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A northern Tasmanian man will spend at least six months in jail for ‘glassing’ another man at a Burnie nightclub.
John Anthony Evenett, 22, of Burnie pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to wounding the man at the nightclub last February.
His victim lost his two front teeth, bled profusely and needed 10 stitches in his chin after Evenett hit him in the face with a glass.
Business owners in far north Queensland are being warned to be on the lookout for forged cash after the seizure of eight counterfeit bank notes in Cairns.
Police say a bank found two counterfeit $100 notes.
Another two $100 notes were recovered from a local nightclub and police also seized four fake $50 notes passed at fast-food outlets.
Police say all were of a reasonable quality.
They say the ink runs when moist and all the seized notes carry identical serial numbers.
A police recruit has been arrested and charged with assault.
The man, 38, is due to face Elizabeth Magistrates Court.
A 35-year-old man charged over a double murder in Perth’s foothills is due to face court this morning.
Andre Hedgeland was arrested at his South Guilford home on Friday by detectives from the Major Crime Squad.
He has been charged with murdering 64-year-old Stefan Borsa and 35-year-old Sidney Marcel De Beaux at Greenmount on February 26th.
It will be alleged the pair was murdered over a failed drug deal.
Police found Mr Borsa’s body in the loungeroom and Miss De Beau’s in the backyard of the Scott Street house some days later.
It will also be alleged Mr Hedgeland lit the gas stove and candles in the house before he left in an attempt to burn it down.
A 36-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Amanda Quirk from Ipswich west of Brisbane.
Christopher James Swan from Lawnton north of Brisbane has been remanded in custody to appear in the Ipswich Magistrates Court again next month.
Ms Quirk who was 32 was reported missing on Tuesday.
Police say a woman’s body found in northern New South Wales yesterday is yet to be formally identified.
A 32-year-old woman from Ipswich has been charged with being an accessory after the fact.
A woman has been arrested after police found her asleep at the wheel of her car at an intersection in Alice Springs this morning.
Police found the 30-year-old woman asleep in her sedan at the intersection of Tietkins Avenue and the Stuart Highway just before 7am.
Police said the car’s engine was running and the lights were on.
The woman was arrested and was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.226 per cent.
She was charged with high-range drink-driving and unlicensed driving.
She has been bailed to appear in the Alice Springs Magistrates Court on May 13.
A Peruvian man jailed in Queensland over a conspiracy to import almost 90 kilograms of high-grade cocaine has lost an appeal against his conviction and 24-year jail term.
A Supreme Court jury in Brisbane last year convicted Jorge Velarde Silva of conspiring to bring 89 kilograms of cocaine into Australia from Mexico on board the yacht Sparkles Plenty.
The conspiracy, which involved two other men, ran into trouble when the yacht almost sank in Moreton Bay.
Velarde argued his trial judge made mistakes and his sentence was manifestly excessive.
But the Court of Appeal has ruled there were no grounds to overturn the conviction and the sentence emphasised the need for deterrence.
A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to three years prison for killing a woman in a horrific traffic accident in Darwin’s rural area.
In June last year, Geoffrey Ross Hamilton was the driver of a three-carriage roadtrain.
He ran a red light at an intersection in Coolalinga and ploughed into a car, instantly killing 20-year-old dental nurse Karlee McCullough.
A short time later, Dale Stanton, who was directing traffic around the crash site was fatally hit by another car.
In sentencing, Justice Trevor Olsson said a lapse in concentration and faulty judgement had led to the crash.
Hamilton was sentenced to three years jail, suspended after he serves six months
He has also had his driver’s licence disqualified for a year.
A former Darwin IT worker at the Defence Department has pleaded guilty to using forged documents for sick leave.
The Darwin Magistrates Court heard Michael Wise, 32, took a total of 10 days’ sick leave over a three-year period.
He provided his employer with six doctors certificates, but his boss became suspicious and realised the certificates were identical, except for the date.
She called the doctor on the certificate, who confirmed Wise had not visited the GP on those dates.
The court heard Wise was paid more than $2000 for his time off.
His lawyer said he was depressed and had done something “very stupid”.
He said Wise was extremely embarrassed and could no longer work in places requiring security clearance.
He was convicted and put on a 12-month good behaviour bond.
Adelaide police are looking for two men and weapons they used for a break-in and car theft at Findon.
Police say three men with a firearm and a hammer confronted a man at his house in Elizabeth Street at about 4:20am and forced him to hand over car keys.
The car was chased by police at Flinders Park and later found dumped at Ovingham.
A man, 24, from Rosewater was arrested and is alleged to have breached bail.
Police hope to track down the other two offenders and are keen for any help from the public.
Matthew Heyward has lodged an appeal against his murder conviction after the trial into the killing of his mother Glenys in 2007.
Heyward, 22, and farm worker Jeremy Minter were found guilty of murder for allegedly helping Heyward’s father, Neil, track down and kill his Glenys Heyward, in a fight over property.
The appeal application has been lodged with the Court of Criminal Appeal and is not likely to be listed for a hearing until next month.
A 22-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Shane Sullivan is accused of glassing another man during Australia Day celebrations on a Busselton beach.
It is alleged he stabbed a 21-year-old man in the side and face with a broken bottle during an altercation.
Sullivan is due to face court again in June.
China has executed three convicted Japanese drug smugglers, just days after another Japanese citizen was put to death for the same offence, state media reports.
The Xinhua news agency, which cited an announcement from China’s supreme court, gave no further details.
Japanese press reports have identified the men as Teruo Takeda, Hironori Ukai and Katsuo Mori.
On Tuesday, China executed 65-year-old Mitsunobu Akano – the first Japanese citizen to be put to death in the country since diplomatic ties were re-established in 1972.
Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama called Akano’s case “regrettable”, but both sides said they hoped relations would not be affected.
Japan also uses capital punishment, usually in cases involving multiple homicides.
Last week, rights group Amnesty International called on Beijing to say publicly how many people it puts to death each year, saying the figure was likely in the “thousands” and more than the rest of the world combined.
Such data is not released by China, where it is considered a state secret.
In December, China executed Briton Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father-of-three convicted of drug smuggling. Supporters said he was mentally ill and London repeatedly urged Beijing to grant clemency.
China has slowly been reforming its death penalty system after acknowledging several miscarriages of justice.
At the beginning of 2007, the Supreme People’s Court began reviewing every death penalty case rather than allowing lower courts to issue the final judgement – a move that China says has led to fewer executions.
A teenage boy has been refused bail after a car crash that left seven people injured.
The 16-year-old is facing seven charges after crashing into a four-wheel drive on Tuesday night.
Police allege the boy stole the sedan before picking up friends.
He was following the four-wheel drive to West Albury when the crash occurred. Seven people were hurt in the crash, including a 20-year-old woman who remains in a serious condition with spinal injuries, a punctured lung and bleeding on the brain.
The defence said the boy would plead guilty to one count of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, and one of unlicensed driving.
Four people charged over the murder of Desmond Moran last year have been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Des Moran’s sister-in-law Judy Moran, Suzanne Kane, 46, Kane’s de facto partner and the alleged gunmen Geoffrey Armour, 44, and Michael Farrugia, 45, have all contested the charges against them.
Mr Moran was shot dead at a cafe in Ascot Vale, in Melbourne’s north, in June last year.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Jelena Popovic also ordered Armour to stand trial on a second charge of attempted murder, relating to the attempted murder of Mr Moran in March last year.
Judy Moran’s lawyer told the court his client did not have a case to answer on the murder charge.
He argued that Moran would not have benefited financially from Mr Moran’s death as she was not listed in his will.
Kane’s lawyer also submitted his client should be exonerated on both the charges of murder and accessory after the fact because there was not enough evidence.
But Prosecutor Claire Quin said there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
Judy Moran and Farrugia have indicated they will make fresh bail applications.
The County Court has placed a man accused of a crime spree in central Victoria on a 20-year supervision order.
Police arrested New South Wales man Steven Westlake, 39, in Castlemaine in November 2008.
In the hours leading up to the arrest, police say Westlake used his car to drive over a man and break his legs. He was also accused of assaulting a Country Fire Authority member and stealing his utility.
Westlake pleaded not guilty to six charges because of his mental condition at the time of the offences.
He faced the County Court in Melbourne yesterday and was placed on a non-custodial supervision order.
The order’s conditions will be be reviewed regularly.
Police are investigating four break-ins and two attempted break-ins at homes and businesses around south and west Tamworth.
Yesterday morning, a laptop and a mobile phone worth about $1,000 were taken from a west Tamworth home.
A short time later, a $2,400 computer was stolen from a home in south Tamworth.
In another case, the occupants of a house in south Tamworth awoke to someone trying to break into their house for a second time in three days.
The Queensland Government has revealed it has spent more than $2.75 million on the prosecution of former Bundaberg-based surgeon Jayant Patel.
Patel, 59, has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully killing three patients and to causing grievous bodily harm to a fourth man during his time as director of surgery at the Bundaberg hospital in southern Queensland.
In response to a Question on Notice from the Member for Bundaberg, Jack Dempsey, the Government says it has budgeted just over $3 million for the trial, with $2.75 million already spent.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court trial in Brisbane today has heard Patel assured a patient of good outcomes from a complex surgical procedure, but the patient died two days after the operation.
James Phillips, 46, was in renal failure in 2003 when Patel removed part of his oesophagus to treat a throat cancer.
Mr Phillips died two days later.
Bundaberg hospital renal nurse Carolyn Waters gave evidence about a conversation between Mr Phillips and Patel prior to the surgery.
She told the court Patel assured Mr Phillips that he had previously had good outcomes from the procedure and Bundaberg hospital could provide the necessary care afterwards.
But she says he did not tell Mr Phillips he might die.
Another nurse has told the court that Patel described a detailed note in a patient’s file before surgery as necessary because of the chance of a lawsuit.
Nurse Mandy McDonald told the trial when she commented about a detailed note Patel wrote about Mr Phillips before surgery, he replied it was necessary because ‘you never knew when you might get sued’.
A far north Queensland man has been charged after allegedly threatening a group of people with a chainsaw.
Police say the man confronted about nine people at a property south of Cairns last night.
The group asked the man to leave but he allegedly returned a short time later with a chainsaw.
Police say the man also used the chainsaw to damage furniture.
The 34-year-old man has been charged with burglary with violence and wilful damage and is expected to face court today.
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Payout for protesters locked in shipping container
The South Australian Government has been ordered to pay $724,000 to 10 people involved in a protest at the Beverley uranium mine a decade ago.
The Supreme Court has found the nine uranium protesters and a cameraman were assaulted and all but one falsely imprisoned in a shipping container.
The Government fought the case on behalf of the police officers who arrested the group in the outback.
Eight protesters, the TV cameraman and a girl, 11, sued the Government for assault and false imprisonment over their treatment by police during the protest in May 2000.
Supreme Court Justice Timothy Anderson found police used unnecessary force against all 10, using batons and capsicum spray and locking the nine adults in the container.
He awarded $724,000 but noted it was less than the plaintiffs had sought.
‘Degrading’
Justice Anderson said using the oppressive, degrading and dirty shipping container was a breach of human rights.
He also condemned SA Treasurer Kevin Foley and Police Minister Michael Wright for making antagonistic and provocative comments about the case and the Government for its failure to settle the matter, despite a report by the Police Complaints Authority confirming the use of unnecessary force.
Mr Foley was quoted as calling the group a “bunch of feral protesters”.
The court heard the Government rejected an offer to settle for $600,000 in the weeks before the trial.
Cameraman Jamie Holland says he was held in the container without food, water or a toilet for three hours.
“Inhumane. It shouldn’t happen in Australia. It shouldn’t happen anywhere,” he said.
One of the protesters Lucinda White says Mr Foley was wrong to have made a judgment based on appearance and she is calling for an apology.
“There are real issues here and uranium mining is a really big issue in South Australia,” she said.
“Regardless of how people look they have a right to protest and a right to be safe, not bashed, beaten and falsely imprisoned by the police,” she said.