标签： Oceania

On Friday, convicted murderer Adrian Basham, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for killing his estranged wife Samantha Fraser one week before she was set to testify against him on rape allegations, brought his appeal case before Victoria’s Court of Appeal. The 49-year-old, who is required to serve a minimum 30-year term behind bars and will not be eligible for parole until 2048, twice disrupted the court proceedings, prompting a sharp rebuke from the bench and a formal warning that he could be removed from the courtroom if the outbursts continued.

During one disruption, Basham gestured toward a police informant in the court and demanded that officers check camera footage from July 20, but his legal team made no reference to any such footage during formal arguments, leaving the context of his claim unclear.

Fraser, a mother of three, left Basham in 2017, and was murdered in her Cowes home on Australia’s Phillip Island in July 2018. Court documents from the original 2023 trial lay out the brutal details of the premeditated killing: Basham lay in wait for Fraser after she dropped her children at school, attacked her in her garage, inflicting 41 separate blunt force injuries, then staged her death to look like suicide by hanging her from the garage door. CCTV footage captured Basham arriving at the property shortly before the murder and fleeing the scene just over an hour later. At trial, Basham admitted to the assault but claimed Fraser was still alive when he left, and that her death was ultimately a suicide; trial judge Justice Lesley Taylor dismissed this account as a blatant lie, or “palpable fiction”.

In the 2023 sentencing, Justice Taylor classified the killing as falling into the worst category of murder, noting that Basham targeted Fraser specifically because she had found the courage to leave him, protect their children from abuse, and speak publicly about the alleged rapes. “The steps that you took to disguise your presence on Phillip Island and stage a suicide scene shows that you had the arrogance to think that you would not be caught,” Taylor said in her sentencing remarks.

The core of Basham’s appeal centers on a claimed “fatal flaw” in the original trial’s jury instructions. His senior barrister, Dermot Dann KC, argued that while prosecutors only introduced Fraser’s three untested rape allegations to establish Basham’s motive for the killing, the trial judge’s final directions to the jury incorrectly invited jurors to decide whether the rape claims were actually true. While Justice Taylor had previously instructed the jury that the allegations were unproven and that jurors should not conduct their own independent fact-finding on the claims, Dann argued that the conflicting directions put the entire trial at risk of unfairness. “Think about the dangers associated with any juror coming to conclusion the allegations of rape were true – it would be devastating for a fair trial,” Dann told the appeal court.

Representatives for the Crown, led by barrister Stephanie Clancy, rejected the claim, arguing that Justice Taylor’s jury directions on hearsay evidence followed standard, orthodox legal procedure. Clancy contended that when read as a whole in the context of the entire trial, there was no meaningful risk that jurors misunderstood the instructions as an invitation to rule on the validity of the rape allegations. She added that the rape allegations were properly introduced as contextual evidence to prove Fraser’s well-founded fear of Basham, which explained why she would never have voluntarily let him into her home or approached her car if she knew he was waiting. Clancy also defended the life sentence, arguing there was no error in the original sentencing decision.

Members of Fraser’s family, including her father Trevor Fraser, attended the appeal hearing to observe the proceedings. The three-judge panel leading the appeal, led by Court of Appeal President Justice Karin Emerton, has reserved its decision and will deliver a judgment at a later, unspecified date.

A devastating mass shooting at a Thai high school just north of Bangkok has left four people dead and 15 others injured, according to Thailand’s Deputy Interior Minister. The attack, which unfolded Friday at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province, claimed the lives of two students and two teachers, Deputy Minister Polapee Suwunchwee confirmed to local public broadcaster Thai PBS. All 15 injured people were students who sustained harm not from direct gunfire, but from accidents during their panicked escape from the campus, Polapee added.

Law enforcement and local media have identified the shooter as a teenage student currently enrolled at the targeted school. Multiple sources confirm the suspect is also dead, though conflicting accounts have emerged about the circumstances of his death: some reports state that responding police officers shot and killed the teen, while others indicate he died by suicide.

Polapee noted that the attacker used a handgun in the assault, and the Interior Ministry has launched a full investigation into how the underage student obtained the illegal weapon. Photographs published by local Thai media outlets show the suspect dressed in the school’s purple uniform carrying a black cross-body bag, with multiple spent bullet casings scattered across the ground near the scene of the attack.

An AFP journalist stationed near the school reported that road traffic in the immediate area came to a near-standstill in the hours after the shooting, as panicked parents flooded the neighborhood to pick up their children following the lockdown and alert.

The tragedy has reignited long-simmering debate over gun control in Thailand, which boasts one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Southeast Asia. Current estimates put the total number of unregistered and registered firearms in circulation at roughly 10 million — meaning one firearm for every seven Thai citizens. Despite repeated past political pledges to tighten national gun regulations, high-profile mass shootings have continued to plague the country with alarming frequency.

Just this year in February, a teenage shooter opened fire at a school in southern Thailand, killing the principal and wounding two students before being arrested by police. That attacker, who had recently been discharged from psychiatric hospitalization, stabbed an on-duty police officer and stole his 9mm service pistol before carrying out the attack. The deadliest incident in Thailand’s modern history of mass violence took place in 2022, when a former police officer entered a nursery in the country’s north and murdered 36 people, including 24 children, before killing himself.

Speaking to reporters at Government House in Bangkok shortly after the shooting, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul expressed shock and sorrow over the attack. “It’s such a terrible incident. It should never have happened. How could this happen in our country?” the prime minister told reporters.

Thousands of miles from their native Arabian deserts, camels have become an unexpected, multifaceted fixture of life in Australia’s remote outback, evolving from 19th-century transport workhorses to key players in local agriculture, niche tourism, craft brewing and even outback racing.

First imported by British colonists in the 1800s to help traverse Australia’s harsh, arid interior, camels were released into the wild once motor vehicles rendered their transport services obsolete. Today, population estimates for these introduced animals range widely from 300,000 to one million, most of which roam freely as feral herds. Australian authorities note that unmanaged feral camels create a host of problems: they outcompete domestic livestock for limited food and water resources, destroy boundary fences, contaminate natural waterholes, and cause damage to sacred Indigenous cultural sites across the outback.

But for a growing cohort of Australian producers and entrepreneurs, domesticated camels have emerged as a valuable niche commodity that generates local income and even export revenue. Trade data from 2024 shows Australian camel meat exports surpassed $3.9 million, and as of 2026, 68 live camels have already been shipped to markets in Malaysia and Indonesia.

On Humpalicious Farm, located in the coastal South Australian town of Robe, former sea captain turned camel farmer Warwick Hill has built a small business centered on the unique benefits of camel dairy. “They’re very nice to work with. They’re very easily domesticated,” Hill explained in an interview with Agence France-Presse, between sessions cuddling his herd of dromedaries. “If you’re kind and fair with them, they generally reciprocate.”

Hill sells his camel milk for Aus$20 (roughly $14) per liter, and argues it offers far more health benefits than conventional cow’s milk, particularly for consumers with dairy allergies. “It’s one of the closest milks to human milk, and we haven’t met anybody that can’t have camel milk,” he said, positioning his product as a more natural alternative to “overprocessed” mainstream dairy options. While Hill believes the market for camel milk has massive untapped potential, high production costs have kept it out of reach for most consumers. Low milk output per animal and high labor costs push the retail price up, meaning the farm relies on complementary revenue from camel-focused tourism and homestay accommodation to stay afloat. Still, Hill remains optimistic: “Everybody would, once they tasted camel milk, prefer to drink it over anything else.”

Just down the road from Humpalicious, Robe Town Brewery has turned to camels for a truly one-of-a-kind craft beer collaboration. The brewery’s leftover brewing grain is used to feed Hill’s camels, and in turn, the camels’ dried dung is repurposed to smoke the malt that goes into the brewery’s signature porter, “Holy Smokes.” Bottled in dark brown glass adorned with a illustration of a camel dressed as the Virgin Mary, the 8.2% ABV brew is marketed as a “rich, dark and very smokey” beverage. Brewery head Maris Biezaitis is quick to address any potential customer hesitation about the unusual production method: “It doesn’t really taste like dung. In fact, it tastes and smells a bit more like a peat-smoked malt. Smoky beer.”

Further north in the remote outback town of Maree, roughly 370 miles north of Adelaide, camels take on another popular role: competitive racing. Each year, hundreds of spectators travel to the tiny town to attend the annual Marree Camel Cup, where the animals that once hauled freight across the desert now compete for the winner’s trophy. This year’s title went to Young Gun, ridden by jockey Patrick Dennis. For first-time competitor Joanne Bell, 55, who fell in love with camels while working at a petting zoo, camel racing fulfilled a long-held dream. “Always wanted to be a jockey but never had the opportunity to ride horses,” she said. “So camels was the next thing and a jockey’s a jockey, whether it’s a camel or a horse.” Fellow competitor Kyrraley Woodhouse said she loves the sport for its one-of-a-kind character. She explained the secret to picking a winning camel is all about personality: “You would want a little bit of temper, a little bit of fire in them. Something that’s got a heart, that’s going to run.”

Camel racing in Maree also carries deep historical roots: the first cameleers brought to Australia in the 1860s to open up the arid interior were mostly Muslim men from Afghanistan and other Central and South Asian regions, and many of their descendants still call the town home today. “It all revolved around the camels. The reason the camels were brought here was because they were so resilient,” said Greg Burk, whose great-grandfather migrated to Australia in the 1880s to work as a cameleer. “Camels are still dear to my heart.”

Back in Robe, Hill says he hopes his work showcasing well-tended domesticated camels will help change public perception of the animals that have become such an enduring part of outback history. “People come here and they see 50 well-behaved, very nice, cuddly, smoochy camels,” he said. “They’re quite a pleasant animal.”

A coordinated search operation by South Australia Police (SAPOL) at a coastal South Australian property has led to the arrest of two people and the seizure of an unlicensed stockpile of explosives, in a case that has raised serious public safety concerns in the region.

The raid was carried out on Thursday at a residential site located south of Kingston SE, a small coastal community roughly 300 kilometers south of the state capital Adelaide. What started as a planned search uncovered an initial stash of gunpowder and bomb detonators, prompting investigators to call in SAPOL’s specialist Bomb Response Unit to support the operation.

With the assistance of a detection sniffer dog, officers conducted extended searches of the property and uncovered additional hidden explosive materials that were not secured in line with state regulatory requirements and held no valid licenses. In total, authorities seized 18 detonators: 11 naval ordnance laboratory (NOL) devices and seven electrical detonators, alongside the seized gunpowder.

Following the completion of evidence gathering and initial investigations, SAPOL took two people into custody: a 48-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, both residents of Mount Gambier.

The 48-year-old man faces multiple firearms-related charges, including violations of a standing firearms prohibition order that legally bans him from holding or accessing weapons and explosive materials. He did not submit a bail application and is scheduled to appear before the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on the same day this report was published.

The 24-year-old female accused faces two separate charges: possession of unlawfully obtained ammunition and obstructing police officers in the course of their official duties. She has been scheduled to appear at the same Mount Gambier court on September 8.

The case underscores ongoing efforts by South Australian law enforcement to crack down on unregulated weapons and explosive materials, which pose significant latent risks to surrounding communities if left unsecured.