logo
Pilot, 56, killed after light plane crashes into wheat field near Toowoomba

Pilot, 56, killed after light plane crashes into wheat field near Toowoomba

News.com.au5 days ago
A man has died after a light plane crashed into a wheat field near Toowoomba.
A 56-year-old man flying a glider plane was reported missing after failing to return from his flight.
About 6.30pm on Wednesday, officers were called to a wheat field near Wainui Soldiers Rd in Bowenville after reports of a light plane crash.
Upon arrival, emergency services found the man, the sole occupant of the plane, who was declared dead at the scene.
The fatal crash comes only two weeks after two experienced pilots were killed in a similar crash in the same region.
Robert 'Bob' Molony and Wayne Saunders, an experienced Aero Logistics pilot and flight examiner, were killed on July 20 after a light plane crashed into a field and burst into flames.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Adelaide man jailed for at least eight years over fatal stabbing at Salisbury Downs
Adelaide man jailed for at least eight years over fatal stabbing at Salisbury Downs

ABC News

time16 minutes ago

  • ABC News

Adelaide man jailed for at least eight years over fatal stabbing at Salisbury Downs

A South Australian man has been sentenced to at least eight years behind bars for the manslaughter of Jordan Torrans in 2023. Johnathon Malcolm Goodfellow, 32, was previously found not guilty by a Supreme Court jury of murder over the stabbing death, but guilty of manslaughter. In sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Adam Kimber said he found Goodfellow had the intention to cause grievous bodily harm when he stabbed Mr Torrans six times at his Salisbury Downs home on September 20, 2023. The court previously heard there had been a dispute about a motorcycle. He sentenced Goodfellow to 11 years behind bars with a non-parole period of eight years and 10 months, which he backdated to commence when he was taken into custody in 2023.

New details in alleged gangland murder of Bilal Hamze and how the plot to kill his brother Ibrahem unfolded
New details in alleged gangland murder of Bilal Hamze and how the plot to kill his brother Ibrahem unfolded

News.com.au

time23 minutes ago

  • News.com.au

New details in alleged gangland murder of Bilal Hamze and how the plot to kill his brother Ibrahem unfolded

A person of interest in the murder of Bilal Hamze was acting 'frantic' and making calls around the time of the underworld figure's death, a court has been told. Bilal Hamze was shot dead as he left a Sydney CBD restaurant with a sex worker in June 2021. Samuel Rokomaqisa is standing trial at the NSW Supreme Court over the murder of Bilal Hamze and conspiring to murder Bilal's younger brother, Ibrahem, both of whom are cousins of Brothers 4 Life gang founder Bassam Hamze. But Mr Rokomaqisa's defence lawyer George Thomas on Tuesday claimed the sex worker who had been dining with Bilal was in contact with someone identified by police as a person of interest, who was also in the area at the time of Bilal's murder. 'You will hear evidence about (the sex worker) in communication with someone else who was in the near vicinity at the time of these events, someone who on the police assessment was a person of interest,' the lawyer said. 'They described his behaviour as frantic, sending messages, making phone calls around the time of the killing.' Mr Rokomaqisa, 35, is also accused of aggravated assault, and is alleged to have links to the Alameddine family and their organised crime network, which have long been rivals of the Hamze's. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges and denied any involvement with the Alameddine family and the alleged crimes. Prosecutors allege Mr Rokomaqisa was in a stolen car from which 10 shots were fired at Bilal on June 17, 2021, after he left the Kid Kyoto restaurant. Bilal died in hospital, and the stolen car was later found burned out in Northwood. It was also alleged Mr Rokomaqisa was involved in a plot to kill Bilal's brother, Ibrahem, the following month, including by surveilling his unit. Mr Thomas said there could have been 'two conspiracies' to murder Bilal's brother Ibrahem, citing a June 8 phone call in which the words 'Ibby's gotta go' were allegedly heard. He said there was no indication his client was involved in this call, and that it fell outside the time frame of the conspiracy to kill Ibrahem anyway. This could suggest 'two conspiracies on foot, simultaneously, to kill the same fella', he told the court. Detective Chief Inspector Joseph Paul Marie, who was called to the scene following Bilal's murder, was called in as the first witness in the trial on Tuesday morning. Mr Marie told the court Bilal had moved from his Auburn family home before his death as there were a 'number of threats on his life'. He said there was a clear conflict between the Hamze and Alameddine families as at June 2021, with Ibrahem also later moving from the Auburn home. Alleged crim's 'bragging' and 'unexplained wealth' Crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe on Monday said Mr Rokomaqisa allegedly 'bragged' to a trial witness of how well he'd driven the getaway car after Bilal's murder, and that he was allegedly heard saying he was linked 'to the shooting and s**t' following a news segment played while he was in prison. A little over a month after Bilal's killing, Mr Rokomaqisa was allegedly involved in an enterprise to murder Bilal's brother, Ibrahem, 'as an act of retaliation' by the Alameddine's crime network. This included the surveilling of Ibrahem's unit over a three-week period in July and August 2021, which came to a head on August 14 when a cop noticed a car trying to park in a no stopping zone across from the unit. A police chase ensued but was abandoned when it became 'too dangerous'. Mr Rokomisqa is accused of then using a gun to threaten an elderly man into giving he and another his car after they got a flat tire during the chase. Crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe on Monday said Mr Rokomisqa allegedly told his ex-partner he'd been waiting for 'just some c*** to come out' when asked why he 'kept disappearing' around August 2021, which she argued was a reference to the alleged surveilling of Ibrahem's unit with the intent to kill him. Mr Rokomisqa also allegedly told his ex he was owed some $270,000 for the alleged murder and conspiracy to murder. The trial continues.

'You can get failed by systems': We say we care about victim-survivors of violence and yet we jail them as kids - ABC Religion & Ethics
'You can get failed by systems': We say we care about victim-survivors of violence and yet we jail them as kids - ABC Religion & Ethics

ABC News

time44 minutes ago

  • ABC News

'You can get failed by systems': We say we care about victim-survivors of violence and yet we jail them as kids - ABC Religion & Ethics

There is a contradiction at the heart of Australian government policy that is directly harming our most vulnerable children and young people. Federal and state governments across the country are committed to ending domestic, family and sexual violence. This is vital work with a range of actions underway and many more needed. At the same time, these same governments are undermining this work by pursuing some of the most punitive and draconian youth justice policies in recent decades. The children they are locking up are — more often than not — victims of family violence or other forms of child abuse, first, and have engaged in criminal activity, second. According to data from the Victorian Youth Parole Board, over 60 per cent of children in custody in 2023–2024 had experienced abuse, trauma or neglect. Jesuit Social Services' own data shows that 74 per cent of participants in our adult justice programs reported being a victim of family violence — more often than not, the violence occurred in childhood. If only the response to children's victimisation was as swift and well-resourced as the subsequent justice response to their offending. All too often these young people will be asked to answer for their own use of violence — in police interview rooms and in children's court processes — well before anyone seeks to ask about their risks and needs as victim-survivors of violence. On that, our system response remains distinctly silent. It's perhaps unsurprising then that a 16-year-old told the South Australian Royal Commission in a report launched recently, 'you can get failed by systems … we need the government and people just to realise … most kids don't get heard and listened to'. The focus is on punishment, not healing. Violence, substance use and disengagement from education are not signs of moral failings, but often indicators of prior victimisation. As one 18-year-old also told the Royal Commission, 'being abused has a way of messing up one's life'. Yet our youth justice system routinely criminalises the consequences of untreated trauma. Punitive legislative and policy changes Australia's National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children pledges to recognise children as victim-survivors in their own right. Yet, in the three years since the plan's introduction, state policy and investment has all too often prioritised youth detention beds over safe and supported accommodation for young people, expanded policing powers for young offenders over early intervention programs, and introduced regressive youth sentencing practices over investments in trauma-informed crisis care for child victims. Indeed, there has been a wave of legislative and policy changes that have expanded the reach and severity of youth justice systems across Australia. These include raising maximum penalties, limiting access to bail and funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars into expanding detention capacity. In Queensland, as part of new legislation which expressly breaches Australia's international children's rights and domestic human rights obligations, the government has sought to retrofit police watch houses for children in conflict with the law, and to build new high-security youth detention centres. These Queensland reforms are not an anomaly. In Victoria — a state once praised for its progressive stance on youth justice — the state's youth prison capacity is being expanded following legislation the government proudly proclaimed to be the nation's toughest bail laws for youth offenders. This approach to youth justice is a deliberate choice to demonise and punish young people rather than doing the meaningful work of intervening earlier with a focus on a child's healing and recovery. We acknowledge that there is no 'quick fix' to current youth crime community concerns. But the Victoria's 'tough on crime' approach — focused on maximising a child's time in contact with the justice system and holding them in environments that breed violence — will undoubtedly foster the next generation of abuse and harm. The average stay in detention for Victorian children is approximately 70 days, following which they return to the community. The more time a child spends in detention, the more likely they are to reoffend when they get out. We see this in the data, and we hear this from Jesuit Social Services staff. Time spent in prison does little to help address any underlying issues — in fact, it entrenches them — and comes at a significant cost of around $8,000 per day for each child. This is funding that could be redirected to much needed early intervention and recovery services. We must demand better for vulnerable children We all want less violence and fewer victims of crime. Having spoken directly with members of our community who fear for their safety, we understand the public want to see action in response to recent crimes committed by young people. And yet, our governments are progressing solutions we know will fail. We need a fundamental shift away from punitive, carceral approaches and towards therapeutic responses grounded in the needs of children and young people. There is a dearth of family violence support services designed for child victim-survivors, culturally safe healing models and supported housing across Australia. Models such as restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence and community-led diversion programs offer more effective alternatives to incarceration. These approaches not only address the underlying causes of harmful behaviour, but also support accountability, healing and longer-term community safety. Particular attention must be given to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, who remain vastly over-represented in youth justice systems across Australia. These children are far more likely to experience intergenerational trauma, systemic racism and family violence. They are also more likely to be met with criminalisation rather than care. The current trend towards punitive youth justice reforms risks further entrenching these cycles of harm. So many of our federal and state parliamentarians want the best for our country — particularly for our children. Yet, as a direct outcome of reactive political choices, children who — like us all — want to be loved, safe and heard are being cast aside and told that they only belong in prison. We are witnessing a profound violation of human rights play out under our noses. It must stop. The evidence on what is needed is clear. More and more, our political leaders will lead only when their hand is forced. Absent this, they risk being paralysed by fears of public backlash. The responsibility then is on each of us — to speak up and demand better for Australia's most vulnerable children. Kate Fitz-Gibbon is Principal Consultant at Sequre Consulting and a Professor (Practice) with the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University. Matt Tyler is Executive Director of The Men's Project at Jesuit Social Services, leading efforts to prevent men's violence and abuse.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store