NATION 17
SATURDAY DECEMBER 19 2015
Tears and anger for Allison
The Brisbane rally drew thousands of people wearing Allison Baden-Clay’s favourite colour, yellow
Rapist killer hopes to be out in 70s
MELBOURNE: Violent rapist
and killer Adrian Ernest Bayley has had a legal victory that
brings him one step closer to
being eligible for parole in his
70s instead of his 80s.
A Victorian Supreme Court
judge yesterday ruled that
Bayley will be able to reapply
for legal aid to appeal against
two rape convictions.
The court ruled a decision
by an independent reviewer for
Victorian Legal Aid to deny
Bayley access to taxpayer-
Prison sentence
over courtroom
lawyer attack
HOBART: A woman has been
sentenced to seven months in
prison for an explosive courtroom attack on a lawyer which
saw her held in contempt.
Rachael Vanessa Bradford,
43, was yesterday sentenced in
the Tasmanian Supreme Court
by Justice Helen Woods, who
was on the bench on November 4 when the assault occurred in response to an
increased sentence for Bradford’s son.
“Ms Bradford quickly came
forward from the public gallery
to the well of the courtroom ...
she was enraged and when she
was in reaching distance she
struck,” Justice Woods said.
Bradford hit the lawyer up
to five times from behind while
holding her so she couldn’t get
away. The mother-of-five had
pleaded guilty to being in contempt of court.
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funded lawyers for an appeal
was unreasonable. Justice
Kevin Bell said legal assistance
cannot be denied because an
applicant is notorious, unpopular and has prior convictions.
“All persons are equal before the law and the Legal Aid
Act requires consideration of
applications to be objective,
criterion-based and non-arbitrary,” Justice Bell said.
The man who murdered
Brunswick woman Jill Meagher is seeking to appeal two rape
convictions that resulted in the
non-parole period of his life
sentence being increased from
35 years to 43 years. As part of
his appeal he wants to challenge the sentence imposed for
three rapes he was found guilty
of earlier this year.
When Victorian County
Court Judge Sue Pullen sentenced Bayley, 44, in May she
said the new minimum “most
likely extinguished” any hope
of him being released from
prison on parole.
Olympian jailed for pills
SYDNEY: Disgraced Olympian Nathan Baggaley and his
brother have been jailed for at
least two years and three
months for helping produce
18,000 pills of the party drug
2C-B and trying to make ice.
The former kayaker (pictured) and younger brother,
Dru, both admitted making the
pills, saying they thought the
drug was safe and legal, and
also pleaded guilty to trying to
produce about 100g of
methamphetamine in 2013.
Judge Leonie Flannery
told Sydney’s
District Court
the
pair
showed genuine remorse and good
prospects of rehabilitation.
Two-time Olympic silver
medallist Nathan Baggaley
will be eligible for parole in
November 2016.
Legal row stubbed out
CANBERRA: An attempt by
tobacco giant Philip Morris to
challenge Australia’s plain
packaging laws has been
thrown out by an international
tribunal.
The Permanent Court of
Arbitration yesterday rejected
the case, unanimously agreeing with Australia’s argument
it had no jurisdiction to hear
the claim.
It means the arbitration is
over, other than proceedings
related to the recovery of Australia’s costs.
Rural Health Minister
Fiona Nash, who is responsible
for tobacco policy, welcomed
the decision.
Picture: AAP
BRISBANE: Thousands of
people have gathered in Brisbane’s CBD to protest against
the murder conviction of wife
killer Gerard Baden-Clay
being downgraded to manslaughter.
Queensland’s Court of Appeal sparked community outrage this month when it
announced its decision that
the former real estate agent
(pictured) was guilty of only
manslaughter in the death of
his wife, Allison.
But a rally in King George
Square yesterday drew thousands wearing Allison’s favourite colour, yellow, in a
united display of protest
against the court decision.
The rally heard from the
Bruce Morcombe, father of
slain schoolboy Daniel Morcombe, and Senator Glenn
Lazarus, who both called for
Queensland’s acting attorneygeneral, Cameron Dick, to
appeal the court ruling.
“The police did their job, the
forensic experts did their job,
the jury did their job,” Mr
Morcombe said to raucous
applause.
“The weak link here is a
point of law. Your participation
here today makes a breathtaking visual statement that this
point of law is clearly wrong.”
Allison’s close friend, Nicole Morrison, spoke about the
anguish the court’s decision
had brought
back for friends
and family.
“Following
the downgrading of the conviction
last
Tuesday, the
senseless and unnecessary
taking of Allison’s life has
again been brought into focus
and the unimaginable pain is
once again at the surface,” she
said.
She hoped Allison, in death,
knew how much she was loved.
“Allison, today all of this is
for you,” she said.
“May you look down on this
beautiful sea of yellow and feel
the love and support of every
person who is standing here
today in your honour. It is the
very least you deserve.”
Among the sadness and
tears there was also anger, with
many in the crowd brandishing signs with slogans such as
“Justice for women”, and
declaring Baden-Clay to be
“Australia’s OJ Simpson”.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this week said the
Government was waiting for
advice from the Director of
Public Prosecutions to decide
whether or not to appeal.
Baden-Clay, who was sentenced to life in jail for murder
last year, will be resentenced
on the downgraded manslaughter charge next year.
NT GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES HOURS OF BUSINESS
OVER CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR
The following Agencies will be closed from Friday 25 December 2015 to
Friday 1 January 2016, reopening on Monday 4 January 2016.
• Department of Business
During this period notifiable incidents should still be reported to
NT WorkSafe on 1800 019 115.
All Territory Business Centres across the Territory will also be closed from
Friday 25 December 2015 and will re-open Monday 4th of January 2016.
• Department of Local Government and Community Services
Interpreting and Translating Service NT (ITSNT)
During this period all requests should be referred to the national
Telephone Interpreting Service on 131 450.
Aboriginal Interpreter Service (AIS)
A 24 hour/7 day a week service will remain available during this period.
The booking number is 1800 334 944.
For all other departmental enquiries during this period please
call 8999 8583.
• Department of Infrastructure
During this period to check road conditions or report a road fault,
contact Road Report on 1800 246 199 or visit www.roadreport.nt.gov.au
• SAFE NT
During this period, applications for a National Police Check or a
Working with Children Clearance can be made online via
https://forms.pfes.nt.gov.au/safent/ Emails sent during this period may
not be responded to immediately.
www.nt.gov.au