legal staff - sexual assult

Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is a general term used to describe a range of sexual crimes including rape, incest, indecent assault and can involve someone threatening to hurt you, touch you in a sexual way without your consent or forcing you to take part in any sort of sexual activity against your will. Sexual assault is against the law. Sexual assault is a criminal offence whether the person who hurts you is someone you know or is a stranger.

If you are sexually assaulted you can complain to the police.If the police decide there is enough evidence they will charge the offender and the offender will be tried through the court system.

If you are 17 years or under, it is a criminal offence for a teacher, relative, carer or someone who is looking after you or who has some other kind of authority over you to touch you in a sexual way or have sexual intercourse with you, even if you agree to it.

Common Effects of Sexual Assault

Victims of sexual assault often experience a number of common effects. These may include:

· Flashbacks

· Nightmares

· Difficulty falling or staying asleep

· Anger and rage

· Difficulty concentrating

· Hypervigilence

· Anxiety and panic

· Self-blame, guilt, and shame

· Emotional numbing

· Physical symptoms and health problems

What to Do if Someone You Know is Sexually Assaulted

Believe them. A person has very little to gain by making up a story about sexual assault.

· Listen to them. A victim of sexual assault needs someone who will listen to what they have to say without blame or judgment.

· Do not tell them what to do. A person who has been sexually assaulted has had every ounce of power and control stripped from them. They only way they are going to gain that power back is by making decisions for themselves.

· Give them information, provide them options, but don't tell them what to do. A great place to get information is your local sexual assault center.

Police & Drunk teenager

http://www.theage.com.au/

Drunk teen 'led police on slow car chase'

June 14, 2010 - 12:50PM

A drunk 14-year-old behind the wheel of an allegedly stolen ute led police on a slow chase near Bendigo.

Police spotted the boy swerving along McIvor Road, in Strathdale, about 12.45am yesterday and signalled him to stop.

The teen, however, ignored them and turned right into a nearby street.

Officers turned on their sirens and followed the ute - which they believe was stolen - as it crawled along the street.

Sergeant Bruce Simpson, of Bendigo police, said the youth did not reach high speeds during the pursuit.

He had not exceeded the speed limit, he said. “The driver did not want to stop and police pursued the driver at slow speed.”

The youth stopped at the first major intersection and ran into bush near Kennington Reservoir.

Police chased him, Sergeant Simpson said, and caught him quickly.

The youth was taken to Bendigo police station where he was charged with theft of a vehicle, drink-driving and other traffic offences.

Four drivers were charged with exceeding the .05 blood-alcohol level after police stopped about 1200 drivers for random tests during the holiday weekend.

The tests were conducted during Operation Aegis, a traffic blitz that started on Friday and finishes at midnight tonight.

Acting Senior Sergeant Peter Beaman of the Bendigo traffic management unit said several traffic officers from Melbourne came to support the region in a bid to reduce accidents.

“From Friday night to Sunday morning, with help from a Melbourne auxiliary, more than 30 officers had clocked up almost 300 working hours.

“In that time they issued 205 traffic infringement notices and randomly breath-tested 1200 drivers."

Across the state, more than 2477 offences were recorded with more expected today as part of the state-wide operation.

Among those, 894 were for speeding, 260 for using mobile phones, 108 for not wearing seatbelts, 156 for other traffic offences, 52 disqualified drivers and 85 unlicensed drivers.

Police have breath-tested 27,312 drivers and found 88 above the legal limit.

Superintendent Neville Taylor warned that it was not just drivers who needed to take care, after a pedestrian was hit and killed in Noble Park.

The 42-year-old man was hit as he tried to cross the Princes Highway about 12.25am yesterday.

Summary

http://www.theage.com.au/

Drunk teen 'led police on slow car chase'

June 14, 2010 - 12:50PM

A drunk 14-year-old behind the wheel of an allegedly stolen ute led police on a slow chase near Bendigo.

Sergeant Bruce Simpson, of Bendigo police, said the youth did not reach high speeds during the pursuit.

“The driver did not want to stop and police pursued the driver at slow speed.”

Four drivers were charged with exceeding the .05 blood-alcohol level after police stopped about 1200 drivers for random tests during the holiday weekend.

Acting Senior Sergeant Peter Beaman of the Bendigo traffic management unit said several traffic officers from Melbourne came to support the region in a bid to reduce accidents.

“In that time they issued 205 traffic infringement notices and randomly breath-tested 1200 drivers."

Police have breath-tested 27,312 drivers and found 88 above the legal limit.

Personal Reflection

It is evident that drunk drivers increases sharply and society facing major problems which effect our life. Living in safety environment and respecting each others right as a citizen are values of Australia. So, to Look deeply to this report, we can see that 14 years old teenager stealing a car to prove what? I think not only the young boy, parents should be more responsible to his attitude. We could not blame our law but l recognized from the static our society needs more strict law to reduce crime that mostly related to traffic offences.

Police & mystery death

http://www.theage.com.au/

Police seek help in mystery death

BRIDIE SMITH

June 14, 2010

Kewal Dhillon.

POLICE yesterday set up an information caravan in an attempt to uncover information about the mysterious death of a Doncaster real estate agent a week ago.

The body of Kewal Dhillon, 61, was found under a freeway footbridge in Balwyn North about 10.15am on June 6. He had several stab wounds to his upper torso that police believe would not have been fatal and no defensive wounds.

Mr Dhillon, a keen walker, was found at the base of a footbridge crossing the Eastern Freeway near Carron Street. Police are investigating whether he fell or was pushed from the bridge.

There is also the possibility that Mr Dhillon may have been stabbed at another location. A line search of the area failed to locate a weapon.

The married father of two had a happy marriage, according to police, who have appointed a forensic accountant to trawl through Mr Dhillon's business affairs as owner of Dhillon Real Estate in Hampton Park and Doncaster.

Investigators, who have not ruled out suicide, have released a photofit of a man they wish to interview. He is described as being 170 to 176 centimetres tall, aged 30 to 50 years old with dark skin and curly hair. He was seen in the area by a dog-walker at 7.45am on the morning of Mr Dhillon's death.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Bailey from the homicide squad urged anyone who may have seen Mr Dhillon or any suspicious activity on the morning he died to contact police.

''Police are hoping to piece together what happened to Mr Dhillon between the time he left his home around dawn and when he was located,'' he said.

However, he said there were fewer people than usual out in the area due to cold weather and intermittent rain.

In a statement released at the weekend, Mr Dhillon's family described their grief as overwhelming.

''We pray that we will all get some answers soon.''

At the time of his death, Mr Dhillon was wearing a black tracksuit and white runners with a blue trim. A navy blue Regatta Sport Bossini baseball cap with the letters ''RXB'' written inside was also found close to the deceased.

Summary

http://www.theage.com.au/

Police seek help in mystery death

BRIDIE SMITH

June 14, 2010

Kewal Dhillon.

Mr Dhillon, a keen walker, was found at the base of a footbridge crossing the Eastern Freeway near Carron Street. The married father of two had a happy marriage, according to police, who have appointed a forensic accountant to trawl through Mr Dhillon's business affairs as owner of Dhillon Real Estate in Hampton Park and Doncaster.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Bailey from the homicide squad urged anyone who may have seen Mr Dhillon or any suspicious activity on the morning he died to contact police.

In a statement released at the weekend, Mr Dhillon's family described their grief as overwhelming.

At the time of his death, Mr Dhillon was wearing a black tracksuit and white runners with a blue trim.

Personal Reflection

I felt so sad when l read this tragedy of murdering a father. The worse part that still there is not any clue who may commit the crime. This mysterious death remained unclear information. Police might need using modern strategy to revise the case. I think some of mysterious cases when took to long without finding any clue, become cold case. So what we need in this stage, a group of experts to deal with cold case.

Legal News Summary

Summary

Teenagers bailed on rape charges

ADRIAN LOWE

Four Melbourne youths have been granted bail after being charged with almost 70 counts of rape.

The charges relate to the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl at a St Albans public toilet block earlier this month.

A detective told the court last week that the girl was forced into a cubicle. The first youth left the toilet after allegedly raping the girl three times, the court heard.

The youths were bailed to reappear at the same court in August.

Legal News- The Age

Teenagers bailed on rape charges

ADRIAN LOWE

May 25, 2010 - 2:27PM

Four Melbourne youths have been granted bail after being charged with almost 70 counts of rape.

The charges relate to the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl at a St Albans public toilet block earlier this month.

The four were bailed from a Melbourne Childrens Court today after a magistrate ruled they were not an unacceptable risk of reoffending, failing to answer bail or endangering the safety or welfare of the public.

The Age revealed last week that the four youths, two aged 15 and two 16, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, each face 17 charges of rape and one of false imprisonment over the alleged attack on May 5.

Police allege three of the four youths followed the girl from a railway station through the streets of Sunshine and St Albans before snatching her dropped school bag and forcing her into the toilet block at the back of the St John’s Church in St Albans.

A detective told the court last week that the girl was forced into a cubicle. One boy told her to remove her clothing and raped her, he said.

The detective said the three co-accused kept watch.

The first youth left the toilet after allegedly raping the girl three times, the court heard.

After he left, the three co-accused entered one at a time and raped the girl at least twice each, the detective said.

After the fourth youth left the toilet, the first re-entered the cubicle and the initial order of the four entering and raping was repeated, the court was told last week.

Between each of the teenagers allegedly raping her, the girl repeatedly asked to have her bag returned and that she be able to go home, but they refused.

The magistrate said the prosecution case was a strong one. The youths were bailed to reappear at the same court in August.

Legal News

Fitchett guilty of killing two sons

Note:

· Fitchett 51 years old, Melbourne home in September 2005.

· She was convicted of murdering her two sons

· Had pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas, 11, and Matthew, 9

· By drugging and then strangling or suffocating them before trying to kill herself

· She admitted the killings but pleaded not guilty

· Murder on the grounds of mental impairment.

· The prosecution argued that Fitchett acted consciously, voluntarily and deliberately when she killed her sons to get back at her husband for a less-than-satisfactory marriage.

· The jury rejected claims by Fitchett’s defence lawyer, Patrick Tehan, QC, that his client was not guilty on the grounds of mental impairment.

· Fitchett was sentenced in 2008 to 24 years, with a minimum of 18 years, in a secure psychiatric facility.

Summary :

Mum who was serving a sentence for a crime of murdering her two sons Thomas, 11, and Matthew, 9 before she was granted a retrial has once again been found guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court.

She confessed the killings by drugging and then strangling or suffocating them before trying to kill herself but she pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental impairment.

To bring a legal action against Fitchett who was acted consciously, voluntarily and deliberately when she killed her sons to get back at her husband for a unsuccessful marriage.

Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, SC, told the jury that four days before the killings, Fitchett told her husband she was going to leave him and take the boys, but later decided she could not go on as a single parent.

Fitchett was sentenced in 2008 to 24 years, with a minimum of 18 years, in a secure psychiatric facility.

Personal Reflection:

While l was reading this depressing news, still l can’t believe how is a

mother might be so brutal and crucial toward her kids. It is also

surprising me that Fitchett had mental history and how Government

authorized that she has that capability to raise her kids. The Murder of 2

kids might be alarming point for Health department that should really

concentrate on mental family issues that increasing recently.

Legal News

Fitchett guilty of killing two sons

ANDREA PETRIE

May 18, 2010 - 4:41PM

A court sketch of Donna Fitchett. Photo: Fay Plamka

A Melbourne mother who was convicted of murdering her two sons before she was granted a retrial has once again been found guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court.

Fitchett, 51, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas, 11, and Matthew, nine, by drugging and then strangling or suffocating them before trying to kill herself at their Melbourne home in September 2005.

She admitted the killings but pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental impairment.

The jury took about four hours to deliver a second guilty verdict.

Fitchett, who was leaning against a prison guard, remained impassive with her head bowed as the verdict was delivered.

A woman sitting near Fitchett’s former husband David let out a cry of joy.

Later, Fitchett quietly whispered her name and date of birth when asked by the judge’s associate.

Outside court, Mr Fitchett said that two juries had now made the right decision.

"Another 12 people saw through the absolutely shallow, shallow pathetic defence," he said.

"I know that she knew exactly what she was doing was wrong, absolutely no doubt about it.

"She is a manipulative, cunning, street-smart woman and she knew all along what she was doing was wrong."

During her retrial, the jury heard that the qualified nurse told her sons she was taking them on a trip and they needed medicine so they would not be sick, before giving them sedatives and telling them to go and lie down until they felt better.

She then suffocated and strangled the boys before she unsuccessfully tried to take her own life.

The prosecution argued that Fitchett acted consciously, voluntarily and deliberately when she killed her sons to get back at her husband for a less-than-satisfactory marriage.

Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, SC, told the jury that four days before the killings, Fitchett told her husband she was going to leave him and take the boys, but later decided she could not go on as a single parent.

She had apparently planned to commit suicide after killing the boys, telling her husband in a note found at the scene: "I just couldn’t abandon our beautiful boys".

In a letter she sent to her psychologist Patra Antonis before she murdered them — whom she called "a liar" from the dock as Ms Antonis gave evidence at the retrial — Fitchett described killing them as "my greatest act of love".

Mr Silbert told the jury the letter was "coherent, reasoned, logically and sensible".

"It canvasses a plan and a course of conduct which I submit to you bespeaks a lucid and organised mind," he told the jury.

"It evinces a clear knowledge that what she was about to do, i.e, murder the two boys was wrong."

The jury heard that Fitchett told close friend Kathlyn Schipper after the boys’ deaths that she stopped strangling Matthew to put the family dog Jemma outside, who was trying to protect him from being murdered. She then returned to kill him.

Fitchett told Ms Schipper: "If I’d known that she was going to be like that I would have put her out in the first place," the court heard.

The jury rejected claims by Fitchett’s defence lawyer, Patrick Tehan, QC, that his client was not guilty on the grounds of mental impairment.

"The act of killing those two boys who she so dearly loved as being for her an act of love epitomises her lack of capacity to think rationally that it was wrong," Mr Tehan said.

He claimed his client was severely depressed and her mind was "disordered or disturbed" when she killed them.

Fitchett was sentenced in 2008 to 24 years, with a minimum of 18 years, in a secure psychiatric facility.

But her sentence was overturned by the Court of Appeal last year due to a technical oversight by the trial judge, who failed to adequately inform the jury of the legal consequences of a finding of not guilty by reason of mental impairment, as required by the Crimes Act.

The act required judges to explain the various options available to them in the event of such a finding, which included imposing a supervision order or releasing the accused without condition, the Court of Appeal deemed.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/fitchett-guilty-of-killing-two-sons-20100518-vbql.html

Childhood

Childhood obesity needs action

In brief

· Obesity in children has reached epidemic proportions. The intense marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children contributes to the problem.

· Children need better protection from unhealthy food marketing, and a large proportion of people we surveyed think the government should help.

Childhood obesity — the alarming facts

· Between 1985 and 1997, the prevalence of obesity trebled among young Australians, and numbers have continued to increase at an alarming rate.

· It’s been estimated that one in five Australian children are overweight or obese. Recently published figures from NSW suggest it could be as many as one in four.

· Obese children have a 25–50% chance of remaining obese in adulthood, putting them at greater risk of developing chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease — conditions that place a substantial burden on the health system as well as on the individuals affected.

· Dire predictions have been made that today’s children might be the first generation to die at an earlier age than their parents.

· Probably the most immediate consequence of being overweight, as perceived by the children themselves, is social discrimination, associated with poor self-esteem and depression.

03.What causes obesity?

In simple terms, overweight and obesity are the result of an energy imbalance, where more energy (kilojoules) is taken in than is used up. Anything that affects what children are eating or how much exercise they’re getting can potentially add to this imbalance.

Our obesogenic environment

One of the reasons why the obesity problem has reached epidemic proportions is the so-called ‘obesogenic’ (or ‘obesity-promoting’) environment we’re living in, which has come about as a result of technological, social, economic and environmental changes.

Many factors have been suggested as contributing to this obesogenic environment, including:

· The increasing use of motor vehicles.

· Increased time spent on a computer playing games and surfing the internet.

· The lack of safe playing areas and other safety concerns.

· Changes in family structure and work patterns so that parents are busier and may have less time to spend with their families and on meal preparation.

· Easy access to kilojoule-laden foods and drinks.

· The frequent promotion of these sorts of foods through television, the internet and other media