
Australian police will testify at trial of US man linked to Wieambilla shootings
The Queensland officers will be allowed to testify in an Arizona court but will have to stick to 'neutral factual' accounts of the incident.
A US federal judge will prohibit the officers giving more personal commentary that would lead the jury to 'focus on the horror' of the shootings that claimed the lives of two police, an innocent bystander and all three suspects.
Two brothers, Nathaniel and Gareth Train, aged 46 and 47, used high-powered rifles during an ambush to kill Const Matthew Arnold, 26, and Const Rachel McCrow, 29, at the remote Queensland property in December 2022.
Donald Day Jr, 60, from Arizona, was charged a year later in the US with making threats to public figures and FBI agents, as well as with illegal firearms possession.
Day's lawyer Jon Sands early in March filed a motion to the US federal district court of Arizona seeking to prevent Queensland police officers testifying at his client's upcoming trial.
'This approach ... provides all the context necessary for the government to prove its case, without requiring the emotionally charged testimony of Australian law enforcement officials.'
US prosecutors had argued the jury needed to hear from the officers because Day shared beliefs with the Trains that police and government officials were 'devils and demons' acting to enslave humanity.
The prosecutors said this evidence would support their claims that Day was serious when he allegedly threatened to kill FBI agents, public health officials and other high-profile people.
Judge John Tuchi published a judgment on Monday allowing the Queensland officers to testify.
He found they could give evidence of Day's motive and intent when he allegedly made threats to kill in the days following the Wieambilla shooting.
'The court therefore will allow fact witness testimony as to why the constables came to be at the Trains' property that upon entering onto the property the Trains fired upon them, that the Trains killed two constables and a neighbour,' Judge Tuchi stated.
The judge placed restrictions on what the Queensland officers could say on the stand.
'The court will require neutral factual descriptions, but no characterisations — for example, witnesses may describe that Gareth or Stacey shot or killed a constable, but may not state that they ambushed or murdered the officer,' Judge Tuchi stated.
'Such terms may be factually accurate, but they also are loaded, [and invite] the jury to focus on the horror of what the Trains did — for which [Day] is not responsible'.
Nathaniel Train joined Gareth and his sibling's wife Stacey, 45, to fatally shoot neighbour Alan Dare, 58, soon after killing the two constables.
All three Trains were shot dead by specialist police officers hours later when they refused to negotiate or surrender.
Queensland officers will be able to testify about those events as well.
Queensland police had proposed to send two police officers and three forensic officers to testify in the trial scheduled to begin on April 22 in Arizona.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
White House in 'full-bore panic mode' over Epstein files and FBI 'breaking at the seams'
President Trump is reportedly furious over the botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files as The White House launches into 'full-bore panic mode' in a desperate attempt to change the subject. The Justice Department and FBI have come under fire as they scramble to end the ongoing fallout after Attorney General Pam Bondi's so-called 'communications failure' snowballed into a crisis. Trump is now fuming about the inconsistent Epstein narratives emerging from Washington D.C. as the saga continues to dominate headlines. 'This is a pretty substantial distraction,' a White House source told The Washington Post, citing 'nearly a dozen people close to the situation.' 'While many are trying to keep the unity, in many ways, the DOJ and the FBI are breaking at the seams. Many are wondering how sustainable this is going to be for all the parties involved - be it the FBI director or attorney general.' Any attempts by Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to tamp down the rampant speculation about Epstein have only fueled more conspiracy theories and negative attention. 'They completely miscalculated the fever pitch to which they built this up,' Stephen A. Saltzburg, a former Justice Department official told the Post. 'Now, they seem to be in full-bore panic mode, trying to change the subject and flailing in an effort to make sense of what makes no sense.' But Trump is refusing to make the one move that could silence his critics and reset the narrative. 'He does not want to create a bigger spectacle by firing anyone,' the source told the Post. So Bondi, Patel and FBI deputy director Dan Bongino continue their fruitless campaign to end the speculation around the death of one of the most infamous billionaire of the 21st century. The release of security footage from outside Epstein's jail cell from the night he took his own life - an attempt to stop conspiracy theories that he was murdered - was Patel and Bongino's idea, multiple sources revealed. However, the video missing three minutes of footage from that night made things worse. Both are now privately upset that they haven't been able to release more of the Epstein files with Bongino on the verge of quitting as all three play the blame game with one another. Bongino's frustration came to a head in a stunning post to X over the weekend, revealing he has discovered matters that have 'shocked me down to my core' during his time in office. He shared a cryptic message to his social media in which he vowed to uncover 'the truth' amid mounting criticism of his handling of the Epstein files. Bongino added: 'We cannot run a Republic like this. I'll never be the same after learning what I've learned. A source inside the DOJ told Daily Mail that Bongino was ready to stand down if Attorney General Pam Bondi didn't. Todd Blanche, the president's former attorney and now Bondi's second in command at the DOJ, denied any beef between his department and the FBI in a statement. 'The suggestion by anyone that there was any daylight between the FBI and DOJ leadership on this memo's composition and release is patently false,' he said. The fallout of that memo continues, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Bondi told Trump in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files. Trump on Friday denied ever being briefed by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name was in the files. 'No, I was never briefed. No,' he told reporters after he landed in Scotland to visit his golf courses. But Bondi briefed Trump during a May 2025 meeting that his name was found in the Epstein documents 'multiple times,' according to reports. Other high-profile individuals are also named in the investigation about Epstein's sex crimes. Just because the president is named in the files does not implicate him in any wrongdoing or connect him to Epstein's child sex trafficking crimes. Patel and Dan Bongino (pictured) are now privately upset that they haven't been able to release more of the Epstein files with Bongino on the verge of quitting as all three play the blame game with one another Todd Blanche (pictured), the president's former attorney and now Bondi's second in command at the DOJ, denied any beef between his department and the FBI The Wall Street Journal originally broke the news of Bondi's briefing to Trump. The Justice Department told the news outlet that Trump was made aware of the findings of the Epstein files as part of the 'routine briefing.' Bondi also allegedly acknowledged that the administration should withhold the files due to them containing images of child sexual abuse Blanche reportedly said that nothing was found in the files that would mandate an additional investigation - or even prosecution. 'As part of our routine briefing, we made the president aware of the findings,' they told the Journal. White House communications director Steven Cheung slammed the report as 'fake news' in a statement to the Daily Mail. 'The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about,' he said when the report came out earlier this week. But, try as he might, Trump cannot move on from questions about Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting charges related to sex crimes. His death, ruled to be a suicide, sparked endless conspiracy theories that questioned how he may have really died and who among the rich and powerful would have benefitted from it. The president associated with Epstein and British socialite Maxwell in the 1980s and 1990s. Epstein's right-hand woman and former lover Ghislaine Maxwell was questioned this week by Deputy Attorney General Blanche. She is serving 20 years behind bars for his involvement in Epstein's crimes. The 63-year-old made it clear earlier this month that she was willing to speak in front of Congress about the case. Maxwell appears to be angling for a pardon from the president after she 'didn't hold back' during secret questioning session. Her attorney David Oscar Markus claimed that she spoke with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about '100 different people' related to Epstein's child sex trafficking ring. 'They asked about every possible thing you could imagine – everything,' Markus told reporters. He also said Maxwell is being used as the 'scapegoat' in the entire Epstein case and has been 'treated unfairly for the last five years.' Her attorney said that they had not put in a formal request with the White House for a pardon for Maxwell following the conclusion of Day 2 of questioning. But Markus didn't rule out taking that action in the future, saying 'things are happening so quickly.' 'The president said earlier he has the power to do so, we hope he exercises that power in the right way,' he said of a potential commutation. Trump refused to rule out invoking his presidential pardon powers for Maxwell when asked on Friday morning. 'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about,' he said. But, asked again about the matter later Friday, Trump, meanwhile, declined to talk about Maxwell and said 'this is no time to be talking about pardons.' 'I really have nothing to say about it. She is being talked to by a very smart man, a very good man, Todd Blanche. And I don't know anything about the conversation. I haven't really been following it,' he said. 'A lot of people are asking me about pardons. This is no time to be talking about pardons,' he added. Meanwhile, over the course of two days, Maxwell and her attorney have spent more than nine hours answering Blanche's questions. It's not clear when or if the DOJ will release what was learned in the meetings. Markus said Maxwell is grateful to have had the chance to sit-down with Blanche. 'This was the first opportunity she's ever been given to answer questions about what happened,' Markus said. 'The truth will come out about what happened with Mr. Epstein and she's the person whose answering those questions.' A growing fringe effort to get Trump to pardon Maxwell has unfolded after the Justice Department rejected her effort to have her conviction on child sex trafficking charges thrown out. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. She was convicted in 2021 on five counts related to sex trafficking and conspiracy. It's unclear what she can reveal that isn't already public and the closed-door meeting is fueling skepticism over the handling of the Epstein files review. Maxwell is also on the books to testify before Congress from prison on August 11.


The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Paedo kidnapped me & kept me prisoner for months – I was tied to a bed, beaten & raped until tip-off saved me
AGED 13, Jessyca Mullenberg was abducted by a man who had been secretly abusing her for years. Now, 30 years after a TV show led to her rescue from his evil clutches, Jessyca, 43, reveals what happened during her months in captivity – and the lasting impact of her ordeal. 6 6 6 Waking up, 13-year-old Jessyca Mullenberg looked down and was gripped with fear. 'I realised I was tied to the front seat of the car by brown rope,' she remembers. 'I was terrified.' She'd been abducted by Steven Oliver, a 39-year-old paedophile obsessed with Jessyca and who had been abusing her for years before kidnapping her. Over the next 105 days, Jessyca would be subjected to multiple rapes, beatings and brainwashing. The nightmare would only come to an end when the FBI discovered her whereabouts after a tip-off. Today, 30 years on from finding herself at the centre of a kidnapping story that rocked America, Jessyca is a mum-of-two and a sexual abuse awareness advocate. She has dedicated herself to stopping any child going through what she did. Jessyca was eight years old when unmarried Oliver, then 34, came into her life. He was a neighbour in the small town of Altoona, Wisconsin, where she lived with her mother Monica and stepfather Jake. Oliver worked as a teaching assistant at her school and was the father of one of her classmates, Ryan. 'Oliver would invite me, my brothers and all the neighbourhood kids to his house to play football,' she says. 'Almost immediately, he started grooming me, first by making me sit on his lap.' He would make up a reason why Jessyca was in trouble and would tell her to go and stand in his kitchen, while everyone was still outside. 'In the kitchen, he'd touch my breasts and bottom, and get me to touch him. If I did it wrong, he'd punch me,' she says. Over the coming months, the abuse in the kitchen escalated to forced oral sex and rape. 'I was eight, so I had no idea what he was doing to me,' explains Jessyca. 'He said if I told anyone, he'd kill my brothers and the rest of my family. I was so young that I totally believed him.' In the summer of 1993, after two years of abuse, Jessyca's family moved 100 miles across state because her stepfather had a new job. 'I was so relieved, because I thought the abuse would stop,' she says. But Oliver was determined not to lose his grip on his young victim, so he began renting a trailer with Ryan close to her father's home – her parents had split when she was four and her father lived around 100 miles from Jessyca's new home. 'I stayed with my dad every weekend, and couldn't believe it the first time I visited and saw Oliver. His trailer was right across the road. I felt sick knowing he was so determined not to let me go.' Oliver, still working as a teacher's aide, found a new way to be alone with Jessyca, in order to continue abusing her. 'He told all the parents in my dad's neighbourhood he'd been selected by a publishing company to start a weekly writing workshop for kids. We'd all submit poems and short stories, we even did a play,' recalls Jessyca. 'He'd single us out for one-to-one tuition, and mine was always longer, so the abuse just continued without anyone knowing. I was so scared of him.' In September 1995, when Jessyca was 13 and she'd been going to the 'workshop' for a few months, Oliver told her that one of her short stories had been chosen for publication, and they needed to travel 200 miles for a meeting at the publishing company's office. She says her father agreed to the trip, unaware he was handing his daughter over to her abuser. 'Even with everything that had been going on, I still believed the trip was real. Why would I not? Oliver had even fooled the adults,' she says. They left early in the morning, and Jessyca fell asleep, but when she woke up and discovered she was restrained, she realised there was no meeting – she'd been kidnapped. Oliver used the journey to ensure she memorised their cover story. 'He told me he was my father 'Dave Johnson', and I was his daughter 'Cindy', and we were moving to start over our lives after my brother and mother had died in a car accident.' Oliver repeatedly told her what he'd do to her and her family if she tried to alert anyone to the kidnapping. 'We stopped on a bridge to take a break,' remembers Jessyca. 'He threw a rock over the bridge and told me that what happened to the rock would happen to my lifeless body if I said anything to anyone or tried to get away from him.' After a nine-hour drive, they arrived at Kansas City airport in Missouri, where Oliver forced Jessyca on to a plane to Houston at knifepoint. 'He held a pocket knife to my back and told me that if I screamed or shouted, he would kill me and then kill my family,' says Jessyca. 'He wouldn't have been able to do this today with all the security checks, but back then you could get a ticket under any name and didn't need proof of identity.' Once they landed, Oliver found them a cheap hotel to stay in, and he went about changing Jessyca's appearance so she wouldn't be recognised. 6 6 'He cut my hair short and dyed it from blonde to brunette,' she remembers. 'He also went clothes shopping and came back with lots of baggy clothes, which made me look like a boy.' After two days, they moved to another hotel near Houston airport, and as they checked in, Oliver wasted no time telling staff his cover story about the fatal car accident and that they were a father and daughter down on their luck. The hotel staff took pity and asked if he'd be interested in a vacant position as a painter and decorator for the hotel. Agents kept asking me if I was Jessyca Mullenberg, but by then, that name didn't mean anything to me. Jessyca after being freed Oliver jumped at the opportunity, particularly because the position included free accommodation in a block of old, abandoned rooms that were separate from the rest of the hotel. Jessyca's heart sank as Oliver marched her towards one of the small, windowless rooms. 'I was locked inside day and night, there was no way to escape. We were in a part of the hotel where no one else was staying, so no one would hear me banging on the door or shouting,' she remembers. When Oliver got back at night, he'd rape her, as well as hit her and tie her to the bed. In the first week of her captivity, Jessyca tried to call her home using the phone in the room while Oliver was working, but the calls never connected. 'It was an old rotary phone, and he'd switched all the numbers around, so I just kept dialling wrong numbers. 'I started to believe that my old life was slipping away, and I couldn't even remember my home number,' she says. Oliver tormented Jessyca psychologically, too, repeatedly telling her that her parents had given up searching for her. But in fact, her desperate family had never stopped looking, and when they were told by the FBI that Oliver might have taken her out of the state, they printed thousands of missing person posters that were then attached to trucks travelling nationwide, in the hope someone might recognise her. In the end, it was an episode of prime-time TV show America's Most Wanted that would save Jessyca from Oliver's abuse. The show had featured her abduction earlier that year, but a repeat episode aired on the evening of December 28, 1995. One of the hotel staff was watching at home and recognised Oliver as the maintenance man staying in the hotel with the young girl he claimed was his daughter. The next morning, FBI stormed the hotel room, arrested Oliver and took Jessyca to safety. By that point, Oliver had completely brainwashed her. 'Agents kept asking me if I was Jessyca Mullenberg, but by then, that name didn't mean anything to me.' Dr Darrel Turner is a forensic psychologist who specialises in predatory behaviour and has consulted for the FBI. He says: 'The more an offender can diminish the child's frame of reference of what's normal and what's not, the more impact they will have on the victim and their ability to appreciate what's happening to them.' Darrel adds: 'It's similar to the abductions of Jaycee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart, who were also just children when they were removed from their family homes and isolated so that the perpetrators could exploit the power differential that exists and exert their terrible influence. "This and the trauma Jessyca had experienced explains her lack of memory.' After hours of talking and them showing photos of my family, I finally remembered what my real name was. Jessyca after being freed 'After hours of talking and them showing photos of my family, I finally remembered what my real name was,' recalls Jessyca. By the time her mother's plane had touched down in Houston the following afternoon, she was beginning to comprehend just what had happened to her during those 105 days in Oliver's clutches. 'It's pure ecstasy,' said her mother Monica when the pair were reunited at the airport. 'We waited so long for the nightmare to be done. We've waited for the miracle to happen.' Bravely, Jessyca agreed to testify at Oliver's trial in 1996, and gave a graphic account of what had happened to her in the time she'd been kept captive. Oliver was sentenced to 40 years in prison for kidnapping and interstate transportation of a minor for illegal sexual purposes. He's still in jail to this day, aged 68. Unfortunately, Jessyca's trauma didn't end with Oliver's imprisonment, and as well as the mental scars he'd inflicted, there were physical ones. 'In my early 20s, I needed jaw surgery, because he had hit me so hard in the face, so many times, that my bones began to deteriorate, making it very hard to talk or eat, and I was suffering from non-stop headaches every day,' she says. Jessyca also suffers from severe PTSD and experiences flashbacks of her ordeal. 'I have a fear of flying after being forced to board the plane in Kansas City,' she says. 'I also can't stand the smell of cigarettes or coffee, because he constantly smelled of those things.' However, Jessyca's determination not to let Oliver hold any further power over her has been a constant in her life since. She went on to study at college and graduated with a degree in psychology, criminal justice and law enforcement. And then, in 2018, she was given the prestigious Hope Award by the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. Jessyca is now married to tech manager Curt, 48, and despite fears she may not be able to conceive due to the unrelenting sexual assaults she suffered at the hands of Oliver, she defied the odds and has two children of her own. However, as she explains, being a mum can also bring its own terrors. 'When they were growing up, I was waiting for my five-year-old daughter at the school bus stop, but she never got off and the bus driver didn't see her get on. "I called my husband, panicking, and rushed to the school in tears. "Thankfully, she was at a school event and there had been a misunderstanding about what time she'd be home, but it was a harrowing experience for me.' But Jessyca is determined that Oliver won't take any more from her life than he has already and is passionate about continuing her advocacy work. 'I speak about what I went through to educate people about the signs of abuse, so it can be stopped early and perpetrators can be caught. "I simply won't let Oliver win. I want to devote my life to preventing another little boy or girl from going through the hell that I did.' 6


Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Millions of Americans' personal data stolen in data heist
Hackers have gained access to hundreds of thousands of people's personal data after Allianz Life Insurance Company was breached. Minneapolis-based Allianz Life, a subsidiary of Munich, Germany-based Allianz SE, said the data breach affected the majority of its 1.4 million customers. The data heist occurred on July 16 when a 'malicious threat actor' gained access to a third-party, cloud-based system. It was discovered the following day. 'The threat actor was able to obtain personally identifiable data related to the majority of Allianz Life's customers, financial professionals, and select Allianz Life employees, using a social engineering technique,' Allianz Life said in a statement. 'We took immediate action to contain and mitigate the issue and notified the FBI.' The insurance giant said it notified the FBI and, based on its ongoing investigation, that there is no evidence the Allianz Life network or other company systems were accessed, including their policy administration system — just the third-party platform. The insurance giant's filing with Maine's attorney general did not indicate the number of customers affected. In the case of data breaches, a 'social engineering technique' usually involves using trickery to gain access.