Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts

Thursday 11 August 2016

Only in the self-indulgent, damn democracy, political climate fostered by the Abbott & Turnbull governments.......


Only in the self-indulgent, damn democracy climate prevailing in the lead-up to the 2016 double dissolution federal election would a registered political party have considered endorsing a candidate with this legal history……

Rodney Culleton
Rod Culleton
Photograph: Channel Nine

The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 August 2016:

In Armidale Local Court on Monday afternoon, Magistrate Michael Holmes granted Culleton's application, and annulled the larceny conviction, which was made when he failed to appear in court in March.
Senator Culleton will fight the larceny charge, after pleading not guilty.
Mr Holmes adjourned the case to September 12 for mention to fix a hearing date.
He told the court if the matter "was short" he could deal with it on that day.
Mr Holmes told Culleton to keep in contact with his solicitor, and dispensed his bail, which was granted by police following his arrest.
Mr Holmes told the court he was happy to deal with the matter, and had read all the files.
He also referenced Senator Culleton's "colourful letter" which was sent to the court.
Fairfax Media understands the letter labelled the Armidale court as a "kangaroo court".
It's now expected Senator Culleton's district court challenge against the conviction, set down for next week in Armidale, will be withdrawn.

The Guardian, 8 August 2016:

New One Nation senator Rodney Culleton is in police custody after turning himself in over an outstanding warrant related to his failure to appear in a NSW court to answer larceny charges.
A NSW Police spokesman confirmed a man was being dealt with by police in Armidale and would be bailed to appear before the local court on Monday afternoon.
The West Australian senator was convicted in his absence earlier this year for stealing a tow truck key from a driver who was trying to repossess one of his company cars in 2014.
He's seeking to have that conviction annulled.
Larceny carries a maximum penalty of five years jail, which could deem him ineligible to be a senator.
The constitution says anyone convicted of crime that has a punishment of at least one year's jail can't be a member of parliament.
Senator Culleton is also awaiting trial in WA later this month - the week before parliament begins - after he was arrested and charged for allegedly stealing a car being used by receivers from RSM Bird Cameron as they began foreclosure proceedings at a friend's farm.
The senator won the 11th spot on the WA ballot.
He is expected to appear before Armidale Local Court again after 1400 (AEST) on Monday.

Financial Review, 7 August 2016:

For someone who apparently prides himself on being a defender of the nation's farmers, new One Nation Senator-Elect Rodney Culleton sure has a strange way of showing it.
ASIC documents show Culleton has appointed an administrator to his company, DEQMO Pty Ltd, which will have the effect of avoiding a wind-up application to be heard in the NSW Supreme Court today (Monday).
The petitioning party is Armidale farmer and mill owner, Jack Vivers, who says he is owed slightly more than $42,500 by Culleton, a former business associate. Money he will have much harder time getting back now that Culleton has put DEQMO into administration.
This is the same Rodney Culleton, it is worth noting, who took part in a 60 Minutes program last year called "Fighting Back" about his battle to retain his WA property and who describes himself on the One Nation website as a defender of Aussie farmers.
And the same Rod Culleton who may not finally be permitted to take his seat in the Senate pending the outcome of a larceny case, in which he is implicated.

Inside Story
, 3 August 2016:

In fact, the circumstances of his offence appear to have been relatively trivial: he was said to have stolen the key of a tow truck – a key worth $7.50 – in an effort to prevent the repossession of a vehicle he was leasing. Moreover, he was convicted in his absence because he failed to appear in court, and an appeal is now pending. Yet, at least until his appeal is heard, he is currently “subject to be sentenced” and is therefore “incapable of being chosen.”
It seems to have been assumed that, once it is recognised that Culleton is “incapable of being chosen,” section 15 of the Constitution will come into play. Under that provision, his Senate seat would be declared vacant. This would create a casual vacancy to be filled by the WA parliament, which would be required to nominate someone from the same political party – that is, another One Nation candidate. In the ballot paper on 2 July, the One Nation ticket listed Rodney Culleton first, his friend Peter Georgiou second, and his wife Ioanna Culleton third. So presumably one of these would be chosen.
But this assumption is wrong. As the authoritative explanation in Odgers’Australian Senate Practice makes clear, the mechanism in section 15 comes into play only when a senator who was validly elected “becomes disqualifiedafter the completion of the election process.” What happens when a senator “is found to have been disqualified at the time of election” is different. The election of that senator is totally void; the relevant seat in the Senate remains unfilled and the failure to fill it must be remedied by a recount.
Again, it seems to have been assumed that in this event, once Culleton was eliminated as “incapable of being chosen,” the votes that had been accumulated for him would simply be transferred down the line to the second candidate on the One Nation ticket, and if necessary to the third. But while this might be a realistic assessment of the probable result, it would not be so easy to achieve that result.
The distribution of preferences in Western Australia meant that the ballot papers had to be counted 539 times; and it was only on the 539th count that Culleton achieved his quota. The other two One Nation candidates had already been excluded much earlier – Ioanna Culleton by count 153, and Peter Georgiou by count 157. Thus, in order to ensure that Rodney Culleton’s votes could be transferred further down the ticket, it would be necessary to rework the entire distribution at least from count 153, and the outcome of such a redistribution could no longer be predicted with confidence.
It happens that Culleton is also awaiting trial in Western Australia on a more serious stealing charge (with a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment). If he were able to take his seat, and was later convicted on that charge, then the procedure in section 15 of the Constitution would come into play. But that is irrelevant to the fact that Culleton is now “incapable of being chosen.”
As it stands, the Australian Electoral Commission has declared a candidate to be elected who is in fact “incapable of being chosen.” Strictly speaking, that announcement is unconstitutional. Presumably it might be possible to avoid such an outcome if the AEC had some mechanism for checking, before the distribution of preferences begins, whether all the nominated candidates are “capable of being chosen.” But there seems to be no such mechanism.

Excerpt from Mills Oakley, Granting yourself a security interest: worthwhile or worthless?, October 2014:

In August 2008 Macquarie Leasing Pty Ltd (Macquarie) entered into a chattel mortgage agreement with Elite Grains Pty Ltd (Elite) for the purchase of a Prime Mover (Truck).

In 2012 Elite defaulted under the agreement, and Macquarie demanded return of the Truck. Elite refused, so Macquarie commenced and was successful in proceedings against Elite and Rodney Culleton (Culleton), the sole shareholder and director of Elite.

On 7 August 2014 the Truck was sold at public auction, and simultaneously DEQMO Pty Ltd (DEQMO), of whom Culleton was the sole director and shareholder, registered a security interest in the Truck on the PPSR, with the effect that Macquarie could not pass clear title to the purchaser.

Macquarie then served an amendment demand on DEQMO pursuant to the PPSA demanding that DEQMO’s registration be removed. No response was received. Macquarie then initiated these proceedings seeking orders that:
DEQMO’s security interest was void;
DEQMO’s security interest be removed from the PPSR;
DEQMO be restrained from re-registering any interest on the PPSR; and
DEQMO and Culleton pay Macquarie’s costs.

Decision

Rein J granted the orders sought by Macquarie. The evidence put forward by DEQMO failed to establish the basis of the security interest, as Culleton was more concerned with the manner in which the Truck was repossessed and the conduct of its sale.

In light of this evidence (or lack of), Rein J found a number of reasons why DEQMO’s claimed interest was invalid. However, the key basis on which Rein J held the security interest was void was that the claimed interest was one given by DEQMO to DEQMO, as a person or company cannot give a security interest to itself, as per section 12 of the PPSA.

Conclusion

This decision highlights the importance of ensuring that any registration on the PPSR has a proper foundation to support it. The judgment of Rein J makes it clear that if a company or person purports to grant a security interest to itself, then such a registration will be invalid. If the security interest is in fact an ownership interest, such registrations do not secure “payment or performance of an obligation” as required by section 12, and can be removed under the provisions in Part 5.6 of the PPSA.

PERMANENT CUSTODIANS LTD -v- ELITE GRAINS PTY LTD [2014] WASC 495
In which a bankrupt Rodney Norman Culleton was involved as second defendant (bankruptcy declared October 2014).
Court transcript here.

Federal Court of Australia, Bankruptcy Guide:

What happens if you are made bankrupt?
If the Judge or Registrar makes a sequestration order a trustee will be appointed to manage your financial affairs. Your trustee will notify you of your bankruptcy in writing. The trustee will explain his or her role and your responsibilities as a bankrupt. The trustee will also give you a statement of affairs which you must complete and file with the Official Receiver (AFSA). Your period of bankruptcy runs for three years from the date you file your statement of affairs with AFSA.
There are several legal outcomes of your bankruptcy; for instance:
*You will be released from responsibility for most of your existing debts. However, the trustee can sell your assets or property to pay your creditors.
*Any house or your share of a house that you own may be sold to pay your creditors. 
*Any assets which you acquire while you are bankrupt may be sold by the trustee.
*You must not obtain credit from another person, or pay for goods or services by cheque for more than a specified amount without telling the person that you are bankrupt. The credit limit is updated quarterly, for an up-to-date figure contact AFSA.
*If you run a business while you are bankrupt you must keep all proper accounts showing your business transactions and financial position.
There are other consequences of becoming bankrupt. 

Disqualification
                   Any person who:…….
 (iii)  is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent;……
shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.


NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR WINDING UP ORDER
Company details
Company:
Elite Grains Pty Ltd
ACN:
091 599 941
An application for the winding up of Elite Grains Pty Ltd was commenced by the plaintiff Jameson Farm Pty Ltd and continued by Komatsu Forklift Australia Pty Ltd on 03/05/2013 and will be heard as set out below.

Friday 1 July 2016

Australian Dept. of Immigration, Border Force and Federal Minister Peter Dutton damned by these findings


A ministerial portfolio, government department, contractor and officers medically negligent and/or corrupt…….

The Guardian, 28 June 2016:

Australia’s immigration department failed to appropriately oversee the multinational that provides healthcare for asylum seekers and was unable to cope with the “commercially aggressive practices” that led to numerous failures to meet medical benchmarks, a series of damning internal reviews have found.

The findings substantiated a number of key allegations published by Guardian Australia in July 2015 about the relationship between International Health and Medical Services and the immigration department.

Leaked documents showed IHMS failed to meet medical targetsdeliberately included incorrect data in reports and admitted it was “inevitable” fraud would occur as it tried to meet government standards. The documents also revealed that IHMS failed to undertake working with children checks and police checks on Manus Island.

Three reviews were commissioned by the immigration department to examine the allegations. Two were internal and one was to be conducted by KPMG.

IHMS, a subsidiary of the global healthcare giant International SOS, has received more than $1.6bn in government funding to provide asylum seeker healthcare in Australia and on Manus Island and Nauru.

The detention assurance review team report, released under freedom of information, which drew together findings from the KPMG audit and the first initial internal audit, said: “Through the review processes, both internal and external reviews agree that IHMS took an approach of seeking to maximise profits, including through actively reducing opportunities for the department to seek contract abatements.”

It later continued: “There is a fundamental conflict between contractual and clinical objectives where profit and cost dictate clinical operations.”

ABC News, 27 June 2016:

Australian Border Force staff have been referred for investigation over more than 100 cases of alleged corrupt activity in Australia's skilled and student visa program.

A 7.30-Fairfax Media investigation has discovered that in the last 12 months, Australian Border Force chief Michael Pezzullo has referred 132 cases of suspected corruption inside the department to the national corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI).

It comes as a former immigration official claims that a focus on boat arrivals has allowed migration crime involving people arriving by plane to flourish unchecked.

"In the border security debate, it has been easy to deflect the public's attention to boat arrivals," said Joseph Petyanszki, who worked at the Department of Immigration for 27 years and was joint head of the Department's investigation office between 2007 and 2013.

"But this fear-mongering has totally ignored where the vast bulk of real fraud is, most significantly undermining our immigration programs."

 The man responsible for this shocking state of affairs.....

Peter Craig Dutton former police officer, current Liberal MP for Dickson and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

Monday 25 January 2016

On an official visit to Italy in May 2015 Australian Attorney-General George Brandis secretly met with Royal Commission witness Cardinal George Pell in Rome and still refuses to explain himself


No wonder Labor’s Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC MP decided to take Attorney-General Senator George Brandis QC to court in order to see his official diary containing the weekly agenda between 18 September 2013 and 12 May 2014 – appears it’s not just about an alleged lack of consultation over environmental legal agency and arts funding cuts.

The following also suggests more than one motive may lie behind the Attorney-General currently using taxpayer funds to appeal the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision in the Federal Court, in order to continue to block Dreyfus from seeing his ministerial diary.

This is a snapshot of a 4 May 2015 media release by the Attorney-General’s Department:


This is Ten News breaking the secret meeting story on 20 July 2015:

Brandis' secret meeting with Pell

Victims of child sexual abuse, being examined by the Royal Commission, have slammed Federal Attorney-General George Brandis over a secret meeting in Rome he had with Cardinal George Pell, who's long been accused of protecting paedophile priests.


This meeting, between the Catholic Attorney-General and the Australian Cardinal-Prefect heading the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, took place over a meal at the official residence of the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See John McCarthy QC. 

It is understood that it was in May 2015 that Cardinal Pell was privately informed that he was to be recalled to give evidence in late 2015 by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

On 25 May 2015 Pell responded by letter to the Royal Commission stating his intention to comply. As the cardinal well knows that anyone residing overseas cannot be summons to appear, the one quote from his letter found in the relevant media statement is rather too 'cute' for words

So it probably came as no surprise to avid followers of these hearings that, on 11 December, five days before he was to attend the Royal Commission, Cardinal Pell plead illness and refused to travel to Australia. 

His appearance in person has been rescheduled for February 2016 during a further Case Study 28 hearing.

Anyone holding their breath as they wait for George Pell to appear in person at the Royal Commission again needs to exhale now, as ceasing to breathe until the Last Judgement Day is necessarily fatal.

Friday 27 February 2015

Rolf Harris finally relieved of his Australian honours


Almost four months after losing his application to appeal twelve sexual assault convictions, Rolf Harris loses his Australian hounours:
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2015G0026


Tuesday 24 February 2015

Metadata Retention: in which the Prime Minister of Australia says any old thing which pops into his head


The Sydney Morning Herald on 19 February 2015 reported assertions made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott concerning his government's plan to introduce mass telecommunications and information technology surveillance of the Australian population:

The Abbott government's controversial data retention scheme will cost an estimated $300 million to set up, with telecommunications consumers expected to foot almost half the total cost through higher bills.
The government wants legislation passed by March requiring telecommunications companies to store customer metadata for at least two years.
Under the government's proposal, phone and internet firms would be forced to store details such as the time and place of phone calls, and the origin and destination of emails. It does not include the content of communications.
Responding to calls to release the cost of the scheme, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that it would cost less than one per cent of the estimated $40 billion value of the telecommunications sector to establish.
Mr Abbott said that the price of not storing electronic communication records is "incalculable" and would lead to an "explosion in unsolved crime".
Fairfax Media understands the government's calculations for setting up the scheme are approximately $300 million, based on an industry analysis by professional services group PwC. [my red bolding]

There will be an explosion of unsolved come across the country if Abbott & Co are not allowed to introduce universal surveillance of Australian citizens? 

Surveillance that stores raw digital data about the daily lives of all citizens. Data which federal government security agencies, police and every revenue raising state or federal government agency or statutory authority can access without a warrant.

So if persons committing criminal offences have had the upper hand because there is no mass surveillance to date, why is it that crime has not spiralled out of control before now?

If police need these additional mass surveillance powers to do their job effectively, why do NSW Police currently solve a high percentage of homicides and why was the NSW prison population in 2014 rising without these powers?

If landlines, mobile phones and the Internet are so vital to the commission of major crimes, how is it that I live in an area with a relatively high rate of Internet connection in the home (58% with public access points also available) but stable to lower recorded major criminal offences trends and, New South Wales as a whole showed no significant recorded major offences upward trend in the September Quarter 2014.

If there was thought to be a direct correlation between no mass surveillance and unsolved crime, I suspect the fact that around 62 percent of individuals before NSW local courts already plead guilty in the absence of such surveillance might call that assumption into question.

As would the fact that the number and percentage of criminal convictions are increasing in NSW lower and higher courts without continuous two-year metadata retention being available to police without a warrant.

This may be a somewhat simplistic yardstick used to measure the veracity of the federal government position, but it does indicate the likelihood that Tony Abbott was spouting arrant nonsense for the benefit of the camera.

Prime Minister Abbott also made a National Security Statement on 23 February which included this sentence:

The government's Data Retention Bill – currently being reviewed by the Parliament – is the vital next step in giving our agencies the tools they need to keep Australia safe.

However, access to metadata without a warrant apparently would not have stopped the violent Martin Place siege or kept the seventeen hostages safe during their 16 hour ordeal.  


the perpetrator of this fatal siege was known to national security and police agencies for most of the eighteen years he lived in Australia;
his Internet and social media presence was being monitored and assessed;
there were at least 18 calls from members of the public to the National Security Hotline between 9 -12 December 2014 concerning the offensive nature of the content on his public Facebook page; and
with the exception of the suspension of a website and certain criminal charges before the courts, relevant authorities did not act to contain the perpetrator based on the information in their possession before 15 December 2014 because he was not considered a threat to national security.

This example places into doubt this second reason Tony Abbott recently gave for the need to implement a mass surveillance scheme.

Thursday 23 October 2014

Sometimes NSW Police make me cringe in shame - Part 2


New Matilda 16 October 2014:

Four police officers will stand trial over allegations they bashed an Aboriginal man, who was originally falsely charged with assaulting a constable before CCTV footage cleared him during the incident on the NSW north coast in 2011.
Constable Lee Walmsley, Constable Ryan Eckersley, former Sergeant Robert McCubben and Senior Constable Mark Woolven will stand trial after waiving a right to a committal hearing at the Downing Local Court, the ABC reported today.
They have pleaded not guilty.
It follows an incident involving the then 23-year-old Corey Barker in Ballina on January 14, 2011.
Mr Barker was arrested after intervening in an altercation between two of his friends and police.
He was originally charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer after being taken to Ballina Police Station, charges which were overturned when the restored CCTV footage, previously believed to be damaged, unveiled a different version of events.
Ballina Local Court Magistrate David Heilpern overturned the charges, ordered the NSW Police pay Mr Barker’s costs and referred the matter to the Police Integrity Commission.
The PIC handed down its report in 2013, recommending criminal charges for six of the officers involved. The ABC reported a total of 25 charges were laid against the officers. A fifth officer will also waive his right to a committal hearing.

The trial will start in 2015.

Sometimes NSW Police make me cringe in shame - Part 1 here.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

One of the reasons why there is a need for the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption


The Sydney Morning Herald 16 November 2012:

FROM barrister to barista, John Hart managed to put his past as a defender of petty criminals behind him to reach the summit of Engadine's culinary scene.
He emerged from an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 2010 to buy the favourably reviewed Jack of Harts and Jude cafe in an arcade off the Old Princes Highway last year.
But the allegations that were the subject of the ICAC inquiry - judge shopping, false promises to clients and the extraction of a dubious payment - are nipping at his heels.
The ICAC made adverse findings against Mr Hart and sent the brief of evidence to the Department of Public Prosecutions.
Police have now charged Mr Hart with 11 counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

ICAC prosecution outcomes updated 26 August 2014:

The Department of Attorney General and Justice commenced proceedings against Mr Hart for 10 counts of the offence of acting with intent to pervert the course of justice under section 319 of the Crimes Act, and one count of the offence of obtaining property with false pretence under section 179 of the Crimes Act. On 18 November 2013, Mr Hart pleaded guilty to five section 319 offences.
On 22 August 2014 Mr Hart was convicted and sentenced to 2 years 9 months imprisonment with a non parole period of 1 year 10 months.

Coincidentally, a John Hart (chair of the Liberal Party’s North Sydney Forum, vice-chair of Restaurant and Catering Australia's NSW/ACT state council and a Federal Government’s National Centre for Vocational Education Research board member) is also to appear before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption Operation Spicer investigation. Although he has twice been removed from the witness list schedule for the week beginning 25 August 2014.

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Norma’s Project: A Research Study into the Sexual Assault of Older Women in Australia


Excerpts from Norma's Project:  A Research Study into the Sexual Assault of Older Women in Australia, June 2014 (Authors Rosemary Mann, Philomena Horsley, Catherine Barrett, Jean Tinney):

The idea of older women as victims of sexual assault is relatively recent and little understood. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that, despite the silence that surrounds the topic, such assaults occur in many settings and circumstances. The lack of community awareness can be partly attributed to commonly held assumptions that older women are asexual. How, then, can they be the target of sexual assault? What is unimaginable and unacceptable becomes unsayable or invisible.

* In Australia in 2011, there were 3.08 million people aged 65 years and over. There are higher proportions of older women than men over 65 years, with significantly more females than males aged 80 years and over (ABS 2012).

The overwhelming majority of older people live in private dwellings in the community – only 6% live in non-private dwellings, which include aged care homes and hospitals. Among those aged 85 years and over, 74% live in private dwellings (AIHW 2007).

Over 50% of women aged 65 years and over need some form of assistance to help them stay at home.
Among those receiving assistance, 83% received help from informal providers (including family and friends), and 64% received help from formal
providers (including government organisations as well as private for-profit and private not-for-profit agencies) (AIHW 2007).

Around two-thirds of permanent residents in aged care facilities are women (AIHW 2007).

However, it is widely accepted that around one in five women (17% – 21%) over the age of 18 years have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 (ABS
2013, 2006; de Visser et al. 2003, 2007). This rate has not changed over the past six years (ABS 2013).

In 2012, an estimated one percent (87,000) of adult women had experienced some form of sexual assault in the previous 12 months, excluding unwanted sexual touching (ABS 2013).

Women over the age of 45 years represented nearly 1 in 5 of this group (ABS 2006).

In the vast majority of cases (88%), the perpetrator was known to the victim (ABS 2013).

All Government-subsidised aged care homes must report to the police and to the Department of Health and Ageing within 24 hours of receiving an allegation or suspicion of 'unlawful sexual contact' or 'unreasonable use of force'. In the last 12 months there has been a 14% increase in reports of alleged physical and sexual assaults: 349 reports of unlawful sexual contact and 29 reports of unlawful sexual contact and 'unreasonable force' (Commonwealth of Australia 2013). In both Australia and New Zealand, surveys of aged care managers have identified cases of sexual assault of residents (Sadler 2009; Weatherall 2001).

* The available research in relation to the sexual assault of older women suggests that:

offenders are primarily men, although women should not be excluded as potential offenders, particularly in residential aged care settings (Ramsey-Klawsnik et al. 2008; Holt 1993)

male offenders range in age from teenage males to elderly men (Jeary 2005)

a significant minority of convicted male offenders also have previous convictions for assaults against children and younger women (Lea et al. 2010; Del Bove et al. 2005).

* Research on the impacts on older women of recent experiences of sexual assault (or other forms of violence) as an older woman is far more limited. Some researchers characterise service providers' 'lack of sensitivity … to the gravity of the assaults' as striking (Burgess et al. 2000, p.14), while other researchers attest to the 'long-term, life-changing effects' on elderly victims despite efforts to put the trauma behind them (Jeary 2005, p.335)

Medical literature indicates that older women who experience sexual assault are more prone to trauma and injury to the genital tract, compared to younger women (Muram et al. 1992; Ramin 1997; Jones et al. 2009; Templeton 2005; Morgan et al. 2011) and more likely to be admitted to hospital (Eckhert and Sugar 2008).
Importantly, experiences of sexual assault can also result in a decrease in both the quality and the length of older women's lives. For instance, one case analysis of 20 older people who were sexually assaulted, most of whom were over 70, indicated that over ½ died within a year of the assault (Burgess et al. 2000).

The full report can be read here.

Some 2014 media reports of sexual and/or physical assaults on older women

The Daily Telegraph 30 January 2014:

AN elderly woman has been sexually assaulted after answering a knock on her door of her unit on the NSW far north coast.
Police said about 8pm (AEDT) on Wednesday the 75-year-old opened the door of her Kingscliff unit to a man who forced his way in and sexually assaulted her before fleeing.
treatment.


A registered nurse faces prosecution by health authorities after he allegedly sexually assaulted an 89-year-old patient inside a Sydney public hospital.
The man will appear before a Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) tribunal after an elderly lady complained he entered her bed space, woke her up and inappropriately touched her in the Emergency Short Stay Ward at Nepean Hospital, in July 2012.
It is understood the HCCC will also analyse the role of senior staff who several months previously, chose to handle internally - and dismiss - a carbon copy complaint from another elderly woman relating to the same nurse.
NSW Police confirmed that three days after the second alleged incident took place, Nepean Hospital alerted them to ''an allegation of sexual assault''.
On Friday, the patient's two daughters confirmed a decision was made not to press charges because it would have been too traumatic for their mother, who has since passed away in February.

Nswcourts.com.au 12 May 2014:

A 57-year-old former Blue Mountains nursing home worker has been charged with six counts of indecent assault in nursing homes. He was fired after the facility management received complaints from seven elderly women between 2011 and 2014.
The Daily Telegraph reported that seven elderly women had complained about the man for offences that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2014.
He was given strict bail conditions and ordered to appear before Katoomba local court.
Within a month of the Blue Mountains worker being charged, a Wollongong man was jailed for sexually abusing a vulnerable and disabled patient at a nursing home. The woman was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and a stroke, which left her speechless and with very limited movement, requiring 24 hour care.

The Courier Mail 13 May 2014:

A COMMUNITY in Mackay is reeling after the callous sexual assault of an elderly woman on her property.
The Courier-Mail understands the 80-year-old lady – who lives alone – was attacked after she had been walking her dog.
A source close to the victim said her friend had just been for a walk to the local shops before the incident occurred.
Reports suggest a man approached her in the front yard of her Finch St property about 7pm and asked for directions to Lamberts Beach.
Police said he then forced the woman into the backyard where the sexual assault took place.
The assailant then fled the scene on foot.


A 46-year-old nurse will appear in court on Tuesday in relation to the deaths of two elderly women and an assault on a third at a Ballina nursing home.
Victorian police arrested the woman in Seaspray, Victoria, 240 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, about 11am on Monday, with warrants issued last week by the NSW Police Force’s Homicide Squad.
The woman had been employed as a nurse at the St Andrew's Village nursing home in Ballina.

UPDATE

The Daily Telegraph 9 June 2014:

A registered nurse accused of killing two elderly patients and assaulting another was investigated for similar offences in 2008.

Monday 14 April 2014

NO PLACE TO BE A WOMAN? NSW Far North Coast's 2013 domestic & sexual assault rates by local government area


Women are still the largest identified victim group in reported domestic and sexual assaults.



The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research released the NSW Recorded Crime Statistics 2013 report on 10 April 2014.

Unfortunately three of the seven Far North Coast local government areas show domestic violence rates above the state rate and, all seven local government areas had sexual assault rates above the state rate.

How these rates breakdown across the Northern Rivers region:

TWEED Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
10 year trend: Up 3.1% per year
Rate per 100,000 population: 374.1
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

TWEED Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 67.7
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7

BYRON Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
10 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 361.4
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

BYRON Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 71.0
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7

LISMORE Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
10 year trend: Down 3.6% per year
Rate per 100,000 population: 409.4
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

LISMORE Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 104.5
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7

BALLINA Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
2 year trend: Down 9.3% per year
Rate per 100,000 population: 318.4
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

BALLINA Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 84.3
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7

KYOGLE Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
10 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 324.0
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

KYOGLE Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: n.c.
Rate per 100,000 population: 141.7
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7

RICHMOND VALLEY Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
10 year trend: Down 2.2% per year
Rate per 100,000 population: 579.7
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

RICHMOND VALLEY Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 116.8
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7

CLARENCE VALLEY Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Domestic assault incidents
10 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 410.7
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 391.2

CLARENCE VALLEY Local Government Area
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013
Sexual assault incidents
2 year trend: Stable
Rate per 100,000 population: 100.8
NSW rate per 100,000 population: 62.7