Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

Neighbour, 14, tells of
discussion with accused
A neighbour of a man alleged to
have abducted and sexually assault-
ed two young girls in 1988 told an
ACT Supreme Court jury yesterday
that he had discussed the incident
with the man who was later accused
of the offences.
The neighbour, a 14-year-old boy,
said yesterday he had known one of
the girls involved and had told the
accuscd that she had been assaulted.
The boy was giving evidence in
the trial of a man, 19, charged with
eight counts arising from the alleged
abduction and sexual and indecent
assault of two girls in Waramanga on
July 2, 1988. The man has pleaded
not guilty to all charges.
The boy said that in 1988 his older
sister and the older sister of one of
the alleged victims had been friends.
The boy said the alleged victim
had sometimes come to his house
with her sister by bicycle.
Concerning the conversation he
had with the accused in 1988, the
boy said that he could not recall the
details of the conversation and that
he had not known then — and still
did not know now — any details of
the alleged assault.
Yesterday, Detective Constable
Geoffrey Cotterill told the jury that
he had been seconded in August,
1988, to a task force investigating a
number of sexual assaults which had
occurred in July in Waramanga,
Chapman and Fisher in south Can-
berra.
He said that on February 12,
1989, he had "spoken to the accused
for 15 to 20 minutes at the police
station. He had then spoken to the
police psychologist, Lcn Backhouse,
and to the accused's parents.
He had told the accused's parents
"who Mr Backhouse was and what
he was going to do".
He had then introduced the ac-
cused to Mr Backhouse and had
been present during — but had not
contributed to — a conversation be-
tween the two.
Mr Backhouse and the accused
had not discussed the alleged sexual
assault of the two girls.
Detective Constable Cotterill said
that he had contacted Mr Backhouse
because when he had first spoken to
the accused (about an alleged inci-
dent on February 12 at a children's
disco in Weston) the accused had
"presented differently . . . from what
I expected [would be] normal an-
swers to the questions I might ask
him."
He said he had been "trying to
clarify what had occurred at the [dis-
co]".
The trial continues today before
Justice John Gallop.
Police tell of searches
A Sydney man charged with con-
spiring to supply heroin had asked a
police officer if he would receive a
shorter, sentence if he pleaded guilty
to the charge, the ACT Magistrates
Court heard yesterday.
Constable Tony Negus told Mag-
istrate Michael Somes that Marius
Alexandru, 18, had said, "I'm not
admitting I'm guilty but I did have a
part in it."
It is alleged that Alexandru con-
spired with his parents, Eva Alexan-
dru, 37, and Dumitru Alexandru, 41,
also of Sydney, and two Canberra
people, Jane Louise Bartlett and
Stewart James Talve, to supply hero-
in for sale in the ACT.
The five are facing 15 drug-related
charges in a committal hearing and
have not entered pleas.
Constable Negus said Marius Al-
exandru had said he had met Talve
at a nightclub in Canberra and had
"got a gram of speed off him". On
another occasion he had rung Talve
to get some more speed but he had
not spoken about heroin.
He had travelled to Canberra once
to meet Talve because his parents
had told to collect $1000 from him.
He had not known what the money
was for.
On another occasion, he had spo-
ken to Talve on the telephone and
had said he would collect $2500
from him. He had never had any
intention of collecting the money.
The court heard that Marius Alex-
andru had earlier pleaded guilty to
drug charges in relation to receiving
speed from Talve at the nightclub.
Detective Sergeant Robyn
Thompson said she had searched the
Sydney residence of the Alexandrus'
on March 21, 1990, the day Eva and
Dumitru Alexandra and Talve and
Bartlett had been arrested in Can-
berra. Three green balloons had been
found in a bag labelled "25 large
balloons".
In earlier evidence, the court
heard that Talvc had been arrested
with, in his pocket, a green balloon
containing heroin which the Alexan-
drus are alleged to have sold him.
Constable Russell Brown, who al-
so searched the Alexandru house,
said he had found, in a bin in the
Alexandrus' garage, a "deflated
green balloon" which had been tied
and "melted near the tie".
Constable Gary Wood, who
searched Talve and Bartlett's pre-
mises in O'Connor, said he had
found a green balloon in a kitchen
drawer.
He had also found scales, syringes,
alcohol swabs and foils.
The hearing continues today.
QC: men trying
to escape blame
SYDNEY: Two men and a
youth tried to escape blame for
the abduction, rape and murder
of Janine Balding by blaming a
self-professed devil-worshipper
with a history of false confes-
sions, a jury was told yesterday.
Crown Prosecutor Bill Job,
QC, told a Sydney Central Crimi-
nal Court jury the trio — Stephen
"Shorty" Jamieson, 24, Matthew
Elliott, 18, and a juvenile, 17 —
had everything to gain by point-
ing the finger at another person.
Elliott and the juvenile, who
cannot be named, have previous-
ly told the court "Shorty" Jamie-
son was not present when Miss
Balding was abducted from Suth-
erland Railway Station, in Syd-
ney, on September 8,1988.
They maintain it was Mark
"Shorty" Wells who actually
raped the 20-year-old bank teller
before drowning her in a dam at
Minchinbury, in Sydney's west.
Wells has told the court he was
not present but saw the details
"in a dream" after appealing to
the devil and playing with a ouija
board.
In his final address to the jury,
Mr Job said Mr Wells's mental
difficulties had given the accused
the perfect scapegoat.
"You've seen Mark Wells . . .
you know that he's got prob-
lems," Mr Job told the jury in his
final address.
"Mark Wells, that pathetic
creature that he was . . . he gave
them an out. They've all g0t
something to gain by saying it's
the wrong Shorty."
Making his final address,
"Shorty" Jamieson's barrister,
Ted O'Loughlin, QC, asked the
jury to give his client "a fair go".
He said an alleged confession,
contained in a police record of
interview, was a police "verbal"
because Jamieson was a mental
retard incapable of making the
alleged confession.
He also told the jury it was not
fair to convict Jamieson simply
because he looked "strange".
"He's not a handsome little fel-
low, you might think he looks a
bit strange, [but] you don't con-
vict someone on the way he
looks," Mr' O'Loughlin said.
Earlier, the jury heard from a
juvenile known as "W", who has
already pleaded guilty to charges
relating to Miss Balding's abduc-
tion and rape.
"W" said yesterday he would
have saved Miss Balding from
drowning, but had not wanted to
get his shoes "saturated and
muddy".
The trial, before Justice New-
man, is continuing.
'Family' trial next year
ADELAIDE: A man charged
with two of Adelaide's so-called
Family killings will not stand tri-
al in the Supreme Court until
next year.
Justice Kevin Duggan set
down a timetable yesterday for
proceedings against Bevan Spen-
cer Von Einem who is charged
with murdering Alan Barnes, 17,
in 1979, and Mark Langley, 18,
in 1982.
Both teenagers died from
blood loss caused by severe anal
injuries.
Justice Duggan said it was an-
ticipated the trial would begin in
the first week in February next
year with all preliminary matters
to be decided before the Christ-
mas break.
However Von Einem, 43,
might not stand trial at all if de-
fence moves to have the charges
permanently stayed are success-
ful. Defence counsel Marie Shaw
said at an earlier hearing that the
defence would argue that there
had been an abuse of process
against Von Einem.
Justice Duggan said yesterday
the application for the stay of
proceedings would begin on Oc-
tober 9 and if it failed would be
followed by argument on other
preliminary matters.
Jackson to seek day leave
SYDNEY: A former NSW
Minister for Corrective Services,
Rex Jackson, will ask the Su-
preme Court to order that he be
released from prison on day
leave.
In the Administrative Law Di-
vision yesterday Jackson's coun-
sel, Charles Waterstreet, sought
an early hearing of the applica-
tion.
Justice Campbell adjourned
the matter until July 10.
On August 28, 1987, Jackson
was convicted of conspiring to
acccpt bribes to release prisoners
on licence.
He was sentenced by Justice
Roden to 7½ years' jail with a
non-parole period of three years
nine months. The Court of Crim-
inal Appeal later increased the
sentence to 10 years, with a five-
year non-parole period.
Jackson expects to be released
on parole next November, but
wants to be granted day-release
in the meantime.
Judge bans report on bail application
PERTH: The media were banned
yesterday from reporting the out-
come of a bail application by mem-
bers of the white-supremacist
Australian Nationalists Movement.
The application was made in the
Perth District Court by ANM leader
Jack Van Tongeren and his followers
John Van Blitterswyk, Wayne Van
Blitterswyk and Christopher Bartle,
who have been kept in custody since
their arrest last August for 197 al-
leged offences, including setting fire
to five Chinese restaurants.
Judge Kevin Hammond said yes-
terday that he was concerned about
making the suppression order, but it
was necessary to ensure the case
went to trial with "as little unneces-
sary difficulty as possible".
"Whereas the fact of the applica-
tion can be published, the state-
ments by the applicants and the
Crown and also the result of the
application cannot be published," he
said.
The four men will stand trial in
the District Court on August 6, along
with other alleged ANM members,
Judith Lyons and Mark Ferguson.
The ANM opposes Asian immi-
gration to Australia and wants all
non-whites repatriated.
LAW LIST
HIGH COURT
Before the Full Court, in
Canberra, at 10.15am, in Court
2:
For judgment: Bropho v the
State of Western Australia and
another, George v Rockett and
another, G. P. International
Pipecoaters Pty ltd v the Com-
missioner of Taxation.
FAMILY COURT
In Court No 2, 10am:
Smith/Langridge. At 11.15am:
Vlatkovic. At 11.45am: McDer-
mott. At noon: O'Dempsey/Van
Raay.
A.C.T. SUPREME COURT
Before Chief Justice Miles in
No 2 courtroom at the ACT Law
Courts, at 10am:
Motion (part heard): William
Timothy Cape v Robert George
Maidment.
At 2.15pm: Application for
bail by John Larchin.
Before Justice Gallop in No 1
courtroom, at 10am: Trial (part
heard): R v Shane Andrew
Gruber.
Before The Master in No 6
courtroom, at 10am: Hearing:
Betty Coralie Pike v Robert
Allan Wilkes; Peter Dwight
Laster v Bruce Jones; Graham
John Downey v Pauline Banks.
NOTICE TO JURORS
Jurors serving in the trial of
R v Gruber are required today
at 11.20am.
ADMINISTRATIVE
APPEALS TRIBUNAL
Before Deputy President
Todd in 4th Floor Hearing
Room, AMP Building, Hobart
Place, Canberra, at 9.15am: Re
O. Azevedo and Department of
Primary Industries and Energy
G. Beer and Australian Tele-
communications Commission
A. Jeremic and Comcare and the
Commonwealth (decisions).
Before Deputy President
Todd in 4th Floor Hearing
Room, AMP Building, Hobart
Place, Canberra, at 9.30am: Re
AT90/5 and Commissioner of
Taxation (hearing).
DEFENCE FORCE
REMUNERATION
TRIBUNAL
In Hearing Room, 1st Floor,
62 Northboume Avenue, Can-
berra City, at 10.30am;
Before Justice A.J. Boulton,
Rear Admiral N. E. McDonald,
Mr J. T. C. Brassil: For hearing:
Allowances.
$