A tiny community with a population of just nine people in the South Australian outback has been transformed into an unlikely Hollywood set where big-name stars including Hugo Weaving and Julia Garner have been calling home.
Garner, the breakout star of Ozark and Inventing Anna, and Matrix legend Weaving are among the cast of The Royal Hotel, about backpacking buddies who take live-in jobs at a pub in a remote mining town before their adventure takes a dark and bloody turn .
The disused pub in the remote town of Yatina, 222km north of Adelaide, has been transformed into the namesake movie centrepiece. Neighbor Ken Cowery told 7NEWS he was surprised when about 100 cast and crew set up next to his home from him.
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The abandoned Yatina pub has become the unlikely centrepiece for an outback horror movie Credit: 7NEWS
“I’ve heard all these cars pull up and I thought what the hell was that?” he said. “They’ve been wonderful people, nobody’s making noise or nothing. They’ve been very quiet”
Flming is expected to take place in several locations around the state over the next month, with the South Australian Film Corporation saying the project will create more than 200 jobs and bring in $4.6 million to the local economy.
Among those jobs are extras for scenes inside the pub. The local council put an ad out for people to play drinkers with “no experience required”.
100 cast and crew have descended on the town, 222km north of Adelaide, for the shoot Credit: 7NEWS
Peterborough Mayor Ruth Whittle said she never expected the pub, which was built in 1874 but hasn’t been open for years, would be the backdrop for a horror movie.
“(It’s) a bit of wild west in South Australia,” she added.
Goat Island Lodge owner Kai Hansen has gone viral after the Darwin published hit an aggressive crocodile on the snout twice with a frying pan.
Goat Island Lodge owner Kai Hansen has gone viral after the Darwin published hit an aggressive crocodile on the snout twice with a frying pan.
An Adelaide father who tried to gas himself and his young daughter has been jailed for more than 14 years for the attempted murder of the girl.
Shaun Mate and his three-year-old daughter were found unconscious in July 2020 in what a judge described as a vindictive act of domestic violence.
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In the days leading up to the crime, he had bought two gas tanks, putting his plan into place after an argument with his then-wife.
Sentencing Mate in the Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Geraldine Davison said the impact of the 45-year-old’s offending was significant and widespread.
“Sadly, in many marriage breakdowns, when feelings are running high and the parties are feeling aggrieved and vindictive, the notion of depriving their partner of one of the greatest joys of their life can seem to be a way of wreaking revenge,” she said .
“There is a significant element of vindictiveness, planning and preparation in your offending.”
Shaun Mate was sentenced to more than 14 years behind bars over the attempted murder of his daughter. Credit: 7NEWS
On the night of the offending, Mate had made a photo montage of the couple, which he played on the television and said to his wife, “this is what you’re going to miss out on”.
Davison said he later became angry and his ex-wife began to feel unsafe and called the police.
Police arrived and the couple agreed he would stay in a room downstairs.
The judge said the girl’s mother woke up during the night to find her daughter missing from her bed and when she tried to open the door to her husband’s room he told her to “go away, we’re having a little sleep now”.
At that point, the mother heard both her daughter groan and the sound of gas and called police again.
While Mate had barricaded himself in, officers eventually gained entry where they found the girl unconscious and suffering from hypoxia.
Mate barricaded himself in the bathroom and tried to gas himself and his daughter to death. Credit: 7NEWS
Davison said while the offending was both planned and premeditated she accepted a psychologist’s finding that he was suffering from a major depressive disorder at the time.
However, she said regarded his crime as at the higher end of the scale.
“The victim was a vulnerable three-year-old child. Your planning indicates that it was premeditated offending,” the judge said.
“It was the most significant abuse of trust placed on a parent.
“Your intention was to take your child’s life as an act of vindictiveness against your wife thus depriving her of that child.
“Your plan failed by the good fortune of your wife waking and acting as swiftly as she did, along with the first responders.”
The judge accepted a psychologist’s finding that he was suffering from a major depressive disorder at the time, but said it was the ‘most significant abuse of trust’. Credit: 7NEWS
Mate’s daughter, now almost five years old, is said to have no memory of the event.
Her mother told 7NEWS that recovering from the ordeal has been “very tough”, but her little girl was “doing as best we can”.
“No one wins out of this, this is not a great scenario for anyone,” she said outside court.
Mate showed no emotion in sentencing, while his father put his head in his hands and cried.
Davison jailed the man for 14 years and three months, reduced from 15 years because of his guilty plea.
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The grieving daughter of a man who died in a horrific crash in South Australia last year has launched a blistering attack on the drunk and speeding driver responsible for his death.
Campbell Henderson, 29, appeared in court on Thursday after pleading guilty to causing the crash on Easter Monday 2021 that killed his friend and 39-year-old passenger Nick Peart.
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The crash occurred just meters from the houses of both men, who were neighbors as well as friends.
Peart’s high school sweetheart and wife Elaine Revi-Peart told the court in a victim impact statement that more than a year after losing her partner: “I get chest pains which I can only describe as heartache.”
Henderson was driving almost 40km over the speed limit when he lost control around a bend in Brukunga and crashed into a large tree.
Witnesses reported seeing his distinctive yellow ute doing burnouts earlier that night.
His eldest daughter, 14, also made a scathing statement to the man who was once like an uncle to her: “I hate you, I want to see you leave in cuffs and prison clothes, you have ruined my life.”
“Without my dad, it is hell.”
The fatal crash at Brukunga on Easter Monday claimed Peart’s life after the speeding car lost control and collided with a tree. Credit: 7NEWSWitnesses said they saw the distinctive ute doing burnouts on the same night as the crash. Credit: 7NEWS
Henderson was teary-eyed in court and remorseful as he admitted in court that his driving was “dangerous and irresponsible.”
“If there was any way I could trade places with Nick I would, I’ll never forgive myself.”
He pleaded guilty to causing the fatal crash.
The court heard Henderson had no criminal history and has suffered ongoing mental and physical health problems as a result of the accident he has little memory of.
It heard that the last thing Henderson remembers is being in the car, before waking up in hospital, after which he has experienced PTSD and suicidal tendencies.
His lawyer asked for a home detention report to be ordered, which Judge Joana Fuller said she would consider but did not order on Thursday.
Henderson was granted bail last year and has spent just hours in police custody.
He is South African-born but has been living in Australia since he was 10 years old, and is currently in the country on his mother’s UK passport.
He is set to be sentenced next month.
Nick Peart was the high school sweetheart of his now grieving widow and the sole wage earner for their family. Credit: 7NEWSHenderson (left) is remorseful and said he has suffered physical and mental health issues after the fatal crash. Credit: 7NEWS
Revi-Peart said her neighbor “chose to drive that day”, and that her husband “paid the ultimate price for trusting a friend”.
Peart’s mother said her son’s death was a shocking and senseless tragedy.
The last year has been tough for the family, who aside from losing Peart, have had to find a new house following extensive water damage to their home, while also caring for their daughter Kayley who lives with the health condition Neurofibromatosis type 1.
The family fundraised over $30,000 after the accident to go towards legal costs, and to support the family grieving the loss of their sole wage earner.
Daughter’s blistering attack to her father’s friend after dad’s death.
Daughter’s blistering attack to her father’s friend after dad’s death.
A suspected child abduction in which a young female student was allegedly dragged down a South Australian primary school corridor by a stranger has sparked a major police investigation.
Police say a man was seen walking into Glenelg Primary School about 10am on Tuesday.
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He was described by police as “behaving suspiciously” on school grounds before leaving the area.
Parents revealed shocking details about the terrifying order to 7NEWS on Wednesday, saying they were told the female Year 4 student was dragged down a school corridor by a man she did not know.
They say the man walked onto the grounds, entered a classroom building and climbed the stairs to the second floor, where he grabbed the girl outside the toilets in front of her friends and teachers.
“(He) had dragged her halfway along (the corridor), which is about where my daughter’s classroom is, and … then he got scared, maybe she was screaming, and then he ran away,” one mum told 7NEWS.
“It’s really horrible to think they got that far in and no one had stopped them. It’s a long way to get into the school.”
Police are investigating claims a man tried to abduct a Year 4 student from Glenelg Primary School. Credit: Facebook / Glenelg Primary School
A friend of the victim said the man had looked at the girl under a toilet stall door and took photos of her before she ran screaming, The Adelaide Advertiser reports.
“He came into the school building, he was looking at her, taking photos of her under the door when she was in the toilets,” Seva, 11, told the newspaper.
“She screamed, and then she ran out and the man started chasing her up the stairs.
“Everyone in my class is scared. I don’t really feel safe at the school anymore, because I’m afraid it might happen to me.”
The claims have left parents shaken, with another concerned mum telling 7NEWS “it’s madness”.
“I think it’s terrifying, I can’t believe it happened,” she said.
“What that child went through must have been devastating,” another said.
“(I felt) scared for the children, you want it to be a safe place when they come to school.”
Parents say the man made his way inside a school building, up to the second floor when he tried to grab the girl. Credit: 7NEWS
Police were called to the school about 10am, but by the time they arrived no suspect could be found.
The man is described as being about 180cm tall, bald and was wearing a knee-length light blue shirt, black pants, a black face mask and was carrying a beanie.
Parents claim they were left in the dark about the terrifying order.
“I heard nothing, they just said there was an incident and that was it,” one told 7NEWS.
A letter was sent to parents stating police were investigating an incident on school grounds but made no mention of an abduction attempt.
The school principal declined an interview request by 7NEWS, but said the student involved and her family have been offered support.
Government spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the claims were “terrifying”.
“We will make sure police have all the resources they need to investigate and get to the bottom of this,” he said on Wednesday.
Anyone who may have seen a man matching the description, or has dashcam footage near the Diagonal Road school, is urged to contact police.
– With Peter Caldicott
Olivia Newton-John’s daughter shares first message.
Olivia Newton-John’s daughter shares first message.
Hollywood actor Dev Patel has been spotted at the scene of a stabbing in Adelaide’s CBD.
Patel, known for his roles in Slumdog Millionaire and Lion, and who lives in Adelaide with his Australian girlfriend, was captured by 7NEWS cameras speaking with police after witnessing the incident on Gouger Street just after 8.45pm on Monday.
Emergency services had been called to the area following reports of a man and woman fighting in the street.
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The couple continued fighting inside a nearby service station where witnesses attempted to break up the fight.
The woman then allegedly stabbed the man in the chest.
Actor Dev Patel is seen talking with police after the incident. Credit: 7NEWSPolice attend the incident in Gouger Street. Credit: 7NEWS
A 32-year-old Glengowrie man was treated at the scene by ambulance officers before being taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
His injuries are not considered life-threatening. The 34-year-old woman from Park Holme was arrested at the scene.
The pair are known to each other, with South Australia Police saying the incident was not random.
The woman was charged with aggravated assault causing harm and has been refused bail.
She was to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Cast Armie Hammer, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Dev Patel during a media call ahead of the Hotel Mumbai Australian Premiere on October 10, 2018 in Adelaide, Australia. Credit: James Elsby/Getty Images
Patel’s girlfriend, Adelaide-born actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey, starred alongside him in his 2018 film Hotel Mumbai.
The death of a seven-year-old in South Australia is being investigated as a case of possible criminal neglect.
SA Police detective superintendent Des Bray said Craigmore boy Makai was taken to Lyell McEwin Hospital “very sick” on February 10 and was then transferred to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where he died later that day.
Task Force Prime, which was set up after the death of six-year-old Charlie, is now investigating whether the boy’s death was a case of criminal neglect.
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Investigators are also examining the care of his five siblings, aged between seven and 16.
Bray said a post-mortem examination following Makai’s death revealed several serious health issues.
He said the provisional cause of death was unusual, but was not a cause for immediate concern.
“The cause of death in itself wasn’t enough to raise concern because it was a serious, recognized health issue,” Bray said, adding that a coronial investigation was launched following the death.
About 10 days after Makai’s death, a coronial direction obtained information from “various child protection authorities”, which was then passed on to SA Police in July.
“Soon after, investigators began reviewing volumes of material and obtained an opinion from a pediatric expert,” he said.
“They formed the view that sufficient grounds existed to commence a criminal investigation of criminal neglect causing death.”
Bray said an interim cause of death had been determined but declined to comment further.
Superintendent Des Bray speaking to media. Credit: DAVID MARIUZ/AAPIMAGE
Investigators will determine whether anyone was guilty for Makai’s death or the neglect of the other siblings, Bray said.
Makai and his siblings had been staying in their father’s care since November 2020. Their mother was not living with him at the time of his death.
“There is neglect and abuse which we believe has occurred over a period of time but it doesn’t have all the same characteristics of Charlie’s,” Bray said.
Charlie was found unresponsive in her family home in Munno Para on July 15 and died in Lyell McEwin Hospital, sparking a police investigation into suspected neglect.
searching for answers
Following Charlie’s death, the state government ordered a review of the interactions between government agencies and the family in recent years.
Premier Peter Malinauskas on Monday announced a new wholly independent review would now investigate these interactions for both families.
“The death of any child is something that breaks all of our hearts, particularly parents across the state,” he told reporters.
“One was shocking, two is desperately heartbreaking.
“There is absolutely merit given the elevation of this for a wholly independent led review.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas said a new wholly independent review would now investigate the interactions between government agencies and the families. Credit: AAP
Malinauskas said he was “not wasting any time” and had appointed former SA police commissioner Mal Hyde to lead the review as “someone every South Australian has complete confidence in”.
“This is about making sure we have a review of integrity, of independence and robustness so we fully understand exactly what interactions occurred between government agencies and these families and to see whether or not there were any failures of systems that could be addressed,” he said.
“Two innocent children losing their lives potentially because of criminal neglect is beyond sad. But we know about it and we have to respond.”
Malinauskas said the findings of the review would be made public.
Bray said criminal neglect occurred when a person with a duty of care to a child failed to take all reasonable steps to protect them from harm, and a child is harmed or dies as a result of that neglect.
