分类： society

A high-profile Australian automotive industry leader has launched a rare private criminal prosecution against his former model girlfriend, alleging a series of targeted blackmail attempts that saw her demand as much as $16 million or an engagement to suppress damaging audio recordings.

Sean Buckley, executive chairman of national car service and roadside assistance provider Ultra Tune, has brought five formal blackmail charges against Jennifer Cruz Cole, his ex-partner and the mother of one of his children, which were officially filed with Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this Monday. Martin Amad, Buckley’s own solicitor, is leading the prosecution in the case, a unique arrangement permitted under Australian private prosecution rules that allow private citizens to initiate criminal proceedings instead of state law enforcement agencies.

Cole, who previously worked as one of Ultra Tune’s well-known “rubber girl” promotional models, appeared in court in person following the service of charges on April 12. She was not required to enter a plea at this early procedural hearing.

Court documents outline that between October 2019 and December 2020, when the former couple’s relationship was coming to an acrimonious end, Cole made five separate “unwarranted demands with menaces” against Buckley. The court ordered Buckley’s name be redacted from public charge sheets. The first charge details an October 2019 demand for $10 million, with a threat to damage the unnamed victim’s reputation via the high-rating current affairs program *A Current Affair*. The most serious allegation dates to late 2020, when Cole is accused of demanding either $16 million or a formal engagement agreement in exchange for withholding “reputationally damaging” audio recordings of the victim.

Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge confirmed during the preliminary hearing that the severity of the charges means the case will eventually be transferred to the higher County Court for trial, a process that requires the state Director of Public Prosecutions to formally approve and sign the indictment.

Cole’s legal team, led by barrister David Hancock, requested an interim gag order to temporarily block media from reporting case details, but the magistrate rejected the application, ruling a media ban would not be appropriate in this matter.

This prosecution is the latest in a string of overlapping legal disputes between the former couple, who dated from 2017 until their split in December 2020. Buckley and Ultra Tune currently have an ongoing civil claim before the Supreme Court against Cole, centered on her alleged publication of a secretly recorded conversation between the two that took place in a Crown hotel room in early 2020.

In a separate prior criminal matter, allegations that Buckley stalked, secretly recorded, and assaulted Cole in 2020 were dismissed by Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last August, four years after the claims were first filed. Buckley’s legal team has long maintained the allegations were a deliberate set-up by Cole.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Amad confirmed Buckley’s decision to pursue a private prosecution was a choice he was legally entitled to make, and that the case would proceed through the courts according to due process. Hancock has stated he will not make any public comments on the matter at this stage. The case is scheduled to return to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for a further procedural hearing on August 10.

A devastating shark attack has claimed the life of a 38-year-old Australian father of two, sparking an outpouring of grief and tributes from across Western Australia’s coastal community over the weekend.

Steven Mattaboni was spearfishing alongside a group of friends roughly one kilometer offshore from Horseshoe Reef, a popular spot located northwest of Perth’s iconic Rottnest Island, when the incident unfolded around 10 a.m. local time on Saturday. The massive predator, measuring approximately 4 meters (13 feet) in length, bit Mattaboni on his lower leg in what law enforcement has described as a horrific attack. He was around 20 meters from his anchored vessel when the attack occurred, leaving his friends to witness the traumatic event firsthand.

Mattaboni’s companions immediately rushed him back to shore in a desperate bid to save his life, but emergency responders were unable to resuscitate him. Western Australia Police will prepare a full report for the state coroner to formally document the circumstances of the fatality.

In a heartbreaking statement released after the attack, Mattaboni’s wife Shirene opened up about the irreparable loss her family has suffered, remembering her husband as an incredible parent to the couple’s two young daughters — a child turning three next month and a four-month-old baby. An avid fisherman who was deeply passionate about ocean life, Mattaboni “lived and breathed the water,” his wife said. “Fiercely loyal, endlessly generous, and the kind of man who would give you the shirt off his back,” she wrote. “The world has lost a truly one-of-a-kind gentleman, and our daughters have lost an incredible father far too soon. Our hearts are irrevocably broken.”

Tributes quickly extended beyond Mattaboni’s immediate family to the local community groups he was part of. The Kingsley Amateur Football Club, based in Perth’s northern suburbs where Mattaboni played for the team, remembered him as a much-loved friend to many members. “Mattas was one of the most genuine people you could meet,” the club shared in a public online post. “He had a smile and presence that could light up a room, and he will be remembered fondly by all who had the privilege of knowing him.”

Graham Henderson, president of the Australian Underwater Federation, the national peak body representing spearfishing enthusiasts, said the entire community was reeling from the unexpected loss. “My heart goes out to his family, the club members and the people who were supporting him out on that dive,” Henderson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Henderson noted that while spearfishing inherently carries some level of risk, the community works proactively to mitigate threats. For organized competitive events, safety protocols include on-site patrol boats and drone surveillance to spot sharks in surrounding waters before they reach divers. “But of course when people are doing it recreationally… that is probably when they are most vulnerable,” he added.

Reece Whitby, Western Australia’s police minister, acknowledged the courage and quick action of Mattaboni’s friends, who put themselves at risk to get him back to shore, as well as the first responders who attempted to save his life. “I want to acknowledge the diver’s friends who played a critical role in doing the best they could to bring him back to shore,” Whitby said Saturday. “They all witnessed a very confronting, disturbing and tragic scene.”

The WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has confirmed it received an official report of the attack by the 4-meter shark, marking another tragic reminder of the risks that come with recreational ocean activity along Australia’s well-known shark-populated western coast.

A high-profile legal dispute has erupted in Australia’s Supreme Court between former Carlton Football Club president Luke Sayers and his estranged wife Cate Sayers, centered on a viral explicit image scandal that played out on social media platform X earlier this year. The conflict centers on an explicit photo of Luke Sayers that was posted to his personal X account in January, which also tagged one of Carlton Football Club’s major sponsors. The image was taken down just 15 minutes after it went live, but not before it sparked widespread public and media attention across the country.

Both sides have vehemently denied responsibility for the post. Luke Sayers, who has stepped away from his leadership role at the AFL club, claims he could not have uploaded the image because he was showering at the time of the post. He has previously alleged that one day after the incident, Cate Sayers made comments implying she was behind the post, saying words to the effect of “let’s see how you get out of this one”. Cate Sayers has firmly refuted this accusation, noting she was not staying at the same hotel as her estranged husband when the post went live, and has outright denied sharing the image.

The legal fight has now expanded beyond who posted the photo to include cross claims of defamation, as well as a dispute over where the trial should be heard. Luke Sayers’ legal team, led by prominent barrister Matthew Collins KC, is pushing to have the case transferred to the family court division of the Federal Court. Collins argued in court that the original X post itself constitutes a defamatory act against his client, noting that Luke Sayers faced relentless negative media attention in the days after the image was published. A separate internal inquiry conducted by the Australian Football League (AFL) cleared Luke Sayers of any intentional wrongdoing in connection with the post.

For her part, Cate Sayers is pushing to keep the proceedings in the Supreme Court, and has launched her own defamation counterclaim. She argues that a statutory declaration submitted during the investigation into the X post defamed her, with legal representatives noting that the reputational damage she has suffered extends across the entire country. Last week, the *Herald Sun* revealed that Cate Sayers had issued formal subpoenas to both Carlton Football Club and the national AFL governing body as part of her case.

During opening procedural hearings on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Andrew Watson ordered a temporary closure of the court for early closed-door arguments over whether the full trial should proceed in open court. Watson previously ordered that live streaming of the proceedings be halted, after Collins argued that heightened public and social media attention around the salacious case could complicate fair judicial proceedings. While stressing that “we don’t want to exclude the media from being able to report”, Justice Watson also shared concerns that members of the general public attending the open trial may not be prepared for the explicit nature of the evidence and legal discussions in the case.

A violent car ramming incident in the northern Italian city of Modena that left eight pedestrians wounded has sparked political friction, even as the country’s top leaders rushed to visit victims and law enforcement worked to untangle the motives behind the attack.

The episode unfolded on Saturday afternoon, when a 31-year-old local man of Moroccan heritage drove his vehicle at high speed into a busy downtown street crowded with pedestrians and cyclists, according to official accounts and security footage broadcast by local media. After striking multiple people, the driver crashed into a storefront, colliding head-on with one woman who later required a double amputation. Four of the eight injured people remain in serious condition as of Sunday.

After attempting to flee the scene, the suspect was cornered by four bystanders who intervened to stop him. He pulled a knife during the confrontation and wounded one of the good Samaritans before being detained. Investigators later confirmed the driver is an Italian citizen and an economics graduate who had no prior criminal record. Authorities confirmed he had a documented history of mental health challenges: he received treatment at a local mental health facility in 2022 for schizoid disorders, but was lost to follow-up care after an initial observation period. Tests ruled out the influence of psychotropic substances at the time of the attack, and searches of his home near Modena have found no evidence of ideological radicalization, ruling out a terrorist link to date.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, head of the country’s far-right-led governing coalition, canceled a scheduled official trip to Cyprus to travel to Modena on Sunday alongside President Sergio Mattarella. The pair visited injured victims at local hospitals, and Meloni took to social media to praise the courage of the civilians who detained the suspect, calling the attack “extremely serious.”

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told reporters Sunday that early investigations point to the incident being driven by psychiatric issues, stressing that it appears to be an isolated, tragic event. “There are sometimes situations in which reasons overlap, so we will let investigators complete their work,” Piantedosi said. “But from what we know now, the city can be reassured that this is not part of a broader threat.” He joined other officials in commending the quick action of the civilians who stopped the suspect.

But even as investigators worked, political factions quickly moved to leverage the incident for their own policy goals. Far-right parties in Meloni’s coalition — including the League, led by Matteo Salvini — seized on the attacker’s migrant heritage to push for harsher immigration controls, even though he is a native-born Italian citizen. Salvini claimed the attack proved that integration of second-generation immigrants in Italy had “failed,” and the League called for new legislation to revoke residence permits from immigrants who commit crimes.

These moves drew sharp pushback from Modena’s center-left mayor Massimo Mezzetti, who pointed out that two of the four bystanders who stopped the knife-wielding suspect were Egyptian nationals. Mezzetti called on residents to gather for a unity rally in the city center Sunday evening, framing the event as a rebuke to bad-faith political actors. “We need to unite against those who want to divide and sow hatred,” the mayor said. “This is the best response to the vultures on social media who are trying to use this extremely serious incident for political ends.” Elly Schlein, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, also planned a visit to the city Sunday to meet with local officials and victims.