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News in 5: Teen 'heartbroken' after attempted murder; Groom breaks neck; Kavanaugh accuser denies Australian work.

 

With AAP.

1. Teen “fought through the night” after being kidnapped and thrown off bridge.

Nineteen-year-old disabled teen Kayla Kendrigan fought through a “terrible night” before allegedly being thrown off a Sydney bridge, according to her sister.

Speaking to news.com.au, Imogen Gibson said her sister was “still in a lot of pain” following her traumatic ordeal on the weekend.

Kendrigan survived being thrown off the Windsor Bridge into the Hawkesbury River in an alleged kidnapping and botched murder attempt.

Gibson told news.com.au her sister was heartbroken by the incident.

“I never will be able to understand why someone would do this to her. She was always sweet and gentle. She never got into fights or hit anyone.

“It pains my heart so much because my sister was born with one arm, so she has never been able to swim or fight, but she fought through that terrible night like a fighter.”

She told police she was driven in the boot of a car to the bridge, which is more than 20 metres high, before a group of people threw her into the river below in the early hours of Sunday, police say.

Surviving the fall, she swam to the riverbank and alerted police.

Police allege the victim had been kidnapped on Saturday night from Campbelltown before being driven to a home in Whalan where they alleged she was tied up, blindfolded, stabbed, punched and hit with a wooden bat.

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After six hours, she was allegedly driven to Windsor, 60km away from her original location, in the boot of a car. She was then allegedly pushed off the bridge while still tied up.

Four people – a 19-year-old woman, 22-year-old man, 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old body – were this week charged with attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping and other offences.

2. A woman flying out of Sydney is furious after being reprimanded by flight attendant for crying baby.

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A new mum has left a scathing Facebook post after being told off by a flight attendant on a flight from Sydney to San Francisco because her eight-month-old son was crying.

Krupa Patel Bala was travelling in business class with her husband and baby when the incident happened, using the in-flight wifi to post on Facebook as it happened.

Bala said her son had been crying for about five minutes when she was approached by the chief flight attendant.

“Now, I don’t really know what’s wrong with my baby, but he tends to cry from time to time. I hear that’s common with newborns but this is my only child, so I could be mistaken,” she wrote.

“After about 5 minutes of the baby crying in the bassinet, [the flight attendant] came over and yelled at my husband it was ‘absolutely unacceptable’ for the baby to cry.”

Bala said she and her husband were trying to calm the baby. The flight attendant told her babies were not allowed to cry for more than five minutes and that as a parent, Bala should ‘control him’.

“Parents of newborns have it hard enough already travelling with a baby and we certainly don’t need CREW MANAGERS piling on when we are doing our best to ensure we’re containing our children and their cries,” she said.

Bala said the pilot apologised for the flight attendant’s behaviour and upon arrival at San Francisco, they were approached by airline representatives who apologised and offered a refund.

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In a statement to California broadcaster KTVU, United Airlines said the flight attendant in question was being “held out of service” pending an investigation.

3. Queensland father of two breaks neck during Bucks party accident.

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A Sunshine Coast father-of-two will get married this weekend, despite breaking his neck during his bucks party.

Concrete cutter Tim Cornthwaite, 29, suffered a broken neck in multiple places during a prank went wrong at his bucks party last weekend.

Cornthwaite complained of soreness at the time but did not realised the seriousness of his injury until a CAT scan on Tuesday.

Fiance Chloe Zammit wrote on Facebook that he had “multiple unstable fractures to his neck” and has a long road of recovery ahead.

The couple will go ahead with their vows this Saturday but will delay the reception by six months.

Cornthwaite is recovering in Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. He is unable to work and the family will have no income while he is recovering.

GoFundMe page set up by a friend to help the young family has already raised almost $8,000 within two days.

4. Kavanaugh accuser denies working in Australia.

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US professor Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, has been quizzed about her Australian work history at an intense US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Arizona sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, hired by the 10 male Republican senators who control the committee, was probing Ford about her fear of flying.

“In fact, you fly fairly frequently for your hobbies and you have had to fly for your work. Is that true?” Mitchell asked during Thursday’s hearing in Washington DC.

“Correct, unfortunately,” Ford replied.

Mitchell then appeared to presume Ford had worked in Australia.

Ford, 51, is a professor at California’s Palo Alto University and teaches in a consortium with Stanford University.

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“You were a consulting bio-statistician in Sydney, Australia?” Mitchell asked.

“Is that right?”

Ford denied it.

“I have never been to Australia, but the company that I worked for is based in Australia and they have an office in San Francisco, California,” Blasey said.

In a rare moment of levity during the hearing the professor laughed about the prospect of taking the long flight to Australia.

“I don’t think I’ll make it to Australia,” Blasey said.

Mitchell, also breaking the stark tone of the hearing, smiled.

“It is long,” the prosecutor said.

Ford alleges Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 at a party by pinning her to a bed, groping her and attempting to pull off her swimsuit.

Kavanaugh vehemently rejects the accusation, but Ford’s claims have the potential to derail his hopes of being appointed to a lifelong seat on America’s highest court.

There had been reports Ford was reluctant to fly from California to Washington DC for Thursday’s hearing and her fear came from the alleged decades ago Kavanaugh assault.

Blasey, a keen surfer, did confirm she has flown to Hawaii, Costa Rica, other South Pacific islands and French Polynesia.

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“It is easier for me to travel going that direction when it is a vacation,” Blasey said.

Critics, including US President Donald Trump’s son Don Jr, jumped on her comments.

“I’m no psychology professor but it does seem weird to me that someone could have a selective fear of flying,” Trump Jr wrote on Twitter.

“Can’t do it to testify but for vacation, well it’s not a problem at all.”

5. Jury to deliberate in Queensland wife death case.

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A Queensland jury will likely retire on Friday to determine if a man persuaded and then helped his wife take her own life so he could use her life insurance money to build a religious commune.

Jurors in the Brisbane Supreme Court trial of Graham Robert Morant, 69, heard the case summed up on Thursday.

Morant is accused of counselling and advising Jennifer Morant to take her own life in 2014.

He was the sole beneficiary to her $1.4 million life insurance when she killed herself in November that year.

Ms Morant lived with chronic back pain and found even the most simple everyday tasks impossible, the court has heard.

The prosecution alleges Morant persuaded Ms Morant by telling her the funds would go towards a commune where he would be pastor.

But defence lawyers argue there is no evidence the money was paid and have told the court Ms Morant wanted to die.

Two witnesses close to the woman testified she did not want to kill herself and was scared because her husband had pressured her to do so.

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