As it happened: WA news on Monday, February 24

We’re closing our blog for today, thank you for joining us.

As we leave you, a bushfire emergency warning is in place for parts of Throssell, Quellington and Wilberforce, south of Northam in WA’s Wheatbelt region.

Residents in an area bounded by Carter Road, Grass Valley South Road, Quellington Road and Northam-York Road are urged to leave now in a southerly direction towards York if the way is clear.

For the most up-to-date information, visit Emergency WA or download the Emergency WA app from the App Store or Google Play; call 13 DFES (13 3337); follow DFES on Facebook; or listen to ABC Local Radio, 6PR, or news bulletins.

Here’s what else we brought you today:

• WA voters keen to cast their ballot for the state election early can do so from today, with early voting booths opening at 8am across 61 locations.

• WA Police released footage of a driver being chased down by a detective in Mandurah after she allegedly ran out of fuel while trying to evade officers.

• Environment minister Reece Whitby has labelled the coral bleaching occurring at WA’s world heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef as “shocking”, telling a media conference today he has requested increased monitoring of the reef.

• The trial of four people accused of murdering Perth teenager Cassius Turvey has begun hearing evidence of the day he was fatally attacked with a trolley pole in October 2022.

• The Medical Board of Australia has referred Liberal candidate for Albany Thomas Brough to the State Administrative Tribunal for comments he made that the ‘+’ in LGBTQI+ referred to “minor-attracted persons”.

• A Perth woman accused of trying to poison her husband has been found not guilty by a jury.

Thank you for tuning in today. We’ll see you again tomorrow as we bring you more news you need to know.

To more breaking news this afternoon, and a man has drowned at Scarborough Beach.

Four ambulance crews sped to the popular beach in Perth’s northern suburbs and arrived just after 2pm, but the man could not be saved and is believed to have died at the scene.

It marks the eighth drowning incident in Western Australia in the past two months.

Seventeen-year-old Tyler Jury drowned at Lake Leschenaultia in the Perth Hills on January 14, half an hour before a man in his 40s was pulled from the water at Bremer Bay.

It also comes after 40-year-old Olya Tikhanova drowned after being swept off rocks near Esperance, and two weeks after husband and wife — Dr Mohammad Shahidul Hasan Swapan and Sabrina Ahmed — died trying to save their daughter at Conspicuous Cliff beach near Walpole.

To breaking news now and the Perth woman accused of trying to poison her husband has been found not guilty by a jury this afternoon.

Bozena Knapinski, 63, argued she was only trying to improve her husband’s health, and subsequently, their marriage, when she began secretly adding selenium to his water bottles.

Bozena Knapinski.Credit: Heather McNeill

Mr Knapinski took videos of his wife adding something to his drinks, along with a blood test that allegedly showed toxic levels of selenium in his system, to police who then arrested his wife.

She was charged with five counts of unlawfully doing an act which could endanger the life or health of a person.

During her trial in the Perth District Court, Ms Knapinski’s lawyer told the jury her husband was a “hypochondriac”, controlling and hadn’t worked in nearly 40 years.

Prosecutor Brett Tooker, however, claimed selenium, which could be used as a health supplement in small doses, caused Mr Knapinski health issues including abdominal problems and skin conditions.

An emergency physician from WA says there are so many incidents of violence against health workers, it almost feels like it isn’t worth filling out a form to report them.

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine sent a snapshot survey to the directors of emergency medicine at all 131 college-accredited emergency departments across the country.

It found punching, kicking, spitting, biting, verbal abuse and physical violence against emergency doctors is pushing them to “breaking point”.

Another WA doctor said increasing access block, where there were no free beds in the rest of the hospitals to allow patients to move out of EDs, meant increased wait times.

Drawing on that survey data, doctors’ testimonies and international research, the college released their Breaking Point: An Urgent Call to Action on Emergency Department Safety.

The findings of that report show that Australian emergency departments are facing an escalating crisis, and as a result the college has demanded immediate and systemic intervention.

The Medical Board of Australia has referred Liberal candidate for Albany Thomas Brough to the State Administrative Tribunal for comments he made that the ‘+’ in LGBTQI+ referred to “minor-attracted persons”.

Brough, who is an emergency doctor and City of Albany councillor, made the comment at a city council meeting in February last year which WAtoday understands triggered several complaints to healthcare watchdog the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

In a December 5 letter from AHPRA to a complainant that was leaked to media this week, AHPRA said its subsidiary, the Medical Board of Australia, had decided to refer the matter to a tribunal.

Read the full story here.

To the courts now, and the trial of four people accused of murdering Perth teenager Cassius Turvey has begun hearing evidence of the day he was fatally attacked with a trolley pole in October 2022.

A girl, aged 16 at the time, has taken the stand, explaining how she had just got off a school bus with the 15-year-old boy and “11 to 20” others in Middle Swan when a car full of people drove past and shouted out the window, “You smashed our windows, you bl--k c--ts”.

Cassius Turvey was 15 when he died. His family gave permission for his photo to be used.

Some of the group walking on the path shouted back that they didn’t know what the group in the car were talking about, and that “no one smashed any windows”.

The prosecution alleges the group in the car had the wrong people, and that Cassius was the victim of a mistaken identity crime.

The girl said the car pulled up and men jumped out continuing to yell about smashed car windows before retrieving weapons, causing most of the group to run away into nearby bushland.

“The boys started running, and the men were chasing after them,” the teen girl said.

She said when she saw Cassius again, he was emerging from the bush alone and bleeding.

“He was holding his head, and it was bleeding down his head and his ear and he was crying,” she said.

Police did not speak to the girl about the incident until 11 days later, after Cassius died in hospital from his head injuries.

Aleesha Gilmore, 23, her boyfriend Jack Brearley, 23, and his mates Brodie Palmer, 29 and Mitchell Forth, 26, are on trial in the West Australian Supreme Court for Cassius’ murder.

They have pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues.

Environment minister Reece Whitby has labelled the coral bleaching occurring at WA’s world heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef as “shocking”, telling a media conference today he has requested increased monitoring of the reef.

“It’s a horrendous impact on the reef,” he said.

“We want to know how extensive this will be, it is one of the biggest impacts of the system up there we’ve ever seen.

“We don’t know if this has been a shock to the system which the system will come back from, or whether this is a devastating blow that is going to have a lasting impact.”

Whitby said the ultimate solution to the problem was to tackle climate change through “a very long and prolonged effort in terms of decarbonising our economy”.

Fresh off their respective campaign launches on Sunday, Liberal leader Libby Mettam and Premier Roger Cook have hit the campaign trail running.

Mettam was in Shelley this morning with a promise to address a major pinch point on Leach Highway at the Shelley Bridge.

The WA Liberals have promised to duplicate the Shelley Bridge if elected next month. Credit: Google Maps

Mettam pledged $112.5 million to duplicate the bridge, removing the need for merge lanes.

“Shelley Bridge has long been a source of frustration for locals and anyone travelling anywhere between Fremantle and the Perth Airport,” she said.

“This is a shovel ready, long-overdue project which will significantly ease congestion on Leach Highway and local roads which have been left to carry the burden from those trying to avoid this bottleneck.”

Mettam said a petition run by Liberal candidate for Riverton Amanda Spencer-Teo to address the issues at the bridge had received more than 1000 signatures.

Cook was also south of the river this morning pushing his $5000 rebate and $10,000 no interest loans for low and middle income earners to install home batteries.

Home battery installers are concerned people will cancel their planned batteries and wait for the rebate to take effect in the middle of the year.

Energy Minister Reece Whitby said there was never an easy way to introduce schemes like this.

“You’ll get other people that will complain if we make the announcement the day before it’s available, that they’ve invested, and they should have known about it,” he said.

WA Police have released footage of a driver being chased down by a detective in Mandurah after she allegedly ran out of fuel while trying to evade officers.

The Bunbury woman, 25, was observed by police driving a Holden Commodore sedan through the rear car park of a Silver Sands supermarket around 9.30pm last night.

When officers activated their emergency lights, the driver allegedly accelerated away, driving recklessly and at speed through several streets in Mandurah, Halls Head and Falcon before abandoning the car on Old Coast Road when it ran out of fuel.

She was chased down on foot by an officer and charged with failing to stop, reckless driving, stealing, unlawful possession, drug charges and being in possession of OC spray.

She is due in court this morning.

If you’ve noticed it’s a bit hazy outside, authorities have just issued a smoke alert for the Perth area and surrounds.

Parks and Wildlife said the areas impacted included Perth, Jurien Bay, Windy Harbour, Northclifee, Shannon and Walpole.

A smoke alert has been issued for Perth.Credit: Main Roads

“An easterly wind is currently pushing smoke offshore, as the wind changes around 11am to a westerly, smoke will possibly extend to Walpole and surrounds,” the alert read.

“The smoke is a result of multiple bushfires near Manjimup and Collie.”

Motorists are urged to drive to the conditions.

People with asthma and pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular illnesses should follow their pre-prepared treatment plan.

If affected by smoke, contact your doctor or call Health Direct on 1800 022 222.