UPDATE JUNE 1st:
This morning an 18-year-old man was charged with the rape and murder of Joan Ryther, who was pregnant at the time of the assault.
The man will face Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Saturday morning. Police did not reveal any further details about the arrest.
By KATE HUNTER
Most Australians don’t have a clue who Joan Ryther was.
Some, those who read the Queensland papers, might recognise her as, ‘That girl who was murdered in Logan last week.’
But to her family, friends and workmates she was Joan. Twenty-seven-years-old, married to Cory, and expecting their first baby.
Last week, her body was found dumped in the front yard of a house in a suburb south of Brisbane. She had been sexually assaulted, then killed with, ‘blows to the head.’ She’d been walking to work at McDonalds when she was attacked. It was early evening when her husband raised the alarm. He called into McDonald’s on his way home – the plan was for her to drive their car home later. He didn’t like her walking late at night, but she’d never arrived for her shift.
Her husband and family are devastated, the people of Logan are frightened and why not?
A young woman, eight weeks pregnant, is abducted from a suburban street, sexually assaulted and murdered.
It’s the sort of crime that normally commands headlines for weeks, fills Facebook feeds and keeps talkback radio hosts busy with calls for the death penalty.
Top Comments
Yeah I think this case is concerning - the girl is pregnant - in our native Philippines that's considered a life and an aggravating factor. Yeah I know she came from an impoverished nation but she was a human being and a permanent resident if not a citizen. Moreover, she was working and deserved more to live than the low life who raped and murdered two innocent lives. Can we not be protected while we are about to go to work like Joanne and after work like Jill - I mean here in Australia? 18 year old - we are already adults and in second year college in the Philippines. Is race an excuse to commit crime - don't think in the USA that will hold. I feel for these women. "Justice" has been done to Jill Meagher case. This remains in the Joanne Rhyther case. Until then "fair go" will be dubious...
OK, what's the go with this case? It's now more than a year since it happened. A man was charged but to my knowledge has not stood trial? I can find no news reference about it since November 2013.
What's going on?