Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Nine-month-old baby undergoes surgery after man allegedly pours hot coffee on him

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Police increase patrols near Hanlon Park in Brisbane after nine-month-old boy taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries

The mother of a baby boy hospitalised after hot coffee was allegedly poured on him by a stranger has described the experience as “torture”.

The nine-month-old underwent surgery after suffering burns to his face and chest following what police described as a “cowardly” and random attack in a Brisbane park.

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Perth man preyed on 180 children in ‘one of the worst’ sexual extortion cases in history

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The 29-year-old man pretended to be a teenage social media celebrity to get sexually explicit content from hundreds of victims

A Perth man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for coercing 286 victims, including 180 children, into performing sexually explicit acts on camera or video.

The scale of the offending, in which he targeted victims from 20 different countries, makes it one of the worst sexual extortion cases in history, the Australian federal police assistant commissioner David McLean said.

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Queensland police officer accused of inappropriate behaviour by female colleagues now investigated for stalking

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Female senior constable alleges male officer stalked and harassed her at remote police beat

A Queensland police officer accused of inappropriate behaviour by four female colleagues over 15 years – including one case that resulted in a $1m plus payout – is being investigated over a claim he stalked a female officer.

Guardian Australia understands last month the male officer was issued with a notice barring him from attending a remote police “beat” after a female senior constable made allegations of stalking and harassment.

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Triple zero callers now able to livestream emergencies directly to NSW police

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BluLink gives emergency responders access to scene before they have even arrived

Livestreaming unfolding emergencies directly to police is now possible in New South Wales using an innovative technology system.

The statewide rollout of BluLink allows triple zero callers to provide police with GPS coordinates, live video streaming, digital media uploads and text messages via a link sent to them from emergency dispatchers.

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Mardi Gras board decision to consult queer community on police joining parade hailed as ‘massive win’

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Results of consultation will form independent report and motion will be voted on at annual general meeting later this year

The Sydney Mardi Gras board will vote on whether NSW police force members will march in its annual parade later this year.

In an email sent to members on Friday evening, the board announced three community consultation sessions – two online and one in person – would be held in September to gather feedback.

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Domestic violence victims’ addresses sent to offenders by Queensland police in major blunder

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State government apologises for data system breach as victim says it left her ‘completely defeated, broken, scared and worried’

The addresses of domestic violence victims have been shared with offenders by Queensland police, including a “vulnerable woman” who was then allegedly told to relocate by officers.

The state government apologised on Thursday after it emerged a woman felt “completely defeated” when her personal information was exposed by the serious data breach.

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NSW police had emails that could have saved lives at Wieambilla, inquest hears

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Queensland police weren’t warned of threats to law enforcement made by Trains before shooting, hearing told

Queensland police weren’t warned of emails threatening law enforcement sent by the perpetrators of the Wieambilla shooting because the New South Wales officer who asked them to attend the remote rural property didn’t read the emails until it was too late, an inquest has heard.

Detective Senior Constable Tim Montgomery, who testified on day 14 of an inquest by the Queensland state coroner Terry Ryan into the Wieambilla shootings, was assigned with tracking down Nathaniel Train.

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Volunteer firefighter dies after being hit by police car on Flinders Island

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Man in his 60s killed in incident involving on-duty Tasmania police officer in town of Lady Barron

The death of a volunteer firefighter struck by a police car on Flinders Island will have an impact on the whole community, a senior officer says.

Tasmania police say the man was on foot when he was hit by the police vehicle driven by an on-duty officer on Saturday night.

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Eggs and water balloons thrown as protesters face off at Women Will Speak rally in Melbourne

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Victoria police said 20 protesters were outnumbered by 150 from another group, which hurled ‘water balloons at the speakers’

Projectiles were thrown at speakers and one person arrested as protesters and counter-protesters faced off outside Parliament House in Melbourne on Saturday.

About 20 people initially attended the planned #WomenWILLSpeak rally that commenced at about 11am, Victoria police said in a statement.

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Madness and murder: how the Trains brought terror to Wieambilla

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Inquest reveals how Gareth Train went from ‘keyboard warrior’ to killer, and radicalised his wife and brother

Gareth Train was, by many accounts, a deeply unimpressive and unpleasant person.

He was arrogant, prone to anger and had low self-esteem. He was paranoid, narcissistic and emotionally primitive, the Queensland coroner’s court heard this week. One witness described him as a “keyboard warrior”; he believed in baseless conspiracy theories so strongly they took over his life, the inquest heard.

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Sophie Wang: community mourns slain 10-year-old at Gold Coast vigil

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Hundreds gather at Emerald Lakes to remember Emmanuel College schoolgirl after she was allegedly murdered by her mother

Hundreds of people have gathered at a candlelight vigil to remember Sophie Wang after the 10-year-old was allegedly killed by her mother on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Mourners paid tribute at Emerald Lakes on Friday afternoon after the community was left reeling by the tragedy.

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Husband charged with cold-case murder of Denise Govendir in Sydney in 1998

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Aaron Govendir originally told police his Dover Heights home had been broken into and he was knocked unconscious, but police have new allegations on wife’s cold-case killing

Twenty-six years ago, Aaron Govendir told police his home had been broken into and he was knocked unconscious before his wife was bludgeoned to death.

But detectives allege the story was a lie and the now-elderly man murdered his wife Denise before staging an apparent car theft in a bid to cover up his crime.

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In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

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Wieambilla killer’s ‘incredibly disturbing’ emails sent to police before massacre, inquest hears

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Close associate of Nathaniel Train tells Queensland coroner’s court they forwarded emails to NSW police hours before deadly shootings

A close associate of one of the Wieambilla killers forwarded four “incredibly disturbing” emails from his account to New South Wales police hours before the Train family gunned down three people in Queensland, a coronial inquest has heard.

The emails were not passed on to Queensland police before they sent four officers to 251 Wains Rd, Wieambilla for a missing persons’ search, two of whom would be killed by Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train, the court heard.

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New figures show NSW children are being ‘criminalised for their disadvantage’, advocate says

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More than half the 10- to 13-year-olds who faced court had been a victim of violence and about a third had accessed homelessness services, report finds

Children aged 10 to 13 facing criminal penalties in New South Wales are “overwhelmingly” from disadvantaged backgrounds and disproportionately Indigenous, according to a new report.

It comes amid debate over the minimum age of criminal responsibility, after the Victorian government reneged on a commitment to raise the age from 12 to 14. In NSW, children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and incarcerated.

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‘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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‘Morally insane’ Wieambilla killers believed in plot to turn humans into ‘meat suits’, inquest hears

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Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth Train shared ‘paranoid delusions’ and did not intend to be captured alive, inquiry into Queensland shootings told

The “morally insane” trio responsible for the Wieambilla massacre believed the Covid-19 vaccine was being used as part of a plot to turn people into “non-humans” wearing “meat suits”, an inquest has heard.

On 12 December 2022, Stacey, Gareth and Nathaniel Train ambushed and shot constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and Alan Dare, their neighbour. They were gunned down by the Queensland police Special Emergency Response Team that night.

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AFP counter-terrorism operation that targeted 13-year-old with autism cost more than $500,000

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FoI documents reveal the cost of Operation Bourglinster, which was criticised for encouraging a child’s fixation on the Islamic State

An Australian federal police counter-terrorism operation targeting a 13-year-old boy with autism cost more than $500,000, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Documents provided under freedom of information laws show the total cost of Operation Bourglinster, the AFP investigation into a boy known as Thomas Carrick, was $507,087. No further breakdown of the cost was provided.

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Man fighting for life after being shot by police outside Queensland hospital

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Police allege officers were threatened by man with a knife at Kingaroy hospital before Friday night’s shooting

A man shot by police outside a Queensland hospital after allegedly confronting them with a knife is in a critical condition.

At about 7.30pm on Friday, five officers attended a call at the Kingaroy hospital, where they were allegedly threatened by a man with a knife, police said.

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Former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty gives up Order of Australia honour six years after Ben Roberts-Smith tip-off

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Federal court judge in last year’s defamation case found Roberts-Smith tried to evade surveillance after Keelty alerted him to pending war crimes investigation in 2018

The former Australian federal police commissioner Mick Keelty has relinquished his Order of Australia honour, six years after he passed information received from serving police officers to Ben Roberts-Smith, alerting him to a pending war crimes investigation.

Keelty retired from the AFP in 2009 after a 35-year law-enforcement career, including eight as AFP commissioner.

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Wieambilla killers ‘rocked’ police vehicle with bullets in response to surrender pleas, inquest hears

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The Trains used high-calibre guns to engage in firefight as police tried to negotiate, responder tells coroner

A family of killers were “robotic” in response to efforts to get them to surrender, continuing to fire at police vehicles, an inquest into the Wieambilla massacre has heard.

Sert operative 114, a team leader of the police Special Emergency Response Team (Sert), described how an armoured BearCat vehicle was “rocked” as a volley of accurate gunfire hit the windscreen, which was bullet resistant but not bulletproof.

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