Tag Archives: oceania

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Prosecutors ask to drop most charges in doctor rape case

California state prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss most sex crime charges filed against a reality TV doctor and his girlfriend, who are accused of drugging and raping several women at their Southern California home.

The attorney general's office, which took over the case from the Orange County district attorney's office last year, filed a motion asking for dismissal of 10 charges involving six of the seven alleged victims.

”We have no reason to believe that any of these victims are being untruthful,” but a review found that some allegations couldn’t be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecutor said.

READ MORE: TV show doctor and girlfriend accused of drugging and raping women

Charges against Dr. Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley have been dropped.

The motion said a review found that some allegations couldn't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven D. Bromberg asked the state to file a brief with more information before he rules on the motion, which could happen next month.

Noting twists and turns in the case, Bromberg said it is “becoming the never-ending story.”

Dr. Grant Robicheaux, a surgeon who previously appeared on a Bravo TV show called “Online Dating Rituals of the American Male,” was charged in 2018 with in connection with seven victims, and Cerissa Riley was charged in connection with five. At the time, authorities said the pair plied their victims with drugs and sexually assaulted them when they were incapable of resisting.

Dr. Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley listen during a news conference by their lawyer Philip Kent Cohen in Newport Beach, California.

Robicheaux, 40, and Riley, 33, have pleaded not guilty, saying the sex was consensual.

If the charges are dropped, the case would be pared down to allegations that Robicheaux and Riley assaulted a woman in 2017 at their Newport Beach home with intent to commit sexual offense. The state is asking for dismissal of a charge that they kidnapped the woman.

At the same time, state prosecutors want to file four additional charges alleging that the couple gave the woman drugs in an effort to have sex with her while she was unable to resist.

If convicted of assaulting one woman, Robicheaux and Riley could face 10 years in prison. If the judge won't dismiss the other charges, a conviction could carry a potential life sentence.

Robicheaux appeared in a now-cancelled Bravo TV show called "Online Dating Rituals of the American Male".

”We have no reason to believe that any of these victims are being untruthful," but a review found that some allegations couldn't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, Deputy Attorney General Yvette Martinez said in court.

“Obviously, the victims are not in favour of this” and want the chance to testify, said Mike Fell, an attorney for one alleged victim who could be removed from the case.

Last August, another judge ordered that the case be turned over to the attorney general’s office after the Orange County district attorney’s office tried to have the case dismissed, saying it believed there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

District Attorney Todd Spitzer had accused his predecessor, Tony Rackauckas, of manufacturing the case to bolster his reelection campaign.

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China lands on Mars in latest advance for its space program

China has landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time in the latest advance for its space program.

The official Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday that the lander had touched down, citing the China National Space Administration.

Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling down a ramp to explore an icy area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia. It will join an American one that arrived at the red planet in February.

READ MORE: Australia's first repatriation flight out of India touches down in Darwin

China's first Mars landing follows its launch last month of the main section of what will be a permanent space station and a mission that brought back rocks from the moon late last year.

"China has left a footprint on Mars for the first time, an important step for our country's space exploration," Xinhua said in announcing the landing on one of its social media accounts.

READ MORE: Two men extradited from Victoria and charged over alleged opal theft worth half a million

The US has had nine successful landings on Mars since 1976. The Soviet Union landed on the planet in 1971, but the mission failed after the craft stopped transmitting information soon after touchdown.

A rover and a tiny helicopter from the American landing in February are currently exploring Mars. NASA expects the rover to collect its first sample in July for return to Earth in a decade.

READ MORE: Another day of zero local COVID-19 cases in NSW amid record number of vaccinations

China has landed on the moon before but landing on Mars is a much more difficult undertaking because it has an extremely thin atmosphere.

Spacecraft must use heat shields for protection from the searing heat of reentry and both retro-rockets and parachutes to slow enough to prevent a crash landing. The parachutes and rockets must be deployed at precise times to land at the designated spot.

Only mini-retro rockets are required for a moon landing, and parachutes alone are sufficient for returning to Earth, which has a much bigger atmosphere.

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No local COVID cases in NSW amid record number of vaccinations

There have been no new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 recorded in NSW in the last day, with the state also administering a record number of vaccines.

More than 10,600 people were given the jab yesterday – over 4000 administered at the recently opened vaccine hub at Sydney Olympic park – marking a new record for vaccinations given in one day.

The total number of people having received a jab in NSW now stands at almost 900,000.

READ MORE: Australia's first repatriation flight out of India touches down in Darwin

NSW Health has reminded the public that the following identification of a COVID-19 case in Melbourne on Tuesday, anybody arriving in NSW from the Greater Melbourne area will need to complete a declaration form confirming they have not attended a venue of concern.

Those who have arrived from Greater Melbourne since Thursday May 6 must check the Victoria Department of Health and Human Services website regularly and follow public health advice.

READ MORE: Top Japanese CEO says hosting the Olympics amounts to a 'suicide mission'

Despite exhaustive enquiries, NSW Health has yet to identify the missing link who is responsible for infecting a Sydney man and his partner last week.