- Jockey Danny Nikolic’s hopes of salvaging his career were left in tatters yesterday when he lost his bid to overturn a racing ban.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal backed a racing board’s finding that Nikolic had threatened chief steward Terry Bailey.

It also found Nikolic tried to intimidate a witness during the hearing of the case.

Judge Michael Macnamara said Nikolic and Bailey had a toxic and hostile relationship that fuelled the encounter at Seymour races on September 4th.

Nikolic, 38, maintained his comment to Bailey to “Keep your eyes on the road Terry” was nothing more than a harmless quip.

But Judge Macnamara said it came in the context of controversy swirling around Victorian racing generally and Mr Nikolic in particular.

He said that included the murder of trainer Les Samba and investigations by the Victoria Police taskforce credited with cracking the gangland killings. The judge said: “What in another context might have been seen to mildly impertinent or simply confusing and perplexing took on, quite reasonably for someone in Mr Bailey’s position, the aspect of a serious threat”.

Nikolic was banned from racing for two years by the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board in October after being found guilty of two counts of misconduct – Katie Bice

- Dead paedophile priest Father Anthony Bongiorno is the only suspect in the 1980 murder of Thornbury bookshop owner Maria James who hasn’t been cleared by DNA.

His sister has refused to provide police with her DNA so her brother can either be linked to the death or eliminated from a new probe into the unsolved killing.

Ms James’s son Mark yesterday urged police to dig up the disgraced Catholic priest’s body so DNA can be extracted from it.

He said he told his mother Father Bongiorno had attempted to lure him into the parish headquarters with chocolate bars and he believed his mother later confronted the family priest with the paedophile allegations.

“It is possible that the confrontation between my mum and Father Bongiorno ended with him killer her in a fit of anger,” Mr James said.

“Maybe she threatened to expose him as a child molester.”

Father Bongiorno’s sister, the priest’s only surviving sibling, has refused a request by Homicide Squad Cold Case Squad boss Ron Iddles to provide her DNA.

The unknown killer’s DNA was obtained in 2001 after Senior Sergeant Iddles decided to send exhibits from the murder scene to be tested on the off chance advances in technology would enable scientists to identify and extract DNA.

Senior Sergeant Iddles has cleared more than 15 suspects by comparing their DNA with the killer’s sample – Keith Moor

- Veteran Homicide Squad detective Ron Iddles obviously wants a result in every case. But solving the 1980 murder of Thornbury bookshop owner Maria James would be particularly sweet.

As a rookie homicide detective it was the first murder case he was assigned to – and now, as head of Victoria Police’s Cold Case Squad, he is still working on it.

And solving it could be as easy as the sister of the dead paedophile priest Father Anthony Bongiorno providing a DNA sample, which she has so far refused to do.

A simple swab of the sister’s mouth with a cotton bud would enable police to find out if suspicions her brother killer Ms James are correct.

Her DNA would contain enough identifying characteristics to show if he was involved in stabbing Ms James, 38, to death in her bookshop.

Ms James’s son Mark yesterday appealed to the sister to cooperate with police.

He was 13 when his mother was murdered and his brother Adam was 11.

Mr James said if the sister continued to refuse to give her DNA then police should dig up Father Bongiorno’s body to get his DNA.

The Herald Sun first revealed Father Bongiorno was a suspect in the murder of Ms James in 2007.

That publicity resulted in new information being provided to police in relation to 10 other suspects.

“Over the past five years there have been 10 people who have been nominated as persons of interest,” Senior Sergeant Iddles said yesterday.

“We have gone to those people. They have all voluntarily given the DNA and they have all been excluded.”

Senior Sergeant Iddles said while there was circumstantial evidence Father Bongiorno may have killed Ms James it wasn’t strong enough to take the drastic step of exhuming the priest’s body.

“We would have to have something substantial to say that he was responsible,” he said.

“I am not talking beyond reasonable doubt, but we would have to have something on the balance of probability and we don’t have that.”

Although Father Bongiorno was acquitted in 1995 of paedophile charges involving three boys aged 8 to 10, the Victorian Government’s crimes compensation tribunal accepted evidence of his paedophilia in 1997 and some of his victims were compensated.

One of the compensated victims told the Herald Sun in 2007 that Father Bongiorno sexually abused him for two years.

Father Bongiorno died in 2002 at the age of 67.

He worked in the parishes of Maidstone, Brunswick West, Fawkner, Thornbury, Reservoir North and Brunswick between the late 1960s and 1995.

Senior Sergeant Iddles said evidence suggested the murder of Ms James was an opportunistic crime committed in the heat of the moment, probably after an argument. She was neither robbed nor raped.

The fact the killer used a knife from her kitchen to stab her 68 times suggests he didn’t come armed.

Fitzroy town clerk John James was talking to his former wife on the telephone when she asked him to hang on.

“I heard discussion in the background and then a bit of a scream and then there was more discussion and then silence,” he told police immediately after the murder.

“I then heard a second scream. I then really thought something was wrong so I decided to go to the shop to see what was up.”

Mr James took about 15 minutes to get to the shop at 736 High Street, Thornbury on June 17th, 1980.

The front door was locked and a customer was standing outside.

They looked through the window and both saw movement of the curtain that separated the shop from the rear living quarters, as though somebody was peeking through it.

Mr James climbed in through a back window and discovered his former wife’s body.

He then went back to the front of the shop and was stunned to find the previously locked door was open and there was a female customer browsing the bookshelves.

Senior Sergeant Iddles said it was quite clear the killer was still in the shop when Mr James arrived and left through the front door as Mr James was climbing in through the back window.

It is believed Ms James knew her attacker and was having a cup of tea or coffee in her shop with the killer shortly before the murder – Keith Moor

- Raza Hussain escaped the Taliban and endured an asylum boat tragedy to celebrate his first “Aussie-style” Christmas this year with his wife and young family.

But the devoted father of five’s cherished new life ended abruptly when his taxi was struck by an out-of-control car just a few hundred metres from his home.

Mr Hussain’s grieving wife, Asma Raza, 33, said she and her children were now alone in Australia, with no other family. She will now have to move into the home they were building in March without him.

Mr Hussain’s brother died only six months ago on a vessel bound for Australia in an attempt to flee terrorists.

The speeding driver of the other car allegedly told police he’d been drinking beer and Campari at home, and was on the way to a friend’s house when the fatal accident happened at 6:15 pm in Geelong on Christmas Day.

Police will view the taxi’s in-car CCTV footage as they piece together the driver’s final moments and reconstruct the crash.

Irshad Ali said his friend of 10 years came to Australia about six years ago after fleeing the Taliban and was studying commercial cookery at a Melbourne college.

He said Mr Hussain, who was a teacher and part-time journalist in Pakistan, became a taxi operator to better the life of his family about three years ago.

Close family friend Julie Riley enjoyed a celebration with the family before the fatal crash.

Ms Riley said Mr Hussain had enjoyed celebrating his first Christmas “Australian-style” despite his Muslim faith.

The Major Collision Investigation Unit’s Detective Sergeant Rohan Courtis said a Hamlyn Heights man, 36, was expected to be charged with culpable driving causing death – Erin Marie, Aleks Devic & Angus Thompson

- Homicide detectives have charged 24-year-old Sunshine West man Ross Konidaris over the deaths of an elderly couple in Yarraville.

Mr Konidaris appeared before a bail justice last night charged with two counts of murder and one of arson after he was arrested yesterday afternoon in Yarraville.

The husband and wife died at their Morven Street property early on Saturday.

Firefighters were called to a 3 am blaze at the home where the couple had lived for decades – Herald Sun

- Newtown has marked Christmas amid snow-covered teddy bears, stockings, flowers and candles left in memorial to the 20 children and six adults shot dead in the US school massacre.

The outpouring of support for the Connecticut community continued through Christmas Eve, with visitors arriving bearing cards, handmade snowflakes and sympathy.

On Christmas Day, out-of-town police officers were on duty to give local police a break from the past 11 days of horror and mourning.

At St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which eight of the child victims attended, the priest told parishioners at the second of four masses on Tuesday that “today is the day we begin everything all over again”.

Recalling the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14th, Father Robert Weiss said: “The moment the first responder broke through the doors, we knew good always overcomes evil.”

At the Trinity Episcopal Church, several hundred were greeted by a children’s choir when they attended Christmas services – AP

- Victoria’s chief psychiatrist should undertake an inquiry into the death of  a man at a high-security psychiatric hospital, the State Opposition says.

The call comes after a 27-year-old man was found dead at the Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield early Thursday morning after he was allegedly attacked by inmate Lee Johnson.

Homicide Squad detectives were yet to interview Johnson yesterday over the man’s death.

A source told the Herald Sun Johnson was likely to have been moved to Port Phillip Prison or Melbourne Assessment Prison, which have the best isolated management units.

Opposition spokesman for Mental Health Wade Noonan said that, in addition to a coronial inquiry, a broader review was necessary to identify potential systemic failures.

He called on Minister for Mental Health, Mary Wooldridge, to make public any finding and recommendations from the chief psychiatrist’s report.

A spokesman for Ms Wooldridge said the Government would wait until police finished investigating before deciding what action was necessary – Annika Smethurst & Wayne Flower

- A brazen would-be thief who attempted to steal copper from a business in Melbourne’s west caused a major police operation with fears a gunman was on the loose.

The man was confronted by staff at the Olympia Street yard in Tottenham about 9:30 am yesterday.

A struggle ensued, but staff retreated when they saw what appeared to be a handgun in the man’s pants.

Police swung into action, deploying the Critical Incident Response Team, Air Wing, Dog Squad and local police.

Sunshine Road and nearby streets were blocked off as police scoured the area looking for the man.

By midday the search had wound down and the man, aged in his 30s with moderately long hair and wearing industrial clothing, remained at large last night.

In a separate incident in Melbourne’s south-east, customers and staff at a Clayton post office were terrorised by bandits wielding machetes.

They struck just after midday at the Clayton Post Shop on Dunstan Street, stealing cash – Wayne Flower

- A man sitting in an outdoor cafe has been struck with a glass in a savage attack caught on security camera in St Kilda.

The attack happened in Acland Street about 1:30 am on Thursday.

Police have been told a 27-year-old Essendon man and several friends were sitting in an outside cafe when they were approached by two women who had just walked out of a nearby nightclub with another man.

The two women stopped and spoke to the group before moving away.

Their male acquaintance then approached the table and was talking to the group when he grabbed a glass off the table and struck the victim in the face.

The man then walked towards Barkly Street.

Two of the victims’ friends caught up with the man but, following a short scuffle, he broke free and ran off.

The victim received serious facial injuries and was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to the Epworth Hospital.

Detective Sergeant Tim Moreland said it was a cowardly attack on a group of people enjoying a night out.

Sergeant Moreland said the victim was very lucky not to have been more seriously injured.

The offender is described as Caucasian, about 180 cm tall, medium build, with short dark hair and a Scottish accent – Wayne Flower

- Police say speed and alcohol may have contributed to a horror crash that left a man dead in Hoddle Street yesterday.

Two men were in a Mitsubishi Magna that clipped the  rear of a four-wheel-drive at traffic lights near Freeman Street, East Melbourne, before ploughing into a tree just after 5 am.

The 28-year-old driver of the Magna, from Melbourne’s north-west, was taken to the Alfred Hospital with minor injuries but his unidentified male passenger died at the scene.

Major Crash Investigation Unit Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Damien Madden said speed and alcohol were being investigated as possible factors and the injured driver could be prosecuted.

Three occupants of the four-wheel-drive were unhurt in the smash. It is believed the toll could have been higher if the Magna had fully hit the other vehicle.

Maartje Van der Vlies, who lives on the crest of the Hoddle Street hill, said she had seen thousands of accidents in her 22 years in the area and wanted the carnage to end.

Ms Van der Vlies wants the speed limit reduced from 70 km/h to 50 km/h.

The fatality takes Victoria’s road toll to 277, seven fewer than the same time last year – Andy Burns

- The parents of a Victorian woman wanted for questioning by Mexican counter-terrorism investigators insist their daughter is a caring and gentle person who had no direct involvement with anarchist bombings.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that Mexican authorities are still seeking Felicity Ryder, a Melbourne University graduate and political activist who has been linked to an anarchist allegedly responsible for explosions in Mexico City six months ago.

Ms Ryder came to Mexican police attention in late June 2012 after her passport was found in the backpack of alleged bomber Mario Antonio Lopez Hernandez, who was arrested after being wounded by the accidental explosion of an improvised explosive device.

Documents released to Fairfax Media under freedom of information legislation show that Ms Ryder did not report her passport lost or stolen and has not contacted the Australian embassy in Mexico City to seek consular assistance.

She is wanted for questioning by investigators from the Mexican Attorney-General’s Department who have undertaken to notify Australian authorities in the event of her arrest.

Fairfax revealed in November that Ryder was the subject of a probe by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation that included inquiries in her home town of Rutherglen.

It is believed that ASIO interviewed Ms Ryder’s parents, Lyndon and Jenny Ryder, who said they did not know their daughter’s whereabouts and declined to disclose details of an email address she had used to contact them after Mexican media incorrectly reported that she had been arrested.

Diplomatic cables and consular reports released by the Department of Foreign Affairs show the Australian Federal Police also contacted the Mexican Attorney-General’s Department about the case.

The Australian embassy in Mexico City was instructed by Canberra that, in the event Ms Ryder made contact and sought a new passport, they should inform her that, as the whereabouts of her current passport is known, she will need to seek its return from the Mexican authorities.

In a recent letter to Fairfax, Ms Ryder’s parents insisted their daughter finds herself in her current situation in Mexico as a result of an unfortunate set of circumstances, but we are convinced  she has had no direct involvement with (the bombings in Mexico City).

“Felicity is (an) intelligent, caring and gentle person who has worked tirelessly for most of her adult life in support and defence of human rights for the less fortunate,” they wrote.

“She was working to bring attention to the plight of asylum seekers in Holland who were being detained in disused merchant ships in Rotterdam harbour and acted as a human shield trying to protect Palestinian school students from being shot in the legs by the Israeli army in reprisal for throwing stones at their tanks.”

Mr and Dr Ryder declared themselves to be immensely proud of our daughter who said was a committed vegan driven by the belief that it is morally unacceptable to exploit animals.

In a statement posted on the Mexican anarchist website, Liberacion Total, in July, Felicity Ryder declared herself proud of being an anarchist, and proud to be an enemy of authority and the state.

Mr Hernandez, under guard in hospital while his wounds healed, released a statement in which he took responsibility for his actions and denied Ms Ryder’s involvement in the bombings. He said the problem is that (she) is now implicated because a backpack had been left at the scene of the attempted bombing.

Dr Ryder declined to comment further in response to DFAT’s release of documents relating to her daughter. DFAT had reaffirmed that the Australian embassy in Mexico will offer consular assistance should Ms Ryder request it – Philip Dorling

- A 19-year-old Bundoora man has been arrested in relation to a vicious double stabbing in Footscray on Saturday night.

An employee at the Footscray McDonald’s restaurant said some workers were in fear after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed multiple times by a gang of up to 20 people.

The attack happened in the Ballarat Road car park about 10:30 pm.

Minutes earlier, a 16-year-old was stabbed in the stomach and wrist outside a home in nearby Gordon Street.

The two victims yesterday remained in a stable condition in hospital.

Senior Detective Brett Van Der Vliet of the Maribyrnong Crime Investigation Unit said police were looking for numerous offenders of Asian appearance and aged in their late teens and early 20s.

A McDonald’s worker said the 24-hour store was a trouble spot, leaving some workers fearful.

In an unrelated incident on December 27th, three men, including one armed with a barbecue fork, held up a man in the car park about 4:30 am – The Age

- A 19-year-old man has been arrested after two teenagers were stabbed and left with serious injuries in Melbourne’s west.

A 16-year-old boy was stabbed in the stomach and wrist after an altercation with a group of males outside a house in Gordon Street, Footscray, at 10:40 pm on Saturday.

Minutes later, officers were called after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed multiple times during a fight between a large group of youths in a fast-food outlet’s car park in Ballarat Road, Footscray.

Both teenagers were taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.

Maribyrnong Criminal Investigation Unit detectives were interviewing a Bundoora man, 19, over the attacks following his arrest yesterday.

Police say the attacks may have been committed by the same offenders. They especially want to speak to a group of Asian males in their early teens to early 20s seen near both stabbings – Herald Sun

- Looking back at just some of the crimes that shocked Melbourne in 2012.

Eastern Suburbs Sex Attacker:

Police fear one man is responsible for a wave of sexual assaults in the eastern suburbs.

They warn that if the fiend is not caught, there will be more victims.

And thy fear the violence of his attacks could escalate.

It is believed the serial offender has committed eight assaults.

Police are investigating whether a ninth attack is also linked to the suspect.

All the victims have been attacked from behind on leaving public transport, by a man who then flees on foot.

The first assault took place on August 3rd in Lower Templestowe.

The latest attack, yet to be confirmed as by the suspect, was on December 16th in Box Hill South. A girl, 17, was walking east in Canterbury Road from the bus stop near Station Street just before 3 pm when a man approached and indecently assaulted her.

Uniformed and undercover police officers were out in force on the streets in Manningham, Whitehorse and Booroondara in a bid to thwart his attempts.

The offender has been described as being about 178 cm tall, of slim build and Asian appearance, aged 25 to 30, with short black hair.

Zahara Rahimzadegan:

It began with an extraordinary tale of an abduction by Islamic extremists.

But a month later, on January 14th, Homicide Squad detectives uncovered the awful truth of the fate of Zahara Rahimzadegan.

After pulling up the new timber decking and breaking up a layer of concrete at her family home in High Street Road, Ashwood, they made a grisly find: the 46-year-old mother of two’s remains.

Days earlier her husband, Nasir Ahmadi, had told a newspaper he believed Mrs Rahimzadegan had been taken by Muslim hardliners. He said she was a target because of her work in converting Muslims to Christianity.

The couple, who were Iranian refugees, had come to Australia with their two children in 1999.

On January 14th, Mr Ahmadi, 47, was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder.

He has pleaded not guilty, and is on remand, pending trial.

Sarah Cafferkey:

Following the outpouring of grief over the death of Jill Meagher, there was stunned disbelief when a matter of weeks later a second young woman was senselessly killed in horrific circumstances.

The disappearance of Sarah Cafferkey, 22, led to a search that lasted a week.

But from the start, the signs were ominous.

Ms Cafferkey had not picked up her dog Sprocket, which was highly unusual for her. And the days ticked by without any phone contact or her bank accounts being used.

Only hours before receiving the heartbreaking news that her daughter had been killed, Ms Cafferkey’s mother, Noelle Dickson, was still clinging to hope she would walk through the door.

Ms Dickson had last seen her daughter on November 9th.

Two days later, Sarah was seen drinking with a man at a Bacchus Marsh pub.

The girl known as the “life of the party” had previously posted pictures on her Facebook page, which attracted both approving and disapproving comments from men competing for attention.

They would provide police with clues about her disappearance.

Ms Cafferkey’s car was finally found in Mariybrnong, a suburb of which she had no connection.

Then, on November 17th, her body was found at a house in Point Cook.

This led Homicide Squad detectives on a three-day manhunt.

Heavily armed Special Operations Group police arrested Steven James Hunter at a Hawthorn flat on November 21st.

He now stands accused of stabbing petite Ms Cafferkey in his Bacchus Marsh unit.

Melburnians, united once more in their shock and grief, marched once more, this time for Sarah, just as they had for Jill.

Adam Khoury:

An underworld figure, who kept a low profile, was shot dead in his North Melbourne flat back in February.

Adam Khoury, an immigrant with no family in Australia, but who had links to some of the nation’s biggest drug dealers, had told associates his life was in danger.

He said he was on a hit-list, along with other well known Melbourne identities including a lawyer, an underworld figure and a bikie.

Victoria Police assigned the case to the Purana Taskforce – which fights organised crime –  but no one has been charged.

It is understood police have a prime suspect but have struggled to break the underworld’s code of silence. The investigation continues -Mark Buttler, Anthony Dowsley, Wayne Flower &  Jon Kaila

- Radio hoaxers Michael Christian and Mel Greig are unlikely to face charges over the prank call to a London hospital treating Prince William’s pregnant wife, Kate, according to NSW Police.

Deputy NSW Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas said yesterday Scotland Yard had not asked for any further information or to interview the two Sydney radio hosts.

Since her death, it has been revealed Ms Saldanha had twice attempted to kill herself in the past year and was prescribed anti-depressants.

British media this week suggested the Australian presenters might be charged over the prank call, saying Scotland Yard had sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service last week.

The file was submitted for the CPS to consider whether any offences may have been committed by making the hoax call. But senior NSW police believe British prosecutors would have difficulty in finding a charge that could be laid – Mark Morri

- We hear a lot about outlaws but when it comes to homicide in-laws have them covered.

We were reminded of this Christmas Eve when a shopkeeper we know marvelled at how a friendly staff member at the local supermarket had been arrested on suspicion of killing her husband.

It seems the police checked out the checkout lady after working out that hubby – who supposedly left the district several years ago – might not in fact be alive and well and living interstate, as suggested by some family members.

A plot was involved: that is, police dug up human remains in a plot next to the family house.

A judge and jury will sort out the details of how the bones came to be there. It could all turn out to be a ghastly accident.

But, regardless of how that case pans out, it’s true that when someone dies in suspicious circumstances, investigators look hard at the next of kin. Especially if they were the last to see their loved one alive.

As homicide detectives sometimes tell grieving family members before interrogating them, more than eight out of 10 homicides are committed by someone well known to the victim. So, when detectives come knocking with bad news, they are alert for signs of what they call “consciousness of guilt” and ready to record it, not for posterity but for the prosecution.

We once agreed to help investigators by being wired up – a cheap phrase for a cheap micro-tape recorder in the pocket of a cheap suit – to interview the large husband of a small woman whose body had been found head first in a water-filled pit in a muddy farmyard.

The couple’s adult children had never really understood why Mum’s gumboots were spotlessly clean when she was found drowned in a hole about as big as a doormat.

According to Dad, she must have levitated across the mud then swallow-dived into the pit to drown herself. His other guess was the cows had knocked her into the hole. Death by dairy cow.

Her children never quite bought this. Neither did the pathologist who wondered why the woman’s body had bruises on the neck matching a man’s thumbs.

There were also questions about whether the broke farmer had recently taken out life insurance on Mum.

Oh, and he was having an affair with a neighbour – who soon decided he wasn’t cut out for domestic bliss. He was, after all, a heavy drinker prone to violent outbursts.

Apart from those tiny flaws, he was the model citizen the defence portrayed him to be.

Proof that juries aren’t swayed by a robust prosecutor, strong circumstantial evidence and crusading journalism is that the farmer was eventually acquitted at a second trial after the first ended in a hung jury.

We will keep our opinions about that result to ourselves, apart from noting we believe in a system that states it is preferable for nine guilty men to be acquitted rather than one innocent one be convicted.

Better a wrongly hung jury than a wrongly hanged man, as has happened in the past. But we are still entitled to draw our own conclusions about those who are accused but acquitted – or not charged at all.

When Greg Domaszewicz was acquitted in 1998 of the murder of toddler Jaidyn Leskie two years earlier, his barrister corrected a naive reporter who referred to Domaszewicz being found innocent.

The barrister retorted that his client had been found not guilty, “a very different thing.”

Sometimes it is up to a coroner to establish facts that the criminal courts cannot. In the Leskie case, among others, the the State Coroner Graeme Johnstone did the job.

Apart from being a meticulous lawyer and restorer of vintage cars, Johnstone was an expert shot. He didn’t miss his mark with Domaszewicz, among other notorious cases put before him.

Nine years after Jaidyn went missing while being babysat by Domaszewicz in Moe, Coroner Johnstone nailed him in a damning finding. He found that Domaszewicz contributed to the toddler’s death and disposed of his body in Blue Rock Dam, where it floated to the surface two years later.

Domaszewicz had lied from the start and there was no satisfactory alternative explanation other than Jaidyn died of injuries while in his care, Johnstone stated. End of story.

Domaszewicz’s new lawyer huffed and puffed about double jeopardy and his client’s lief being ruined.

Johnstone was used to huffing and puffing.

He heard plenty of it from former St Kilda policeman Denis Tanner after finding that Tanner shot his sister-in-law, Jennifer Tanner, to death at her Bonnie Doon farmhouse in 1984.

Tanner and his tiny circle of supporters had not been so vocal during Johnstone’s fresh inquest into the death after setting aside an open finding made in 1985.

When Tanner was asked to the witness box to answer questions about his movements the night his sister-in-law suffered two bullet wounds through her hands and in her brain, he was almost mute. He said he could not answer questions on grounds he could incriminate himself.

Outside court, he rediscovered the power of speech and spent 14 years confecting an elaborate defence case relying ultimately on witnesses who are either dead, can’t be found or are fellow former police members.

Graeme Johnstone died late last month. Before he did, he told certain people of attempts to intimidate him. Strong torch lights were aimed at his windows of his Barwon Heads house as shots were fired in the air on the far side of the river.

Graeme Johnstone knew a lot about identifying weapons by the sound of the shots. He had a fair idea who was trying to rattle him. Not so much outlaws as insiders –  Andrew Rule

- By the third night the death count was rising so high and so quickly that many of the divisional homicide teams were pulled off the front line of riot control and put into emergency rotations in South-Central.

Detective Harry Bosch and his partner, Jerry Edgar, were pulled from Hollywood Division and assigned to a roving B Watch Team that also included two shotgunners from patrol for protection.

They were dispatched to any place they were needed – wherever a body turned up. More than 50 people had already died. Store owners had shot looters, National Guardsmen had shot looters, looters had shot looters, and then there were others – killers who used the camouflage of chaos and civil unrest to settle long-held scores that had nothing to do with the frustrations of the moment and the emotions displayed in the streets.

The trial of four LAPD officers accused of excessively beating a black motorist at the end of high-speed chase had resulted in the delivery of not guilty verdicts across the board.

The reading of the all-white jury’s decision in a suburban courtroom 45 miles away had an almost immediate impact on South Los Angeles. Small crowds of angry people gathered on street corners to decry the injustice. And soon things turned violent.

The department was caught flat-footed. The chief of police was out of Parker Centre and making a political appearance when the verdict came in. Other members of the command staff were out of positions as well.

No one immediately took charge and, more importantly, no one went to the rescue. Soon the city was out of control and in flames.

Two nights later the acrid smell of burning rubber and smoldering dreams was still everywhere.

It was Friday, May 1st. B Watch was the emergency mobilization designation for night watch, a 6 pm to 6 am shift. Bosch and Edgar had the back seat while Officers Robleto and Delwyn had the front.

Delwyn, in the passenger seat, held his shotgun across his lap and angled up, its muzzle poking through the open window.

They were rolling to a dead body found in an alley off Crenshaw Boulevard.

The call had been relayed to the emergency communications center by the California National Guard, which had been deployed in the city during the state of emergency. It was only 10:30 and the calls were stacking up.

As they drove south on Crenshaw they passed occasional crowds of people, mostly young men, gathered on corners or roving in packs. At Crenshaw and Slauson a group flying Crips colours jeered as the patrol car moved by at high speed without siren or flashing lights. Bottles and rocks were thrown but the car moved too fast and the missiles fell harmlessly in its wake.

Robleto, behind the wheel, only began to slow as they approached a blockade of National Guard vehicles and soldiers.

A guardsman with sergeant stripes came to the door and leaned down to look at the car’s occupants.

“Sergeant Burston, San Luis Obispo. What can I do for you fellows?”

“Homicide,” Robleto said. He hooked a thumb toward Bosch and Edgar in the back.

Burstin straightened up and made an arm motion so that a path could be cleared and they could be let through.

“Okay,” he said. “She’s in the alley on the east side between sixty-sixth Place and Sixty-Seventh Street. Go on through and my guys will show you. We’ll form a tight perimeter and watch the roof-lines. We’ve had unconfirmed reports of sniper fire in the neighbourhood.”

Robleto put his window back up as he drove through.

“My guys,” he said mimicking Burstin’s voice. “That guy’s probably a school teacher or something back in the real world. I heard that none of these guys they brought in are even from LA. Probably couldn’t find Leimert Park with a map.”

“Two years ago, neither could you, dude,” Delwyn said.

“Whatever. The guy doesn’t know shit about this place and now he’s all like take charge? All I’m saying is we didn’t need these guys. Makes us look bad. Like we couldn’t handle it and had to bring in the pros from San Luis O-Fucking Bispo.”

Edgar cleared his voice and spoke from the backseat.

“I got news for you,” he said. “We couldn’t handle it and we couldn’t look any worse than we already did Wednesday night.

“We sat back and let the city burn, man.”

“Whatever,” Robleto said.

“Says ‘Protect and Serve’ on the side a’ the car,” Edgar added. “We didn’t do much of either.”

Bosch remained silent. Not that he disagreed with his partner. But Harry wasn’t thinking about that. He had been struck by what the sergeant had said about the victim being a she. It was the first mention of that and as far as Bosch knew, there hadn’t been any female murder victims so far. This wasn’t to say that women weren’t involved in the violence that had raked across the city. Looting and burning were equal opportunity endeavors.

But the sergeant’s report had given him pause nonetheless. A woman had been out here in the chaos and it had cost her her life – This is an edited extract from the “Black Box”, by Michael Connelly, published by Allen and Unwin, rrp $32.99

- Police believe a patient found dead in the state’s most secure mental hospital was almost certainly strangled.

The grim discovery marks the third death at Thomas Embling Hospital in just over three years and has reignited calls for a second facility to be built for mentally ill offenders.

Homicide detectives attempted to interview a patient on Thursday who shared the room in the hospital, in Yarra Bend Road, Fairfield, but he has refused to cooperate.

The victim’s body was discovered during routine rounds shortly before 7 am. It is understood staff initially believed the man was still sleeping.

Police are waiting for the result of an autopsy to confirm the cause of death but initial checks indicate strangulation.

Both the victim and the suspect are known to police.

Professor Paul Mullen, an emiritus professor at Monash University and a former clinical director of Thomas Embling, said there was a desperate need for a second facility.

He said a second facility with at least 100 extra beds would stop the high pressure that comes from running a service with grossly inadequate beds.

Professor Mullen said there was always a risk of violence erupting at the hospital and could not see how it could be more secure.

Health and Community Services Union Victorian secretary Lloyd Williams said the state needed a second facility with higher security and a “one-size fits all” approach was not appropriate for patients with high needs.

Mr Williams said security guards patrolled the entrance and perimeter of the facility.

But he said having guards inside would disturb the therapeutic relationship between staff and patients.

The 116-bed hospital opened in 2000 and treats mentally ill people in the criminal justice system who need acute psychiatric care and treatment, as well as those who have been found not guilty of crimes due to mental impairment.

Mr Williams said the the union had been advocating for a second facility since 2009, when a double homicide took place in the hospital.

A government spokeswoman said a 500-bed male prison at Ravenhall in Melbourne’s outer west would include a 75-bed mental health precinct – Henrietta Cook & John Silvester

- Popular David Cassai loved a night out with friends and should have been toasting in the new year in style this morning.

Instead, by late yesterday, he was dead and police were hunting the gang of thugs who killed him in a Mornington Peninsula street attack.

Sister Elisa last night paid tribute to her brother, calling the 22-year-old her knight.

Five men, aged in their 20s, launched at David and his mates with tragic consequences on Rye’s main shopping strip at 1 am.

In a brutal, unprovoked attack, David was punched to the face and fell to the brick footpath between two real estate offices.

David, from Templestowe, was rushed to the Alfred Hospital in a critical condition.

He died at 4 pm yesterday.

One of his mates, aged 23, from Warranwood, suffered a broken jaw.

David’s death plunged a huge circle of friends into mourning.

Some had spent the hours before the deadly attack partying with him at the Portsea Hotel.

David recently returned from spending several months in Europe and was working as a landscaper.

Police have viewed graphic CCTV footage from the area. Detective Senior Sergeant Sol Soloman, of the Homicide Squad, said it appeared groups were walking towards each other when the aggressors launched an unprovoked assault.

- One morning 5 1/2 years ago, Bill and Cheryl McCormack sat in a room at Victoria Police headquarters and tearfully pleaded for an end to the epidemic of senseless violence on Melbourne’s streets.

Their son Shannon – a popular and gentle 22-year-old with a mop of curls – had been felled by one punch outside a city nightclub, hit his head on the footpath and died after spending a week in a coma.

But the McCormack’s plea was to no avail. The years since have seen a roll-call of young men killed in their prime or horrendously injured in unprovoked attacks – Matthew McEvoy (2008), David Mitchell (2008), Justin Gallagan (2008), Cain Aguiar (2009), Luke Adams (2009) – culminating his week with David Cassair.

The flood of tributes to the 22-year-old on Facebook – used all too often as a memorial in these times – paints a picture of a music-loving extrovert, a joker with a smile etched on his face.

We don’t know what his attacker looks like. The man who ended Mr Cassai’s life and left a family sunk deep in grief is on the run, hunted by the Homicide Squad and doubtless no member of the pack he ran with that night develops a conscience. Police arrested two men on Tuesday night – and they are helping police.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright told Fairfax Media on Tuesday that despite high-profile cases such as Shannon McCormack’s, there was still a steady trickle of similar attacks every year.

While emphasising that he was talking in a general sense, rather than about Mr Cassai’s death, Mr Cartwright likened alcohol-fuelled, unprovoked, cowardly one-punch killings to domestic violence and road deaths, in that people once considered them to be inevitable.

Mr Cartwright said television and movies created the false impression that when someone was knocked out, they always regained consciousness, got up and walked away. “That’s simply not true, and people need to know that. These punches kill or cause serious brain damage,” he said.

Nothing will ever begin to match the anguish of a parent who loses their child, and it is made worse by the perceived leniency of sentences.

Jacob Polutele, the thug who punched Canadian man Cain Aguiar outside a Yarraville pub in 2009, was sentenced to a minimum of seven years in prison for manslaughter. At the time of the attack, Polutele was on a suspended sentence for knocking another man unconscious.

Foster Akoteu, who stomped on Mr Aguiar’s head, also received a minimum of seven years for manslaughter, and a third man, Sioeli Seau, spent 12 months in prison for assault.

Andriyas Tello pleaded guilty to manslaughter after punching Matthew McEvoy twice in the head outside a city nightclub in 2008 and was sentenced to eight years’ jail with a five-year minimum term. Lauren Sako pleaded guilty to manslaughter for kicking Mr McEvoy’s head as he lay on the ground and was sentenced to six years’ jail with a three-year minimum term.

Laws introduced into State Parliament last month create two new offences of intentionally and recklessly causing serious injury with gross violence. People guilty of these offences will be jailed for a minimum non-parole period of at least four years, except in special circumstances such as mental illness.

The man who killed Shannon McCormack has never been identified, despite a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest – Dan Oakes