Beau Lamarre’s lawyer flags mental health defence to murder charges

Outside court in Sydney, John Walford says he is ‘not sure’ how his client will plead to alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

The lawyer for former police officer and accused double murderer Beau Lamarre has suggested the charges could be defended on mental health grounds.

John Walford said on Tuesday the charges against his client – who is accused of murdering Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29 – could be defendable on mental health grounds.

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Sydney church riot: images of 12 men released as police look for up to 50 people

Four men have been charged and police are searching for more after violence outside the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley following the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel

Multiple men allegedly captured on video outside a western Sydney church are among 50 people police are seeking after a riot which injured dozens of officers.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Father Isaac Royel were stabbed during a livestreamed sermon at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley last week.

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‘Epidemic’ of violence against Aboriginal women in NT is getting worse, exasperated experts warn

Despite having Australia’s highest rates of domestic violence, particularly against Indigenous women, the NT only receives about 1% of federal funding, senators hear

She was a domestic and family violence advocate; a leader in her community and the country. But in 2021 Kumarn Rubuntja was murdered by her partner, Malcolm Abbott.

“We lost one of our own,” the Tangentyere family violence prevention manager, Dr Chay Brown, told the murdered and missing First Nations women and children parliamentary inquiry.

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Man dead and several injured after car crashes into bus following police pursuit near Dubbo

Police attempted to stop the vehicle but a short time later it hit the bus on the Mitchell Highway

A man has died and multiple people have been injured in a crash between a car and bus near Dubbo in the central west of New South Wales.

Police said they had launched a critical incident investigation into the crash, which occurred on the Mitchell Highway on Saturday morning.

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Australia news live: Dfat issues Middle East travel advice; Nationals concerned after fire ants spotted near Murray Darling Basin

Reports of explosions in Iranian city of Isfahan prompt sell-off of stocks in Australia – and in other markets such as Japan. Follow the day’s news live

The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, is speaking to the media after a 16-year-old was charged with a “terrorist act” for allegedly stabbing a bishop on Monday and is expected to appear at a bedside hearing today.

She said members of the joint counter-terrorism team interviewed the alleged offender at a medical facility last night, and he was subsequently charged with a commonwealth offence for terrorism and refused bail.

We expect he will be attending a bedside court hearing today to determine bail. This relates to the stabbing of the Bishop [Mar Mari Emmanuel, who] we allege on Monday night [was] stabbed up to six times.

We also allege that the boy had travelled for 90 minutes to attend that location from his home address.

We’ve got a crisis of male violence in Australia. We know that it’s a scourge in our society, we know it must end and I think it’s really clear women can’t be expected to solve violence against women although it is time for men to step up.

I don’t think debating definitions is the way to go … We need to act, we need to educate ourselves, men need to step up, we need to talk to our sons, to our colleagues, to our friends. We need to work together to a solution. And I think going down some kind of almost a wrong path to say let’s redefine – it’s not about definitions. This is about action. We need to shift the way in which we think about this …

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Teenager accused of Sydney church stabbing has history of behaviour consistent with mental illness, court hears

Police have charged 16-year-old boy with terrorism offence over stabbing of bishop at church in Sydney suburb of Wakeley

A teenage boy facing a possible life term in prison for terrorism over the stabbing of a bishop has shown behaviour consistent with mental illness or intellectual disability, his lawyer has said.

The 16-year-old is accused of travelling 90 minutes from his home to attack Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a livestreamed sermon at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney, on Monday night.

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Sydney church stabbing: police charge 16-year-old boy with terrorism offence

Bishop was injured in alleged attack in Wakeley with the teenager expected to appear at a bedside court hearing on Friday

Police have charged a 16-year-old boy alleged to have stabbed a bishop and priest at a western Sydney church with a terrorism offence.

The teenager was due to face a hospital bedside hearing of the Parramatta children’s court on Friday. He is still recovering from surgery after his finger was severed during the alleged attack on Monday night.

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High-ranking Queensland police officers under scrutiny over offensive social media activity

Exclusive: Ethical standards command launches internal review as Guardian Australia unearths Facebook posts dating back years

Queensland police’s ethical standards command is conducting a review after high-ranking members of the service appeared to publicly share and comment on lewd social media posts over a number of years, including one about a sexual assault.

From 2017 to 2022, Det Supt Benjamin Fadian publicly tagged a number of officers in dozens of Facebook posts about subjects including pornography, masturbation and dildos.

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First person charged over Wakeley riot after Sydney church stabbing attack granted bail

Dani Mansour, 19, charged after allegedly filming himself damaging two police vehicles amid anger over stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel

The first person arrested and charged for taking part in the Wakeley riots was granted bail after appearing at Blacktown local court on Thursday. .

Dani Mansour, 19, was charged with riot, affray and destroying or damaging property as part of the mob that allegedly attacked police in Wakeley on Monday night. The incident took place in the aftermath of the stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church.

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Seven boss departs – as it happened

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Marles continues breakfast rounds to discuss defence spending

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has been making the rounds this morning and has also spoken to ABC RN about yesterday’s defence announcement.

The reason why we make the observation that an invasion of Australia is a very unlikely scenario, no matter what happens, is because any adversary that wished to do us harm could do so much to us before ever setting foot on Australian soil – and disrupting those specific sea lines of communication, which I’ve described, would obviously achieve that. That that is where the risk of coercion lies, as one example.

And in order to protect ourselves in respect of that, we do need the ability to [project], because if you think about it, … the geography of our national security when seen through those lands is not the coastline of our continent. It in fact, lies much further afield.

We’re looking at a substantial increase on what’s already in the Online Safety Act. So not only a large amount – so for example, a $3m fine for an offence and ongoing fines, but a percentage of turnover as well.

We know that the revenues of some of these online platforms exceed those of some nations and so it needs to be a meaningful and substantial penalty system that’s put in place.

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Retreat death: family pays tribute to Melbourne woman as police investigate whether she consumed mushrooms

Rachael Dixon, 53, identified as person police believe died after ingesting a drink at Soul Barn in Clunes, near Ballarat

Family members have paid tribute to a Melbourne woman who died after allegedly ingesting a drink at a Victorian health retreat on the weekend, with police investigating whether it contained mushrooms.

Rachael Dixon, 53, became ill after consuming a drink at the Soul Barn retreat in the town of Clunes, north of Ballarat, at around midnight Sunday. She died at the scene.

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Meta and X ordered to remove church stabbing content – as it happened

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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he has been briefed by the Australian federal police following an alleged stabbing at a Wakeley church overnight.

Albanese wrote on X:

I have been briefed by the AFP and our security agencies regarding the shocking incident at Wakeley’s Christ the Good Shepherd Church.

As police continue their investigations, Australians are thinking of those who have been injured, the first responders who rushed to help and the police who worked to restore order.

They are coming out on a united front irrespective of religion, political [or] ideological views, and I think that is really important to send a message [that] we are collectively one community

We are a fairly big mixed community now in NSW but it doesn’t mean we can’t live side by side.

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Crowds clash with police after bishop allegedly stabbed during mass in Sydney

Riot police called in to disperse angry locals after 15-year-old arrested over suspected attack on Mar Mari Emmanuel at Assyrian church in Wakeley

Hundreds of people clashed with police in western Sydney on Monday night after a prominent Orthodox Christian leader was allegedly stabbed at the altar of his church.

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, called for calm after the alleged attack took place while Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying mass at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley just after 7pm.

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Australia news live: Bondi Junction killer’s father says he did everything in his power to help ‘very sick boy’ before stabbings

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Albanese on Bondi attacker’s motive: ‘The gender breakdown is of course concerning’

I just wanted to go back to the PM’s appearance on ABC radio earlier, where he was asked what he thought of the motive behind the attack.

NSW police have said they’re looking at that as part of the investigation.

The gender breakdown is of course concerning.

We’re working with Westfield. As I said, we handed back the crime scene last night. But it spread over seven floors at Westfield. It will take some time to prepare the stores for reopening. No doubt there’s some work to be done with stakeholders inside the Westfield, in terms of their own reaction and trauma to what has happened. So, that will be done very carefully, no doubt.

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Joel Cauchi named as Bondi Westfield attacker who stabbed shoppers

Police believe 40-year-old Queensland man suffered from mental health problems and had only moved to Sydney a month ago

The family of Bondi Junction attacker Joel Cauchi have described his actions as “truly horrific”, offered condolences to the loved ones of the victims and expressed support for the police officer who ended the stabbing spree by shooting him dead.

Police say Cauchi had mental health problems and that he had moved from Queensland to New South Wales only a month before he took a knife into the crowded Sydney mall on Saturday afternoon and killed six people in an unprovoked stabbing spree.

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Australia stabbings: attacker and four victims named – as it happened

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Mental health dimension to Bondi Junction attack – police

Cooke says “nothing that we have, no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise”.

We know that the offender in the matter suffered, suffers from mental health. We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved. Investigations will very clearly continue through the day.

We will make arrangements promptly to ensure that people are advised how they can go about retrieving whatever that might be, including for example motor vehicles. But, as you would understand, it is absolutely necessary that we do what is necessary to ensure that we provide a detailed and precise brief of evidence in relation to this incident which has occurred yesterday.

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Joel Cauchi: who was the Queensland man who carried out the Bondi Junction mass stabbing?

Police say 40-year-old was an itinerant who moved to NSW last month and had a history of mental illness

Queensland man Joel Cauchi has been named as the man who killed five women and one man at the Bondi Junction shopping centre during a horrific mass stabbing on Saturday.

The 40-year-old was shot dead by a police officer, Amy Scott, who responded to the attack at the busy shopping centre while on duty for an unrelated matter.

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Sydney stabbing leaves seven dead, including attacker shot by police, and multiple people in critical condition – as it happened

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Attacker had ‘big blade’, witness tells 9 News

Jason, a shopper evacuated from the centre, told 9 News he saw the alleged attacker with a “nice big blade”.

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Sydney stabbing: seven people dead, including attacker shot by police at Bondi Junction shopping centre

Six people in Australia were stabbed to death in Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre before attacker was shot dead by police officer

Six people have been killed and numerous others injured, including some in critical condition, after a man went on a stabbing spree at Westfield shopping centre in the Sydney suburb of Bondi Junction.

The attacker was shot dead after being chased by a lone police officer who was on duty on an unrelated matter.

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Police officer who shot Bondi Junction attacker wielding a ‘massive’ knife hailed as a hero

Anthony Albanese has praised a lone police officer who pursued a man on a stabbing spree through a shopping mall, saying ‘there is no doubt that she saved lives through her action’

A New South Wales police inspector has been hailed as a hero after she shot dead a man who stabbed six people to death in a shopping centre in Bondi Junction.

The senior officer was conducting routine duties nearby when she was directed to head to Westfield shopping centre following reports a man was using a “massive” knife to stab shoppers.

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