A 38-year-old man New Town man was jailed for two months after punching a Chinese man in the face and smashing his glasses in March this year. He’d yelled to his victim: “you’ve got the virus, go back to your country”.
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Shannon James Duffy, 31, shot his mate Jarrod Leigh Turner in the head as the victim urinated – unsuspectingly – by a roadside near Richmond in April last year. The 22-year-old had no idea it was coming. Duffy is expected to be sentenced later this year after pleading guilty to one count of murder.
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Will Scott Brearley, 31, will spend just over a year in jail after pleading guilty to raping a young, defenceless woman outside Parliament House in June 2019. Brearley manhandled his victim in various ways and grabbed her by the throat during the 40-minute attack.
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William Adair Rothwell and Jacob Michael Brennan were both 17 when they subjected 18-year-old Billy Ray Waters to “tremendous cruelty” over some stolen cannabis. The Launceston youths are now serving 26-year jail terms.
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A Risdon Prison inmate threw water in the face of an obese child sex offender, leaving him with permanent scars. Maximum security prisoner Erich Leonard Ungerhofer, then 22, filled a large plastic container with hot water from an urn before burning the man in January 2019. Read more here.
MEALS ON WHEELS SEX CHAT THIEF
Sean Peter Burk, 62, developed compulsive behaviours after he started taking the drug Sifrol for his Parkinson’s disease. The Meals on Wheels CEO pinched more than $111,000 from the charity – partly to fund his online sex addiction. He pleaded guilty to one count of dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage and was given an 18-month home detention order.
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Taxi driver and refugee Mathivathanan Sathasivam thought he and his family would be safe in Tasmania. But he was brutally mowed down by a Huon Valley teen – Bailey John Purdon – who refused to pay an $80 fare. Mr Sathasivam was thrown onto the bonnet and had to grab at the windscreen wipers as Purdon, then 19, swerved side-to-side. Purdon was released on parole in June this year after serving six months in jail for causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving. Read more here.
FAMILY LAWYER WHO ASSAULTED COP GIRLFRIEN
Jealous and violent family lawyer Daniel John Bearman, 44, was found guilty of a number of family violence charges after he assaulted his police officer girlfriend and her former lover. He will be sentenced in the Hobart Magistrates Court later this year.
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An 80-year-old man who relied on a mobility frame avoided jail after forcing his 10-year-old granddaughter to touch him avoided time in jail due to his age and health. The man was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault following a case that ripped a Hobart family apart.
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BELLIGERENT MAN WHO BIT OFF ENEMY’S EAR
Luke David Buck, 36, was drunk and on drugs when he turned up to a party uninvited, smashed a bottle, and said “you’re dead, dog” to his foe. He then beat his victim, took hold off his ear in his mouth, then whipped his head around. Buck was found guilty by a jury of wounding, assault and unlawfully injuring property, copping a three-year jail sentence.
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Graham John Enniss, 38, fashioned his prison bedding into a makeshift rope before escaping Risdon Prison via some scaffolding in September 2019. He then hid in bushes wearing clothes he’d pinched off a nearby clothesline. Enniss was found after a large-scale manhunt that included the use of a helicopter and the Special Operations Group, saying it “seemed like a good idea at the time”. He got an extra seven months in jail after pleading guilty to one count of escape.
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Darrel George Harington, 68, was locked up an extra 18 months for molesting two young boys during the 1970s and 1990s. He held down one of the children at his Little Swanport farm while playing a “masturbation game”. The victim still suffers nightmares, decades later. Harington was already in jail, and has been since September 2015, after confessing to historical child sex offending over 35 years against boys aged 12 to 15.
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ICE-FUELLED INVADERS WHO RUPTURED STRANGER’S EYEBALL
Jake Harley Hattenschwiler, 30, and George Matthew Jeffrey, 27, were jailed after pleading guilty to assault-related charges following a terrifying Launceston home invasion during December 2018. Hattenschwiler was also jailed for causing grievous bodily harm after he discharged a salt-loaded firearm into the victim’s sunglasses, causing his eyeball to explode. Read more here.
Joshua Josef Barker, 32, was detained in a secure mental health unit after he drove into a pedestrian at Prospect Vale and killed him, almost instantly, during March 2018. He then drove to a friend’s house and told them he’d killed a snake. Justice Robert Pearce said Barker, who was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, first became mentally unwell in 2009 when he was savagely assaulted by a group of young men wielding wood and iron bars.
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2 7-YEAR-OLD GRANDFATHER AND SEX OFFENDER
Dale Wayne Williams was jailed for eight months after initially trying to force himself on a 16-year-old runaway in February 2016. He fled to Queensland but returned to Tasmania amid the birth of his fifth child and first grandchild. He was found guilty by a jury of sexual intercourse with a young person under 17.
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DEER DECAPITATOR CAUGHT WITH BESTIALITY PORN
Joshua Andrew Bester, 27, avoided jail time after he was filmed cutting a deer’s head from its body and posing with its skull and antlers during off-season. He pleaded guilty to wildlife law breaches and one count of possessing a bestiality product, which depicted a man having sex with a donkey. But it wasn’t Bester’s first run-in with the law – police had previously searched his house and found a number of decomposing deer carcasses. He has about 40 prior convictions for wildlife and firearms-related offending.
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Peter John O’Neill, 61, who molested young boys while teaching at Dominic College, Burnie High School and St Virgil’s College during the 1980s will not go to jail for his crimes. The Canberra resident – who is wheelchair-bound, has spinal stenosis and is morbidly obese – will instead likely receive a suspended jail term because of the difficulties and costs of medical transport. He has pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault and one count of penetrative sexual abuse of a young person relating to six children.
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Allan John Duffy, 51, attacked a Derwent Valley Council employee from behind after a smoke break because he didn’t like the advice he’d received. In July 2019, he punched his victim at least eight times, leaving him semiconscious and covered in blood. The employee is now traumatised and hasn’t returned to work. Duffy pleaded guilty to one count of assault and received a 10-month home detention order.
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Burnie woman Jackie Jacobson didn’t feed her two dogs, with one of the creatures dying after trying to survive by eating clothes. They were both covered in fleas by the time the RSPCA turned up. Jacobson was assessed for a probation order after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated cruelty, one of cruelty to animals and another of management of an animal likely to cause suffering.
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‘Disneyland for foodies’: Tassie’s bold new $14m fermentation hub
Kim Seagram has been a fierce advocate for Tassie’s food and tourism sectors since relocating from Canada 30+ years ago. Now she’s opening a $14m fermentation hub to showcase Tasmanian produce to the world. SNEAK PEEK >>
Run clubs: Tassie’s booming fitness trend
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