1. Teen claimed she was kidnapped and gang raped. Two weeks later, she’s admitted to making it up.
A Texas teenager who ran into a church and claimed that “three black males” wearing ski masks had abducted and raped her has admitted it was all a hoax, police say.
According to the Dallas News, Brianna Harmon Talbott confessed she had made up the story to police on Tuesday.
The next day, she was arrested on a charge of making a false report to officers.
The 18-year-old was reported missing by her fiancé on March 8, after finding her car with the driver’s door open, and her phone, keys and one shoe nearby.
She later burst into a church wearing only a shirt, bra and underwear. According to police reports at the time, there were visible cuts and scrapes all over her body.
Police now believe the crime scene, including the alleged kidnapping scene and the church where she was found, was staged. Talbott also admitted her injuries were self-inflicted.
Medical personnel who examined the teen after she was found were “not able to corroborate her claims” that she had been sexually assaulted.
Police aren’t completely sure of the motives behind her false report, but Denison Police Chief Jay Burch has called her falsified claims an “insult to the community”.
“[Her hoax is] especially offensive to the African-American community due to her description of the so-called suspects in her hoax,” he said.
“The anger and hurts caused from such a hoax are difficult and so unnecessary.
“It’s unfortunate a person can falsely report such a major incident in our community that wastes the time of law enforcement and needlessly puts some people in fear.”
2. Man behind London attack named as a man in Belgium is arrested after trying to drive through crowd.
The knife-wielding man responsible for the terror attack that left three other people dead and at least 29 injured in Westminster, has been named by London police as Khalid Masood.
READ MORE: London attacker named as father of three and former teacher.
Police say the 52-year-old Briton and father of three had a range of previous convictions for grievous bodily harm, assault and possession of weapons but had never been convicted of any terrorism offences.
The announcement comes as Belgian authorities have tightened security in Antwerp after a Frenchman drove his car at high speed through a busy shopping area, forcing pedestrians to jump out of the way.
ALSO: Australian mum of two one of more than 40 injured in London.
French President Francois Hollande compared the incident to the attack in London that left three people dead Wednesday, saying the Frenchman was “trying to kill people or create a dramatic event.”
The federal prosecutor’s office said the car was intercepted late Thursday morning at the port docks and police arrested a man, identified as 39-year-old Mohamed R.
In the car, authorities found knives, a shotgun and a gas can with an unknown liquid. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
An official at the prosecutor’s office, who asked not to be identified because the investigation was still ongoing, said the suspect “was under the influence” but refused to elaborate whether it was drugs or alcohol.
Authorities immediately raised security in the centre of Antwerp.
3. A major overhaul of Australia’s child care system has passed the Senate.
A major overhaul of Australia’s child care system expected to benefit one million families has passed the Senate following a heated late night debate, AAP reports.
Under the $1.6 billion package which cleared the upper house on Thursday night, a family earning less than $65,000 a year will pay just 15 per cent of their child care fees with the remainder of the bill footed by taxpayers.
The means-and-activity tested subsidy, which requires both parents to work, study, volunteer, or search for work for at least eight hours a fortnight, tapers down to 20 per cent for those earning $340,000.
All subsidies cut off for families earning more than $350,000 after the Federal Government agreed to an amendment from crossbench senator Derryn Hinch, meaning the amended legislation needs to go back to the lower house for its tick of approval.
The more hours of work parents do, the more subsidised care they get.
Labor and the Greens opposed the package, arguing it hurt the most vulnerable and disadvantaged by slashing in half the hours of subsidised care available for families earning less than $65,000 a year who fail the activity test.
They wanted the 12 hours-a-week entitlement boosted to 15 hours, with Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young describing the move as a “kick in the guts” for vulnerable children who’d been put in the “dustbin”.
“Unless both your parents are working… you’re not as valuable to this government,” she said.
4. A man has been killed in a skydiving accident near Perth.
A man has died in a skydiving accident during a national championship event east of Perth.
The man, an experienced skydiver aged in his 30s, suffered a canopy entanglement during a formation jump and collided with another person about 5pm local time on Thursday, according to Skydive Australia.
The event was being held at the Skydive York facility in Burges.
Skydive Australia said nobody else was injured and the drop zone had been secured.
“The Australian Skydiving Championships have been put on hold pending a meeting with the 200 plus competitors,” the organisation said in a statement.
Police confirmed they were also investigating the incident.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
5. Australian man avoids jail, fined $189, after his girlfriend was killed in Thailand jetski crash.
An Australian man has been given a suspended one-year prison sentence over his girlfriend’s death in a jet-ski accident on Thai resort island of Phuket.
Thomas Keating, 22, pleaded guilty at Phuket Provincial Court and on Thursday was handed a one-year sentence – suspended for two years – for criminal negligence that led to the death of Emily Jayne Collie on February 6.
The charge specified that “the accused committed the crime without intent but also without care.”
He was fined 5,000 baht ($A189) and was allowed to leave Thailand. He had been barred from leaving the country pending the completion of his trial, , AAP reports.
Renting a personal jet-ski is popular at many Thai beach resorts. Keating has said he was blinded by the sun when his jet-ski crashed into hers.
Keating was accompanied by family members, his lawyer and Craig Ferguson, the Australian Consul-General for Phuket in court on Thursday.
He declined to comment to reporters after leaving the court.
Soon after last month’s tragedy, Keating wrote a heartfelt tribute to his 20-year-old partner on his Facebook page.
“I love you so much Emily and I wish I could just bring you back into my arms. I’m so broken and I know I’ll never never be able to mend.”
6. Nineteen-year-old man arrested after trying to drown Victorian police dog.
Indy the canine cop has scored the clincher in a creek-bed tussle with a Victorian man accused of bashing the police dog and trying to drown it, AAP reports.
The 19-year-old man allegedly hit the German Shepherd across the head and tried to drown it in Darebin Creek early on Thursday after it chased him down in a police pursuit.
“The dog bit the Broadford man before the canine handler pulled the dog from the water and the man escaped,” police say.
The man got away, for a while, but he was arrested when he turned up at hospital seeking help for severe dog bites.
The ordeal started when police chased a car with three people inside, which blew a tyre in Reservoir about 12.30am.
A 20-year-old Pascoe Vale woman and a 29-year-old Mill Park man were arrested nearby, while the 19-year-old man, with the dog on his tail, fled into Darebin Creek.
The teenager has been charged with animal cruelty, breach of bail and resisting arrest and was bailed to appear at Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on March 24.
The woman was charged with conduct endangering life and traffic matters and the Mill Park man was released pending further inquiries.
Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au
Top Comments
that girl should face a harsh penalty. because of incidents like hers even more women and girls will face not being believed that they were raped than the already high number there already is. its one of the few crimes that the victim faces accusations of blame more than the perpetrator too often as it is
#3 really annoys me. Families earning over $350k are going to be the biggest tax payers, yet they get CUT OFF from any childcare subsidies. That is so unfair. If both parents want to return to work in order to be able to continue their careers, they are going to be doing so for free, or for barely any money, as so much money will be going to childcare.
I have no problem with paying nearly half my wage in tax for the benefit of society....but it does piss me off that I am then excluded from enjoying the benefits of my significant contribution.
The whole idea is so that people who struggle to pay childcare costs due to earning less can afford to work and pay childcare. Sorry but as the Liberal Party keep hammering in to us, 'the age of entitlement is over'. It isn't about who pays more tax or that those who earn more should benefit; government handouts should be about helping those who struggle so that there is equality in our society. If the rich help the poor, rather than helping themselves to benefits, then our society would be much better off.
"I have no problem with paying nearly half my wage in tax for the benefit of society"
you do realise that if the top marginal tax rate is 45%, you're not paying 45% of your total income in tax?
And as someone who doesn't have children, can I complain about not being able to benefit from the childcare payment changes?
It's all swings and roundabouts, your family are or will be able to take advantage of millions of PAYE employees subsidising your investment property, in the form of negative gearing.
As a property investor, your presence in the market is provided incentive by tax dollars, in turn elevating housing prices and locking lower-rung PAYE employees out of the housing market.
To you, these childcare fees are pretty immaterial, but the sub $65K families who can't own their house will likely never enjoy the free savings that a large asset appreciating can generate.
Further, they're likely to be single-parent families and thus, childcare isn't a choice.
This isn't sour grapes, I'm speaking as someone who has only just recently jumped off the negative gearing gravy train.
If a couple are pulling in over $350,000 a year and still expect subsidies from the Government, then the age of entitlement is well and truly entrenched in this country.