Category: Murder / Manslaughter

Minneapolis police

Police Officer Found Guilty of Homicide

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Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor has been found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter over the shooting death of Australian woman Justine Damond Ruszczyk. Mr Noor has been remanded in custody and faces up to 15 years in prison. The offences In the United States, third-degree murder is where a person causes the …
Brunei

Death by Stoning for Sodomy, Adultery and Rape in Brunei

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As of today, a new law comes into force in the Southeast Asian sultanate of Brunei, which prescribes the penalty of death by public stoning for partaking in sexual acts with another person of the same sex. The barbaric new law is part of a suite of Islamic corporal punishments – or Hudud –  first …
Crime scene

Sixty Nine Australian Women Killed Last Year in Domestic Attacks

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Carla Hales was killed with an axe in her home in the Perth suburb of Munster on 28 December last year. The 30-year-old woman was hacked to death by Jesse de Beaux, an unknown assailant, who’d was released from a nearby hospital a day earlier after being a voluntary mental health patient. Ms Hales death brought …
Downing Centre Court in NSW

The Trials and Tribulations of the District Court’s Newest Judges

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Seven experienced barristers, including five Senior Counsel, will become the newest judges of the NSW District Court, in February 2019. The appointments are part of the state government’s $148 million funding package which is designed to ease the pressure on the District Court, to help clear the court’s backlog in cases and reduce the length …
Central Local Courthouse

Accused Murderer Granted Bail

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Former high school teacher Lynette Dawson disappeared in 1982, just two weeks before her daughter was due to commence kindergarten. The mother-of-two was last seen at the Bayview home shared with her husband, Chris Dawson. Mrs Dawson’s body has never been found. Mr Dawson has consistently and vehemently denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance. …
Sydney West Trial Courts

Government Limits Power of Courts to Impose Alternatives to Imprisonment

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Section 5(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (‘the Act’) makes clear that a court “must not sentence an offender to imprisonment unless it is satisfied, having considered all possible alternatives, that no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate.” This is the statutory embodiment of the common law principle that prison is the last resort when it comes …
Minneapolis police officers

US Cop who Shot Dead Aussie Woman Could Face Upgraded Charges

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Prosecutors in Minneapolis are seeking to upgrade the primary charge against a policeman who killed 40-year old Australian woman Justine Damond Ruszczyk. Officer Mohamed Noor was initially was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, after he shot dead former Sydney woman Damond Ruszczyk in an alley behind her Minneapolis home just before midnight on …
Brazil and American flags

The Far-Right’s Assault on LGBTIQ Communities

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In another development in the current global shift to the far-right, the world’s fourth largest democracy Brazil elected extremely divisive presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro to office on October 28. And as seems to be part and parcel of the right-wing agenda, Bolsonaro’s campaign rhetoric was riddled with anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric, along with attacks on women, African …
angry-anderson

Angry Anderson’s Son Bashed to Death

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It has been reported that Liam Anderson, the 26-year old son of Rose Tattoo lead singer Gary “Angry” Anderson, was bashed to death during a violent altercation at the corner of Pavilion Street and Bridge Road, Queenscliff, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches early this morning. Police are yet to confirm the identity of the deceased,  but …
Central Local Court

Sydney Criminal Lawyer Charged with Accessory to Murder

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It has been reported that 38-year old Sydney criminal defence lawyer Ali Abbas was formally arrested at Surry Hills Police Station at around 6am today, and charged with being an accessory after the fact of the murder of 15-year old Braydon Dillon on Good Friday last year. It has further been reported that police papers …