Jury finds Erin Patterson guilty of murder
Jury finds Erin Patterson guilty of murder;
Coroner finds cop who shot Indigenous teen racist;
And in tennis, Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upset over key point mishap. Erin Patterson has been found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The mother of two was found guilty of putting death cap mushrooms in a Beef Wellington that she served to her lunch guests at her Gippsland home in July 2023. Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson all died, whilst Wilkinson's husband Ian spent two months in hospital recovering. Ms Patterson watched on intently as the verdicts were read out. Patterson will return to court for a pre-sentencing hearing later this year. Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage has found the former police officer who fatally shot an Indigenous teenager in a remote community was racist, and those attitudes were reflective of an institution which tolerated racism. This comes as she handed down her final report of an inquest into the Aboriginal death in custody of Kumanjayi Walker by Constable Zachary Rolfe. Ms Armitage spoke at the town of Yuendumu, around 300 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs. "Concerning racism. There were direct evidence of clearly racist comments made by Mr Rolfe, and between Mr Rolfe and his superiors. In the lead up to Kumanjayi's death, the telephone text messages that were typed out by Mr Rolfe and some of his colleagues contained extremely racist names and references to Aboriginal people. They are too hurtful to repeat now but I have not shied away from using the exact language in my findings." The 19-year-old was shot three times at close range by then-Northern Territory Police Constable Zachary Rolfe in November 2019 - in the remote community of Yuendumu. Judge Armitage says she found that Rolfe was racist, and he worked in and was the beneficiary of, an organisation with hallmarks of institutional racism. In a statement today, the Northern Territory police force acknowledged the findings and said they recognise the enduring grief experienced by Kumanjayi Walker's family, the Yuendumu community, and many others across the Northern Territory. Listeners seeking support can contact the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders crisis support line on 13YARN - that's 13 92 76 - or Lifeline on 13 11 14. The Opposition leader has led a coalition of leaders to engage with the Chinese-Australian community to help inform policy in response to community needs and challenges. Ms Ley visited the suburb of Epping, northwest of Sydney, where there is a significant Chinese community, to hear from local leaders. The Opposition leader says she pledges to listen very carefully to the community, who shared struggles including relating to financial stress and incidences of racism. She did not specify policies in response to issues raised by the Chinese community but insists her first step is to listen closely to suggestions. "We'll take the time to get this right. It's important that we hear and we hear from everyone. And as we sat at the table today, we all acknowledge that Chinese Australians are not one homogenous group with the same views. They have different views. And as we travel to [], state of Queensland and more broadly across this country, as we will do listening all the while, look at a range of different opinions, different ideas, and different suggestions." Ms Ley also says she wishes the Prime Minister well in his upcoming trip to China, adding that she wants the relationship between Australia and China to be built on mutual respect. Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has expressed her upset over losing a key point due to the electronic line calls system. A ball that clearly landed long in her Centre Court match against Sonay Kartal was not called out on Sunday because the electronic system that replaced line judges this year was shut off. She did eventually come back to win the match 7-6 (3), 6-4 against Britain's Kartal. Chair umpire Nico Helworth called for a replay of the point at 4-all in the first set - much to the dismay of Pavlyuchenkova, who would have won the game if the proper call had been made originally. Speaking at a news conference afterwards she said Helworth probably felt like he should have taken the initiative and called it out, but was able to joke about what her reaction would have been if she lost the match.
Wimbledon organisers have apologised after the error, which resulted in three calls being missed in a single game.
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