Tag Archives: oceania

Aussie arrested in Indonesia could be set free after $25,000 offering

The Australian man arrested in an ultra-conservative province of Indonesia over an alleged drunken, naked rampage could be released within weeks.

9News understands Bodhi Risby-Jones has reached a peace deal with the victim of the alleged rampage, which will see the Queenslander pay up $25,000.

However, the 23-year-old Noosa man is set to still spend the next two weeks in custody before prosecutors decide whether the peace offering is enough to negate the need for a jail sentence.

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9News has been told it's "highly likely" that he will be set free in the coming weeks.

Risby-Jones was the subject of a citizen's arrest in the highly conservative Aceh province after he allegedly went on a drunken, naked rampage on April 27.

He has been in custody since, and was facing a sentence including up to five years in jail and 40 lashes, as public canings are a regular punishment in the province.

Aceh enforces Sharia law, meaning the sale and consumption of alcohol are banned.

READ MORE: Queensland man accused of rampage speaks from prison

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones in a picture from his Facebook page.

In a video released from prison a week after the incident, Risby-Jones apologised and said he wanted to "fix the issue".

"To the victim's family and the victim, I am extremely sorry," he said before placing his hands together and bowing his head in a prayer motion.

"My actions I can't even fathom.

"I really want to make it right, and fix the issue.

"I am sorry."

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Perth teen faces court after gunshots fired at school

A teenager who allegedly fired multiple gunshots at a school, hitting a classroom as teachers and students scrambled for cover, has been ordered to have a mental health assessment.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, briefly appeared in the Perth Children's Court on Friday via video link.

The youth could be seen on a courtroom television at Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre sitting at a desk wearing a sweatshirt in an empty room.

READ MORE: Two teens come forward after fire rips through Sydney buildings

 Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Perth

He was not required to enter a plea and was remanded in custody to reappear in the same court on Tuesday.

The court ordered mental health and bail suitability assessments ahead of a potential application for release when the matter returns to court.

During the hearing, the boy answered "yes" and "no" to a series of questions as the seven charges he is facing were read.

They include discharging a firearm to cause fear and possessing a prohibited weapon.

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The teen is also accused of unlawfully driving, three counts of unlicensed person possessing a firearm and ammunition and unlawful act with intent to harm.

Police alleged that the boy used two rifles to shoot three rounds at Atlantis Beach Baptist College about midday on Wednesday.

The incident, understood to be the first of its kind in WA, forced the school in Perth's north into lockdown, as students and teachers hid in a storeroom.

Police have also previously said the teen fired the shots from a car park while he was inside a vehicle, that is understood to belong to his father.

Forensic officers could be seen on Thursday analysing two bullet holes about five metres apart on the side of a demountable classroom.

One was above an external doorway and the other was beside a window, in clear view across a 30-metre-wide grassed courtyard adjacent to the car park.

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Body-worn camera footage showed officers called to the scene took the boy into custody without incident, with two rifles, .243 and .22 calibre, from a car along with three bullet shells.

The weapons are understood to be registered to the boy's father.

The incident has shocked the Perth community, with Premier Mark McGowan saying work had begun to dramatically reform the state's gun laws.

McGowan said it was "unthinkable" a US-style school shooting could have happened at a WA school and it was lucky no one was killed during the incident.

"The bullets went close," he told reporters on Thursday.

"It's a terrible, terrible thing and it could have been so much worse."

Journalists were cautioned during the court hearing to report the matter responsibly, with prosecutor Brad Hollingsworth saying some media had been erroneously reporting the boy had been expelled from the school.

Atlantis Beach Baptist College is a co-educational school for boys and girls from kindergarten to year 10.

It is located in the suburb of Two Rocks about 70km north of Perth.

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'Once-in-a-lifetime': Rare blue whale spotted off NSW Central Coast

A rare blue whale sighting in the waters off Terrigal has got locals excited.

The majestic mammal was spotted swimming 900m offshore, in what's believed to be the first time one's been spotted off the NSW Central Coast.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing," Ronny Ling from Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast told NBN News.

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Central Coast locals have sighted a blue whale, an experience so rare experts say only six others have been seen off the east coast of Australia in a century.

"This is the holy grail, to see a blue whale in your own backyard is absolutely phenomenal."

Making it even more exciting for whale watchers is just how few such sightings have taken place over the last century.

"They're very rare and there's only been six sightings on the east coast of Australia in the last hundred years," Andrew "Skipper" Jones told NBN News.

Ahmet was on whale lookout duty with his friend Chris Dick when they spotted it on a drone.

"It's amazing – you see it on documentaries but you don't comprehend how big and graceful this creature is," Ahmet told NBN News.

It's believed the animal is a rare pygmy blue whale and is estimated to be around 25 metres in length.

However, the sighting has sparked some concerns among wildlife groups over the whale's weight.

"This animal itself did look rather thin, we could really see the spine on the animal as it went through," Ling said.

"So hopefully it's going to get something really nutritional to eat out there, have a lot of good feeds and get back on the good side of health."

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast is using the sighting to issue a reminder.

They're warning boats to keep their distance from the animals across the migration season, as humpbacks and other species head north.

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Remorseless rapist jailed after graphic VHS tape found in garage

A NSW man who filmed himself raping a woman has been jailed for at least five years after his ex-wife found the tape.

Boghos Parizian, 58, filmed an hour and 54 seconds of the assault on a VHS tape in the 1990s.

More than 15 years later, he insisted on getting into his estranged wife's place, where locks had been changed after he was kicked out in 2009.

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She found the tape, labelled "big mama", among his belongings in the garage.

It was copied to a DVD and handed to police in 2015.

Detectives found the woman, who watched the footage in March 2016, the same month Parizian was charged.

Parizian's barrister Chris Watson argued at trial the footage was confronting but the acts depicted were part of a consensual role-play.

The jury rejected that argument and found Parizian guilty on 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent in February.

Judge Jane Culver said Parizian still denied the crimes and had shown no contrition or remorse, sentencing him in the NSW District Court on Friday to seven-and-a-half years in prison, with an non-parole period of five years.

The footage was the only way to truly understand the gravity of his offending and showed she was clearly not in a fit state to consent, the judge said.

"She was obviously and apparently affected by something, that's not to say it was the offender who spiked her drink to give rise to that appearance," the judge said after prosecutors withdrew a submission urging her to find Parizian had spiked her drink.

Sometime between October 1991 and March 1993, the woman had dinner with Parizian to tell him to leave her alone.

He had been calling incessantly after their brief relationship ended, while she was trying to reunite with her husband.

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She began to feel "out of sorts" and "not herself" after drinking orange juice at dinner.

He drove her to his unit at Liverpool in Sydney's southwest, saying his father was ill.

She remembers finding a mattress on the floor of his bedroom, angled differently to face towards the wardrobe, with the doors slightly ajar.

She does not remember what happened next, when Parizian repeatedly raped and threatened her throughout the hour-long assault.

"You can't stop me," he told her after she repeatedly protested and asked to leave.

"I want everything my way today… don't try to stop me from anything," the judge quoted, reading excerpts of the footage establishing Parizian knew she was not consenting.

Parizian later called the woman and threatened to show the video to other people but she did not believe the footage existed.

The woman said she attempted to take her own life after learning the footage did exist, telling Parizian he "destroyed my life as a young woman".

In the footage, she sees the camera, and Parizian lies to her that it is broken and not filming, increasing his crime's seriousness, the judge said.

Some in the public gallery left the court while Judge Culver detailed the graphic offending depicted in the footage.

Parizian is eligible for release on February 26, 2028.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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