with black belt argues chokehold is not strangulation under Queensland domestic violence laws

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Potential ‘loophole’ in state’s non-lethal strangulation laws could be closed by a statutory definition similar to that used in Western Australia, experts say

Domestic violence experts have raised concerns about a potential “loophole” in Queensland’s non-lethal strangulation laws, after a man argued in court he had not restricted a woman’s breathing when he executed a chokehold designed to cut off the blood flow to her brain.

The state made choking and strangulation a standalone offence in 2016, saying at the time that the act was “a pivotal moment that reveals an escalation in the seriousness of the violence committed against a person”. Research shows that domestic victims of non-lethal strangulation are seven times more likely to be subsequently killed.

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Alleged vigilantes charged with assaulting and restraining boys near Cairns

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Two men, who have been denied bail, claim three boys were trespassing in Mareeba when they allegedly assaulted and handcuffed them

A pair of alleged vigilantes have been charged with assaulting and handcuffing three boys they believed to be trespassing in an industrial area in Mareeba, near Cairns.

A 36-year-old man and a 27-year-old man, both from Biboohra, have been denied police bail over the incident, involving three boys aged 12 to 14 on 23 December.

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WA police chief says cop who punched man during New Year’s Eve arrest did not use excessive force

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Commissioner Col Blanch says alleged offender appeared to be resisting arrest during incident at Perth pub

Western Australia’s top cop has backed a police officer filmed punching a man who was pinned to the ground outside a Perth pub during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Video of the incident shows the officer repeatedly punching the 25-year-old man in the body as two other officers held him down during an arrest just after midnight on Sunday.

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Victorian woman arrested after allegedly assaulting airline staff

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Australian federal police notified after 23-year-old woman allegedly became abusive on board a plane at Gold Coast airport

A Victorian woman allegedly assaulted airline staff at Gold Coast airport on New Year’s Eve while on board a plane bound for Melbourne.

The 23-year-old was arrested after airline staff notified the Australian federal police that a passenger was allegedly being verbally abusive on the plane, the AFP said.

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New Year’s Eve fireworks in Australia: ‘your cracker night could end in hospital’, authorities warn

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Illegal use of fireworks can lead to thousands of dollars in fines and even jail. Here are the rules around the country

Hefty fines and even jail time are on the cards for those who set off illegal fireworks this New Year’s Eve.

People right across the country used to partake in the annual “cracker night” festival, setting off fireworks in their backyards, but most states and territories began banning this practice in the 1980s.

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Jump in opium imports suggests the ancient drug’s possible comeback in Australia

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AFP unable to rule out whether users are visiting modern opium dens to buy and consume the drug

One of Australia’s emerging niche drugs in 2023 happens to be one of the country’s oldest.

About 180 years after opium was first imported into the country, the Australian federal police seized more than double the amount of the drug this year than in 2022. It is also almost six times the amount seized in 2021.

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Cocaine packages totalling 124kg found washed up on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle

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About 39kg of the drug was found by a fisherman on Tuesday, before a similar amount was discovered in Newcastle

A fisherman on Sydney’s northern beaches is one of several members of the public to discover packages containing 124kg of cocaine that have washed up on the New South Wales coast, sparking a police investigation.

NSW police on Wednesday confirmed its state crime command were investigating after the packages were discovered on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle from Friday. The initial barnacle-encrusted discoveries sparked a warning against removing or opening any more that were discovered.

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Man’s body found at newly opened beach in Sydney’s west

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Emergency services called to Penrith Beach on Boxing Day after a man was seen going underwater and not resurfacing

A man’s body has been found after a search at a newly opened beach in Sydney’s west.

Emergency services were called to Penrith Beach just after 2.30pm on Boxing Day after a man was seen going underwater and not resurfacing.

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Police issue warning after suspected cocaine packages appear on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle

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NSW police say no one should open or remove any of the packages after finding seven washed ashore

New South Wales police have issued a warning to the public about packages suspected of containing cocaine washing up on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle.

At least seven packages – with “significant barnacle growth” on the outer plastic wrapping – have been found on beaches since Friday night, and police on Sunday warned people not to open or remove any further finds.

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Australia news live: only 54.3% of Virgin flights and 66.3% of Qantas flights on time last month, transport minister says

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‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live

‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.

Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.

The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.

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Alleged drink-driving senior NSW detective pleads not guilty over NorthConnex crash

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Officer, who cannot be identified, was charged in November with driving under the influence and high-range drink driving

A senior New South Wales police officer charged with allegedly crashing a work car in Sydney’s NorthConnex tunnel after getting drunk at a work function earlier this year has pleaded not guilty.

The high-ranking detective, whose identity is being kept secret under a court order, was charged in November with driving under influence of alcohol and high-range drink-driving, nearly six months after the May incident.

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Criminals tipped off after law enforcement staff shared photo of intercepted shipping container on WhatsApp

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The 2020 blunder, whereby more than 400 Australian public servants received the photo, revealed in annual report of former corruption watchdog

A criminal syndicate was tipped off to a covert operation after federal law enforcement staff shared photos of an intercepted shipping container with more than 400 public servants across multiple agencies.

The blunder compromised the investigation, prompted a multi-agency corruption investigation and led to written warnings to the heads of the Department of Home Affairs, the federal police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

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Sex crimes squad informed of 2017 complaint against Alan Jones

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Jones strongly denies allegations as NSW police confirm there is no current investigation into Jones but say sex crimes squad will try to contact complainant this week

New South Wales police say they will this week try to speak to a person who made a complaint about Alan Jones to officers in 2017, after the police commissioner, Karen Webb, said last week that no complaints had been made about the broadcaster.

She made the comments during a press conference on Friday after allegations of indecent assault were published in the Sydney Morning Herald the day before. Jones has strongly denied the allegations and has threatened legal action.

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Driver charged over fatal Daylesford pub crash ignored blood glucose level warnings, court hears

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Five patrons at the Royal Daylesford Hotel about an hour’s drive from Melbourne were killed after a car crashed into the beer garden

A man charged over the Daylesford beer garden crash that killed five people received multiple alerts on his phone suggesting his blood glucose levels were low shortly before the incident, a Melbourne court has heard.

On Monday morning, Victoria police charged William Swale, 66, with five counts of culpable driving causing death, two counts of negligently causing serious injury and seven counts of reckless conduct endangering life over the 5 November crash.

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Protocols protecting young people’s right to silence ‘forgotten’ by NSW police, watchdog finds

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Officers interviewed people who wished to remain silent despite court judgments finding practice was improper, law enforcement commission says

New South Wales police officers have been interviewing young people in custody in a way that compromises their right to silence, with a report by the state’s law enforcement watchdog finding it is a “systemic problem”.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) found that NSW police had also failed to act with any urgency to prevent officers interviewing vulnerable people, including Aboriginal people and young people, after they had received legal advice and said that they did not wish to be interviewed.

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‘A new low’: police believe gasmask-clad graverobbers sought to intimidate Melbourne gangland rival

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Victoria police say theft may not be only motive of two men who targeted coffin of Meshilin Marrogi, the sister of George Marrogi

An attempt to remove a body from a Melbourne mausoleum was part of a plot by an underworld figure to disturb a gangland rival, police believe.

Detectives confirmed on Friday that it was suspected two men who committed the offence had been trying to remove the corpse of Meshilin Marrogi to cause “friction and hurt” to her imprisoned brother, George Marrogi.

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Mother of four-year-old boy found dead in Queensland pool charged with murder

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Tarrin-Macen O’Sullivan’s mother charged with murder more than two years after son found dead in back yard pool in Munbura near Mackay

The mother of a four-year-old boy found dead in a back yard pool in regional Queensland has been charged with murder.

Tarrin-Macen O’Sullivan was discovered after emergency services responded to a call about a child drowning in August 2021.

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Inquiry reviews convictions of ‘Croatian Six’ over 1979 Sydney bomb plot

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Judicial inquiry reviewing convictions of group jailed in 1981 over alleged terror plot to blow up Sydney targets

The testimony of a key witness and actions of a corrupt New South Wales police officer will be probed during an inquiry into the 1981 terror plot convictions of a group known as the ‘Croatian Six’.

The judicial inquiry, which began on Monday, will examine the possibility that Crown witness Vico Virkez may have been working for Yugoslavian intelligence services.

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William Tyrrell’s foster father argues ‘lawful’ force used on another child as punishment, NSW court hears

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Foster parents of missing William Tyrrell facing court on assault and intimidation charges of another child who was in their care

William Tyrrell’s foster father rejects claims he grabbed a child by the neck as his lawyers argue he applied medium force to push the youngster down as they tried to get out of a timeout.

The 56-year-old foster father and 58-year-old foster mother returned to Parramatta local court on Monday.

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