Fourteen beaches are still unsafe to swim at according to Swimsafe.
Tag Archives: oceania
Indigenous man freed after 12 years for murder he didn't commit
A man who spent 12 years behind bars for a murder he was not present for has been released from a Northern Territory prison.
Indigenous man Zak Grieve was handed a life sentence in 2013 for the murder of Ray Niceforo, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Grieve applied for a mercy plea in 2018 and his sentence was subsequently cut by eight years.
READ MORE: Grim detail about how Lilie James likely died emerges
Bronwyn Buttery and her son Christopher Malyschko were also charged in relation to the murder of Niceforo.
Buttery was in a relationship with Niceforo, who the judge found was a "very frightening individual" who had physically abused her.
Buttery paid for the murder, was found guilty of manslaughter, and was given an eight-year jail term with a minimum of four years, while Malyschko was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years.
Malyschko and Darren Halfpenny – who earlier pleaded guilty – attacked Niceforo in his flat where Malyschko bludgeoned him to death with a spanner while Halfpenny held him in a headlock.
The judge found Grieve had decided to pull out of the murder plans at the last minute but did not actively try to prevent the death and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
"I take no pleasure in this outcome," Justice Dean Mildren said in 2013 of the harsher sentence meted out to Grieve, who was not present during the murder.
"It is the fault of mandatory minimum sentencing provisions which inevitably bring about injustice."
READ MORE: Sydney Trains warns of delays after 'network-wide communication issue'
Grieve was 19 when he was charged and his story made international headlines, culminating in a documentary series and several books.
His release on Friday has sparked renewed calls for a review of the NT's mandatory sentencing laws.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the government is not planning on changing the laws.
"It's not a loophole, it's the law as it stands in the Northern Territory," Fyles told reporters today.
"There are some crimes where the community expectation is that there is a minimum mandatory period of incarceration, and I don't have intentions of changing that."
Grieve's mother, Glenice Grieve, wrote to the NT Law Reform Commission in 2020 pleading for her son's release.
"Everyone can see mandatory sentencing is wrong," she said.
"Mandatory sentencing means so many people with my skin colour are in prison.
"His life sentence was a big blow to all of us, such a huge punch, that I don't think we ever recovered."
Police appeal for public help to find missing 14-year-old last seen in Whangārei
14-year-old Rawinia was last seen in the Whangārei area on October 17.
Operation Blanco: Police, customs seize cocaine worth $63 million at Auckland port, four men arrested
The cocaine was worth $63 million, police say.
Celebrity Treasure Island: Losing finalist Turia Schmidt-Peke hopes new doors will open
Celebrity Treasure Island finalist: ‘No one deserves it more than James’
Ruthless-Empire death: Birth of killed toddler was never registered after name rejected
Police are still hunting who was responsible for the violent death of Wellington toddler.
Neo-Nazi leaders spared further jail time over hiker attack
A neo-Nazi group leader who admitted attacking a group of hikers in a Victorian state park now claims he's innocent of the charges and that he was the real victim.
Thomas Sewell and Jacob Hersant were both convicted on Friday after pleading guilty to a violent affray in the Cathedral Ranges State Park in May 2021.
They were among a group of far-right National Socialist Network and European Australian Movement members who set upon a group of friends hiking in the national park.
But outside the Victorian County Court, where he was sentenced to one month and seven days of prison time already served, Sewell claimed the organisations had always been respectful to members of the public.
There are two sides to every story, he said, claiming he and two other young members of the organisations had been run over by the group of friends first.
"We have behaved honourably at all times," he said.
"We are a law-abiding organisation, we're looking for political change in this country and we're not looking to harm or hurt anyone."
Judge Kellie Blair said Sewell, now 30, was leader of the European Australian Movement at the time, while Hersant, now 24, led the National Socialist Network.
Despite pleading guilty to violent affray charges, Sewell told reporters outside court that they were not guilty and had been forced to accept a deal that would keep their prison time to a minimum because police had refused to provide some of the evidence against them.
He denied that there were knives involved in the incident, claiming it was a fabrication by hostile witnesses.
"There's no way these gay, Jewish, communist witnesses are going to be reasonable," he said.
"They're going to exacerbate, and they're anti-fascist so they've got a political motivation to make false accusations."
He also claimed the group was not violent but when asked about Hersant's previous conviction for assaulting a security guard, said the judge in that case was "politically motivated".
Sewell was joined by supporters outside the hearing, including one who shouted "Australia for the white man" and provided support for Hitler.
Blair, in sentencing Sewell and Hersant to time served, said the group of friends hiking in the park had seen stickers on their walk with the "Australia for the white man" phrase.
They also saw men wearing black shirts emblazoned with a white Celtic Cross, the emblem of the European Australian Movement.
The friends speculated that the group may be neo-Nazis.
When they crossed paths again in the car park, one of the group googled neo-Nazi symbols and took a video of the other men.
Blair said 10 to 15 men from the group ran toward a car, concealed their identities and threatened the friends, including one with a knife.
Prosecutors claimed Sewell injured his arm on a broken window, either by breaking it himself or reaching into the car.
Hersant was said to have reached through the driver's side window to either turn off the car or grab the keys.
Blair said while the offending arose from their association with neo-Nazi groups she didn't consider it to be related to their political views.
Hersant was sentenced to three days' prison time, already served, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community work over 14 months.
Sewell was sentenced to one month and seven days, with Blair taking into account the difficult conditions he spent in custody over six months to be sufficient punishment.
Hauraki District Council to establish Māori wards, joining eight other Waikato councils
The council voted against the wards in 2018, but councillors now ‘committed to the mahi’.
Christchurch man sexually assaults ex wife recovering from surgery, unconscious on hospital medication
The woman drifted in and out of consciousness and tried to push him away.
Esther Osborne death: Calls for improvments as inquest hears 50 per cent of forensic in-patients in greater Wellington region are Māori
Whānau concluded the inquest with moving waiata, haka and karakia.