1. BREAKING: The man accused of killing Jill Meagher – Adrian Bayley, 41 – has been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
The Coburg resident admitted to raping and strangling the ABC employee – but pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, and two of the three counts of rape he was being charged with.
2. The latest Newspoll shows a rise in numbers for Julia Gillard and the Labor party. The poll revealed the primary vote for Labor has risen by three points to 34 per cent, while the Coalition has seen a decrease of three points to 44 per cent. In the preferred Prime Minister stakes, Gillard is ahead with 42 per cent of the vote. Tony Abbott is sitting on 38 per cent.
3. Day one of the committal hearing to determine whether Gerard Baden-Clay will face a trial for the murder of his wife Allison has been completed. The court heard Mr Baden-Clay had scratches on his face when he first reported his wife as missing in April 2012. It also heard from witnesses who heard screams coming from the Baden-Clay house. The prosecution argued Mr Baden-Clay wanted his wife dead for financial reasons – he would profit from the life insurance payout – and because he was having an affair and wanted to leave Allison. Allison Baden-Clay’s body was found in a river bank 10 days after she was first reported missing.
4. The next time you ‘like’ something on Facebook. It’s been revealed that those ‘likes’ show a lot about a person’s race, gender, age and sexuality and can be used by advertisers to tailor their marketing.
5. A woman in the UK has given birth on a train. Sonia Banks was travelling with her partner in London when she went into labour. The carriage was cleared of passengers, while an off-duty policeman, midwife and nurse assisted with the birth. After a 15-minute labour, Banks gave birth to her second child – a little girl named Phoebe. And the passengers reportedly cheered when the announcement was made.
6. Priesthood trainees haven’t been deterred by the growing number of sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Church. It’s being reported that the number of priesthood enrollments has risen. In 2007 there were 253 seminary enrollments and in 2012 there were 350 enrollments.
7. New research has found women who regularly take Aspirin could reduce their risk of developing melanoma. The American researchers studied the lives of 60,000 women over a period of 12 years and found the longer women took Aspirin, the less likely they were to develop the skin cancer. But they said it’s still important to stay out of the sun.
8. Four members of the Australian Cricket Team have been banned from playing the next test match because they didn’t do their homework. Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson and Usman Khawaja were supposed to respond to a peer review after their loss in the second test to India. But because they didn’t, coach Mickey Arthur dropped them from the side.
Top Comments
“I hope they bring back the death penalty before I get sentenced,’’ Adrian Bayley told detectives... "But I’ve done. I’ve already done it. I can’t – I can’t do that again for what 20 years, 25 years. Nah. It’s no life man. They should have the death penalty for people like me anyway.’’
"He also told police he never meant to hurt Ms Meagher and had only stopped to talk to her and “help her” because she looked lost. But she 'flipped me off and that made me angry', Bayley said in his record of interview."
But yes, let's put her husband and family through the hell of a trial even though Bayley already admitted to raping and killing her. And somehow let him plead not guilty to her murder although there's been no suggestion that his admission had been coerced and he even led the police to her body. If a person admits to something, let's stop wasting money on trials for these people and skip straight to sentencing. The families of victims don't deserve this - as Jill's husband clearly demonstrated by storming out of the courtroom after Bayley entered his plea - and taxpayers deserve to have this money go towards keeping these people off of our streets in the first place.
Sorry, this was me.
I have just seen the haunting and previously 'rumour only' footage of him CHASING her down the road on the Herald Sun website. He said he 'had only stopped to talk to her and “help her”' ? He looked like a lion after a lame deer.
I agree.
Worthless creatures like this who kidnapped, abused and killed an innocent woman deserves being put down for good.
'Seeing that will never happen now the namby pamby squad have had their way, how about the courts arrange repeat offender b*stards like this will never, ever walk free again ?
I disagree - his nightmare is jail, death would be a reprieve. He has been in jail before, he knows what is coming to him in there this time, and that's why he preferred death.
Lock him up for good, and hope they do to him in there what he did to her.
How in the F$%K is this man able to plead not guilty to murdering Jill??? He fricken admitted it and led the police to her body. Unless it's been determined that a person's admission has been coerced we need to stop with these shams of trials. Someone admits to something, skip right to sentencing and be done with it. It does nothing but add even more heartache to the families and is a blatant waste of taxpayer dollars. This piece of rubbish shouldn't have been on our streets in the first place and now Jill's husband and family have to sit through a trial where he tries to construct a defence. Something's seriously wrong with this system.