WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT Ron Brierley told police officers quizzing him over a cache of images of naked children he had saved to several devices that the pictures were “all perfectly okay” and he had downloaded them because he…
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Fake nanny who stole three children could be back on Melbourne streets in days
A fake nanny who stole three children could be back on Melbourne's streets within days because she has already served enough time behind bars.
Samantha Azzopardi, 32, was hired by parents who thought she was a qualified au pair, but in reality, she was a career conwoman.
In 2019, Azzopardi strolled through the regional Victorian town of Bendigo dressed as a schoolgirl, pretending to be a 14-year-old pregnant student.
She had a 10-month-old baby strapped to her chest, but the child was not hers and neither was the four-year-old girl walking behind them.
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The conwoman had stolen the sisters from their parents after convincing the French nationals she was a qualified nanny, promising to take the girls on a picnic to the You Yangs.
The homeless woman was today jailed for child stealing and other crimes a magistrate described as "bizarre".
In February 2019, she claimed to be a modelling talent scout called Marley.
She tricked a family into letting their daughter fly with her to Sydney. During that trip, Azzopardi told the girl to go into Centrelink and write on a piece of paper she was "seeing ghosts".
The previous year, Azzopardi pretended to be a wealthy American teenager called Harper Hernandez.
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She duped Australian basketballer Tom Jervis into hiring her as an au pair, before she was busted stealing Jervis' wife's driver's licence and an iPad.
Azzopardi's offending was not financially motivated, a psychiatrist instead finding the "profoundly disturbed woman" created new identities to escape her own traumatic childhood.
The fake nanny never physically harmed any of her victims. But their parents have been left traumatised by Azzopardi's betrayal.
Azzopardi was sentenced to two years' prison, but because she has already spent so much time in custody, she can immediately apply to the parole board to be released back into the community.
Without proper mental health treatment, her risk of reoffending is considered to be high.
Disgraced businessman told police child abuse images were 'okay'
A disgraced multi-millionaire found with tens of thousands of child abuse images told police he thought they were "perfectly okay".
Renowned businessman Ron Brierley was on the way to Fiji when he was stopped by Australian Border Force staff at Sydney International Airport in December 2019.
He later pleaded guilty to three charges related to almost 47,000 images found on his laptop and several USB devices on him and later located at his Point Piper home.
READ MORE: Ron Brierley to plead not guilty to possessing child abuse material
Police said they were unable to determine how many of the images were duplicates.
Court documents reveal Brierley, 84, was asked at the airport if he had anything to say.
"I reckon they're all, they are perfectly OK," he said.
He also told officers the images were freely available on the internet and had been "approved by various bodies".
Those pictures depicted children as young as four in sexualised poses.
Brierley told police he looked at them for "recreation" and because he found them "interesting" but denied it was for a "sexual purpose".
Officers also found written stories which related to the "rape of children" which he admitted to reading.
A video which ran almost two hours was located on one of the USB devices.
The former head of the Bank of New Zealand was knighted in 1988 for his contribution to business and the community.
He was forced to forfeit that knighthood after he entered guilty pleas.
He will face a sentence hearing in August.
Hunt refuses to entertain vaccine lottery ideas
Health Minister Greg Hunt has refused to be drawn on whether the Federal Government would be interested in vaccine program "sweeteners", such as a lottery system used in the US state of Ohio.
Instead, he said the strongest reason to get vaccinated is to avoid the "lottery" of COVID-19.
"The strongest reason is to avoid a lottery and to avoid the lottery of COVID and avoid the lottery of death," Mr Hunt said.
"The number one reason to be vaccinated is it can save your life and the life of your family and friends and so our message today is please come forward and be vaccinated at the earliest possible time."
READ MORE: Qantas flight perks possible for those who get COVID-19 jab
Mr Hunt was asked about the possibility of a vaccine lottery following the success of the format overseas.
In Ohio, one person has won US$1 million ($1.29 million) in the state's Vax-a-Million lottery, while another has claimed a full college scholarship.
To enter, residents in the state must get vaccinated as their "tickets". The $1.29 million prize is open to all over the age of 18, while those aged 12 to 17 will be offered an all-expenses paid college scholarship.
"To be completely honest, I did not know that the winner was being announced," said Abbigail Bugenske, 22, who won $1.29 million prize.
"I was screaming enough that my parents thought that I was crying and that something was wrong."
READ MORE: Jabs lotto: US 22-year-old wins $1 million COVID-19 vaccine lottery
Fourteen-year-old Joseph Costello was thrilled to be the first student scholarship winner.
"I was pretty blown away with it … but, yeah, really happy about it," he said.
He also told CNN's Kate Bolduan on Thursday that appearing on national TV after winning the vaccination lottery was "very weird".
Bugenske, who got vaccinated before the lottery was announced, said she thinks it was a great idea and encourages everyone to get the vaccine.
"If winning a million dollars isn't incentive enough, I don't really know what would be," said the recent Michigan State University grad.
It's estimated the program has helped boost Ohio's vaccination rate by 45 per cent.
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