A man has been charged over the alleged possession of child abuse material as part of an ongoing investigation into child sex offences.

Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad established Strike Force Doyle to investigate child sex offences and child abuse material uncovered during an investigation into an online paedophile ring.

During the previous investigation, police seized a computer tablet and a mobile phone, which allegedly contained child abuse material, and identification and bank cards.

As a result of further inquiries, a 42-year-old man was arrested at Goulburn Police Station yesterday (Tuesday 21 June 2016), and charged with two counts of possess child abuse material and receive property stolen outside NSW.

He later appeared at Goulburn Local Court and was formally refused bail to appear at Lismore Local Court on 15 August 2016.

Inquiries are continuing.

A state-wide campaign aimed at mobilising members of the public in the fight against ‘ice’ will arrive in The Hume Local Area Command (LAC) today.

The ‘Dob in a Dealer’ campaign has been initiated and funded by the Commonwealth Government, and is currently taking place in States and Territories across Australia.

In NSW, the campaign is being held in 21 LACs across the state, over a six-month period between March and September 2016.

It will run in each LAC for two weeks, during which police and Crime Stoppers will conduct community-engagement activities designed to educate the public on the dangers of illicit drugs and how they can show their support for the campaign.

These activities will also highlight the important role members of the public have in helping police to shut down drug-manufacturing syndicates and arrest drug suppliers.

During the campaign, residents across The Hume LAC will be urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the online portal, where they can report drug-dealing activities anonymously.

While members of the public are encouraged to report any prohibited-drug activity via Crime Stoppers, the focus of the ‘Dob in a Dealer’ campaign is the production, distribution and use of ‘ice’ (crystal methylamphetamine).

Police have charged two men after search warrants targeting drug and firearm offences in the state’s south.

Strike Force Plumb was formed by the Albury Drug Unit to investigate persons involved in methamphetamine supply in the Albury area.

About 1pm on Friday (17 June 2016), police from the Strike Force executed a search warrant at an address on Prune Street, Lavington.

Inside the home officers allegedly located an amount of amphetamine, cash, a BB, gun and ammunition, mobile phones, as well as drug paraphernalia.

About 1.10pm the same day, police arrested a 24-year-old man while he was reporting for bail at Albury Police Station.

Following his arrest, police executed a search warrant at his home on Chenery Street, Glenroy. Inside the home, police allegedly located an amount of drug precursor material.

About 2pm, police attended another property in Bowna, where they arrested a 23-year-old man.

Inside the home police allegedly located firearm components, as well as an amount of methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia.

Further information led police to a storage facility in Airport Park, where they allegedly located a shortened firearm, ammunition, an amount of crystal methamphetamine (‘ice’), as well as an amount of cash.

As a result of these warrants, the 24-year-old man was charged with over 40 drug supply charges, as well as possess shortened firearm, proceeds of crime offences, and police pursuit, which relates on an incident on 11 May 2016.

He was refused bail to appear at Albury Local Court tomorrow (Monday 20 June 2016).

The 23-year-old was charged with five counts of supply prohibited drug, possess shortened firearm, give shortened firearm to other, and possess prohibited drug.

He was also refused bail to appear at Albury Local Court tomorrow (Monday 20 June 2016).

Investigations by the Strike Force continue and further charges are likely.

Police are investigating following a serious crash near Goulburn today.

About 12.40pm (Monday 13 June 2016), emergency services were called to The Hume Highway Bypass, south of Goulburn, following reports of a single-vehicle crash.

Police have been told a Toyota Land Cruiser towing a caravan was travelling south when it hit a guardrail and rolled.

The four occupants of the Toyota – the male driver, female passenger and two boys – aged six-weeks-old and four – were injured.

The female passenger sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to Canberra Hospital.

The six-week-old boy was taken to Canberra Hospital by NSW Ambulance Paramedics in a serious but stable condition.

The male driver and four-year-old boy received minor injuries and were treated at the scene.

All southbound lanes on the Hume Highway are closed while police from the Crash Investigation Unit conduct inquiries into the incident.

Traffic diversions are in place.

For the latest information visit www.livetraffic.com.

A man will appear in court today charged over the alleged murder of a teenager at Wagga Wagga last night.

About 8pm yesterday (Tuesday 7 June 2016), police and emergency services were called to a home on Acacia Street, Kooringal, responding to reports of a stabbing.

On arrival, officers located a 16-year-old teenage boy suffering multiple injuries.

The boy was treated by NSW Ambulance Paramedics but died at the scene.

Officers from Wagga Wagga Local Area Command established a crime scene and commenced an investigation.

A short time later, police were told about a man who left the scene, then allegedly stole a car from Tichbourne Crescent.

A 29-year-old man was arrested about 11pm in Big Springs, 20km south east of Wagga Wagga, after police located a stolen Toyota. He was taken to Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital where he was checked before being released into police custody.

The man was taken to Wagga Wagga Police Station and charged with murder and aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence.

He was bail refused to face Wagga Wagga Local Court today (Wednesday 8 June 2016).

Police are appealing for information after a woman was robbed at a shopping centre in Albury earlier this week.

About 4pm (Friday 3 June 2016), a man approached a 21-year-old woman and her son in a food court at a shopping centre on Olive Street, Albury.

The man took her mobile phone from her hands after a struggle.

The woman suffered minor injuries as a result; however she did not require treatment.

Police have been told that the man ran away and was chased by three witnesses. The witnesses stopped the man in David Street and retrieved the woman’s phone.

Officers from Albury Local Area Command are investigating the incident.

As part of their ongoing inquiries, police have now released CCTV images of a man they believe may be able to assist them.

The depicted man is described as being Caucasian, aged about 20.

He was last seen wearing a red baseball-style jacket with ‘Red Sox’ across the front, black trackpants with ‘Adidas’ written down the left leg in large lettering, black and white runners (possibly ‘Nike’), a black hood under a jacket and a black cap.

THE MacKillop football side fell just short at last week’s NSW Primary Football carnival, but it didn’t mean there was nothing to celebrate for some of the team’s young stars.

Hunter Galvin, 12, and Ben Parker, 11, will represent St Patrick’s Primary in Holbrook as part of the NSW Primary Schools sports Association’s state Australian Rules football team.

They’ll be joined by Corowa Primary School’s Ryan Beveridge and The Scots School’s Harrison Podmore-Taylor, who Riverina and MacKillop as the quartet enjoyed stand out campaigns at the carnival in Tomaree last week.

The Riverina side finished second at the state-wide carnival, enjoying big wins over Polding, MacKillop and Sydney West as it progressed to the grand final.

The Riverina boys put in a gallant performance though defeated in the grand final, going down to the Combined Independent Schools team 8.3.(51) to 3.7.(25).

The state team will be coached by Lavington’s Kade Stevens.

The Heritage truck movement in Australia is alive and well, if the successful bi-annual running of Crawlin’ the Hume, held in mid-March, is anything to go by. A convoy of 235 vehicles travelled from Melbourne to Albury along the old Hume Highway on 16 April, passing through towns including Wallan, Euroa and Chiltern, all of which have long been bypassed by the modern Hume Freeway.

With trucks over 25 years old being eligible for the historic run, vehicles spanning over 60 years of transport heritage made the run north, with many truck brands no longer regularly seen on Australia’s highways being represented.

These included Deutz, Foden, Commer, Diamond T and Atkinson, with a number of prime movers hooked up to bogie and spread-axle trailers and loaded with historic cars and machinery. Some old transport names were also represented by participants with rigs sporting signage and paint schemes from Post’s Transport, Ansett Freight Lines and Vaughan Transport.

Crawlin’ the Hume is intended as a casual friendly event, with participants making the 300-odd kilometre trek at a steady pace. After assembling at the Ford factory on Sydney Road in Campbellfield the convoy made its way out of the Victorian capital and up over Pretty Sally at Wallan on to Kilmore and up to Seymour.

Participants stopped at the Winton Motor Raceway just out of Benalla for a lunch stop, which drew plenty of interested onlookers. Continuing north the group made its way up through Springhurst, Chiltern and Barnawartha to the Albury Racecourse for the overnight stop.

Early on the Sunday the morning air was disturbed by the brutal sound of air-starters firing up the trucks as participants made their way home, with almost half coming from Sydney, along with other participants as far afield as Brisbane and Tasmania.

Kelvin and Rodney Boyle, from Western Victoria, ran their Cummins Big-Cam powered Atkinson and they enjoyed the run up Highway 31. The refurbished Atkinson has not long been back on the road and were making their first Crawlin’ the Hume run with the father and son team hauling a Massey tractor and 1953 Bedford on a trailer, both of which have also been restored in their workshop in Mepunga.

“We thought we would put the truck and the tractor on the back to give her a bit of traction!” grinned Rodney Boyle.

Historic truck enthusiast Rob French, who owns a 1964 Peterbilt, along with Roger Marchetti and Trevor Davis put together the 2016 event, the third such one held, and was delighted with the turnout, with over 100 more participants than the last run in 2014.

Whilst not affiliated with any particular truck club, celebrating transport heritage and the old days of the Hume Highway is one of the aims of the organisers – “The whole idea originally was to unite the truck clubs” Rob said. We try to get every club’s colours here, it doesn’t matter what truck you have, it’s just to get together and have some fun.

“The Crawlin The Hume team work closely with the New South Wales based Haulin’ The Hume group, who stage a similar run from Sydney to Yass every other year, whilst a new event being organised by the Wauchope Yesteryear Truck and Machinery Club, from Beresfield to Wauchope, Pacin’ The Pacific is scheduled for later this year.

After the success of the 2016 event, the next Crawlin’ the Hume event is scheduled for April 2018 and planning has already begun. “We’re planning now…it began last night!” smiled Rob French on the Sunday morning, as a B-Model Mack growled its way past out of the Albury Racecourse on its way home.

THE Wangaratta Clay Target Club is believed to be the cause of contamination that prompted closure of the neighbouring sports complex.
Tests to determine whether lead contamination has reached water supplies in the area are expected to produce results within the next three days.

The environmental hazard came to light little more than two weeks ago when Wangaratta Council moved to close down the city’s Clay Target Club and North Wangaratta Sporting Complex.

It is unlikely the Hawks Football Netball Club will be able to use its home facilities for the rest of the season.
Alternative venues for games and training purposes have been sourced through AFL North East Border.
The Environmental Protection Authority could not determine the risk to community members who had previously used the venues until further testing had taken place.
The two sets of soil sampling taken by the authority both returned a lead presence above the recommended level on the eastern side of the field.

The council tested water samples from rain water tanks and bores at the Vine Hotel and Wangaratta Rifle Club, which were both negative for lead contamination.
The EPA also took water samples from bores within a one kilometre radius of the football oval late last week, with the results expected in the next few days.
EPA North East manager Clare Kiely said groundwater was now the focus.
Residents who used bore water were being advised to seek further advice.

“While some testing of water bores and rain tanks at the adjacent gun club and hotel have come back clear of lead, as a precaution, a number of bores within a one kilometre radius will now be tested,” Ms Kiely said.
“Goulburn Murray Water has told EPA bore water is not treated for human consumption and that advice should certainly be heeded while EPA’s investigations into lead contamination at the site are ongoing.”

The council has been liaising with users of both facilities and posting regular updates on its Facebook page.
Both sites remain cordoned-off with danger signs, road blocks and fact sheets at the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services.

For more information about the lead contamination, visit the council’s website at wangaratta.vic.gov.au/council/news/NorthWang.asp.

It was a fine day for driving. The air was clear and road dry, and the driver could see 200 metres ahead, to where the road began to curve upwards.

But Gerard Christian Degroot, 47, did not see the two cars pulled over, one after the other, on the side of the Hume Highway at Yass. He did not brake, or slow down, a court heard, but swerved to the right at the last minute.

It was not enough to avoid a collision, and the front left corner of his prime mover hit the first car and then 83-year-old Francis Paterson, who was leaning on the driver’s side, talking to the man behind the wheel.

His wife was in the first car, and his wife’s sister and her husband in the second.

Mr Paterson died as a result of the injuries he sustained on the morning of March 11, 2015.

On Friday, Degroot was sentenced to prison for two years and three months, with a non-parole period of 15 months. He will be eligible for release on August 26 next year.

In sentencing, Justice Phillip Mahony rejected a pre-sentence report that suggested Degroot did not feel remorse for the offence, and instead found him truly remorseful.

The report also said Degroot blamed in part the victim for the accident, for not pulling over far enough out of the left hand lane.

But Degroot pleaded guilty early on, and the court heard that in cross-examination he said: “I killed a man, and I am guilty.”

He said if he could replace the deceased, he would.

The accident was not the result of a momentary lapse of attention, the court heard. It was not because of speed or illicit substances, though cannabis and methamphetamine were detected in his blood. And it was likely not because he was on his phone, though he had been earlier on and while driving.

It was caused by a significant period of inattention or distraction, by a heavy vehicle licence holder who had driven the Hume Highway six times a week for 20 years, the court heard.

Degroot failed to keep a proper look out, Justice Mahoney said, and because of his experience there was a greater moral culpability.

A victim impact statement was tendered by Mr Paterson’s wife, and Justice Mahony said it was common sense that the loss of him would have had a significant impact on the lives of his family.

Degroot had a number of supporters who attended the District Court sitting in Queanbeyan on Friday, and he mouthed “I love you” to them as he was escorted from the court.