‘Suspicious device' washed up on popular Gold Coast beach identified as practice torpedo
A practice army torpedo has washed up on a popular beach after it was missing for months after a drill.
Police were called to Main Beach on the Gold Coast after a suspicious object was spotted by a dog walker and surf lifesavers about 5.45am on Thursday.
A 100-metre exclusion zone was put in place while police and the Australian defence force examined the object.
Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email
Police confirmed the device was an inert practice torpedo that had been used in a recent army drill off the Queensland coast.
Acting Insp Leon Wort said the ADF had boxed up the device and returned it to its depot.
'It's been recovered and we've got no further concerns for public safety,' he said.
'The ADF will … work out what went wrong and why they couldn't recover it.'
Wort thanked the members of the public who alerted police and urged people not to handle suspect devices on the beach.
The Gold Coast beach later reopened.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Erin Patterson thought cancer lie ‘would die' with lunch guests, prosecution says
Prosecutors have accused a 50-year-old Australian woman of deliberately lying about a cancer diagnosis to lure her in-laws to a poisoned lunch that she thought they would not survive. The prosecution told the court on Monday that Erin Patterson deliberately lied to her in-laws about having cancer, fabricating medical appointments and test results. 'She knew how to tell convincing lies when it came to the cancer because she had put in the research,' chief prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC told the court. 'The prosecution says the accused put considerable thought and effort into this fake cancer claim and she deliberately set the trail in motion with Don and Gail.' She said that Ms Patterson had carefully crafted the false claim. According to the prosecution, Ms Patterson had no intention of ever being questioned about the lie, because she believed her lunch guests would not survive. 'Her lie would die with them,' Dr Rogers said, adding that Ms Patterson admitted in court she was never diagnosed with cancer. Ms Patterson has admitted that death cap mushrooms were in the meal but claimed they were added accidentally and denied any intent to harm her guests. On 29 July 2023, Ms Patterson had her in-laws, Gail and Don Patterson, and local pastor Ian Wilkinson and his wife Heather (Gail's sister) over for lunch. Ms Patterson served beef Wellington to the Pattersons and Wilkinsons, after which the four guests became ill with vomiting and diarrhea. By 30 July, all four were hospitalised, and within the next day they were transferred to Melbourne hospitals where doctors diagnosed them with death cap mushroom poisoning. On 31 July, Ms Patterson herself went to the hospital reporting she had eaten the same meal and felt unwell but discharged herself without treatment. Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died on 4 August, followed by Don Patterson on 5 August. Ian Wilkinson was released from the hospital on 19 September 2023 after seven weeks, most of which he spent in a coma. Ms Patterson is being tried for three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges. On Monday, in closing arguments, prosecutors in Ms Patterson's triple-murder trial outlined four calculated deceptions at the heart of their case: a fabricated cancer diagnosis used to lure her guests, the deliberate poisoning of their meal with lethal death cap mushrooms, a false claim that she too had fallen ill, and an ongoing cover-up to hide the truth. Dr Rogers called the alleged poisoning 'the critical deception' in the case. However, the prosecution argued she had full control over the lunch, from the guest list to the ingredients, and deliberately made individual beef Wellingtons instead of a single dish, suggesting she wanted precise control over who ate what. 'It is a control she exercised, the prosecution says, with devastating effect,' Dr Rogers said. Prosecutors also argued that Ms Patterson failed to help identify the source of the poisoning that left her family critically ill. Instead of aiding investigators, she gave inconsistent accounts about where she bought the dried mushrooms, claiming they came from an Asian grocer but offering vague and shifting details, Ms Rogers told the court. 'For the sake of your very ill family members ... you'd do everything you could to try and remember the store, but the accused sat on her hands while Don, Gail, Ian and Heather were all in comas,' she said. 'She was slow to respond to the Department of Health, even totally non-responsive at times. 'As time passed, her description of the Chinese food store [where she allegedly bought dried mushrooms] shifted and grew broader.' Dr Rogers told the jury: 'The evidence shows that the accused had the knowledge to locate death cap mushrooms, the opportunity to have sourced death cap mushrooms at a time proximate or close to the lunch, the knowledge, skill and equipment to dehydrate mushrooms, blitz them into powder and hide them into food.' 'She had complete control over the ingredients that went into the lunch,' she added. The prosecution alleged that Ms Patterson deliberately framed the lunch as a serious, adults-only gathering, even arranging for her children to be away at McDonald's and the cinema to avoid them being harmed. When her ex-husband Simon declined to attend, Ms Patterson tried to persuade him by stressing the lunch's importance and rarity, Dr Rogers told the court. 'This was an elaborate lie. The evidence shows the accused planted the seed of this lie far in advance, she told Don and Gail well before the lunch that she had been having medical tests on her elbow,' Dr Rogers said. 'She knew how to tell convincing lies when it came to cancer because she put in the research.' Prosecutors alleged that Ms Patterson deliberately laced individual beef Wellington parcels with lethal doses of poison on 29 July 2023. Though she claimed to follow a recipe from RecipeTin Eats, the court heard she altered it by preparing individual servings, allegedly to avoid poisoning herself, without informing her guests that she had used wild mushrooms. 'The sinister deception was to use a nourishing meal as the vehicle to deliver the deadly poison,' Rogers said. 'Why deviate so significantly from an unfamiliar recipe for a special lunch?' Dr Rogers said that computer records support the allegation that Ms Patterson accessed the iNaturalist website and looked up sightings of death cap mushrooms, suggesting she may have intentionally sought out the poisonous fungi. Another element of the alleged lunch deception, Dr Rogers said, was Ms Patterson's use of a food dehydrator just days before the meal. She reportedly did a 'test run' with button mushrooms, photographed the process, and shared it with online friends. Ms Rogers also pointed to survivor Ian Wilkinson's testimony, describing how Ms Patterson served the beef Wellington on matching grey plates for her guests, while plating her own meal separately on an orange-tan dish, suggesting an effort to avoid poisoning herself. 'You will have no trouble in being satisfied that he is a reliable witness and you can confidently accept what he told you about the details of the lunch, including the four grey plates,' Dr Rogers said. 'Ian was not the only person to notice the different plate. Heather said ... [she] saw Erin serve herself of a different coloured plate.' The third alleged deception, according to Dr Rogers, was Ms Patterson's effort to falsely present herself as a victim of death cap mushroom poisoning. Dr Rogers said Ms Patterson pretended to be 'very unwell' to family and medical staff, in an attempt to suggest she had eaten the same meal as her four guests, a move designed to deflect suspicion. 'She did this to disguise her crimes,' Dr Rogers said. The fourth alleged deception, Dr Rogers said, was Ms Patterson's ongoing cover-up to hide the truth. This included lying about giving her children leftovers from the lunch, the source of the mushrooms, disposing of the food dehydrator, and deliberately hiding her usual mobile phone from police. Dr Rogers pointed out that Ms Patterson's claim of feeding the leftovers to her kids was one of her first lies and contradicted witness evidence that she knew her lunch guests were hospitalised sick before reheating the dish for her children. Dr Rogers told the jury the children likely ate steak, mashed potatoes, and beans, not the mushroom-contaminated meal. 'People would more readily believe this was all a shocking accident if she'd fed it to her beloved children. This was a lie to help cover her tracks.' The trial continues.
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Tourist injured in Bali shooting that killed holidaymaker 'has underworld links'
Zivan Radmanovic, 32, from Australia, was brutally shot dead inside a holiday villa in Bali. Police are hunting for the attackers after another man was left injured Police are hunting for two gunmen after a tourist was shot dead at a popular hotspot in Bali, while another holidaymaker who has underworld links was injured. Zivan Radmanovic, 32, from Melbourne, Australia, was brutally killed at Villa Casa Santisya near Munggu Beach shortly after midnight on Friday. He was struck in a bathroom, where police discovered 17 bullet casings and two intact bullets. Badung Police Chief Arif Batubara confirmed the second victim, Sanar Ghanim, was also taken to hospital after he was beaten. 'We cannot yet determine the motive,' he said. The 34-year-old is said to have a child with the stepdaughter of slain kingpin Carl Williams, who is from Melbourne. The gangster, who was serving time in jail for murdering three of his rivals, was beaten to death in prison in 2010. Witnesses claim they spotted a man on a scooter in a green 'online ride-hailing' coat and a dark helmet. He is said to have covered his face with a mask or material. They reportedly heard him say, 'I can't start my bike' in a thick Australian accent. READ MORE: Tragic final post of model and DJ who died on Bali holiday after falling from balcony According to police, the villa had three rooms occupied with a total of five guests when the shooting happened. The two victims' wives were also there and another foreign tourist, Mr Batubara said. At least three witnesses at the villa told investigators that two gunmen, one wearing an orange jacket with a dark helmet and another wearing a dark green jacket, a black mask and a dark helmet, arrived on a scooter at around midnight. Mr Radmanovic's wife, Gourdeas Jazmyn, 30, told police that she woke up when she heard her husband screaming. She cowered under a blanket when she heard multiple gunshots. She later found her husband's body and the injured Australian, whose wife has also said she saw the attackers. The Australian consulate in Bali has been contacted by authorities and a post-mortem examination will be carried out if the family of the victim give permission, Mr Batubara said. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that it was 'providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who died in a shooting incident in Bali', reports News AU. They added: 'We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time. DFAT stands ready to provide consular assistance to another Australian injured in the same incident.'
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Nine key questions could decide fate of beef Wellington mushroom 'poisoner'
Erin Patterson has been accused of intentionally poisoning several family members and her eight-day cross-examination in the murder trial has come to an end The world has been gripped by the murder trial of an Australian woman that came after several people died after eating a homemade beef Wellington that is said to have contained poisonous death cap mushrooms. Erin Patterson denies intentionally poisoning three relatives and attempting to kill a fourth by serving them a meal containing toxic death cap mushrooms at her home in Victoria on July 29, 2023. Prosecutors have alleged she deliberately included the poisonous mushrooms in the meal, but her defence insists it was a tragic accident - saying Patterson may have accidentally included mushrooms she had foraged herself. Within a week of the meal, three of the guests had died and the fourth was in hospital. Patterson, 50, was questioned by police shortly after the deaths and she was arrested around a month later. Her alleged victims were her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. Ian Wilkinson, the uncle of Patterson's estranged husband, also fell seriously ill but survived after weeks of treatment. These are the nine key questions that could determine how the jury vote. Where were the toxic mushrooms from? Both the prosecution and defence have accepted the potentially deadly death cap mushrooms were in the beef wellington. During the initial police investigation, Patterson denied being a forager and her children told cops they had never seen her pick mushrooms. This completely shifted in the witness box as Patterson claimed that was untrue and said she had picked wild mushrooms since the 2020 Covid lockdown. Her lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked if she accepted that the beef Wellington pastries she had served to her lunch guests in 2023 contained death caps. "Now I think there was a possibility there were foraged ones in there," she replied. How did the mushrooms get into the dish? Prosecutor Nanette Rogers told the court how Patterson had posted in Facebook groups about using a food dehydrator to reduce the size of mushrooms to use in cooking. Patterson posted that she had been "hiding powdered mushrooms in everything". The jury was also shown a CCTV photo showing Erin Patterson at her local tip on August 2 - days after the fatal meal. Among the things she was seen disposing of was a large black box. When inspected a couple of days later, a staff member found a black Sunbeam dehydrator, Nanette Rogers says. Fingerprints were found on the dehydrator and compared to Ms Patterson's, Dr Rogers says - and they matched. It also tested positive for death cap mushrooms, the jury was told. Did she secretly hate her in-laws? Prosecutors have not identified a "particular" motive in this case but the court heard about issues Patterson faced with her ex-husband Simon's family. The couple were married in 2007 and separated in 2015 but initially had a close relationship even after they split. This changed in 2022 when Simon described himself as "single" on a tax return and affected her ability to claim tax breaks. Patterson asked her in-laws to get involved and they were reluctant to, which led to arguments between them. She posted a series of raging posts on Facebook around that time including: "I'm sick of this s**t. I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing, but it seems their concern about… not wanting to get involved in their son's personal matters, are overriding that. So f**k them." How was the meal served? The court was told the four guests were handed their meal on a grey plates while Patterson had hers on an orange plate. The suspect has denied these claims and told the court she did not own any grey dishes. She told the court the meal was served up on a mixture of black and white plates. Despite this, footage from a police search of her home appeared to show two grey plates next to the dishwasher. Did she vomit after the meal? Patterson told the court she had bulimia and ate several slices of an orange cake her 70-year-old in-law brought for dessert. She told the court: "I kept cleaning up the kitchen and putting everything away and, um, I had a piece of cake and then I had another piece of cake. And then another." She told the court she ate all of the cake and "felt sick. I felt over-full. So I went to the toilets and brought it up again". Was she genuinely sick? Patterson said she was hit with diarrhoea after the meal and suffered with it for a week. She went to a local hospital and complained of "gastro". Despite this, medical professionals did not believed her symptoms were as bad as what her four guests experienced. The court heard from nurse Cindy Munro who said Patterson "didn't look unwell" when compared to the guests. Doctor Varuna Ruggoo said tests for her liver function came back with normal results. Why did she throw the dehydrator away? The day after Patterson left hospital she went to a rubbish tip and was seen on CCTV throwing the Sunbeam dehydrator out. When asked about the device she claimed she tried to get rid of the dehydrator because she "panicked" after a conversation with her ex-husband a few days earlier. She claimed he asked her: "Is that what you used to poison my parents?" She said: "I was scared of the conversation that might flow about the meal and the dehydrator and I was scared that they [child protection] would blame me for it." Despite this, the ex-husband claimed he did not remember saying that to her. Why did she lie about having cancer? Patterson invited her in-laws for the meal on a false pretence of receiving a cancer diagnosis, as prosecutors said it was highly unusual for Patterson to hold social gatherings. She had told Gail a few weeks earlier that she found a lump on her elbow. At the dinner she suggested she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The mother of two later admitted she never had cancer, but had been worried enough by symptoms to seek tests. She then said she had been dealing with "self-esteem" issues and was embarrassed to tell her family that. How will the jury decide this case? Patterson has held that the other parties in this case, like her ex-husband, medical professionals and Facebook friends, have been wrong in their accounts. Her eight-day cross-examination has come to an end and she still pleads not guilty. Now the case is in the hands of the jury who will return their verdict.
