With AAP.
1. Melbourne mother left terrified to drop her 14-year-old daughter off at school.
Confronting footage has emerged of a 14-year-old girl being savagely bashed by her peers at Pakenham Secondary College, southeast of Melbourne.
The clip, published by 7 News, appears to show a group of girls repeating punching Year 8 student, Jade Claffey, and dragging her by the hair so forcefully she is left with clumps missing.
Claffey’s mother, Julie Hill, said the June 20 attack was the culmination of 18 months of sustained bullying toward her daughter.
“It made me physically ill to think [about] what my daughter went through, watching them come at her,” Hill told 7 News.
The mother said the bullying continued in the week after the attack, and she was concerned to drop her daughter to school on Friday – the final day of the school term.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life,” she said. “It was the worst feeling. I just felt like I was surrendering her to the slaughter.”
Some of the attackers have been briefly suspended and also interviewed by the police.
2. Man suspected of killing 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl believed to be their father.
A massive search is underway for a person of interest after a teenage girl and boy were killed in a suspected domestic violence-related shooting at a home in Sydney’s northwest.
Police say a search was launched after officers were called to the house in Hull Road at West Pennant Hills shortly before 5.30pm on Thursday.
The teens – a 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl – were discovered in a bedroom, with those first to arrive confronted by a “horrific scene”.
“There’s no other way you can describe it,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden said.
“It’s an absolutely horrible incident to unfold… you’ve really got a family struggling to come to terms with it.”
Their mother, aged in her 30s, arrived shortly after police and was treated by paramedics for severe shock.
It’s unclear how many shots were fired but detectives are speaking with several witnesses to determine what happened.
Det Supt McFadden assured the public there was no risk to the community, adding it was a “targeted attack”.
Media reports suggest that the person of interest is the victims’ father.
An extensive forensic examination led by the homicide squad is underway.
3. Senator Hanson-Young demands Leyonhjelm pay her compensation for slut-shaming comments.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is demanding David Leyonhjelm pay her compensation for “hurt, distress and embarrassment” over his comments toward her.
Senator Leyonhjelm said he has received a “concerns notice” from a legal firm acting for Senator Hanson-Young, but would not be apologising.
The lawyers’ notice demands an apology and “compensation of a monetary amount determined by Senator Hanson-Young” within seven days.
The notice claims the Liberal Democrats senator caused her “hurt, distress and embarrassment” over comments he made in the media between July 1 and July 4 regarding her opinions about men.
“Senator Hanson-Young’s action is without merit,” Senator Leyonhjelm said in a statement on Thursday.
“She is also wasting her time, money and endless reserves of outrage, because I will not be issuing an apology.”
Senator Leyonhjelm believed he heard Senator Hanson-Young say in parliament last week words to the effect of “all men are rapists” – which she denies – and responded with “stop shagging men”.
He has alluded to her private life in subsequent media interviews.
He said apologising in response to the outrage of a “politically correct lynch mob” would be insincere.
“Senator Hanson-Young has a history of saying derogatory and sexist things about men and implying that all men are collectively responsible for the crimes of a few,” he said.
He said many men were fed up with being collectively blamed for the “actions of a few sick individuals who assault, rape and murder”.
4. Fake gynaecologist who duped women for 10 years to be sentenced.
A Melbourne man who passed himself off as a gynaecologist for 10 years, conning women and their partners out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, is due to learn his punishment.
Raffaele Di Paolo, 61, has pleaded guilty or been found guilty of more than 50 offences of procuring sexual penetration by fraud, assault, indecent assault and obtaining or trying to obtain property by deception.
Victorian County Court Judge Judge Bill Stuart on Thursday blasted Di Paolo's "profound" capacity for deception, in a lengthy sentence due to conclude on Friday.
The fake doctor's web of lies was not restricted to Melbourne but spanned back decades to his work in Italy, the judge noted.
Di Paolo obtained forged medical qualifications to thwart Italian authorities in the 1990s but was caught and convicted.
After returning to Australia, he trotted out the same documents to suspicious health authorities.
Between 2005 and 2015, Di Paolo amassed 30 victims, women and their partners desperate for children.
He presented himself as a medical practitioner and fertility specialist who had worked overseas and at the Melbourne-based Monash IVF before turning to more natural therapies.
"Your capacity for deception is profound," Judge Stuart said.
"There is no doubt ... that you do have wide experience and skills in this area. It is how you presented yourself which is critical."
His treatments included taking blood which was never labelled, injecting homeopathic substances from Germany and conducting ultrasounds.
Judge Stuart is expected to hand down Di Paolo's punishment on Friday.
5. Coroner finds answers in the 2015 deaths of outlaw bikie couple.
Warning: This story contains details of suicide and may not be suitable for some readers.
A Tasmanian woman shot dead her outlaw biker ex-partner before taking her own life and that of her dog and two cats, a coroner has found.
Police initially suspected third-party involvement in the April 2015 deaths of Michael William Dunk, 46, and Elishka Dawn Johnson, 41, at a Wilmot property near Devonport, but coroner Duncan Fairley decided otherwise.
"I am satisfied that no other person contributed to either death," he said in a report made public on Thursday.
When NSW-born diesel mechanic Mr Dunk failed to show for work, fellow members of the Black Uhlans outlaw motorcycle club went to the property he co-owned with Ms Johnson.
They found him lying face down outside the back door.
"It was apparent from the extent of Mr Dunk's injuries that he was deceased," Mr Fairley wrote.
Police subsequently found British-born Ms Johnson and her dog in the back seat of her idling car in a nearby shed.
"Ms Johnson's two cats were located in carrier boxes in the front of the vehicle."
Investigators found a 12-gauge shotgun and two spent cartridges just inside the back door near where Mr Dunk's body was located.
The firearm was one of three registered to Ms Johnson and her fingerprints were found on a gun safe and discarded cartridge box. Mr Dunk's blood was found on her boots.
Mr Fairley noted evidence that Ms Johnson sought professional assistance for "significant depressive symptoms" in August 2014, citing difficulties in her relationship and at work.
In March 2015, Mr Dunk started a relationship with another woman.
If you or a loved one is struggling, help is available at Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 22 4636.
Top Comments
1. I don't understand why these girls are merely "suspended". This appears to be a sustained, prolonged conspiracy to inflict a campaign of abuse and physical assault on the victim. I hope they are charged. The victim is entitled to seek an AVO against her attackers, I hope someone advises the mother that this is possible. Why, "simply" because it is bullying, the perpetrators are treated so lightly?
4. In addition to being an extremely gross and egregious violation of privacy, dignity and bodily autonomy, the fact that he preyed on women seeking assistance to conceive AND potentially sabotaging their opportunity to conceive with his snake oil treatments, or misdiagnosing or missing adverse medical issues is beyond reprehensible. I hope he is sentenced to a significant custodial sentence and I hope civil action is launched against him for some sort of compensation to these vulnerable women and couples.
The first one is simple to answer - it is alleged that girls were responsible for the apparent criminal activity and it is common knowledge that women commit such a small portion of violence that any claims of such should be view with significant doubt, leniency or can be safely ignored. It has only got this much attention because there is video of what was a somewhat common event when I went to school.
The last, I don't think you are alone in your thoughts. That fellow should be going away for a long stay for all the good reasons you outline but especially for targeting the vulnerable and taking advantage of the trust people have in medical staff which is absolutely critical to the best outcomes from medical intervention .
On the first point, I think the dismissing and downplaying of bullying happens if it is male or female perpetrators. I went to an all girls-school and while I never saw anything that physical, girls can be nasty and cruel to other girls.