Old couple murdered over cat dispute
A 42 year old woman has appeared in court charged with the murder of an elderly couple on the New South Wales far south coast.
Tracey Lee Pratt faced Batemans Bay Local Court today charged with murdering Ken Keyte, 86, and his wife Margaret Keyte, 71.
The couple’s bodies were found by police at their home on Beach Road, Batehaven, about 9.30pm (AEST) on August 10.
Both had severe head injuries which police believe were caused by a blunt instrument. (news)
Depressed mother kills baby
A woman suffering post-natal depression suffocated her four-week-old baby with a pillow and then told her husband what she had done, a Perth court has been told.
Rebecca Doreen Morley, 39, was today granted conditional bail after police had opposed the application in Perth Magistrates Court.
Ms Morley is charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on the four-week-old boy, who was pronounced dead soon after being found in the family’s inner-city Leederville home on June 11.
While the charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, the court was told it may yet be replaced with a charge of infanticide which carries a maximum seven-year jail term.
Dressed in a black top and pants, Ms Morley sat impassively throughout the half-hour bail application. (news)
Keith Shepheard, sex predator, on the loose
A west Australian man who tried to lure a Canberra teenager into a homosexual threesome by sending him pornographic images has failed to appear at an ACT Supreme Court hearing.
Chief Justice Terence Higgins issued a warrant for the arrest of Keith Shepheard, 49, after he failed to turn up to court today.
Mr Shepheard was arrested in July last year along with a Sydney man.
Police allege the two men sent countless pornographic images and texts to the teenager from their mobile phones and over the internet.
They planned to travel to Canberra to have sex with the boy, police said. (news)
Pringles not ‘potato crisps’
Today’s judgement is likely to save manufacturer Procter & Gamble Co (P&G) millions of pounds and ensure its customers will not have to pay more for the distinctive tasting snack in a tube.
P&G had gone to the High Court in London to appeal a VAT and Duties Tribunal decision in May that the snack was subject to VAT as it was a potato crisp product, unlike most foodstuffs that are exempt from the tax.
With global sales of $US1 billion ($1.04 billion), P&G had argued Pringles were not similar to potato crisps, due to their texture, “mouth melt” taste, uniform colour and regular shape which “is not found in nature”. (news)
Children taken from bad mother
The Australian Government will today seek court orders to place six children into state care, after police raids on Sunday night allegedly revealed shocking conditions of neglect at a northern Adelaide house.
A 28-year-old woman – a mother of seven children aged between two and seven – has been arrested and charged with five counts of criminal neglect, after her five-year-old son was diagnosed with hypothermia and malnutrition.
The mother had called an ambulance because of her son’s worsening condition.
Staff at the Lyle McEwin hospital contacted police, who went to the family’s public housing home in Elizabeth Grove, 25km north of Adelaide’s CBD, and found five malnourished children.
The children were taken to hospital to join their brother. All were responding well to treatment last night.
The woman was in police custody last night and is due to appear in Elizabeth Magistrates Court today.
The family is known to child protection authorities in Victoria, but has been living in South Australia for possibly the past three months without any official intervention. (news)
