Tag Archives: oceania

‘She’s been dead for a while’: Man wailed to triple-zero after allegedly killing ex-partner

A man who denies killing his former partner during a violent argument was heard wailing incomprehensibly as he tried to resuscitate her the next day.

Danny Zayat, 30, had been in a volatile relationship with 34-year-old Tatiana Dokhotaru before she was found dead in her south-west Sydney apartment on a Saturday in May 2023.

Zayat is accused of murdering her the previous night after a physically violent and verbally abusive argument heard by neighbours on the 22nd floor of the Liverpool complex.

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Danny Zayat

Two phone calls the concreter made to triple zero the day after the alleged murder were played to his NSW Supreme Court jury trial today.

During the calls, he can be heard at times wailing and speaking incoherently as the operator gave directions on how to administer CPR.

"She's not breathing, she's got blood coming out of her nose," he said during the call.

"It looks like she's been dead for a while."

Police officers and paramedics arrived to find him crying and pleading for someone to help his ex-partner as she lay on the floor of her apartment.

Paramedics attempted to revive her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Before calling triple zero, Zayat was heard by neighbours running up and down the corridor outside calling for help.

Leo Nguyen lived in the apartment opposite and told the jury that he heard a male shouting and banging on the apartment doors outside.

"It just sounded like someone was in the hallway just crying, distressed," he said from the witness box.

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Tatiana Dokhotaru

Zayat told police that Dokhotaru wanted to kill herself about a week before she was found dead in the apartment on May 23.

On police body-worn footage, he was seen asking police to check his phone for video footage taken on May 21.

He claimed the 34-year-old was drunk, tripped over and injured herself on that day before expressing thoughts of suicide.

"I took a video of it just for my own sake," he told officers.

Dokhotaru's next-door neighbours, Saska Simic and Husam Alsadi, told the court they heard expletives and thuds from the woman's unit on the night of the alleged murder.

Alsadi also described muffled voices broken up by a male yelling "you f—— slut" and a woman yelling "get out, get out".

"It sounded like it was very guttural," he said of the male's voice.

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The neighbour went to his front door to check on the corridor and the neighbouring apartment.

When he stepped outside, the noises died down, the jury heard.

The couple then went out to their balcony but didn't see or hear anything further.

Prosecutors allege Zayat had a tendency of violent, abusive behaviour to Dokhotaru which eventually turned deadly.

They have said he ended a 89-second triple-zero call she made on the night she was killed after she provided the street address to her apartment, and then threw the phone off the high-rise balcony.

"Yes, hi. My ex-boyfriend's here and he's trying to kill me," she had earlier told the operator.

An autopsy showed that Dokhotaru died from a brain injury caused by blunt force head trauma.

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NSW supreme court

Zayat has pleaded not guilty to murder and denies being violent towards his former partner or having anything to do with her death.

He also faces an alternative charge of manslaughter.

The trial continues.

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

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

National park reopens despite ongoing search for accused gunman Dezi Freeman

A Victorian national park that has been closed for seven weeks during the hunt for alleged gunman Dezi Freeman has finally been reopened, but with restrictions.

It has been 49 days since Freeman allegedly opened fire and killed Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, who went to execute a search warrant at his remote property in Porepunkah on August 26.

He was last seen fleeing into the bush around Mount Buffalo, with the nearby national park becoming a focus for officers and search crews.

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The Mount Buffalo National Park has remained shut ever since due to the ongoing police operation, but has been partially reopened today after staff checked all the facilities.

Most of the popular visitor sites, trails and roads are now accessible to the public, but some areas still remain restricted and prohibited.

Victoria Police said the park's reopening "does not signify the end of the search for Freeman", and officers will maintain a presence in the area.

"Despite these extensive searches and enquiries, police have not located Desmond Freeman. This work has, however, given Victoria Police the confidence that the park can now reopen, as we know how important it is for the local community," Victoria Police said in a statement.

"With the park reopening, police are urging anyone with hunting or trail cameras to check their footage and share any information that may assist investigators."

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Victoria Police during the search for alleged shooter Dezi Freeman at Mount Buffalo National Park.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush admitted that investigators were unsure whether Freeman was even alive.

"Is he still alive? We don't know. Is he alive and still in the area? We have no real information to suggest that it's occurred, but we never discount. Or has he been unable to leave the area and is being looked after by others? We don't know," he said at a press conference yesterday.

"All of those are assumptions, possibilities, and we plan and resource for those three."

Freeman, born as Desmond Christopher Filby, is a conspiracy theorist and self-described sovereign citizen with what police said is an extensive knowledge of the bush and survival.

The 56-year-old has been known to police for a while and holds anti-police and government beliefs.

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Porepunkah shooting victims Vadim de Waart and Neal Thompson

Australian and New Zealand police have been working together to search for him since the double-fatal shooting on August 26.

Large areas of Porepunkah and the Mount Buffalo National Park have been searched, more than 800 people have been questioned by police, and investigators have followed more than 1600 clues and tip-offs, according to Victoria Police.

But there is still no sign of Freeman.

A $1 million reward remains for any information that can lead to his arrest.

Police urge anyone with information or who sees suspicious behaviour at the national park to contact Crime Stoppers.

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Federal government releases first ad ahead of looming under-16 social media ban

A new ad campaign is set to roll out to sell Australia's world-leading social media ban to both the parents and kids it will impact.

The ban is set to take effect on December 10 and starting this Sunday, the federal government is rolling out a campaign to increase awareness of the rules for under-16s.

The campaign also aims to explain how the ban will work to both parents and kids.

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A still from the social media laws ad campaign.

It will be rolled out on television, radio and social media, as well as billboards close to schools.

"Until the 10th of December, it is legal for kids to be on social media, and if that's where they are, that's where we need to talk to them about what this means and why we're doing it," Communications Minister Anika Wells said.

This week, Wells met with YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok and Meta to ensure that regulations will be in place for these bans.

But the platforms included in the ban are still not yet final.

"This is definitely not set and forget laws, obviously, this is a fast-evolving space, and we will keep attuned to minimising online harm," she said.

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Brittany Higgins faces bankruptcy action by former senator Linda Reynolds

Brittany Higgins has been dealt another financial blow after her former boss launched bankruptcy proceedings to recoup costs awarded from her defamation win.

Linda Reynolds sued Higgins over a series of social media posts the ex-Liberal senator believed damaged her reputation.

A Western Australian Supreme Court in August found the posts were defamatory and awarded damages of $315,000 plus $26,109 interest to Reynolds.

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Higgins was also ordered to pay 80 per cent of Reynolds' yet-to-be-determined legal costs, but is appealing elements of the judgment.

She is challenging the damages and costs orders, and the finding that she breached a 2021 deed of settlement between the pair by referring to herself as a "defamation victim" in an Instagram post.

Reynolds confirmed today that she has filed a creditor's petition in the Federal Court, claiming Higgins "failed to comply" with a bankruptcy notice issued to her several weeks ago.

"It is unfortunate that I have to take this step in this long-running saga," the former parliamentarian said in a statement.

"As I have said, this is conduct which comes as no surprise to me however what should be plain now is that I am committed to seeing this through to the end."

Federal Court records show the former senator filed the bankruptcy proceedings against Higgins on Friday.

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Higgins' husband David Sharaz has also been served with similar bankruptcy proceedings by Reynolds.

The ex-political staffer apologised to Reynolds following the former defence minister's high-profile five-week defamation trial victory in September 2024.

The trial centred on a tweet Higgins and her husband published in January 2022, which carried imputations that Reynolds pressured Higgins not to proceed with a sexual assault complaint and that she was a hypocrite in her advocacy of gender equality and female empowerment.

Justice Paul Tottle found Higgins' social media posts were defamatory after they implied Reynolds engaged in a campaign of harassment against Higgins, mishandled her rape allegation and engaged in questionable conduct during Bruce Lehrmann's aborted criminal trial for rape.

The 360-page judgment made factual findings about events involving the pair, including Higgins' alleged 2019 rape and that Higgins made 26 false or misleading statements in media interviews.

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Bruce Lehrmann (right) leaves the Magistrates Court in Toowoomba, Queensland, June 17, 2024. Mr Lehrmann is charged with two counts of rape. Picture: Dan Peled

She alleges former co-worker Lehrmann raped her in the senator's ministerial suite, a claim he has always denied.

His criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.

A Federal Court judge overseeing a defamation case launched by Lehrmann against Network Ten found Higgins was, on the balance of probabilities, raped by her former colleague in the office.

Lehrmann is appealing that finding.

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

Study claims social media is impacting child intelligence

Children who use social media more often are likely to have lower cognitive function than their peers, a new US study has claimed.

The study, published in the JAMA network, found children who increased their social media use between the ages of nine and 13 performed worse than their kids with less social media usage.

Thousands of kids were categorised into groups based on their social media usage, and then tasked with completing a range of memory, reading and vocabulary tests to chart whether social media usage impacted cognitive abilities.

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Bangkok, Thailand - February 15, 2021 : iPhone 7 showing its screen with popular social networking applications which are Clubhouse, Instagram and Facebook.

For example, children with zero or low social media usage scored an average of 103.5 in an oral reading recognition test, whilst kids with low increasing usage and high increasing usage scored 99.4 and 96.7, respectively.

The study found social media usage remains low at the age of nine, but increases dramatically as kids turn 12 years old and enter high school.

"This analysis found that both low and high increases in social media use throughout early adolescence were significantly associated with lower performance in specific aspects of cognitive function," the authors of the study wrote.

"The finding that even low levels of early adolescent social media exposure were linked to poorer cognitive performance may suggest support for stricter age restrictions."

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University of California, San Francisco social media graph study

The findings come as Australia prepares to implement its world-first social media ban on children under the age of 16.

Communications Minister Anika Wells fronted media today to launch an advertising campaign ahead of the ban being enforced from December 10.

Wells claimed it was important for kids impacted by the ban to watch the campaign to get a greater understanding as to why it is going ahead.

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CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 07: The Minister for Sport, Minister for Communications the Hon Anika Wells MP answers questions in Question Time on October 07, 2025 in Canberra, Australia. Australia's parliament convened for sittings as a number of pressing issues come to the fore, from inflation and cost of living domestically to Australia's relationship with its allies in the region and beyond internationally. (Photo by Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images)

"They'll see it on TV, they'll see it online, they'll see it ironically on social media, because until the 10th of December, it is legal for kids to be on social media," Wells said.

"And if that's where they are, that's where we need to talk to them about what this means and why we're doing it."

The ban is still receiving backlash from some of the world's biggest social media companies, with officials from Google warning a Senate committee yesterday of the potential negative impacts.

"Forcing kids to use YouTube without an account removes the very parental controls and safety filters built to protect them," Rachel Lord, Google and YouTube's public policy and government affairs manager, said

"It's also the ability of parents to set up supervised accounts for their children."

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Personal phone numbers of Albanese, Ley and Trump published on US website

The phone numbers of several high-profile politicians, including the prime minister, opposition leader and even Donald Trump have been published online.

A US data company appears to have used AI to scrape the internet for the personal phone numbers and emails of Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley and made them publicly available.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government is "aware" of the incident.

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CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 08:  Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at Parliament House on October 08, 2025 in Canberra, Australia. Singapore's Prime Minister Wong is on a weeklong visit to Australia and New Zealand, both of which have strong historical ties and are allies of Singapore. (Photo by Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images)

"We've notified authorities, and that is being worked through, but obviously, there is concern," Marles told reporters at Parliament House.

LinkedIn has been named as a possible source of the information.

However, a spokesperson for the site denied there was a data breach.

"Our policies are clear that third-party companies taking personal data and using it in ways our members did not agree to is prohibited, and these companies are not affiliated with LinkedIn," the spokesperson told The Sydney Morning Herald.

https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/private-numbers-leaked-famous-faces-caught-up-in-data-hack/embed?style=cover

A spokesman for Ley said the personal information could only be accessed by a login.

"We were made aware of this issue when media contacted us yesterday," the spokesman said.

"This is obviously concerning, and we have reached out to LinkedIn to understand what occurred here.

"We are waiting for their response. We have asked the website to remove the information."

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PERTH, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Australian Liberal Party Opposition Leader Sussan Ley attends a roundtable meeting with small hospitality business owners on September 30, 2025 in Perth, Australia. Ley continues to be under pressure to hold different factions of the Liberal Party together, as internal fights over climate policy and a range of other issues spill out into public. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

The website also published the numbers of former prime minister Scott Morrison, former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop and Trump's business number.

The website has not been named.

9news.com.au has contacted the prime minister's office for comment.

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TV and radio commentator to flee Victoria because of crime problem

One of Australia's best-known TV and radio commentators is fleeing Victoria in disgust because of the state's burgeoning crime problem.

After almost 40 years as an entertainment reporter across many outlets, Peter Ford has become better known than many of those whose lives and careers he has reported.

He was born in Melbourne and has lived there most of his life.

https://omny.fm/shows/neil-mitchell-asks-why/peter-ford/embed?style=cover

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Now, he's joined a growing number of people who believe the city is just too unpleasant and too dangerous.

He has told the Nine podcast Neil Mitchell Asks Why that he has given up on Melbourne and holds out little hope of rapid improvement, despite promises from the Labor government.

His own house has been targeted multiple times.

"I just don't want to live here anymore. Why? I'm just disgusted by what's happening here," Ford said.

"I've had issues, security issues at my own home. I won't go into details.

"But five break-ins this year.

"They got into the house once, but there were five attempts.

"And I have been concerned about security prior to that anyway.

"Every day you pick up the paper, there's stories about machetes, and I just can't live here anymore. "

Ford owns a suburban property and a holiday house outside Melbourne.

He will sell both and move interstate. He hasn't yet decided where.

But it is not only the theft and aggravated burglaries driving him away.

"I had a homeless person living 20 feet from my bedroom window until quite recently, and which wouldn't be so bad, except he would then scream out in the middle of the night.

"For whatever reason, my little area, which was a very lovely suburb, the word's got out that this is a great place to go and, you know, shoot up drugs or whatever.

"So the time has come for a fresh start."

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford says he is considering leaving Melbourne.

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Ford sees little hope of an improvement for what was once the Garden City.

"I don't see the problems in Melbourne turning around very quickly," he said.

"I'm not going to get political because that's not my domain.

"But I'm very saddened by every single day, by the terrible things I'm reading that are happening in Melbourne.

"And I just don't want to live here anymore."

He leaves with regret, but will continue his work in whatever city he decides to call home.

"Of course, I'm lucky to have that option. And that's what I'm going to utilise," he said.

"I will always have very fond memories of Melbourne.

"It's still a beautiful city, but I think we're beset with such problems now that cannot be turned around overnight.

"You know, maybe ten years. And I'll be reading about the improvements in my nursing home somewhere."

Ford's decision adds to Victoria's worsening image as a crime-ravaged place of danger.

It follows another high-profile case where premiership coach Mick Malthouse and his wife were victims of an aggravated burglary.

Charges have been laid, but it was reported Malthouse had an old exercise bar near his bed which he used as a weapon.

Anecdotally, that's a growing trend.

A former senior politician told me recently he is planning to buy a baseball bat as protection.

Some politicians say such nervousness is an overreaction but perceptions weigh as heavily as reality when you're locking the house at night.

Crimes are also becoming more violent.

Young offenders go armed with machetes, and retail crime has surged.

There are frightening gang fights in shopping centres.

The figures to June show a 22 per cent in aggravated burglaries, which is when burglars enter an occupied house, usually in the middle of the night.

Arguably, it is the most frightening crime.

There were 7856 cases.

Allowing an average of four people to a house, that is 32,000 victims facing the worst type of threat.

The youth crime surge continued, with 24,550 crimes by 10-17 year olds – up almost 18 per cent.

Car theft jumped by almost half, 42 per cent.

Theft from cars was up 39 per cent and retail crime up 27 per cent.

The state opposition calculates there has been a crime every 49.4 seconds.

Crime statistics do not count the victims, but there were 483,583 criminal incidents, an increase of 18.3 per cent.

That's the highest figure in 20 years.

If it is assumed there are an average of two victims per criminal incident, that is nudging one million victims in a Victorian population of almost seven million.

That means around 14 per cent of the population has been a victim in the past 12 months.

Inevitably, there will be more Victorian victims over the next year.

Ford will not be one of them.

Neil Mitchell Asks Why is a Nine podcast posted each Tuesday at 6am.