As it happened: WA news on Wednesday, April 30

We’re bringing our blog to a close for the day, thank you for joining us.

Here are some of the headlines we covered today:

• Two people spearfishing off WA’s coast south of Exmouth have filmed a close encounter with a tiger shark.

• A WA bikie is due in court after security officers allegedly found a knuckleduster inside his luggage at Perth Airport earlier this year.

• A man who ran down another with a ute, severing his leg before attacking him with a hammer, has had his sentencing date set.

• A man acting erratically who drove his Jeep off the Claremont jetty into the Swan River has been pulled from the water by TRG officers and led to an awaiting ambulance.

• Two girls have been accused of assaulting and robbing an 18-year-old as she waited at the Warnbro train station.

Thank you for tuning in today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow for more news you need to know.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with sexual penetration without consent after allegedly raping a teenage girl at a “bush doof” on Cable Beach.

Police allege the man sexually assaulted the 15-year-old girl in the early hours of Sunday, April 27, while they were on the beach at Gantheume Point.

The girl’s friends had been searching for her and managed to get her away from the man before reporting the incident to police.

The 19-year-old man was due to face Broome Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Two girls have been accused of assaulting and robbing an 18-year-old as she waited at the Warnbro train station.

WA Police say the incident occurred around 6pm last night, with a group of children, aged between 12 and 17, approaching a teenage woman and demanding she hand over her personal property.

It will be alleged the teen was physically assaulted during the ordeal, and sustained soft tissue injuries to her face, cuts to her hands, and lost clumps of hair.

A 13-year-old girl from Parmelia and a 15-year-old girl from Leda have since been charged and will face Rockingham Children’s Court next month.

Detectives are appealing for anyone with any information in relation to this incident to contact Crime Stoppers.

Question time is underway in the WA Parliament, and the leader of the opposition, Basil Zempilas, has been warned to stop interjecting when ministers are answering questions, with the Speaker telling him he will kick him out the chamber in what would be a “steep learning curve” if necessary.

Zempilas has become riled up over record ambulance ramping figures and transport minister Rita Saffioti’s suggestion that the Liberal party doesn’t care about providing rail networks to Perth’s outer suburbs.

Question time was at times heated today. Credit: WA Parliament

“No wonder the people in the suburbs turned off you, the leader of the opposition,” Saffioti said.

“He was going to be the WA champion on Sunrise, but they worked out the people of the suburbs don’t like him.”

Zempilas said to look at him when speaking about him, to which Saffioti leaned in, eye-balled him and said, “I’ll look at you any day of the week”.

Health minister Meredith Hammat said ambulance ramping, which was double what it was five years ago, could not be fixed overnight, but that more hospital beds were coming online, and more efforts were being made to expand emergency departments and divert those who do not need emergency care, away from EDs.

A man acting erratically who drove his Jeep off the Claremont jetty into the Swan River about an hour ago has been pulled from the water by TRG officers and led to an awaiting ambulance.

He has since been transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, but it is understood he has escaped serious injury.

Returning to the stand-off at the Claremont jetty between police and the driver of a red Jeep.

The driver has just driven the vehicle at speed down the jetty, and into the river.

Footage shows him climbing out of the up-side-down car and standing on it as police and TRG officers rush to him.

The Jeep plunges into the Swan River. Credit: 9News Perth

Police had been negotiating with the man for more than an hour after he drove up the jetty, with his mother also arriving to try and assist.

To the courts now, and a man who ran down another with a ute, severing his leg before attacking him with a hammer has had his sentencing date set.

Matthew William Lawson, 26, just appeared in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court where he formally pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Trae Black, 30.

It comes nine months after Lawson refused legal advice and attempted to plead guilty to the crime during his first court appearance in July 2024.

At the time, the magistrate encouraged him to seek legal advice, which he since has.

A neuropsychologist report will be prepared for Lawson’s sentencing on November 25, which will include an assessment for untreated ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Police said Lawson was involved in a verbal stoush with Black on July 29 at a construction site in the affluent suburb of City Beach.

Black ran from the site and Lawson chased him in a silver Mazda BT-50 utility onto busy West Coast Highway. It is understood Lawson struck Black with the vehicle, severing his leg, before assaulting him with a hammer.

After the incident, police said Black’s life was likely saved by members of the public, who provided first aid at the scene.

“The victim has sustained significant injuries to his leg region ... there is a likelihood that he would have lost his life,” Superintendent Manus Walsh said.

“We are very, very thankful for the off-duty doctor and the member of the public who assisted in helping this victim.”

There’s a police incident unfolding in our western suburbs with a car on the Claremont Jetty.

A WA Police spokesman said a number of police resources have been deployed to the area including air wing and water police.

Police are talking to a person who has driven up the Claremont jetty. Credit: 9 News Perth

Officers are attempting to engage with the driver of the vehicle.

It’s believed the driver may have been involved in a minor collision earlier this morning.

The public is advised to avoid the area.

A caller to Radio 6PR said she saw the man driving erratically along Stirling Highway, mounting the footpath and screaming.

“It was a red Jeep and I thought, that guy’s in trouble”, she said.

A WA bikie is due in court today after security officers allegedly found a knuckleduster inside his luggage at Perth Airport earlier this year.

The Australian Federal Police said the 57-year-old man was travelling from Perth to Melbourne in January when the contraband was detected in his carry-on.

The knuckledusters. Credit: AFP

The item was seized, but the man still travelled to Melbourne.

Months later AFP officers attended his home in Chittering and issued him with a summons for carrying a prohibited weapon.

The maximum penalty for the offence five years’ imprisonment or a $60,000 fine.

It is an offence to carry knuckledusters in a public place, including in the airport and on planes.

Two people spearfishing off WA’s coast south of Exmouth have filmed a close encounter with a tiger shark.

Jasmine Warneford and Sam Anderson were staying at Red Bluff campground, popular for surfing and diving, when a tiger shark stole their catch.

The shark then tried to bite Anderson, who was prodding it away with his spear gun, before darting away and inadvertently dragging Warneford with it, who was attached to a float line which the shark got tangled in as it made its escape.

Anderson rushed towards her as she was dragged underwater for about 10 metres before Warneford managed to cut the line with a knife in her weight belt.

Watch the vision of the encounter below: