* Nagasaki was bombed on this day, 1945. Truman chose a place with a lot of civilians so as to pressure the Japanese Government to surrender.
* Hoddle Street, in Melbourne was the scene of a horrific crime perpetrated by Julian Knight. Mr Knight is demonstrating how he has reformed by contacting survivors against their wishes.
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* former state ALP Minister embarrasses party and is charged.
* Police catch some large hydroponic cannabis plants
Ex-minister on assault charge
ReplyDeletefrom news.com.au
FORMER Queensland emergency services minister Pat Purcell has been charged with assault.
Mr Purcell was the subject of a Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) investigation following complaints from his staff about the minister's behaviour shortly before his sudden resignation on July 4.
"The Crime and Misconduct Commission has served former minister of the crown Pat Purcell with a notice to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to face two charges of common assault," the CMC said today.
"The charges relate to allegations that Mr Purcell assaulted two public servants last month. The CMC served the notice following a recommendation from the Director of Public Prosecutions yesterday."
Mr Purcell will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on August 24.
A Sunday calm that turned to slaughter
ReplyDeleteBy Michael Kuzilny
TODAY is the 20th anniversary of the Hoddle St massacre in Melbourne. Michael Kuzilny recounts his experience of the fateful day.
On Sunday, August 9, 1987, I had been a police officer for only a few months. I was working an afternoon shift at the city patrol group, doing what new coppers have to – traffic control. As it turned out, the routine I was meant to follow was shattered. It ended with me witnessing one of the biggest massacres in Australia's history.
For anyone who lives in Australia, the Hoddle St massacre was one of the most horrific and saddest days of the 1980s. A gunman, Julian Knight, armed with a .22 calibre Ruger rifle, a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun and an M15 military rifle, shot and killed seven innocent people in cold blood and seriously injured another 19, in the middle of suburban Melbourne. This outrage happened while I was performing traffic control duties, which involved standing on the corner of busy city intersections and letting motorists know when they had to stop and when they could proceed.
On the first day of my first beat, I had decided that I was going to be super friendly to decent people and super tough on the bad men and crooks. As my Sunday shift drew to a close, a call came over the police radio requesting urgent assistance.
I heard several hand-held police radios blaring: "To all units, all units, we have shots fired and bodies down, possible fatal. Repeat, several shots fired and the offender still on the loose, any unit in a position to attend the Hoddle St railway station..."
My supervising sergeant, Jack Smith, called me away from the intersection. "Come on Mick, let's get down there, it sounds like there is a sicko on the loose..."
We drove to Hoddle St as fast as we could. I thought we were going to get killed in a traffic accident before we arrived. Jack planted his foot and kept the accelerator on the floor all the way. We had our lights and siren operating and we drove through red lights, over footpaths and used emergency lanes in a bid not to waste time.
It was about 9.30pm and the police operator gave us the updates on this apparently mad, reject Australian Army cadet who was well enough armed to pose a risk to even professional soldiers. For about 40 minutes, Julian Knight walked through the streets of Clifton Hill and shot at pretty much anything and anyone who moved, trying to take out as many people as he could.
We heard over the radio that he had also started shooting at police cars and the police helicopter.
We screeched to a halt just outside the Hoddle St railway station where these poor innocent souls had only just lost their lives.
The scene was like a war. There were bodies scattered through the streets and many people were crying and bleeding. Some were lying in pools of blood and we did not know whether they were still alive. It was all too much to comprehend rationally. This was the first time I had walked through human blood. It would not be the last. Sergeant Smith and I took cover in a service station across the road.
We heard the update from police communications: "All units, all units, the gunman has decamped in a vehicle, travelling in a southerly direction... any unit in a position to assist..." It wasn't long before it looked like we had the entire police force and the national media watching this killer. By this time, we could see Knight and I felt like shooting him there and then. My revolver was in my hand but I was probably too far away and didn't want to injure any innocent victims by opening fire. My rationale was that if someone was going to shoot him, it should have been a senior man.
I was so angry with this idiot. How could he commit such a disgraceful and inhumane act? Knight knew perfectly well he was outnumbered.
I thought that if he shot at police he would probably be killed by their return fire, or hopefully, he would just turn one of his weapons on himself. But no such luck. He just dropped his arsenal of weapons and put his hands up in the air. I thought he was a disgrace.
Naturally, Hoddle St then became an immediate crime scene. I had already worked a 14-hour shift but once the homicide squad turned up and the chalk came out, I was required to stay there for another eight hours. It was the longest and the saddest shift I ever experienced as a policeman. I was dating my first girlfriend, Josie, at the time.
She always complained about me coming home late from work. "Since you joined the police force, you always come home late; I wish you had never joined," she said.
This was going to be another of those nights because we had to preserve the bodies for homicide squad and forensic testing.
As a young cop, I thought that out of respect for the dead we should get the bodies off the streets. But I learned over the years that the criminal justice system is basically, and probably correctly, about gathering evidence.
My job was to stand at the end of Hoddle St and guard the bodies and the numerous crime scenes that had been established. It was a tough night for everyone involved, including the ambulance crews. I remember a lot of people tried to drive down the street that we had blocked off but they weren't allowed to contaminate the crime scenes.
One doctor approached me in his BMW convertible and angrily told me that he lived in Hoddle St and needed to get home. He said that denying him access was ridiculous.
"I'm sorry, sir," I replied.
"There has been a massacre, there are four dead bodies in this street.
"You can leave your car here and walk to your home. I am sorry for any inconvenience."
He replied: "This is bloody ridiculous. I need to work in the morning.
"What is your registered number? I'm going to make a complaint about you, I know people high up in the police force..." People!
I couldn't ring my girlfriend on a mobile telephone, because these devices were a luxury in the 1980s and I didn't own one and no one would lend me theirs because the phone calls were so expensive. I worked throughout the night and arrived at home in the wee small hours of the following morning.
I tried to creep into bed and the first thing I heard was: "Where the hell have you been? Out partying with the boys, I bet. You won't learn, will you?"
I tried to explain that there had been a massacre but my tale of a crazed gunman did not go over well with my girlfriend. Bull. Yet another good excuse from Michael Kuzilny. I turned on the television and there were news reports on almost every channel.
After 15 minutes of heated argument and making me feel guilty, Josie finally gave in, apologised and gave me a peaceful sleep that night. I cried myself to sleep. I felt for the dead and all the families who had lost their loved ones. I followed Knight's subsequent court case very carefully. I was hoping he'd get life in prison but he was handed a 27-year sentence. His defence lawyer said there were many mitigating circumstances. What damned mitigating circumstances? I hope he never gets released.
This is an extract from A Life In Crime by Michael Kuzilny (New Holland, 2007), $24.95. Kuzilny is now a Melbourne criminal defence barrister.
Police gobsmacked by monster cannabis plants
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A MAN will face court today charged with growing some of the largest cannabis plants NSW police say they have ever seen.
A 55-year-old man from the southern Sydney suburb of Brighton-le-Sands will appear in Kogarah Local Court today after police discovered the plants, some up to 3m tall.
Police raided two properties at Campsie and Brighton-le-Sands just before 4pm yesterday.
The property in Campsie allegedly had 72 cannabis plants of various sizes growing in an extensive hydroponic set-up.
The street value of the plants has been estimated at $360,000.
The man was arrested this morning and charged with cultivation and other drug offences.
"Fat Man" is the codename of the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the 2nd of the two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare. The name also refers more generically to the early nuclear weapon designs of U.S. weapons based on the "Fat Man" model. It was an implosion-type weapon with a plutonium core.
ReplyDelete"Fat Man" was detonated at an altitude of about 1,800 feet (550 m) over the city, and was dropped from a B-29 bomber Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney. The bomb had a yield of about 21 kilotons of TNT, or 8.78×1013 joules = 88 TJ (terajoules).[1] Because of Nagasaki's hilly terrain, the damage was somewhat less extensive than that in relatively flat Hiroshima. An estimated 40,000 people were killed outright by the bombing at Nagasaki, and about 25,000 were injured.[2] Many thousands more would die later from related injuries, and radiation sickness from nuclear fallout.