1. Video footage of two girls verbally abusing and physically assaulting a 56-year-old man on a train travelling in Melbourne has emerged. The incident allegedly occurred after Roger Stapleford asked one of the girls to take her feet off the seat so he could sit down. One girl screamed at the father of three: “Don’t touch me. Next time you touch me I’ll kill you. Kill everything you f—ing love.”
Mr Stapleford told the Herald Sun: “The bigger girl got up and threw some of the contents of her energy drink at me. I was stunned, surprised. I just thought, ‘What is this world coming to?’.”
2. Nigella Lawson’s husband Charles Saatchi has reportedly been cautioned by police after he was photographed physically assaulting his wife on the weekend. Seventy-year-old Saatchi told the London Evening Standard: “Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross station and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months.”
3. Departing NT Senator Trish Crossin has made an emotional final speech in which she labelled the preselection process which saw her senate spot given to former Olympian Nova Peris as “grossly unfair, undemocratic and not the Labor way”.
“Do we need more women in Parliament? Well of course we do. But not at the expense of each other. And do we need Indigenous representation? Most certainly, but not in a vacuum without a plan or without a strategy,” she said.
4. The mother of Thomas Kelly – an 18-year-old Sydney man who was king hit in King’s Cross – has expressed her frustration after prosecutors dropped a murder charge against the man who hit her son. “We are here today for our son Thomas, who cannot speak for himself and will never speak again,” Kathy Kelly said. “That decision was made for us on July 7 at 10.07pm when our beautiful, defenceless son Thomas was king hit with such force and violent intent,’ she said. “When his head hit the pavement, the very essence of what made him Thomas was gone then and there.”
“What has the perpetrator lost? It’s time we all came to the same realisation about just who the victim is of violent crimes, and it’s not the offenders, so please let’s stop treating them as the victims.” The 19-year-old who hit Thomas pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
5. Australian soccer team the Socceroos have qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, after beating Iraq 1-0 in Sydney last night. A goal in the 83rd minute of the game from Josh Kennedy sealed the deal for the Australian team.
6. St Kilda football player Stephen Milne has been charged with four counts of rape over an incident that occurred at his teammate Leigh Montagna’s house in 2004. According to the Director of Public Prosecutions there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone when the incident was first reported, but that changed after a review from the Office of Police Integrity in 2011 which led to further investigation.
In a statement, Victoria Police said: “It is unfortunate for all parties concerned that this matter has taken so many years to progress, but having discussed with the alleged victim in this matter, we can confirm that our decision to lay charges accords with her wishes.”
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Top Comments
That poor man really was in a horrible position. If he tried to stand up for himself he would have been accused of assaulting the girls.
Shocking and dreadful. I hope someone recognises them and they end up in court. What sort of family has raised them?
Yep, a mans only option is to take whatever treatment a woman wants to dish out without flinching. To violence against women.....
Those two poor excuses for girls should be banned from ever setting foot on public transport again in Melbourne. What is the world coming to alright. Shameful.
or be labelled a misogynist
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Yes, I listened to Nicola Roxon's farewell speech in Parliament yesterday and once again heard the tired old chestnut of Julia Gillard being a 'victim' of those awful male politicians; but at the same time I heard and saw the way Julia Gillard spoke to Tony Abbott in Parliament yesterday - the rude tone of her voice, the sneering expression on here face as she addressed him - and I thought 'heigh-ho, if Abbott ridiculed and spoke to her like that and looked at her with that jeering, mocking expression, all hell would break loose'
Gillard is in an unassailable position because she can dish it out but no one can retaliate because she is a protected species.