does anyone no where i can get lots of information about a recent(1 months) criminal trial from australia. its for a school project and i need lots of information, it doesnt matter what case. QUEENSLAND prosecutors have dropped the murder charge against a Brisbane man who was accused of killing his lover and dumping her body in a creek.
The charge against Darren John Palfrey, 45, was officially dropped today in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
The decision to drop the charge was made in the wake of three trials over six months in which juries failed to reach a verdict.
Mr Palfrey, 45, has always denied killing 38-year-old Kerry Everingham, but has admitted to piggy-backing her corpse from his unit at Chermside to a nearby creek, where she was later found.
Mr Palfrey claims he hid the body because he was saying he was frightened he would be blamed for her death.
The cause of Ms Everingham's death on November 18, 2004 remains unknown.
Mr Palfrey has pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse and will be sentenced next month.
A MAN accused of killing a brush-tail possum with a bow and arrow will be charged with animal cruelty offences, a Tasmanian government minister says.
David Llewellyn, the Tasmanian primary industries minister, said the man was interviewed in northern Tasmania in relation to the bow-and-arrow possum attack at Dru Point, Margate.
"The man is to be charged with wildlife and animal cruelty offences,'' Mr Llewellyn said.
"The Department of Primary Industries and Water would like to thank the public, Tasmania Police and the Kingborough Council for their assistance and cooperation in the matter.''
QUEENSLAND'S top prosecutor has failed to obtain a criminal conviction against a medical student who offered to give an 11-year-old boy a "penis massage".
Pakistani student Shakeel Mirza, 26, was sentenced to 12 months probation in October last year after pleading guilty to one count of attempted indecent treatment of a child under 12.
A conviction was not recorded after the judge accepted it was a low-level sexual offence and that it was out of character.
It was revealed during the original hearing in the Brisbane District Court that Mirza offered to give an 11-year-old boy a penis massage while the pair were lying on a bed watching a movie.
The court was told the boy pushed Mirza's hands away and he immediately stopped trying to touch him.
Mr Mirza had been visiting the boy at his mother's Brisbane home at the time of the offence.
He had met the boy when he volunteered to become a mentor for his younger brother through a Lions Club program called Aunties and Uncles, designed to give support to disadvantaged youths.
Lawyers for Attorney-General Kerry Shine launched an appeal earlier this month to have a criminal conviction recorded against Mirza, arguing a higher sentence was warranted given that the offence was against a child.
However, the Court of Appeal in Brisbane today refused the appeal, saying the sentence was within range.
A written judgment handed down today stated Mirza had good rehabilitative prospects and that his future employment prospects would be hindered by the recording of a conviction.
THREE teenagers as young as 15 have been charged with assaulting two men who were repeatedly kicked and stomped on the head in Sydney's southwest.
Police say two 45-year-old men were walking up stairs to the Fairfield railway station about 11.45pm (AEDT) on Thursday when they were approached by two youths.
After a verbal altercation, one of the youths allegedly punched one of the men in the face.
The other man attempted to defend himself, but the two boys knocked him down and stomped and kicked him in the head, leaving him unconscious, police said.
They then allegedly resumed the attack on the first man, pulling him down and kicking and stomping his head, before doing more of the same to his friend.
A third teenager allegedly encouraged them to continue the assaults, which they did, leaving both men motionless on the ground.
The teenagers fled the scene before police arrived.
Both men were taken to Liverpool Hospital in a serious condition with multiple lacerations and severe bruising to the head, face and torso.
One man received stitches to his left eye and sustained a broken nose.
The other man suffered a severe cut to the right side of his mouth, which required plastic surgery, and a fractured left eye socket.
Following police inquiries, officers executed a search warrant at a home in Villawood where two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old were arrested.
The three were charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.
The 15-year-olds were also charged with affray.
All three were refused bail and will face Parramatta Children's Court this morning.
DARWIN'S former lord mayor has handed himself in at court to begin serving a jail sentence for stealing a refrigerator, women's underwear and a Darth Vader voice distorter.
Peter Adamson, 47, lost an appeal on February 15 after being found guilty of using stolen council funds and gift vouchers to go on a "spending spree". He was also found guilty of false accounting.
Adamson had 14 days to turn himself in at Darwin Magistrate's Court to start serving a seven-month prison sentence, suspended after two months.
He walked through the court doors about 8.45am (CST) today and refused to talk to journalists before being taken down to the cells to be processed about half an hour later.
He is expected to be taken in a prison van to Berrimah Prison some time before midday today.
When Chief Justice Brian Martin dismissed Adamson's appeal, he calling him a liar, unimpressive and a fraud.
The former CLP minister was found guilty last July of false accounting and stealing from the council $2758 in goods and gift vouchers.
One of the items, a refrigerator, later turned up in an East Timorese thrift store while police found women's underwear, hair dyes and the Star Wars voice distorter at Adamson's home and council office. |
