Woman charged for allegedly luring people to Australia from Papua New Guinea
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Australian Federal Police (AFP) have charged a woman over what's described as a "disturbing" human trafficking operation between Queensland and Papua New Guinea . They claim victims were promised fake scholarships then forced to work as fruit pickers, accommodated in shipping containers and alarmingly, transported in car boots. Authorities say Binta Abubakar left Australia two years ago but when she returned to Brisbane International Airport yesterday, AFP officers were waiting. A Queensland woman has been charged over an alleged human trafficking operation targeting people from Papua New Guinea. (9News) "Police will allege the woman lured Papua New Guinea nationals to Australia with the promise of fully funded scholarships," Adria Elfer from the AFP said. Abubakar is described as the CEO of BIN Educational Services and Consulting on its website. The business acted as an agent for Central Queensland University until 2023 and lists a rundown Victorian property as its office address. Abubakar, a dual Australian and Nigerian citizen, is accused of exploiting fifteen victims, as young as 19 years old, over a two-year period. Authorities say Binta Abubakar left Australia two years ago but when she returned to Brisbane International Airport yesterday, AFP officers were waiting. (9News) "When those persons arrived into Australia, they were instead forced to work on farms to pay off debts that they had not previously been told about," Telfer claimed. Fruit picking in the Moreton Bay and Lockyer Valley regions for up to 70 hours a week, as she allegedly pocketed their wages, unbeknownst to the farmers employing them. "Some of them at times were living in fairly oppressive conditions, some in the boot of a car," Telfer claims. The 56-year-old (in white) is facing 31 charges and if convicted could spend up to 12 years behind bars. (9News) The 56-year-old is facing 31 charges and if convicted could spend up to 12 years behind bars. She appeared in court yesterday, and was granted bail. Police believe there may be more victims, and they're appealing for them to come forward. Australia
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West Australian
36 minutes ago
- West Australian
Erin Patterson trial: Cook breaks her silence after eight days on the stand for triple-murder case
Almost two years after four of her husband's family members fell deathly ill following a lunch she hosted, alleged poisoner Erin Patterson has broken her silence. For eight days, the 50-year-old sat in the witness box of a regional Victorian courtroom as she answered thousands of questions about her life, her relationships and the events surrounding July 29, 2023. Her evidence was, at times, intensely personal as the alleged triple-murderer spoke about issues in her marriage, feeling ostracised from her husband's family, lies she told and an eating disorder no one knew about. And it all played out in front of a jury of her peers, her in-laws and a packed public gallery – some lining up for hours in near-zero temperatures to ensure a seat in the second-floor courtroom. This Thursday, on day 31 of the trial, senior Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC closed off five days of cross-examination with three questions that lie at the heart of the Crown's case. 'I suggest that you deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms in 2023; agree or disagree?' Dr Rogers asked. 'Disagree.' 'I suggest you deliberately included them in the beef Wellingtons you served to Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson; agree or disagree?' 'Disagree.' 'And you did so intending to kill them; agree or disagree?' 'Disagree.' Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder with her defence arguing she did not intentionally poison anyone and the case is a tragic accident. Her estranged husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson died from death cap mushroom poisoning in the week after eating a beef wellington lunch she hosted. The fourth guest, Heather's husband Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, recovered and has been a regular face in the Morwell courtroom alongside other members of the Wilkinson and Patterson families. On the stand, Ms Patterson denied wanting to harm any of her four guests and said the July 29 lunch was spurred by a desire to close some distance she had felt in recent months. She told the jury after her separation from Simon in 2015, Don and Gail had remained central figures in her life, particularly after the deaths of her own parents. But she felt Simon had a hand in ostracising her from his family and had decided to be more proactive 'so I didn't lose that connection'. She said Simon and her had struggled to communicate over the entirety of their relationship but remained close after their split until a child support dispute in late 2022 created tension. 'We didn't relate on friend things, banter, like we used to. That changed at the start of the year,' she said. Ms Patterson told the jury she chose to make beef wellington for the lunch because it was a dish her mother would make for special occasions, modifying Nagi Maehashi's recipe from a log to individual portions because she could only find eye-fillet steaks. She said she primarily used button mushrooms from Woolworths to make the duxelles, or mushroom paste, but added dried mushrooms from her pantry because the dish 'seemed a little bland'. She gave evidence the dried mushrooms were purchased from an Asian grocer in Melbourne's east in about April the same year and had a 'pungent smell'. 'I thought it was the perfect dish for them,' the accused woman said. Ms Patterson said she made six beef wellingtons, serving five to herself and her guests, and serving the last one to her children for dinner the following night with the pastry and mushrooms scrapped off. She said in the aftermath of the lunch she believed she only used mushrooms from the two sources but now accepts she 'may' have added dehydrated wild mushrooms to the Tupperware container in her pantry. The jury heard Ms Patterson bought a dehydrator on April 28, 2023. She told the court she bought the Sunbeam device so she could preserve foods including wild mushrooms and denied a suggestion by prosecutors that the purchase was made two hours after picking death cap mushrooms in the nearby town of Loch. She further disputed Dr Roger's suggestion that a photo located in the Google Photos cache data on a Samsung tablet depicts death caps on a dehydrator tray with the last modified date of May 4. In her recorded interview with police a week after the lunch, Ms Patterson said she'd never foraged for mushrooms. On the stand however, she admitted this was a lie, telling the jury she developed an interest in wild mushrooms during the early 2020 Covid lockdowns. Over a period of months she said she grew confident in identifying field and horse mushrooms in the paddocks on her property, before 'eventually' eating them. 'I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it, and then saw what happened,' she said. 'They tasted good and I didn't get sick.' Ms Patterson said over the following years she would go foraging in nearby areas and cook the wild mushrooms into meals for her and her children. But she said she'd never foraged at two locations, Loch and Outtrim, where prosecutors allege phone records indicate a possible visit after death cap sightings were posted on iNaturalist. In cross-examination, she refuted a suggestion by Dr Rogers that her interest in mushrooms was invented 'to try and explain why you put foraged death cap mushrooms in the meal'. In her evidence, the accused woman disputed several aspects of lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson's account to the jury of the event. He described the four lunch guests eating off large grey plates while Ms Patterson ate off a smaller 'orangey-tan' plate and her sharing an ovarian cancer diagnosis and asking for advice on how to tell the children. Ms Patterson said she did not own grey plates, nor an orangey-tan one or even four plates of a set. The jury was shown images taken from the police walk-through on August 5 which show two white plates, two black plates, a black and red plate and a multi-coloured plate. Ms Patterson confirmed these were the only plates she owned. She also disputed that she told the guests she had cancer, claiming she said she might have some 'upcoming treatment' after telling Don and Gail she was receiving testing on a lump on her elbow earlier that year. Ms Patterson admitted she lied to Don and Gail about undergoing a needle biopsy and MRI but said she was planning on using the lump, which has resolved itself, as cover for weight-loss surgery. 'I'd been fighting a never-ending battle of low self-esteem most of my adult life, and the further inroads I made into being middle aged, the less I felt good about myself, I suppose,' she said. 'I was ashamed of the fact that I didn't have control over my body or what I ate … I shouldn't have lied to them.' Ms Patterson told the court she'd never had a 'healthy relationship' with food and had been bingeing and purging since her 20s – something she hid from everyone around her. 'In some intense periods it could have been daily, then it could be weekly or monthly,' she said. She said at the lunch she only ate a portion of her beef wellington but after her guests left, she cleaned up and binged on an orange cake Gail had brought. 'I had a piece of cake and then another piece of cake and then another,' she said, her voice faltering. The alleged poisoner said she felt sick and 'brought it back up' some time that afternoon, but would not be drawn on if she vomited the beef wellington. 'I couldn't be sure what was in my vomit,' she said. Ms Patterson disputed a suggestion by Dr Rogers that her account of vomiting was a lie to account for why she didn't fall seriously ill like her guests. 'I wish that was true, but it's not,' she said. Ms Patterson said she had a pre-assessment scheduled for gastric bypass surgery at the ENRICH Clinic in Melbourne two months after the lunch but cancelled it in the fallout. In a last-minute statement produced by prosecutors on June 11, ENRICH Clinic testified they'd never offered gastric bypass surgery. Ms Patterson refused to concede she lied, saying that was her memory but perhaps it was another weight loss procedure, such as liposuction. Her barrister Colin Mandy SC later produced a screenshot of the ENRICH Clinic's website, which contained a post saying they stopped offering liposuction in June 2024. After Ms Patterson's evidence concluded on Thursday, jurors were told by Justice Christopher Beale that marked the 'completion of the evidence in this case'. The trial is expected to resume on Monday as prosecutors deliver their closing address before the defence follows suit. The trial continues.
7NEWS
8 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Six teens charged for wielding machetes that sparked lockdown at Melbourne's Caroline Springs Square
Six teenagers have been charged after allegedly running through a Victorian shopping centre armed with machetes. Caroline Springs Square Shopping Centre in Melbourne was placed into lockdown about 6.40pm on June 6, after a group of teens were spotted arguing while carrying the weapons. The lockdown lasted between 25 and 30 minutes, with the group fleeing before police arrived. Shop owners scrambled to escape after spotting the weapons, but no one was injured. Following multiple search warrants across the Brimbank area, police seized six machetes and arrested six teenage boys. The boys, all from the Brimbank area, include five 15-year-olds and one 17-year-old. The 17-year-old was charged with possessing a controlled weapon without excuse and was bailed to appear before a children's court at a later date. Two of the 15-year-olds were charged with affray and were also bailed to appear in court. Another 15-year-old was charged with possessing a controlled weapon without excuse and was bailed. The remaining two 15-year-olds were charged with affray and were both remanded to appear before a children's court. In the aftermath of the incident, more than 1700 Caroline Springs residents signed a petition urging the local police station be upgraded to a 24/7 operational facility. The petition starter, who asked to be identified only as Sean, said the current police response is 'too slow' to deal with ongoing youth crime in the area. 'At the moment, any calls to police are routed through to patrolling officers who are hopefully nearby,' Sean told 'It leads to delays if they are on other duties or emergencies. 'Many police I've spoken to also expressed their wish to have the station open 24/7, 365 days a year.' Sean — who once experienced a home invasion by a youth offender armed with a machete — said he and his wife were only able to control the situation because a Police Dog Squad happened to be just seven minutes away. 'Fortunately for us, I was able to subdue the offender until police arrived,' he said. 'Even they [the specialised police unit] admitted we were 'lucky they just happened to be in the area'. 'If they weren't, it could have been a 20- to 25-minute wait for police to arrive.' Sean said Caroline Springs is 'a hustling and bustling hub that requires a more consistent and responsive police presence', and believes many recent incidents could have been prevented or dealt with more quickly. The machete incident came less than two weeks after another shopping centre was placed into lockdown. Just one day earlier, . enacting restrictions on the sale of the weapon from May 28. However, the ban on possession will not take effect until September 1. Those caught with a prohibited weapon in Victoria can face up to two years in prison or a fine of more than $47,000.
Sydney Morning Herald
9 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Noble savage' and ‘ritual spearings': Melbourne University race row re-ignites
Melbourne University has offered counselling to staff and students after a racially charged email from an academic at the prestigious institution went public. University officials say the material written by law school academic Eric Descheemaeker in 2023 was leaked and posted around the Parkville campus this week, and that it may have upset or offended people who read it. The law professor wrote to his boss, Matthew Harding, who was then dean of the law school, in August 2023 in response to news of an Indigenous cultural safety review, which Descheemaeker described as 'an ideological re-education camp'. 'Celebrating the 'noble savage' is already the main, if not exclusive, thing [Melbourne Law School] appears to exist for – with just a bit of space to spare for every possible sexual or gendered minority vying for claims to victimhood,' Descheemaeker wrote. The cultural safety review at Melbourne Law School was ordered after a series of resignations of Indigenous academics, culminating in the high-profile departure of former Northern Territory discrimination commissioner Eddie Cubillo from his role as associate dean of the nation's top-ranked law school, which he described as 'the most culturally unsafe place I've worked'. Loading Descheemaeker, who is also a visiting research fellow at Oxford University, claimed in his email to Harding that it was 'Blak activists' who were dictating the direction of the school. 'They have made us start every meeting with ritual prayers,' Descheemaeker wrote. 'Their (non-existing) claims to land are now 'acknowledged' about every 10 feet in our corridors. They want me to teach that Australian law is only 'settler law' and that there exists a rich body of 'indigenous law' alongside (what are indigenous private-law remedies, I wonder. Ritual spearings?).'
