Officers cleared of deadly crash-tackle

Mrs Boyd...In a way I knew it would be hard to get a conviction. (Debbie Boyd with her daughter, Rebecca.)

Paul Boyd, 21, had been walking with a group across a car park in Narromine, near Dubbo in the state's west, when two men, Sean Britton, 34, and Eric Coote, 38, [allegedly?] crash-tackled him to the ground.

Mr Boyd did not regain consciousness and died before the ambulance arrived.

Britton, an off-duty police officer at the time, and his friend Eric Coote, a Corrective Services officer, were tried for manslaughter in the District Court this month.

But a judge yesterday acquitted them of killing Mr Boyd and of an alternative charge of assault, as there was not enough evidence to prove how Mr Boyd had died or that the men had tackled him.

"On the evidence presented in this court I could not be satisfied [of] what actually happened … that is why the accused must be acquitted of these charges," Judge Anthony Blackmore told the court.

The decision will be cold comfort for two of Mrs Boyd's other sons, Mark Ernest Boyd and John Gregory Boyd, who are in jail awaiting trial for allegedly stabbing Britton in an attack in November last year, near the anniversary of their brother's death.

Paul Boyd and his friend Graham Jones had been drinking heavily earlier on the night he died. As they walked through a car park nearby, two men got out of a car and started running at Mr Boyd before allegedly tackling him from behind.

Justice Blackmore said he had found several witnesses who claimed to have seen the crash tackle to be unreliable and that they had given evidence believing it must have happened because someone of Mr Boyd's age "does not simply fall on the ground and remain there".

But Justice Blackmore said there was evidence to suggest Mr Boyd's death may not have been the result of a crash-tackle.

[But if someone crash-tackled his relative and they died how would he have judged that?]

Weeks before his death, Mr Boyd had been diagnosed with epilepsy and had been warned by doctors to drink less and make other lifestyle changes.

However, a blood alcohol level upon his death of 0.188 he had not heeded those warnings.

Several witnesses also described Mr Boyd being dropped on his head from a height of 80 centimetres after Mr Jones tried to pick him up as he lay unconscious on the ground.

Justice Blackmore said there had been no physical signs on the clothing of Britton or Coote, such as scuff marks or holes, to suggest that they had performed a tackle.

Outside court, Mrs Boyd said she was "crushed" by the result. "In a way I knew it would be hard to get a conviction."

Quote: This case is a disgrace. Why is there a special disparity of the law for officers when they kill in Australia? No need to wonder why Mrs Boyd was crushed. The protection of those who have served the government is clear. People ought not have any confidence in this judgement or Justice Blackmore's take on the law.

Man jailed for stabbing partner

A 39-year-old man will spend at least a year in prison for repeatedly stabbing his partner at their Parkside home.

The Supreme Court heard Matthew Jackson suffered a punctured lung, four stab wounds in his back and his left thumb was almost severed in the 2007 attack.

Jamie Christopher Kelly pleaded guilty to causing serious harm to Mr Jackson, who also had to have part of the knife removed from his body.

Justice John Sulan sentenced Kelly to four years in jail, saying Kelly was truly contrite and sorry for what he had done.

Justice Sulan set a non-parole period of 12 months.

Less crime but fewer reporting it, says expert

NSW Police figures boasting falls in crime are flawed and are not taking into account the fact that more incidents are going unreported, a leading Sydney criminologist has said.

Police trumpeted recent Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures this month showing all crime is either stable or falling across the state.

Figures are most positive for the number of assaults and robberies, down more than 17 per cent.

But Professor Mark Findlay, from Sydney University's Institute of Criminology, said the figures failed to take into account falling rates of reporting.

In the four years to April last year, the percentage of robberies reported had almost halved and the number of people who did not report an assault had risen by 45 per cent.

Professor Findlay said the figures reflected a move away from "community policing" strategies towards centralised crime fighting squads, such as forensics and narcotics, which although effective were not building traditional relationships in the community.

"A reduction in the visibility of police means there's less reporting," he said. "In some communities, you're going to find a resistance to police culturally so you have to do a lot more work to increase reporting rates."

But the director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Don Weatherburn, said data over a longer period since the 1990s showed rates of reporting of assaults had remained stable at about 35 per cent. The major shift was the number who said they were victims of assault, up from 2 per cent to about 4 per cent of the population.

"There's been a real increase in assaults over the long-term and … the number of people admitted to hospital has gone up," he said. "But if you look at it over the long term, reporting has increased because of third-party reporting …"

The chairwoman of the NSW Women's Refuge Movement Resource Centre, June Wilson, said domestic violence remained seriously underreported. Its research found just two of every 10 women who experienced violence abuse reported it to police.

"There are barriers to reporting for a number of reasons: for people who might have a different cultural background, for instance, there's language barriers, isolation in their new community, and the expectations of how a woman should act in that culture might be very different."

A police spokesman denied there had been a move away by police from traditional roles in the community, blaming other factors, including alcohol.

"The ABS survey reflects a situation where someone might have felt threatened by assault but is unlikely to report it," he said.

"That is occurring more often these days with the increase in the number of alcohol outlets and longer trading hours."

Of the assault victims in 2006-07, 18 per cent said they did not approach police because the incident was too trivial and 10 per cent said there was nothing police could do.

Quote: Some people don't want to report to police because they don't trust them or they simply don't want to get involved or blamed for a crime they never committed. They know some police are bent and that they can easily be framed by corporate media and affraid that they might be found guilty of a crime themselves for simply reporting a crime. In domestic violence cases people might be affraid that police will lay charges even though that may not be wanted.

Anonymous Reader sent email: Quote: "One reason robberies are under-reported is that police do nothing when they are reported. Recently an unoccupied house in my street was broken into which left us and our neighbours exposed as it allowed access via back yards to otherwise secure inner city dwellings. The Police did nothing for two days. We eventually tracked down the owner and convinced him he needed to come and repair the broken garage doors. It's the same with car breakins which are common in our street. People don't report them because it's a waste of time. If, however, we had said there was cannabis growing in the breached garage, I bet the response would have been instant and major. Police just want to grab the 'low-hanging fruit' and don't seem to care about real neighbourhood security." Unquote.

Australian rules player jailed for punch

A COUNTRY footballer sentenced to jail for an onfield punch says he is shocked by the verdict and believes a match suspension would have been sufficient punishment.

Trent Stanimirovitch, 28, who plays Australian rules football for Whorouly, near the Victorian town of Wangaratta, was sentenced by a magistrate on Wednesday to two months in jail.

An AFL spokesman said yesterday he was not aware of any other instance of a player being jailed for misbehaviour on the field.

Stanimirovitch punched an opponent behind play during an Ovens & King Football League match against Glenrowan last year. The victim was knocked unconscious, his teeth were driven though his lips and he suffered permanent scarring.

The magistrate, Pauline Spencer, told Stanimirovitch brutality and cowardly acts would not be tolerated.

He pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious injury, but has lodged an appeal against the severity of the sentence. He has been released on bail and both teams are supporting his appeal.

'Happy slappers' sentenced

THREE young men who punched and kicked a homeless man in a Sydney park "just for entertainment" and filmed the attack "for a trophy" have been sentenced to 200 hours of community service.

The men, all in their early 20s, of good upbringing and without criminal records, should "hang their heads in shame", the magistrate Anthony Marsden said yesterday.

The practice of attacks on an unsuspecting victim while filming the assault - known as "happy slapping" - originated in London. Films have reportedly found their way onto YouTube.

Downing Centre Local Court heard yesterday that the men - Ismail Akbar Ridwan, 20, Shabeili Malek, 21, and Vanda Dayusman, 21 - were stopped by police in Clarence Street shortly before 1am on April 9 after being tipped off by a witness to the attack.

They found a video on Malek's mobile phone which showed Ridwan and Malek kicking and punching Lance Anderson in the head and body while he lay on the ground. The men were laughing and taunting the victim, the court heard.

Mr Anderson said he was sore all over but had no visible injuries and refused medical treatment.

The men allegedly told police the incident had been "just trivial" but they later disputed saying this.

Their lawyer, Mary Underwood, told the court Ridwan said the assault looked worse on the video than it was. "No doubt the victim will be happy to hear that," Mr Marsden said.

The men were affected by drugs and alcohol and all three had since stopped using drugs, Ms Underwood said.

Malek had said he wanted to apologise to the victim.

Ridwan was also fined $800 for carrying a knife and 66 grams of cannabis, while Malek was fined $300 for carrying one gram of cannabis.

Mr Marsden said he would have sent the men to jail, but for their guilty pleas and lack of criminal records.

A cry in the mist, then death discovered

Too much to bear … a woman in her 60s weeps on the shoulder of a policeman outside the Berowra Heights house yesterday morning.

THE calm of a foggy dawn was broken in Berowra Heights yesterday with a father's cry for help.

The man raised the alarm after his wife was fatally stabbed and his two daughters, aged four and five, were injured in a home in Sydney's north.

A nine-year-old boy at the house was unhurt.

It is still unclear whether the woman found dead was killed or whether she attacked herself after stabbing her children.

A neighbour, Jenny Coombes, said she heard the man's cry about 5am.

"I heard someone say 'help'. It was just that one word I heard. You would have thought there would be more noise."

The girls were taken to hospital with stab wounds. A NSW Ambulance spokesman said the four-year-old was in a serious but stable condition and her sister was stable.

A woman in her 60s, believed to be the paternal grandmother, arrived about 8.15am and asked reporters: "Which house is it?" before approaching police.

The woman then began sobbing loudly and was led by police to a house. Her car, left idling in the middle of the road, had to be moved by a policewoman.

A younger woman arrived at 8.30am and spoke briefly to police at the scene before driving away in tears.

A family friend reacted with horror at the news that the 29-year-old woman had been found dead at the Cambewarra Crescent home, after reports of a domestic-related incident.

The friend, who arrived at the house about 11.30am, confirmed that the dead woman's mother, Helen Darlington, had been in Queensland, but said he believed she was travelling back to Sydney yesterday.

The Ku-ring-gai Local Area commander, Superintendent Craig Rae, said the dead woman had multiple stab wounds to her upper body.

"There were a number of children at the scene also - a nine-year-old male was not injured, a five-year-old female who has minor injuries, and a four-year-old female with some significant injuries."

He said the five-year-old had a minor stab wound to her hand. The 31-year-old man had not been injured.

Asked to comment on reports the woman might have attacked the children before harming herself, Superintendent Rae said: "It's certainly part of our inquiry.

"We will be keeping an open mind in terms of the investigation. We are obviously at the very early stages of what occurred this morning."

He said the nine-year-old boy was with his father.

Loyal troops farewell an old campaigner

THE American general Douglas MacArthur once said old soldiers fade away but old politicians find it hard following suit.

Comrades in arms [war criminals] Tony Blair (ret.) and George Bush (about to ret.) stood shoulder-to-shoulder last night to honour John Howard (ret.).[co offenders for crimes against humanity.]

The US President, in a taped message to a tribute dinner to Mr Howard in Sydney last night, said about the former Australian prime minister: "You never let this cobber down …"

Mr Blair was equally strong in his praise, saying he'd been lucky to have Mr Howard as a friend and ally.

"History, not just in Australia, but elsewhere, will look at you and recognise the very great contribution that you made," Mr Blair said, also on a taped message.

[Prosecute War Criminal John Howard
To: International Criminal Court
We, the undersigned, called for the indictment and prosecution of John Winston Howard (currently Australian Prime Minister) for acts of terrorism and war crimes.]

The messages were shown to 1200 Liberal loyalists who nearly six months after Mr Howard was voted out of office were prepared to pay $250 a plate or $7000 for a corporate table to honour their vanquished leader.

The dinner was a fund-raiser for the Millennium Forum, the Liberal Party of Australia's networking site, where the corporate sector gets to meet political leaders and donate money for the pleasure of their company.

The former Australian Defence Force chief, Peter Cosgrove, said he was representing 100,000 men and women in the Australian army, navy and air force who he said, though they were not always cerebral, certainly appreciated Mr Howard's leadership and were impressed that the former prime minister and his wife, Janette, had shown genuine concern for the welfare of service personnel.

Unknown News
"News that's not known, or not known enough."

-- IN IRAQ --

30,000 IRAQI TROOPS KILLED
and 90,000 SERIOUSLY INJURED Aug. 2003

785,957 IRAQI CIVILIANS KILLED
and 1,414,723 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

3,615 U.S. TROOPS KILLED
and 50,677 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

287 OTHER COALITION TROOPS KILLED
and 861 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

160 U.S. CIVILIANS KILLED
and 288 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

251 OTHER COALITION CIVILIANS KILLED
and 452 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

-- IN AFGHANISTAN --

8,587 AFGHAN TROOPS KILLED
and 25,761 SERIOUSLY INJURED July 2004

3,485 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED
and 6,273 SERIOUSLY INJURED July 2004

342 U.S. TROOPS KILLED
and 1,026 SERIOUSLY INJURED Jan. 2007

278 OTHER COALITION TROOPS KILLED
and 834 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

? U.S. and COALITION CIVILIANS KILLED
and ? SERIOUSLY INJURED]

The fund-raiser was held in the ALP heartland of Leichhardt at the former headquarters of the old Italian Australian All Sports Association Club.

Mr Howard's fellow leaders of the Coalition of the [K]illing in Iraq were not the only international leaders to pay homage.

The Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said Mr Howard had been a great friend and the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, gave a warm testimonial to his friend.

[All very corrupt leaders of other nation states.]

But the biggest gasp of appreciation from the Liberal faithful came when the Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, popped up on the video screens to give Mr Howard an effusive endorsement.

[Prior the Howard war criminal regime i.e. and during the time of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Operation Satanic, a special operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence Helen Clark seemed to have had some morals, ethics and standards but obviously not anymore. Because it's all about colonialism, imperialism, and oil.]

When Mr Howard finally addressed the faithful, he told them not to lose heart even though this year would be a particularly difficult period in opposition. "You," he said, nodding to the Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, "have my total support."

Related:

'Charge Howard with war crimes'
FORMER Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for ex-prime minister John Howard and other Western leaders to be charged with war crimes over the conflict in Iraq.

Things can only get better, Howard tells party faithful
What about asking about John Howard's top three failures? War crimes against humanity. Waging illegal and degrading war against innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. Introducing draconian laws and racism.

Chijoff fined $750 over bogus leaflets
The estranged husband of former Liberal candidate for Lindsay Karen Chijoff has been fined $750 for his role in a bogus leaflet drop in the hotly contested federal electorate.

Racist escapes conviction over 'disgusting' fake leaflets incident
A Sydney magistrate has told a man who escaped conviction over the distribution of fake leaflets during last year's federal election campaign there was national disgust over the incident.

Thousands take part in anti-war protests
Thousands of anti-war protesters have marched in Britain and the United States to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

IT'S ALL ABOUT OIL!
In 1998, Dick Cheney, now US vice-president but then chief executive of a major oil services company, remarked: "I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian." But the oil and gas there is worthless until it is moved. The only route which makes both political and economic sense is through Afghanistan.

Man jailed for schoolboy sex abuse

A man who sexually abused six teenage boys in the 1970s and passed some of them on to other men has been jailed for 18 years.

As a young man in his 20s, Philip Cave had a car which he used to impress schoolboys.

He gave them cigarettes and alcohol and went on to sexually abuse six boys aged between 11 and 14.

Today District Court Judge Rauf Soulio revealed that Cave had passed some of his victims on to other men including former television identity Ric Marshall, who was recently dealt with by the courts for other historical child sex offences.

Judge Soulio said Cave had treated the boys like objects and used them to recruit others.

He jailed the 58-year-old for 18 years with a non-parole period of 12 years.

Outside court one of the victims said the lives of some of his school mates had been ruined.

'Charge Howard with war crimes'

FORMER Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for ex-prime minister John Howard and other Western leaders to be charged with war crimes over the conflict in Iraq.

In a speech in London, Dr Mahathir called for an international tribunal to try US President George Bush, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Mr Howard for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim Ramadhan Foundation.

Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq said Dr Mahathir, 82, wanted to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq".

"It was a opportunity for students to put a range of questions about war crimes and the international situation," he said.

"He said that people have to stop killing each other and use arbitration, negotiation and discussion as an alternative to violence, war and killing."

Related:

Prosecute War Criminal John Howard
To: International Criminal Court
We, the undersigned, called for the indictment and prosecution of John Winston Howard (currently Australian Prime Minister) for acts of terrorism and war crimes.

We believe that under Australia's Criminal Code Act 1995, and under the articles of the International Criminal Court, there is a prima facie case for the prosecution of Howard for complicity in illegal attacks upon and mass murder of civilian populations of Afghanistan and Iraq, between 2001 and 2005.

These prosecutions should include the following crimes, committed by the accused in their official capacities:
Complicity in the massacre of hundreds of civilians in Baghdad, Basra, Khormal, Babel, Nassariya, Najaf, Karbala and Anbar, in March 2003, through aerial bombardment, including cluster bombs, assisted by Australian 'imagery specialists'
Complicity in the S.A.S. backed murder of ten Sabri tribespeople (mostly teenagers) in Afghanistan, 16 May 2002
Complicity in the massacre of between one thousand and three thousand prisoners, after US operation 'Anaconda' operation at Shah-i-Kot, Afghanistan, March 2002
Complicity in the maintenance of an international network of torture, from Pakistan to Iraq to Egypt to Guantanamo Bay (US-occupied Cuba)
Complicity in the criminal two attacks on the civilian population of Falluja, in April and November 2004 - where between one thousand and two thousand people were murdered in attacks which included the use of napalm, and the blockading of Falluja Hospital

We reject utterly the claim that any of these crimes could be carried out under any 'democratic mandate' from Australian citizens.

We urge responsible prosecution authorities such as the Australian DPP, and the International Criminal Court to take immediate action.
Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Things can only get better, Howard tells party faithful
What about asking about John Howard's top three failures? War crimes against humanity. Waging illegal and degrading war against innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. Introducing draconian laws and racism.

Girl who bashed policeman walks free

A teenage girl accused of instigating a vicious beating of an off-duty police officer and his girlfriend on the Gold Coast has walked free from court.

Tiani Slockee, 18, had pleaded guilty to two counts of grievous bodily harm in the attack on Constable Rawson James Armitage and Michelle Renee Dodge at Coolangatta in November last year.

Slockee was the alleged ringleader of almost a dozen youths who kicked and punched the couple, inflicting severe bruising and lacerations.

Southport District Court Judge John Newton placed Slockee on two years' probation, noting she had already spent 91 days in custody.

Slockee and Harley Lee Trindall, 18, along with seven other minors who cannot be named, were all sentenced after pleading guilty.

The harshest sentence was reserved for Trindall, who punched Constable Armitage.

He was sentenced to nine months in jail.

The court had earlier been told of the viciousness of the bashing, which crown prosecutor Stuart Shearer likened to an animal attack.

Const Armitage's head was stomped on while he lay unconscious and Ms Dodge had tufts of her hair pulled out by teenage girls as she tried to call for help.

Judge Newton sentenced each of the accused separately, with Trindall the only person to be sentenced to jail time.

Two boys, aged 15 and 16, who both admitted kicking Const Armitage in the head, received sentences of 15 months to be served in a juvenile detention centre.

The other youths, including a 17-year-old boy and three girls aged between 14 and 17, were given varying punishments, including probation orders and hours of community service.

After a full day of hearing sentencing recommendations yesterday, Judge Newton directed his opening remarks today to the nine youths seated in his courtroom.

"You have all committed serious offences of violence against two members of the public," he told them.

"Yesterday, the learned crown prosecutor categorised your behaviour in very strong terms, with words `gutless', `cowardly' and so forth and indeed even your own advocates recognised the sickening nature of your conduct.

"Let me just say this, you have brought disgrace and shame on yourselves, your families and your peers by what you have done.

"You have absolutely nothing to feel proud of."

Slockee was the only one to make a comment as she walked from court with her grandmother, and said: "I am very, very sorry."

Gold Coast police acting Inspector Matt Rosevear, speaking on behalf of the victims, said Const Armitage had accepted the judge's ruling.

"He believes the sentences have been just and obviously the ruling by the judge is what we abide by," he told reporters.

A mother of one of the teenagers said they had all been deeply affected by the event.

"Kids become separate from their victims and once they heard what the victims went through they were incredibly sorry," she said.

"They're deeply sorry and I think this is going to change all of their lives."

Jail for Fat Pizza brother's killing

George Nassour centre...also stabbed arrives at court today

A man involved in the killing of the brother of Fat Pizza actor George Nassour will serve at least six-and-a-half years in prison for the incident, sparked by a misunderstood rude gesture.

The disagreement between the Nassour brothers and Michael Ibrahim and three other men started on New Year's Eve 2005 at the UN nightclub on Oxford Street.

Friends of Robin and George Nassour had not been allowed access to the nightclub, owned by Ibrahim's family and at which he was a spotter.

Later that evening Robin Nassour drove past the club making a rude gesture at his brother George, who was standing outside the club. But Michael Ibrahim thought the gesture was aimed at him, the Supreme Court has heard.

A day later the Nassour brothers were called to a meeting by a friend of Ibrahim, allegedly to sort out their conflict.

They met at an apartment building in Chiswick, where they were lured into an underground car park.

When George Nassour saw Ibrahim, and the three other men, he shouted to his brother: "This is a set up."

Soon afterwards he was stabbed, but managed to run away.

He then saw the four men surround Robin and kick and punch him. One of the other men, who carried a knife, stabbed him twice, severing an artery in his leg.

Supreme Court Justice Derek Price found that while the men had planned to assault Robin Nassour and inflict physical harm on him, Ibrahim and two co-accused, Mouhamed and Sleiman Tajjour, were not aware that the fourth man was carrying a knife.

It was only when the man - who has since died - stabbed George Nassour, that they became aware of the knife.

But, said Justice Price, they had still gone ahead with the assault on his brother, aware that the knife might again be used. This made them liable to a conviction for manslaughter, to which they have pleaded guilty.

"To participate in a joint act of violence in these circumstances carries with it... a very significant degree of criminality," Justice Price said.

Ibrahim, who had prior convictions for assault, drug and fire arm possession, was sentenced to a maximum sentence of nine years and four months, but is eligible for parole in March 2013.

Outside court Emilia Nassour, Robin's mother, who was sobbing throughout the sentencing remarks, said the sentence was fair and justice had been done.

The Tajjour brothers are to be sentenced at a later date.

Quote: Amazingly this story has nothing to do with drugs? I wonder if it is because the brother was an entertainer? If they wanted to settle a misunderstanding about a rude gesture then why not just do it on the phone or in a public place?

Maybe the mother was satisfied with the outcome because no 'drugs' were mentioned? Ibrahim it stated has a prior conviction for assault, 'drug', and fire arm possesion. People at night clubs take drugs. So what were the police investigating and what questions did the judge ask all the way through the trial? Were they covering up for entertainment?

Jail for man who gouged out wife's eye

A Victorian man who repeatedly stunned his de facto wife with a cow prod and gouged her eye out with his thumb could be released from jail in less than three years.

Jason Weidlich, 30, was jailed for six years for his attack on Michiell Maker, but will be eligible for parole in three-and-a-half years after spending a year in custody already.

Ms Maker's family said Thursday they were disappointed with the sentence and the damage he inflicted would be with Ms Maker forever.

"She just broke down and she's scared," Ms Maker's father, Chris Maker, said outside court as his eyes welled with tears.

"I just think for what he done, he should have got a lot longer.

"By the time he gets out, she'll still be having trouble."

Victorian County Court Judge Rachelle Lewitan said Weidlich had been drinking when he attacked Ms Maker about 11.30pm in Malmsbury, central Victoria, in April last year.

She said Ms Maker was partying with colleagues at the Malmsbury Hotel after finishing work there, when witnesses said Weidlich became agitated and aggressive as she spoke with other men, calling her "a little slut".

Ms Maker went to their home, across the road, to avoid a confrontation, but Weidlich followed.

She left the house but returned a short time later and as she walked through the front door, Weidlich jabbed her in the neck with an electronic cow prod.

She fell to the floor and he jabbed her again, and then while exclaiming that the device did not work, struck her once more.

Ms Maker fled to the front yard but slipped, and Weidlich laid on top of her jabbing the prod into her neck.

She managed to escape and ran to the front of the hotel, screaming for help and banging on the windows.

Judge Lewitan said Weidlich smacked Ms Maker's head into the footpath and punched her in the mouth.

He then sat on top of her and used his thumb to prise her left eye completely out of its socket.

As he did so, Weidlich said: "I don't want you to breathe. I would rather go to jail for it this time."

As he was attempting to gouge out her right eye, the hotel lights came on and Ms Maker was able to escape.

She felt her way to the rear of the pub and the owner let her in.

Judge Lewitan said an ambulance officer who treated Ms Maker had to remove her left eyelid from the back of her eyeball.

She said Ms Maker had feared she would die and felt disgusted and betrayed.

Ms Maker's left eye was re-attached but she suffers ongoing sight loss, pain and trauma, she said.

"The facts in this case are very serious and appalling," Judge Lewitan said.

"Your behaviour was outrageous."

Weidlich pleaded guilty to one count each of intentionally causing injury, intentionally causing serious injury and making a threat to kill.

He also pleaded guilty to a summary charge of possessing a prohibited weapon.

Judge Lewitan said Weidlich and Ms Maker had a turbulent relationship with low-frequency domestic violence that had resulted in Ms Maker briefly taking out a restraining order four years earlier.

In sentencing, Judge Lewitan said she took into account Weidlich's early guilty plea, which indicated remorse, and that he was receiving psychiatric help for post traumatic stress and depression.

She said a reduced parole period was appropriate because it would enable Weidlich's supervision on release.

Domestic violence bad in east

DOMESTIC violence has emerged as a serious problem in Sydney's eastern suburbs: there has been a 21 per cent increase in the number of assaults reported to police in the past two years, the state's latest crime statistics show.

The director of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Don Weatherburn, said the big jump in assaults in Sydney's east surprised him, and although he had no firm evidence, he suspected the cause was alcohol-related.

Domestic violence was especially bad in Randwick, and was particularly serious around Christmas, the statistics show.

Dr Weatherburn said property offences in NSW were at the lowest levels in a decade because of the heroin shortage. Break and enter offences fell by 10.4 per cent and robbery with a weapon (not a firearm) had also decreased by 7 per cent.

"The same can't be said, unfortunately, for offences such as assault. This offence has been stable for the past few years but the prevalence of assault in NSW is nearly double what it was just over a decade ago," Dr Weatherburn said.

Related:

Alliance tackles drunken violence
A survey of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Figures from Nielsen Media Research show that alcoholic beverage companies spent $122million on media advertising in the 12months to November 30, up 11.9percent on the year before.

ASIO, police don't trust each other, report finds

A LACK of trust between the Australian Federal Police and ASIO has hindered co-operation between the anti-terrorism agencies, a report commissioned after the collapsed prosecution of the Sydney doctor Izhar ul-Haque has found.

It also revealed that, more than six years after the September 11 attacks that led to expanded counter-terrorism efforts, the agencies still can't communicate easily with each other because they don't have secure and common phone and internet communications. Moreover, there are no ASIO officers full-time at the joint counter-terrorism teams in the capital cities.

The former NSW chief justice, Sir Laurence Street, chaired the inquiry that produced the report, and made 10 recommendations to fix the problems. "While the intentions of both [AFP and ASIO] are good, trust between agencies could be further enhanced," the report said.

It found intelligence sharing between ASIO and the AFP was on an informal and ad hoc basis and was often heavily dependent on personal relationships, which were sometimes strained.

"Mutual trust and confidence are key to the required levels of co-operation between police and intelligence agencies which traditionally have different responsibilities," it noted.

The language of the report was measured, but other counter-terrorism officials and analysts have said the relationship between federal police and ASIO can, at times, be poisonous.

"The AFP has moved into an area that's traditionally been the domain of ASIO," said one official, who works with both agencies. "ASIO is always concerned about the potential for leaks from the Feds."

The Street report said a barrier to co-operation was that information technology systems were "incompatible" across agencies. ASIO had only a part-time presence on joint teams because it didn't want to set up computer terminals for its officers in areas shared with police. The report recommended the federal police improve the security of its systems "so trust could be fostered" , including setting up secure desktop telephones.

The joint investigation into Dr ul-Haque collapsed after two ASIO officers were found to have kidnapped the young Sydneysider, making the records of interview inadmissable.

Related:

Secret policemen's bill: $7.5m

Mr McClelland separately ruled out compensating or apologising to the Sydney medical student Izhar Ul-Haque, who a Supreme Court judge said had been kidnapped by ASIO officers. The conduct of ASIO in the case of Mr ul-Haque, who was cleared of terrorism charges, is being reviewed by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Ian Carnell.

The Greens senator Kerry Nettle said Mr Keelty "has learnt little from this saga apart from a desire to shut down media scrutiny".

Quote: Long Live Tim Anderson and we all remember the Hilton Bombing saga.

The real problem though is that ASIO is corrupt and after John Howard wiped his bum on it and the federal police I do believe that we have to start again and find the faults with the corrupt organisations and fix the problem starting from the top down. One of the main problems is that these organisations have too much power. Draconian laws don't assist the community in 'reverse surveillance' and government secrets. Lets hope that the inquiry can find out more about these secrets but I wouldn't get your hopes up because these corrupt organisations have been used by both Liberal and Labor and more likely will continue to promote government propaganda whenever it suits them. God is great!