Man awarded $1m for police assault

Former constables Graeme Carter and Mark Sesin kicked in the door of Donald Walker's Surrey Hills flat in 1993, because they were concerned about his girlfriend.

The judgment states that what happened in the flat is unclear, but when Mr Walker confronted the officers they assaulted both him and his elderly mother.

Mr Walker suffered numerous injuries including broken ribs, while his mother's shoulder was dislocated.

The 461-page judgment awards Mr Walker more than $1 million, his brother more than $800,000 and his mother's estate $100,000.

Gay couple win $23,000 for vilification

A mother and son have been ordered to pay $23,100 in damages to a gay couple they harassed and vilified during a bitter neighbourhood dispute that was sparked by barking dogs.

Queensland woman Jean Lawson and her son Paul Lawson must also publish a 140-word apology in local and state newspapers after calling their one-time neighbours, Timothy Wilson and Shane McCollum, "faggots", "poofs" and "princesses".

In the landmark ruling, Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Tribunal found the Lawsons vilified their homosexual neighbours to further their case during a nasty dispute about Alsatian dogs and a boundary fence.

Mr Wilson and Mr McCollum, a high school teacher, say they were forced to move out of their rented home in Logan Central after nine months of harassment and humiliation.

While tribunal member Peter Roney noted both parties "gave as good as they got", the Lawsons were found to have harassed, embarrassed and vilified Mr Wilson and Mr McCollum by calling them derogatory names in reference to their homosexuality.

Relations between the residents nose-dived in August 2005, when Mr Wilson, a 45-year-old nurse's assistant who worked mostly at night, complained to the RSPCA and local council that Mrs Lawson's two Alsatians barked all day in their yard.

The tribunal heard that when Mrs Lawson, who is in her 60s, was notified of the complaint, she believed Mr Wilson had also told the council the dogs were being mistreated.

Months of taunts ensued from both sides, with Mr Roney noting the "extraordinary animosity" that resulted.

"There were accusations and counter-accusations suggesting verbal abuse, profanities, actual physical violence, intimidation, the making of numerous police complaints, the levelling of criminal charges each against the other, application for orders that others keep the peace and be of good behaviour, and other general acts of irritation and vindictiveness passing in each direction," he wrote in the tribunal judgment.

Mr Wilson and Mr McCollum alleged Mrs Lawson called them "faggots", "girls", "ladies" and "princesses" a number of times, as well as referring to the men as "poofs" in the presence of strangers.

Mr Lawson accused the pair of calling his mother a "Scottish slut", a "Jewish whore", a "mole" and a "bitch".

Mr Wilson, speaking from Sydney today, said he never made reference to Mrs Lawson's race or culture.

"I had sleepless nights and it really was scary because a lot of our friends wouldn't come and see us," he said.

Mr Wilson said he and Mr McCollum had received support from friends and family and members of the gay community, but also some abusive phone calls, calling him a "dirty faggot".

Mr Lawson said he did not want to comment on the tribunal's decision at this stage. Nor would he comment on whether Mrs Lawson would lodge an appeal against the decision.

Woman sues over watch-house sexual assault

A woman is suing the Queensland Government and two police officers for nearly $1 million after she was sexually assaulted in a Maroochydore watch-house in 2005.

The 27-year-old woman is seeking $300,000 each from Peter Anthony Buxton, Zane Anthony Slingsby and the State Government.

The claim, which was lodged in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, states Queensland Police and Corrective Services officers failed in their duty of care to the woman.

Both men were sent to jail over the offences.

Worked for the dole and ended up injured

GREGORY WARREN THOMSON went out to work for the dole and ended up injured.

His previous job working for his unemployment benefits in northern NSW had been with the Tweed Maritime Museum, but on September 21 five years ago he was asked to present himself at a labour hire company the next day.

Not having been told anything to the contrary, he expected a similar job and turned up in similar clothing and the flat-soled shoes he wore at the museum.

Mr Thomson was taken by bus to a farm for distressed animals and told to do fencing work. When he asked for steel capped boots, which other workers were wearing, the supervisor told him no boots were available for him.

Mr Thomson, then 36, was given little or no instruction, supervision, or training and ordered to help put up a 1.8-metre fence with cyclone mesh to keep in alpacas and wallabies.

The fence was to be erected on a rocky and downwards sloping uneven area with stones and loose gravel.

To attach the mesh Mr Thomson had to work with his hands above his head, looking upwards, while walking across rubble. His feet slid and he fell down the slope into a trench.

Mr Thompson's lower left leg snapped and the bone was pushing through the skin. He was taken to hospital in extreme pain over dirt roads without any first aid. He needed an operation and was bedridden for three months.

Last week he was awarded $199,550.19 in compensation for past and future economic losses and expenses.

The District Court judge Brian Knox found Twin Towns Employment Enterprises owed Mr Thomson a duty of care. "There was an inequality of bargaining power between the parties given that the plaintiff was effectively required to work for the defendant where, and when, and how he was directed - otherwise he would risk losing unemployment benefits," Judge Knox said.

"[Mr Thomson] had very little say in the work he carried out."

Top lawyer sues WA govt over suspect tag

Prominent Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney is suing the West Australian government after police named him as the prime suspect in his wife's murder, resulting in his mail being scrawled with the word "killer" his lawyer says.

Mr Rayney's estranged wife Corryn Rayney disappeared on August 7, 2007 after a bootscooting class. Her body was found in a bush grave in Perth's Kings Park nine days later.

Mr Rayney on Tuesday filed a writ in the West Australian Supreme Court suing the government for comments made by Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Lee, who was heading the murder investigation, on September 20 last year.

Lawyer Martin Bennett said his client was suing for defamation over Det Snr Sgt Lee's statements outside Mr Rayney's home and at a media conference that day.

"The statements weren't simply that Mr Rayney was the prime and only suspect," Mr Bennett told reporters.

"Detective Lee went further. He said they had sufficient evidence, it was a matter of just seeing how it all fits."

Det Snr Sgt Lee had also said the murder occurred at the Rayney home, Mr Bennett said.

The writ claims the police officer's statements were "grossly and falsely" defamatory.

"The statement ... unarguably conveys the imputation (that) Mr Rayney murdered his wife," Mr Bennett said.

"That's how every member of the community has seen it. That's why strangers take his mail out of the letterbox and write the word 'killer' on it and put it back in his letter box.

"That's why his children are teased, how he has been taunted and treated as he goes in the street and his everyday business."

Mr Rayney is suing the government, which is responsible for civil wrongs committed by police, for general damages, capped at $250,000 in WA, and for special damages for the loss of income as a barrister.

There is no set limit to special damages, and Mr Bennett said it was a "fair inference" the figure could run into the millions of dollars.

"We're talking about the potential destruction of an earning capacity for life," he said.

Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan has previously said Det Snr Sgt Lee named Mr Rayney under media pressure.

Mr Bennett said if that was the case, the police officer could have apologised immediately and indicated he did not mean to say it.

Mr Rayney has offered not to continue to prosecute the writ if the government is prepared to make an offer of compensation.

However, if the government decides to defend the case, it may have to prove the truth of the allegations that Mr Rayney was the "prime suspect" in his wife's death.

The burden of proof in such a civil matter

would be less than in a criminal court.

The government would not have to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" Mr Rayney had killed his wife, but that it was "more likely than not".

Mr Rayney has pleaded not guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court to a commonwealth charge of tapping his wife's phone.

Detainee sues state over knife

WHEN a 16-year-old girl assaulted her mother with a knife, she was sent to juvenile detention.

She was just eight the first time she threatened her mother with a knife. She had also similarly threatened her foster carer, attacked a teacher and stabbed a fellow student. She appeared to have a fascination with knives, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Now 25, the woman is suing the state for allowing her access to the knife she used to kill a teacher, Scott Bremmer, in a cooking class at the Yasmar detention centre.

The court heard she was allegedly sexually abused as a child, had been assessed as retarded and suffering from intermittent explosive disorder. Since she was sent to Yasmar at 16, she has assaulted her solicitor, doctor, psychiatrist and two teachers, one of whom was attacked with a leather working tool in July 1999. Two days later, she was allowed to participate in the cooking class, despite staff allegedly raising concerns that she appeared "hyped up". Her handcuffs were removed and she was given cooking implements, including knives.

During a break, she allegedly showed "heightened interest in knives", and after returning to class, she fatally stabbed Mr Bremmer. She was charged, and eventually sentenced to a limiting term of 10 years under the Mental Health Act. She has been held in isolation for most of that time, has assaulted guards and tried to harm herself in custody.

Yesterday, in what Justice Stephen Rothman acknowledged was an unusual claim, the woman's foster mother began suing the state of NSW, on the girl's behalf, for compensation for her imprisonment. It was argued that government organisations knew she was violent, had a history of using knives and needed to be restrained. She was owed a duty to ensure she was adequately supervised and not given access to knives, her lawyers argue in their statement of claim. A psychiatrist found she failed to understand the offence or that it was wrong.

In 2001 the state pleaded guilty to breaching occupational health and safety rules at Yasmar in the supervision of the girl. It was fined $294,000. Staff training had since been changed, the court was told. The case continues.