Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Parents of Bondi Junction killer confiscated his ‘pigging knives’ year before stabbings, inquest told

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Inquest into deaths of six victims in April 2024 told Joel Cauchi’s father and mother worried about weapons ‘especially if he’s going to lose contact with reality’

Joel Cauchi called the police to his parents’ home more than a year before he stabbed and killed six people at Bondi Junction, to complain that his father had taken away his knives due to concerns about his mental health, an inquest has been told.

Body-worn camera footage played at the coronial inquest in Sydney on Monday showed an officer telling her colleague, after speaking to Cauchi’s mother, that “Mum just wants him to get help”.

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Murder charges over shooting of gangland lawyer Joseph Acquaro dropped

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Victoria DPP’s move on charges against Vincenzo Crupi brings end to case that threatened to force police to reveal informer’s identity

The Victorian director of public prosecutions has dropped murder charges relating to the shooting death of gangland lawyer and police informer Joseph “Pino” Acquaro.

The explosive development brings to an end a court case that threatened to force Victoria police to reveal the identity of human sources in order to prosecute Vincenzo Crupi, who they alleged had murdered Acquaro.

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Video shows moment Bondi Junction stabber ran at police officer in Sydney shopping centre holding knife

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CCTV footage released by court shows Amy Scott walking up an escalator, then starting to run when she sees Joel Cauchi

The New South Wales coroner’s court has released footage showing the moment the Bondi Junction stabber launched himself towards a lone police officer at speed holding a 30cm knife.

The video, made public on Thursday afternoon, is a compilation of CCTV footage and a 3D reconstruction of the route NSW Police inspector Amy Scott took when she entered Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April 2024 in pursuit of Joel Cauchi, who had just stabbed 16 people.

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Synthetic opioids linked to spate of overdose deaths found in wastewater across Australia

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Detection of powerful nitazenes in samples from 60 sites a ‘red flag’ amid surging use to lace street drugs

Synthetic opioids a thousand times stronger than morphine and an animal sedative used to lace street drugs have been detected in Australia’s wastewater.

The discovery has been described as a “red flag” and comes as the deadly class of synthetic opioids – nitazines – claims dozens of lives in Australia.

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Woman killed in late-night drive-by shooting in Sydney suburb

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Police searching for perpetrators after multiple shots fired at home in Ambarvale, on the city south-west outskirts

A drive-by shooting has killed a woman in her 60s and left a suburban Sydney home peppered with bullet holes.

Those responsible remained on the run on Tuesday following the overnight attack in Ambarvale on Sydney’s south-west outskirts.

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Victoria police pay $90,000 to climate protester who claimed head was slammed into wall, door and ground

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Exclusive: State makes no admissions as it settles case with activist who alleged police misconduct during 2019 arrest at Melbourne mining conference

A climate protester who alleged their head was repeatedly slammed by members of Victoria police’s riot squad in 2019 has reached a settlement with the state.

Timothy Buchanan, 39, alleged their head was slammed into a metal wall, the ground and a glass door that their head was then used to open, during their arrest at a protest at an international mining conference in Melbourne.

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Man charged after allegedly attempting to open plane door on flight to Sydney

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Australian federal police say the man, 46, allegedly tried to open the rear emergency exit door of the plane from Malaysia on Saturday

A Jordanian national has been charged after he allegedly attempted to open the doors of a Sydney-bound plane mid-flight.

Australian federal police (AFP) said the man, 46, allegedly tried to open the rear emergency exit door of the plane, travelling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night.

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MCG admits ‘breakdown’ in security after guns allegedly smuggled into game

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Men arrested at Melbourne sporting venue allegedly carrying loaded firearms after passing through upgraded security

The MCG has blamed a “breakdown in the thoroughness” of security screening procedures after two men allegedly carrying loaded firearms were able to access a blockbuster match between Collingwood and Carlton.

Police alleged the weapons were found after a search by officers at the ground, as a crowd of 82,058 fans watched the Magpies defeat their arch-rivals on Thursday night.

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Baulkham Hills stabbing: woman arrested and three children in hospital after alleged attack in Sydney suburb

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Two girls, boy in stable condition and 46-year-old woman under guard in hospital after alleged attack in Baulkham Hills

A mother has been arrested after she allegedly stabbed her three children multiple times in their home in Sydney’s north-west.

New South Wales police Det Supt Naomi Moore said on Monday that the children’s father woke to yells in their Baulkham Hills home, and secured the kitchen knife from his partner.

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Clare Nowland’s son says decision not to imprison police officer who killed her a ‘slap on the wrist’

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Kristian White was convicted of manslaughter over death of Nowland whom he shot with a Taser at a Cooma aged care home in 2023

A judge’s decision not to send Kristian White to jail for the manslaughter of Clare Nowland is “a slap on the wrist for someone that’s killed our mother”, according to the 95-year-old’s son.

Justice Ian Harrison handed down his sentencing decision for the former New South Wales police officer in the NSW supreme court on Friday, saying the incident in his opinion “falls in the lower end of objective seriousness” for manslaughter and that time in prison would be a “disproportionate” sentence.

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Murder charge for man arrested at Brisbane airport after 79-year-old woman found dead

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Body discovered with fatal stab wound at home in Brisbane’s north-west

A man will remain in custody after he was arrested at Brisbane airport and charged with murdering a 79-year-old woman whose body was found at a suburban home.

Emergency services were called to a residence on Chestnut Place about 4.20pm on Monday at The Gap in Brisbane’s north-west, Queensland police said.

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Sydney woman charged after reports novel contained child abuse material

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Police seize copies of novel to be forensically examined as 33-year-old charged with producing child abuse material

A Sydney woman has been charged with producing child abuse material in relation to a novel.

New South Wales police said they began investigations in March “following reports of a fiction novel containing child abuse material”.

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Victorian Labor’s tough-on-crime turn could mark the beginning of the end for Jacinta Allan

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Victorian Labor has faced a ‘crime crisis’ before – but no matter how tough the premier talks on law and order, the Coalition is always willing to go tougher

It was meant to be the week Jacinta Allan took a firm stance on the “crime crisis”, but it could instead mark the beginning of the end for her government.

It began on Monday with the Victorian premier announcing a new police taskforce, Operation Hawk, which appeared, on the surface, a decisive move to combat corruption on government construction sites.

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Sydney caravan incident sparks inquiry into ‘who knew what and when’ before rushed hate speech laws

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Investigation will not examine whether laws should be repealed, despite crossbench members’ concerns they may have been ‘misled’

The New South Wales parliament will hold an upper house inquiry into “who knew what and when” about the caravan that was found laden with explosives on the outskirts of Sydney ahead of controversial legislation passing parliament.

The motion for the inquiry – which was moved by independent MP Rod Roberts and supported by the opposition, the Greens, and two members of the crossbench – passed on Wednesday.

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NSW police say off-duty officers’ shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar boom’ after dispute with Muslim man were ‘banter between friends’

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‘The chanting you heard was not directed at you in any way,’ inspector tells Sydney man who complained about neighbour’s Christmas party in Glenmore Park

A NSW police internal investigation has found that off-duty officers who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar boom” and “Hezbollah” at a Christmas party after a verbal dispute with a Muslim man who lived next door were indulging in “banter between friends”.

The incident allegedly took place on 13 December at Glenmore Park in western Sydney, after the man complained to his neighbours about water from their swimming pool leaking into his property.

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NT police commissioner ousted amid jobs-for-mates scandal

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Michael Murphy outed himself as subject of Icac investigation that found he had mismanaged a conflict of interest

The Northern Territory’s police commissioner has been given his marching orders after a jobs-for-mates scandal uncovered by a corruption watchdog.

Michael Murphy outed himself as the subject of an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation that found improper and unsatisfactory conduct against an unnamed public official who had mismanaged a conflict of interest in the recruitment of a senior officer.

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Teenager charged after allegedly boarding Jetstar flight with ‘large gun’ at Avalon airport

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Police charged 17-year-old with unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, orchestrating a bomb hoax and possessing a firearm

A teenager who allegedly tried to force his way on to a commercial flight at a Victorian airport before being dramatically overpowered by passengers was due to face court on Friday charged with a string of offences.

Police were called to Avalon airport near Geelong, in Victoria, on Thursday afternoon after reports a male wielding a firearm had attempted to board the Jetstar flight.

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Two Australian men charged in global investigation into AI-made child abuse images

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Dozens including man from Queensland and man from NSW arrested as part of international operation

Two Australian men have been charged during a global operation into a criminal group distributing artificial intelligence-generated child abuse images.

A 38-year-old NSW man and 31-year-old Queensland man have been arrested alongside a total of 25 linked to the investigation into child sexual exploitation.

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Australia news live: NSW health system ‘catastrophically let down’ toddler’s family, minister admits

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Two-year-old waited in emergency department for three hours before suffering a cardiac arrest and dying. Follow today’s news headlines live

Victoria to offer contactless public transport tickets from next year

Victorians will be able to use their phones, bank cards or smartwatches to pay for public transport travel from “early next year in a staged approach”, according to reports.

Following a successful start of a ticketless bus trial in Wangaratta, the Allan Labor Government will begin switching on tap-and-go technology across Victoria’s public transport network from early next year in a staged approach – meaning some passengers will soon be able to use their bank cards, phones and smart watches to travel on full fare tickets.

The new ticketing system will continue to be underpinned by extensive technical testing and will be carefully rolled out starting with rail from the beginning early next year – allowing full fare passengers more ways to pay for their travel.

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Arson attack that killed innocent Melbourne woman linked to tobacco wars, police say

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Katie Tangey, 27, died after arsonists hit the wrong address while she was house-sitting her brother’s home in Truganina in January

A house fire which killed a “completely innocent” woman is a case of mistaken identity linked to Melbourne’s tobacco wars, police say.

Katie Tangey, 27, died after arsonists hit the wrong address while she was house-sitting her brother’s home in Truganina, in the city’s west, in the early hours of 16 January.

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