Tag Archives: oceania

Raiders star Papalii has intimidation court case halted

A court case against Canberra Raiders player Josh Papalii has been dropped after a judge found police had abused legal processes by using an encrypted messaging app to discuss proceedings.

The 33-year-old was fighting three charges after an alleged incident at the Gungahlin Raiders Club last year, including intimidating police and refusing to leave a licensed venue.

But at an ACT Magistrates Court hearing on Friday, Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker permanently stayed the case, meaning it will be dropped indefinitely, after finding police undermined the integrity of the prosecution by discussing the proceedings in a Signal chat.

READ MORE: 'Taken in a minute': Tributes for woman killed in freak lightning strike

Police alleged Papalii was behaving aggressively towards staff after being asked to leave the leagues club in Canberra's north during the early hours of September 16, 2024, after a night of drinking.

After police were called to the venue, he allegedly became verbally abusive and threatening towards officers and refused to leave the premises.

Papalii pleaded not guilty to the charges.

But the case was delayed when Papalii's lawyers discovered the existence of the private group chat on messaging service Signal, which included the officer who was the alleged victim of the alleged intimidation, as well as investigating officers.

Police are not prohibited from using encrypted messaging services like Signal to communicate in the ACT, although other jurisdictions do not allow it.

Defence barrister Steven Boland asked Walker to issue a permanent stay of the proceedings, meaning the case would be dropped indefinitely.

Boland argued the officers' use of the Signal chat to discuss the case, which was set to automatically delete messages after one week, constituted an abuse of process and would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

As messages relating to the case could have been automatically deleted, it meant the prosecution's duty to disclose evidence about the proceedings could not be met.

The conduct was "sufficient to bring the administration of justice into disrepute and erode public confidence in it", the defence submitted.

READ MORE: Man's new Tesla struck by suspected meteorite on remote Aussie highway

The prosecution argued there was no evidence of messages in the group chat detailing information that would have materially changed the course of the proceedings.

There was thus no evidence that by not keeping a record of the messages, it would have been materially unfair to the defence, prosecutors argued, calling for a lesser remedy than a permanent stay to be applied.

The chief magistrate said while there was clear evidence that Signal was used by the investigating police to communicate about the investigation, the defence was unable to establish the deletion of the messages left them at a practical disadvantage.

But the unknown remains unknowable, she said, and the "cavalier" use of Signal by the officers raised the spectre that additional communication that was unfair to the prosecution may have occurred.

"Allowing the prosecution to proceed … is an irremediable affront to the integrity of the process," she told the court.

"A permanent stay of the prosecution is granted."

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Driver cracked open drink after car ploughed into family home, witnesses allege

CCTV vision has captured the moment residents and neighbours tackled a suspected drunk driver to the ground after a car ploughed into a home in Melbourne's south-east.

Vision shows the blue Holden station wagon lose control about 11.30pm last night and hit a car parked in a driveway on Breamlea Way in Cranbourne West.

The force of the smash pushed the parked car through the garage of the family home, destroying a brick pillar and causing significant damage to the house's structure, as well as the vehicle.

READ MORE: Millions facing storms 'every day' for nearly a week

A family of three were inside the home at the time, but thankfully weren't injured.

Resident Janet Adams described waking to the sound of an explosion before opening the front door to see "a plume of dust and smoke" outside the home.

"We're so fortunate that none of us were injured. The house is broken but that can be fixed," she said.

Police allege the driver of the Holden attempted to flee the scene but was restrained by residents until officers arrived.

"[We] all came running out, he was climbing out of the car, stumbling around, went back, got his cans and then tried to take off to the corner where everybody sort of jumped on him, pinned him down," neighbour Ebony Hall said.

READ MORE: Prince Andrew to be stripped of all royal titles, evicted from residence

Witnesses claim the driver continued drinking mango-peach flavoured vodka drinks after the crash.

"He was still drinking, yeah, blood coming out of his mouth, like pinned to the floor, but he still wanted to drink, he wanted to smoke, he just wouldn't wouldn't stop," resident Dylan Visscher said.

"There were probably three cans littered across the driveway."

The alleged driver, a 27-year-old Cranbourne man, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

An investigation into the crash is ongoing.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Bank that sacked thousands of Aussies hit by $1.1 billion blow

ANZ has warned investors to brace for a more than $1.1 billion blow to its bottom line when it releases its half-year updates in a little over a week.

The big four bank announced this morning its second-half profit for 2025 will be impacted by several "significant items", totalling a combined $1.109 billion after tax.

A large proportion of that is associated with the decision taken last month to slash 4500 jobs – 1000 of which were contractors, while the remaining 3500 were full-time employees.

READ MORE: Cricket stars' touching tribute to teen killed in training tragedy

The ANZ logo outside an office in Melbourne.

ANZ said the cost of those redundancies will hit $585 million, although it drops to $414 million once tax is taken into account.

When it announced the job cuts, ANZ said customer-facing frontline roles would only see a limited impact, and chief executive Nuno Matos insisted the move was necessary to ensure the bank's future success.

"We are operating in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive banking environment," he said at the time.

"As we continue our strategic review, we are eliminating duplication and complexity, stopping work that doesn't support our priorities, and sharpening our focus on improving our non-financial risk management practices across the bank."

READ MORE: Australian YouTube family moves to UK to avoid upcoming social media ban

Also included in ANZ's $1.1 billion blow is $271 million in fines and costs for years of unconscionable conduct, including failing to respond to customer hardship notices and making misleading statements about interest rates.

The bank agreed to pay a record $240 million fine for the conduct after it was sued by financial watchdog ASIC.

The Federal Court still needs to approve that fine, and ANZ said this morning it had also accrued $31 million in costs related to the matter.

Following this morning's announcement, ANZ's share price fell by a little over half a per cent to $36.65, although that's still far higher than the roughly $33 it was trading at before September's job cuts were revealed.

The bank will post its half-year earnings on November 10.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Boys, 13 and 15, arrested over ‘brazen’ machete attack caught on camera

Two teenagers have been arrested after a man was slashed with a machete in an allegedly "brazen" attack in Melbourne's east.

A 13-year-old and a 15-year-old are being interviewed by police over a shocking incident that was captured on CCTV on Wednesday.

The footage shows a man and a woman walking down Blacksmiths Way in Belgrave about 7.10pm when they were approached by a group of males.

READ MORE: Man's new Tesla struck by suspected meteorite on remote Aussie highway

Vision showed two offenders slashing machetes in the direction of a man and woman.

One of the males slung a machete at the man. 

Sabrina, a worker at the nearby Tacos 'N' Tequilas, said it all happened so quickly.

"I initially thought it was a stick that he hit him with," she told 3AW Melbourne.

"I went out to ask him if he was OK, and I saw he had a massive gouge on his forearm."

Police alleged the group fled the scene in a white BMW sedan, which was used to steal petrol from a service station on the Western Freeway in Ballan earlier that day.

The man, a 27-year-old from Ferntree Gully, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

READ MORE: Rapist former MP jailed after sexually assaulting men

The two teenagers remain in custody as detectives work to identify a third offender.

Casey MP Aaron Violi said it was "heartbreaking" that the two innocent victims had been targeted in the attack.

"The worst feeling, to be honest, is that it wasn't surprising," he told 3AW.

"We have seen these attacks so often. We've seen how brazen they are. I wish I was shocked by the attack. I was heartbroken within my community, but we're seeing it too often.

"It is heartbreaking to see our state going through this, and it's every Victorian that's paying the price, higher insurance costs, not feeling safe."

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.