2026.2.26 Two men charged over alleged kidnapping, murder of Sydney grandfather
NSW Police have charged two men over the alleged kidnapping and murder of Chris Baghsarian, after remains found on Tuesday were positively identified as the Sydney grandfather.
Baghsarian, 85, who disappeared from his North Ryde home shortly before 5am on Friday, February 13, was the victim of a mistaken-identity abduction, police say.
Daniel Stevens, 24, and Gerard Andrews, 29, were taken into custody yesterday morning and charged last night over the alleged murder and kidnapping. Police will allege in court that the men “participated in a joint criminal enterprise with other persons” that led to Baghsarian’s death.
The accused pair were previously known to police for “insignificant matters”, Detective Acting Superintendent Andrew Marks said.
Police believe more people may have been involved in Baghsarian’s alleged abduction and murder.
Marks said investigators suspect there were “more than three” offenders linked to the alleged crime.
“I want to comment on the hard work of the detectives, the analysts, the forensic police, and all those who worked on this case around the clock to get the results we got today,” Marks said.
“I want to assure you that our work is not done and we will continue to identify those who are also involved in this horrible, horrible matter.
“We know that there’s others involved.”
Human remains were found in grassland near a golf course in the semi-rural Sydney suburb of Pitt Town on Tuesday morning.
The remains were identified as Baghsarian following forensic testing.
Police suspect Baghsarian died at an address in Dural, which was identified as the alleged kidnappers’ “stronghold”.
Marks said the grandfather was deceased at the time he was taken to the location in Pitt Town, about 9pm on February 14.
His cause of death was yet to be formally established and an autopsy is under way.
About 6.30am yesterday, police executed two search warrants in Kenthurst and Castle Hill.
Andrews was arrested at the Kenthurst address, and Stevens at the Castle Hill address.
Marks said both men were living at their parents’ homes.
They were both taken to Riverstone police station, where they were charged with murder and take/detain in company with intent to ransom, occasioning actual bodily harm.
They were refused bail to appear in Blacktown Local Court today.
Police also conducted a search at a third home in NSW’s Lake Macquarie and two electronic devices were seized for forensic testing.
One of the arrested men travelled to this address following Baghsarian’s alleged kidnapping, Marks said.
He confirmed police have spoken with a person who resides at the property but said they are not a suspect.
“I believe those two that were arrested today, they were probably waiting for us to come,” Marks said, adding that the parents were “shocked” by the arrests.
Marks said police believed the men were involved in a “joint criminal enterprise” but could not comment on whether overseas actors had organised the incident.
He also confirmed the intended kidnapping target would have held for ransom for $50 million.
“They are organised criminals, they hide behind encrypted devices,” Marks added.
“I have a number of names for them, but I probably couldn’t say it here today.”
Marks said the incident is “up there” among the worst cases he has ever seen.
Arrest vision shows police swooping on the home in Kenthurst, before using a battering ram to enter the property and arrest the older man.
Officers then arrived at another home in Castle Hill, about 10 kilometres from Kenthurst, and took the second man into custody.
Footage also shows the two men being led into Riverstone Police Station.
“We welcome the news of the recent arrests in relation to the kidnapping of our father and grandfather,” Baghsarian’s family said in a statement distributed by police.
“As we continue attempting to come to terms with this incident, we ask that media respect our privacy.”
The family said they would not be conducting interviews.
Police remained at the properties where the two men were arrested throughout the morning.
A car was towed from the Castle Hill address, while police removed bags of evidence from the Kenthurst property.
Officers at the latter also gained access to the roof cavity, and conducted line searches through the backyard and the dense bushland at the property’s rear.
‘No stone unturned’
Speaking on 2GB, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon backed the investigators to the hilt.
“They have left no stone unturned. They have been going been working with the community,” Lanyon said.
“They have been reviewing both electronic evidence and CCTV. So we’re very confident, obviously.”
Officers continued to comb the crime scene where Baghsarian’s suspected remains were found.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the discovery of Baghsarian’s remains was “an incredibly tragic development”.
Police said a car forensically linked to the 85-year-old was seen a day after his kidnapping near where his suspected remains were found.
“While formal identification is still underway, this is an incredibly tragic development, and our thoughts are with the friends and family of Mr Baghsarian at this heartbreaking time,” Minns said.
“This kind of brutality has no place in our community. Police will not stop until they capture those responsible and bring them before the courts. The full weight of the law must come down on these people.”
The human remains were discovered near a golf club in Pitt Town in the city’s north-west during the search for the 85-year-old.
A grey Toyota Corolla forensically linked to an abandoned stronghold in Dural was spotted in Pitt Town about 9pm on February 14, police said.
During a raid, officers seized evidence, including disturbing images of the missing grandfather with his alleged kidnappers.
Videos of Baghsarian have also been sent to police.
The car, which had cloned plates but is believed to have been stolen from Victoria, was found burnt out on Good Street in Westmead on February 16.
It had cloned plates of DVT007, and the Victorian registration 1UZ2BU.
Marks said information regarding the investigation led police to the golf course.
Baghsarian’s family were “deeply upset” by the discovery and asked for privacy.
Police will now focus efforts on identifying the offenders.
“The efforts that have gone in, and the response that has come from the public, we’re all outraged that this has happened to an innocent man,” Marks said.
“I am proud of the police and the efforts. Police have been working 24 hours a day since Friday the 13th.”
The search for Baghsarian
9News understands the remains were wrapped up in what appeared to be a carpet or towel.
Police searched dense bushland near Glenorie, about 15 minutes further east, earlier in the week.
Shortly before 9am on Tuesday, a number of police vehicles left that search base to travel to a patch of overgrown grassland near Pitt Town Bottoms Road.
Once they arrived at the location, a blue tent – signifying the location of the remains – was raised in minutes.
The overgrown piece of land is located in semi-rural surroundings, with businesses including turf farms nearby.
Police on the scene included tactical, general duties, and forensics officers as well as investigators.
Police have said the person they believe to have been the intended target of the kidnapping is safe and in no immediate danger.
The investigation continues, and anybody who has spotted any suspicious activity around Dural, or who has information or footage showing the car in question, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online.
2026.2.25 Irma Palasics’s husband recounts her brutal murder in violent home invasion
The jury in the cold case murder trial of Irma Palasics has watched harrowing hospital footage of her husband Gregor recounting her death in 1999, shortly after he suffered injuries in the same attack.
Melbourne men Joseph Vekony and Steve Fabriczy are standing trial, charged with murder and other crimes related to the burglary.
A jury has found a man guilty of manslaughter for a second time over his unprovoked attack of a 73-year-old man at a service station.
Troy Maskell, 47, faced a retrial in Melbourne’s Supreme Court after successfully appealing his conviction last year.
He was accused of John Burke’s manslaughter at a Strathmerton service station, northern Victoria, in 2021.
Burke, 73, lived alone at the back of the town’s post office and would often pop into the service station to chat with the attendant.
Maskell was intoxicated on August 8, 2021, when he walked into the store around midnight with his partner and daughter, whom Burke greeted as he chatted to staff.
Maskell’s partner called Burke a pedophile, before Maskell picked up a one-litre bottle of sports drink and threw it into Burke’s head.
The jury was told the unprovoked attack continued, as Maskell walked over to Burke and kicked him as he lay on a tiled floor.
Burke died in hospital 11 weeks later from a brain injury.
Jurors took less than a day deliberating and returned with their “guilty” verdict for manslaughter this afternoon.
Justice James Elliott thanked jurors for their “very diligent” service as he sent them home.
“Please take Mr Maskell away,” he told custody officers.
Maskell will return to the Supreme Court tomorrow for a pre-sentence hearing.
He was jailed for eight years in 2023, with a non-parole period of five, after being found guilty of manslaughter in his first trial over Burke’s death.
However, Maskell successfully appealed this convictions with three Victorian Court of Appeal judges ordering he face a fresh trial in July 2025.
His conviction was set after the judges found there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice.
2026.2.25 Teenager first in SA to be prosecuted for allegedly creating deepfake images
A court order suppressing the identity of the first South Australian man to be charged with creating sexually explicit deepfake images has been lifted.
Netherby resident William Hamish Yeates, 19, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent — a federal offence introduced in 2024 to combat deepfake pornography.
The maximum penalty for each count is seven years behind bars.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed the case was the first prosecution of its type in SA.
The former Mercedes College student is also facing 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, a charge that carries a maximum prison term of five years.
Mr Yeates’s defence lawyer, Tim McGrath, told the court that negotiations with prosecution were underway.
“An offer has been put to the [Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions] that acknowledges the conduct alleged in every offence before the court today,” he said.
Court documents allege Mr Yeates, who was 18 at the time, had “transmitted material” on the social media platform X and that he was “responsible for creating the material” between February 8 and February 13 last year.
It is also alleged that Mr Yeates used two different X accounts on 12 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025 in a way that “reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing harassing or offensive … in relation to [the alleged victim]”.
Mr Yeates did not comment as he left court.
The matter will return to court in April.
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2026.2.22 ‘Now or never’: Police offer $1M reward to solve 1981 cold case sex assault and murder
A rare $1 million reward is being offered to help solve the 1981 cold case sex assault and murder of a 25-year-old Melbourne woman.
Haroula Kipouridou’s body was discovered in a jammed lift about 2.30am on July 3, 1981, about 30 minutes after work friends dropped her to her mother’s home in Richmond’s commission flats.
Detective acting Sergeant Leigh Prados said the young singer had been bashed, strangled and left on the floor semi-naked.
“She had been violently attacked – whoever did this did it with a high level of brutality,” Prados said today.
The cold case detective is determined to solve the 45-year-old cold case for Kipouridou’s siblings, who are desperate for answers.
“The people who are left behind, who loved Haroula, that’s why we do it,” Prados said.
It’s one of several cases police are confident they’ll be able to solve.
“We have families out there who have lost loved ones who expect and want to know their investigations is still being looked at,” Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said.
Several suspects have been interviewed and police are not ruling out links to other similar crimes of the era.
But time is of the essence.
“It’s an appeal to a person’s conscience that after 45 years as people get older and we approach our own inevitable end, there may be witnesses who need to reflect on things they know, they saw, they heard or they were told, and to please come forward,” Prados said.
“It really is a case of now or never.”
The 25-year-old was engaged and working as a singer at a Greek tavern on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy at the time of her murder.
While the business no longer exists, investigators are hoping members of the public can cast their minds back to 1981, urging anyone who interacted with her on the night of her death to come forward.
“We will never, ever, stop trying to find you,” Prados said.
“We will keep looking for you, try to hold you responsible for what you did.”
2026.2.16 Accused Bondi terrorist Naveed Akram appears in court for the first time
Accused Bondi terrorist Naveed Akram has broken his silence in brief remarks to court.
The 24-year-old appeared via video link from prison to face Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on this morning on 59 charges, including murder and terrorism offences.
He is accused of carrying out Australia’s deadliest terror attack on December 14, when 15 people were killed and 40 injured during beachside Hannukah celebrations at Bondi Beach.
His father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police during the shooting.
The younger man spoke after a magistrate today continued suppression orders protecting victims and survivors of the attack, who have not chosen to identify themselves publicly.
“Did you just hear what I just said?” Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund asked the accused man.
“Yeah,” Akram replied.
Legal Aid solicitor Ben Archibold later asked for time to speak with his client.
“Mr Akram, your solicitor is going to give you a call after,” the magistrate said.
“Yep,” the accused terrorist replied.
Akram was dressed in a green prison-issued jumper, with his hands in his lap as he listened to the otherwise uneventful case mention.
His hair was freshly shaven, while he continued to sport the full-faced short beard he had during the December 14 mass shooting.
He and his father are accused of carrying out Australia’s worst mass shooting since 1996 by targeting the Jewish festival of lights at Bondi Beach.
After parking near a footbridge on Campbell Parade, the men allegedly tossed three pipe bombs filled with steel ball bearings and a “tennis ball bomb” into the Hannukah celebration at Archer Park before opening fire.
But none of the pipe bombs detonated, despite preliminary police analysis finding they were viable.
A box-like bomb was found in the boot of the car while two hand-painted ISIS flags were also in the vehicle.
Police allege 55 people were shot during the attack, including 15 fatally, such as 10-year-old Matilda, Holocaust survivors and a retired police officer.
A court suppression order allows victim-survivors to choose if and when they go public with their story and join other survivors such as Arsen Ostrovsky and hero tobacconist Ahmed Al Ahmed, who briefly disarmed Akram’s father.
Akram is next due in court on April 9.
The family of a waitress repeatedly stabbed in front of shocked leagues club patrons has paid tribute to the good Samaritans who “saved her life”.
Kitchen hand Cameron William Leslie Clark, 33, has been charged with attempted murder after being accused of attacking his 20-year-old female colleague.
Up to eight people overpowered Clark after he allegedly repeatedly slashed Zoe Samson-Wood at Brisbane’s Easts Leagues Club on Thursday hours after being stood down for stalking her.
Zoe’s sister said the 20-year-old would require reconstructive surgery after putting up a “hell of a fight”.
Ruby Samson-Wood claimed her sibling had been stabbed 15 times and paid special tribute to 61-year-old leagues club chef – identified in court documents seen by AAP as Craig Geddes – who was stabbed when he came to Zoe’s aid.
“My heart goes out to you all, especially the man who saved her life and was stabbed in the abdomen as a result,” Ruby wrote on social media.
“Thank you to anyone who helped, even if it gave Zoe an extra millisecond to get away, you saved her life.”
Clark was allegedly told at 2pm on February 12 he had been excluded from the club after giving “unwanted and unsolicited attention” to Zoe.
About three hours later, he is accused of arriving at the club with a large carving knife and attacking Zoe as dozens of people were dining.
He allegedly confronted her in a hallway before Geddes came to her aid, giving her time to escape.
However, Clark pursued Zoe and attacked her again in the busy dining area, inflicting hand wounds and 10-centimetre cuts to her head and wrist, Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham told reporters.
Clark was due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday after his February 13 appearance was adjourned due to him being in hospital.
But he was again unable to appear as he prepared for hand surgery, the court was told.
Clark was also charged with stalking along with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, unlawful wounding and going armed to cause fear.
He was remanded in custody to appear in court on Friday.
2026.2.13 ‘Far too severe to justify’: Central Islamic body calls for public apology for Town Hall protest
Calls for a public apology for the way police handled a protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Sydney are growing from Labor MPs, the crossbench and Australia’s Islamic community.
But NSW Premier Chris Minns continued to defend police from accusations of excessive violence against protesters at Town Hall on Monday night, refusing to support an independent investigation.
The NSW Police Force on Thursday admitted a senior police officer had allowed a group of Muslim protesters to continue praying at Town Hall square on Monday evening.
Video of police dragging the men away in the middle of prayer sparked widespread outrage after thousands turned out for the Palestine Action Group protest in the Sydney CBD.
“The senior officer was attempting to relay that message to other officers who were carrying out a move on direction during what was a noisy, dynamic and fast moving situation,” a police spokesman said, in a statement sent to 9News.com.au.
“However some worshippers were moved on before the message from the senior officer was able to be relayed.”
NSW barrister and former police officer Mahmud Hawila told The Sydney Morning Herald, which first reported the police statement, that he had reached an agreement with acting superintendent David El-Badawi, the most senior officer at the square, that prayer could be finished before he helped them disperse quickly.
“El-Badawi is a hero. He did the right thing. It is a shame other cops failed to display the same professionalism,” Hawila said.
“The whole prayer only runs for less than five minutes.”
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the move-on direction was not targeting any religion and he’d “apologised for any offence taken for interfering with that religious process”.
But Australia’s central Islamic body on Thursday wrote to Lanyon demanding a full public apology for the way worshippers and other protesters were treated.
“We have called for the establishment of an independent inquiry into this incident and for officers to be held accountable and subject to disciplinary action for using disproportionate and unnecessary force against our community,” the Australian National Imams Council (Bilal Rauf) said in a statement.
“Many of the injuries sustained by protesters are far too severe to ignore and far too severe to justify as necessary action.
“We note that this abuse extended beyond the Muslim community, and was inflicted upon Australians from many different backgrounds who rallied together to express their concern over President Herzog’s visit, and the unfolding genocide in Gaza.”
ANIC senior adviser Bilal Rauf said it was “difficult to see what circumstances or context would have justified that level of intervention” from police.
“When one looks at the video it is very clear they are to the side and praying. Police come along part way through and while worshippers have their back turned, suddenly they are being picked up, thrown along and dragged,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.
The Greens have led calls in parliament for an apology and a full independent investigation of police actions but the four Labor MPs who attended the protest – Anthony D’Adam, Dr Sarah Kaine, Stephen Lawrence and Cameron Murphy – have also called for some form of inquiry.
Minns said he wished his MPs had not attended the protest and accused the Greens of “throwing fuel on the fire in a combustible situation” with “inflammatory language”.
“I do not support an independent investigation,” he said in Parliament on Thursday.
“I make it clear that I am not going to condemn the police for doing what we asked them to do: to keep the public safe.
“I am not going to throw the police under a bus.”
D’Adam explicitly called on the premier, police minister and police commissioner to apologise.
“I was shocked by the footage of members of the Muslim community being hauled away in the middle of prayer,” he said in parliament on Wednesday.
“We can say that, on the whole, the government’s position is that the protest was illegitimate and that the protesters got what they deserved. That seems to be the position being advanced by the police and the government.
“One can maintain that position and still recognise that what occurred was wrong. That particular instance was wrong. It was a mistake.”
Protesters have argued police powers stopping them from marching through the city – enabled by laws rushed through the parliament late last year – made matters worse.
Police and Minns have consistently said they acted appropriately and stressed that protesters were offered the chance to march at Hyde Park but could not in the CBD, due partly to Herzog’s visit.
“What must be understood in these circumstances – and I am determined to make this case over and over again – is that we had thousands of mourners in the city on that day. We had thousands of protesters in the city on that day,” Minns said on Thursday.
“We had a visiting head of state in New South Wales that the NSW Police Force was responsible for protecting. I am very grateful that protesters did not breach police lines. If they had breached police lines then the circumstances in our community would have been far worse.”
The Christian author behind a taboo “daddy dom” novel could face prison time after the book was found to contain child abuse material.
Lauren Ashley Mastrosa, 34, wrote Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods.
The book is about an 18-year-old woman named Lucy who roleplays as a toddler with an older man.
Mastrosa was charged after the book sparked outrage, and today she was found guilty of three child abuse material charges at a Sydney court.
“The defendant has written a book that sexually objectifies children,” magistrate Bree Chisholm said.
“The reader is left with a description that creates the visual image in one’s mind of an adult male engaging in sexual activity with a young child.”
The 210-page book’s cover is coloured in pink pastel with the title spelled out in children’s alphabet blocks.
The magistrate found Mastrosa, who is from Sydney’s western suburbs, possessed, disseminated and produced child abuse material when writing and marketing her literary work.
Mastrosa issued a pre-release of the novel to 21 advance readers in March before a complaint about its content was made to police.
She was arrested after a search of her home, where officers found 16 hard copies of the offending novel.
The 34-year-old will be sentenced at a later date.
The final shift for sex worker Revelle Balmain was meant to have settled her debts and given her extra cash to splurge while following her dreams overseas.
Instead, she disappeared from the face of the earth.
The 22-year-old had grand plans on becoming a dancer in Japan when she vanished on November 5, 1994.
An inquest into one of Sydney’s most notorious cold cases resumed today where Balmain’s former boss Jane King has given evidence.
King and her now ex-husband Zoran Stanojevic ran the escort agency, Select Companions, at the time of the model’s disappearance.
Balmain was last seen by a client when he dropped her off at a hotel in Kingsford, in Sydney’s east, about 7pm.
She missed her next booking and has not been heard from since.
King said she called the escort’s flatmate the day after she missed the appointment.
“I was worried about her,” she told Lidcombe Coroners Court.
The former madam rejected suggestions by counsel assisting Matthew Johnston SC her primary reason for chasing up the escort was because she owed the business money.
The outstanding funds would have been taken out of what Balmain earned that night, King said.
“It wasn’t a huge amount of money and I didn’t have any reason not to believe her,” she told the inquest.
A missed pager message sent to Balmain the morning after she disappeared read “pls call Zoran to arrange settlement of your account”.
King told the inquest she didn’t remember if she sent the text.
She couldn’t remember what was discussed during a one-minute phone call to Stanojevic about 8pm on the Saturday night that Balmain disappeared.
“I could have been asking him to get me some takeaway or something,” King said.
She denied making any calls from the landline in her two-bedroom apartment to her husband, despite records showing five calls made that night and during the early hours of the following morning.
The former madam said the landline calls would have been diverted to the escort agency’s receptionist, known for legal reasons as Danielle.
King said she had been pregnant at the time and would have been in bed watching TV.
Her husband had returned home the following day with complaints about drama at work after Balmain missed her booking and his vehicle had a flat tyre, King told the inquest.
He told her not to call police as that would alert the model’s family, who did not know she was working as an escort.
“She’ll turn up, don’t worry, she always does,” he allegedly said.
When there had still be no word from the model on Monday, King contacted police.
A previous inquest in 1999 found Balmain had died at the hands of a person or persons unknown and the matter was referred to the Unsolved Homicide Unit.
A fresh investigation between 2007 and 2009 followed by a formal review in 2020 failed to produce any compelling evidence in the case.
Authorities offered a $1 million reward for information in 2021.
The inquest continues.
A 16-year-old girl opened fire on a primary school on January 29, 1979, injuring eight children and killing two adults.
Brenda Spencer’s home in San Diego was directly across the road from Grover Cleveland Elementary School.
As students lined up outside the school at the start of the day waiting for the principal to open the gate, she opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.
With 36 shots fired from her home, she killed the school principal and a custodian who were rushing to pull students to safety.
Eight children were shot, as well as a police officer wounded in the neck. All survived.
Spencer then barricaded herself in her home.
As police negotiators waited outside, she answered a phone call.
A reporter from local paper the Evening Tribune had been cold-calling random telephone numbers in the neighbourhood to speak to potential witnesses.
When the reporter realised who he had on the phone, he asked her why she had done what she had done.
“I don’t like Mondays,” she replied.
“This livens up the day.”
For six hours, police were in a standoff with Spencer.
She eventually surrendered after being promised a Burger King meal.
Though still a minor, she was tried as an adult on murder charges.
While awaiting trial, one of her cellmates later began a relationship with Spencer’s father upon her release. They later married and divorced.
The day after her 18th birthday, Spencer was sentenced to life behind bars.
Spencer was denied parole for the seventh time last year.
“The shock of this brazen crime rippled through the community in San Diego at the time and it continues to hold a place of infamy in the history of mass shootings in our nation,” district attorney Summer Stephan said.
“While new laws are in place that can potentially speed up releases for individuals who were convicted as minors, as well as inmates who are over 50 years old, our position is that the totality of the horrific circumstances of this crime and this case do not warrant release and we are gratified that the parole board agreed with our position.”
She will be eligible for parole again in 2028.
Six months after the shooting, Irish pop band The Boomtown Rats released the song I Don’t Like Mondays, inspired by the shooting.
It was a massive hit in Ireland and the UK, but radio stations in San Diego refused to play the song.
“She wrote to me saying she was glad she’d done it because I’d made her famous,” lead singer Bob Geldof later said in an interview.
“Which is not a good thing to live with.”
2026.1.16 Amy Bowden’s mother calls for SA to introduce penalties for not calling emergency services
A mother is calling for urgent law reform in South Australia after her daughter died from a drug overdose that her boyfriend had tried to reverse by administering her methamphetamine.
Amy Bowden, 26, died in the early hours of February 8, 2024, from “mixed drug toxicity” at her Redwood Park home, in Adelaide’s north-east.
Her boyfriend, Ethan Lenny George Ross, now 29, of Redwood Park, has since pleaded guilty to one count of administering a drug to Ms Bowden on February 7.
Ross is not charged with causing Ms Bowden’s death.
The court previously heard Ms Bowden was unconscious for about 24 hours before Ross called an ambulance.
Outside court on Friday, Ms Bowden’s mother Michelle Sposito said she was calling on the South Australian government to introduce a law to hold people criminally responsible for not calling emergency services in a medical emergency.
“As it stands, the justice system is failing its victims,” she said.
“In other states and territories, we have specific laws that ensure perpetrators are held to greater account — including negligent manslaughter and fail to rescue.”
Ms Sposito also said she was calling on the government to “strengthen bail and home detention provisions”.
South Australia’s District Court heard in a pre-sentence hearing on Friday that Ross had written an apology letter to Ms Bowden’s family, but that they refused to read it.
“The maximum Ethan Ross can face for this charge is 10 years, yet all of us who stand here today have been handed a life sentence,” Ms Sposito said.
“Amy’s legacy will live on in all who truly loved her, not those who purported love but then showed none.
“Amy mattered to a lot of people, and it is the world’s loss that she is no longer with us. We will never stop fighting for justice for our beautiful daughter Amy.”
Judge Rauf Soulio said a toxicology report provided to the court showed that Ms Bowden had “an array of drugs” in her system, “including heroin, methadone and other drugs, and methylamphetamine”.
“The concentrations of the methylamphetamine would carry little risk of death through direct poisoning if they were the only drugs present,” he said, citing the report.
Prosecutor Amy Davis previously told the court Ross had sent several text messages to associates in the hours Ms Bowden was unconscious, which detailed different reasons as to why he administered the methamphetamine.
She said that one of the messages relating to the sourcing of the methamphetamine on February 7 said: “I’ll make sure this b**** is so grateful.”
Barrister James Marcus, for Ross, told the court that his client had prospects for rehabilitation and cited his personal circumstances, including that he had been exposed to drug use from a young age.
In a statement, a state government spokesperson said it “extends its deepest sympathies to Amy Bowden’s loved ones for their loss”.
“As the matter is currently before the Courts, we are not in a position to comment specifically on this case,” the spokesperson said.
“The Government will continue to closely monitor this matter.”
Ross will return to court later this month to be sentenced.
2026.1.16 Speculation about famous murder mystery after remains dug up in Victorian backyard
A homicide squad investigation is under way after tradies unsuspectingly dug up human remains in a backyard on Victoria’s Phillip Island yesterday.
There has been public speculation that the discovery of the human remains may be linked to the Victorian coastal town’s most famous murder mystery, however, police have not yet confirmed or ruled out a link.
The skull and bones were found yesterday in a shallow grave in Greg’s backyard.
The discovery sent the rumour mill in Phillip Island into overdrive, with many believing that the finding could be linked to the mum, who vanished in 1986.
“The phone was blowing up, our socials were blowing up,” homeowner Greg told 9News.
It’s been 40 years since local mother Vivienne Cameron vanished, with doubts surrounding the police theory of what happened to her.
The police theory, supported by coronial inquests, was that Cameron killed her husband’s mistress, Beth Barnard, then took her own life.
But her body has never been found.
Crime author Vikki Petraitis, who has written a book about Cameron’s disappearance, told 9News: “It’s essentially a closed case, but the only problem is nobody on the island believes this is what happened.”
“So when remains are found, it’s only natural that people think, well, if she didn’t jump off the bridge, she has to be somewhere,” Petraitis said.
The property was built on a vacant block sometime in the 1980s and was a holiday home for years, with plenty of visitors.
The mystery will be solved by forensic testing, expected to take months.
Police originally told the owners they’d be digging for several days, but were done in a matter of hours, saying they retrieved everything they needed.
“It would be nice if someone got closure, it really would,” Greg said.
2026.1.15 Homeowner’s ‘shock’ after tradies unearth human bones in Victorian backyard
A homeowner has told of his disbelief after tradies unearthed human bones while doing plumbing work at a holiday home on Victoria’s Phillip Island.
Plumbers were installing a septic tank in the backyard of the Hazelwood Court home in Silverleaves when they unearthed a skull and vertabrae around 8.30am.
Homeowner Greg and his wife bought the property on the small island three years ago.
“It’s our holiday home, and we love it. It’s a beautiful area, love it dearly,” he told 9News.
“It was pretty obvious what they’d found because, you know, we went into the backyard and saw what was going on.”
9News has been told the remains belong to an adult and may have been there for some time.
“To discover that someone’s lost their life here, in such a beautiful beach area, is really upsetting,” local resident Olympia said.
Forensic officers spent the day sifting through backyard soil on their hands and knees, while detectives from the homicide and missing persons squad went door-to-door searching for clues.
The state’s top detectives are now looking at whether the discovery could be linked to a high-profile cold case.
“You go through quite a range of emotions, from disbelief through to shock,” Greg said.
“I’m hopeful that it’s somebody’s very sad story, which will now come to closure.”
The area where the remains were found is not within a known Indigenous burial site.
The remains will undergo forensic testing, which could take weeks or even months.
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2026.1.13 Million-dollar reward over Melbourne girl’s disappearance 50 years ago
A $1 million reward has been announced for information about the disappearance of Melbourne girl Eloise Worledge 50 years ago today.
Eloise, then aged eight, was reported missing by her parents on the morning of Tuesday, January 13, 1976.
She was last seen in her bed at about 11.40pm at the family’s Scott Street home in Beaumaris, the previous night.
Her parents found the flyscreen on her window cut and rolled open, and nothing else seemingly taken from her room.
The eldest of three children, Eloise was described as a quiet, intelligent child who would not have left home voluntarily.
Her disappearance has always been treated as suspicious and over the past five decades, police have conducted an exhaustive investigation to try and determine the circumstances of her disappearance and who is responsible.
At the time of her disappearance, police conducted one of the then-largest search operations in Victoria.
More than 250 police were deployed over 18 days, conducting a systematic ground search of Beaumaris and nearby suburbs, including parks, reserves, vacant properties, and the foreshore.
Police also canvassed more than 6000 properties in the area.
No trace of Eloise was found.
Over the years, detectives have spoken with thousands of people, including undertaking multiple interviews of family, friends, neighbours and school contacts.
A taskforce was initially set up in 1976 to investigate Eloise’s disappearance and the investigation has remained active since that time.
There have been multiple reviews, including by the Homicide squad in the early 2000s, and the Missing Persons Squad in 2023.
An inquest in 2003 returned an open finding, with the coroner stating it was not possible on the evidence gathered to determine who was responsible for Eloise’s disappearance.
Since she vanished, there have been no confirmed sightings of Eloise and police believe she was murdered.
A reward of $10,000 was posted at the time of Eloise’s disappearance, which is now being increased to $1 million.
The reward is currently unique in Victoria as it also includes payment for information that leads to the location of Eloise’s remains, rather than solely identifying who was responsible for her presumed death.
The Director of Public Prosecutions may also grant indemnity to anybody who provides information about the perpetrator.
Anyone with information about the disappearance of Eloise Worledge is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online.
2026.1.13 Police offer $1m reward for information into disappearance of Eloise Worledge, 8, in 50-year-old cold case mystery
A $1m reward is being offered to help solve the mysterious disappearance of an eight-year-old girl who went missing from her bed half a century ago.
Police have offered a massive $1m reward for information related to the mysterious cold case disappearance of an eight-year-old Melbourne girl who vanished from her bed 50 years ago.
Eloise Worledge was the eldest of three children and was last seen in her bedroom at her family’s home on Scott St, Beaumaris, in Melbourne’s southeast, about 11.40pm on January 12, 1976.
When her family woke the following morning, she was missing.
Her parents found the flyscreen on her bedroom window had been cut and opened, with nothing else disturbed, and immediately reported her disappearance to police.
Detective Inspector Dave Dunstan, from Victoria Police’s Missing Persons Squad, said on Tuesday the disappearance had been treated as suspicious from the outset.
“An eight-year-old child can’t disappear and look after themselves in the community and leave no trace,” Inspector Dunstan said.
It sparked one of Victoria’s largest search operations involving more than 250 officers who canvassed over 6000 properties, nearby suburbs, parks, reserves, vacant properties and the foreshore around Beaumaris over 18 days.
No trace of Eloise was ever found.
Detectives have spoken with thousands of people interviewing family, friends, neighbours and school contacts multiple times and followed up information over the past 50 years, but no evidence has ever explained their girl’s disappearance or those responsible.
An ongoing task force, coronial inquest and cold case review have led authorities to believe Eloise is dead and murdered.
Speaking at a press conference, Inspector Dunstan said the $1m reward was unique in Victoria, as it could be paid for information leading to the recovery of Eloise’s remains, not just the identification and conviction of those responsible.
“This is the only reward of its kind in Victoria,” he said.
“Usually rewards are offered for the identification and conviction of the offender. We’re also offering this reward for information that leads to the recovery of Eloise’s remains.”
He said a $10,000 reward was offered shortly after Eloise disappeared, but police hoped the increased amount – announced on the 50th anniversary of her disappearance – would encourage someone to come forward.
“Fifty years is a long time, but it’s not too long for someone to come forward,” he said.
“People will know what’s happened. Allegiances change, partners change, and we’re hoping this announcement will allow people to tell us what they know.”
Inspector Dunstan said Eloise would have been 58 years old today.
“She’s missed out on growing up, and her family has missed her every single one of those days,” he said.
He also addressed longstanding speculation surrounding the case, making it clear police had never found evidence implicating Eloise’s parents.
The case was reinvestigated by the Homicide Squad in the early 2000s, with a renewed public appeal, forensic testing of available material and interviews with a number of persons of interest.
A 2003 coronial inquest was unable to determine who was responsible and returned an open finding.
In 2023, the Missing Persons Squad conducted another review, partly linked to a separate investigation into alleged historical sexual offending at Beaumaris Primary School, which Eloise attended.
Police were unable to establish any link between the two matters.
Asked whether there were currently any suspects, Inspector Dunstan said there was “no credible information or evidence to suggest any particular person” was responsible, but stressed police remained open to any new information from the community.
“This has been an extensive investigation spanning five decades,” he said.
“No stone has been left unturned … but if you do know something, please do the right thing and come forward.”
He said rewards had successfully led to breakthroughs in other cases and urged anyone with credible information to contact Crime Stoppers.
The $1m reward will be paid at the discretion of the Chief Commissioner and can be claimed even if the information provider is not seeking a conviction, with legal considerations to be assessed by the Director of Public Prosecutions if required.
In a statement, Eloise’s surviving family said their lives had been changed forever by their beloved sister’s disappearance.
They asked for privacy as they deal with the anguish of the 50th anniversary of their sister’s disappearance.
“My memories of waking up to find her missing are still very vivid and raw and the passage of time has not eased the pain of this loss,” her family said.
“Ella was and remains deeply loved, she was more than a missing person or a case file – she was a daughter, a sister, a friend, someone who mattered greatly to all who knew her.
“The ongoing public interest and constant suspicion surrounding my family – found to be unsubstantiated more than once – caused a lifetime of immense grief and pain.
“Despite this, somehow, we managed to find our own peace, however the anniversary brings up a multitude of emotions and causes a great deal of distress yet again.”
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2026.1.8 Rajwinder Singh, convicted of murdering Toyah Cordingley, files appeal
The man convicted of killing Queensland woman Toyah Cordingley has lodged an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
In December, a Supreme Court jury convicted former Innisfail nurse Rajwinder Singh of murdering the 24-year-old at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns.
During a four-week trial, the court heard Singh, 41, stabbed Ms Cordingley repeatedly and cut her throat at the secluded beach, where she had gone to walk her dog on October 21, 2018.
The court heard Singh abruptly left Cairns the next day.
He also left behind his job at Innisfail Hospital and flew to his native India where he spent more than four years in hiding.
Singh was arrested in late 2022, three weeks after a record $1 million reward was posted for information leading to his arrest.
In early 2023, he agreed to be extradited to Australia to face trial.
His first trial earlier last year ended in a hung jury.
Singh denied murdering Ms Cordingley, claiming instead to have witnessed masked killers on the beach before fleeing the country in fear they would kill him too.
Behind bars in high security
Singh was sentenced to a mandatory term of life behind bars last month.
He has since been placed at Wolston Correctional Centre, a high-security prison on the outskirts of Brisbane where male protection prisoners are held.
Justice Lincoln Crowley ordered Singh not be eligible for parole for 25 years, after he was asked by prosecutors for a longer term than the mandatory 20-year minimum.
With time already served, the earliest Singh can apply for release on parole is March 2048, when he will be aged 63.
In sentencing, Justice Crowley branded Singh a “gutless coward”.
“You left without even saying a proper goodbye to your wife, your parents, your children, demonstrating that your only concern was to save your own skin, regardless of the consequences for your family,” he said.
“Your conduct offers some insight into the selfish and heartless individual you truly are.”
Singh had a month to file his appeal.
Four intruders stormed in with a gun, bat and hammer, and poisoned the dog.
A grandmother was held at gunpoint when four armed intruders stormed her home demanding drugs in what police believe was a terrifying case of mistaken identity.
CCTV footage showed the men — armed with a sawn-off shotgun, a baseball bat, and a hammer —jumping the front fence at Tambourine, in the Gold Coast hinterland, in the dark on November 22.
“Smashed that window right in front of me and just within two seconds they were through that window and had the gun to my head,” the 61-year-old, who asked not to be identified, told 7NEWS on Sunday.
Her dog, Batman, tried to protect her, biting one of the intruders on the leg, but the attack did not stop the men.
“They were swearing at me and calling me, ‘where’s the f*** drugs’ — they clearly came for drugs and had the wrong house,” the victim said.
The intruders ransacked the home for about 40 minutes, before eventually realising the woman did not have the drugs they were seeking.
The grandmother said she still lives in fear in her own home.
“Not good at all. Can’t stay home by myself at night,” she said.
“I am scared in my own home, they took that safe space away from me — something like that changes a person.”
Before fleeing, the men poisoned her dog with food they left behind.
“He’s OK but he was spewing up everything the next day and I found chicken out on the ground with stuff all over it,” she said.
The intruders are believed to have left in a silver Chrysler, taking cash and alcohol with them.
The victim said she has received few updates from police in the six weeks since the incident.
“I just don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” she said, urging the public to come forward to help the investigation.
Anyone with information should contact police or crime stoppers.
2026.1.2 A strangled man and failed pregnancy plot: The tragic tale of the last woman hanged in Australia
Warning: This story contains graphic details.
In the still air of a Melbourne courtroom, Jean Lee collapsed into the arms of the man who had betrayed her – her lover, her “Bobby”, and now, her accomplice – a hothead petty criminal called Robert Clayton.
It was March 1950, and Lee, Clayton and his army buddy, Norman Andrews, were on trial over the murder of William “Pop” Kent, an elderly bookie the group had met briefly during a drinking bender four months earlier.
Kent had been found dead inside his room, so badly battered his nose was completely flattened and two of his teeth had come loose. His thumbs had been tied with a piece of boot lace, and a sheet tied around his neck. He had been strangled with such force his Adam’s apple had been crushed on both sides.
The 73-year-old, who had a habit of flaunting wads of cash at the pub, had last been seen drinking with Lee, Clayton and Andrews at the University Hotel in Carlton, and later sipping wine and smoking cigarettes with the trio at his Dorrit Street home in the evening of November 7, 1949.
A jury panel of 12 men took less than three hours to reach a verdict. Lee, Clayton and Andrews, who were short on cash after blowing their money partying and at the horse races, were found guilty of murdering Kent during what police claimed was a botched robbery. They would be sentenced to death.
Struggling to stand, an inconsolable Lee issued one final plea for mercy from the dock: “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.”
The courtroom then erupted into shambolic scenes.
“May your next feed choke you, you swine,” Clayton yelled before spitting at the jurors and being removed.
On February 19, 1951, Lee, a young mother from Dubbo, became the first woman in 56 years to be hanged in Victoria, and the last in Australia’s history.
Records about her case and execution at Pentridge Prison were made public by the Public Record Office of Victoria for the first time this week, after remaining sealed for 75 years.
The murder of William Kent
Jean Lee was the last woman executed in Australia. She was sent to the gallows at Pentridge Prison in 1951 over the brutal murder of SP bookmaker William ‘Pop’ Kent. This map retraces Lee’s steps and those of her accomplices
The documents, which span more than 500 pages and have been examined by this masthead, include photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, wills, and court records relating to the case.
They expose instances where the evidence was potentially compromised and legal discussions behind closed doors about whether a police statement should have been admitted.
The records also highlight lingering doubts about Lee’s role in the murder, and controversial interrogation techniques by detectives at the time, who questioned the trio without giving them a caution and shared Clayton’s statement with Lee and Andrews to elicit a confession.
‘And they call women the weaker sex’
Inside an interrogation room at the old police headquarters on Russell Street on November 8, 1949, Lee remained staunch she would not answer questions.
Police had been trying to get a confession for hours after arresting the trio as they were returning to their hotel on Spencer Street that morning.
Lee and Clayton, who had extensive criminal records spanning more than 32 offences between them, had come to Melbourne from Sydney a few weeks earlier. They met Andrews, Clayton’s buddy, at the Werribee races and became inseparable.
“I am not saying anything,” Lee told detectives over and over again.
Then, a break came in the interview room next door.
“Are you fair dinkum when you say that the chap is dead?” Clayton asked detectives. “If what you say is right, I will tell you all I know. I am not going to take the rap for what others do.”
Clayton said the group had headed to Carlton so that a cash-strapped Andrews could pawn his suit, and ended up drinking at the University Hotel in the afternoon.
There, Lee struck up a conversation with Kent. After the pub closed, the bookmaker invited them to his place.
Later that evening, Lee told Clayton that Kent had money stashed in his fob pocket, but that his belly “was too tight”. If she could not get it “the sweet way”, they would “do him over”.
Clayton told police: “When I left the room, Norman and Jean were still with Pop. I am completely innocent of any attack made on this old man.”
The officers marched into Lee’s interrogation room and showed her Clayton’s statement. Lee, who had been adamant her lover would not talk, asked the detectives to bring him over.
“So you made a four-page statement did you?” she asked Clayton.
Clayton replied he had, and broke down in tears.
“And they call women the weaker sex,” Lee snapped.
After Clayton was removed, Lee turned to the detectives and confessed.
“I love Bobby and I still love him, but if he wants it that way he can have it,” she said.
Lee said she had lost her temper and hit Kent in the head with a bottle and a piece of wood before tying his arms with a piece of sheet. “I knew he was dead when we left him.”
Asked by police what she meant by “we”, she hesitated.
“There was only me,” she said.
Her confession would be a miscalculation.
When Lee was found guilty, no woman had been hanged in Victoria for more than half a century.
Lee’s case file shows an anti-capital punishment movement was brewing. Advocates wrote to authorities asking for the trio to be spared the death penalty, which one described as “murder by rope”. One man even expressed plans to raise donations to fund the trio’s appeal.
After the execution, people wrote to newspapers condemning the decision, and called for capital punishment to be abolished. “This latest execution was a very sordid thing for a civilised country belonging to the dark ages,” one letter read.
Reporting by The Argus newspaper at the time suggests the decision by the state cabinet to stand by the execution had “sensational political implications”, with Labor and some Liberals opposed to Lee’s hanging.
By taking the blame for Kent’s murder, Lee perhaps erroneously assumed that she would be spared the death penalty and save Clayton and Andrews in the process.
Forensic evidence presented during the trial showed Kent’s killer would have needed to use considerable force to strangle him, which police admitted that Lee – with “her little hands” – was unlikely to have. The judge even told the jury that Lee’s confession was obviously concocted and that nobody “in his senses would believe that”.
Lee tried to walk back on her confession, telling the jury that she was “hysterical” after reading Clayton’s statement and admitted to the killing to get some “peace and quiet”. Clayton also told the court his statement was concocted, and he did not think it would throw Lee and Andrews under the bus because they were all innocent.
In the witness box, Lee, Clayton and Andrews claimed Kent had been in good health when they left his home at 7pm. Blood stains on their clothes and wounds to their hands had alternative explanations, they claimed.
Attempts by the defence to get the statement and Lee’s confession’s thrown out on the basis they had been improperly obtained failed, despite the trial judge conceding evidence had been obtained in an “undesirable way”.
The trial was also marred by other issues that would be unacceptable in today’s justice system, including the fact that the evidence of two key witnesses in the case – a man and a woman living with Kent at the time of the murder that placed the trio in the home – was potentially contaminated by allowing them to talk to one another and change their version of events.
Lee, Clayton and Andrews appealed against their conviction and were granted a retrial. After the win, Lee and Clayton hugged and kissed in the dock.
However, the Crown later appealed against the ruling and got the death penalty reinstated. Subsequent attempts by the trio to appeal against the High Court decision in the Privy Council in England failed.
The final Hail Mary
One minute after 8am on a drizzly February morning in 1951, Lee was hanged from the first floor of a corridor at Pentridge prison.
An ingenious scheme by Clayton to bribe prison guards to allow him to spend half an hour with his lover so they could claim Lee was pregnant and save her from the gallows failed.
Police cordoned off the roads leading to the side entrance to the prison, while about 30 officers remained stationed inside its walls, ready to jump at any sign of a disturbance. A handful of people gathered outside.
Seven journalists were invited to witness the executions by Victorian authorities who believed the publicity would deter potential murderers. “A criminal will respect the rope where he yawns at a gaol term,” the since-defunct newspaper Truth wrote at the time of the execution.
A seemingly unconscious Lee, who had been given a sedative the night before to help her sleep, had to be carried from her cell to the gallows by the executioner and his assistant, who had their faces obscured by large steel-rimmed goggles and felt hats.
Lee’s limp body was sat on a chair placed atop the trapdoor. Her head and shoulders were covered by a white hood. Her hands and ankles were bound.
Then, the door opened and Lee plunged to her death behind a brown curtain.
Bells tolled to mark the execution, but the sound was drowned out by the roar of planes passing overhead.
Clayton and Andrews were hanged together two hours later. They exchanged one final farewell above the trap door. “Goodbye Charlie,” Clayton said. “Goodbye Robert,” Andrews replied.
That afternoon, they were buried in sodden graves that had been dug by fellow prisoners.
As a 1950 assessment of the trio put it: “It is doubtful they would cold-bloodedly plan a murder and go through to it, but in this case, they saw a heaven-sent opportunity to replenish their empty pockets by robbing a sucker.”
2026.1.1 Double stabbing in popular dining strip in Carlton leaves two men in hospital
Police are investigating a double stabbing in Carlton on New Year’s Eve that left two people in hospital with serious injuries.
Police were called to the popular dining strip in Lygon Street about 11:45pm. Ambulance Victoria and Fire Rescue Victoria also attended.
Officers found two men, aged 20 and 18, with serious stab wounds, and they were taken to hospital.
Police said a group of up to seven males armed with knives and machetes attacked the men outside a restaurant before fleeing in vehicles.
Melbourne Crime Investigation unit detectives are investigating whether it was a targeted attack.
Tim Tulley, Victoria Police’s Acting Assistant Commissioner for the north-west metropolitan region, said the incident was concerning.
He said the two men in hospital were in a critical condition, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
“If you carry any edged weapon without any exemption whatsoever … you’re either going to jail, you’re going to hospital or you’re going to the cemetery,” he said.
The Victorian government introduced a ban on selling and owning machetes, unless carrying a valid exemption, last year.
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