1. Mum found guilty of hiding the bodies of six babies in a storage locker.
A 42-year-old Canadian woman has been found guilty of disposing of the remains of six infants in a storage locker, BBC reports.
Each charge given to Andrea Giesbrecht carries a sentence of up to two years in jail.
The remains of the infants – believed to be Giesbrecht’s own children – were found in October 2014 by employees who were cleaning out the storage locker.
Children’s toys, infant’s clothing and blankets were also found alongside the remains.
Evidence presented at trial left “no doubt” that she had concealed her pregnancies and the resulting delivery of the six children, Judge Murray Thompson said.
Investigators were unable to determine the cause of death of the infants, but Judge Thompson said that medical evidence suggested “they were likely born alive”. Medical records also suggested that the woman did not see a doctor during any of her six pregnancies.
“All of her actions lead to one conclusion – that Giesbrecht was aware that these children were likely to have been born alive and she wished to conceal the fact of their birth,” Judge Thompson said.
2. Man, 22, killed after being struck by lightning in New South Wales.
A 22-year-old man has died on a sheep property north of Mudgee in New South Wales after he was struck by lightning during wild storms.
ABC reports the man was helping firefighters from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service check on livestock on the property when he was struck. He died at the scene.
Police are investigating the death and have spoken to those who were present during the incident.
The man’s death comes as wild storms inundated Sydney yesterday with the heaviest rainfall in six months, which fell in less than one hour.
The weather bureau predicts possible thunderstorms along the coast throughout the morning.
3. Melania Trump’s lawsuit says escort article will prevent her from making millions as First Lady
First Lady Melania Trump has filed a lawsuit against Mail Media, the owner of the Daily Mail, claiming that an article they published that alleged she worked as an escort in the 1990s “impugned her fitness to perform her duties”.
According to USA Today, Trump says the article damaged her personal brand and put in jeopardy several pending “multi-million dollar business relationships”.
The suit says the article caused Melania’s personal brand to lose “significant value” and damaged her “unique, once in a lifetime opportunity” to “launch a broad-based commercial brand”.
According to the lawsuit, Melania’s personal brand would be represented in categories like shoes, cosmetics, jewellery and fragrance.
Trump had previously filed a similar suit in Maryland, with a judge dismissing the case on jurisdictional grounds.
The article in question was retracted by the Daily Mail alongside a statement clarifying the piece didn’t “intend to…suggest that Mrs Trump ever worked as an ‘escort’ or in the sex business”.
4. Family demands answers after daughter was discharged from a Perth hospital with a broken neck.
Joondalup Hospital has launched a review after an eight-year-old girl was sent home from hospital with an undiagnosed broken neck, The West Australian reports.
Ava Amato was rushed to hospital by an ambulance in a full spinal brace after she crashed a quad bike while on holiday with her family.
She was given an X-ray and physical examination and was offered Panadol and Nurofen to help with her pain before she was discharged.
Two days later, a radiologist reviewed Ava’s X-ray and called her urgently back to hospital after discovering she had four fractured vertebrae and a severed ligament.
“I was a mess, I was angry, I was sad,” Ava’s mother, Nicole Amato, told 7 News.
“If she had any more trauma to her neck she could have potentially ended up in a wheelchair. If someone comes in with spinal damage it needs to be [diagnosed] straight away, not two days later.”
Ava has since undergone spinal surgery at Princess Margaret Hospital.
5. Australian man Antonio Bagnato sentenced to death in Thailand.
Australian man Antonio Bagnato has been found guilty and sentenced to death for his role in the 2015 murder of Hells Angels gang member Wayne Schneider, ABC reports.
Bagnato, 28, was charged over the killing of the former Hells Angel bike in 2015. Bagnato and Schneider had been partners in a boxing gym in Sydney.
Schneider’s body was found four days after Bagnato’s arrest after 30 kilometres from the luxury villa in Thailand where the initial assault occurred. His death was linked to conflict over drug deals.
“We’ve got hearts and they’re hurting right now,” a relative of Bagnato’s said after hearing the verdict.
6. Family of woman murdered by her ex-partner is suing the state of Victoria.
The family of murder victim Kelly Thompson, who was killed by her jealous ex-partner, is suing the police force and the state of Victoria for compensation, the Herald Sun reports.
Thompson called the police 38 times in the weeks before her death, and had taken out an intervention order against her ex, Wayne Wood, after he had tried to run her down with his car and strangle her.
Wood broke into 43-year-old Kelly’s home and stabbed her to death before taking his own life in February 2014.
In the lawsuit, Thompson’s family – including her parents Wendy, 65, and John, 68, as well as her 47-year-old brother Patrick – allege the police and the state of Victoria were negligent.
“Given the findings of the Coroner that there were numerous deficiencies in the management of Kelly’s safety, I think there’s cause for the family to seek compensation,” lawyer Paula Shelton said.
“Kelly’s death should never have happened. It was preventable,” Wendy Thompson told an inquest into her daughter’s death last April.
“We are all overwhelmed and extremely disappointed by the amount of information and policies that are available to police that were not acted upon.”
Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au