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Get you up to speed: Australia airlifts suspect in murder of five-year-old amid rioting
Jefferson Lewis, 47, was named as the prime suspect in the abduction and murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby after her body was found around three miles from a community camp in Alice Springs. Following his surrender to an Indigenous community, he was airlifted from a remote Australian town to Darwin for his safety during rioting that erupted in response to the incident.
During a night of rioting in Alice Springs, Northern Territory Police Force Commissioner Martin Dole reported that police faced attacks while trying to intervene, leading to the relocation of Jefferson Lewis to Darwin for his safety. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro stated that while Kumanjayi Little Baby’s death represented a nightmare, it was essential to avoid violence, highlighting the community’s collective effort in the initial search for the missing child.
Jefferson Lewis has been moved from the hospital in Alice Springs to custody in Darwin for his safety, and he is expected to face charges in the coming days. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed understanding of the community’s anger while urging unity, while Lia Finocchiaro stated that Kumanjayi’s death marked the realisation of “our worst nightmares.”
Man who ‘killed’ girl, 5, airlifted from town after he was hunted by vigilantes | News World
The prime suspect in the abduction and murder of a five-year-old girl had to be airlifted out of a remote Australian town for his own safety during a night of rioting on the streets.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, was relocated after hundreds of locals clashed with police demanding ‘payback’ for the killing of the indigenous youngster, referred to by her family as Kumanjayi Little Baby.
Kumanjayi disappeared from a community camp in Alice Springs on Saturday night, sparking a days-long search on foot and by air that gripped much of the country.
After her body was found around three miles from the camp, police named Lewis as her suspected killer and urged him to surrender.
He later handed himself in to Indigenous community members, who beat him unconscious while meting out ‘vigilante justice’.
In an update, Northern Territory Police Force Commissioner Martin Dole told reporters: ‘He presented himself to one of the town camps in Alice Springs last night.
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‘As a result of presenting himself, members of that town camp decided to inflict vigilante justice upon Jefferson.’
When police and emergency services intervened, they too came under attack before Lewis was taken to hospital, Mr Dole said.
He added that a large crowd of around 400 people gathered outside the hospital and then tried to force their way inside.
Kumanjayi Little Baby was allegedly murdered in Alice Springs, Australia (Picture: Reuters)
Jefferson Lewis was arrested in connection with the death of the five-year-old (Picture: Reuters)
Screengrab purportedly showing alleged killer Jefferson Lewis being arrested (Picture: Facebook)
A police vehicle burns after community members clashed with police outside Alice Springs Hospital (Picture: Reuters)
Members of the indigenous community gather outside Alice Springs Hospital after the arrest of Jefferson Lewis (Picture: Facebook)
Footage from the ABC showed Indigenous people calling for ‘payback’, which refers to traditional, mostly physical, punishment in Aboriginal societies.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, who threw projectiles and lit fires, injuring a number of police officers and medical workers, and damaging police vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks.
Mr Dole said: ‘We called out all the resources we had available to quell that violent disturbance.
‘And just let me say that the behaviour that we saw last night cannot be explained away, excused or accepted.’
A woman is carried by police during community unrest outside Alice Springs Hospital (Picture: Reuters)
One woman was being investigated for allegedly trying to set a police car alight.
Police said they removed Lewis for his safety from hospital to the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, where he was being held in custody.
He is expected to face charges in the coming days.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he understood ‘people’s anger and frustration’ but urged the community to come together.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said Kumanjayi’s death was the realisation of ‘our worst nightmares’.
But it was no excuse for violence, she said, recalling how the community had united to search for the missing child.
‘This week, we’ve seen this town come together like never before – hundreds of people walking shoulder to shoulder through the long buffel grass, through the bush, to make sure we left no stone unturned,’ Ms Finocchiaro said.
‘I don’t want last night to take away from that extraordinary effort.’
Robin Granites, a spokesman for the family and an elder of the Warlpiri Indigenous group, called for calm in the community.
‘It is time now for sorry business, to show respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering,’ he said in a statement.
‘We need to be strong for each other, we must respect family and cultural practice.’
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October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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