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ScarberianMPTGL 2 years, 9 months ago.
Just want to raise your awareness to some crimes which have occured here in Australia, we seem to have an issue with sentencing where women will get a slap on the wrist in court, here is some interesting cases coming to a trial soon:
Cairns woman charged with murder of eight children: Bodies found in Manoora house
A 37-year-old mother has been charged with the murder of seven of her children and her niece after their bodies were found at a home in Cairns, in far north Queensland, on Friday.
The four girls and four boys aged between two and 14 were discovered at a home on Murray Street in the Cairns suburb of Manoora.
Mersane Warria, who is the mother of seven of the deceased children and aunt of the eighth, has been charged with eight counts of murder.
Police have said they would not name the children for cultural reasons.
Warria was charged under her full name of Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday.
A spokesperson for the Cairns Magistrates Court confirmed she had been remanded in custody.
“Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday appeared before Magistrate Alan Comans at a bedside hearing at the [Cairns Hospital],” the spokesperson said.
“The matter will next be heard in the Cairns Magistrates Court [on Monday] along with other Arrest Court matters from 9:30am.
“Thaiday has been excused from attending the hearing.
“Given the matter is now before the court, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Warria remains in hospital under police guard.
Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said Warria was “conscious, speaking and quite lucid”.
He said there would be a formal hearing on Monday, but Warria had been excused from attending.
He said police intended to oppose bail.
Detective Inspector Asnicar said autopsies of the children would be completed on Sunday, but no further details would be publicly released.
“Everybody is entitled to a fair trial – our job is to collect evidence and present it to a court,” he said.
“Our job is not to put false images in peoples heads or speculate.
“I don’t want to see anything go wrong that will affect the court process.”
When asked whether drug use was involved, police said it was part of the investigation.
Community mourns with family
A combined church service to honour the dead was held on Sunday evening at Trinity High School, where at least one of the children attended.
Some of the children also went to a youth group at the school’s church.
Earlier, there were emotional scenes in Cairns as family members attended a memorial near the home where the children died.
The families are in the far north Queensland city to begin a traditional mourning period ahead of their funerals.
A large group of men and women, many sobbing and wailing, walked down the Manoora street toward a makeshift shrine created by local residents.
The five fathers of the children were among the mourners after police confirmed on Saturday afternoon they had been notified of the deaths.
Manoora’s small community centre, just a block away from the house where Friday’s tragedy occurred, has become a place of mourning and reflection.
About 30 people, including family and friends of the deceased children, pastors and local leaders, gathered for a church service to pray for comfort and healing for the wounded community.
Church services around the city on Sunday morning also reflected on the tragedy.
Call for financial donations to support family
Cairns MP Gavin King said people who wanted to make financial donations to support the family could contact Uniting Care Community on 1800 543 354 or go to their website.
“In terms of those financial contributions that will go to Uniting Care Community – we will work with the family in terms of their needs,” he said.
“That account effectively will be activated early in the morning – we understand after 10:00am (AEST) so that anyone – both locally and across the nation – can call that number or make a donation by the [Uniting Care Community] website.”
He said he was also working with the family, local community and authorities for a permanent public memorial at the site.
“We’d also like to see some of those financial contributions go towards a public memorial, which I’ll announce more details of tomorrow morning,” he said.
Mr King said the Salvation Army was also setting up two houses in Cairns for visiting family members who were coming from across the state to stay in the city during this time.
He said people who wanted to donate household goods for the houses should take items to the Salvation Army depot on Hoare Street in Manunda.
“Those two houses require things like lounges and various household items,” he said.
“Indeed down at the community hub this morning there were a few people who turned up with offers of things like lounges.
“The Salvation Army will distribute those goods to those extended family members.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-21/cairns-woman-charged-with-murder-of-eight-children/5981652
Children die, others critical in car lake plunge at Wyndham Vale
Story Summary:
Three children have died and one seriously hurt
A woman was also in the car and is in under police guard in hospital
The crash happened at a lake off Manor Lakes Boulevard, Wyndham Vale at 3.40pm
All four children are believed to be aged under six
Homicide Squad at the scenePOLICE have confirmed a third child has died after their car plunged into a lake at Wyndham Vale this afternoon.
The car was found in the lake off Manor Lakes Boulevard, near Pedder Street, at 3.40pm.
The female driver is under police guard in Royal Melbourne Hospital.
It is believed one of the children was aged between 6-7 and another between 1-2. The injured child was believed to be aged 5.
The car is about 20 to 30 metres from the shore.
An emotional Superintendent Stuart Bateson said “we don’t know why, we don’t know how” the car entered lake, about 38km west of Melbourne’s CBD.
He said it was “too early” to tell whether the female driver was the mother of all four children.
“All we know at this stage is a female driver has been taken to hospital and we have (three) deceased children,” he said.
ANYONE WHO WITNESSED THE CRASH IS URGED TO CONTACT CRIME STOPPERS ON 1800 333 000
“What we do know is that when the car left (the road) passers by and police members got some of the children out and did CPR.
“Unfortunately (three children) passed away.”
The Homicide Squad is now at the scene.
Danielle Barthelson, who lives nearby and has a five-year-old daughter, fought back tears as she watched police work on the banks of the lake.
“I just don’t know how this has happened,” she said.
“How could a car possibly get there?
“I feel sick. I just want to cry.
“You just don’t know what is going to happen. You are having a normal day and then, boom, this happens.
“It affects everybody.”
Ms Barthelson said Manor Lakes Blvd, where it appeared the car left the road and entered the lake, was a “safe” street.
“We drive here all the time. It’s not a fast area – it’s 50km/h.
“I run along here everyday and I let my daughter ride her scooter – it’s safe as.
“People never speed and there’s often roadworks along here anyway so it’s usually pretty slow.”
Detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit are at the scene.
They will try to piece together the exact cause of the crash, determining how fast the car was travelling, whether the car braked or swerved and other factors like road conditions.
The Search and Rescue squad is also attending the scene and will retrieve the vehicle from the water.
Tests can then be conducted on the car to make sure there are no mechanical faults or defects.
Superintendent Bateson said police were unsure whether the car was driving erratically before entering the lake.
“It is pretty early in our investigation,” he said.
“What we do know is that we have a very tragic set of circumstances here and it is going to be a very harrowing investigation.”
He said “everyone”, including police, had been affected by the tragic scene.
“When you come to a scene like this and my members in particular, who have been performing CPR for an extended period of time, are really feeling it,” he said.
“It is tough for everyone involved.”
The Superintendent said nearby SES and CFA members helped at the scene, as community members jumped into the lake in an attempt to rescue the children.
Resident Michelle told 3AW her neighbour Travis had to smash the car’s back windscreen to rescue the children.
“It’s just a horrible scene.” she said.
“Travis jumped into the water, smashed the back screen of the car and got one little boy out,” she said.
“Then they started working on him.”
Crying, she added: “It’s so very hard to talk about when there are children involved.”
Michelle said the car was travelling along Manor Lakes Boulevard and “but just went straight over into the lake.”
She said: “I’m not sure if it was speeding or what happened.”
Resident Kate Slee, who lives opposite where the crash occurred, said the park was normally a “pretty place” popular among families.
“I am devastated because I’ve got two kids of my own,’’ she said.
Stacie Buckley, also nearby, said: “It’s terrible. It’s a complete shock knowing it’s so close to home. I’ve got kids myself so anything involving kids is just awful.”
“You would never think something like this would happen in that particular spot. The ponds are retty far back from the road. It’s just completely shocking.”
Anyone who witnessed the crash is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report at http://www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
We’ve got two cases here which will be going to a trial, in the first case the mother has actually been charged with 8 counts of murder, it will be interesting to compare to sentencing with another similar case except involving a father:
Robert Farquharson guilty of murdering sons
Story Summary:
Jury delivers three guilty verdicts
“Almost unspeakable act of vengeance”
Boys’ grandmother collapsesA VICTORIAN father has been found guilty of murdering his three sons by driving them into a dam on Fathers Day.
After an 11-week retrial, a Victorian Supreme Court jury took three days to find him guilty of murdering Jai, 10, Tyler, seven, and Bailey, two.
As the verdict was delivered today, Farquharson trembled, shook his head and mouthed “no” as he looked to his weeping sisters in the court room for support.
His ex-wife and the boys’ mother, Cindy Gambino, who was supported in court by her parents and new partner Stephen Moules, showed no emotion.
Ms Gambino’s mother Beverley, however, collapsed outside court after the family rushed past a large media contingent without making comment.
She was quickly put into a taxi and whisked away.
One female juror was crying as the forewoman read the guilty verdict.
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The boys died on Father’s Day in September 2005 when Farquharson deliberately drove his car off the Princes Highway near Winchelsea, in Victoria’s west, and into a dam.
Farquharson was given a retrial after his 2007 conviction and life sentence were quashed by an appeal court last year.
In his closing address earlier this month, prosecutor Andrew Tinney, SC, told the court Farquharson’s resentment and anger toward his ex-wife “drove him to commit an almost unspeakable act of vengeance'”.
Mr Tinney said after murdering the children, Farquharson had the “delicious reward'” of telling Ms Gambino about the deaths.
“In this case, in the end, your head, members of the jury, will clearly and strongly tell you something that your heart may not want to believe,” he said.
“It is that the accused really did murder those three defenceless children; it is that a human being really can sink to such depths.
“You should find him guilty on all three counts of murder.”
Farquharson’s barrister Peter Morrissey, SC, said his client blacked out.
“What you could find is that the evidence proves to absolute certainty that it did happen,” he said.
His sisters sat in shock in the court and watched as he was taken to the cells.
Farquharson will be sentenced at a later date.
In the case of Robert Farquharson, he was sentenced to life in prison with a 33 year minimum before he can apply for parole, so we have a baseline to compare with this woman who murdered 8 of her children and the latest case of the woman driving her car into the dam murdering 3 of her children.
For consistency lets include another father who murdered his daughter, threw her off Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge:
Dad gets life for ‘horrible’ bridge murder
The Melbourne man who threw his four-year-old daughter off the Westgate Bridge has been sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 32 years.
Arthur Freeman, 37, of Hawthorn, threw his four-year-old daughter, Darcey, off the bridge on January 29, 2009, on the way to her first day at school.
Her two brothers, aged two and six, watched as Freeman pulled his car over and threw the girl to her death.
Passing sentence, Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan said Freeman had committed a “horrible crime”.
“This was the killing of an innocent child. The circumstances of the killing were horrible,” he said.
“The throwing of your four-year-old daughter from a bridge more than 80 metres above the ground could not be more horrible.
“What Darcey’s last thoughts might have been does not bear thinking about and her death must have been a painful and protracted one.”
“It can only be concluded that you used your daughter in an attempt to hurt your former wife as profoundly as possible.”
Freeman pleaded not guilty by reason of mental impairment, but his defence was rejected by the jury after a three-week trial.
He stood motionless today as the sentence was handed down.
Justice Coghlan said many would see Freeman’s crime as so serious that he should not get a non-parole period but he had decided to sentence him to life with a minimum term of 32 years.
“Whatever happens, you will spend what may be regarded by many as the best years of your life in prison,” he said.
“I do not regard you as being beyond redemption.”
Freeman will not be eligible for parole until January 2041.
After the court had adjourned and the judge had left, Freeman rose in the dock and started to make a statement to the still-packed court room.
He spoke in a loud voice, but was incoherent at times, talking about threats made against him by his ex-wife’s family.
He continued to speak as security guards tried to remove him from the dock.
Moments before the murder, the father-of-three had spoken to his ex-wife, Peta Barnes, telling her to say goodbye to her children, and threatening that she would never see them again.
A day earlier, Freeman had had his access to his three children reduced.
So in this case, life with 32 years before he can apply for parole.
What do you think will happen with sentencing, do you think these two women will get the vagina discount on the sentence? What are your guesses if they do time?
The murder of the 8 children is going to a hearing on the 25th of June this year, the 3 children drowning in the lake just happened today so it will be a while yet before it goes to court, bookmark this thread.
Lets hear all your opinions, how much time do you think these women will do (if any) and also how long will their non parole period be, so far the two fathers have got 32 and 33 years respectively, will the mothers get life with very long non parole periods?
I’m guessing the knife murder of the 8 children she will get life with a non parole period of 20 years, and the case of the woman driving into the dam and murdering her 3 children, 20 years with non parole period of 10 years.
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