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Woman dies after police fail to respond to 000 call in time

<p>A delayed police response is under investigation after a woman in her 40s died when police officers took almost an hour to respond to a 000 call. </p> <p>Sarah Miles, a mother-of-three from Byron Bay, died after she was allegedly beaten by her boyfriend in her home on Saturday morning.</p> <p>A triple-0 call was made at 1:30am after neighbours reportedly heard screams coming from the house, but NSW Police didn’t acknowledge the call until 2:25am.</p> <p>By the time they arrived on the scene, they found Miles fighting for life in her final moments.</p> <p>She was unconscious but breathing, with “obvious injuries” to her head caused by a physical assault, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said.</p> <p>“Police assisted her and called for an ambulance immediately (which) arrived very shortly after, but unfortunately, her condition deteriorated, and she died at the scene,” McKenna said.</p> <p>“The delay in the timing of police acknowledging that call and attending the scene has given me enough concern that I’ve asked for an independent review of this investigation as to what that delay was and if it was justified."</p> <p>“We want to see what happened from the time that call was made, how the radio operator dispatched that call, the circumstances around the timings until it was acknowledged and until police attended.”</p> <p>The NSW Police Homicide Squad is working separately with local officers to investigate Miles’ death.</p> <p>McKenna said the force takes domestic violence very seriously and the issue is at the “top of our priority list”.</p> <p>“It is one of the most serious crimes there is, and we will do everything we can to take this as seriously as we can and make sure people are held to account and put before the courts,” he said.</p> <p>Miles's partner, Dwayne John Creighton, 31, was arrested at the scene and taken to Lismore Police Station, where he was charged with one count of murder.</p> <p><em>Image credits: 7News</em></p>

Legal

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The bird that cost Woolies $17,000

<p>A woman whose right-eye was “severely injured” in a magpie attack has been awarded almost $17,000 in lost wages.</p> <p>Last year on May 14, Anita Smith, a Woolworths shop assistant from Albion Park, NSW, was on her way to work when the bird attack occurred.</p> <p>Anita was about to enter Kiama Village Shopping Centre, which has a Woolworths inside, when the bird swooped her.</p> <p>In July, Anita underwent surgery which was described in her compensation claim as an “inturned central part of the right eye flap”.</p> <p>According to Fairfax, 10 people had required medical assistance for injuries caused by the same bird during the period.</p> <p>The Workers Compensation Commission ordered Woolworths to pay Anita almost $17,000 in lost wages as well as covering her medical and rehabilitation bills.</p> <p>The amount was calculated based on Anita’s 25 weeks of reduced work as a result of her injuries. Counsel for Woolworths unsuccessfully tried to argue that Anita was “not performing any work” at the time of the attack.</p> <p>Court documents revealed that a Woolworths store manager attempted to shift blame by saying the centre management was responsible for the attack.</p> <p>“Centre Management had previously been informed regarding a number of bird attacks and choose to do nothing about this until this and other serious incidents happened,” the manager said.</p> <p>According to official documents, the local council “had previously attempted to deter the peewee with the installation of two imitation owls. These efforts apparently were unsuccessful as the bird continued to swoop at and injure persons entering and leaving the Shopping Mall.”</p> <p>The commission’s arbitrator John Harris ruled that Anita’s employment had been a “substantial” contributing factor in the injury.</p> <p>He also said the claim form submitted by Anita’s store manager at the time “clearly established prior knowledge of bird attacks”.</p> <p>“It is extremely unlikely that Ms Smith would have been attacked by the peewee at that time, had she not been in the course of her employment with the respondent. Whilst it is possible that, at that time, Ms Smith may have been present at the Centre for personal reasons, such an inference is extremely unlikely,” he said.</p> <p>On June 20, the bird was shot after the local council received a permit from National Parks and Wildlife. </p> <p>Have you ever been attacked by a magpie? Share your story with us in the comments below. </p>

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Coles forced to pay $300,000 to customer who slipped on iced coffee

<p><span>Coles has been forced to pay $293,597.30 in damages to a tradesman who was injured after slipping on a puddle of iced coffee.</span></p> <p><span>The New South Wales District Court heard Paul Mansell, a self-employed glazier, explain how he fell over in a Coles store in Vincentia on the south coast.</span></p> <p><span>Paul was wearing thongs during the time of the incident and after slipping on the puddle, landed on the floor.</span></p> <p><span>“His right should and right side of his neck came into contact with the floor or a support post or his shopping basket, or perhaps all of those things,” said court documents viewed by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/11/22/13/18/nsw-tradie-awarded-295000-for-coles-slip-and-fall-accident" target="_blank">Nine News</a></strong></span>.</span></p> <p><span>“Only one foot slipped. He had no opportunity to put out his hands to break his fall.”</span></p> <p><span>After the fall, Paul gave his contact details to the junior manager and was contacted the next day by a Coles manager who had watched the CCTV footage.</span></p> <p><span>The manager told Paul there was footage of another customer spilling iced coffee on the floor after taking the drink from a fridge inside the store.</span></p> <p><span>Paul asked for a copy of the footage at least five times but never received it and was later told the video had been deleted.</span></p> <p><span>Medical examinations revealed Paul suffered an “extensive tear” in his right shoulder, making him no longer able to run his business, which he was then forced to sell.</span></p> <p><span>Justice David Russell heard Coles employees were supposed to do floor inspections every hour and a half.</span></p> <p><span>He found Coles failed to uphold their duty of care to Paul and ordered Coles to pay him $293,597.30.</span></p> <p><span>The damages cover loss of earnings and past and future out of pocket expenses. </span></p> <p><span>Do you think this payout is fair? Tell us in the comments below.</span></p>

Insurance

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Woman fined $50,000 for trying to hide husband’s millions from ex-wife

<p><span>A woman has been fined $50,000 and given a suspended jail sentence after she tried to hide her husband’s millions.</span></p> <p><span>Josephine Aapa Smith hid the money out of spite towards her husband’s ex-wife, Joanne Young, but was caught out on Facebook.</span></p> <p><span>Josephine was found guilty of contempt of the Supreme Court for putting up her Harbourside penthouse she shared with husband, hotelier Leslie Young, as security for a $5.8 million bank loan.</span></p> <p><span>The deal was done despite a court order freeing any dealings on the Pyrmont apartment because Mr Young had been ordered to pay Joanne $3 million and weekly maintenance after throwing her out of the Wiley Park Hotel they co-owned and having her two dogs put down.</span></p> <p><span>Josephine told the Supreme Court that she had gone through an acrimonious break-up from Mr Young before using their apartment as collateral for the loan in February 2015.</span></p> <p><span>Justice Stephen Rothman did not believe her claims after being shown Facebook photographs of the happy couple at Lewisham’s Louis Hotel in October 2016.</span></p> <p><span>“The breakdown of her relationship with Mr Young ... either did not occur at the time or was not acrimonious,” Justice Rothman said. “I do not accept that [they] had severed their relationship at the time or very soon after.”</span></p> <p><span>The $5.8 million bank loan was made to a company controlled by Josephine.</span></p> <p><span>“The overwhelming inference is that the entire scheme was designed to thwart [Ms Young’s] attempt to obtain from Mr Young the damages the court had awarded,” the judge said.</span></p> <p><span>“It is clear [Ms Smith] was motivated in part by financial gain and probably as matter of malice towards Ms Young.”</span></p> <p><span>Justice Rothman found that Josephine had deliberately hidden the deal from the court and her former best friend, Joanne.</span></p> <p><span>“I consider the contempt of court a serious one and to be categorised as both civil and criminal,” he said.</span></p> <p><span>The judge suspended Josephine’s six-month jail sentence for six months after she entered into a good behaviour bond.</span></p> <p><span>In 1992, Joanne and Mr Young married and she separated from him in 1999 when he began living with Josephine.</span></p> <p><span>Joanne is yet to receive any money awarded to her by the courts. </span></p>

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