A 26-year-old man has been extradited from Poland and charged with murder over the 2023 death of a 22-year-old in Sydney. NSW Police arrested him in Europe, and he landed in Sydney on Friday. He refused bail and is due in court on Saturday. Court documents allege Darcy Schafer-Turner died after being restrained at a Sydney apartment during an attempt to recover a $50,000 drug debt. His body was found in a metal cabinet near Macksville in May 2023. Zachary Richard Fraser was previously sentenced for manslaughter, and Charles Dennis Turnbull pleaded guilty to being an accessory.
A 20-year-old man has been refused bail after allegedly striking and killing a 57-year-old man with his car in Alice Springs and driving away. Aaron Kemp faces a charge of hit-and-run driving causing death, along with charges of driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle without a licence while under the influence of alcohol. Prosecutors told the Alice Springs Local Court that witnesses placed him in the driver's seat and said he was under the influence of alcohol and cannabis. Judge Jon Bortoli said the prosecution case appeared strong and remanded Mr Kemp in custody.
Family members of Samuel Liszczak have addressed Tyrone Russell in the Sydney Supreme Court as sentencing submissions began. Russell was found guilty of manslaughter in March, and Cory James Glass was found guilty of being an accessory after the manslaughter. Madison Wiggins asked Russell why he did not call Triple Zero and instead pushed Mr Liszczak's body from a moving vehicle. His mother, Dee Lianos, said losing her son had changed how she sees the world. Justice Richard Weinstein described the actions of Russell and Glass as unsophisticated. The sentencing hearing will continue on December 17.
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A man who drove drunk and killed his close friend in a crash on the New South Wales Far South Coast has been jailed for six years. Edward James McCoid, 34, pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death. Ritchie Faulkner, a 46-year-old grandfather, died from his injuries after the crash at Tura Beach in June last year. Police allege McCoid's blood alcohol concentration could have been as high as 0.25. The judge said the community had to be protected from him, and McCoid was disqualified from driving for two years.
Anastasia Marshall has been sentenced to one year, 11 months and 16 days in prison, with a non-parole period of seven months. She pleaded guilty to helping Johnathan Paul Parker avoid apprehension or prosecution after he set fire to the remains of her ex-wife, Krystal Marshall, at their Aldinga Beach home in October 2023. Parker pleaded guilty to destroying human remains but denied murder, and a verdict in his trial is yet to be delivered. Justice Sandi McDonald said Anastasia Marshall chose to lie and cover up the death despite having the chance to go to police.
Seven people have been charged with manslaughter over the death of Lino Atem, who was fatally stabbed in a Wyndham Vale park in January 2025. Homicide Squad detectives made the arrests on 21 October, with help from the VIPER Taskforce. The accused include three 17-year-old boys, who will appear in children's court, and four adults, who will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court later that day. The charges follow a fight among a group of men at a park on Haines Drive. Two of Mr Atem's friends, aged 27, were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.
Three boys and four men have been charged with manslaughter over the fatal attack on 24-year-old Lino Atem at a reserve in Wyndham Vale in January 2025. Police allege Mr Atem was stabbed 26 times as his group was attacked by a group of youths who stormed the park. A court was told DNA evidence was found on a machete at the scene, and the investigation is continuing. Some accused youths will return to court for a committal hearing next month.
Four men and three teenage boys have been charged with manslaughter over the fatal stabbing of Lino Atem, 24, at Haines Drive Reserve in Wyndham Vale. Police executed a series of warrants across Melbourne's western and northern suburbs on Wednesday morning. Mr Atem was stabbed during a confrontation with a larger group on January 20 last year, after he and two friends were allegedly confronted at the park. Police believe the attack may have been a case of mistaken identity. All seven are expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
Seven people have been charged with manslaughter over the death of Lino Atem, who was fatally stabbed in a Wyndham Vale park in January 2025. Homicide Squad detectives made the arrests on 21 October, with help from the VIPER Taskforce. The accused include three 17-year-old boys, who will appear in children's court, and four adults, who will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court later that day. The charges follow a fight among a group of men at a park on Haines Drive. Two of Mr Atem's friends, aged 27, were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.
Seven people have been charged with manslaughter over the death of Lino Atem, 24, who was fatally stabbed in a Wyndham Vale park in January 2025. Police arrested the group early on Wednesday, 21 October. Four adults will appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court, and three teenagers will appear in a children's court. The stabbing followed a confrontation between Mr Atem's group and another group of men in a park on Haines Drive. Two of Mr Atem's friends were injured and taken to hospital.
A correctional officer assessed Kerrie Struhs as posing no immediate risk to others three weeks before she and others caused her eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, to die, a Brisbane inquest has heard. The officer had no access to Kerrie's offending history. Kerrie was jailed for child neglect after failing to take Elizabeth to hospital for type 1 diabetes in 2019. Elizabeth died 22 days after Kerrie's parole release, from diabetic ketoacidosis, after her father stopped providing insulin at their Toowoomba home. Kerrie, Jason and 12 other adults were convicted of manslaughter last year. The inquest continues.
A man has been jailed for a minimum of nine years and two months for fatally shooting Adrian Romeo, 42, in Melbourne over a dispute about speeding fines. Robert Mantini, 61, pleaded guilty to homicide by firearm, a form of manslaughter. Justice Kerri Judd sentenced him to 13 years and six months. Shane Dalton, 66, who helped conceal the body, was sentenced to 10 months and a community sentence after pleading guilty to assisting an offender. Mr Romeo's remains were found at Wildwood in December 2025. Mantini, an Italian national, faces possible deportation after his sentence.
A Melbourne court has heard how cancer survivor Tony Di Falco, 61, was stabbed to death by his stepson Mehmet Bertan at his Hillside home on October 4, 2024. Bertan, 34, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Prosecutors said he had experienced a psychotic episode six weeks earlier. Mr Di Falco's brother Nick told the Victorian Supreme Court that the family had been left devastated. Bertan will be sentenced at a later date.
A teenager who was high on drugs and speeding when he killed a 69-year-old grandmother has been sentenced to seven and a half years in jail in Brisbane Supreme Court. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Rosemary Franzidis died in November 2024 after the teenager ran a red light in a stolen Audi and hit her car at 136km/h in Murrumba Downs. Because the crash happened before new adult-crime, adult-time laws took effect, he will not face those penalties. Her husband, Jean-Paul Franzidis, told the court he wished the young man would find someone to love him.
A former outback stockman has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for negligent manslaughter over the fatal assault of his long-term partner in Katherine. The NT Supreme Court heard that Lindsay Kennedy attacked Colleen Bradshaw, the mother of their four children, in the town centre in July 2024. Justice Peter Barr said the repeated strikes to her head, on hard surfaces, were very forceful and very cruel. Ms Bradshaw survived the attack but died in Royal Darwin Hospital after her head injuries were not identified at Katherine District Hospital.
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Jean-Paul Franzidis told a Brisbane Supreme Court sentencing that he hoped the teenager who killed his wife, Rosemary, would one day be loved as deeply as she loved him. Rosemary Franzidis, 69, died at the scene in Murrumba Downs in November 2024 after a stolen car, reportedly travelling above 130km/h, struck her vehicle. The driver, who was 16 and unlicensed, had taken drugs before a spree of offences with older accomplices.
Zachary Robert Kolm, 26, has been sentenced to nine years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the Supreme Court in Bundaberg. Kolm was driving an unregistered, modified car with alcohol and MDMA in his system when it crashed, killing his friend Nicholas 'Joel' Wright, 23. GPS data showed the car travelling at 188km/h on Burnett Heads Road before it rolled and hit a power pole. Justice Graeme Crow called Kolm's conduct at the scene disgraceful but noted his remorse. Kolm will be eligible for parole in April 2029.
A Brisbane widower has told the Supreme Court he wishes the teenager who caused his wife's death could find love. The boy, now 18, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges over the crash that killed Rosemary Franzidis, 69, at Murrumba Downs in November 2024. Prosecutors said the boy and two adult co-accused stole a car and drove dangerously at speeds of up to 136km/h in a 70km/h zone. Ms Franzidis was on her way home from church when the car hit hers. Her defence lawyer said the boy was remorseful and planned to stay substance-free after his release.
A police officer told a Queensland coronial inquest that child safety staff could not be persuaded to change their 2019 decision to return six-year-old Elizabeth Struhs to her Toowoomba home, despite concerns raised by some doctors. Elizabeth died in January 2022 after her parents stopped her insulin, which she needed for type 1 diabetes. Her parents belonged to a sect that rejected medicine. Doctors at the Queensland children's hospital had warned the mother might undermine treatment, yet staff judged the father able to manage insulin. The officer described the stance as professional courtesy.
