1. Mum sentenced to life in prison after drugging and killing her nine-year-old daughter in custody dispute.
A Canadian mother who drugged, burned and killer her nine-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison, the Calgary Herald reports.
Laura Coward was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years after she plead guilty to the second-degree murder of her daughter, Amber Lucius.
Coward and her ex-husband, Duane Lucius, had been involved in a bitter dispute over the custody of their daughter before Amber was killed.
Amber was reported missing in August 2014. Laura was arrested two days later after she was found standing outside a burned truck with her daughter’s body inside.
The court heard Amber had been with her mother for a weekend trip, before Laura drove the nine-year-old to a remote area, gave her a toxic dose of prescription sleeping medication and set the truck she was in on fire.
Amber’s father, Duane, said no prison sentence could ever do his daughter justice.
“I will never get to watch my daughter grow up,” he said after his ex-wife was sentenced.
“I have had to bury my child and nothing will bring her back. I can only hope that other children are not being used as bargaining chips in a divorce roused to hurt the other parent.”
Justice Scott Brooker said Laura’s crime was the “ultimate betrayal”.
“In murdering your own daughter you have committed a vile and evil crime,” he said.
“This court must express society’s disgust and outrage to denounce your evil act.”
2. Brisbane father who killed his own daughter told partner “we can have another one”.
A Brisbane father accused of killing his seven-week-old daughter allegedly told his partner, “It’s OK, we can have another one”, the Courier Mail reports.
Rick Cataldo pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year for the death of his daughter, Lili Cataldo, in May 2012. He was originally charged with murder, but prosecutors downgraded the charge.
Lili’s mother, Michelle Catherine Leask, pleaded guilty to the same charges when she appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court on February 8.
Rick allegedly made the comment to Michelle when she found her infant daughter lying next to him in bed.
She allegedly replied, “I don’t want another one, I want Lili.”
Police believe the seven-week-old was killed at the couple’s home in Deception Bay, Queensland. At the time of her death, she had sustained numerous skull fractures, and had a spiral fracture in her upper arm and cracked ribs.
Leask told police her partner refused to let her call an ambulance, allegedly so he could dispose of his hydroponic marijuana set-up.
Leask is due back in court for sentencing on April 4, while Cataldo will appear in court on April 7.
3. Byron Bay mother Sara Connor to be sentenced over murder of Bali police officer today.
Australian woman Sara Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor are poised to learn their fate over the death of a Bali police officer on Kuta Beach, AAP reports.
It has been almost seven months since Wayan Sudarsa’s body was discovered covered in sand in the early hours of August 17, with dozens of wounds across his face, upper body and neck.
Today, three judges at Denpasar Court are set to hand down their decision as to the pair’s guilt and what, if any, time they should serve.
Although Connor has maintained she did nothing during the fatal fight but try to separate Mr Sudarsa and Taylor, prosecutors have called on them to serve the same eight-year sentence for the charge of fatal assault in company.
It’s a “nightmare” Connor says, that started with the hopes of having a relaxing holiday with her boyfriend.
Connor’s lawyers insist she is not guilty of fatal assault and should have been charged with destroying evidence. Due to the fact prosecutors didn’t use this offence, they argue she should be released immediately.
Meanwhile, Taylor’s legal team say he acted in self-defence, is young, has shown remorse and has good chances of rehabilitation.
4. Health officials warn Melbourne shoppers over possible measles risk.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/measles-risk-for-shoppers-at-werribee-plaza/news-story/6a00c85320b949f2b5a789b7022d66b4
Shoppers in Melbourne’s west are being warned to look out for measles symptoms after a retail worker contracted the infectious disease during a holiday in Bali.
Acting Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says a casual employee at Big W in Werribee worked four consecutive days between March 3 and March 6 while infectious, before being diagnosed.
“We are concerned that more people may have been infected through contact with this individual in the community,” Dr Sutton said on Saturday.
The employee’s co-workers have been advised to look out for symptoms of measles.
Dr Sutton said the person is recovering and is thought to have contracted the disease during a recent visit to Bali.
The symptoms did not become apparent until well after their return to Australia, he said.
Measles have symptoms often associated with the common cold, such as fever, runny nose, red eyes and a cough.
The characteristic measles rash usually appears between three to seven days after the first symptoms, and generally starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. The highly infectious viral disease can cause serious illness, particularly in very young children and adults.
People with measles can develop pneumonia and other serious complications which require hospitalisation.
Dr Sutton said those most likely to develop the illness are unvaccinated people who have travelled overseas, or unvaccinated people who have been in contact with contagious people.
5. Mum’s heartbreaking plea after her 11-year-old son was killed on a quad bike.
Emily Cason’s son Sam was just eleven years old when he lost his life riding a quad bike on his friend’s farm six years ago.
After riding on the quad bike as a passenger while rounding up cattle, Sam then drove the vehicle on his own when the pair found an injured cow in a paddock.
“Sam drove off into the paddock on the quad but never made it up to the dairy,” Mrs Cason told news.com.au.
“We never found out exactly what caused him to fall off. He didn’t hit a tree or a ditch, he was just found flat on his back and the quad bike next to him on its side.”
Sam sustained severe head injuries in the fall, which caused him to die instantly. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
Now, Mrs Cason is calling for more regulation on the age at which children can drive a quad bike.
“They are like little cars, they are extremely dangerous and I was naive on how bad they were,” she said.
“My aim would be to see kids under 16 banned from riding them. Not as passengers, or as drivers. I would also like to see more education for the older generation using these bikes, so when their kids reach 16 – then they too can be educated.”
Sam’s parents have also set up a Facebook page in their son’s memory to campaign for quad bike safety.
6. NSW high school to receive extra staff and funding to fight teen suicide rates.
Grafton High School, on New South Wale’s north coast, has been given extra funds, an extra deputy principal and “high-level training” for its teachers after it was hit by a “suicide contagion”, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Clarence Valley area has lost three male and four female teenagers to suicide in the past 20 months.
Of the seven victims, three were from Grafton High School, two from Maclean High School and two from South Grafton High School.
The Department of Education is providing the teachers at the school “high-level training” in student health and wellbeing.
A new deputy principal has also been appointed to focus on increasing the school’s ability to support the mental health and wellbeing of its student.
The federal government is also providing $600,000 for suicide prevention initiatives in the area, while the state government is funding a rural adversity mental health program worker who will be based in Grafton.
If you or a loved one is suffering from depression, Mamamia urges you to contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au
Top Comments
My quad bike says in large letters that it's not to be operated by anyone under 16, always wear a helmet and never to carry passengers (as well as not driving under the influence of alcohol and cautions about slopes). How is 'banning' anyone under 16 from ysing them going to make any difference?
Interesting that there doesn't seem to be anything anywhere about the WA election. There are lots of interesting issues coming out of it, economic expectations, the lower than expected One Nation vote, the issue of Roe 8 highway development and why that had such an impact, much like the last time Liberals lost WA over old growth logging issues. The media big-up the power of One Nation but the Greens vote was twice that of One Nation, so media reporting bias makes people think otherwise. I would love to see some articles about the issues around this as I'm sure they impact all of Australian politics, not just WA.
I realise everyone has a bias who writes anything re politics but I suspect One Nations bad results were due to three things, the disarray in their party, scandals or problems with so many of their candidates, including one dropping out last minute, the vaccination remarks, and the Libs preference deal, also they tend to be inconsistent in their message, to the point that whilst their view on Islam and immigration is clear so many other things seem to be thought up as hoc. As a result I think their strength and their weakness is that seem genuine but a shambles at the same time. I say genuine because, whether or not you agree with Hanson or not, her words seem unrehearsed and therefore genuine, on the other hand the fact they appear unrehearsed gives the appearance that little thought has gone into them so it comes across as shambolic.
I know quite a few people from all sides of politics, die hard greens etc, but I know quite a few people who years ago would never have considered voting One Nation, including two left wing Asians actually but every single one of them said they were concerned about Islam. A few are also concerned with too much immigration in general. Only one I know is against climate change (an elderly lady). All of them had no problems with immigrants of any race other than Muslims (yes some expressed concerns about immigration causing overcrowding but didn't have a preference for the British race). None of them were against gay marriage and indeed the elderly white lady I know who is concerned about Muslims and doesn't believe in climate change expressed a fervent desire for gay marriage to be enacted so that gay people could be happy despite the fact she isn't gay and has no close dealings with anyone that she is aware that is gay. This lady usually is a swinging vote with a slight preference for Labor. She was unhappy with Hanson's vaccination remarks and also feels there is no problems with Asian immigration (and as already noted a few of the others I know who voted or were attracted to One Nation are Asian) I do know one other One Nation supporter who is anti Asian immigration, anti welfare and the usual right wing type concerns. She however is young so is happy for gay marriage to go ahead (but not passionate about), she thinks transgender is a bit ridiculous but doesn't have issues with gays as long as they aren't too demanding in your face. Not sure whether she believes I'm climate change or not v
So I would say, on my limited sampling that the major attraction for the majority of those who vote or are attracted to One a Nation is their concern with Islam. Most of them don't have major concerns with other races/religions but are worried about the amount of immigrants in general making cities more congested etc (all of them bar one are city people). I think these issues that attract them to one nation. To a lesser extent I am guessing that some voting one nation are anti climate change. I actually don't think too many are against gay marriage (not to say though they are passionately for it though either). This to some degree makes sense because I don't think one nation supporters are overly religious, yes they would probably see themselves as Christians but not the churchy type so like most Aussies they couldn't care about soneone else's sexual choices.
I therefore suspect that the one driving force behind the One Nation voters is a dislike of Islam, and to lesser extent concerns about immigration in a whole. So if one nation stick to those issues I think they would be a driving force. The problem they have is when they talk about other things, which obviously they need to have policies on other things, but their followers don't have unified agreement on other issues.
I also suspect all of this because they had 13% approval before all the other problems of disunity, vaccination remarks etc.
By the way don't shoot the messenger if anything I said was offensive I am just reporting my observations.
One thing I'm unclear about though, is why the liberals preference deal was such a hurdle, I mean I get that it was unpopular with one nation supporters but all parties have yo preference other parties so to my mind either Hanson had to either preference Libs, Lab etc so either way it was going to be on the nose to some of their voters. Same with the left wing parties greens/labor are going to preference each other,so if you like one but hate the other you still know the reality is that they will preference each other. As a voter you may not like it but it's hardly controversial.