Services

Businessman shot dead.

POLICE were appealing for witnesses to the shooting death of a Sydney businessman who was killed in front of his young son outside their home on Sydney's lower north shore last night.
Cranbrook Avenue in Cremorne remains sealed off by police as they investigate the killing of Michael Loch McGurk, 46, who was found lying on the road beside his car.
His mother-in-law, Noreen McDonald, said her nine-year-old grandson ran to his mother Kimberly for help after the shooting.
"The little boy came running in screaming, saying 'Mummy, mummy, mummy, quickly, daddy''' Ms McDonald said at the scene.
"So she raced out; he was bleeding all over the place and passed away.''
Cremorne resident Lisa Norris said Mr McGurk's body was visible when she arrived home on Thursday night.
"His body was lying next to the car,'' Ms Norris said.
"Then after probably 15 minutes they put a sheet over him.''
She says she did not know what had happened when she first arrived.
"He was dead but I didn't know that he had been shot,'' she said.
"He just looked like he fell out of the car.''
Ms Norris says it was the last thing she expected to see when she arrived home.
"Yeah, it's a really quiet street, I mean it's a dead end,'' she said.
Mr McGurk's solicitor, who had been representing him in a property dispute, said his client was a " "terrific bloke''.
Mr McGurk was charged with firebombing houses but the charges were dropped two weeks ago.
A man who lives across the road said Mr McGurk's house had been under police surveillance.
"The cops have been here often,'' the neighbour told Fairfax Radio Network.
"It was weird last summer. They were parked there in a black four wheel drive outside my house with the motor running in the middle of summer.
"I went inside and rang the police and said `Hey, there's suspicious people here', they said `Don't worry sir, they're police'.''
Another neighbour, identified as Dennis, said Mr McGurk's family were popular residents.
"It's just devastating for the family,'' Dennis told Macquarie Radio.
He said he often spoke to the family and there had never been any kind of disturbance before.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

News.com.au

The rape and murder.

Jill Meagher was a 29-year-old Irish woman living in Australia who was raped and murdered while walking home from a pub in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria in the early hours of 22 September 2012.
Meagher's case was initially that of a missing person, as she had failed to return home to her husband, Tom Meagher.
Her disappearance attracted widespread media attention and a review of closed-circuit television images from the area of her disappearance.
Her body was discovered six days later at Gisborne South, about 50 kilometres from Brunswick.
The rape and murder of Jill Meagher, a 29-year old ABC Melbourne staffer, shocked the nation and sparked an outpouring of public grief. Theaustralian.com.au

Murdered in mansion.

THE wife of a Sydney doctor has believed to have been murdered inside the couple's multi-million dollar waterfront mansion.Police said the body of the 65 year old was found on Friday afternoon inside the Dick Street Mansion in the harbourside suburb of Henley.
The murdered woman is Shanoz Qidwai whose husband, Dr Khalid Qidwai operates a day surgery at Croydon.
Family friend Syed Zafar Hussain said Mrs Qidwai and her husband, Dr Khalid Qidwai, were "very good people" who had good relations with members of both the Indian and Pakistani communities.
The couple migrated to Australia 38 years ago and Mrs Qidwai worked as a receptionist at her husband's surgery in Croydon, in Sydney's inner west, Mr Hussein said.
"She was always helping poor people in the community and sending donations overseas also," he told AAP.
About 500 "very shocked and upset" people attended the grandmother-of-four's funeral at Lakemba mosque today, Mr Hussein said.
A post-mortem has been conducted but homicide detectives are yet to release any details relating to the cause of death.
Police said they had searched the home and the surrounding area, including parts of the Parramatta River.
"Investigators believe the murder occurred between 10am and 2pm last Friday, and we call upon any persons who may have been in the area to come forward," Detective Inspector Mick Sheehy said.
Neighbours reported hearing yelling and screaming coming from the home about midday on Friday, News Limited reported.
They said the couple had lived there for about 10 years.
Police divers have spent yesterday searching the nearby harbour for a murder weapon.
Neighbours reported hearing yelling and screaming coming from the home about midday on Friday.
The woman’s body was found about 3pm by a visiting relative.
Neighbours said the couple had lived there for about 10 years.
The home is called Burnham Castle and has a private beach and tennis court.
dailytelegraph.com.au

Armed ordeal in Sydney.

THE men who pressed a knife to the stomach of Sydney millionaire Salvatore Paino wanted one thing and they wanted it fast.
"Cash money, cash money," the two masked intruders demanded, before giving him just five seconds to hand over the keys to his safe.
Mr Paino, who lives in a mansion next door to billionaire Westfield boss Frank Lowy on exclusive Wolseley Rd at Point Piper, in Sydney's east, was the victim of a terrifying 35-minute home invasion yesterday.
Describing his ordeal, the frail 83-year-old hotelier told how he was asleep when the two men, dressed in dark clothes and balaclavas, broke in through a downstairs door about 2am.
Hotelier robbed at Point Piper home
He said he was woken and forced from his bed by one of the masked men, who threatened him with a knife.
The other bandit was armed with a sawn-off rifle.
"They asked me for 'cash money, cash money'," Mr Paino said.
The pair then told Mr Paino he had five seconds to hand over the keys to his safe or he would be shot.
Mr Paino said he gave the bandits several thousand dollars in cash but they insisted he open his safe.
They took gold rings and cufflinks and other jewellery from the safe, Mr Paino said.
During the robbery Mr Paino's Italian housekeeper and carer, 38, was tied up and threatened with the firearm.
Mr Paino, who is on oxygen due to a lung condition, said he does not know why he was targeted.
"People are just criminals and they need money," he said.
Aware of Mr Paino's frail condition, the robbers offered him a drink of water during the heist.
They also untied his housekeeper prior to fleeing the building so she could call police and provide medical assistance to the shaken multi-millionaire. The men left the home about 2.30am. Residents of one of the country's ritziest streets are reviewing their security following the home invasion.
Police and forensic experts examined the house and interviewed neighbours on the exclusive street, which houses some of Australia's most expensive real estate.
It is the latest in a string of crimes against wealthy hoteliers and comes just days after a corruption inquiry heard that his neighbour, developer Ron Medich, kept $55,000 in cash in his safe in 2005.
On July 31 last year millionaire hotelier Nick Feros feared for the safety of his wife Wendy and teenage daughter Kelsey when thieves broke into their waterfront home in Sylvania Waters and stole cash and his $235,000 Mercedes E63 AMG.
couriermail.com.au

Stabbed in heart.

LAZY J, the former X-Factor contestant and rising Sydney rapper stabbed in the heart after a brawl said he was only minutes a way from dying.
'"Another minute or two and I would have been dead," he told visitors from his hospital bed today.
"Luckily we were close to a hospital, that's what saved me.''
DJ rap duo, Lazy J (Jelal Edmonds) and Big Guy (Panapa Iafeta) had just performed at a pre-launch party for the release of their new single, Ecstasy , when trouble started inside the club early Sunday morning.
It's alleged a patron was kicked out of the VIP area of Club Eleven in Paddington and later confronted the rap pair in the street about 2am after they had finished their gig.
Mr Edmonds, 19, of Merrylands was allegedly stabbed in the heart and raced to St Vincent's Hospital in a critical condition.
"The first words out of his mouth after surgery was 'Can I still rap?,' said Mr Iafeta, 20, from Granville.
"He has made an amazing improvement considering how serious he was on Sunday.
"The reaction from the fans has been amazing and he can't believe the reaction."
The DJ-rap duo had recently begun to enjoy musical success, sparked by their appearance on the Channel 7 talent show in 2010.
"We were on X-Factor a couple of seasons ago and things were going great," Mr Iafeta said. "The next year we went back on as Hype."
With a growing following in the underground Sydney and Melbourne club scene the pair had planned to release the single on Sunday on YouTube and iTunes. The attack on Jelal has delayed the pair's plans for a bit.
"Soon as he is well enough we will be performing," said Mr Iafeta.
Two men have been charged with affray over the incident, granted conditional bail and ordered to appear in Central Court next month.
Mr Iafeta told yesterday how he saw Edmonds collapse "like he was in a slow motion movie".
"We were at Club Eleven and so happy about the single and had just got out in the street when it all happened.
"There was yelling and screaming and punches being thrown.
"Jelal came over to help and then there were people getting hysterical and before I knew it the police arrived.
"I looked over and Jelal was standing near a pedestrian crossing. He just sank down like he was in a slow motion movie. Then he lay on his back. When I got to him his eyes just kind of closed."
He said police saw blood on the street and asked people at the scene to check if they had been injured.
"That's when I saw he had this stab wound right near his heart," Mr Iafeta said.
He said his mate was really happy about the forthcoming release of their single.
"We have put it off. Now all I want to do is be near Jelal. He is like a brother to me."
A St Vincent's Hospital spokesman said: "He (Edmonds) was in a critical condition when he was brought in. It was touch and go.
"Now it's looking a lot better and he is in a serious but stable condition."
The stabbing comes as police, pubs, clubs and the state government attempt to clamp down on street violence in the wake of the death of Thomas Kelly in July, during a night out in Kings Cross.
Since the death, the government has banned double alcohol shots and vowed to crack down on venues and violence in the nightclub district.
Edmunds was rushed to St Vincents Hospital and underwent emergency surgery.
news.com.au

Bomb hoax.

THE horrific ordeal during which Sydney schoolgirl Madeleine Pulver had a hoax bomb chained to her neck is being treated by police as a genuine extortion attempt.
Ms Pulver spent more than 10 hours in terror after a balaclava-clad intruder broke into her Sydney home and fitted a fake bomb around her neck.
In a press conference this afternoon, NSW Police confirmed that they were treating it as a genuine extortion attempt and that the bomb carried a handwritten note
The note made no demands for money or action but said if she went to the police the bomb would be detonated, The Daily Telegraph reported.
She was also told by the man that any attempt to cut the wires would also detonate the bomb.
”The note made no demand in dollar terms or ask for any type of action. While it was articulate and coherent it didn’t seem to have any specific demands,’’ a police officer said.
"It did say don’t go to the cops or I will detonate. Don’t cut the wires or will detonate."
Police have refused to comment on speculation the demand letter contained references to the James Clavell novel Tai-Pan and that the extortionist signed his name as one of the main characters in the book, Dirk Struan.
Police don't have a description of the offender and are still processing evidence from the scene, said Robbery and Serious Crime Squad commander Luke Moore.
"Other than that, it's very early stages in the investigation," he said today.
"If there is something we can release later on we will do so."
The hoax sparked a tense, drawn out operation that ended shortly before midnight, when bomb disposal experts safely removed the device.
"(The device) was affixed to her by a chain or something similar, which eventually took us a fair while to remove ... and that added to the trauma that Madelaine experienced and prolonged," NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told ABC radio earlier today.
Madeleine holding up
Ms Pulver has emerged from her horrifying ordeal in good spirits, although she is "tired and sore" after holding the hoax bomb that was chained to her neck for 10 hours, her father William told the media this afternoon.
"From our family's perspective we are clearly extremely eager for our lives to return to normal," Mr Pulver told reporters in Sydney this afternoon.
"We have a daughter on the cusp of doing HSC exams ... our appeal to you is that you request our privacy after this and leave us to get on with our lives."
Mr Pulver, with his wife by his side, thanked everyone involved in the operation, including police, hospital staff and emergency workers.
"You are a wonderful group of people, you were an extraordinary support and comfort to my daughter last night," he said.
In particular, he said his daughter wanted to thank the officers who had stayed with her for many hours "with little regard to their own personal safety".
"They were an incredible comfort during a horrific ordeal."
Mr Pulver said he was proud of "Maddy" who was coping well.
"She has woken up this morning in pretty good spirits," he said.
"She is a little tired, a little sore from holding this damned device in place for about 10 hours."
Assistant Commissioner Murdoch said the device was "a very, very elaborate hoax".
"But it was made and certainly gave the appearance of a legitimate improvised explosive device," he said this morning.
"We had to treat it seriously until we could prove otherwise and that's exactly what we did and that's why it took so long."
heraldsun.com.au