The family of a man who was killed after being hit by an unlicensed and speeding driver north of Brisbane have slammed the punishment handed to the man responsible as “ridiculous” after learning he will spend less than two years in jail.
Key points:
A woman in a second car Brar hit “likely would have died” without surgery
Ian Seibel’s wife described the current justice system as a “toothless tiger”
The Indian national will be deported once he serves his prison sentence
Manpreet Singh Brar pleaded guilty in the District Court on Thursday to one count each of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and driving without a licence.
During a sentencing hearing in Brisbane, the court heard Ian Seibel, 51, was crossing an intersection in Kallangur in the Moreton Bay region with his wife and their dog in November 2020, when they were hit by the 33-year-old’s car.
The court was played graphic dashcam footage of the crash, which showed Brar speeding through a red light, before colliding with another car, then slamming into the couple.
Mr Seibel sustained extensive head injuries and died in hospital several days later.
Ian Seibel was killed by a speeding, unlicensed driver while walking his dog with his wife in November 2020.(Supplied)
A woman in the second car was also critically injured and spent more than two weeks in hospital and “likely would have died” without surgery, the court heard.
The court heard Brar, who is an Indian national residing in Australia on a partner visa, had been driving unlicensed since 2016 and continued to do so after the crash, breaching his bail conditions.
He also has a lengthy traffic history dating back several years which included multiple counts of speed.
Crown prosecutor Chris Cook told the court tests also determined Brar had a low level of cocaine and high level of cough medicine in his system, but it was not alleged he was adversely affected by the drugs at the time.
“He was fatigued having used those drugs earlier,” he said
“He shouldn’t have been on the road that day.”
‘A kind, loving, gentle giant’
Mr Cook told the court it was clear from victim impact statements submitted to the court by family members that Mr Seibel was a “much loved” husband, father, son and friend.
“Mr Brar has caused his unnecessary and untimely death through his actions that day,” he said.
Widow Paula Seibel described the current justice system as “a toothless tiger.”(AAP: Jono Searle)
In Paula Seibel’s statement, she described her husband as her “best friend” and “better half”.
“I feel like I am less than a whole person now that I don’t have him by my side,” she said.
“I am beyond angry that I have not had the opportunity to spend the rest of my life with this kind, loving, gentle giant.”
Mrs Seibel made an impassioned plea to the judge, urging her to apply the maximum penalty to Brar, calling the current justice system a “toothless tiger.”
“I hope that my voice will not go unacknowledged and that lan will not be victimized once again,” she said.
“Our society is crying out for harsher penalties… Where is the incentive to stop committing crimes when a mere slap on the wrist is the only punishment received?”
Family ‘beaten’ after sentence
Judge Katherine McGinness acknowledged the “enduring heartache” Mr Seibel’s family would suffer but said there were sentencing considerations she had to make under Queensland legislation.
“No sentence I impose can turn back time or alleviate in anyway the profound pain,” she said.
Judge McGinness sentenced Brar to five years in prison wholly suspended after 20 months.
The court heard because he is not an Australian citizen, he would be deported to India upon his release.
Outside court, Mr Seibels son Aaron Seibel said the sentence had left his family “thoroughly beaten”.
“I can’t put it into words how disappointed I am,” he said.
“A man’s life is worth 20 months — it’s ridiculous.”
The glue that held graziers Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and sons Graham and Ross Tighe together, also pulled in all those who knew them.
This magnetic orbit has been repeatedly described by shell-shocked friends and associates after the execution-style killing of three members of the family on their cattle property at Bogie, west of Bowen, this week.
“You won’t find many families as tied together and that work as hard as they did,” Queensland grazier Warren Drynan said.
Graham Tighe died after a shooting incident at a Bogie property.(Facebook)
Mr Schwarz, 71, Mrs Schwarz, 59, and son Graham John Tighe, 35, were shot dead with a rifle, allegedly by their neighbor Darryl Young, 59, at the gate of their property at Shannonvale Rd on Thursday morning.
Police allege they had met to discuss a property dispute.
Sole survivor Ross Tighe, 30, remains in hospital and is recovering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Incredibly, I have managed to escape, getting into a nearby car and driving 40 kilometers to raise the alarm.
Mr Young, a long-term resident, has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Darryl Young (right) has been charged with murder.(Supplied)
He remains in custody awaiting his first appearance before a magistrate on Monday.
The family had been at the property to muster cattle on the day of the fatal shootings.
The expansive Bogie farm where the tragic shooting happened was only purchased last year for $10 million, according to property records.
A floral tribute was left at the intersection of Normanby and Peter Delemothe roads.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
It’s located just west of Bowen, halfway to the mining town of Collinsville.
The property, known as Shannonvale Station, was owned by the same family from the 1930s to the early 2000s and then had five previous owners before the Schwarz family came to town just months ago.
The 29,856-hectare Shannonvale Rd cattle property was purchased in equal shares by Mr and Mrs Schwarz and Graham Tighe.
Graham is a father of two young children, one only a few weeks old.
The ABC has been told Graham lived at the Bogie property, while Mr and Mrs Schwarz lived at another large farm at The Gums, closer to the town of Tara.
Ross Tighe is recovering in hospital.(Facebook)
That address, known as Doonkoona, comprises 1,961 hectares of grazing land on Humbug Rd, which they bought in 2016 for $2.6 million.
Ross Tighe has been living not far from Rome.
It’s understood many family members are now traveling to be with Ross as he recovers.
But with large extended families from previous marriages, Merv and Maree’s children have been left to put together the pieces, with separate family groups joining to support each other.
The family declined to speak to the ABC.
Chilling deaths against gold rush backdrop
Bogie is harsh cattle country.
Many came to the area during the gold rush in the 1800s and some residents still believe their properties could have a jackpot of gold beneath the earth.
Bogie is described as harsh cattle country.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Dirt roads and cattle grids connect properties dozens of kilometers apart.
Many boundaries are “give and take” perimeters, locals told the ABC.
Only 37 families call the 3,858 square kilometer locality — the size of Singapore, Samoa and the Maldives combined — home.
It was at the front gate of Shannonvale Station, in dense scrubby bushland an hour-and-a-half down a dirt track off the main road to Collinsville, where tragedy struck on Thursday morning.
Police cordoned off Normanby Road while investigating the shooting.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Police say it was a request to meet that drew the family to the front gate along with their neighbor Mr Young.
“We understand there was a conversation that occurred the night before, which was the reason why the parties had met at the gate on the property in the morning,” Acting Superintendent Tom Armitt said.
“There was an invitation [from the alleged gunman] for them to go there.”
One local said disputes over boundaries and cattle had been going on in Bogie for “years and years and years”.
“It’s just rotten around there,” he said.
A family unit like no other
Warren Drynan bought his property at Jackson North, east of Roma, from the Schwarz family in 2014.
He said Ross and Graham had helped build some fences on the farm known as Noonga shortly after the sale.
Mr Drynan never forgot Mr and Mrs Schwarz’s hospitality and the boys’ hardworking nature.
He said the tight-knit family had long-held large parcels of farming land throughout Queensland.
Graziers said the family developed properties many thought too difficult to improve before making a profit and moving onto the next project.
“They’d take on anything,” Mr Drynan said.
“Que [Mervyn] liked doing, was finding these rundown places, clearing them, improving pastures.
“He was just that person, Merv, and Maree and the two boys, they were a family unit who worked hard and long hours.”
Even years later, Mr Schwarz would always stop and have a chat if he saw Mr Drynan at cattle meets.
“We weren’t real social friends by any means, but he was just that person that once you knew him, you could always have a yarn,” Mr Drynan said.
Other people called Mr Schwarz a “scallywag”, saying he was a joker and one of his main gags was about his signature one finger and one toe attached to his right hand after a farming accident.
“He’d always make a joke about shaking your hand,” Mr Drynan said.
“Merv was really just so happy go lucky, the sort of bloke who wore his heart on his sleeve,” another grazier from Tara recalled.
Maree Schwarz has been remembered as a “lovely person”.(Facebook)
Mrs Schwarz is remembered by many as a “lovely person”.
On social media she cradles a new grandbaby with a beaming smile.
“She is beautiful,” she tells a friend in a comment.
While one of Graham’s close friends described the father-of-two as “a top bloke who was a little rough around the edges.”
“He was always up to no good, had some crazy idea and was just a bloody good horseman,” he said.
“I learned more from that family than I could even explain.”
Mr Drynan, like many graziers, was shaken by the killings.
He said the family were “not aggressive” people.
“I just I don’t know how the hell it could happen,” he said.
Mrs Schwarz’s brother-in-law, Greg Austen, said the family had previously lived at Kilcummin, near Clermont in central Queensland, and were much-loved and well-respected members of the community.
“They were terrific, down to earth typical country people,” he said.
“They were typical pumpkin scones and a few beers on a Friday people.”
Mr Austen, a councilor on the Isaac Regional Council, said his children, along with Graham and Ross, would regularly muster cattle together.
“They were very close to them,” he said.
“My family are pretty… in shock. We’ll band together and hold together.”
Sole survivor ‘up and talking’
Ross Tighe suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen.(Facebook)
Mr Austen said it was an “amazing feat of strength and courage” from Ross to flee the scene, which ultimately led to his survival.
“It was very strong of him to do that, to go that far and raise the alarm,” he said.
Ross was flown by helicopter to the Mackay Base Hospital in a serious, but stable condition.
“He’s OK,” Mr Austen said.
“He’s not out of hospital, but he’s out of surgery. He’s up and talking.
“But he’s got a lot of difficulties ahead of him I imagine.”
Angel Flight CEO Marjorie Pagani told ABC the service would assist family members of the shooting victims to return to Mackay, at the request of Bob Katter’s office.
Police were called to shoot at a property between Collinsville and Bowen.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
tragic story unravels
Whitsunday Regional Councilor Mike Brunker said the council would assist police in their investigation.
“I think as the story unravels, it’s going to be just a very sad, tragic story,” he said.
Burdekin MP Dale Last, whose electorate takes in Collinsville and Bogie, said nothing like this had happened in the community in recent memory.
“There are a lot of long-term residents and property owners in the area, and to think something like that could happen in their backyard, it just sent a shockwave through the entire area,” he said.
“But places like Collinsville are very resilient.”
Dale Last says the rural community is in shock.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
He said the community had been through a lot in recent years and they banded together when times were tough.
Mr Brunker said he instantly thought of the United States of America when he heard about the shooting, not his own region.
“The last thing you think of is the Bogie community, the remote properties,” he said.
Bogie grazier Bob Gaadie said the community might be spread out, but the incident hit everyone hard.
“It might be 50 to 60 kilometers away, but it’s still your doorstep,” he said.
Police blocked off Normanby Road while investigating the shooting.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
The police investigation into the deaths is ongoing and detectives are asking anyone who may have had interactions with the alleged gunman in the past two months to contact them.
Mr Young will appear in the Proserpine Magistrates Court on Monday.
Staring down the possibility of taking out a large mortgage to buy a house they could barely afford, Luke Saliba and his wife Claire Gooch decided to try something different.
Instead, the young couple moved in with Claire’s mother Sylvia and took out a much smaller mortgage to renovate her house.
“The idea of the nuclear family being disconnected in the suburbs [feels] like it’s been forced upon us over the last 100 years,” Luke said.
“I feel like us challenging that, in this small way, is almost going back to the way things should be.”
Luke says having a European background means there’s “no stigma attached to living with grandparents”.(ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
The living arrangement has allowed Sylvia to stay in her home which was becoming too costly for her to maintain alone.
“I get to stay in a house that I quite like, in an area where I have established friends — it meant that I wouldn’t have any issues,” she said.
Sharing the house has also benefited Luke, Claire and their two young children.
Claire said having a small mortgage of around $350,000 and living in an area with good services meant they were better able to manage financially as the cost of living rises.
“My daughter needs surgery for grommets and adenoids and tonsils,” she said.
“If we didn’t live like this, that would be a problem and we’d be having to make choices between food, rent bills and medical things that the kids have needed.”
Claire says living with her mother is a great choice but acknowledges that not everyone has the opportunity to tap into generational wealth in this way.(ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
Having another adult in the house also meant she and her husband could turn to her mother for advice.
“My mum is very different to how I am and that’s been really good because my kids get stuff that I wouldn’t be able to do with them [and] I get ideas that I wouldn’t have had.”
The living arrangement worked because they tried to relate like housemates, not mother-daughter, she said.
“This is a group house where we’re related, and because we have similar backgrounds … we can probably live together a little bit easier, but living with my daughter is not always easy, but that goes both ways, right?” Sylvia said.
Luke, who is the grandchild of Spanish and Macedonian immigrants, said having a European background meant there was no stigma attached to living with grandparents, and he valued the presence of an older generation in the house.
“If any of us have a bad day, we don’t have to travel to go and touch base and provide that family support. We’ve got it in-house,” he said.
Sylvia loves being involved in the daily lives of her grandchildren.(ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
Multi-generational households growing
Edgar Liu, a senior research fellow at the UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre, said economic circumstances were often the driving factor for people choosing to live in a multi-generational setting.
Dr Liu, who researched multi-generational living over several years and defined them as households with more than one generation of adults, said data from the UK and US showed that the economic shock of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) increased the number of multi -generational households in those countries.
Edgar Liu says multi-generational households are increasing.(Supplied UNSW)
“From the US, in particular, there is evidence that [showed] a normal rate of growth was about 1.5 per cent, for this kind of household,” he said.
“[That] doubled to about 3 per cent as the GFC came on, and then it continued for a couple of years before it died back down to the normal rate of 1.5 per cent.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provided new data to the ABC on households containing three generations.
It showed a small increase in three generational living arrangements over recent years, from 275,000 in 2016 to 335,000 in 2021.
But Dr Liu said the largest growth in Australia had occurred in households where two generations of adults lived together.
While finance, especially the cost of care for both the young and the elderly, influenced people’s decisions to form multi-generational households, Dr Liu said family connection was the benefit most often cited once people had experienced such living arrangements.
But he said in Australia this style of living was still stigmatized.
“Acceptance was very conditional, you had to have a reason to do this, you can’t just want to do it,” he said.
“[For example] your mother was in a wheelchair so that’s why she had to live with you,” was seen as an acceptable reason, Dr Liu said, but if someone simply enjoyed living with their mother it would raise questions.
A favorite family activity at Irina’s house is cards.(ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens )
The solution to isolation
Irina Kawar has always lived surrounded by generations of family, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.
Irina believes a “joint family”, as it’s called in India, can solve much of the isolation and loneliness experienced in Australia today.
“This is a very good solution for the people who feel isolated because isolation is as big a problem in old age as it is in teenagers,” she said.
“It’s a win-win for everyone, isolated teenagers, isolated grandparents — together, they are happy.”
For Irina, living with her in-laws, husband and two daughters also makes financial and emotional sense.
Irina says living with anyone — child, partner or parent — involves sacrifices, but the benefits outweigh the challenges.(ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
She said she never felt alone or frustrated learning to be a parent when her children were young because she always had family around to support her.
As migrants in Australia, having grandparents in the house also helped her children maintain a connection to Indian culture and language, she said.
“[The grandparents] follow daily religious practices, so I don’t have to make an additional effort to bring this into [the girls’] life, they can grow up around those practices as naturally as my husband and I did,” she said.
“If it was just the two of us raising our girls, we would need to make the conscious effort to talk to them in Hindi but living with grandparents — they just learn Hindi naturally.”
For those who have never tried living beyond the nuclear family unit, Irina understands there might be trepidation.
But she said sacrifices were made whoever you lived with, whether it was a partner, child, parents or extended family.
“A little sacrifice is all it takes, but the benefits are great.”
Nina Xarhakos has moved in with her mother Maria, and has become her primary carer.(ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
Caring for Maria
Decades since she last lived with her parents, Nina Xarhakos moved in with her mother Maria in 2020.
At 92, Maria suffers mobility issues and was becoming isolated after the death of her husband and several close friends, as well as the closure of her Greek social club due to COVID-19.
“I’ve worked in the community sector with Greek-speaking elderly, [so] I’m very aware of how prevalent depression and anxiety is among the elderly,” Nina said.
She said she respected her mother’s desire to stay at home as long as possible.
“It’s satisfying to me to be able to make that sort of contribution towards her quality of life and I think it strengthens our relationship as well.”
Nina said her mother would feel less comfortable receiving care from outside providers and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find carers with the language and cultural skills to care for someone like her mother whose English was limited.
“I was born in Greece and I came to Australia when I was seven, I’m the daughter of migrants, I’m bilingual and bicultural,” she said.
“I have a greater understanding than, let’s say, a 20-year-old who’s born here who has limited Greek speaking skills and understanding of the Greek culture.”
While she was enjoying this time living with her mother, Nina said carers made large sacrifices and received little financial support.
With a grown daughter and no partner, Nina said she was in a position to become her mother’s carer, and the living arrangement was benefiting them both.
“I’m learning certain skills from my mother, she’s passing on customs and traditions that I hold dear as well. So there’s a lot to learn from someone with such wisdom and such capacity.”
That would be the availability date, and the announcements would be held on August 29th. The announcements include the Zen 4 CPU family and X670 motherboards.
The embargo on AMD Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs and X670 motherboard reviews will be lifted two weeks later on September 13th, followed by a full retail launch for the aforementioned products on September 15th. To summarize the dates:
Product announcement: August 29, 2022 at 8:00PM ET / August 30, 2022 at 2:00AM CET / 8:00AM TW
Press Embargo: September 13, 2022 at 9AM ET / 3PM CET / 9PM TW
Sales Embargo: September 15, 2022 at 9AM ET / 3PM CET / 9PM TW
The initial lineup would entail four processors, reports wccftech who claims to have confirmed the this news.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
AMD previously revealed that the CPUs run on an AM5 platform with an LGA socket and use the new Zen 4 architecture. The processors will receive up to two CPU chiplets manufactured on TSMC’s N5 node. All of the processors include an integrated RDNA2 GPU as well as PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 compatibility. AMD also says that Zen 4 will enhance IPC by up to 10 percent.
Prelim AMD Ryzen 7000 ‘Raphael’ Desktop CPU Specs
CPU NAME
ARCHITECTURE
PROCESS NODE
CORES / THREADS
CORE CLOCK (SC MAX)
CACHE
TDP
PRICE
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Zen 4
5nm
16/32
~5.5GHz
80MB (64+16)
105-170W
~$700US
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
Zen 4
5nm
12/24
~5.4GHz
76MB (64+12)
105-170W
~$600US
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X
Zen 4
5nm
8/16
~5.3GHz
40MB (32+8)
65-125W
~$400US
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
Zen 4
5nm
8/16
~5.3GHz
40MB (32+8)
65-125W
~$300US
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Zen 4
5nm
6/12
~5.2GHz
38MB (32+6)
65-125W
~$200US
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Wests Tigers winger Ken Maumalo has revealed a chat with cousin Nelson Asofa-Solomona almost convinced him to head to the Storm on loan for the rest of the season, but in the end, his young family kept him in Sydney.
Maumalo and teammate Daine Laurie were reportedly some of the players the Storm chased before the August 1 deadline as they looked to bolster their outside backs after long-term injuries to Ryan Papenhuyzen, Reimis Smith and George Jennings.
And while Wests Tigers winger David Nofoaluma did make the move south, his teammates stayed put.
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David Nofoaluma has settled right in with teammates Brandon Smith and Xavier Coates. Picture: Tony GoughSource: News Corp Australia
“They’re looking for some players at the moment, but I just said that I’ve got a family and it’s too much of a move for me,” Maumalo said.
“’Nofa’ is the perfect person to go over because he’s got no family, no kids, so it’s better for him.
“I got my cousin who called me from Melbourne – Nelson – and he said that Craig (Storm coach Craig Bellamy) mentioned my name to him.
“He said I should keep it on the backburner and just see where things are at. I said if things go well and to plan, then why not, but it was too much of a move.”
Maumalo said the lure of playing football finals and potentially winning a premiership was tempting, but he couldn’t turn his back on the Tigers who are looking to bring back the glory days under Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall.
“It’s a good opportunity to go over and be in a good system and a system that has been good for a number of years now,” he said.
“That was the exciting part of it, but I’m doing this for my family, myself and my teammates here. I’m trying to build this club up again to where it was back in 2005.”
Tigers fullback Daine Laurie was also linked with a move to Melbourne, but the youngster says that may not have been entirely true.
Daine Laurie denies he was ever linked to the Storm. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
“I didn’t know anything about it. I only saw it in the media,” he said.
“I saw it on Instagram and I was kind of confused about it because I hadn’t heard anything off my manager.
“I would’ve been shy as if I’d gone down there. If that opportunity had come, then I probably would’ve wanted to stay here anyway.”
Maumalo’s focus remains on helping the Tigers finish strongly in 2022, but he does have one eye on the World Cup at the end of the year.
The 28-year-old has represented both New Zealand and Samoa, but says he’s ready to commit to the Kiwis.
Ken Maumalo is hoping for more of this in the UK. Picture: AAP Image/David RowlandSource: AAP
New Zealand has lost a number of players, including Jason Taumalolo, to second-tier nations over the past few years, but Maumalo says the team is getting back to its best as they look to dethrone the Kangaroos at the World Cup.
“The Kiwis jersey sort of lost itself around 2016-17 when those players were jumping ship to play for Tonga and Samoa,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to debut in 2018 to help build that jersey with the number of players that were there.
“The jersey is in a good spot now where it should have been for the past couple of years, and now I’m keen to push that jersey and keep building on that jersey.
“There’s so much depth now in the Kiwis squad, so no matter who turns to Tonga or Samoa, we’ve still got a big roster with a number of good Kiwis playing across the NRL and the UK.”
Wests Tigers winger Ken Maumalo has revealed a chat with cousin Nelson Asofa-Solomona almost convinced him to head to the Storm on loan for the rest of the season, but in the end, his young family kept him in Sydney.
Maumalo and teammate Daine Laurie were reportedly some of the players the Storm chased before the August 1 deadline as they looked to bolster their outside backs after long-term injuries to Ryan Papenhuyzen, Reimis Smith and George Jennings.
And while Wests Tigers winger David Nofoaluma did make the move south, his teammates stayed put.
“They’re looking for some players at the moment, but I just said that I’ve got a family and it’s too much of a move for me,” Maumalo said.
“’Nofa’ is the perfect person to go over because he’s got no family, no kids, so it’s better for him.
“I got my cousin who called me from Melbourne – Nelson – and he said that Craig (Storm coach Craig Bellamy) mentioned my name to him.
“He said I should keep it on the backburner and just see where things are at. I said if things go well and to plan, then why not, but it was too much of a move.”
Maumalo said the lure of playing football finals and potentially winning a premiership was tempting, but he couldn’t turn his back on the Tigers who are looking to bring back the glory days under Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall.
“It’s a good opportunity to go over and be in a good system and a system that has been good for a number of years now,” he said.
“That was the exciting part of it, but I’m doing this for my family, myself and my teammates here. I’m trying to build this club up again to where it was back in 2005.”
Tigers fullback Daine Laurie was also linked with a move to Melbourne, but the youngster says that may not have been entirely true.
“I didn’t know anything about it. I only saw it in the media,” he said.
“I saw it on Instagram and I was kind of confused about it because I hadn’t heard anything off my manager.
“I would’ve been shy as if I’d gone down there. If that opportunity had come, then I probably would’ve wanted to stay here anyway.”
Maumalo’s focus remains on helping the Tigers finish strongly in 2022, but he does have one eye on the World Cup at the end of the year.
The 28-year-old has represented both New Zealand and Samoa, but says he’s ready to commit to the Kiwis.
New Zealand has lost a number of players, including Jason Taumalolo, to second-tier nations over the past few years, but Maumalo says the team is getting back to its best as they look to dethrone the Kangaroos at the World Cup.
“The Kiwis jersey sort of lost itself around 2016-17 when those players were jumping ship to play for Tonga and Samoa,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to debut in 2018 to help build that jersey with the number of players that were there.
“The jersey is in a good spot now where it should have been for the past couple of years, and now I’m keen to push that jersey and keep building on that jersey.
“There’s so much depth now in the Kiwis squad, so no matter who turns to Tonga or Samoa, we’ve still got a big roster with a number of good Kiwis playing across the NRL and the UK.”
AK was full of life, kind hearted, and an amazing mother.
Key points:
AK’s family has remembered her as a warm, loving mother who was full of life
NT Police have been criticized for not releasing more information about the murder-suicide in which she was killed
Her sister says she doesn’t believe NT Police took her sister’s calls for help seriously
That’s how her heartbroken sisters remember the 30-year-old mother, who was allegedly killed by her partner last month, along with her 15-week-old baby, in Central Australia, north of Alice Springs.
“We loved her and we are going to miss her,” the sisters said.
Her family has given the ABC permission to share her initials and their images, in the hope that she is remembered as “more than a statistic”, and to push for systemic change.
AK’s partner’s body and a gun were also found at the scene, and Northern Territory Police have confirmed they are investigating the episode as a murder-suicide.
Police at the crime scene the day after the incident.(ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
Speaking out for the first time since her death, AK’s family said they’re frustrated at the lack of information that has been made available to them by police.
Close in age, her three sisters said the four of them “were pretty much always together” and “very close”.
Her younger sister, Michelle, has taken custody of AK’s two surviving young children.
She said her sister was “extremely funny” and a dedicated mum, “always taking the kids on little adventures.”
Wendy, AK’s adoptive mother, remembered her as “very funny”.
“She never had a serious side and if she tried to be serious, she’d just got a look at you, and she’d burst into laughter or something… she was my scatterbrain,” she said.
“It’s a tragedy. It’s devastating. And everyone’s at a loss for words.”
The family says police have provided them with little information about the deaths. (ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
‘We still have lots of questions’
More than two weeks on from her death, Northern Territory Police has still not responded to a number of detailed questions asked by the ABC about the incident, and AK’s family said they don’t know much more than the public.
Michelle said she had first heard about what had happened through the rumor mill, as friends and family called her to ask “if it was true.”
Detectives visited her that night and said “there was an incident that happened involving my sister and her partner,” but Michelle said police did not give her much more information than that.
In the two weeks since, their bodies have been released to the family, but police information has been thin on the ground.
AK’s little sister, Mouse, said the family had not been told if the gun was registered, if there were witnesses to the event or other key details about their sister’s alleged murder.
The broad strokes of the situation were only clarified early last week by the Police Minister, Kate Worden, who said the gun had been found in the possession of the man, revealing that he was the alleged perpetrator of the violence.
The crime happened at a property about 25 kilometers north of Alice Springs.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Police took several more days to confirm they were investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide and that the pair were in a domestic relationship.
NT Police has only addressed the media once about the incident that left three people dead, and have declined to take any public questions.
Police ‘failed at their jobs’, family claims
According to court documents obtained by the ABC, AK’s partner was sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court earlier this year, after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing harm to a previous partner.
He was given a nine month suspended sentence for the incident, which he would need to carry out if he committed another offense in the following two years.
AK’s family want to know how it was possible that his history of domestic violence did not alert authorities to the fact that she might have been in trouble, given they were allegedly called out to their property several times, over domestic incidents.
Mouse said the man was “really controlling,” and showed signs of coercive control.
“When we would go and sit down with her, he had to be sitting right there,” she said.
Mouse said she had also witnessed him be physically violent with AK, and one time her sister’s partner allegedly hit her.
“When I rang the police they refused to take my statement and they didn’t come and see me the next day,” she said.
AK’s family feels she was let down by police.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
After the alleged incident, Mouse said that AK had called police who attended the house, however she said they again didn’t take a statement.
“If the police actually did take it seriously, when he hit me, he would be in jail, because he was on probation, and she and the baby would still be here,” she said.
Mouse said she felt that the police had “failed at their jobs”, because she claims they allegedly made AK feel like the perpetrator, when she called for help.
This experience is common for women across Australia and is a significant issue for Indigenous women such as AK
A 2017 Queensland analysis of 27 domestic homicides, found that almost half the women who were killed by their partner had previously been identified by police as the perpetrator on a protection order.
Nearly all of the Aboriginal women killed by their partners had been recorded by police as both perpetrators and victims.
NT Police said in a statement: “as with all homicide investigations, a review of all the circumstances surrounding the deaths includes assessment of any reported prior family violence incidents of both the deceased, and a review of the relationship history of all the parties involved” .
Police said they “appreciate there is a lot of public interest, however police must maintain the integrity of the investigation and will not comment on the details”.
‘Why is this extreme act of violence being kept quiet?’
Peta-Lee Cole-Manolis has 12 years experience working on the front line of child protection and domestic and family violence.
Peta-Lee Cole Manolis says the deaths of AK and her baby highlight flaws in the system.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
She’s been supporting AK’s family since her alleged murder, and said she was concerned by the lack of public information being made available by police.
“Why is this extreme act of violence being kept quiet?”
“Where is that information, why isn’t it being made available and why isn’t it strong, clear language being used that would hold the perpetrator to account?”
“It’s a missed opportunity to shine a light on this … and support other women experiencing similar power and control to understand they are at risk,” she said.
Ms Cole – Manolis claimed it was clear that AK was at risk of being murdered based on the standard assessment tool used across Central Australia.
“I just don’t know whether or not we are equipped, or we are spending enough time on doing these really important assessments and education and support to women experiencing violence and men who are perpetrating violence,” she said.
Larissa Ellis says information from police is crucial for raising public awareness.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Larissa Ellis, chief executive of Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia, also called on police to release as much information as possible about what had happened because without information, the “horrific” incident of domestic violence was going unremarked by the nation.
“We’ve had at least five deaths over the last 18 months of women and children in the Northern Territory; none of them have really made national coverage, none of them have created an outcry,” she said.
The Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic violence in the country which advocates attribute to the ongoing effects of colonization and the legacy of inter-generational trauma.
Ms Ellis said the Northern Territory “is beyond crisis”.
