Man taken off boat by croc

A large saltwater crocodile showing aggression. Source: News Corp Australia

A MAN has been taken off a boat by a crocodile in Kakadu National Park this afternoon.

The 52 -year-old male was at Cooinda when he was attacked by a crocodile and dragged into the water about 5pm.

Police and park rangers are working to find the man.

Police confirmed the man had been on a boat at the time of the attack.

READ: LOCAL WADES INTO CROC WATER HOURS BEFORE ATTACK

Duty Superintendent Bob Harrison said the man is believed to have been with his wife, son and daughter-in-law and they may have witnessed the attack.

Police hold grave fears for the man's safety.

Minister for Parks and Wildlife Bess Price said her thoughts are with the family and friends at this time, as well as the NT police and park rangers who are undertaking the search and investigation.

READ: HUMAN REMAINS OF BOY FOUND IN JABIRU

A 12-year-old Indigenous boy died in January after being attacked by a crocodile in Kakadu National Park.

Authorities found human remains near where the boy had been swimming with friends in a billabong west of Jabiru.

Another 15-year-old boy had been bitten but was released during the attack.

L IST OF CROC ATTACKS

JANUARY 26, 2014: A 12-year-old boy goes missing after he was taken by a crocodile while swimming behind Mudginberri outstation about 20km west of Jabiru. Another boy, 15, was bitten on the arm but escaped.

AUGUST 24, 2013: A crocodile killed a 26-year-old man while swimming in the Mary River near the Mary River Wilderness Retreat, about halfway between Darwin and Kakadu National Park.

DECEMBER 1, 2012: A 4m crocodile killed a nine-year-old boy who was swimming with friends at a Territory beach at Port Bradshaw near Dhania outstation, 100km south of Nhulunbuy.

NOVEMBER 16, 2012: A 3m crocodile killed a seven-year-old girl who was swimming at a waterhole at Gumarrirnbang outstation about 110km southwest of Maningrida.

FEBRUARY 20, 2011: A crocodile killed a 14-year-old boy playing in a creek with his brothers in Milingimbi 450km east of Darwin.

APRIL 2009: Father-of-two Keith Parry, 20, was killed by a 4m croc while trying to swim across the Daly River, south of Darwin.

MARCH 2009: 11-year-old Briony Goodsell was killed at Black Jungle Swamp at Lambells Lagoon in Darwin's rural area while swimming with her sister and two friends.

JULY 2006: A 5m crocodile killed an eight-year-old girl as she fished with her family on the Blythe River.

SEPTEMBER 2005: Darwin man Russell Butel, 55, was killed off the Cobourg Peninsula, while diving with a mate in Trepang Bay.

SEPTEMBER 2005: A 4m croc killed Russell Harris, 37, while he snorkelled off Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

DECEMBER 2003: A 4m croc killed Brett Mann, 22, while he cleaned his quad bike in the Finniss River, 100km south of Darwin. His two friends spent 22 hours up a tree waiting to be rescued while the croc stalked them below.

OCTOBER 22, 2002: Isabel von Jordan, a 24-year-old student from Germany, was killed by a 5m saltwater crocodile in Kakadu National Park's Sandy Creek billabong while swimming with a group of tourists.

DECEMBER 23, 1998: Peter Munkara, 34, an artist from Melville Island, was found near the island's Paru boat ramp with crocodile bite marks on his body.

AUGUST 7, 1998: The body of a man in his 20s was found in the Roper River, 500km southeast of Darwin.

DECEMBER 13, 1997: A man was killed trying to swim across the Daly River, 230km south of Darwin.

MAY 11, 1990: Albert Juzelionas, 43, a Jabiru Telecom worker, was killed while swimming off Groote Eylandt.

OCTOBER 1988: Alex Bururru, 25, of Maningrida, was killed in Cato River near Nhulunbuy, NT.

MARCH 17, 1987: Kerry McLoughlin, 40, a Jabiru storeman, was decapitated by a 5.1m crocodile while wading at Cahills Crossing on the East Alligator River in Kakadu. He threw a beer can at its head to try to escape.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

The great divide that’s killing us

More doctors needed ... a lack of medical services is leading to a greater number of deaths in Australia's rural areas. Picture: Thinkstock Source: ThinkStock

THE massive divide in health resources between our cities and rural areas is extracting a deadly toll — if you live in the bush you'll die two and a half years earlier.

Hundreds of millions spent on GP incentive payments, scholarships and mandatory work requirements to attract doctors to the bush have made little difference to health outcomes.

A News Corp Australia investigation has found up to ten per cent of Australia's cancer patients die earlier than they should simply because they live in the bush.

Rural residents are more likely to have, cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

They are more likely to smoke, be obese, and have high cholesterol but they wait longer to see a doctor and are less likely to be bulk billed.

The National Rural Health Alliance has quantified the cost of the health inequity at $2.4 billion a year.

Rural residents get 12.6 million fewer Medicare services, 11 million fewer prescription medicines and $800 million a year less dental and allied health care.

As a result they are 30 per cent more likely to end up in hospital as a result of an avoidable cause than people living in cities.

This inequity in spending and services has a calamitous human impact that is cutting short the lives of those who life outside our capital cities.

Data from the National Health Performance Authority shows the life expectancy of someone who lives in a major city and 82.8 years. If you live in the bush it's nearly two and a half years less at 80.4 years.

Better system required ... Millicent Wells is a fourth year Adelaide University medical student is off to do a placement in Port Lincoln later this year. Picture: Bianca De Marchi Source: News Limited

Rural Doctors Association president Dr Ian Kamerman says city residents who have bulk billing GP clinics on their suburban corners, hospitals and imaging services within a few kilometres drive have no idea how difficult just getting a diagnosis is in the bush.

Some rural residents have to wait up to six weeks just to get in to see their GP, he says.

The doctor will order some tests but a shortage of sonographers means a wait of up to a month for an ultra sound.

If an MRI or a CAT scan is needed the patient may have to travel to another town and also face a wait of around a month.

In any of Australia's major cities you can get to a hospital outpatient clinic and see a specialist for free in the bush you'd have to travel to a major city or pay a $200 gap to see a private specialist.

Some of the of the cost of travel and accommodation to a major city will be reimbursed by various state government assisted travel schemes.

Then, if they have a cancer diagnosis patients face the prospect of leaving their farms and their families for weeks at a time to obtain radiotherapy treatment in a major city.

"I have patients who say they couldn't do that they couldn't be away from home," Dr Kamerman says.

Life expectancy drops ... without better medical assistance. Picture: Thinkstock Source: ThinkStock

'They end up having less effective treatment, they have poorer outcomes," he says.

In Queensland 1998-2007 a study estimated that 470 (eight per cent) premature deaths due to colorectal cancer and 170 (seven per cent) premature deaths due to breast cancer could be attributed to the fact the patient lived in a rural area.

A Medical Journal Australia article this month found men living in rural areas had a poorer survival rate from prostate cancer and ten per cent or 709 deaths " could have been avoided if the urban-rural disparity was eliminated" 1992-2007.

INCENTIVES FAIL, ONE DOCTOR TO THE BUSH IN NINE YEARS

Governments have poured $5.2 billion into fixing the rural health crisis since in the last 15 years but improvements have been slow.

Despite a scheme forcing foreign doctors to work in the bush and more than 50 expensive incentive schemes to keep doctors in rural towns there are half as many medical practitioners per 1,000 population in the country compared to the city.

Governments have set up new rural medical schools and encouraged rural students to train in medicine in the hope they may be more likely to stay in the bush when they graduate.

However, still more than 40 per cent of doctors working in rural areas are foreign trained.

A bonded medical scheme that paid scholarships to 25 per cent of medical students to boost the rural workforce has delivered just one new doctor to the bush after nine years, three other students bought their way out of their obligation.

A telehealth system introduced by the previous Labor government that pays specialists who consult with patients in rural areas via video consultations over the internet has helped 40,000 patients and delivered 71,000 services in 2012-13.

However the program is underperforming, with just one fifth of the forecast money spent in 2012-13 and only 12 per cent of the nation's specialists taking part in the scheme.

The Rural Health Alliance says problems accessing fast internet speeds in the bush is a major issue for the program.

Rural Doctors Association president Dr Ian Kamerman says' the May budget will make matters worse for the bush because it has "multiple arrows hitting the same target — GPs".

When medical courses triple in cost graduates won't work in the budget because they won't earn enough to pay off their debt, low income country patients will find it harder to pay the $7 GP fee and the closure and other changes will make it less attractive to take on GP registrars in the bush.

Rural Health Alliance's Gordon Gregory says it is time to move away from the fee for service model for practices in more remote rural areas and pay doctors that work there a salary.

This model is used in Queensland with doctors receiving a salary from the state government but also given the right to practice privately to earn extra income.

A Grattan Institute report last year said the solution to the crisis is to allow pharmacists in the bush write repeat prescriptions for a drug the doctor has already prescribed and deliver vaccinations.

It also suggests producing an army of three year trained physician assistants who, working under a GP, could order blood tests, X-rays and write prescriptions to ease the rural workforce shortage.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Top cop flags civilian roles for WA police beat

A Police Community Support Officer in London. Photo: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

CIVILIANS could be put on the frontline to walk the beat under a proposal that one of WA's top cops says needs to be looked at.

Documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal that Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Brown wants the force to consider introducing Police Community Support Officers, which do not have powers of arrest.

It's just one of the ideas Mr Brown brought back from a study trip to the UK in advance of Frontline 2020, the major reform program to make the force "leaner" and operate "more efficiently" as WA's population swells.

The Sunday Times obtained Mr Brown's comprehensive notes, in the form of emails, from his meetings last year with officials and senior officers across England.

They show British cops raved about the value of PCSOs and told him they were "the face of policing" and "the community love them".

Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Brown Source: Supplied

In one email, Mr Brown – considered one of the favourites to become the next Police Commissioner – writes "we really need to look at this model of PCSO". The force's head of operations then asks: "Would we convert our auxiliary officers into PCSOs?"

WA Police's auxiliary officers currently only support officers with backroom functions, such as custody and forensics.

The PCSOs in the UK were mocked as "plastic policemen" when introduced more than a decade ago, but there are now more than 15,000 of them. PCSOs wear similar uniforms to police, but are civilian staff with only limited powers, such as issuing fines for minor infringements.

They get less training and pay than regular officers, but their foot patrols on the frontline free up police time and provide a highly visible presence on the streets.

In his notes, Mr Brown says Britons have accepted the need for belt-tightening, but warns that too many West Australians still think the "economy is booming". He also says some in the force won't "be able to cope" with the overhaul needed to take policing into the future.

Other UK initiatives raised by the Deputy Commissioner in his notes include:

● BETTER use of mobile technology, such as body-worn cameras, to keep officers on the street.

● OUTSOURCING some functions such as holding cells and call handling to the private sector.

● RATIONALISING the police estate through station closures and relocations.

He told The Sunday Times: "Community Support Officers have proven successful in other jurisdictions and may prove an additional resource to frontline officers."

But he said WA Police was not "currently" considering introducing this measure as part of Frontline 2020. He pointed to the Kimberley, where the force recently introduced community liaison officers who have limited powers and work with agencies on social issues.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man escapes Serco guard in Perth

AUTHORITIES are searching for a Vietnamese man who escaped Serco guards at Perth Airport this morning.

AUTHORITIES are searching for a Vietnamese man who escaped Serco guards at Perth Airport this morning.

A five-hour search involving officers from the Australian Federal Police, WA Police from the Kensington, Belmont and Cannington stations and the dog squad failed to locate the missing man.

An AFP spokeswoman said the man escaped while under escort in the international departures terminal.

A spokesman for Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the man was still on the run. However, the spokesman would not say why the man was being deported.

"At about 9.15am local time a Vietnamese national absconded while on escort at the departures check-in area within the Perth International Airport," he said about 6pm.

"AFP and WA Police were advised and police assisted Serco in the search for the individual. The man has yet to be located.

"Efforts to relocate the individual will continue to be made by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection."

The spokesman said the man was "an illegal maritime arrival".

Serco last night referred all inquiries to the department.

At about 2pm, Kensington Police tweeted: "Sorry 4 the lack of tweets 2day. Kenso, @BelmontPol and @CanningtonPol assisting with a five hour search. Can't disclose too much right now".

The escape was the latest in a spate of embarrassing blunders by Serco.

Two maximum-security prisoners, including a violent rapist, kicked their way out of a prison van at Geraldton Airport on January 3.

The escape prompted a 36-hour manhunt, which resulted in the private contractor having to pay more than $720,000 towards the search and an upgrade to its prison van fleet.

The high-profile incident prompted the WA Prison Officers' Union to call for Serco to be stripped of its prisoner transport contract.

The Opposition also called for Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis to be dumped from the portfolio because of "his appalling management and string of failures".

At the time, Mr Francis said he had had a "very open, firm and frank" conversation with the company's Asia Pacific boss where he said Serco should foot the bill for the massive manhunt.

Two weeks later, a dangerous prisoner escaped from Serco's custody while being treated at Joondalup Health Campus.

And just a few days later, a Vietnamese detainee, under the watch of Serco guards, escaped while receiving medical treatment at Royal Perth Hospital, leading police on a two-hour manhunt across the CBD.

Last month, Serco was embroiled in another embarrassing escape when a convicted armed robber slipped away from two guards during a routine hospital visit.

Darren John Goldsworthy, 22, was handcuffed but still managed to outrun Serco staff, who had escorted to a radiology appointment at Royal Perth Hospital.

Goldsworthy was arrested about an hour later.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Abbott’s D-day with heroes and royals

Six Aust WWII veterans have been awarded France's highest honour at 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations.

TONY Abbott joined seven Australian veterans who fought in the D-day landings to pay respects to their former comrades who fell in battle 70 years ago.

The Prime Minister walked with 92 year old Stuart "Snow" Davis through the Bayeux Cemetery, pausing at two graves of the 14 Australians buried there.

They laid small plywood crosses made by schoolchildren at the Australian War Memorial at the graves of Flight Sergeant Malcolm Robert Burgess and Pilot Officer Roland Gilbert Ward.

Robert Ward, from Queensland, and Malcolm Burgess, from Sydney, both died in the Omaha Beach landing in the Allied invasion of Normandy.

The 70th anniversary of the largest seaborne invasion in history is likely to be last that many veterans can attend.

Paying respects ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott places a cross at the grave site of Flight sergeant M.R. Burgess while attending the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Bayeux, Normandy. Picture: Jake Nowakowski Source: News Corp Australia

Six of the Australian veterans were awarded the French Legion of Honour during their visit to France to take part in the historic commemorations.

Bayeux is the largest British cemetery of the Second World War, with over 4,500 soldiers buried there.

Mr Abbott led the Australian veterans through the cemetery after attending the Royal British Legion and British Defence Ministry Service at the Bayeux Cathedral.

On foot ... Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrives at Bayeaux, Normandy for the 70th anniversary of D-day. Picture: Jake Nowakowski Source: News Corp Australia

The seven Australians were among about 3000 veterans who took part in the commemorations in Normandy that included reactions of landings and parachute drops.

In a day of formal commemorations, Mr Abbott joined leaders including UK prime minister David Cameron and the Queen in Commonwealth ceremonies.

He was later due to attend a lunch with 17 other leaders at the 18th century Chateau de Benouville.

Honouring the fallen ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott pays his respects at the graves of two Australian RAAF personnel during his visit to the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Bayeux, Normandy. Pic: Jake Nowakowski Source: News Corp Australia

The lunch was set to be a tense affair, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko to sit around the same table for the first time since Moscow annexed Crimea.

All leaders were due to attend an international ceremony at one of the landing sites at Sword Beach.

D-day heroes ... Australian veterans arrive Bayeaux for The 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Photo: Jake Nowakowski Source: News Corp Australia

Leaders from countries that were once opposing sides of the war took part in the solemn day's events, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel joining others including US President Barack and French President Francois Hollande to mark the sacrifice of soldiers on D-day.

Mixing with the royals ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French Prime minister Manuel Valls walk in Bayeux, Normandy. Source: AFP

Mr Abbott said the battle that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany should be remembered as one that changed the course of history for the better.

"D-day was a day that changed the world," Mr Abbott said.

Meeting HRH ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott meeting the Queen at the Queen's Birthday Tea Party in Paris. Picture: Josh Wilson Source: News Corp Australia

"It was the beginning of the liberation of Europe and it helped to set up a post war world which for all of its difficulties and problems has been unprecedented in terms of the prosperity of humanity and the freedom of humanity."

"It is very important that we honour the people who did so much to make this possible."

Up to 2,500 Australians participated in the D-day landings, mainly flying missions in Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force Squadrons.

Eighteen Australians died in the battle, including the airmen killed during the night, according to the Australian War Memorial.

Mr Abbott will also visit Australian war memorials from World War I at Pozieres and Villers-Bretonneux.

After arriving in Paris, the Prime Minister attended a garden party with the Queen at the British embassy to celebrate the monarch's birthday.

Describing the Queen as "a remarkable woman", Mr Abbott said she provided "a sign of the continuity and stability in our national life and a sign of the continuity and the stability that the United Kingdom has brought to the wider world."

Barack Obama has paid tribute to the men who breached 'Hitler's Wall' to liberate Europe on D-Day.

OBAMA AND HOLLANDE HONOUR TROOPS ON D-DAY

President Barack Obama said "the tide was turned in that common struggle for freedom" on D-Day and now lives on in a new generation.

"America's claim - our commitment to liberty, to equality, to freedom, to the inherent dignity of every human being - that claim is written in blood on these beaches, and it will endure for eternity," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery on a morning that dawned glorious and bright over the sacred site he called "democracy's beachhead."

Obama spoke from the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where nearly 10,000 white marble tombstones sit on a bluff overlooking the site of the June 6, 1944, battle's most violent fighting at Omaha Beach. He described D-Day's violent scene in vivid terms, recalling that "by daybreak, blood soaked the water" and "thousands of rounds bit into flesh and sand."

Honouring troops ... US President Barack Obama speaks with a US veteran during a joint French-US D-Day commemoration ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-mer, Normandy. Picture: Damian Meyer Source: AFP

"We come to remember why America and our allies gave so much for the survival of liberty at its moment of maximum peril," Obama said. "And we come to tell the story of the men and women who did it, so that it remains seared into the memory of the future world."

Obama's speech at the morning ceremony came after he met privately with some of the dwindling number of surviving troops who fought Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, along with those who have served since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

He told the D-Day veterans, "Your legacy is in good hands."

The president mentioned that his grandfather served in Patton's Army and his grandmother was among the many women who went to work supporting the war effort back home, in her case on a B-29 bomber assembly line.

Coming together ... US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande stand during a joint French-US D-Day commemoration ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Picture: Damian Meyer Source: AFP

Obama also singled out from the audience Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, an Army Ranger who served 10 deployments and was severely wounded by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Obama recognized Remsburg at the emotional high-point of his State of the Union address earlier this year, after first meeting him five years ago at the Normandy commemoration. The two reunited Friday as Obama met with veterans at Omaha Beach before his speech.

"For in a time when it has never been more tempting to pursue narrow self-interest and slough off common endeavor, this generation of Americans, our men and women of war, have chosen to do their part as well," Obama said.

never forgotten ... US President Barack Obama stands with US veterans during a joint French-US D-Day commemoration ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Picture: Damian Meyer Source: AFP

"And someday, future generations, whether seventy or seven hundred years hence, will gather at places like this to honor them - and to say that these were generations of men and women who proved once again that the United States of America is and will remain the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known," Obama said.

France will never forget what it owes the United States for the role American forces played in liberating the country from the Nazis, President Francois Hollande said.

"We celebrated today a memorable date in our history where our two peoples came together in the same fight for liberty," Hollande said in a speech at the American cemetery at Omaha Beach on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Saba’s parents 'massively relieved’

Saba Button pictured in her bed at home with parents Mick and Kirsten. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper Source: News Limited

THE parents of a WA girl who has been awarded millions in damages after a defective flu jab left her severely disabled say they it's a "massive relief" the legal battle is over.

Mick and Kirsten Button's daughter Saba was just 11 months old when she received the Fluvax shot in April 2010.

The then toddler suffered a hypoxic brain injury, kidney, liver and bone marrow failure. She can now no longer walk and talk and needs round-the-clock care.

Three days after Saba was admitted at Princess Margaret Hospital, Fluvax was recalled. It is now banned for children under five.

Her parents launched legal action against the vaccine's manufacturer CSL which then launched a cross-claim against the State of WA and the Minister for Health.

Today the Federal Court of Australia approved a settlement which had been reached between the parties. While the details of the payout have been sealed, legal experts have previously said it could be more than $10 million.

Saba Button with her mum Kirsten. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper. Source: News Limited

Speaking at their Scarborough home today, the Buttons said they were pleased they could not put the legal battle behind them and move forward with Saba's treatment.

"I suppose today is a bittersweet feeling for us," Mr Button said. "It's a relief to have the legal case behind us but we now have the ability to supply Saba with the care, therapy, the equipment, all the things she needs to give her the best quality of life we can.

"She is an amazingly strong little girl who is inspiring us every day.

"Again we would like to thank all our family and friends who have helped us through the last four years. It's been a long, tough road, so we certainly couldn't have done this without them.

"But this doesn't just stop now. Once all the cameras are gone we're back to business and we have a lot do with Saba."

The now five-year-old will need extensive therapy for the rest of her life.

Mrs Button said it was relief knowing they can now afford to give their daughter the best care possible.

But, she said, they were realistic about what it could achieve.

"Saba cannot be left alone," Mrs Button said.

Saba Button with parents Mick and Kirsten at their Scarborough home. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper. Source: News Limited

"By not having those other pressures on us makes it easier and having the funds there now to access and support that we need is amazing. And not just once or twice a week, every day.

"We are realistic as well with Saba that we are just looking for those one percenters, but they are huge for Saba if she achieves those things."

In the claim the Button's alleged Fluvax was defective after testing conducted by the company prior to April 2010 identified fever as a serious side effect of the 2010 batch.

However the company denied liability then filed a cross-claim against the State of WA and the Health Minister. In return the State of WA filed a defence to the cross claim denying any liability.

Settlement was reached between CSL, the State of WA and the family during recent mediation.

Today, Justice Michael Barker agreed to allow the settlement to proceed.

Mick and Kirsten Button with daughter Saba and son Cooper. Picture: Karin Calvert Source: News Limited

"Her life expectancy has been significant shortened," he said. "Her disabilities are profound and permanent. She will require constant care for the remainder of her life."

He also said he was pleased the parties reached the agreement saving the youngster and her parents the cost and stress of a lengthy trial.

Health Minister Kim Hames today issued a statement following the settlement saying he was please the matter was over and that he wished the Button family well.

After Saba was admitted to hospital in 2010, it emerged there had been more than 100 adverse reaction presentations to the vaccination at PMH that flu season.

But this information wasn't passed on to the general public until after Saba was in the intensive-care unit.

An independent inquiry found "serious deficiency'' in reporting processes and slow responses by both state and federal authorities.

It also concluded the Department of Health's Communicable Disease Control Directorate was "informed of a significant rise in adverse reactions in early April 2010, but did not take any further action while they gathered data''.

In 2012, the federal Health Department's Therapeutic Goods Administration released data revealing Fluvax was four times more likely to trigger side-effects in adults than two rival vaccines.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nine years’ jail for drug mule con

Justice John McKechnie. Source: News Corp Australia

A CANADIAN man has been sentenced to nine years in jail after admitting to an elaborate con that involved duping a Perth couple into becoming drug mules.

The woman in her 60s and man in his 70s were told they had won an all-expenses-paid trip to Canada, including new luggage.

But when they returned from the seven-day holiday in October 2013, customs officers found several kilograms of methamphetamine worth an estimated $11.5 million hidden in the lining of the luggage.

Farbod Ahmadi, 38, pleaded guilty in Perth's Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on Friday to importing a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

The court heard Ahmadi developed an opiate addiction after an injury and racked up $60,000 in debt as a result.

He agreed to take part in the scam to pay it off and was promised $10,000 for every suitcase he brought into Perth.

But his victims became suspicious of the suitcases and told customs on arrival in the West Australian capital.

They called police, who had to chase an agitated Ahmadi — who was waiting for the suitcases at Perth Airport — after he tried to flee.

Ahmadi's defence lawyer told the court he had admitted his guilt in interviews with police and was remorseful for his crime.

She said the fact Ahmadi was running showed he was "by no means a cool, calm criminal" and at the bottom of the drug trade hierarchy.

But Justice John McKechnie disagreed, saying he was instrumental to the operation and took part in the scam for financial gain.

The prosecutor said Ahmadi was complicit in a plot that put the victims at great risk, especially considering they travelled through Hong Kong, where drug penalties are harsh.

"It makes the blood run cold to think of what might have happened," Justice McKechnie said.

Ahmadi will be eligible for parole after serving five years in jail.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Register breeders, stop puppy farms

Opposition leader Mark McGowan is calling for a puppy breeder register to oust dodgy dealers from the industry. Source: News Corp Australia

WEST Australian Opposition Leader Mark McGowan is calling for the immediate introduction of a puppy breeder register to drive out dodgy dog dealers.

His comments come after Katherine Lisa King, 43, was found guilty of three animal cruelty charges yesterday for keeping a dozen dogs in an underground bunker at her South Doodlakine property.

• ROGUE BREEDER FINED $11,000, BANNED

The RSPCA rescue puppies from a bunker on a Wheatbelt property. Breeder Katherine King was fined $11,000 over the cruel puppy farm and banned from the industry.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Siege over: Gunman Clavell dead

All the news you need to know.

Police have cordoned off parts of Adelaide's CBD where wanted man Rodney Clavell is believed to be hiding.

Fugitive Rodney Clavell, taken from girlfriend Samantha Farrer's Facebook page Source: Supplied

FUGITIVE Rodney Clavell has been found dead following a 13-hour siege.

South Australia's Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Dickson told a media conference police sent a robot into the building he had been in at 12.55pm (SA time) and discovered what was thought to be Clavell's dead body. Shortly later police entered the building and confirmed the death at 1.40pm.

It brought an end to the siege that had paralysed central Adelaide but Asst Commissioner Dickson said it was not the outcome police wanted.

"It didn't work out the way we hoped."

Clavell stayed at the business, an adult services agency called Marilyns Studio, last night but it's not known if he had been there before.

He revealed Clavell had committed other "serious" offences while he had been on the run, including an incident on May 25 in Elizabeth Park in which a woman was assaulted and Clavell was in possession of a shotgun.

Rodney Clavell Siege - Picture Tom Huntley Source: Supplied

Rodney Clavell hostage. Picture Tom Huntley Source: News Corp Australia

Police also believe he had committed other offences over the past 14 days.

While he was found alone and in possession of a firearm police have stopped short of saying he took his own life.

An investigation had begun as it was now considered a death in custody.

The four women that had been in the building had a "harrowing" experience.

"I think we can all say that the four females who were in that premises had a fairly harrowing experience ... All of that information will come out once we've had a chance to talk to these ladies."

It is understood one of the women had previously worked with Clavell.

Police took necessary action to protect the community.

"There's always a risk to the community, when you have a man that we believe was armed.

He was operating out of the normal community's expectations … All of those reasons are the reasons why we acted as we did.

"Mr Clavell was in those premises and there was a firearm within those premises. We have always treated this incident as what we refer to as high risk.

5.6.2014. Scene of King William St siege where wanted fugitive Rodney Clavell has been holding four women against their will.The third hostage is released. Pic tait schmaal. Source: News Corp Australia

Rodney Clavell Siege - Picture Tom Huntley Source: Supplied

Police vehicles that had surrounded the building have now left and traffic is now moving through city streets that had been cordoned off all day.

Asst Commissioner Dickson said they had been communicating with Clavell through a third party.

Officers had asked relatives to speak to Clavell earlier today but at least one is understood to have refused to co-operate.

Earlier, four women emerged from the building where Clavell has been holed up since 1am (1:30am AEST).

In dramatic scenes, the hostages exited the premises with their hands in the air as gun-toting officers escorted them to safety.

One of the women was so distressed on release that she collapsed to the ground.

Police Superintendent Peter Harvey said the women were safe and uninjured. "The last person was visibly upset, and our indications are she's not hurt but very emotional as you can understand," he said.

LIVE BLOG: ROLLING UPDATES HERE

Rodney Clavell - Facebook Picture Source: News Corp Australia

Detective Superintendent Peter Harvey briefs the media. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

Moments before their release a female police negotiator was seen talking on the phone nearby.

Police had been urging him to give up all day. A negotiator had been heard saying: "It's been a long day, a long night. You may feel a bit down but don't forget, there are people to help you.

The events came after a close associate of Clavell told The Advertiser's Nigel Hunt that the fugitive is armed with a .22 rifle and a cache of ammunition and has vowed to kill police if cornered.

"He thinks they have it in for him, he will take police out,'' she said. "He knows he won't survive this alive today."

Press conference with Paul Dickson after Rodney Clavell was found deceased. Pic. Noelle Bobrige Source: News Corp Australia

Rodney Clavell siege in the city. Source: News Corp Australia

Much of the city has gone into lockdown. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia

Supt Harvey said he was aware of Clavell's previous violent encounter with police and wanted him to know they wouldn't hurt him.

"From Rodney's point of view I know his history and police can sympathise which is why we're trying to be as open as we can.

The council of small business of Australia executive director Peter Strong told Adelaide radio station 5AA that many small businesses in the cordoned off area would be feeling its effects.

Mr Strong said cash was king when it came to small business which would be hit hard by having no cash flow. He urged residents and consumers to help them out with workers including taxi drivers and couriers also affected.

Clavell, 46, was being sought for breaching a firearms prohibition order and illegal use of motor vehicles and has been on the run for the past two weeks.

Supt Harvey used media to appeal directly to Clavell to give himself up and to release the people he had with him.

Picture: Tom Huntley Source: News Corp Australia

Scene of King William St siege where wanted fugitive Rodney Clavell was holed up. Source: News Corp Australia

In the past fortnight, police have conducted more than 80 raids in the hunt for South Australia's most wanted fugitive, but up until now he has evaded capture.

The ex-prison guard first captured headlines back in 2004, when he was shot twice and tasered by police snipers following a massive manhunt in the Adelaide Hills.

He was armed with a shotgun and drove a 12-tonne road grader during the chase, The Advertiser reported. Clavell earned four years in prison for the daring crime.

Just four years later, he was involved in a lengthy riot at Port Augusta prison.

He was acquitted earlier this year of a "brutal and cowardly" attack in which a woman was repeatedly punched in the face with a studded leather glove.

In February, he was found not guilty of aggravated assault causing serious harm to a woman at a Tranmere home in December 2012.

The high-profile fugitive has been the subject of one of Australia's most intense manhunts in recent weeks.

Last month, officers came close to snaring him after he was spotted as a passenger in a rental car, which was later found abandoned in Osmond Street following a short police chase.

Clavell did not hesitate in sending his girlfriend Samantha Farrer Facebook public messages while on the run.

It appears Rodney Clavell commented on the post while on the run. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

FROM GOD AND THE LAW TO AN OUTLAW:

Clavell is being sought for breaching a firearms prohibition and illegal use of motor vehicles. Source: Facebook

Meanwhile more details have emerged about Clavell's former life. Advertiser court reporter Sean Fewster has revealed his dramatic fall from grace.

Once a keen sportsman and boxer he married and had 11 children, two of whom have biblical names.

"He became this right-wing Christian guy but he was always pumping iron," another person remembered.

"As he was doing it he had this look, like he was angry underneath."

One former associate said they believed his first run in with the law, at age 35, was sparked by assaults at work and daily contact with inmates.

— with Debra Killalea and Daniel Piotrowski

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dog dungeon: Puppy farmer fined $11,000

The RSPCA rescue puppies from a bunker on a Wheatbelt property. Katherine King was today fined $11,000 over the cruel puppy farm. Source: Supplied

A WA woman who allowed a dozen dogs to live in a dark, underground bunker and others to suffer illnesses has been fined $11,000 and banned for five years from being within 10 metres of an animal.

Katherine Lisa King, 43, was sentenced in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday after being found guilty of three animal cruelty offences.

She was also ordered to pay costs of $20,000.

GALLERY: Puppy farm cruelty

RSPCA inspectors, police and council rangers executed a search warrant on her South Doodlakine property, in the state's Wheatbelt region, in January 2012.

They found 50 dogs that were segregated according to breeds such as German shepherds, West Highland terriers, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, labradors and Tibetan terriers.

Many of the dogs suffered from ear mites and secondary infections due to untreated conditions, the RSPCA said.

An underground bunker was also found on the property, with the floor of the bunker just three metres below ground and accessible only through a small circular hole with a metal lid.

The RSPCA rescue puppies from a bunker on a Wheatbelt property. Katherine King was today fined $11,000 over the cruel puppy farm. Source: Supplied

When the lid was opened, there was a stench of animal faeces and urine, and 12 dogs were found inside, the RSPCA said.

While there was food and water, the dogs were confined to total darkness during the day, with little or no ventilation.

The incident was the first time the RSPCA had discovered a puppy farm of this type in WA.

21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More