Orchard pioneer Mick Fry dies aged 98 after transforming horticulture industry
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The West Australian
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Shock find in suitcase leads to seizure of $7m in assets
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West Australian
a day ago
- West Australian
Non-binary battle as 63-year-old Perth worker sacked for calling colleague ‘he' not ‘they'
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7NEWS
a day ago
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Two babies found shaken but unhurt in car stolen from Boulder home, east of Perth
Two babies have been found 'visibly shaken and crying' in a dumped car at the centre of a frantic search overnight. The one-year-old boy and 11-month-old girl were seated in the back of a Kia Picanto found with the engine still running in Boulder, east of Perth, just after 11pm on Thursday. The car had been reported missing almost an hour earlier. 'The children, while unharmed, were visibly shaken and crying and were relocated with their mother,' Inspector Mick Kelly said. West Australian Police launched a search about 10.15pm when the yellow Picanto was reported stolen from a home on Richardson St in Boulder, more than six hours east of Perth in WA 's Goldfields. By the time the car was found abandoned two roads over on the corner of Ivanhoe and Piesse streets, whoever had stolen it was gone. 'The keys were in the ignition and the motor was running and it was then left unattended,' Kelly said. 'Kalgoorlie detectives will conduct a thorough investigation to locate the persons or persons that have been involved in this incident. 'We believe it's more of a crime of opportunity. We do not believe it has been a targeted incident with the owner, the mother of the two children.' Police are not sure exactly when the car was taken, and are working with the 'distraught' mum to understand that and why the children were left in the vehicle. 'It's a timely reminder that there is no excuse for leaving children unattended in any vehicle,' Kelly said, adding whether or not the mother will be spoken to over that is a 'matter for our Kalgoorlie detectives'. The incident comes after a 15-year-old boy stole two cars with children inside in Kalgoorlie in January. Anyone with information, dashcam or CCTV should contact Crime Stoppers.
7NEWS
a day ago
- 7NEWS
Geraldton mum Monique Ellen Burton learns fate after newborn baby she hid in garbage bag found in freezer
A mother who disposed of her newborn's body in a bin bag behind a couch before it was found in a backyard freezer has avoided jail. Monique Ellen Burton, 35, was handed a suspended prison term for interfering with her baby's corpse by what the judge called a 'bare margin'. On Friday, District Court Judge Darren Renton called the case 'tragic ... on many levels'. He agreed with Burton's defence lawyers that the mother took a 'head-in-the-sand approach', and lived in a 'state of denial and avoidance'. This was not the first pregnancy she had concealed, but her fourth. Burton, from Geraldton, four hours north of Perth, gave birth to the baby boy in secret in her lounge room in August 2022, while her partner and children slept in other rooms. She then wrapped the infant in underwear, placed him in a garbage bag and put him behind a couch, before she went to sleep. She fell ill shortly after giving birth and was taken to hospital where she repeatedly denied the pregnancy, according to doctors. Burton was later flown to King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth where she eventually confessed to a hospital social worker she had been pregnant. West Australian Police then searched her home and found the baby's body wrapped in a garbage bag and placed in a chest freezer. Before police made the grim find, Burton's partner, Shaun Bradley Balaam, had already discovered the bag by chance when looking for a lost mobile phone. He claims he never opened it, but later told police he suspected it might have been a baby and put the bag in the freezer. He also told police he 'freaked out'. Due to the baby's frozen condition it was not possible to determine whether he was born alive, but from the available evidence Renton ruled it seems likely the infant was stillborn. Burton previously pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse, and the judge accepted Burton was genuinely remorseful. A psychologist report found the mother lives with unresolved grief, an adjustment disorder and a history of depressive episodes. Burton was also sentenced for fraud offences after collecting $3000 from a GoFundMe page set up after she falsely claimed to have a terminal liver condition. She was handed a 19-month prison term, which was suspended for 12 months. Burton will be monitored in the community, and has been ordered to attend regular counselling and parenting courses. She did not provide comment to media outside court on Friday. Balaam was previously handed a community-based order for improper interference with a corpse.
