Warning: This post contains information about sexual assault and/or violence which may be distressing for some readers.
1. Man accused of killing mum-of-seven Lynnette Daley says ‘boys will be boys’.
A man on trial over the 2011 manslaughter of a mother-of-seven told cops “boys will be boys” when he was interviewed by police, AAP reports.
Adrian Attwater has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter and sexual assault of 33-year-old Lynette Daley, who died at Ten Mile Beach in New South Wales in January 2011.
The ‘on-again-off-again’ couple were on an Australia Day camping trip with Attwater’s friend, 47-year-old Paul Maris, who has also been charged with sexual assault and hindering the discovery of evidence.
A jury at the NSW Supreme Court in Coffs Harbour heard on Monday that Attwater “repeatedly and vigorously” sexually assaulted Lynette before her death.
In his opening address, crown prosecutor Philip Strickland SC said “all three of them drank a lot of alcohol on that day”.
At dusk, they stopped halfway up the beach in Maris’ troop carrier where Attwater and Daley got on a mattress in the back. Attwater then sexually assaulted Ms Daley for a couple of minutes, Mr Strickland said.
Maris joined in with a sex act at Attwater’s invitation, the barrister told the court.
Attwater only stopped the assault when he noticed blood on his hand and Maris later burnt Ms Daley’s bra and the bloodstained mattress “because it stank”, the Crown said.
Confronting photos seen in court showed injuries to Ms Daley that caused significant blood loss.
The assault “substantially or significantly contributed to her death,” Mr Strickland said.
Her autopsy also revealed a small amount of methylamphetamine and a blood alcohol concentration of 0.303 – meaning she was “grossly intoxicated”.
The prosecutor said Attwater told police “she was blind, she was off her f***ing face last night”.
He claimed Ms Daley had a fit or seizure in the ocean when she went for a swim while naked and he performed CPR after dragging her back to shore.
When questioned about how the trio came to have group sex, Attwater said, “these things happen… girls will be girls, boys will be boys.”
Both men told police they thought it was consensual. The trial is expected to run for six weeks.
If you or someone you know is in need of help, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT.
2. Claims tip-off over plane terror plot came from international intelligence.
ABC’s 7:30 reports that Australian police had hoped to gather more evidence before arresting four men in a series of raids over the weekend.
According to reports, the British Government declared they would issue a public security alert for Australian travel if the raids did not occur promptly, after learning of the conspirators’ plans via intercepted communications.
Jacinta Carroll, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s counter-terrorism policy, told ABC the British concern may have been so high because of the level of sophistication the accused terror cell exhibited.
“Unusually, in light of the other plots we’ve had in Australia, this is one that was seeking to attack a very hard target,” she said.
After the arrests of the four men – fathers and sons Khaled and Mahmoud Khayat, and Khaled and Abdul Merhi – two unconfirmed theories have emerged about their planned attack.
Reports suggest the men planned to either smuggle a bomb onto a plane inside a kitchen grinder, or release poisonous gas into the cabin.
Two US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the perpetrators plot was “fairly well along” when Australian authorities stopped it.
Travellers at Australian airports will on Tuesday face another day of delays amid heightened security screenings.
The four men are currently being held in Sydney under counter terrorism legislation that grants authorities the power to keep people in custody as evidence is gathered to support any charges.
3. Mum reveals her last phone call with her son before he was allegedly killed with a toaster.
A 16-year-old boy made one final phone call to his mum before he was found raped and murdered at a vacant Sydney property in May 2015, a jury has been told.
In his last phone call with his mother, the 16-year-old whispered, “I am at Aymen’s house before the 9:42pm call was cut off, AAP reports.
His mother said her son was “whispering like he was trying to hide something”. In an earlier phone call, his father noted the teen “sounded slower or quieter than normal”.
The teenager’s family then searched for the boy, reported him missing and at 4am went to the home of 24-year-old Aymen Terkmani, who is now facing charges over the teen’s murder and aggravated sexual assault.
Terkmani told the teen’s family a “deliberate lie” when they visited, saying he parted from the boy at 7:30pm when in fact he had later raped him, beat him with a toaster and rolling pin, and strangled him, prosecutor Andrew Robinson told the jury on Monday.
The 24-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charges at the NSW Supreme Court yesterday.
The prosecutor believes the teenager was under the influence of ecstasy when he was murdered.
His numerous injuries included a skull fracture, brain damage, fractured ribs, a fractured eye socked, collapsed lung and internal injuries.
Terkmani lived near the vacant house where the body was found and had smoked cannabis with others and installed a pool table there, Mr Robinson said.
The trial continues.
4. Donald Trump has fired his new Communications Director after just 10 days on the job.
Anthony Scaramucci is out as White House Communications Director after just 10 days on the job – and just hours after President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff, John Kelly, was sworn into office.
Hoping to turn the page on a tumultuous opening chapter to his presidency, Trump had insisted earlier on Monday that there was “no chaos” in his White House as he swore in the retired marine general as second chief of staff.
Not long after, Scaramucci, who shocked many with his profane outburst last week against then-chief of staff Reince Priebus, was gone. Priebus was sacked on Friday.
In the words of the White House announcement, Scaramucci was leaving because he “felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team”.
The two-sentence release concluded: “We wish him all the best”.
Scaramucci’s appointment was not without controversy. It led to the resignation of White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who vehemently disagreed with Trump’s decision to hire the former Wall Street banker.
Earlier on Monday in the Oval Office ceremony, Trump predicted Kelly, who previously served as Homeland Security chief, would do a “spectacular job”.
The president chose to highlight the rising stock market and positive jobs outlook rather than talk about how things might need to change under Kelly.
5. 14-year-old boy “lucky to survive” two hours stranded in shark-infested sea.
A teenage boy who spent two terrifying hours treading water off the central Queensland coast wondered if it was “the end” before being rescued by a passing boat, AAP reports.
Paramedics said Lochie Brodie was lucky to be alive after he fell of his grandparents’ boat about 12 nautical miles from Gladstone on Sunday afternoon.
The 14-year-old said he had been walking up to the front deck when he slipped and fell into the choppy water below without a life jacket.
“I was just like screaming out for my gramps because he couldn’t have heard me because he’s deaf,” he told the Nine Network on Monday.
Lochie said he had started swimming towards the nearest island when a 2.5m shark “came out of nowhere”.
“The first thing I did was just stand still,” he said. “I was kind of just screaming in my head not to scream out.”
The shark left him alone and Lochie said he started swimming “pretty heavily” again.
“Then I started getting really tired,” he said. “I was just thinking like ‘okay, is this the end?'”
Rescuers launched an air search but he was spotted in the interim by another boat.
Owner Stephen Cartright said it was lucky he and his partner found him at all. “It’s like a needle in a haystack out there,” he told Nine.
Lochie’s mum Natalie Bevan said her teenager had a sore chest, back, arms and aching muscles from all the “dog paddling”.
“He was treading water and every time he saw a boat go past he put his arms in the air screaming like crazy, he’s very fortunate,” she told The Australian.
Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson Chris Pereira said Lochie had treaded water for about two hours.
“The average person could tread water without much difficulty for about 30 minutes,” he said on Monday. “For the boy, he was very, very lucky to survive. The boy states he did this remarkable act without the aid of a life jacket as well.”
Lochie was taken to Gladstone Hospital for treatment but has since been discharged.
6. Game of Thrones has become the target of a massive HBO hack.
US cable channel HBO says hackers have stolen upcoming programming, as Entertainment Weekly reports the theft included a script for an unaired episode of hit fantasy show Game of Thrones.
HBO, a unit of Time Warner Inc, declined to comment on Monday on the specific programming stolen in the hack.
“As most of you have probably heard by now, there has been a cyber incident directed at the company which has resulted in some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming,” HBO Chairman Richard Plepler wrote in a message to employees, which the company shared with reporters.
The company declined to comment on reports that un-broadcast episodes and scripts were among the data hacked, citing an “ongoing investigation” by unspecified law enforcement officials.
Entertainment Weekly reported that hackers stole 1.5 terabytes of data and had already posted online un-broadcast episodes of Ballers and Room 104, along with a “script or treatment” for next week’s episode of Game of Thrones.
Reuters also received an email on Sunday from a person claiming to have stolen HBO data, includingGame of Thrones
The show is now in its seventh season and due to wrap up next year.
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Top Comments
well looks like the scarramucci was sucking you know what afterall
Oh lordy, take this new MM format away.
"Why, yes, I want to see years-old articles on the front page for no apparent reason" - said nobody.