Cruel mother gets 4 years for murder

You can see the fear in the eyes of four year old Chloe Valentine as she looks into the camera, and she had good reason to be afraid. Her mother Ashlee Jean Polkinghome and her boyfriend Benjamin Robert McPartland killed her with a cruel vindictiveness that beggars belief.

In 2012, Chloe died when she sustained horrific injuries after falling off a motor bike and hurting herself, over and over again.  Her feet couldn't touch the ground and it was far too heavy for a four year old girl, but that didn't matter to her mother and her boyfriend who laughed every time she fell off.

Similar motor bike

Chloe was put on a newly purchased motor bike over a four-day period, even though she had two black eyes and significant bruising. The child was terrified of McPartland, every time she fell off, he virtually threw her back on.  Her mother recorded several videos of the event and the couple can be heard laughing when she falls and hurts herself.

When she was finally knocked unconscious, the pair didn't bother to call an ambulance for several hours.  Instead, as the child lay dying, they checked their Facebook page and did some internet banking. When she eventually arrived at the hospital, her injuries were so horrific, relatives said she was unrecognizable.  Her life support was turned off the next day. 

The court heard that Chloe would cling to her grandmother at the end of a visit and plead not to be sent home. "I feel so guilty that I didn't try harder to get her away from Ben and Ashlee" she said.

At the time of her death, Polkinghome's brother Jake Valentine said when the couple were outside the hospital, laughing and smoking, they said it was lucky the police hadn't found the drugs in the house.

Polkinghome was jailed for eight years with a non-parole period of four years and nine months after pleading guilty to manslaughter by criminal neglect.  Her partner Ben McPartland got seven years with a non-parole period of four years and two months.

Chloe died in the arms of her grandmother, her mother was nowhere to be found.

Child safety Department spokesman David Waterford said

"For Families SA to remove a child from the care of their parent or parents, we need to have evidence we can present to a court.  We are unable to make those decisions by ourselves and at no point was there sufficient evidence for us to go before a court and say 'This child should not be in the care of their parents and should be under the guardianship  of the Minister.'" 

But surely Mr Waterford must take some responsibility for the death of Chloe Valentine.  The Office for Child Safety in Families SA said they received 22 notifications that Chloe was at risk, the first one when she was three weeks old.  It's just not good enough!

Geoff Huegill and wife Sara Hill caught with drugs

There is something seriously wrong with our elite swimmers, as another one bites the dust.

Geoff Huegill and his wife Sara, nee Hill, parents of two small children, were allegedly caught with cocaine at Randwick Racecourse last Saturday afternoon. 

Up to 30 uniformed and undercover police, along with several dogs, stormed private suites in an exclusive members area called The Stables and stopped people as they emerged from bathrooms.

The prosecution will allege that police went to level 4 of the grandstand after viewing CCTV footage of the couple walking into a disabled toilet in the Moet and Chandon Lounge, where they watched the final program of the Autumn Carnival.

The couple spent most of the day in private suite No 15.  A witness said police pulled him out of the suite and asked him why he was about to leave.  He looked nervous, refused to be searched and kept asking for a lawyer.

Geoff Huegill was one of the best bufferfly swimmers in the world and won 28 international medals and set eight world records.

In his book Be Your Best, he admitted taking drugs because "sooner or later, the truth catches up with you."  Describing the dark days of depression after he retired, he wrote "I remained trapped because I was so ineffective in my life outside the pool - the usual cycles kicked in again, plenty of alcohol and party drugs, I was arriving home from clubbing at 4 am, the hour I used to get up to train.......I now had debt collectors to deal with."  

Huegill took medication for clinical depression for several years after feeling "lost" outside the pool and is an ambassador for the Black Dog Institute.  

The couple will appear in Waverley Local Court on May 14.

Has Vladimir Putin lost his mind?

In March, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was raised in East Germany under Communism, told President Obama by telephone that after speaking to President Putin, she was not sure he was in touch with reality, he was "in another world."   This would explain his bizarre statements of late like the "internet emerged as a special project of the CIA."  He's convinced that the revolt of the Ukrainian people is the direct result of western interference.

Yesterday Chancellor Merkel told Putin she was disappointed that because Russia hadn't done enough, the Geneva accord process had failed.  In reply, the Kremlin said they were disappointed with the unlawful Ukrainian government for agreeing to the Geneva accord in the first place.  Now there will be more sanctions and more angst and yesterday, acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatseniuk accused Russia of wanting to start World War Three.

In March, Putin held a press conference and it was reported that he seemed nervous, angry, cornered and paranoid.  He made it clear that Yanukovich was illegally overthrown and the government taken over by force.  From Putin's point of view, he has a valid point - the Ukrainian people democratically elected Yanukovich and that should be an end to it, but the thing Putin refuses to acknowledge, is that somewhere along the way, they changed their minds.

At the press conference, he was asked what mistakes Yanukovich made as president?

You know, I can't understand that...not because I don't know the answer, but because it wouldn't be right for me to say....did you know they burned someone alive in Kiev, just like that?  Is that what you call a manifestation of democracy?.....and this isn't the first time they've done this in Ukraine...no.....sometimes I get the feeling....these people in America.....they are sitting there, in their laboratory....and doing experiments, like on rats.....you're not listening to me, I've already said that yesterday.....I met with three colleagues...colleagues....you're not listening.....it's not that Yanukovich said he's not going to sign the agreement with Europe, what he said was that, based on the content of the agreement, having examined it, he did not like it.

But Mr Putin, what about the snipers in Kiev who were firing on civilians?

Who gave them orders to shoot?  Those were provocateurs....didn't you read the reports? they were open source reports....so I don't know what happened there, it's unclear.

But did you see the bullets piercing the shields of the Berkut special police?

That was obvious...as for who gave the order to shoot, I don't know...Yanukovich didn't give that order, he told me.....I only know what Yanukovich told me....and I told him don't do it....you'll bring chaos to your city..and he did, and they toppled him.

Is Putin obsessed with the idea of bringing mother Russia back to greatness by grabbing land he no longer has any right to?  It certainly looks that way.  As the new world evolves, the old Russia is cracking and breaking off and his advisors need to tell him that no matter how painful this may be, there's nothing he can do to stop it, it's too late.

The feeling among Moscow journalists is that Putin is no longer getting sensible advice but is surrounded by yes-men.  Perhaps he needs to talk to ex President Bush who once said he had a glimpse into his soul.

President Bush heard a story about a cross Putin's mother gave him that she had blessed in Jerusalem and asked him if it was true. "A look of shock washed over Putin's face" he wrote.  He then told him the story of recovering the cross from a house fire and when a worker found it in the ruins, it was as if it was meant to be.  Bush replied "Vladimir, that is the story of the cross, things are meant to be."

Anzac Day 2014 - the truth about Gallipoli

More than 8,000 Australians died trying to capture the Turkish capital of Constantinople and for the first time, we are confronted with the truth of what really happened.

Professor Peter Stanley is Professor of History at the University of NSW and award winning author of 25 books.  ABC Fact Check today published his thoughts on the myths surrounding the Gallipoli conflict. 

Charles Bean

Charles Bean is responsible for the establishment of those myths. He was editor of the 12 volume Official History of Australia in the War 1914-1918.  He wrote about the Australian Imperial Force at Gallipoli, France and Belgium and helped establish the Australian War Memorial and created the ANZAC legend.  He also took poetic licence to distort the facts.

We were led to believe that the troops landed in the wrong place. Not true says Professor Stanley. "For decades, people have tried to explain the failure at Gallipoli by blaming it on the Royal Navy, but the Royal Navy did land the troops at the right spot...it was what happened after that landing that things went wrong" he said.

Ashley Ekins, author of Gallipoli: A Ridge Too Far and head of military history at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra agrees. "It's a common misconception" he said.  "In fact, the ANZACs landed pretty well right in the centre of the originally selected landing zone."  There were also incorrect claims that currents drew the landing boats away from where they should have landed but there were no currents in that area.

PM Billy Hughes was the first to blame incompetent British generals for the massacre and the myth has been carried on ever since.  Professor Stanley says "The first landing was opposed by only about 80 Turks, and the defenders were soon massively out-numbered, but the invaders failed to advance inland, as they had been ordered.  The Australians were ordered to push on and capture a hill called Maltepe, seven kilometres inland but Australian brigadiers got nervous and told their men to dig in on the second ridge, and that's where they stayed for the eight month battle."  

The myth that Australians were tall, athletic bushmen is also untrue. The minimum height for an Australian soldier at the beginning of the war was 5ft 6in  and went down to five feet towards the end of the war. 

It was a shock to learn that Ashley Ekins said that Australians weren't good soldiers, at least not at first.  "At the outset when they landed, they were actually very inexperienced amateurs...they had to learn in a very hard school and there was much about war they had to learn" he said.

Journalist Charles Bean created the misconception that ANZACs were all bushmen, natural soldiers, fine horsemen and crack shots. They weren't, the majority lived in towns or major cities. 

Another shock myth buster was about Simpson and his donkey. John Simpson Kirkpatrick was the hero who used his donkey to bring wounded men back from the front.  He landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 2015 and was killed by a sniper four weeks later.  He was a Geordie from the North East of England who jumped ship in Australia and went looking for adventure. He only joined the army to get a free passage back to the UK.

Now we learn that Simpson may not have saved any lives at all. Ashley Ekins said "He did very brave work, he went into the gullies, he rescued men who were wounded, but mostly men with leg wounds...he may not have saved a single soldier who was going to die."

And then there were the "drip guns" - crude timing devices made from tins or cooking pots that kept unmanned guns firing while the men evacuated.  The inventor, Lance Corporal W.C. Scurry was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his efforts and promoted to Sergeant.  But Professor Stanley says the drip guns contributed nothing to the evacuation because by the time the first one went off, the men had gone.

Author's proud family link to WWI & WWII

Journalist Charles Bean wrote about the battle as he wanted to see it and we were ready and willing to believe him. When the extent of the slaughter became known, we were shocked and appalled and even though we lost the battle, we remember Gallipoli as the tragic event that brought about a fiercely independent identity. 

When the penny finally dropped that we were no longer a part of England, but a brand new independent country, we were happy, and every year on Anzac Day, we remember those who made it possible.

Downton Abbey's Countess of Grantham, Maggie Smith

Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, is one of Downton Abbey's favourite characters.  She always carries off her witty one-liners with aplomb.  Winner of two Academy Awards, Maggie Smith keeps fans coming back for more.

Of course the show is a complete fairy tale and nothing like real life. Centered around the despised British class system, an obvious attempt is made to make the owners of Downton appear to be something history has proved they were not - kind-hearted employers.

Although there were few exceptions, the ruling class were hard taskmasters who demanded their servants work 14 hour days and insisted that maids slept in 'virgin quarters.'  The Complete Servant, written in 1825, by Sarah and Samuel Adams, former butler and lady's maid, gave advice on how a country house like Downton Abbey should be run.

At 5am every morning, the housemaid's day began.  She would open the shutters in the family sitting rooms, rake out and relay the fires, black and polish the fireplaces, tidy up the mess made from the night before, spread the carpets with dried tea leaves to remove the dust and sweep up the tea leaves.  Then she would move on to the dining room and repeat the process.

Back upstairs to milord and milady's dressing rooms to empty chamber pots, light the fires, clean and dust, all the time making sure not to wake the sleeping family. Then after she had cleaned and swept the grand staircase (which she was never allowed to use), she could have breakfast.

And so it went on all day, going from one chore to another, making beds, cleaning room after room, the work never stopped until the butler announced that the family had finally retired.  Then, after travelling up and down countless flights of stairs all day, she could go to bed. 

One of the most outrageous fairytale plots on Downton was when the youngest daughter ran away with an Irish chauffeur named Bransen. When she dies giving birth to their daughter, he becomes an important member of the Grantham family, something that would never happen.

Irish actor Allen Leech 

Anna Bates, played by Joanne Froggatt and her husband John Bates played by Brendan Coyle are also popular characters. When Mr Bates takes revenge on Anna's attacker, the show's ratings went through the roof.

But for all it's faults, Downton Abbey is still essential viewing and Series 5 is already wrapped up.  It's a refreshing break away from the reality rubbish that dominates our television screens lately and with actors like Maggie Smith, it's outstanding success is likely to continue throughout the world.

Byron Smith murder trial

Byron Smith 65, is a retired security engineer for the US Department of State.  He is charged with first-degree, premeditated murder of two teenager cousins who broke into his home - Haile Kifer 18, and Nick Brady 17, on Thanksgiving 2012.

Nick Brady

Under Minnesota law, a person is allowed to shoot someone breaking into their own home but prosecutors allege that in this case, Smith crossed the line when he continued to shoot the teens after they were no longer a threat.  They will try to convince the jury that Smith planned the killings and was lying in wait.

Defense attorney Steve Meshbesher said that Smith was terrified after experiencing several violent break-ins before and was hiding after he heard a window break and footsteps upstairs.  "This is not a whodunit case" he said.  "Mr Smith is the person who shot and killed those people, but he is not criminally responsible for their deaths - he is not guilty of murder."

Haile Kifer

On the second day of the trial, a tape was played to the jurors of a police interview the day after the shootings.  Smith described what happened in a chilling, matter-of-fact way and told police he finished off Kifer with a shot under her chin because his .22 calibre "doesn't go through bone very well."

The teens were not armed but Smith assumed they were as they had stolen guns from his house before. Court documents from another case show Brady had burglarized Smith's property at least twice in the months before he was killed.

When Brady came down the basement steps, Smith waited until his hips came into view and fired twice - once in the chest and once in the back as he fell, then.....  "He's looking, facing up at me and I shoot him in the face...I want him dead."  He put his body on a tarp and dragged it into his workshop, reloaded his rifle and waited for the girl.

"I just pulled out the .22 and shot her twice in the head, once in the left eye and once behind the left ear."  He dragged her body into the workshop and laid it on top of Brady's but thought he heard her gasping.  "So I did a good clean finishing shot to the head (under the chin) and she gave out the death twitch" he said.

Smith didn't call police straight away because the teens were already dead.  "Just 'cause my Thanksgiving was screwed, I don't need to screw up yours" he said. The next day he asked a neighbour to call police.

Prescription drugs stolen from another house the day before were found in a car linked to Brady and Kifer.

The case continues.

Edit:  On April 29, 2014, Byron David Smith was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder with premeditation and on two counts of second-degree murder after three hours of jury deliberations. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Australian Defence League

Nathan Abela

The Australian Defence League (ADL) was established in 2009 and is an offshoot of the UK's English Defence League (EDL).  The group only has about 30 paid up members but its Facebook page had 12,000 followers before it was shut down.

Former President of the ADL, Nathan Abela, said he narrowly escaped being shot when eight bullets were pumped into his Greystanes unit earlier this month.  A man came to his front door and yelled out "Nathan, is that you?" before he opened fire and sped off in a silver Audi.  He said he commando-rolled across his lounge room to avoid being hit.

When police accidentally left a bullet casing behind, he refused to hand it over and was arrested for interfering with the police investigation.  He was also charged with entering a premises to menace or harass.  As part of his bail conditions, he is banned from using YouTube, Twitter or Facebook until he appears in Fairfield Local Court on May 9.  When National President Ralph Cerminara banned him from uploading any more videos, he resigned in protest.

Ralph Cerminara

Group members were encouraged to follow and photograph women wearing hijabs and burqas on public transport and upload the images to Facebook.  They also erected anti-Muslim posters outside Sydney mosques.

National President of ADL and ex soldier Ralph Cerminara said he has support from within the Australian Defence Force.  He told the ABC his aim was to have Islam banned and to "defend Australia's culture and Australia's people at all costs."

There seems to be some confusion as to Mr Cerminara's time served in the Armed Forces.  He said he served in Afghanistan and had to "bury a few mates over there" but Army records show that he did not serve overseas.  Hard to believe someone would persist with a lie that is so easily disproved.

When Australia's biggest Islamic school at Greenacre was filmed and ADL followers suggested it was a terrorist safe house that should be bombed or burned down, police called in the NSW counter-terrorism squad and ASIO.  An online war started, culminating in Mr Abela's attempted murder.  Mr Cerminara has also received several death threats.

Days before the shooting, a Sydney man Abu Bakra posted a video of himself warning Abela "Either you will accept Islam as your salvation, or you will die by the sword."  After posting videos on Syria, the 19 year old was asked by ASIO to surrender his passport in December.

The Muslim community is putting pressure on authorities to take decisive action against the ADL.

Nick Di Girolamo brings down a Premier

Nick Di Girolamo, a prominent Liberal Party fund-raiser and associate of the Obeid family, sent NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell a $3,000 bottle of Grange.  "What were you attempting to secure?" he was asked by council assisting ICAC, Geoffrey Watson.  "My sincere congratulations on finally getting into office after 16 long hard winters in opposition" he said.

As Chief Executive of Australian Water Holdings, Nick Di Giodlmo billed the public-owned Sydney Water for expenses and admitted that a series of payments, including restaurant bills, trips to Cairns casino, services of a Liberal lobbyist and donations to the Liberal Party should not have been billed to Sydney Water.

When it was revealed at the ICAC hearing that Mr Di Girolamo had sent the Premier a bottle of Grange, O'Farrell denied it.  He looked into the camera and said with conviction "I did not receive a bottle of Grange from Mr Girolamo."  

In an effort to prove he wasn't lying, Di Girolamo went home and found the fatal "thank you" note in O'Farrell's fair hand and when he produced it, O'Farrell spat the dummy and resigned.  

Mike Baird

New Premier Mike Baird said in hindsight it was a mistake to appoint Nick Di Girolamo to a state-owned corporation three years ago but it was agreed to by cabinet.  "The community has spoken on donations and lobbyists, and we will be responding, it is critical" he said.

Barry O'Farrell will stay on as an MP until next year's state election. Maybe some day the real reason for his resignation will be revealed.

Legal marijuana linked to two deaths in Colorado

Medical professionals have always said that legalizing marijuana was a mistake and now two tragic deaths have occurred that back up their theory.

A 19 year old college student Levy Thamba Pongi travelled with a group of friends from Wyoming to Colorado to try it. After eating a marijuana-laced cookie, he started talking irrationally and began throwing things around his hotel room.  Then he jumped off the balcony to his death.

In another case, Richard Kirk 47, a man with no history of violence, shot his wife in the head after eating a pot-infused sweet.  She was on the phone to a 911 operator asking for help after her husband started hallucinating.

It is now believed that cookies, sweets and other drug edibles are much more potent than a joint and can be extremely dangerous.

So far this year, 26 people in Colorado have been poisoned by marijuana edibles.  Medical director of Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Centre said "We're seeing hallucinations.....they become sick to their stomachs, they throw up, become dizzy and very anxious."

The autopsy of the student revealed that the cookie/cookies he ate contained as much THC as six high quality joints.

The Colorado law states that edible pot must be sold in serving sizes of 10 milligrams of THC but no allowance was made for human stupidity. The law makers should have realized that because it's now legal, many people are trying pot for the first time.  They expect to get an immediate high after eating one cookie and when it doesn't happen, they get impatient and have another, and maybe even another, until suddenly they experience an extreme effect all at once.

Crime stats have dropped in the Denver area in the last three months but it will take a few years before the true effects of legalizing pot are known.

Jews ordered to register in Ukraine

John Kerry and Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov 

The situation in Ukraine has now turned ugly and sick.  In Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine, Jewish people were gathered at their local synagogue for the Passover eve prayer.  As they were leaving, masked men handed them a leaflet that takes us back to the mindset of Adolf Hitler.  It said they must "register" with the pro-Russian militants who have taken over a government office.  If they refuse, their assets will be confiscated, their citizenship revoked and they will be deported.

Surely this can't be happening again.

But the man whose name appears on the document, Denis Pushilin, who is Chairman of the pro-Russian "Donetsk's temporary government" said he is not responsible but admitted the leaflets were distributed under his organization's name.

Denis Pushilin

TRANSLATION IN FULL Dear citizens of Jewish nationality

Taking into consideration the fact that the leaders of Jewish community of Ukraine has supported banderovtsy’s Junta in Kiev, and have been hostile to Orthodox Donetsk Republic and its citizens, the General Staff of Donetsk People’s Republic has decreed the following:All citizens of Jewish nationality who are older than 16 years-old that have been living within the territory of Sovereign Donetsk Republic should attend acting Commissioner for nationalities affairs in Donetsk Regional Government Department, office 514 for registration before 03 May 2014. The registration fees are 50 USD.You should bring the amount of 50 USD for registration fees, passports for marking the confession of faith, documents showing family members, entitling documents for title to real property and transport facilities.

In case of attempts to avoid the registration, the subject persons’ citizenship will be revoked with their subsequent enforced deportation outside Donetsk Republic including the forfeiture of their property.

Stamp with Donetsk People’s Republic 

Yours

People’s Governor – Denis Pushilin

US Secretary of State John Kerry said "In the year 2014, after all of the miles travelled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it's grotesque.  And any of the people who engage in these kind of activities - from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of - there is no place for that."

UK Muslim plot to oust head teachers

Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood

A document has surfaced in the UK, known as the Trojan Horse, that is so shocking, some think it's a hoax.  It alleges that four Birmingham head teachers were pushed out so that radical Jihadist Islam could be taught. The letter, seen by the BBC reads:  "We have an obligation to our children to fulfill our roles and ensure these schools are run on Islamic principles."

At the centre of the scandal is Birmingham's Park View Academy where it's alleged that seventy thousand pounds was spent on loudspeakers to call pupils to prayers.  

It's alleged that moderate non-Muslim staff have been bullied and in one case, the teachings of an Al Qaeda-linked Muslim preacher were applauded.  Twenty five schools are now under investigation.

Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood raised the alarm.  He said 20 teachers in his constituency told him about the plot.  "These are state schools, not Islamic" he said.  He is convinced that radical hardline fundamentalists from the Wahabi or Salafi sects were successfully removing traditional English heads and the document explains how they did it.

It states that parents could be encouraged to turn against the school leadership if they are told that their school is "corrupting their children with sex education, teaching about homosexuals, making their children pray Christian prayers and carrying out mixed swimming and sport." 

The letter goes on to explain how these methods have been used successfully in Birmingham and asks the recipient to identify schools in predominantly Muslim areas in Bradford.  It reads: "Operation Trojan Horse has been very carefully thought through and is tried and tested within Birmingham, implementing it in Bradford will not be difficult for you."

Trojan Horse 5 Steps

• Identify 'target schools' based in Muslim areas
• Select a group of Salafi parents within the school community because they are "most committed to Islam" and "once charged up, they keep going for longer."
• Install a governor within the school to "drip feed" ideals for a Muslim school
• Identify "weak and disgruntled staff" and encourage them to complain so an external investigation is launched.
• Instigate an anonymous letter campaign to local MPs, education authorities and others

One of the schools being investigated cancelled its annual visit from Santa last year.  Teacher Vicky Hubble who organised the event at the Ladypool Primary School was told by the new Muslim headmaster Huda Aslam to cancel it. There would be no presents exchanged and no mention of Jesus, he said, instead there would be sing-alongs for the children like Jingle Bells.  She complained to Birmingham Council who forced him to reinstate the Christmas Assembly but Santa was banned.

Peter Clarke

Peter Clarke, the anti-terror police chief who led the investigation into the 7/7 London bombings, has been appointed Education Commissioner and will review all the evidence.

Aboriginal youth suicide highest in the world

The suicide of young indigenous people is now claimed to be the highest in the developed world.  Thirty one Aboriginal elders were interviewed over two years and thousands of hours were spent on a report to find out why their young people were killing themselves. 

That report has just been released and it's very depressing.  They found that implemented government programs, despite good intentions, haven't worked, and that many teens are now in the grip of drug and alcohol addiction.  They believe they suffer from a lost cultural identity and cross-cultural confusion which produces a sense of hopelessness that sometimes leads to suicide.

Problems persist with alcohol, even in dry areas.

The Wangkatjungka people who live in a remote area not far from Fitzroy Crossing were the first to ask the WA government to make their community an alcohol free zone and in April 2008, the only way to get a drink in town is to go to the bar at the pub or have a meal in the restaurant.

Marmingee Hand

Local school teacher Marmingee Hand was one of the local women who lobbied for the ban.  "The restrictions led to a significant drop in Aboriginal people sitting under trees drinking and wandering around intoxicated seven days a week" she said.

But things have changed.  There is now a flourishing black market grog trade in town that can be bought from parked cars and illegal home bottle shops.

"It's having a devastating effect on our community and is also having a huge impact on our kids learning at school - it's leading some people to go back to their old habits, the drinking and the fighting" Ms Hand said.

Family loyalty makes people reluctant to dob in those responsible. The going rate is $150 for a carton of beer and $6 bottles of wine sell for $50 each.  Naturally, the rules of supply and demand prevail.

"It's the main cause of all our problems" Senior Sargeant Andrew Stevens said.  "Alcohol is behind all the domestic violence."  If he doesn't stop the next shipment, that night all hell breaks loose and despite regular highway patrols, he thinks they only confiscate about half.  There have only been six successful prosecutions in the past year. Finding the alcohol is sometimes easy but trying to prove that person intended to sell the liquor is tricky.

Ms Hand, who teaches Aboriginal girls, says she knows when a fresh load of grog is being brought in.  She sees people parked in strange places doing a roaring trade and then not long after, the fighting starts. "The community people here should wake up and help the police in regard to this" she said.

The horror house of Bondi

After yet another legal battle, workers finally moved in yesterday to clean up the house of horrors in Boonara Avenue Bondi.  Mary Bobolas and her two daughters Elena and Liana choose to live amid the filth of rotting garbage and rats.  We assume that all three women must be mentally ill, yet there's nothing they don't know about the law, and they have continued to use it to stop Waverley Council from cleaning up their mess.  It's the fifth cleanup since 2005.

Security had to stop Mary Bobolas from intervening during the cleanup

When they lost in the Supreme Court of NSW they went to the Land and Environment Court who have just ordered the cleanup to take place.  

One neighbour said "The rats are as big as possums and they get up in my roof and down in the wall cavities."

Sisters

Another neighbour said the three women sleep outside because they can no longer fit inside the house.  They burrow under the rubbish and when it rains, they put big umbrellas and tarps over themselves to keep dry.

Mary Bobolas

Terry Kudmore 71, has lived opposite since 1977 and says the problem won't go away.  "It's a bandaid solution..... it hasn't worked......why would it work now?" he said.   

Another neighbour said he had $480,000 wiped off the value of his home and the block of units next door were abandoned when the rats moved in.  So why has council allowed this to happen, time and time again?

The cleanup crew meet before starting work

Waverley Council General Manager Arthur Kyron said their first priority is to make sure the rubbish doesn't heap up again but he didn't say how he would do it.  "There are obviously underlying factors causing this problem to occur" he said in a statement.

The council plans to charge the family for the cost of the cleanup after spending at least $350,000 in cleaning costs since 2006.  Good luck with that.

Mary at 3 am

At 3 am on the morning of the cleanup, Mary Bobolas was seen collecting rubbish on the streets of Bondi and taking it home.

Pru Goward under attack

Pru Goward

What a disgraceful state of affairs.  According to the NSW Ombudsman Bruce Balbour, there are 75,000 children currently at risk of serious physical harm from their parents or guardians in NSW.  It's got to the stage where parenting of little children is now so shocking, the government is obliged to step in to save them. How did it ever come to this?

The figures show that under Community Services Minister Pru Goward's watch, there were 75,000 cases of reported abuse that were never followed up by a caseworker.  Even though the figures are an improvement on three years ago, Mr Balbour is calling for Prue Goward's resignation.

It's easy to see that the children's watchdog is overwhelmed and can't possibly cope.

Opposition spokeswoman Labor's Linda Burney said "The last few years have just been a litany of failures" she said.  "The minister has lost the confidence of caseworkers and the public.  This report leaves her position untenable and it's time for Pru Goward to go."

Mr Barbour found that there were longstanding vacant caseworker positions that should have been filled, running as high as 40 per cent in some offices and out of 104,000 children reported to be at risk, only 30,000 received a personal safety check from a face-to-face caseworker. This lack of resources resulted in 40,000 cases being closed with little or no intervention.

Ms Goward said last night that getting co-operation from other departments and non-government organizations is difficult. "This is the hardest thing to do but we have to get better at it" she said.

Pru Goard has arguably one of the hardest jobs in the world.  She joined the ABC in 1980, firstly as a reporter for Nationwide then as a political correspondent on the 7.30 Report and Radio National. She was a high school teacher, a university lecturer in economics, a broadcast journalism lecturer, media consultant and freelance writer.

But she's also responsible for a shocking statistic - only 28 per cent of significant harm reports received by her department on her watch got a face-to-face caseworker. 

Not good enough Ms Goward, get onto Barry O'Farrell and get those caseworker vacancies filled.

Sarah Monahan should sue Channel 7

Sarah Monahan should sue Channel 7 for millions after what they did to her - gave Robert Hughes permission to sexually abuse her and other cast members of Hey Dad.  But she won't sue which lets them off the hook, all she wants is an apology. "I don't want to deal with court anymore" she said.

Hughes has his hand under the script, confident and secure

We must now wait to see how Channel 7 responds.  Do they think they have a moral obligation to acknowledge what happened and apologise for it or will they continue their present tactic of ignoring the whole affair?  They knew what Hughes was up to because fellow actors Simone Buchanan and Ben Oxenbould told them, but they didn't want to know.

"My lesson in professionalism was to shut up about the paedophile" Ben said.  His acting career suffered and so did Simone Buchanan's. Ben said he was passed over for many parts.  "I've had executive producers say to me 'Benny, we wanted you for that role mate'.....and I think, but mate what? I'm not the bad guy here" Ben said.

Simone Buchanan

Robert Hughes was given permission to destroy Sarah Monahan's life by Channel 7's producers of Hey Dad.  They deprived her of the love and support of her mother who she hasn't spoken to since she went public.  Her mother-in-law has now taken her place.

Ben Oxenbould today

If Sarah Monahan hadn't appeared on A Current Affair to tell her story, his other victims would never have come forward and Robert Hughes wouldn't be in jail.  We await his sentencing date with interest.

Sarah is currently living in Texas with her American husband Matt Morris.  In 2011 she joined the Texas State Guard Medical Brigade, a branch of the Texas Military Forces whose focus is on humanitarian missions.