
-With AAP
1. Man charged with murder six years after disappearance of Leisl Smith.
A man is due to face court accused of murdering NSW woman Leisl Smith, who was last seen six years ago.
Ms Smith, then 23, left her Wallarah home on the state’s Central Coast on August 19, 2012.
Police searched extensively but failed to find any trace of her although more than a month after she vanished, her Honda Accord was found abandoned at nearby Tuggerah railway station.
CCTV camera captures Ms Smith parking her car at the railway station the day she disappeared. Footage shows her getting out of her car and walking away from the station. She did not board a train and never returned home.
Two days after she was last seen alive, Ms Smith’s father received a text message from her mobile phone.
“F*** you. I can’t do this and I’m not going to keep your secret any more,” it read.
Her father said he had no idea what she was talking about and immediately called her, but her phone has already been switched off.
The next day he received another text from her phone, saying: “I’m really sorry dad. Please don’t be angry.”
He has not received any other messages since.
In April 2013 detectives spoke to a then 42-year-old man before searching two properties 80kms away from each other at Wallarah and Brookfield, where they seized several items.
More properties were scoured bordering the Golden Highway at Merriwa in the far west of the Hunter region.
On the anniversary of Ms Smith’s disappearance this year, her mother made a desperate plea for information on Facebook.
“Today is the anniversary of my daughters disappearance… I am at Tuggerah station where she was last seen … any information should be given to crimestoppers or the Wyong police… please don’t hesitate to share this and don’t hesitate to share information… ty … Leisl’s mum xxx,” she said on the Find Leisl Smith Facebook page.
After ongoing investigations, a 48-year-old man was arrested on Thursday on the Gwydir Highway, west of Inverell, in northern NSW.
He was charged with murder and refused bail to appear in Inverell Local Court on Friday.
2. A teenage boy has been charged after a 12-year-old girl was slashed in the face 20 times.
#BREAKING QLD Police have arrested a 17-year-old man over a random attack in Brisbane South yesterday, after a 12-year-old girl was allegedly slashed across the face with a box cutter more than 20 times on her way to school. #TenNews pic.twitter.com/co4GxqntXw
— TEN Eyewitness News (@channeltennews) October 18, 2018