UK teacher tells of Kruger elephant attack

A BRITISH teacher who suffered a serious leg injury when an elephant tore through her car in South Africa has told how she desperately tried to drive away.

Sarah Brooks, who works at the Sir John Gleed School in Lincolnshire, and her South African fiance Jans de Klerk, were attacked by the elephant as they drove through the Kruger National Park on December 30.

The couple have now returned to England after Brooks spent more than a week recovering from a pelvis fracture and stitches to her right leg after the elephant's tusk pierced it.

The pair have received death threats since footage of the attack - which they say was heavily edited to make it look as if they drove towards the animal - went viral.

The 30-year-old science teacher told the Daily Mail she "completely freaked" as the elephant stormed towards them and in her panic was unable to find reverse in the hire car.

The couple then resorted to stopping, turning off the ignition and looking at the ground, but seconds later the elephant rammed into them.

"The next thing I heard was Jans screaming at me: 'Drive! Drive!'," Brooks said.

"I somehow managed to turn the engine on, Jans found reverse, but just as I got it going, the elephant tipped us up.

"Then he crushed the undercarriage by ramming it with his head, and the key snapped out of the ignition. 'I remember thinking, 'We're never going to be able to drive away now' - and the next thing I knew we were rolling.

"At that moment, your life flashes through your head. I thought, 'We've only been together a year-and-a-half, life's good. Why now? Why the hell now? It just isn't fair.' I didn't know if either of us would live."

She recalled how the bull elephant twice missed her when his tusks ripped through the car before one pierced her leg leaving her streaming with the blood.

De Klerk, who was left unhurt, managed to pull her across to his side of the car, from which the elephant finally walked away only after pushing it up against a tree and smashing the windscreen.

The incident was captured on film by tourists in a car behind, but they drove off after the attack believing the pair to be dead.

The distressed couple, who feared attacks from other animals, waited for help after phoning de Klerk's brother but it was 25 minutes before a helicopter landed.

"They took me to a doctor, where I was patched up before being taken to a hospital to check for internal injuries," Brooks said.

"In the back of the ambulance, I said to Jans: 'I don't want ever to spend another day apart from you.' He said: 'Marry me then?' I said: 'Yes.'"

She told the newspaper that she pleaded with the tourists not to publish the footage, but days later an edited version went viral.

The male elephant, who was believed to be a risk to other tourists, was destroyed after the incident.

The animal had been "on musth", a periodic condition where testosterone levels rise and elephants become more aggressive, and had fought with another elephant earlier that day.

The couple said park rangers told them they were "just unlucky" and had done nothing wrong.

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Jury sides with Love in trial over tweet

A US jury has rejected a defamation case against Courtney Love over a Twitter post that suggested one of her lawyers had been "bought off" for not pursuing a lawsuit over her late husband's estate.

The verdict came after roughly three hours of deliberation in a case that spanned eight days and focused on the Hole frontwoman's postings on the social networking site.

The case centred on one 2010 post that suggested that San Diego lawyer Rhonda Holmes had been "bought off" and that was why she wasn't representing the singer anymore.

Love had hired Holmes to file a fraud case against the estate of her late husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The lawyer contended during the trial that she was fired by Love and that the tweet and other statements the singer made against her have caused her substantial damage.

Love's tweet stated, "I was (expletive) devastated when Rhonda J Holmes Esq of san diego was bought off" in response to a question from user of the popular social media site.

The message was never meant to be public, Love told jurors. She said she meant for it to be sent as a direct message, which only the recipient would see, but it instead went public and was quickly deleted.

The swift verdict wasn't witnessed by Love, who had left court after closing arguments ended on Friday morning. She arrived just as the courthouse was closing down and met her lawyers, John Lawrence and Matthew Bures, in the hallway where she hugged them both.

Love praised her lawyers and the jury after the verdict. Asked about her social media presence, Love said she refrained from posting on Twitter during the trial. "I didn't tweet out of respect for the case," she said.

While the case was billed as the first "Twibel" trial in which Twitter and libel law intersected, Lawrence said it was tried by the same rules as traditional defamation cases.

Jurors determined that Love's tweet included false information, but the musician didn't know it wasn't true.

Holmes lawyer Mitchell Langberg said the jury's verdict meant the panel determined Love's statement was defamatory, but the singer couldn't be held liable for it. Holmes' side asked the panel to award $8 million in damages and send a message that false statements online had consequences.

Langberg said that while his client was disappointed with the verdict, her reputation was upheld and the world now knows that Love's statements were false.

"At the end of the day, her biggest asset in life is her reputation," Langberg said. "That she got back today."

Love's social media postings have gotten her into trouble several times.

In 2011, she agreed to pay $US430,000 to fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir over statements she posted on Twitter and Myspace.

Simorangkir sued Love again last year, alleging the musician libelled her when Love accused Simorangkir of theft on the Howard Stern's radio show and taunted her on the social media site Pinterest.

The case is pending, but Love said she's trying to be more careful about her online musings than she was when she tweeted about Holmes.

"I don't tweet like I did back then," Love said on Friday.

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Govt 'creating' welfare crisis: Labor

LABOR has accused the Abbott government of "manufacturing" a welfare crisis ahead of a planned crack down on young people claiming the disability pension.

Under federal government plans to overhaul the welfare system, young people who are deemed partially fit to work will no longer be able to claim disability welfare payments, News Corp Australia reports.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said under the previous Labor government, young Australians were able to claim the disability pension despite their condition being minor.

Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite rejected the claim, saying the number of people on the disability pension actually decreased between 2012 and 2013.

He said there was no need for a planned overhaul of the welfare system because Australia didn't have a welfare problem.

"They are creating and manufacturing a crisis to ensure they look like they are a government that is doing something," he told Sky News on Saturday.

The federal government is facing criticism for excluding aged pensioners, who make up the majority of the welfare expenditure, in its welfare payments review as it grapples with a budget deficit.

Finance Minister Mathias Corman said increasing workforce participation among younger people claiming the disability allowance was part of the government's agenda to reduce the budget bottom line.

"We don't think that people with temporary health conditions should be put onto the Disability Support Pension for the remainder of their working lives," he told Sky News.

"We want to help people who are able to work back into the workforce. We think that is good for them and it's obviously good for the country."

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Church official amends commission evidence

A SENIOR church official has revised his evidence to the Royal Commission on Child Sex Abuse following a flurry of late night emails with a law firm representing the Catholic Church.

Michael Salmon, director of the Catholic Church's NSW/ACT Professional Standards Office, said on Friday he wanted to submit a supplementary statement to assist the commission.

He was contacted on Thursday evening by law firm Gilbert + Tobin and asked to clarify statements he made about a mediation session with an abuse victim who had concerns the Marist Brothers knew of and did nothing about abuse at a Cairns college.

A string of emails between the law firm and Mr Salmon, which culminated in him agreeing to a revised statement at about 9pm (AEDT) on Thursday night, were examined by the commission on Friday.

During a public hearing into Towards Healing, the internal church process for dealing with abuse complaints, it became an issue whether a Marist brother lied at a mediation session for a man referred to as DK about what he knew about a brother who has since been jailed.

Mr Salmon facilitated the 2010 session with DK, who was sexually molested when he was a student at the St Augustine's Marist College in Cairns in 1976.

Evidence from Mr Salmon on Wednesday and Thursday suggested that the conversation DK had with former college principal Brother Gerald Burns and another clergy member covered what they knew of inappropriate behaviour by Ross Murrin in relation to DK and other boys.

Murrin was jailed in 2008 for offences against children at Sydney schools. He had been moved to Rome by the order in 2002 but voluntarily came back in 2007 to face charges.

In his evidence on Thursday, Br Burns told the commission DK never asked him about offences against other boys but only about his own situation.

Br Burns also said a file note from Mr Salmon written after the mediation session which suggested otherwise was inaccurate.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan asked Mr Salmon if lawyers told him during the Thursday night exchanges whether there was an issue as to whether Br Burns had told DK the truth.

Mr Salmon said he had not been told that.

He said that he wracked his brains for further recollections of whether the discussion had been about just DK, or other students and could only remember the discussion was all about DK.

Justice McClellan reminded Mr Salmon that he had asked him twice during his original evidence about the context of the conversation between DK and the brothers.

"I put it to you it was beyond DK and you said 'Yes, Yes'," he said.

He said DK was also concerned that the brothers had not helped Murrin, who he saw as a sensitive person, and this was the context of his "beyond DK" responses.

Mr Salmon said he was aware DK had broader concerns about whether the brothers had knowledge of the abuse at the school but left it to him to raise it at the mediation meeting because DK had come to the session with detailed notes and was "not a shrinking violet".

DK had left the mediation happy and on good terms with the brothers, he said.

Mr Salmon told senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness he had taken the advice of the lawyers when they rejected his suggestions for amendments as not relevant to the statement because it did not alter what he was trying to say.

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Tasered man sent for mental assessment

Kevin Spratt, who was tasered by police in a Perth jail, has been charged with assaulting police. Source: AAP

THE Perth man who made global headlines after being repeatedly tasered by two policemen has been remanded for a week-long mental assessment, after being charged with assaulting and obstructing officers.

Lawyers for Kevin Spratt said a week in which former senior constables Aaron Grant Strahan and Troy Gregory Tomlin had been convicted of assaulting him five years ago had "taken a considerable toll".

On Thursday night, Spratt was arrested in Brookdale on suspicion of having committed several assaults, along with an aggravated assault in Cloverdale.

Spratt, 44, will face four charges of assaulting a public officer, two charges of obstructing police, one count of assault occasioning bodily harm, two charges of stealing, and one count of aggravated burglary.

Officers who responded to the incident on Thursday night reportedly drew their tasers, while a police dog was also in attendance.

A brief appearance in Perth Magistrate's Court saw Spratt sent to the Frankland Centre - Perth's maximum-security psychiatric hospital - until another appearance next Friday.

The court was told Spratt was not well enough to be read the list of charges.

Lawyer Mal Cook said outside court his client was "obviously not well".

His arrest came the day after Magistrate Richard Bromfield had found Spratt had been unlawfully assaulted in the East Perth watch house on August 31, 2008 after he refused a strip search.

Strahan, 45, and Tomlin, 34, were on Wednesday given suspended jail terms and fined after being convicted in Perth Magistrates Court of unlawfully assaulting Spratt.

CCTV footage showed Mr Spratt crying out as the constables tasered him nine times in just over a minute.

While defence lawyer Karen Vernon had asked the magistrate to impose a good behaviour bond or a fine, Magistrate Bromfield said imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence.

Tomlin and Strahan were given eight-month prison sentences, suspended for six months.

Tomlin also received a $3800 fine while Strahan must pay a fine of $3250.

A spokeswoman for WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said one or both of the officers were considering appealing their convictions, while the police union criticised the verdict, saying they had been "wrongly convicted".

"Officers should not be backed into a corner like this. They should be able to use all reasonable force options required in the circumstances and should not be scared to use their taser when needed," president George Tilbury said.

Spratt said this week he was seeking compensation for the incident.

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Melb wheel to turn again after shutdown

MELBOURNE'S troubled observation wheel is expected to turn again on Saturday after it shut down just weeks after reopening.

A software problem caused the Melbourne Star to close on Friday.

Technicians are now conducting final tests on the wheel and it is expected to reopen by 10am (AEDT) on Saturday, but it could even be open as early as Friday night.

Chris Kelly from the Melbourne Star Management Group said the wheel would be open for the Australia Day long weekend.

"Since opening on December 23 last year, Melbourne Star has welcomed in excess of 40,000 guests and we apologise sincerely for any inconveniences caused to our guests today," Mr Kelly said in a statement.

The 120-metre high Melbourne Star initially closed in January 2009 when a three-day heatwave caused the brace and supports to buckle and crack only a month after it opened.

Mr Kelly insisted in December the wheel was not a rebuild of the troubled former wheel, but a completely new wheel.

Just days after it reopened, one of the big wheel's 21 cabins was taken out of service while Victoria's workplace safety authority investigated a safety complaint.

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I never meant to hurt anyone: mall gunman

THE gunman who sent Brisbane's central pedestrian mall into lockdown last year says he never meant to hurt anyone.

Lee Matthew Hillier, 35, told the Brisbane District Court he had no reason to cause fear to innocent bystanders when he took an unloaded semi-automatic pistol to the Queen Street mall on March 8, 2013.

Wearing a suit, the prisoner told his sentencing hearing on Thursday he had relapsed back into drug addiction following his last stint in prison and "things just spiralled out of control".

"I wasn't in there to harm anybody," he said from the dock during an at-times rambling statement.

"To stand there with an empty handgun and to have 30 police stand there with revolvers facing you is very, very confronting."

Hillier, who has remained in custody since the incident, said that leading up to the standoff his best friend "blew his own head off" in a siege but he wasn't going to "sit there and make excuses".

"I'd just like you to take into account that I am standing here and take responsibility for my own actions," he told Justice Terry Martin.

Workers and shoppers fled Queen Street when the heavily tattooed Hillier produced a gun, sending the mall and surrounding businesses into lockdown.

The 90-minute stand-off ended when police shot the shirtless gunman with a combination of non-lethal and live rounds.

Witness statements read to the court said during the stand-off Hillier had appeared agitated, had often pointed the gun at himself and seemed to be frothing at the mouth.

"Get away or I will kill myself," he yelled at one stage according to a witness statement read out by defence barrister Simon Hamlyn-Harris.

Mr Hamlyn-Harris said his client had been at "rock bottom" that day and submitted a psychiatric report that detailed Hillier's disadvantaged background and psychological factors.

Prosecutor Belinda Merrin outlined a lengthy criminal history that included several convictions for weapon and drug possession and a string of traffic offences.

Less than two months before the siege he had blown some of his own fingers off with a homemade shotgun.

The prosecutor said Hillier's propensity for carrying weapons in public meant he was a serious danger to community safety.

Hillier pleaded guilty to a dozen serious charges including assaulting police while armed, going armed to cause fear, and dangerous conduct with a weapon.

Some charges related to the earlier incident when he blew his fingers off.

He also pleaded guilty to a string of traffic offences and breaching bail conditions.

Justice Martin is due to pass sentence on Friday morning.

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Problems pile up for security contractor

THE list of embarrassments besetting security contractor Serco is growing on a daily basis, including prisoners and asylum seekers breaking out of custody under their officers' watch.

It emerged on Thursday that a shackled prisoner was left unguarded at Royal Perth Hospital after one guard went to the toilet and another left the room because he didn't want to be alone with the inmate.

That came hours after a young Vietnamese asylum seeker escaped from the same hospital and was recaptured after a city-wide manhunt that lasted about two hours.

And on Monday, four male Vietnamese asylum seekers escaped from the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre at Northam, east of Perth, but were quickly recaptured.

It was the fourth break out from the facility since mid-August.

Two of the 14 detainees that have broken out during this period are still on the run.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has made his displeasure at Serco clear and on Wednesday revealed he had asked for a reassessment of Yongah Hill detainees so that those at high risk of escaping were placed at a different facility.

A spokeswoman for Mr Morrison said the latest incident involving the young Vietnamese man would "be added to those issues already being reviewed by the government as a result of previous instances of escape".

Earlier this month, rapist Cameron John Graham and fellow inmate Kelden Edward Fraser managed to abscond from Serco's custody by kicking out the door of a prison van at Geraldton airport as they were being transferred to Perth.

They were found 72 hours later at a bush camp near Mullewa.

And on Friday, burglar Bradley John McIntosh-Narrier escaped from Joondalup Health Campus while under Serco's watch.

Guards had removed his handcuffs when he asked to use the toilet, where he ripped a towel rail from the wall to threaten them with before smashing up the room and climbing out through the ceiling.

The Community and Public Sector Union says the WA government needs to reassess its contracts with Serco, which it says does not have enough staff to properly undertake them.

"We are seeing the company saying yes to a raft of different government contracts, getting the money but then failing to deliver," branch secretary Toni Walkington said.

"They are taking on these services that were handled competently by public servants and are then being stretched to the limit and don't have enough staff to get the job done because they are trying to do them as cheap as possible."

In a statement on Thursday, Serco said the officer who left the prisoner unsupervised in hospital while his colleague went to the toilet has been suspended and might be sacked.

The company is investigating the incident, which came to light after complaints from hospital staff last weekend.

"At least two officers are assigned to each hospital sit, which allows for each of them to take comfort and refreshment breaks while the other remains with the prisoner," it said.

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WA bushfire threatens homes in Kwinana

A BUSHFIRE is threatening homes in Kwinana, as emergency authorities upgraded the warning level to a full-scale emergency.

A bushfire watch-and-act alert has been issued for people in Kwinana Beach, east of Rockingham and Patterson roads to the railway line in the City of Kwinana.

There is a possible threat to lives and homes from a fire approaching the area and conditions are changing.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said people in the area need to leave or get ready to actively defend property.

People in the eastern part of Leda, Calista and Medina in the City of Kwinana have been told to act immediately to survive. There is a threat to lives and homes.

The fire started between Gentle Road and Wellard Road. It is burning towards the Kwinana Golf Club.

Homes in Westbrook Street will be under threat by fire in one hour. The bushfire is moving fast in a north easterly direction.

It is out of control and unpredictable, and spot fires are starting up to 100 metres ahead of the fire.

A number of roads have been closed

Thirty career and volunteer Fire and Rescue Service and Bush Fire Service firefighters were on the scene earlier, and aerial support has been sent to assist ground crews.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

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Large fire heading for Qld, NSW towns

A LARGE, uncontained fire is burning towards two communities on the NSW-Queensland border, and authorities are urging residents to evacuate.

People living around Maryland, in southern Queensland, and Cullendore, NSW, are being told to finalise their bushfire plans or leave their homes.

The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) says the blaze, which is burning near the Mt Linsday Highway and moving northeast, could hit both communities by about 10.45pm (AEST) on Wednesday.

Fourteen fire crews are working to contain the blaze, but firefighters say they may not be able to protect every affected property.

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