Your speedy update on all the day’s big stories: Wednesday, February 26 2014.
Casey Donovan’s devastating fake boyfriend hoax.
Former Australian Idol winner, Casey Donovan, has revealed her soul-destroying experience of falling in love with a man who didn’t actually exist. The 25-year-old singer befriended a man named Campbell in 2004, when he reached out to her, while she was on tour with Australian Idol. Casey was in love with Campbell, though never actually met him in person. She did however, regularly catch up with his female friend Olga. After six years of the love affair, Casey found a SIM card on Olga’s bedroom floor belonging to Campbell and discovered that they were actually the same person. Olga confessed to Casey that she had been pretending to be Campbell all along.
Government institution for girls ‘like a concentration camp’
The Royal Commission into child sex abuse has today heard evidence of the extensive abuse girls were subject to at government-run institutions in Sydney. Girls who attended the schools in Parramatta and Hay, of which there were around 30,000 between 1850 and 1974, had mostly been born into poverty-stricken families. At the institution they had all their hair cut off, were drugged, raped in underground dungeons, beaten and emotionally manipulated over a 30 year period. 16 inmates of the Hay and Parramatta institutions gave evidence of their horrific experiences.
Grant Hackett flees to the US for rehab
Former Olympian, Grant Hackett has flown to LA today, reportedly on his way to a rehabilitation centre in the US where he will seek help for his long-standing addiction to the sleeping pill Stilnox. Hackett was seen with his brother Craig after touching down in the US and said that he's 'having a bit of a retreat.'
Grant's father Neville says his son is 'in a little bit of denial' about his addiction and 'won't be able to fool experts for long.' The news comes just one day after Grant Hackett's frantic search for missing son Jagger at the Crown Casino Melbourne, where Hackett roamed the casino's hotel corridors, reportedly stripped down to the waist.
Eight-year-old girl shot dead in QLD
A young girl was shot and killed in an alleged accidental shooting in Cape York, which has left the community 'shattered.' Police have called the incident, which occurred at around 7:30am at a home in Aurukun, a 'horrendous' accident and 'terrible tragedy.' Officers at the scene have confirmed that though there were adults in the house at the time they weren't in the room where the eight-year-old was shot. Detectives and scientific officers flew to the indigenous community yesterday to continue the investigation into the death and whether or not the child was playing with the gun.
