Court in the Act The West Australian

It began with a man, and then a boy. 

The massacre at Bondi Junction. And the stabbing of a bishop during a Wakeley church service. 

Both horrific actions were captured in real time, and the images of the knife, of the death, the horror the shock and the grief, then broadcast to the world. 

The mainstream media showed what they needed to amid the strict controls which govern what can be shown by an Australian media company. 

On social media – no such control.  

 Australia’s e-safety commissioner stood up and called for those images - to be taken down. X, formerly known as Twitter, refused. 

Dr Dana McKay, Associate Dean of Interaction, Technology and Information in the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University joins host Tim Clarke to walk through the Government vs Goliath legal battle currently playing out in the Federal Court.

For all the latest on courts and crime visit thewest.com.au. If you have a question for the team or cases you'd like explored, please get in touch. Email courtintheact@wanews.com.au 
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Just after 2am on October 12, 2023 an ambulance raced to WA’s main maximum security prison Casuarina.  

A 16-year-old boy had self-harmed inside his cell at the notorious Unit 18 – the juvenile facility located within the grounds of the adult prison.  

The teen was rushed to hospital where was put on life support. One week later, surrounded by family, he took his final breath.  

After his death was grief. From his family, his friends and the community.  

But there was also outrage. How could this happen? Calls for change became deafening shouts.  

An inquiry was held and the revelations uncovered shocked the state.  

That boy’s name was Cleveland Dodd.  

Senior reporter Rebecca LeMay joins host Tim Clarke to walk through the Coronial inquest into Cleveland’s death.

***A warning to our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander listeners, this episode contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died. This episode also contains content about suicide and self-harm and may be distressing. If you or anyone you know needs support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 ***
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Kimberley Heptinstall was 32, the life of party. Everyone’s friend. 

She and her partner Travis Barnard met online and got engaged in June 2017.  

Until, after a planned elective surgery, Kim lost her life. Suddenly, tragically. 

The loss devastated her family. And left her partner bereaved, and apparently grieving. 

What Barnard did on the day his partner died in 2019 led him into court this week. 

Actions that to anyone who has lost someone too young are hard to hear, and hard to believe. 

Criminal lawyer Damien Cripps joins Tim Clarke to discuss all aspects of the case. 

For all the latest on courts and crime visit thewest.com.au. If you have a question for the team or cases you'd like explored, please get in touch. Email courtintheact@wanews.com.au 
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Blood, violence and death seem to follow the name Edhouse. 

Father and son Andrew and Robert are both bikies and linked to a string of gruesome crimes – including the disappearance of Kalgoorlie woman Lisa Govan.

Andrew Edhouse, one of WA’s most notorious bikies in the late 90s,  was a member of one of the “most secretive” bikie clubs in Australia - the Club Deroes.

In the late 1990s Perth was in the grip of a war between the Club Deroes and the Coffin Cheaters.

One casualty was Coffin Cheater Marc Chabriere, shot dead in his car in Welshpool. Edhouse was accused of his murder but later found not guilty.

The son, Robert Edhouse was also a bikie - the Perth leader of a group called Aryan Nations.

The neo-nazi was convicted along with his lover Melanie Attwood of the brutal murder of her ex-partner Alan Taylor in 2016. A crime Harvey describes as “full metal psycho behaviour”.

The West Australian's chief reporter and Up Late host Ben Harvey joins host Tim Clarke to explore the violent worlds of two members of one family, which collided in one shocking courtroom outburst. 

And could come together again before a coroner in a few short months. 

For all the latest on courts and crime visit thewest.com.au. If you have a question for the team or cases you'd like explored, please get in touch. Email courtintheact@wanews.com.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It started as a way to create memories to last a lifetime. An experienced pilot, two excited 12-year-old girls and a family friend on a joy flight over Broome’s iconic coastline.

But it quickly turned into every parent’s worst nightmare as the Robinson R44 Raven chopper plunged to the ground seconds after take-off, right in front of their loved ones eyes.

On board that flight was award-winning tourism operator and Broome identity Troy Thomas, his daughter Mia, her school friend Amber Millar and education assistant and friend of the families Maddison Down.

Troy, who was piloting the helicopter and Amber were killed. Mia and Maddison left clinging to life.

A community was in shock and an investigation began.

What it revealed would shock the tourism industry and leave Amber Millar’s grieving family desperate for answers.

The Nightly’s investigative journalist Kristen Shorten joins Tim Clarke to unpack the case.

For all the latest on courts and crime visit thewest.com.au. If you have a question for the team or cases you'd like explored, please get in touch. Email courtintheact@wanews.com.au 
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Versace is a name dripped with glamour, and wealth, and glitz, and fame. 

But the reality of the death of a man who bore it was a lot grimier than the Italian fashion house which made it famous.  

Joseph Rodney Versace. A man with bikie links. Shot in the head. Dead – in a shed, north of Perth. 

The gunman, Joshua Duperouzel, also with bikie links, made his escape in a black Beemer with the number plate ‘666’. 

And he stayed on the run for days, before turning himself in the most bizarre way.

Former court reporter for Seven News Perth Syan Vallance joins host Tim Clarke to break down the case of The State of Western Australia vs Joshua Colin Duperouzel.

For all the latest on courts and crime visit thewest.com.au. If you have a question for the team or cases you'd like explored, please get in touch. Email courtintheact@wanews.com.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.