Deadline: Social media posts drag character from Jaidyn Leskie saga

It’s been a while since we’ve heard much from Latrobe Valley identity Kenny Penfold, but social media posts doing the rounds have brought him back to mind for some locals.

Kenny Penfold, pictured at home in Moe, was one of a cast of colourful characters dragged into the spotlight during the Jaidyn Leskie case. Picture Ian Currie.

Mark Buttler and Andrew Rule with the latest scallywag scuttlebutt.

Kenny Penny wants bugs bunny

We hadn’t heard much of Latrobe Valley identity Kenny Penfold since the tragic Jaidyn Leskie disappearance of 1997.

Kenny, then a young local knockabout, was one of an interesting bunch of characters dragged into the spotlight after the toddler vanished from the home of Moe rocket scientist Greg Domaszewicz.

Now it seems that social media messages using Kenny’s name have been doing the rounds lately, insisting on the return of some money that the posts allege is stolen.

It’s fair to say the messages are assertive and contain the kind of language which might offend a broad audience.

There is also talk of a resolution strategy aimed at recovering Kenny’s cash, but that probably doesn’t need to be detailed here.

Kenny Penfold outside the Victorian Coroners Court in Melbourne, after his testimony at the inquest into 1997 the murder of Jaidyn Leskie.

Of course, there are a number of possibilities at play. Maybe there is another Kenny Penfold or someone who has set up an account pretending, for whatever reason, to be the original Kenny.

What about if the real Kenny’s phone has been hacked or hijacked and someone is sending off mischievous messages designed to make trouble, as happened in the puzzling Luke Sayers case?

There’s probably an innocent explanation for the whole thing so let’s cut Kenny some slack and not go into other potential scenarios that could give our lawyers more ulcers.

After all, it wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to blame Kenny for something he didn’t do.

Court proceedings over the death of Jaidyn heard much about how Kenny and others had been at odds with Domaszewicz before the child’s disappearance, raising the possibility someone other than the accused man could have been responsible.

The bad blood had culminated in strange objects being thrown through the front window of the Narracan Drive home where Domaszewicz was babysitting little Jaidyn.

Greg Domaszewicz entering Supreme Court in December 1998.

It was a freakish coincidence which allowed defence barrister, the late Colin Lovitt, to sell the possibility that someone other than his client was responsible.

For a few torrid weeks, Kenny and his sister Yvonne were the accidental stars of a sad and sordid tale. The background was that Kenny and his mates were retaliating over Greg Domaszewicz’s treatment of Yvonne Penfold, his former girlfriend.

They came up with the plan of taking a pet pig, black and white in colour, into the bush and slaughtering it, as a fascinated court crowd was later told.

The young pig, dubbed “Darren Millane” after a once prominent Collingwood player, had no option but to go along with a scheme that was not in its best interests. It is not known if it squealed.

Three days later Kenny Pennold and his associate, one Darrin Wilson, threw the unfortunate pig’s head through a window of the Domaszewicz residence. The rest is history.

High society

It’s the story of the big showbiz name, the jumbo spliff and the busted Melbourne lift.

The story goes that the entertainer recently spent a lovely evening with his entourage at the kind of exclusive CBD restaurant where most of us could only look through the window from the outside.

When that wrapped up, the group decided to hit a fancy nightclub in the vicinity known for its rooftop bar and karaoke options.

They were taken to a “back of house” lift, well away from the riffraff, so they could make their way upstairs unimpeded by the public.

Things turned bad when, as they made their way up, their ride suddenly stopped without explanation.

Now, most people trapped in a lift would probably dial triple-0 and chat nervously, sweating bullets while hoping the thing wasn’t about to crash to the ground.

Not so with this crew.

One of them decided it was as good a time as any to fire up a dirty big joint, even if everyone was stuck in a confirmed space.

Unfortunately, security at the complex which houses the nightclub could see the boys light up and called the police.

We believe the smoking was all over when they arrived and no action was taken.

What better way to pass the time trapped in a lift?

Justice is in the bag

If it’s good enough for dog-owners, it’s good enough for the kind of degenerate who defecates on a suburban footpath.

That’s what one dirty bugger, or possibly bludger, found out last week when a couple of cops working in Richmond decided to do some “back-to-basics” policing.

Our colleague Regan Hodge, who sniffed out the story, tells us that the culprit had been loitering around the front deck of a local home when he suddenly crouched down and relieved himself.

Police arrived promptly and, before they moved the bloke on, put him to work cleaning up his mess.

The fool was handed a plastic bag and told to collect the stool.

On the Overland Track

Guess who’s back in Victoria — and spotted last week at Whittlesea Council chambers, one of the places he worked after his critics hit the ejector seat at VicPol HQ.

Simon Overland, that’s who. After a second stint in Tassie, he might be looking around for a job back on the mainland. Or maybe he’s just nostalgic about faces and places he used to know and go.

These days, Simon looks more like Gandhi than like the strapping fella who played more than 100 Australian rules games Canberra team Eastlake in his heyday, winning the competition’s time-honoured best and fairest medal, the Mulrooney.

That would be when he was in the Federal Police, during which time he was one of the hardworking troops investigating the murder of one of their own, AFP assistant commissioner Colin Winchester, in January 1989.

When the feds ditched a fairly obvious “mafia hit” lead in favour of chasing an eccentric public servant with a grudge, the accused man, David Eastman, was placed under constant surveillance.

Young Overland was one of the fit and feisty wallopers who rode around on a bike to keep an eye on the erratic suspect. Eastman was eventually sentenced (after a farcical trial in which he represented himself and abused the judge) and did 19 years behind bars before the verdict was finally overturned.

Eccentric but not stupid, Eastman sued for wrongful imprisonment, claiming $18m and settling for a $7m payout.

Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland in 2020. Picture: AAP

Overland moved south but wasn’t welcomed with open arms by Victoria’s ranks and file cops. He became the force’s gangland war spokesman under Christine Nixon, before he took over Ma’am’s big office in 2009.

It didn’t last. Overland made the mistake of playing favourites with politicians. So when the government changed, he resigned. He also faced allegations he massaged crime figures to make things look better for his mates in the outgoing Brumby Government.

Then he went to Tasmania, then came back to run Whittlesea Council as CEO, then got the chop again and returned to Tassie in another role. Now, the wheel has turned and he was photographed at a Whittlesea Council meeting the other day.

If he’s looking for another gig, he’d better get a wriggle on. He turns 63 in a few days.

Now they can buy a Merc

Deadline was pleased to note that Iowna Merc, the subject of a recent bungled item in this column, won the $250,000 Liverpool City Cup at Randwick on Saturday.

That prize money and the winning price of about $4 should have improved the mood of a valued and dedicated reader who gave us some constructive feedback about wobbly reporting on that horse and one of its relatives.