Victoria's police watchdog has raided a suburban police station and seized files relating to the failed rape case involving St Kilda footballers Stephen Milne and Leigh Montagna.
The Office of Police Integrity (OPI) raid took place at the Brighton criminal investigation unit in Melbourne's south, where rape allegations involving Milne and Montagna were investigated in 2004.
Former detective senior constable Scott Gladman, who led the 2004 investigation, on Monday alleged he was threatened by senior police who wanted the case dropped.
Another former detective who investigated the allegations, Mike Smith, on Tuesday night backed the claims made by Mr Gladman.
Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said on Tuesday the case against Milne and Montagna could be reopened following the allegations made by the former detectives.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Sergeant Creina O'Grady confirmed the raid had taken place.
"All I can tell you is that it's an OPI investigation assisted by Victoria Police," she said.
"We won't be making any comments relating to the specifics of the ongoing investigation."
The OPI could not immediately be contacted.
The Nine Network reported that OPI investigators swooped on the police station on Thursday afternoon and discovered "an alarming amount of material (from the files) that simply wasn't there".
The missing material included reports prepared by the unit chief on the decision to abandon the original investigation, a report by Mr Gladman, master tapes from records of interview and items missing from the original brief of evidence from senior police, Nine said.
Police diaries were among the items seized by investigators, Nine said.
Milne, 30, and Montagna, 26, were the subject of a police investigation for two months after an alleged incident involving two women in March 2004.
The two men, who denied the allegations, were interviewed by police but never charged.
Police said there was insufficient evidence to charge the pair on advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Overland said: "If we believe that the original investigation might have been compromised or interfered with in any way then we will, of course, revisit it.
"We will be speaking to the victim and keeping her informed throughout."
On the same day, Assistant Commissioner Steve Fontana said complaints of interference were made at the time of the investigation, but he did not know what action was taken.
AAP 24 June 2010
Admitting incompetance / cover up.
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (ABN: 122 104 616)
Australia's Prime Minister (CEO) Tony Abbott : "Australia is Open for Business"
24 June 2010
23 June 2010
Contract billions kept off public record
Victorian taxpayers are being kept in the dark on how billions of dollars are spent on lucrative private sector contracts.
An auditor-general's report found one third of $10 billion-plus contracts signed by the Victorian government were not made public.
By law, government departments must release full details of contracts worth more than $10 million.
But the report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, found 43 out of 144 contracts in that range on January 1 were not disclosed.
Collectively, the contracts amounted to $3 billion in taxpayers money, spent across six departments.
Victorian Premier John Brumby said it was a small number of cases - equating to 10 per cent of the total value of contracts in the $10 million bracket - but admitted it was not good enough.
"To be blunt there's no excuse for departments not doing that (disclosing contract details), departments need to do that and they will do that," he told reporters.
Contract details across 11 government departments are required to be posted on the Contracts Publishing System database, available online.
Auditor-General Des Pearson said disclosure requirements for contracts above $100,000 were generally met, however contracts over $10 million were less compliant.
This was a reflection of "systematic breakdowns in disclosure and reporting controls that diminish transparency", he said.
The report also found 45 items contained in the contract for Victoria's $3.5 billion desalination plant had been omitted because they were deemed commercially sensitive by Water Minister Tim Holding.
The exclusions included details of annual water supply volumes and compensation for unforeseen events.
Opposition leader Ted Baillieu accused the government of a cover-up and concealing key government contracts worth billions of dollars.
"I have no doubt that this is just John Brumby at work, this is the secret state at work," he said.
Challenged over the report in question time, Mr Brumby hit back, saying the government had introduced disclosure laws to remedy practices under the former coalition government when contracts were never made public.
"Ninety per cent of the total value of all contracts are published on the CPS," he said.
"That is 90 per cent more than was ever previously the case."
ninemsn 23 June 2010
Shady dealings exposed, BUT no one will be held responsible nor prosecuted.
EVERY GOVERNMENT commits fraud.
Saudi men, women convicted for mingling
Judicial officials said a Saudi court has convicted four women and 11 men for mingling at a party and sentenced them to flogging and prison terms.
The men, who are between 30 and 40 years old, and three of the women, who are under the age of 30, were sentenced to an unspecified number of lashes and one or two year prison terms each.
The fourth woman, a minor, was sentenced to 80 lashes and was not sent to prison.
The ruling was handed down on Tuesday at a court in the northern town of Ha'il.
The officials say the police saw the group partying until dawn last month. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to the media.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam that prohibits unrelated men and women from mingling.
In the U.K. The native Anglo legal system is recognising Islam Law,
soon Australia will follow, where Islam will the the only law.
Taxi driver rapist revealed as HIV-positive
A Sydney taxi driver who pleaded guilty to raping three women between 2003 and 2007 was HIV-positive at the time, a court has heard. Hassan Nagi, 38, battled for 15 months to keep his infected status a secret after he pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual assault in February 2009, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
It is believed Nagi did not know he was HIV-positive when he committed the three rapes and there is no reported evidence he infected his victims.
Nagi's family believed he contracted the virus from a dentist but he had earlier admitted to having sex with prostitutes since he was 20 years old.
He pleaded guilty to raping three women who hailed his taxi, two of whom were heavily intoxicated at the time.
During the trial last year Nagi's lawyer argued the taxi driver had the "man's equivalent of nymphomania" and should not receive a harsh sentence because he did not bash the women during the rapes.
Nagi argued he should receive a lesser sentence because he would have trouble getting treatment for his HIV-positive status in prison and he could be subjected to prison brutality.
After a 15 month-fight to keep his infection a secret, Nagi will be sentenced for his crimes today.
ninemsn 23 Jun 2010
What about the brutality HE subjected to the women by RAPING them ???
The law needs to lock this Trailer Park Trash away.
22 June 2010
Labor elusive on web history collection
THE federal government has refused to make clear whether it will force ISPs to record the websites accessed by their customers. Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam asked Labor frontbench senator Penny Wong in question time on Monday whether ISPs would be required to record the web browsing histories of every internet user in the country.
Senator Wong said the attorney-general's department had been discussing telecommunications data access for law enforcement and national security purposes with industry groups.
"This data collection is a valuable tool which has occasionally, under both sides of politics, been used by law enforcement agencies to identify participants in criminal networks and terrorist organisations,'' she told parliament Senator Wong said data might include information which could identify people involved in a communication, when and where the communication took place, and its duration. "But I understand it would not extend to the content of the communication,'' she said. Senator Wong stressed that any data collection scheme had to strike the balance between preserving individual privacy, recognising commercial realities and upholding the community's expectation that crimes are investigated and prosecuted. After question time, Senator Ludlam presented a petition to the chamber from almost 20,000 people calling for the upper house to reject any internet filtering plan. The government wants to introduce a mandatory internet filter aimed at blocking access to illegal online material such as child pornography. - AAP 22 Jun 2010
In the government draft it will use the term 'illegal material' which can have a broad spectrum.
This is about the freedom of speach or political views /opninions.
21 June 2010
Police 'threatened St Kilda rape detective'
Police were pressured into dropping rape charges against St Kilda Saints star Stephen Milne in 2004, according to a former detective.
Former Sen-Det Scott Gladman, who led the investigation into the alleged rape, told Nine News that he received several threats from his colleagues over the case.
He also said that interview tapes were stolen and the alleged victim's statement was leaked to the club during the probe.
The investigation was launched when a woman told police she was raped by Milne at the home of teammate Leigh Montagna.
The probe lasted six weeks, before the then-Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Coughlan QC, said it was impossible to convict Milne and dropped the case.
Mr Gladman told Nine News that he received several threatening calls from his colleagues while he ran the investigation.
"You better do the right thing. You better make sure that this is done properly," one of the callers allegedly said.
Mr Gladman said that he "couldn’t guarantee the integrity of the security of the office", and was forced to take evidence home with him to protect it.
"I couldn’t understand how something like that could become so big, and allowed to become so out of control," he said.
The detective said that he believes the case should have gone to court.
“Stephen Milne is an innocent person until he’s proven guilty in a court of law,” he said.
“However we never got that far because the carriage of justice, or the natural flow of justice was interrupted.”
He said telling the woman that the case would not go ahead was one of the worst experiences of his 17-year career.
ninemsn 21 June 2010
So that's it!
Case closed!
Not only NO JUSTICE for the victim, but NO court case either.
Just a small example that made it out into the mass media.
Another example of How the Law supports the criminal.
Alleged Melbourne gunman 'feeling invincible'
A young Melbourne gunman who is on the run from police bragged about feeling "invincible" before allegedly embarking on a crime spree this morning. David Paul Rowntree, who remains at large despite a massive manhunt in the inner city, wrote about his feelings of power and anger on his Facebook page.
"David Rowntree feels 9 times more invincible lol," Rowntree, 19, wrote on Friday morning.
Last Wednesday, he again said he felt "invincible......tired....mostly invincible!!!".
In another disturbing comment, posted last Tuesday, Rowntree said he "feels like I have lots of flies caught in my lil spiderweb and I will torture those flies".
The suspect, from Colac in Victoria's southwest, also appears to have been suffering problems in his personal life.
The woman listed as his girlfriend wrote on Saturday that the "person u love will hurt u in sum way".
Rowntree, who has almost 70 offences against his name and was previously described by a judge as a "devious and out of control serial offender", has managed to elude police after he was spotted carrying a gun near the Melbourne Cricket Ground at 9.40am.
It is believed the early-morning spree began when a vehicle was stolen from an address in Balwyn before it was used in the armed robbery of a service station in Bulleen about 3am.
The man, wearing a balaclava, stole cash before allegedly driving to another address in Balwyn where he abandoned the stolen car and entered a house as the residents slept.
He then stole cash from a neighbouring property before taking a blue Commodore from the driveway, police allege.
A police pursuit began about 9.30am along the Monash Freeway where three cars and an unmarked police vehicle were struck.
One person suffered minor injuries.
The car was found abandoned in a car park behind Rod Laver Arena, with a shotgun and balaclava found dumped at a nearby tram stop.
A massive search by heavily-armed police officers and dog squads failed to find the suspect as nearby streets and buildings, including the MCG, were sent into lockdown.
Police are calling for members of the public to avoid approaching Rowntree and instead advising them to call Triple-0.
ninemsn 21 June 2010
Another LET DOWN by the Australian Judicial System.
A Judge already commented on this individuals volatility, BUT the criminal was released into the general population.
Just another verdict in support of the criminal.
20 June 2010
KFC - Smaller Products
It is a well known fact within the Junk Food Manufacturing Industry that it's products are getting smaller every year, whilst at the same time escalating in price to the consumer.
As an example corpau.blogspot.com measured Kentuckey Fried Chicken towels in its posession.
The packaging of the currently served towel illustrated on the left measures 5.4cm compared to that of 6.0 of a couple of years prior.
In a recent article on A Current Affair, titled Big Mac or smaller mac Mac Donalds said
"you cannot compare the same product of 20 years in difference as there are different market trends".
LIES.
If a burger bun measures 14 cm 20 years ago and measures 10cm today. Simple mathematics indicated that it has SHRUNK 4 cm.
BIGGER means BIGGER and SMALLER means just that IRRESPECTIVE of 'trends'.
Macdonalds has stated that some of its burgers ARE smaller.
Choice magazine has also stated that the products are smaller.
Large Corporations defraud the public (LIE) and there are NO PENALTIES.
If an individual lies in court it's called perjury.
Donut King also do NOT supply 1 serve of sugar BUT 10% less.
Currently a Burger meal from KFC in Australia costs $8.20
for a Burger, Regular Chips and a drink
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