news

Thursday's news in 5 minutes.

1. Death of “beautiful and perfectly formed baby boy” during his “high risk” home birth was preventable coroner finds.

A coronial hearing in the NSW town of Lismore investigating the circumstances surrounding an unsupervised home birth near Nimbin last year that resulted in the death of a newborn boy has found his death could have been prevented.

The baby’s parents went ahead with his home birth despite knowing he was in a transverse or “sideways” position after a scan.

The baby died from brain damage three days after his birth.

“Their pre-existing views made them willfully blind to the level of risk involved,” said Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame on Wednesday.

“All the medical evidence suggests that (his) death was preventable, if he had been birthed in an appropriate hospital setting.”

The coroner said that in December 2014 a local GP gave the couple a strong warning about their birth plans, but the father “believed that he was choosing the safer option and protecting his unborn child from the fear, dogma and illusion prevalent in the hospital system.”

“At no point during the labour was the ambulance called … going to the hospital wasn’t an option as they wanted a homebirth,” she said.

The ABC reports that there were other risk factors identified prior to the birth, including the transverse position of the foetus and the mother testing positive to Hepatitis C.

In her inquest findings, Ms Grahame stressed the “rights of women” to decide how they will give birth. She recommended that the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners consider developing guidelines to help GPs in advising patients who request non-hospital births.

ADVERTISEMENT

2. Video of “brutal” 9-year-old rugby league player causes controversy.

A video of a young boy, aged just nine, who ploughs through other players at an under nine’s rugby league grand final in Canberra over the weekend has gone viral – with the boy, Meaalofa ‘Rayson’ Te’o being called “The next Jonah Lomu.”

But the video is today under scrutiny after it was revealed that some of the other players he pushed out of his way as he dominates the game were left “twitching” and “limping”.

One child being sent into violent spasms.

Meaalofa ‘Rayson’ Te’o, 9, from Dandenong in Victoria literally ploughs down the other smaller players.

The video is igniting controversy with some saying it shows how junior rugby league needs to have weight class divisions.

But the boy’s aunt has defended Meaalofa saying he had done nothing wrong.

“When you watch the footage, you will see that Meaalofa never fends when he doesn’t have to,” she told The Daily Mail.

“He is the type of player who will check to see if the boy is alright when he knows that the boy could be hurt. He has good sportsmanship and is never a bully on the field, he just does his job as a prop.”

3. Police investigating claims student was raped by another student at Queensland school.

ADVERTISEMENT
“The kid has tried to kill himself twice in the last 14 days." Image via iStock.

Authorities are investigating an alleged rape of a student by another student at a high school in Rockhampton.

The father of the boy told The Courier-Mail that his son was told to “pull his pants down” by a Year 12 student before he was raped.

“The kid has tried to kill himself twice in the last 14 days. We’re at a loss as to what else we can do,” the father said. “He was followed into the toilet, made to pull his pants down and raped."

“Now we’re having to do medical tests and shipping him in and out of hospital because he is bleeding from the bowel and having flashbacks when he goes back to school – but we need to have tests done for the legal side of things as well.”

The family has approached Slater and Gordon Lawyers to act on their behalf as they pursue a public liability claim against the state.

Police have confirmed they are investigating the alleged rape, which occurred in July.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The QPS has an open file relating to the indecent treatment of a child at a Rockhampton educational facility,” a police spokesman said.

For help: Lifeline 13 11 14. Kid's Helpline: 1800 55 1800. DV and Sexual Abuse hotline 27/4: 1800 737 732.

4. Two woman killed when car and train collide near Surrey Hills railway station.

Two women have been killed after a horror crash when the car they were travelling in was crushed by a train in at a Surrey Hills level train crossing today in Melbourne.

The 71-year-old and a 73-year-old, both from Camberwell in Melbourne’s east, were crush in their car in the middle of the crossing on Union Rd just before 4pm yesterday.

Acting sergeant Glen Whitehead said:

“The motor vehicle has come across, was on the train line and then the boom gate has come down behind.

“The driver has been unsure of what to do from there and as a result the train travelling through, an express train, has then collided into the motor vehicle.”

5. Greens walk out on Pauline Hanson’s maiden speech.

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has sparked a walkout in parliament yesterday by telling the chamber that the country risked being “swamped” by Muslims.

”We are in danger of being swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own,” Pauline Hanson told the chamber during her maiden speech.

Her comments triggered a walkout by Green party senators but her supporters packed the public galleries of the Senate for her first speech since she was returned to parliament in the July election after an 18-year absence.

ADVERTISEMENT

The One Nation leader recalled her maiden speech after she was elected in 1996 when she then warned Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians”.

Today Ms Hanson said that the situation applied to Muslim immigrants, who she would take to the airport and “wave you goodbye with my sincere best wishes” if they were unwilling to “become Australian”.

As she spoke, a number of Greens senators followed leader Richard Di Natale as he walked out of the chamber.

“Together, our MPs have left Senator Pauline Hanson’s first speech because we’ll call out racism wherever it occurs, including Parliament,” Senator Di Natale later said on Twitter.

6. Rapist hunted down his victim via Facebook.

A man who hunted down a young woman he had friended on Facebook has been jailed for six years with a minimum non-parole term of four years after he raped her after she left a nightclub.

Anjan Shrestha, 29, tracked his victim who he had never met through Facebook after he “friended her” he then followed her plans to attend a nightclub and lay in wait to attack.

The Herald Sun report that the woman had revealed her plans on Facebook as to where she would be that evening.

Shrestha drove to the Melbourne nightclub and sat waiting in his car, his headlights off, until the woman left about 2am.

He then tracked her until she was alone and attacked her saying: “I’ve got you on Facebook.”

Afterwards, Shrestha changed his Facebook profile details.

ADVERTISEMENT

In sentencing him Judge Geoff Chettle said Shrestha had a “sense of sexual entitlement”.

“Your attack was premeditated, your victim was a stranger to you, the attack took place late at night in a secluded place. You attacked her when her hands were full and she was alone.”

7. Police drop charges against mum who left kids home alone to go to Bali.

Police in Western Australia have dropped all charges against the pregnant mum who left her two step-children, aged four and six, home alone for two days while she travelled to Bali.

The children have also now been returned to the woman’s care.

Police had alleged the woman flew to Bali renew a visa in June while the children's father was also overseas, she initially blamed Australia Post for her children's passports not being delivered.

WA Today reports that the two children will travel with their step-mother back to China by September 26. Her lawyer said the woman would then likely return to Australia with them after sorting out some "immigration issues.”

"They [police]decided it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the prosecution,” her lawyer Oliver Paxman told media.

"It would have taken a number of months to conclude, possibly up to a year or more, and given this lady's got two young children and is heavily pregnant with a third child, to keep her in Australia for the sole purpose of pursing the prosecution would have cost the government huge sums. We applaud the WA Police for making a sensible decision.”

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au