Former Tasmanian police officer extradited from Queensland to face historical sexual abuse charges in Hobart
A former Tasmanian police officer has been extradited from Queensland for alleged historical sexual abuse offences involving multiple victim-survivors.
The 84-year-old man will appear in Hobart Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of three counts of persistent sexual abuse of a child and three counts of indecent assault.
Police allege the abuse occurred between 1963 and 1982 at a time when the man held leadership positions within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tasmania.
Police say the man was also a Tasmania police officer between 1974 and 1977.
Tasmania police say the man was investigated through Taskforce Artemis, a specialist police team looking into child abuse allegations, set up after the Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry.
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ABC News
18 minutes ago
- ABC News
The evidence laid before the jury in Erin Patterson's murder trial
As they retire to consider their verdicts, the jurors in Erin Patterson's triple-murder trial have no shortage of evidence to reflect upon. More than 50 witnesses have given testimony and the hearings have stretched for nine weeks. Here are the people and places at the heart of the trial. The lunch guests The trial centres on a lunch hosted by Erin at her Leongatha home in Victoria's South Gippsland region on July 29, 2023. Erin hosted four people that day: her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian. Erin's estranged husband Simon Patterson was also invited, but turned down the offer. Don, Gail and Heather all died from death cap mushroom poisoning after the beef Wellington lunch, while Ian survived after weeks in hospital. Prosecutors have alleged that Erin deliberately laced the meal with death caps. But the 50-year-old has maintained her innocence, telling the court that foraged mushrooms made their way into the meal by mistake. Family tensions in months leading up to lunch Prosecutors did not allege a specific motive for Ms Patterson to murder three relatives and attempt to murder a fourth. But they did take the jury through what they alleged was growing anger and resentment the accused felt towards the Pattersons. The court heard that by late 2022, there was a disagreement between Ms Patterson and her estranged husband over finances, including school and doctor's fees for their children. At one point, the court heard Erin had tried to bring in her in-laws — Don and Gail Patterson — to help mediate the situation. The prosecution highlighted to the jury Facebook messages in which Ms Patterson used strong language to express frustration with her parents-in-law about their reluctance to get involved in their financial dispute. Ms Patterson told the court while she was feeling hurt, frustrated and "a little bit desperate", her relationship with her in-laws had remained positive and she was ashamed of the disrespectful language she had used while venting to her Facebook friends. Her defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC accused the prosecution of highlighting a handful of messages from a brief episode of tension, producing a distorted impression. "It was such a polite, kind and good relationship that these messages stand out, but they're not consistent with the whole of the relationship," Mr Mandy said. Ms Patterson said a desire to build a stronger relationship had motivated her to invite her in-laws to lunch. The evidence on foraged mushrooms In the years leading up to the lunch, Erin's life was largely based in the towns of Leongatha and Korumburra. The two South Gippsland communities sit pretty close to one another, each with populations of a few thousand people. It was in this region that Erin Patterson told the court she began foraging mushrooms during Victoria's COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. Eventually, she said she felt she had gathered enough knowledge to taste some of the mushrooms she had foraged during walks near the two towns. "They tasted good and I didn't get sick," she said. Her defence lawyer said this "burgeoning" interest in foraging had led Erin to investigate whether the notorious death cap mushroom species grew in her area in May 2022. The court heard she turned to a website called iNaturalist, where users share observations from nature to a community map. When Erin visited the site in 2022, no death caps were flagged in the South Gippsland area. But in the months before her lunch, two sightings were posted to iNaturalist at Loch and Outtrim. The prosecution alleged mobile phone data supported the claim that Erin travelled to Loch and Outtrim shortly after death caps were identified there to deliberately forage the deadly species. But her defence team raised questions over the accuracy of the mobile phone tower data being used by the prosecution to reach those conclusions. They told the jury Erin had been foraging at places like the Korumburra Botanic Gardens in the lead-up to the lunch, but not at Loch and Outtrim. The search for Asian grocer mushrooms As well as foraging mushrooms before the lunch, Erin said she had bought dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne's south-east. Erin told the court the grocer-bought mushrooms were ultimately mixed up with foraged mushrooms in a plastic container in her Leongatha pantry. She said it was this container of mixed mushrooms she later drew upon to remedy a "bland" mushroom paste for the beef Wellington lunch — with disastrous consequences. The court heard that after the lunch guests fell fatally ill, Erin was unable to identify the store to health officials, who were urgently chasing up information about potential death caps in circulation. Instead she offered a number of suburbs to those questioning her, variously identifying Oakleigh, Clayton, Mount Waverley or Glen Waverley. A council worker began visiting Asian-style grocery stores in the area. However, their efforts failed to find any product matching Erin's description and the health department concluded its investigation. Erin rejected the prosecution claim that the story about an Asian grocer was a lie created by her as part of her cover-up after the lunch. Conflicting evidence on plates at lunch The day of the lunch, Erin finalised the special meal of individually parcelled beef Wellingtons for her guests. She rejected a prosecution claim that deviations to the recipe were made to ensure only her guests were served meals laced with deadly mushrooms. Erin told the court she and her guests ate from plates that may have been black, white, and red on top and black underneath and nobody was given any one particular plate. That account given to the court differs from that of surviving lunch guest Ian Wilkinson, who told the trial the guests had eaten from grey plates, while Erin had eaten from a smaller, orange-coloured plate. Ian also told the court that Erin had informed her guests she had been diagnosed with cancer and was worried about how to tell her children. Erin disputed that she had told her relatives a cancer diagnosis had been made, but agreed she had lied about possibly needing cancer treatment in the future. She told the court she did not have cancer and had told the lie to conceal private plans to have gastric-bypass surgery. "I was really embarrassed, I was ashamed of the fact that I didn't have control over my body or what I ate, I was ashamed of that … I didn't want to tell anybody, but I shouldn't have lied to them," she said. Guests revealed to have suffered from death cap poisoning In the days after the lunch, the guests began falling ill. Erin told the court this included her, but also that she had binge eaten some cake and vomited shortly after her guests had left. Erin Patterson's Leongatha home, where she hosted the lunch. ( ABC News ) Ultimately, Erin and the four guests were transferred to hospitals in Melbourne, where Gail, Don and Heather later died. Ian survived after a weeks-long stay in intensive care. Doctors have told the court the medical tests which revealed signs of death cap poisoning in the four lunch guests did not show the same markers for Erin. The prosecution alleged Erin had faked her illness as part of her cover-up — a claim rejected by her lawyer, who said there were many valid reasons why she may not have fallen as ill as her guests. On Wednesday, having already been discharged from hospital in Melbourne, Erin made a trip to the local tip. This is where she dumped a food dehydrator. Erin told the court she'd taken the dehydrator to the tip because she was aware by that point that death cap mushrooms were the suspected source of poisoning in the meal, and she had been using the appliance to dehydrate foraged mushrooms. But she refuted the prosecution's suggestion that she had knowingly dehydrated toxic mushrooms. Police begin investigating A week after the lunch, homicide detectives visited Erin at her Leongatha home and told her they were investigating the deadly lunch. In the August 5 search, they seized a number of devices, including a mobile phone which the court heard Erin had performed three factory resets on. One of these was carried out on the day of the search, which came days after Erin said Simon had accused her of poisoning his parents with mushrooms prepared in her dehydrator. "I knew that there were photos in there of mushrooms and the dehydrator and I just panicked and didn't want them [police] to see them," Erin told the court. Hours after the police search, Erin ran the third factory reset remotely, as the phone sat in a police station in Melbourne. "It was really stupid, but I thought I wonder if they've been silly enough to leave it connected to the internet and so I hit factory reset to see what happened, and it did," she said. Detectives returned months later, when they ran a second search of her home, and ultimately laid murder and attempted murder charges against Ms Patterson in November. More than 18 months later, after jurors had heard weeks of evidence in a Gippsland court, Justice Christopher Beale gave his final directions before they retired to consider the verdicts. "You are the only ones in this court who can make a decision about these facts," he told the jury. The jury continues to deliberate. Credits:
ABC News
32 minutes ago
- ABC News
Why weren't Cassius Turvey and Cleveland Dodd safe in Western Australia?
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide and self-harm and will be distressing for some readers. In Western Australia, two First Nations families are on parallel tracks, seeking justice for their teenage sons taken from them before their time. On the surface, there are few similarities between the deaths of Cassius Turvey and Cleveland Dodd, beyond them being Aboriginal, living in Perth, and their tragic deaths in their teens. But the pain their families are left with is the same. Against the natural order of things, two mothers have buried their sons. Two boys who should have been safe and protected — but weren't. In 2022, 15-year-old Cassius Turvey was walking home from school when he was "hunted" and viciously attacked by a gang of men. He died in hospital 10 days later from his injuries. He wasn't safe to walk home in daylight in the eastern suburbs of Perth. He wasn't safe in his community. Last week, Cassius Turvey's murderers were sentenced to life in prison. On the steps of the courthouse after the sentencing, his mother, Mechelle Turvey, proclaimed it was "justice". "There are no words that can fully capture the devastation of losing someone you love to violence," she said. "Cassius was not just part of my life, he was my future. "I will never see him grow older, never hear his voice again, never feel the comfort of his embrace … no parent should have to visit the grave of an innocent 15-year-old child who did nothing wrong." In 2023, 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd was a child being held in Casuarina Prison, an adult detention centre, albeit in the "juvenile wing". He attempted to end his own life using a hanging point in his cell and died in hospital a week later. The first child in Western Australia to die in custody. He wasn't safe under the watch of the state. He wasn't safe from known risks to his life. This week, the inquest into Cleveland Dodd's death will hear closing arguments. There is hope his death will lead to reforms to make other children in detention safer. In a statement, Cleveland's mother, Nadene Dodd, told the inquest she thought her son would be "safe" in detention. "I thought my son was safe … and that he would leave detention rehabilitated … better, not worse off," she said in a statement. "My son didn't deserve to be treated the way that he was treated. My son didn't deserve to die." It raises the question: where are First Nations children safe? Where can they be allowed to grow up — and do all that comes with it? To learn, to make mistakes, to grow? Where is the safe place for them? In recent years, across the country, a slew of new legislation has been introduced by governments to get "tough on crime". These laws have often been spurred on by high-profile crimes and calls from the community and commentators for governments to take action to "protect" the community. These include "adult-crime, adult time" laws in Queensland, "post and boast" laws in New South Wales and soon Victoria, enhanced stop and search powers in Victoria, and new "street gang" laws proposed in South Australia. These laws will all target young people, with a view to stopping criminal activity from becoming ingrained behaviour, and have all been designed with "community safety" in mind. But that "safety" comes with unintended consequences, the brunt of which is usually borne by Indigenous communities. Over-policing of Indigenous communities leads to more Indigenous people in prisons, where they are less likely to be bailed, disproportionately locked up and over-represented among deaths in custody. But there is no guarantee these laws will have the desired effect. In fact, research shows that over-policing of young people leads to poorer outcomes, an increased likelihood of being on remand and further contact with the justice system. It can be the first domino to fall in what can lead to adult offending, jail time and all of the well-documented risks that come with being Aboriginal in prison. Risks that took Cleveland Dodd's life, and almost 600 other First Nations people since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991. The coronial inquest into Cleveland Dodd's death will make findings on the factors and events leading up to his death in 2023 and whether there were institutional failings. This will include looking at whether the juvenile wing, Unit 18, was a safe place to house young people, and the numerous warnings provided about conditions inside it. Removing hanging points from prisons was a recommendation of the royal commission 35 years ago, but many still remain and in some cases, as reported by The Guardian last month, the same hanging points have been used in multiple suicides in prison. But there have been no reactive law changes to make children in prisons safer following Cleveland's death. No snap legislation to make the conditions he died in illegal, and Unit 18 remains open with children kept in detention alongside adults, despite calls for the unit to close immediately. It is hard to imagine many reasons why the first child to die in detention in WA would not mark a turning point, a moment in which the state government would say "never again". Cleveland's death has largely been met with silence by legislators. The issue of racism has been threaded through Cassius Turvey's murder, after his attackers used racist slurs as they "hunted" Cassius and his friends down. At the time, the police commissioner, Col Blanch, was quick to dismiss notions of the attack being racially motivated, saying Cassius was "in the wrong place at the wrong time". But in the community, the fear was real; it was palpable. Mothers knew their children weren't safe to be visibly blak and walking through their suburbs. After Cassius's killers were sentenced, Mechelle Turvey said her son had been "racially vilified". "That's the truth. If anyone thinks their actions were not racially motivated, many Australians would be left scratching their head," she said. The West Australian Supreme Court did not prosecute whether Cassius had been the victim of a racially motivated attack, but Justice Quinlan said the use of racist slurs "rippled" throughout the community and created "justifiable fear". "It's no surprise … that the kids would think they were being targeted because they were Aboriginal, and the attack would create justifiable fear for them and for the broader community that this was a racially motivated attack," he said. "The fear is real and legitimate. You are responsible for that fear." Despite this, there has been no "tough on crime" response — no move by legislators to toughen up laws against racial attacks, refuse bail to offenders or increase police powers to address racially motivated crimes. The need for Indigenous communities to feel safe has not spurred on reactive legislation that could see harsher punishment for using racist slurs, despite hate speech being a known precursor to racially motivated violence. The safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is too often compromised by members of parliament needing to be seen to be doing their best to "protect the community" — despite the numerous studies and experts telling them what the consequences for First Nations people will be. After the justice processes for Cassius and Cleveland have concluded and their families left to grieve away from the spotlight, the question will remain: will anything be done to protect Indigenous kids from the communities that harm them?
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
The jury is deliberating on the fate of Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Here's a recap of the trial
Warning: This story contains details of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Seven weeks after it began, the prosecution and the defence have rested their cases in the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Now the jury has retired to consider their verdict. Here's a recap of the trial and what to expect. His trial began seven weeks ago on May 12. Mr Combs was arrested in New York in September and was kept behind bars until his trial after being denied bail three times. The jury is now deliberating on their verdict. This is done in secret. The 12 jurors must decide whether the prosecution — the legal team trying to convict Mr Combs — proved all elements of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. That means the evidence must be so clear that a reasonable person would have no doubt about the defendant's guilt. All 12 jurors must agree to convict on each count. He is defending five charges in this criminal trial: The racketeering count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Sex trafficking has a maximum of 15 years in prison, while the prostitution charge's longest jail term is 10 years. Mr Combs pleaded guilty to all five charges. Racketeering generally refers to the illegal activity of a criminal organisation — think a crime gang or a dodgy business. In this case, the prosecution is accusing Mr Combs of using his business, the Combs Enterprise, to violently coerce and blackmail women to perform sex acts, among other criminal acts. The US law Mr Combs is charged with breaking was created in the 70s and was aimed at taking down crime gangs. Called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the idea was to tie the leader of a gang to the crimes of those working under them. It's unusual for the law to apply in a case about sex trafficking, legal experts told Reuters. But former US prosecutor Bobby Taghavi said it allowed the prosecution to paint a more compelling picture of Mr Combs's alleged criminal activity. "RICO allows you to bring in the bigger picture," Mr Taghavi said. "[That includes] his lifestyle, his power, his anger issues the way people had to obey him — the 360-degree view of his conduct." It puts the focus not on individual acts, but on a broader alleged system of abuse. And it's not the first time this law has been used in a sex trafficking case. R Kelly was convicted for racketeering and sex trafficking in 2022, when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The prosecution called a total of 34 witnesses to testify in court. But there were two main witnesses — both being former girlfriends of Mr Combs: Ms Ventura was questioned in the witness box for four days while heavily pregnant with her third child. She was in a relationship with Mr Combs from 2007 to 2018. The singer, who waived her rights to privacy, told the court she felt pressured to engage in hundreds of marathon sexual encounters known as "freak-offs". "[A freak-off] basically entails the hiring of an escort and setting up this experience so that I could perform for Sean," she said. "The performance involved … Sean being able to watch me with the other person and direct us with what we were doing sexually." Ms Ventura said the encounters continued because, "I just didn't feel like I had much of a choice". When asked what she meant, Ms Ventura said she feared both blackmail and physical violence. The next day, Ms Ventura said she felt "trapped" by Mr Combs. She said Mr Combs threatened to release explicit videos from the freak-offs when he got angry or upset with her. She also detailed multiple times when she said Mr Combs had been violent towards her and her friends. This included allegations of Mr Combs hitting one of her friend's head with a hammer and threatening to blow up Kid Cudi's car after learning Ms Ventura was dating the rapper. She also detailed multiple times Mr Combs attacked her, including an assault in a Los Angeles hotel — footage of which was leaked to US broadcaster CNN. Ms Ventura said Mr Combs raped her on her living room floor after they broke up in 2018. 'Jane' was questioned for six days. She was frequently with Mr Combs from 2021 until his arrest in September last year. Jane told the court about the sexual performances she labelled "hotel nights", saying that she was putting them into perspective after beginning therapy three months ago. She recounted how Mr Combs pushed her to continue having sex with men while he watched and ignored her signals to stop. If you need help immediately call emergency services on triple-0 The longest sessions lasted three-and-a-half days, while most went on for about 24 to 30 hours. She said she repeatedly told Mr Combs she didn't want to have sex with other men — pleading with him, "I'm not an animal. I need a break" — but that he kept pressuring her. Jane said she felt "obligated" in part because he paid her rent. She wiped away tears as she recounted the many ill effects of hotel nights, including constant back pain, frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and soreness in her genitals and pelvic areas. In an audio recording of one of the encounters, Jane asked a man to wear a condom during her first hotel night, but Mr Combs "guilt tripped me out of it", she said. "It wasn't something he wanted to see," she said. She told the court that last year Mr Combs put her in a chokehold, punched her in the face and forced her into an encounter with a sex worker. Rapper Kid Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, was among the prosecution's witnesses. He told the court about several incidents, including that he was sure the accused was behind the firebombing of his car. Mr Mescudi said his car was damaged by fire while parked in his driveway and a Molotov cocktail was found on the passenger seat. Earlier in the trial, Ms Ventura said Mr Combs threatened to blow up Mr Mescudi's car after discovering the pair were dating. Eddy Garcia, a security guard at the hotel where Mr Combs assaulted Ms Ventura, was called to testify. He told the court Mr Combs gave him a bag of $US100,000 ($152,000) in cash for what he thought was the only copy of surveillance footage of him attacking Ms Ventura. Mr Garcia signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement, shown in court, that required he pay $US1 million if he breached the deal. At the time he said he was making $US10.50 an hour. A former personal assistant to Mr Combs testified under a pseudonym. Going by the name of "Mia", the woman worked for Mr Combs for eight years, telling the court about escalating sexual assaults. She said Mr Combs put his hand up her dress and forcibly kissed her at his 40th birthday party in 2009. Mia said Mr Combs forced her to perform oral sex while she helped him pack for a trip She said he raped her in guest quarters at his Los Angeles home in 2010 after climbing into her bed. "I couldn't tell him 'no' about anything," Mia said, telling jurors she felt "terrified and confused and ashamed and scared" when Combs raped her. The assaults, she said, were unpredictable: "always random, sporadic, so oddly spaced out where I would think they would never happen again". She said if she hadn't been called to testify, "I was going to die with this. I didn't want anyone to know ever". His lawyers said her claims were false. Towards the end of the trial, jurors were shown clips from videos described by the prosecution as "explicit". These clips were shown only to the jurors and parties of the trial because of their graphic nature. Jurors listened to the clips with headphones and watched the video on screens that were not visible to the many spectators in the courtroom. Prosecutors said the events were proof of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. They argued that Mr Combs coerced his employees, associates and even his girlfriends to recruit and arrange flights for sex workers. And they said his workers obtained drugs, stocked hotel rooms with baby oil, lubricant, condoms, candles and liquor and delivered cash. One of Mr Combs's lawyers said the videos were "powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion". After the prosecution rested its case, Mr Combs was asked to confirm that he was not going to testify. Mr Combs said he "thoroughly" discussed the matter with his lawyers before deciding not to put himself forward for cross-examination. "That is my decision, your honour," he said. Shortly after this, the defence presented its case, which took less than an hour. Lawyers for Mr Combs acknowledged he was occasionally violent in domestic relationships but argued the "freak-offs" were consensual. They've said there was nothing criminal about Mr Combs and his long-time girlfriends occasionally bringing in a third person to their relationships as part of a "swingers" lifestyle. They presented the case without calling any witnesses to testify — defendants in US criminal cases are not required to present evidence. Instead, his legal team sought to undercut the credibility of his accusers through cross-examination during the prosecution's case. They seized on inconsistencies in witness accounts, highlighted accusers' willingness to continue seeing him and warm messages they exchanged with him after alleged abuse. They read out text messages Ms Ventura sent Mr Combs during their decade-long relationship. On of those included a message from 2012, when Ms Ventura told Mr Combs, "besides making love, talking to you is my favourite thing". Five years later, Ms Ventura told Mr Combs in a series of messages that she missed him, asked him to send a picture of his genitals, and pledged to "be your little freak". They also accused women of trying to cash in on "the #MeToo money grab against Sean Combs". Once the jury has come to a unanimous decision, they'll inform the court staff. Then the presiding judge — US District Judge Arun Subramanian — will summon everyone back to the court room for the jury to give their verdict on the each of the charges. If the jury find Mr Combs not guilty, he'll be released from custody. If the jury finds Mr Combs guilty, he'll be sentenced for the charges he's been convicted on. This could happen immediately but may also happen some time after the verdict. That's anyone's guess. It could take days of reviewing evidence for the jury to come to a unanimous decision. If they don't all agree despite extra deliberations, that's what's called a "hung jury" and a mistrial will be declared. Then it's up to the prosecution to decide whether it will pursue another trial. Yes. This trial was just over criminal charges. Mr Combs has also been accused of sexual assault and rape in more than 50 civil lawsuits. He has denied those allegations. ABC with Wires
