Men guilty of starving children

THREE men, including a father, have been found guilty of participating in the cruel abuse suffered by five malnourished, seriously ill children in a northern suburbs house.

A Supreme Court jury of eight men and four women returned its verdict today after six hours of deliberation.

They found the men - who cannot be named - guilty of two counts each of aggravated acts to endanger life, and three counts each of aggravated acts creating a risk of serious harm, Adelaide Now reports.

The charges relate to events that occurred in a house occupied by more than 20 people, including six adults, between February and June 2008.

The five children suffered under what prosecutors called "a cruel regime" masterminded by a woman, who pleaded guilty prior to the trial.

They said that woman wanted to punish the children, who had been fathered by her partner and his former girlfriend.

Both the father - one of the men on trial - and the former girlfriend - who also pleaded guilty prior to trial - lived in the house.

The five children suffered starvation, malnutrition, emaciation and scabies.

Authorities became aware of the situation when one child was taken to hospital with a head injury, severe hypothermia and a temperature of just 26C.

During the three-week trial, jurors heard the children were denied food and, on the occasions they did eat, survived on chips and noodles.

One day, they were given dog food and told "if you're hungry, eat this".

One of the five children, who gave evidence before the jury, said he and his siblings were fed enough to keep them alive "but not that much".

"When we woke up we would have to stand near the wall through the whole day," he told jurors.

"We had a little bit of food, which wasn't that much... we never said anything (about it) because they would have beaten us up."

Another child who lived in the house - but was not abused - said some of the children were bound, hand and foot, with sticky tape "to stop them stealing food".

Giving evidence in his defence, the father of the five children admitted he "turned a blind eye" to the abuse.

This evening, Justice Kevin Duggan remanded the men in custody to a directions hearing next Wednesday.

Source http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/men-guilty-of-starving-children/story-e6frf7l6-1225944869793

Standoff intensifies as man douses yacht

A man holding police at bay at a major ferry terminal in Brisbane's CBD is again dousing his yacht and a neighbouring vessel with liquid from a jerry can.

The New Zealand man was seen by media crews pouring liquid over the bow and front deck of a Brisbane City Council cross-river ferry which the yacht is moored alongside.

The 54-year-old Vietnam veteran called police at 5:00am (AEST) threatening self-harm and has been holding off police, fire and ambulance personnel since.

A 100-metre exclusion zone has been set up around the busy Eagle Street pier and police and a bomb detection robot are at the scene.

The man had earlier been seen on the boat's deck carrying a five-litre container of fuel and a long knife, playing a guitar and smoking.

This afternoon a police robot handed him a case containing a phone and what appeared to be a piece of paper.

The Riverside ferry terminal remains closed and council buses are running from Eagle Street to the Mowbray Park, Hawthorne and Bulimba Citycat terminals.

The alternate bus services will continue until 8:00pm (AEST).

'Cry for help'

A fellow yachtie and friend of the man says he is probably making a cry for help.

The man's friend of a few years said he had lived on his boat in Brisbane for two years and was close to the nomadic yachting community.

Other yachties are concerned for the welfare of the man.

"I think this is a cry for help - none of this was expected, none of us thought this would have happened," the friend said.

"He's had some health issues and some family issues. He's a nice guy, an ex-Vietnam vet, a super guy.

"This is completely out of character for him."

Source http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/25/3047865.htm

Appeal for information about Mandurah death

The son of a 73 year old Mandurah woman found dead in her backyard says the circumstances of her death have devastated his family.

Police believe Helen Margaret Bromley was murdered about a fortnight ago.

Mrs Bromley's youngest son Brett Dawe wants anyone with information about her death to come forward.

"I thought my mother had another ten years or so left in her and she's gone, in such a way that's very destroying for the family," he said.

Source http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/22/3046176.htm

Cat flushed down toilet: firefighters save kitten from drain

Firefighters have rescued a kitten that was flushed down the toilet at a house in Sydney's north-west.

NSW Fire Brigades Superintendent Ian Krimmer said three fire rescue crews were sent out to a home in Jacqui Circuit, Baulkham Hills, this afternoon.

He said firefighters pushed a search camera down a drain pipe and found the kitten trapped there.

The kitten was still alive.

So the emergency crew removed the toilet, then broke through a concrete slab down to where the kitten was, he said.

A neighbour, Elizabeth Harrison, said she was told by a woman outside the house that it was her two-year-old daughter who flushed the day-and-a-half-old kitten down the bowl.

It was not known how or why the kitten was flushed down the toilet bowl, Superintendent Krimmer said.

Fire crews responded to a triple-0 call for help.

It was a legitimate triple-0 call, he said.

"We always try and help with domestic pets where we can."

Source http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cat-flushed-down-toilet-firefighters-save-kitten-from-drain-20101019-16rx3.html

Federal police celebrate huge drug seizure

Authorities say about half a tonne of cocaine has been kept off the streets thanks to this week's huge drug bust in south-east Queensland.

More than 460 kilograms of the drug was found on a luxury yacht at a Brisbane marina on Tuesday.

Three New South Wales men appeared in court yesterday and have been remanded in custody on drug charges.

Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner Andrew Colvin says it will be alleged the cocaine was imported from South America on a larger boat, before being transferred at sea.

"The luxury boats that were intercepted and the technologies employed on those vessels is some evidence of the finances available to organised crime when they're conducting these operations," he said.

"But this seizure has put a large hole in the financing of organised crime in this country."

Source http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/14/3038650.htm?section=justin

Driver drunk when toddler killed

Jacob Bangoang and his wife left war-torn Sudan, walking barefoot for five days and through crocodile infested waters in their quest for a better life.

They found refuge in Australia but their dream was shattered last December when their six-year-old son Bangoang Tut died after being hit by a drunk, unlicensed driver as he played in the front yard of their home.

The Victorian County Court was told that alcoholic Gary Edward Ryan, 26, was travelling up to 80km/h before the crash that killed Bangoang Tut and endangered the lives of Bangoang Tut's then pregnant mother Yomding Deng and his cousin and friend.

His friends, who guessed he had had up to 18 beers, hid his keys to stop him driving.

But Ryan recovered them, determined to drive, prosecutor Ray Elston SC said.

Once in the car, he did burnouts and fishtails. He told police he may have had half a stubbie either in his hand or between his legs.

He told police he lost control and hit a fence before crashing into Bangoang Tut, who was playing in the front yard of his Morwell home in Victoria's southeast.

Bangoang Tut was critically injured and died a short time later in hospital.

Ryan recorded a blood alcohol content of .109, twice the legal limit, after the incident.

Jacob Bangoang said in his victim statement that he and his wife had left their country as refugees for a safe place for their son Bangoang Tut to grow up.

"We risked our lives to travel day and night. After what we had been through we thought our lives here would be so much better and different," he said.

"Now it turns out more devastating and disastrous to us than ever before."

He said his other children now feared being killed by a car.

Father of two Ryan sobbed as the court heard of his remorse.

A letter of apology he wrote to his victim's family was read aloud.

"I would like you to know if I could give my life to bring Bangoang Tut back I would," he wrote.

Judge Liz Gaynor said Ryan had acted like a lunatic but she accepted he was sorry.

Defence barrister Shivani Pillai said Ryan had a violent upbringing, was bullied at school and had a longstanding alcohol problem.

She said he began drinking heavily to treat his depression from age 16, consuming up to 16 beers in a session.

Once he reached 19, he would drink to the point of blackout.

Ryan, of Morwell, pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and three counts of reckless conduct endangering death.

He will be sentenced on October 27.

Source http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/driver-drunk-when-toddler-killed-20101012-16hn5.html

Starving children fed dog food: court

Five malnourished children were so hungry they wolfed down dog food when offered it by a woman who had been starving them, a court has been told.

The five siblings, who lived in Adelaide with six adults and 16 other children, were mistreated and deprived of food until they were so thin their bones could be seen, a trial of three men heard on Wednesday.

The three men have each pleaded not guilty to aggravated acts endangering life, criminal neglect and aggravated acts creating risk of serious harm against the five children, who were aged between four and seven at the time.

Mr Nitschke told the jury that the children's mother had pleaded guilty to the abuse and would testify that she and the others had deprived her children of food and forced them to stand in line all day with their hands on their heads.

This happened "from the time they got up until they went to bed at night", Mr Nitschke said.

The line-up began as a one-off punishment but it turned into a daily practice under the enforcement of the alleged ringleader, a mother of 12 who was in a relationship with the father of the five children.

Mr Nitschke said that when the desperate children broke out of line to snatch at food, the scraps were taken out of their mouths.

"By force, if necessary. They were often grabbed by the throat and choked," he said.

He said one witness would testify to seeing the ringleader hand each of the five a plate of dog food, telling them to eat it if they were hungry.

"He will tell you that each of them wolfed down the dog food," the prosecutor said.

Mr Nitschke said that when the five-year-old collapsed, some of the adults tried to cover up their neglect by force-feeding him.

"A gruel of soggy mashed Weet-Bix was made up and put into a syringe," he said.

Investigating officers said the children were "looking like children from a famine-affected Third World country", he said.

"Some of the children's feet had swollen up, it was difficult for them to stand."

Source http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/starving-children-fed-dog-food-court-20101006-16793.html

Cats won't stop Thompson moving to Dons

GEELONG chief executive Brian Cook says the Cats will not prevent departing coach Mark Thompson from joining another club if he wishes to do so.

Thompson resigned from his position at Geelong on Monday after a very successful 11 seasons in charge.

But his move has reignited speculation he will soon join Essendon - the club he captained to a premiership in 1993 - as a senior assistant coach working under James Hird.

"Mark's current contract allows him to leave with six weeks notice, which he has provided today," Cook said.

"He is pretty much a free man after that. The only expectation we would have - and that's been communicated to him - is that at some stage in the future, if and when he does take up another position, is that he doesn't take any of our staff."

However, Thompson, 46, has once again refused to give any hints on whether he will head back to the Bombers.

"The thing for me has been to say goodbye to the people who work here, the supporters, the players. It's really difficult to do," he said.

"What I'm going to do tomorrow is sit down and reflect and see what I want to do next.

"I clearly have no idea, and I know there's a lot of speculation about what I'm going to, but it's pretty hard to speculate if I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow.

"I really don't know what I'm going to be doing. End of story."

Thompson said he was glad to have left his position on his own terms, rather than face the prospect of being forced out at a later date.

"I think handling it this way is a lot easier on the person," he added.

"I know I've let the club down by walking away, but we're going to be friends for life because I chose that way.

"A lot of people who do get the sack as coach, they don't end up having a great relationship with that club."

Cook said the working group that has been put together to find Geelong's new coach will hold its first meeting on Tuesday morning.

"It's not simply a matter of coming up with three or four names and ringing their managers," Cook, who is part of the working group, said.

"It's an important position and we'll do the best we can to find the best person for Geelong, whether that person is sourced internally or externally."

Geelong's recruiting manager, Stephen Wells, will handle the club's participation in trade week, which begins on Tuesday.

Source http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/103713/default.aspx