A 20-year-old man was sent to jail for life this week by a Supreme Court judge in Rockhampton after pleading guilty to raping and murdering an elderly woman. The 82-year-old victim died in hospital a week after being attacked in her backyard by David Samuel Aubrey Ray. Ray pleaded guilty to two counts of rape [...]

Any legal costs and damages related to the sacking of a council employee with a controversial husband will be paid by ratepayers, according to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk. Opposition leader Shayne Sutton said at this week’s Brisbane City Council meeting a former employee of Cr Fiona King was considering legal action for unfair dismissal. She [...]

A new law to fine people on the spot for swearing will not be effective and may lead to a High Court case, according to legal academics. The Victorian Government has introduced legislation that will give police permanent power to give on-the-spot fines of up to $240 for those who use offensive language. Monash University [...]

A union boss has made a scathing attack on Anna Bligh, calling the Queensland premier “disingenuos, deceitful and cruel”. Secretary of the Queensland division of the National Tertiary Education Union, Margaret Lee (pictured left), was speaking at a weekend rally in Brisbane organised by the Pro-Choice Action Collective. The rally was organised in the lead-up [...]

A man was sentenced to jail in the Brisbane District Court last Thursday after he pleaded guilty to seven charges related to the harassment of two women from previous relationships. The charges included making threats to his ex-girlfriend through Facebook. Kenneth Thomson, 26, pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, perverting the course of justice [...]

A Brisbane woman gave magistrate John Quinlan a lesson in keeping fish when she appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates’ Court last week charged with stealing pet supplies. Prosecutor Sergeant Fiona Pedersen said Sarah Ann Isaac entered a pet supply store on 11 November, 2008 and left without paying for items she placed in her handbag. [...]

Disgraced former Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel was today sentenced to seven years’ jail for the manslaughter of three patients. Patel was convicted of three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to seven years on each manslaughter count and three years for grievous bodily harm, the sentences to be served [...]