–With AAP.
1. “My heart is broken into pieces right now.” Woman found wrapped in plastic in NSW creek identified as 29yo mother-of-two Danielle Easey.
Danielle Easey was born on a mattress outside Newcastle’s Western Suburbs Hospital just moments after a devastating earthquake struck the city in December 1989.
She was dubbed “quaker” for her dramatic entrance into the world.
Now police are appealing for information after her body was found wrapped in plastic and floating in a creek near Newcastle on the weekend.
Members of the public made the grisly discovery at 10.30am on Saturday while driving past on Wakefield Road at Killingworth.
Detective Chief Inspector Grant Taylor said Easey suffered “significant injuries” when she was murdered.
“Danielle died a gruesome death,” Det Insp Taylor told reporters on Monday, adding investigators are trying to determine when and where she was killed.
It’s thought she may have been killed weeks ago and her body disposed of at an unknown time.
Easey, a mother-of-two who was known to police, lived in Booragul in Lake Macquarie but more recently was couch surfing at multiple locations around the area.
Her family last had contact with her several weeks ago and detectives are keen to speak to anyone who provided accommodation for her since mid-August.
Detectives are also investigating her involvement in “drug-related activities over the last few weeks” were connected with her death, Det Insp Taylor said.
Floral tributes have been left at the bridge near where her body was found.
Her brother posted on social media that his heart was “terribly, terribly broken. Right now I’m not ok. I’ll hold up. Spend your thoughts on a memory of Dell, my little sister”.
Her sister said: “My heart is broken into pieces right now, I don’t know how to process something like this. I love my sister, my heart is aching for her and for her beautiful children. Thanks for the messages and well wishes”.
“You may not be with us anymore but I’ll forever carry you with me and cherish our amazing times and even our down times. I love you so much Danielle, you’re and always will be my best mate.”
Police are appealing for information to establish Easey’s last movements and are calling on people who saw or had contact with her in the past month to contact them.
They are also keen to speak to motorists with dashcam footage who were driving in the Wakefield Road area in the past three weeks.
2. Arrests made over 18mo Melbourne boy’s death.
Homicide detectives are investigating the death of an 18-month-old boy in Melbourne’s southeast.
A man and a woman were arrested following the death of the child in Langwarrin on Monday.
Emergency services were called to an address in Potts Road about 4.10pm after reports that a child was injured.
Crews worked on the boy but he could not be revived.
Neighbour Craig Blackwell told The Herald Sun he could hear arguments in the house on Monday afternoon before police arrived.
“She was screaming, shrieking in terror, and the guy in the house was trying to hush her and tell her to be quiet.”
Mr Blackwell also said he had conflict with occupants of the house before.
“It’s not unusual to hear arguing and screaming,” he said.
“I’ve been over there a bit to tell them to be quiet.
“Last Friday night I was over there at about midnight because of the noise they were making.”
4. Dozens charged in New Zealand over Christchurch terror video.
Dozens of New Zealanders have been charged with possessing the live-streamed video of the Christchurch mosque terror attacks.
Radio New Zealand reports that 35 Kiwis have been charged by police for holding the now-banned footage of the March shooting.
The country’s Chief Censor classified the video as objectionable, meaning to knowingly possess it in New Zealand can attract a prison term of up to 14 years.
An accompanying manifesto, purportedly written by the alleged terrorist – who is due to stand trial in May next year on 51 charges of murder – has also been classified as objectionable.
The information around the charges has been released under the Official Information Act.
As of August 21, the charges have seen 14 prosecutions, 10 Youth Court referrals and nine warnings.
4. South Australian woman ‘killed by backyard rooster’.
An elderly woman bled to death after she was attacked by a rooster while collecting eggs on her rural South Australian property, a forensics expert says.
An autopsy on the 76-year-old found the bird pecked at her lower left leg, causing her to haemorrhage, collapse and eventually die.
Adelaide University forensics expert Professor Roger Byard’s study of the case is published in the August edition of international journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology.
Professor Byard, who co-authored his article with Judith Fronczek, said just two small lacerations were found, but the woman had a history of medical issues including hypertension, diabetes and varicose veins.
He said her death should serve as a warning of the potential dangers of animals for people with vascular issues.
“This case demonstrates that even relatively small domestic animals may be able to inflict lethal injuries in individuals if there are specific vascular vulnerabilities,” the article reads.
5. Ash Barty regains world No.1 ranking.
Ashleigh Barty is poised to crown her phenomenal season by becoming the first Australian woman to ever top the year-ending tennis rankings.
Barty will officially regain the world No.1 spot on Monday following Naomi Osaka’s fourth-round US Open loss to Belinda Bencic.
And the 23-year-old French Open champion is a hot favourite to finish 2019 as No.1 having not only built a healthy rankings lead over her rivals but also having significantly fewer points to defend over the last two months of the season.
Realistically, only Karolina Pliskova can catch Barty, but it will take a huge effort from the Czech to do so.
Barty will enter the Asian swing with a 376-point lead over Pliskova and with 372 rankings points less to defend.
Osaka will slip to No.3 in the world after the US Open and will trail Barty by 1655 points with 45 more points to defend.
That leaves the Japan’s reigning Australian Open champion with less than no hope of ending the season as No.1 for a second straight year.
Barty held the top spot for nine weeks after clinching her third title of the season in Birmingham the week before Wimbledon amid a 15-match winning streak highlighted by her grand slam breakthrough in Paris.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley is the only other Australian woman to have the No.1 ranking, for two weeks in 1976.
Barty said “it would be incredible” to join Lleyton Hewitt (2001 and 2002) as only the second Aussie to enjoy the year-end top status since women’s rankings were introduced in 1975 and men’s in 1973.
“I don’t know what I would need to do to get there. I haven’t really sat down and done the maths or anything like that,” Barty said in New York.
“But I have had my schedule planned for the last part of the year for the last few months, so that certainly won’t change.”
Barty’s climb to the summit has been built on consistency.
The Queenslander has won an equal-tour-best 45 wins in 2019 and lost only 11 matches in 12 months since last year’s US Open.
Osaka, 21, lost her grip on top spot with a 7-5 6-4 loss to Swiss Belinda Bencic on Monday.
The defeat marked the end of a 17-match winning streak at hardcourt majors.
While Barty and Osaka each won one slam in 2019, Osaka suffered a third-round exit at Roland Garros and was ousted from Wimbledon in round one.
As well as her French Open triumph, Barty was a quarter-finalist in Melbourne and reached the fourth round at both Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.
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