A woman charged with child abduction in relation to the disappearance of five-year-old Grace Hughes has faced court, as police continue to search for the Darwin girl.
Key points:
Juliet Oldroyd, 50, has faced court in Darwin charged with child abduction
Police allege the charges relate to the disappearance of Grace Hughes, 5, who was last seen on August 7
Ms Oldroyd was represented in court by her husband
Juliet Oldroyd, 50, was charged yesterday with one count of abducting a child under 16 and one count of attempting to abduct a child under 16.
She was interviewed at a property in Anula last week, with police saying she was later arrested for allegedly refusing to provide information about Grace and her mother’s whereabouts.
Police allege Grace was taken without permission by her mother Laura Hinks, also known as Laura Bolt, during a supervised parental visit on the afternoon of August 7.
During her first court appearance today, Ms Oldroyd told Judge Thomasin Opie she would not be seeking legal aid, but had no current representation other than her husband, Craig Oldroyd.
Laura Hinks and her daughter Grace Hughes remain missing. (Supplied: NT Police)
Mr Oldroyd told the court he did not have any legal qualifications, but later told media outside court that he had contacted an “international human rights lawyer”.
The accused was supported in court by a group of people who stood and applauded after she was escorted back to the cells when the case was adjourned.
Judge Opie had to instruct members of the public in the courtroom to sit down and “show courtesy to allow the court to proceed uninterrupted.”
Juliet Oldroyd’s husband Craig Oldroyd said he will act on behalf of his wife in court. (ABC News: Melissa Mackay)
Search for Grace continues
Police are appealing for public information to find Grace. (Supplied: NT Police)
Police said in a statement yesterday they were using “all resources necessary” to find Grace, who has now been missing for more than a week.
They also said Grace and her mother may have traveled interstate.
Anyone with information on the pair’s whereabouts are being urged to contact police.
Ms Oldroyd’s matter will return to court on August 22.
Police have confirmed Jifeng (Eileen) Liu as one of the people found dead in a home in Stretton, in Brisbane’s south, yesterday.
A 49-year-old man has been charged with two counts of murder over the deaths of Ms Liu as well as a man in his early 20s.
Police, who were called to the home at Coolidge Court at 9:40am on Monday, found the man and the bodies of Ms Liu and the man on the second storey of the home.
The 49-year-old man was treated for injuries and taken to hospital where he remains under police guard.
He was charged by detectives overnight.
Forensic police attended the scene. (ABC News: Alfred Beales)
Police confirmed the person who rank triple-0 was the 49-year-old male and the use of a Cantonese interpreter was required at the scene.
The scene remained cordoned off overnight, with forensic investigators remaining at the home. Police said they recovered two “bladed weapons” from the scene.
Police say a 49-year-old man is in custody. (ABC News: Alfred Beales)
The relationships of the three people are yet to be fully established, but the police believed they were “linked”.
Late on Monday afternoon, detectives were seen removing two mobile phones, sealed in plastic bags, from the home.
Police are seeking information from neighbors and have asked anyone with information to come forward.
Five players in the Northern Territory’s top women’s soccer competition have been suspended – and one charged with assault – over a post-match fight that’s been called “unacceptable” and “in contrast to the values inherent in our game” by the sport’s governing body.
Key points:
Several NT Women’s Premier League players were involved in a post-match “physical altercation” in a sports stadium car park
Police investigating the incident have charged an 18-year-old woman with assault
Football NT has banned five players for between 12 weeks and three years and deducted competition points from one club
NT Police has confirmed an 18-year-old player has been charged with assault in relation to the “physical altercation” involving several players on June 26, which broke out in the car park of the Darwin Football Stadium in Marrara after a game.
“A verbal dispute between two players escalated into a physical altercation when a third party intervened,” Acting Sergeant Carol Maxwell said in a statement.
“The altercation was an escalation from the match.”
There were no serious injuries.
Yesterday, Football Northern Territory announced that it had sanctioned two clubs – the Hellenic Athletic Club and Port Darwin Football Club – in relation to the same incident.
In a statement, it said five players across both clubs had been banned from participating in any of the association’s activities for various periods of time.
The Darwin Football Stadium in Marrara is the biggest outdoor stadium in the Northern Territory. (Supplied: Celina Whan / AFLNT)
Those players – which include three from Hellenic and two from Port Darwin – face suspensions ranging from 12 weeks (with four weeks suspended) to three years.
Hellenic has also been stripped of nine points in the 2022 Women’s Premier League competition, and will remain subject to a good behavior bond that will, if breached, see the club lose three points for each offence.
Football Northern Territory chief executive, Bruce Stalder, said everyone involved in the game should be able to participate in a safe environment.
“This behavior will never be tolerated, it is unacceptable, unnecessary and in stark contrast to the values inherent in our game,” he said.
Mr Stalder said as part of the sanctions, the suspended players would be enrolled in a community program designed to improve personal accountability and behavioral flexibility.
The woman charged with assault is due to face court on September 19.
The police investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Redland Mayor Karen Williams has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service and had her license disqualified for six months after pleading guilty to drink driving.
Key points:
The Mayor was charged with being more than three times over the limit when she crashed her car
She was disqualified from driving for six months and had no conviction recorded
A small group of protesters outside court called for her to stand down
The south-east Queensland Mayor appeared in Cleveland Magistrates Court this morning, charged with being more than three times over the legal blood-alcohol limit when she crashed her car on June 23.
The court heard Ms Williams crossed four lanes of traffic before she left the road, entered a ditch and struck a tree in the single-vehicle incident at the intersection of Queens and Wellington Streets in Cleveland.
Her blood alcohol concentration was 0.177, more than three times the limit.
She was disqualified from driving for six months and had no conviction recorded.
In sentencing, Magistrate Deborah Vasta said there would be “a small number of very hurt people who will never forgive” the Mayor.
A small group of protesters, pushing for the mayor’s resignation, gathered outside court this morning.
A group of protesters outside Karen Williams’s court proceeding at Cleveland Court.(ABC News: Jemima Burt)
Magistrate Vasta said community service would help the Mayor overcome the betrayal felt by members of her community affected by road fatalities.
“This case has gathered a lot of public attention, condemnation and vitriol,” she said.
“It seems to me that there is a group of people who feel very betrayed by your client’s actions and behavior and who may perceive your client to be a two-faced politician who has milked their grief for her own political gain.
“It seems to me that there is a real desire to see your client punished more than the average drink driver and not just because she is older and should be held to a higher standard, because of what some people see as stunning hypocrisy and betrayal. “
Current councilor Adelia Berridge said the feeling within council was “awful.”
The court heard Ms Williams had consumed four glasses of wine prior to getting behind the wheel.
Messages were tendered in court showing dozens of vitriolic texts sent to the Mayor’s phone, which included “very sad you didn’t die in the crash” and “resign now you two faced b***h.”
The Mayor and gallery, including road safety advocate Judy Lindsay, sat through a graphic road safety video.
Speaking outside court, Ms Williams described the incident as a “lapse of judgement” and said she would return to work later this week.
“I know that I will have to work very hard to regain the trust of my community and I’m absolutely committed to doing that. I will never put my family, my friends, my community and my council colleagues in this position again.
“This was a single lapse of judgment in 18 years of service to my community. I know I have hard work to do and I will regain that trust as I return to work later this week.”
One hundred and seventy-two people have died on Queensland’s road this year — the highest toll in 30 years.
‘I don’t respect’
Judy Lindsay is calling on Ms Williams to resign.(By Jemima Burt)
Among the protesters was road safety advocate Judy Lindsay, whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver in 2009.
“I think she needs to stand up and resign now,” she said.
Ms Lindsay was in a Zoom meeting with Ms Williams, and other families who had lost loved ones to drunk drivers, prior to being caught drinking driving.
“[It] just shows to me that she had no respect for me, my story or anybody else in the Zoom meeting that lost family members,” she said
Ms Lindsay said this is a “really bad example of what happens in our community.”
“I feel that for someone who is pushing for road safety in our community, she can’t be in that position anymore.”
Current councilor Adelia Berridge was also outside with the protesters advocating for Ms Williams’s resignation.
“They are asking for the Mayor to resign, which is I believe the right thing to do,” Ms Berridge said.
“How can we aspire to a civic leader who we are seeing drink driving at a very high range?”
