1.The man who murdered nine-year-old Ebony Simpson has applied to take work and rehabilitation courses in prison, leading to fears that he may one day be released.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Ebony’s mum is sickened by his new freedoms.
Andrew Peter Garforth, now 52, has a filed marked “never to be released” after being found guilty of the rape and murder of Ebony, nine, who was kidnapped while walking home from her school bus in Bargo, NSW, in 1992.
Andrew raped the child, tied her up with wire and threw her in a dam.
Ebony’s mother on A Current Affair last night.
“I want what was set down — lock him up, throw away the key,” Ms Simpson told A Current Affair last night.
“He needs a plate of beans kicked under that door of his cell and a glass of water, that’s all he needs
“He came onto our property, he joined the search. We fed him, he’s a horrible man. Why do you think he needs to be doing a course?”
A seemingly harmless photo posted on Facebook has seen this Australian woman jailed.
2.An Australian woman has been jailed in Abu Dhabi for “writing bad words on social media”.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Jodi Magi, 39, posted a photo to Facebook she had taken of a car parked across two disabled parking spaces outside her apartment in Abu Dhabi.
She blanked out the licence number but a complaint landed Ms Magi in an Abu Dhabi court, where she was found guilty of “writing bad words on social media about a person” and told she would be deported.
When she arrived at court to pay her fine she was arrested and jailed, the Herald says.
Ms Magi told the ABC: “No one’s talking to me. No one’s telling me what’s going on. I’m pretty scared”.
It is not known how long Ms Magi will be held by Abu Dhabi authorities.
3.President Obama has commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders, some of whom had faced the prospect of dying in prison for drug use, and supply.
In a statement posted to the White House website, the President said: “These men and women were not violent criminals. Their punishments didn’t fit the crime.
“I believe that America, at its heart, is a nation of second chances, and I believe these folks deserve their second chance.”
4.Essendon AFL coach James Hird has been severely injured in a fall from his bicycle while riding home from training.
Nine News reports that Hird was taken by ambulance to hospital yesterday afternoon for assessment.
“James was very fortunate he was wearing a helmet which has braced his fall,” team doctor Bruce Reid said.
“He has suffered severe concussion however X-rays have cleared him of any fractures.
“James will remain in hospital for ongoing observation and, following a review, we hope he will be discharged soon,” Reid said.
Essendon will provide a further update later today.
5.The rapper known as Fifty Cent is apparently down to his last dime.
Defamer reports that Curtis James Jackson III, (better known as 50 Cent, also known as Fiddy) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.
He reported assets in the range of $10 million to $50 million, but debts to match.
The move surprised many, since Fifty has in recent years re-invented himself as an extremely successful businessman, with savvy investments in Vitamin Water and G Unit clothing.
The filing comes days after a jury directed Mr. Jackson to pay $5 million to a woman who sued over a sex tape he loaded onto the internet, apparently without her permission.
6.An Indian family has been hacked to death by villagers who thought they practiced witchcraft.
The New York Post reports that the couple and four of their children were killed with axes on Monday.
“The victims were asleep in their mud house in the hamlet of Lahanda in Keonjhar district when a group of around five people armed with axes broke in,” the Post says.
“The suspects, believed to be relatives of the family, accused the victims of being behind a spate of frequent illnesses among infants in the village.”
One son, aged eight, survived.
