Australian woman Erin Patterson is convicted of 3 murders for poisoning her in-laws with mushrooms
The jury in the Supreme Court trial in Victoria state returned a verdict after six days of deliberations, following a nine-week trial that gripped Australia. Patterson faces life in prison and will be sentenced later, but a date for the hearing hasn't yet been scheduled.
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32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ex-broker's $68k fraud of major bank
A former financial broker gained $68,000 in commissions by forging tax accountant letters for people who were not entitled to business loans for cars through a major Aussie bank, a court has been told. Charleen Henegan's conduct was undone by her own hand, after she wrote a letter to Macquarie Bank admitting to creating the letters on 18 occasions, allowing several people to obtain business loans they were not entitled to. Macquarie Bank paid out $729,000 as a result, Brisbane District Court was told. In lieu of a jail term, Henegan walked from court on Tuesday with an 18-month suspended sentence, after pleading guilty to a single charge of fraud - dishonestly inducing a person to act. District Court Judge Deborah Richards noted an irony at the heart of Henegan's offending, in that she committed the offence out of significant 'financial pressure' at the time, yet had paid the 'ultimate price … (of) financial ruin'. 'You've lost your finance brokerage, you won't be licensed again,' Judge Richards said. 'There's been a very heavy financial penalty that you've paid for this offending, for not particularly significant reward.' The court was told Henegan's co-accused was a car dealer who set about obtaining business loans from Macquarie Leasing – a subsidiary of the bank – for his prospective customers. In order to secure the business loans, the co-accused inflated the value of the vehicles through a combination of falsifying tax invoices, winding back odometers and instructing 'customers to create ABN numbers' for their loan applications. Henegan became involved as a passive financial broker for these applications, crown prosecutor Rhys Byrne said. 'As part of a business loan application, Macquarie Leasing usually requires a letter from an accountant to confirm the car was being used for business purposes,' Mr Byrne said. Between December 2018 and April 2019, Henegan forged accountant letters on 18 occasions, falsely asserting customers were entitled to a business loan. Mr Byrne said Henegan received $68,000 in brokerage commission as a result. An investigation began in 2019 over the irregularities. Henegan admitted to Macquarie Leasing in a letter that she had used old account letter templates to forge the documents and that she was under financial pressure at the time, Mr Byrne said. Justice Richards questioned this, saying: 'She could have just said no'. She also noted Henegan was not 'entirely ignorant' of what she was doing, saying police found emails on her computer with customer pay slips, demonstrating they were not self-employed or sole traders. 'There was also an email found on your computer from the car company telling you exactly what these false letters should say … that the vehicles would be used predominantly for business … and the tax was up to date,' Judge Richards said. Henegan's barrister Evan O'Hanlon-Rose said the offending was an 'uncharacteristic aberration' in the life of his otherwise law-abiding client. 'The combination of all that was going on in her life at the time led to an impairment of judgment,' he said. The court was told Henegan's co-accused – who was described as the 'driver' of the offending – was sentenced to two years' jail, suspended after 140 days in pre-sentence custody. Mr O'Hanlon-Rose said Henegan's offending was not as serious as the co-accused's, due to him being involved in 24 loans that resulted in Macquarie Bank paying out just over $1m. Henegan was subjected to significant financial and personal pressure at the time due to the combination of writing the letters, her own business experiencing problems and the death of a family member weighing on her. Several references attested to Henegan's good character. She is currently the primary financial and practical carer for her husband, who is awaiting open heart surgery following a heart attack in 2022, Mr O'Hanlon-Rose said. 'She is a woman who has been self-reliant from a very early age,' Mr O'Hanlon-Rose said. 'She's worked hard to achieve success in the financial services industry and her poor decision making has destroyed that work.' Judge Richards took into account Henegan's significant remorse and 'shame', imposing an 18-month sentence, suspended immediately for three years. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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80-year-old man accused of beating wife, 78, to death with a hammer after argument over his doctor
An 80-year-old man is behind bars after he allegedly killed his wife with a hammer inside their Maryland home. Vivian Stewart Nation was arrested on first-degree murder charges in the death of 78-year-old Beverly Rose Fletcher. Police responded to the couple's home at the Leisure World senior community in Montgomery County, Maryland, around 6 p.m. on Saturday to find Fletcher unresponsive. A hammer was still pressed against her neck and a bloodied knife and screwdriver were found nearby, according to court documents obtained by The Washington Post. Authorities said Fletcher had suffered multiple stab wounds and there were signs of blunt force trauma. Nation, who had blood on him at the scene, was taken in for questioning where he reportedly told detectives the couple had argued over an issue with his doctor before he pushed his wife to the ground. 'He then got on top of her and pushed a hammer against her throat, pressing the hammer down with both hands,' according to the court documents. Nation is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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Wild footage surfaces before lion attack
Days after a woman lost her arm in a shocking lion attack at a Queensland zoo, frightening footage has resurfaced of a staff member snuggling up to a lion behind a fence. Emergency services were called to Darling Downs Zoo near Toowoomba about 8.30am Sunday after reports a lioness had attacked a woman. The woman, who was later identified as the sister of co-owner Stephanie Robinson, was transported to hospital, where she remains in a stable condition. 'She has lost her arm,' the zoo's statement read online. 'She is not an employee, a keeper or a zoo visitor.' 'It has still not been possible to interview her to establish what led to this tragic incident. Years before the attack, footage from a 7News report in 2023 showed a staff member getting close and cuddly with a lion through a fence. The short clip showed the woman leaning over to the lion and kissing its face through the fence. Lifting her hand, the staff member moved to scratch its face before the lion snapped its head upwards and bared its teeth. A 7News report suggests the video was of Stephanie Robinson, who co-founded the zoo alongside her husband Steve. The pair began breeding lions in 2017 and opened Darling Downs Zoo in 2005, specialising in captive husbandry and breeding of critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable species. Mr Robinson spoke to reporters on Tuesday, and revealed his sister-in-law had 20 years' experience with lions, and was treated at the scene by one of the zoo's keepers. 'She was the first responder, in terms of first aid to the incident,' he said on Tuesday morning. 'She did save her life. She actually took my wife's leather belt off and applied a tourniquet very quickly.' He told reporters it was too soon to investigate the incident, as his sister-in-law was still recovering from her surgery and was 'not terribly lucid'. 'We haven't really pressed for answers as to what she was doing and how this happened,' he said. He said in the zoo's 20-year history, 'nothing like this has ever happened before'. 'We've got theories but until we get fact, I'm not going to be speculating or running with any what ifs or maybes or anything like that,' he said. 'We're still processing in our minds and coming to grips with not just what happened but what happens next.' Mr Robinson said the life of the 'lovely lady' had been 'altered' by the incident. 'Emotionally, both her and my wife are on a rollercoaster,' he said. On Monday evening, the zoo confirmed on social media it would re-open its doors on Tuesday 'with a full program of free photo ops, educational talks and paid Encounters available'. The zoo confirmed the woman was 'attacked by a lioness', and clarified she was 'not in (its) enclosure' when the incident occurred. '(The lioness) was not hungry, skinny, taunted or tortured – it is a lion,' the statement read. 'It comes from a long line of captive born lions in Australia but it is still a lion – not a pet.' The zoo also confirmed it 'would not be put down or punished in any way'. 'A full investigation has been carried out by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland,' the statement read.
