Murder
Mother Kills 22 Month Old Toddler After Arguing With Father
Gemma Gaye Killeen
A YOUNG woman who pleaded guilty to murdering her son never intended to kill him but abandoned him in a bid to grab the attention of her on-and-off again partner, WA’s Supreme Court has been told.
Gemma Gaye Killeen, 23, is facing the possibility of life imprisonment after admitting to killing her 22-month-old son Te Reringa Kayden Wetere at Hillarys Boat Harbour in November 2010.
She was due to be sentenced today however Justice Stephen Hall reserved his decision until Friday.
During the sentencing hearing, the court was told the toddler’s body was found floating in the water by passersby just over an hour after his mother had falsely claimed he had been abducted.
Another Mum Not Guilty of Murdering Children
An Australian mother has been convicted in Canada of the manslaughter of her two young sons after their bodies were found floating in a bathtub.
An Alberta judge found Allyson McConnell, 33, formerly from Gosford on the NSW Central Coast, not guilty of the more serious second degree murder charges.
Justice Michelle Crichton ruled there was reasonable doubt McConnell was able to form the intent to murder 10-month-old Jayden and two-year-old Connor by drowning them in a bathtub in the family’s Millet, Alberta, home on February 1, 2010.
After an emotional two-week trial in Wetaskiwin, Justice Crichton took a month to come to Friday’s verdict.
McConnell, who has made repeated suicide attempts and has been held in the psychiatric ward at an Alberta hospital, will be sentenced on May 9.
In 2006, McConnell worked at a Canadian ski resort and met local man Curtis McConnell.
‘Die you dog’ daughter NOT Guilty of Murder
A Sydney woman who stabbed her mother with a 12-centimetre kitchen knife and then screamed “die, die you dog!” as the bleeding woman rang triple-0 for help has been found guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of murder.
Krystal Jade Seymour, 25, stabbed her mother, Donna Marie Seymour, in the arm in the early hours of November 24, 2010, after a heated argument in the pair’s Giraween home, severing a major artery that caused her to bled to death.
During the trial in the NSW Supreme Court, the jury was played a triple-0 call in which the injured woman tells the operator: “I’m bleeding to death, she has cut an artery.”
In the background Seymour is heard screaming: “Die you f—ing dog, die! I hate you, I f—ing hate you.”
Seymour later admitted to stabbing her mother but said she was acting in self-defence and did not intend to kill her.
“She charged at me and she head-butted me,” the 25-year-old reportedly told police.
When Abortion is not Enough: Women’s Rights Reaches New Low
Editor: KILLING newborn babies should be allowed if the mother wishes, Australian philosophers have argued in a prestigious journal, however their whole argument is premised on the notion that mothers ‘own’ children, and this property is theirs solely to decide on matters as important as life or death.
The role, rights and responsibilities of the fathers and other family members is ignored, perhaps denoting that these supposed philosophers are engaging in something other than open-minded scientific debate. Perhaps this discussions has something to do with the growing number of women being persecuted for filicide, the murder of the children, especially at the point of birth. We in Australia are quite familiar we a particularly high profile case of a sports personality who killed her new born child because it was expected to interfere with her sports career.
Perhaps in the well tried fashion of the likes of Jen McIntosh, this publication’s true purpose is to provide legal leverage to such mothers, in order to avoid prison terms for killing new born babies.
Its quite interesting that such leniency does not seem to be extended to the father in this philosophical discussion.
Where Good Men Don’t Count: The Dire Repercussions of Ignoring Men’s Welfare – Story Bridge Murder/Suicide
In another case reflecting the lack of support experienced by separated fathers in this country, many Australians are now questioning the wisdom of Australia’s family support services which have focussed almost exclusively on the welfare and support of women, while ignoring  the needs men, resulting in a culture of vilification that has driven some men over the edge, with dire consequences for the innocent children of separated families.
IT WAS dark outside when Danielle Lees woke and reached for her mobile phone. It had only been hours since she last saw him, but something made her dial her husband to see if everything was OK.
By the time the call connected with Jason Lees’ mobile, both he and their son, Brad, were already dead.
Danielle, a psychologist, had been staying with her parents on the Gold Coast.
Neighbours say the couple appeared to have separated, but Jason, a teacher at Brisbane’s “Churchie” and a former rugby union referee, drove to meet her for lunch on Sunday.
He left again for home in the afternoon, taking Brad with him – the two-year-old attended his school’s kindergarten.
It was about 2am when Jason strapped Brad into the car, loaded his bike and drove from their Seven Hills home in suburban Brisbane to Kangaroo Point.
Mother Murders Children – Sole Custody Takes Three More Children’s Lives
THE heartbroken Hobart father of two children killed by their mother in murder-suicide in Melbourne will always be haunted by the knowledge he missed out on their final years.
Dominic Maher yesterday said he felt let down by a system that had prevented him from seeing son Matthew, 11 and daughter Melanie, 13, for three years before they died.
Police believe mother Kylie Fowler, 36, argued with the children’s older half sister Sammantha Fowler, 18, before killing all three children, setting fire to the house and committing suicide.
Mr Maher, of Chigwell, said he had spent years locked in court battles with Ms Maher, but when it consistently decided in her favour, he eventually moved to Tasmania.
He been preparing a video for his children explaining why he had lost contact with them which he planned to hand to them on their 18th birthday.
Fraud in Australia’s plan to reduce violence against women
The 2009 Australian project a ‘Time for Action: The National Council’s Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, 2009-2021′, was approved for implementation by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The Plan, which is split into several parts, puts forth recommendations for new legislation, changes to judicial processes, requests for funding and ideas for domestic programs targeted at reducing domestic and sexual violence against women. The advisory council has some powers to implement programs through the Office of Women among other agencies, but much of what the government funded program calls for requires approval by Parliament.
The entire premise of the National Plan was underpinned by the belief in this statement:“While a small proportion of men are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, the majority of people who experience this kind of violence are women in a home, at the hands of men they know.â€[27-pg1] But a quick examination of the statistics and data shows a much different picture to the rather sweeping indictment of Australian men the National Council paints.
Tanilla Warwick-Deaves – another child murdered by mother and her boyfriend
THE mother of murdered toddler Tanilla Warwick-Deaves has faced court charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Handcuffed and dressed in a yellow cardigan Donna Deaves faced Gosford Local Court this morning where she did not apply for bail during her brief appearance.
The 27-year-old was arrested about 9am yesterday at Erina on the state’s Central Coast.
Two-year-old Tanilla was found with serious injuries at her mother’s Watanobbi home just before 4am on August 27.
She was taken to Wyong Hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.
US mum convicted of baby microwave murder
JURORS in an American woman’s third trial have found her guilty of burning her baby daughter to death in a microwave oven.
China Arnold, 31, was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of 28-day-old Paris Talley in August 2005.
Arnold could receive the death penalty. The sentencing phase will begin on Monday next week.
Arnold’s first trial ended in a mistrial.
She was found guilty in the second trial, but that conviction was reversed last year. An appeals court found there was misconduct by prosecutors and the trial court made an error by not allowing a material witness to testify in Arnold’s defence.
Prosecutors have said Arnold intentionally put the baby in the microwave after a fight with her boyfriend. The defence had argued someone else was responsible.
Medical experts testified that the baby died after her temperature reached about 42 degrees Celsius and she probably was in the microwave for more than two minutes, dying quickly afterward.
“She died because she was overheated,” said Dr Marcella Fierro, retired chief medical examiner for Virginia. “She was cooked.”‘
Messages seeking comment from the prosecutor and defence lawyer were left at their offices, but a gag order in the case prevents anyone connected to it from commenting outside court.
Assistant Prosecutor Dan Brandt told jurors in court Arnold’s actions were “even more purposeful” than a slaying with a gun or knife, the Dayton Daily News reported.
“Baby Paris is without life, but she’s not without a voice,” Mr Brandt told jurors in closing arguments. “Please listen to her.”
Mr Brandt said Arnold had to carry the baby over, place her in the microwave, shut the door and press buttons.
Then she waited while her child cooked to death, Mr Brandt said.
Defence lawyer Jon Paul Rion argued the evidence pointed as much to Terrell Talley, the baby’s father, as it did Arnold, however the jury was unconvinced by the compelling evidence against the mother.
“This doesn’t make sense to you,” Mr Rion told jurors. “It doesn’t. I’ve been watching your faces.”
The prosecutor cut and fit evidence to show “this loving mother somehow was so evil that she killed her baby in this way”, he said.
Sack expert for finding Arthur Freeman insane, says senator Julian McGauran
Editorial Note: Perhaps this article says a lot more about Senator Julian McGauran than it says about Prof Graham Burrows.
Either Senator Julian McGauran is a psychiatry expert par-excelance, or he is another example of why Freeman could never have been found ‘legally insane’ during the tragic episode, regardless of the facts.
This is not to say that Freeman was innocent, but if you have read the facts, his ‘sanity’ during these tragic events was not as clear cut as the politically correct brigade will have you believe.
The scary thing about comments like these from Julian McGaurin is that they attack the very fabric of democracy.
Supposedly, Australians are entitled to voice an opinion, especially a professional opinion, even if it does not accord with the views of the established elite, Â without fear of losing their jobs. Its called freedom of speech. Aparently not though, according to McGauran, who will only accept his personal view as any acceptable representation of the truth.
It would however be interesting to question McGauran on his relative silence over the penis-burning husband-killer, and the perverted logic of Justice John Sulan, who let the killer walk free, presumably because he accepted that she ‘accidently’ poured petrol on her husband’s penis, and through a lit candle on him, Â in her attempt to exercise evil Hindu demons. Yeah right!
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THE University of Melbourne should sack an academic for defending a man who threw his young daughter to her death off a bridge, Senator Julian McGauran has told Parliament.
A jury in March found Arthur Freeman guilty of murder.
He has since been given a life sentence with a non-parole period of 32 years for killing four-year-old Darcey in January 2009.
Peak-hour motorists watched in horror as the girl plunged 58 metres to her death from the West Gate Bridge on what was meant to be her first day of school.
Senator McGauran claimed in Parliament that evidence from psychiatrist Graham Burrows almost convinced a jury to find Freeman not guilty.
Professor Burrows, a psychiatrist with four decades’ experience who holds an Order of Australia medal, was the only one of four experts to find Freeman had a mental illness.
The Victorian Liberal senator accused the academic of providing concocted evidence to the courtroom and called on University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis to have Prof Burrows removed from his role in the university as a fellow with the department of psychiatry.
“I say the university ought to remove him from that position for the evidence he gave in the Freeman case,” he told Parliament.
“The university’s reputation must surely be sullied if Professor Burrows remains in that position.”
Senator McGauran said the university’s vice-chancellor needed to take a stand for “common decency”.
“I call upon the vice-chancellor to consider all the facts, to deliberate beyond the excuses like academic freedom or acting outside the university’s jurisdiction and consider the case, its effect on family and society,” he said.
The last Australian vice-chancellor to ban an academic from teaching was Macquarie University’s Di Yerbury, who intervened in 2005 after veteran Associate Professor Andrew Fraser said African migration was causing crime.
Senator McGauran claimed in Parliament that defence lawyers often used Prof Burrows as a gun for hire.
“He has been described as a psychiatrist of last resort and one who will sing whatever song the defence wants,” he said.
“He has been a star witness for the defence before.”
Prof Burrows’ high academic standing may have caused the jury in Freeman’s case to take five days to reach a verdict, Senator McGauran said.
“Professor Burrows absurdly claimed Freeman as being in a state of ‘serene disassociation or hypnotic state like sleepwalking’.
“Burrows actually said, and I quote: ‘Freeman didn’t know what he was doing.’”
Comment was being sought from the University of Melbourne.
