A man who sexually assaulted several women over a nine-month period in 2016 at night has confessed to his crimes.
Jean Barbarin, serial sexual assault predator, confessed to five indecent assault charges last Thursday in Central Local Court.
Barbarin would often attack his victims during the night-time and only attacked women who were by themselves. Barbarin’s home was a street away from his ‘hunting ground’, hence he was highly familiar with the area.
A catering manager in the day-time, Barbarin often attacked victims around the University of New South Wales and its neighbouring suburbs of Kingsford and Randwick after work.
With his first attack falling on the 5th of April, Barbarin carried out his serial sex crimes frequently until February 2017, assaulting even as much as three victims over the period of a week and a half.
He was apprehended last November and denied bail on the grounds that he was a community danger and has since been held in custody at a detention centre in Silverwater.
Barbarin’s first attack was on a middle-aged woman who had been walking to her parked car from the UNSW campus.
Police reports Barbarin forcing her arms to the sides of her body and covering her mouth with his hand before performing the indecent assault on her.
Barbarin ambushed another victim later in December, this time a younger student of UNSW in Kingsford.
Reports detail that Barbarin had forced the 25 year old against a wall before sexually assaulting her.
Barbarin also assaulted two victims as young as 18 years of age, students of UNSW who had been walking home in Randwick at the time of the act.
A 21 year old lady also became a victim of the assaults while walking on a Kingsford Street.
CCTV footage of the many sex crimes showed Barbarin wearing the same outfit of a hat with a camouflage style as well as a blue jumper. He also wore sunglasses.
A court meeting occurring last year saw the Frenchman described as a loving and caring father of one.
Barbarin’s lawyer at the time Philip Beazley provided the defence that the accused had been heavily under the influence of substances at the time of the crimes, and hence should be considered mentally unhealthy for legal proceedings.
Last Thursday, Les Mabbutt, Magistrate of the Local Court, accepted the guilty pleas of the accused on the five charges and refused his bail.
Barbarin will remain in custody until his sentence on the 6th of April.
A Victorian man who could not be identified has been sentenced to life after a brutal murder of his wife, involving gouging out her right eye and flushing it down the toilet in front of his children.
A sympathiser of the Islamic State, the Melbourne-based man was ordered a life sentence in prison following the murder of his wife back in 2016 in front of his three children aged 2, 4, and 6.
The Supreme Court, who described the act as “grotesque”, heard how the man gouged her right eye out of her eye socket and sliced two fingers off of her left hand before repeatedly slashing at her body with a knife.
At the time of the murder, their three young children had been forced to watch as their mother’s eye was cut out and flushed down the toilet as she was still alive.
Later on, they were forced to accompany their father as he drove to find a place to dispose the body. The man then drove the kids to a bakery to purchase bread using her debit card.
The body was found later in a bush near a home in Broadmeadows. She had been heavily wrapped in plastic and insulating tape, and her face and body (including her genitals) had sustained injuries. The cause of her death was ruled to be blood loss. The damages to her corpse had been so extreme that the police officers on the scene could not determine her gender at first.
Judge Lasry, during his sentence of the accused, expressed sorrow at the fact that the children who observed the murder take place were sure to be traumatised.
Lasry described the attack as “vicious”, and stated that what the man did was “disgusting” and the culmination of years of domestic violence.
The couple had met back in 2008 and married only two weeks after meeting on the account that the marriage had been arranged. They quickly conceived and birthed three children.
Police reports on the home stated that the residence was in a total state of neglect, with extremely dirty mattresses and very little in the way of furniture.
The court heard that the man’s sympathies with the Islamic State formed a basis of violence by which the couple’s relationship was governed. The police reported blood stains dried on the walls of the home.
The man had expressed desire to join the fight in Syria with the terrorist group against his wife’s wishes. This was believed by police to be the main factor driving the man to commit the crime.
This afternoon the Western Bulldogs will play their first home game of the season, against the West Coast Eagles. After that, The Sydney Swans play their first game at home against Port Adelaide at the SCG. So how will the AFL games go, and who will win?
The Bulldogs and Eagles were both poor last week, but at least Footscray had the excuse of having to fly to Sydney. They also got absolutely flogged by GWS though. West Coast were beaten comfortably by the Swans. With both the Doggies and Eagles unlucky to play two of the premiership favourites in the opening round, they will look to kick start their seasons tonight.
West Coast is notoriously poor in Melbourne, with only two wins in AFL’s main city last year. One of those two wins was against the Bulldogs, in round 15 at Etihad. Both teams also suffered injury blows last week, with Tom Liberatore out for the season from the Bulldogs and Josh Kennedy still injured for the Eagles.
With both clubs short on star power this week the game will turn into a grind. In a close, hard fought game the home crowd could come into it, and we all know how passionate the Footscray supporters are. With very little confidence I’ll tip the Doggies by 10.
The Swans and Power at the SCG will be on a whole other level. Two of the genuine AFL premiership contenders this year will go head to head, and both were in strong form last week. Port Adelaide gave Fremantle a 50 point belting in Adelaide, while Sydney flew to Perth to beat West Coast by 29.
Port have a reputation in the AFL for being flat track bullies, as they are notoriously difficult to beat at home while not being a power side in away games. However, they beat the Swans at the SCG last year in round 1. This was the year that Sydney lost their first 6 games of the season yet still made the semi-finals, so that may not mean much now.
This could very well be the game of the round. Both sides have attacking superstars in their ranks, with the headline act being Lance “Buddy” Franklin, who kicked 8 6 pointers last week in Perth for Sydney. The twilight game is also a novelty in Sydney, and with a public holiday tomorrow there should be a good crowd.
I’ll give this one to the Swans by 12 in a high scoring, fast paced match.
A lawyer representing Stormy Daniels has made a request in federal court to get a deposition from US President Donald Trump. The legal battle is being fought over a non-disclosure agreement wherein Ms Daniels said she was paid to stay quiet about her sexual encounter with the then reality TV star Trump.
Ms Daniel’s attorney Michael Avenatti, also asked if he could get a deposition from Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer and the man that Daniels is suing over charges of defamation. In the motion, Avenatti said that he wouldn’t need more than 2 hours to question both Trump and Cohen.
Avenatti said that they were “looking for sworn answers” regarding what Trump and Cohen knew and what they did at the time. While he admitted that in every legal battle you need to be “open to settlement” he disclaimed that he did not see how the case could be settled in any way.
Ms Daniels, also known by her given name Stephanie Clifford, had sued trump originally on the 6th of March claiming that he never signed his name to the non-disclosure agreement from 2016. The agreement was strategic in that it kept Daniels quiet during Trump’s presidential run where a story about his infidelity might have ruined his chances of winning.
Cohen has since said that the $130,000 came from his personal finances and asserted that Trump never actually slept with Ms Daniels. Following a recent interview on TV program 60 minutes, Avenatti amended the lawsuit with defamation claims because Cohen suggested Daniels was a liar.
In the TV interview, Daniels said she and her child had been threatened by an unknown man she believes was linked to Donald Trump.
In a statement, Cohen’s own lawyer David Schwartz said that the lawsuit was a “reckless use of the legal system” and that Avenatti was only representing Daniels to inflate his “deflated ego”.
The lawsuit rests on precedent set by the 1998 lawsuit against Bill Clinton wherein the then president was deposed. The precedent sets out that a president is not immune from civil lawsuits when it references an act that took place before taking office.
The case was settled when Clinton paid $850,000 although he never admitted any wrongdoing.
President Trump has continually denied ever sleeping with Daniels. While Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by other women, the case with Daniels was completely consensual as she believed that she would advance a TV career through Trump.
The digital economy offers more opportunities than ever for delivering a small business marketing strategy. But it also comes with more pitfalls.
In an online era that sees a client’s website face fierce competition from other sites, an array of social media, advertising – and even the advanced techniques informed by use of SEO and analytics – it’s incredibly hard for a small business to make a splash.
Especially when competing against big business than can have what seems like an endless budget. But there does remain a path here for small business to have great campaigns, it just requires a strategic approach.
The digital dynamic
The world is changing. It’s projected by 2019 that 51% of advertising in Australia will be via the internet or online. This statistic is already startling, but comes alongside the 13.7 million citizens having an internet subscription as detailed by the nation’s Bureau of Statistics in June 2017.
These trends are mirrored throughout the global audience. Today 56.2% of global internet users go online via a mobile or tablet device, and the rise of portable devices has drawn new advertisers to the new digital audience accordingly.
Photo: 88studio, Bigstock
Once upon a time it was taken for granted certain groups in the community wouldn’t actively use the internet. Aussies living in rural areas, seniors, and children. Times have changed, digital literacy has grown, and connectivity is essentially universal across the Great Southern Land.
That means any small business marketing strategy must look proactively to the digital arena, but do so with the recognition a good strategy requires precision and agility to impact. And also represent real value for money. This is also an issue on the global level.
Whatever one’s view about the merits of a particular law or proposed new bill, its clear developed nations around the world will face growing competition in the years ahead within the global economy. As new tech emerges and disruption grows, an effective response will be necessary to ensure small business keeps up economically, and continues to grow productively.
In the meantime, many small businesses can be faced with irritations of red tape regulations, and high, outdated tax rates. This means there’s often little cash in reserve to spend in marketing. And many marketing agencies fail to recognise this, offering a marketing strategy that is vague, indefinite, and provides a scattergun approach instead of a lean and agile strategy.
Creating a marketing strategy the cucceeds
At its core, a small business marketing strategy is faced with a central tension in the digital age.
It’s now easier than ever for businesses to advertise online, and there are many ways this can be done quickly and economically. But the trade off to this greater access is the volume of ads in the market‚ many of which are of questionable quality.
This means not only is a lot of competition for eyeballs, but many users now readily ignore by default much online advertising, given their previous poor experience with ‘fluff’, and otherwise forgettable content. As a result, a small business not only has more competitors to deal with locally and globally, but also needs content that really stands out.
Putting it simply, the analogy of a surfer is useful. Once marketing provided you a series of small waves to catch momentum on, but today it’s a sea of huge and powerful swells. This can be really intimidating to small businesses, especially when new to digital marketing and on a tight budget. The upside of this is once a big wave its caught its momentum can carry a long way.
This means hiring a good marketing team is vital. It provides the dynamism and precision required to ensure a campaign really cuts through. But not all marketing agencies can provide the right fit for a great small business.
Speaking the language of small business
That’s why an approach like the Sticky Growth Marketing Accelerator offers is really good. The step by step approach of Story, Target, Influence, Convert, Keep, Yardsticks is unique in composition to Sticky, but a formula that will resonate will all small business and agencies.
Operating out of Sydney, NSW, this agency provides a dedicated solution to small businesses looking to grow lean and fast. One that puts a real emphasis upon achieving results in a timely way – which is always vital to a small business anguished over the money in their marketing budget – while also seeking to build strong and enduring foundations for long-term client growth.
Marketing accelerators are something all digital media agencies need to be receptive too. A tailored program for small business that prioritizes strong results quickly. Medium and large businesses often have the luxury of taking a long term view, but this is less common with small business. That’s why programme’s like this find success with small businesses near and far.
Ultimately, with Australia possessing 2.24 million businesses as of June 2017 – and having grown a sizeable 3.1% in the year-to-date prior – the nation possesses not only millions of businesses hungry for growth, but an audience of prospective clients for a resourceful agency.
The execution of a small business marketing strategy is a win-win for small business as clients, and agencies as their providers. And these outcomes are global, and desirable to all businesses.
Photo: StartupStockPhotos, Pixabay
Final thoughts
Serving small business today requires a recognition of new and enduring challenges.
Small businesses have always had a limited budget for marketing. Small business operators need to know the money they invest in marketing with professional will deliver real returns.
Something that goes above and beyond what amatuers can do to build an audience online.
A small business also needs to see quick results. A big business or corporation can plan ahead for the next 10 years. A small business often needs to keep an eye on its market profits for the next year – even month to month. That’s why a small business marketing strategy that is attuned to these challenges is essential.
A small business benefits best from quick and strong results. At their core small businesses are like rocket ships. Once they are in orbit they can allow for a more gradual pace. But when they are first taking off‚ a strong and powerful strategy is essential. The Sticky Growth Marketing Accelerator has done well in this regard and serves as a useful template for all agencies seeking to identify an avenue to provide clear-cut and robust results to small business clients.
The NSW state government has backed down from its controversial proposal to demolish the Sydney Olympic Stadium and will instead refurbish the iconic sports venue. Gladys Berejiklian, the NSW premier, was coming under increased pressure regarding a $2 billion AUD plan to demolish the 80,000 seat Sydney Olympic Stadium in Homebush.
However, the government will go on ahead with its plans to demolish and reconstruct Moore Park’s Sydney Football Stadium. Work is expected to begin later in 2018.
Ms Berejiklian said that around “two thirds” of the Sydney Olympic Stadium would have a touch up, and that this new blueprint would save $500 million in taxpayer money. She said the upgrades would “change the atmosphere of the entire stadium”.
She went on to say that the most important upgrade was a “rectangular stadium” which would enable fans to be “closer to the action”. She said that this upgrade was necessary for “a world-class stadium”.
This backpedal by the NSW government comes a year from the next state election. The policy to knock down the stadium was signed off on in November last year but has been divisive in the NSW parliament ever since.
The Premier told everyone that the initial forecasting showed it was cheaper to demolish and build a new stadium than to refurbish the old one. It seems that for Ms Berejiklian, this is no longer the case.
She said that “we’ve listened to the community” during a press conference where she was questioned about the political backflip. She went on by saying that her party was not sorry for “doing our homework”.
The demolishment and rebuilding would have cost $1.3 billion AUD, which Ms Berejiklian said was too much for the community to tolerate.
Luke Foley, the NSW Opposition Leader, wasted no time in attacking on the initial spending plan. He has repeatedly promised that the money Labor was spending on a stadium he would instead spend on hospitals and schools.
Mr Foley went a step further than making it a battle of education and health vs sport. He claimed that the government was giving special treatment to the eastern suburbs – where the football stadium is – over the western suburbs.
The new Sydney Football Stadium is estimated to seat 45,000 people.
Ms Berejiklian also said that the NRL grand final would continue to be hosted in Sydney for the next 25 years. She insisted that Sydney would have lost several sporting events had her government not invested in sports stadiums.
With the rise of new streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, Hollywood’s traditional methods are being traded in for newer models. While these streaming companies started out with the development of TV shows, and they have expanded, more and more ventures are being made into film.
Netflix and Amazon are establishing themselves as big players amongst the traditional Hollywood film studios. Both have even broken into Hollywood’s movie award ceremony scene with films developed in their studios.
Netflix has earned eight Oscar nominations in the past few years, while Amazon has even won an Oscar for their adaptation of Manchester by the Sea in 2016.
The success of streaming services has been met with mixed opinions in the Hollywood scene. In a recent interview, Steven Spielberg makes his stance on Netflix’s hybrid method clear. “Once you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie,” said the seasoned director, suggesting such films are of a different category to theatrical film.
Spielberg suggested that such TV movies should not be considered by the Academy Awards and should fall under the category of the Emmy’s instead.
The artistic director of Cannes, Thierry Frémaux, seems to agree with Spielberg. Netflix movies have been banned from being considered for the coveted prize in 2018.
Last year, two Netflix films by established directors were screened at the prestigious festival – Bong Joon-ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories. Neither film had an exclusive theatrical run before being available online.
It is this lack of an exclusive theatrical run that seems to create the most controversy in the Hollywood scene. Even actors of recent Netflix releases such as Annihilation have expressed their disappointment of this factor.
Annihilation had an exclusive screening of three weeks as opposed to the traditional months which movies face before being released on DVD. Writer and director David Gyasi was also dissatisfied at the short theatrical run, stating that the film was made to be shown on the big screen.
But perhaps this is just the inevitable transitional period for the film industry to become more modern and innovative. As technology and society evolves, it seems unavoidable that the way we produce and consume entertainment changes as well.
Traditionally, TV movies have been seen as less reputable and of lower quality. As streaming services venture into the film industry, we can see this starting to change, although there is still resistance to the concept of a movie that skips the exclusive theatre screening for an online premiere.
A controversial website selling virgins off based on an auction system has accepted the first Australian out of their list of approximately 150 clients.
Identified only as “Kiara”, the 20 year old is a student based in Sydney and recently had her application accepted for Cinderella Escorts, a website based in Germany describing itself as an international escort agency that is world-famous. Founder of the website Jan Zakobielski reported Kiara as the very first Australian to do so.
The website, run by Zakobielski from an apartment based in Dortmund, has raised much controversy in the past due to infamously selling off at least five young women’s virginity to high profile bidders over the past couple of years.
The website itself vouches for Kiara’s virginity, stating on the listing that she has been checked by a health professional with medical documentation to prove for it. Currently, Kiara’s virginity is at an auction price of close to AUD$200,000, a number that the site says can change “daily”.
Zakobielski claimed in an email interview that a large number of high-profile Australian individuals have previously expressed their interest in participating in various past auctions.
Among these individuals, Zakobielski claimed there were a couple of politicians and a “famous Australian singer”.
The 27 year old owner went on to report that the website was much more popular overseas than in Australia, and that even celebrities and other billionaires were members of Cinderella Escorts as well.
Kiara’s reasons for wanting to send her application come from a background of financial difficulty and a weak support network, a background that has become increasingly common for young women and which has been oppressing many of these naïve women to make dangerous decisions.
When interviewed, Kiara claimed she sought “security and balance” in her life amongst her other needs, including her desire to “travel the world” and to fund her education. She also cited providing support for her family as another reason.
Yet the 20 year old expressed her clear desire to be independent. Not only does she want to buy her own apartment and “support myself”, but when asked about if her parents had been told of her decision, she stated that asking the question alone would place her as a “child” in her own eyes.
Kiara’s parents have become aware of the situation, and despite not providing support they claimed that it was better than giving it away for free.
The man couldn’t resist taking the brand new Ferrari 488 GTB worth $461,000 for a spin until he lost control of the supercar and crashed it into a tree only hours after it had been delivered.
The half-a-million dollar car had belonged to Lewis Graban, international sports star, but it was his brother-in-law that had taken the car’s delivery and had been driving until he caused the crash.
The crash was estimated to have caused approximately AUD$170,000 worth of damages, and was destroyed beyond use.
Graban had not been available to take the delivery at his Hertfordshire home, and so arranged Michael O’Donnell, the brother of his wife, to receive the delivery for him.
However, the brother-in-law decided it was an appropriate photo and video opportunity. O’Donnell and his friend Gokan Kiziloz took pictures and video of the supercar before starting the engine.
The two testified to the St Albans crown court that they resolved to take it for a spin.
O’Donnell had a wrist injury and so decided to sit in the front passenger seat while Kiziloz would drive the car, stated the prosecutor for their case Peter Shaw.
Kiziloz did not have insurance to drive a vehicle as powerful as the Ferrari 488 GTB, nevertheless he reassured O’Donnell that he would have no trouble driving it, citing his past experience with driving a Porsche.
The court heard that the two had no trouble driving around on local roads. After a couple hours of driving, the pair decided to return to Grabban’s house in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.
That was when they ran into trouble, with Kiziloz testifying that he only “slightly” placed his foot on the accelerator pedal when he lost control of the supercar and swerved into a large tree.
Dazed and confused, the duo had climbed out of the vehicle and saw the wreckage. O’Donnell resolved to call his sister Catherine to inform her of the situation.
Initially disbelieving, Catherine thought she was being humoured until he saw the pair had returned to her home with injuries.
The two pleaded guilty to the offence of aggravated vehicle-taking, and Kiziloz admitted to not being insured. O’Donnell was required to perform unpaid work for 225 hours, with Kiziloz given a more forgiving punishment of 24 hours of unpaid work only.
The pair were also given a community order and were prohibited from driving for 12 months.
The supercar was returned back to its factory in Italy to be repaired.
Tonight the NSW Waratahs will take on the ACT Brumbies in both sides fifth game of Super Rugby this year. The traditional powerhouses of Australian rugby will be fighting to stay in touch with the Rebels at the top of the Australian conference, so expect a hard fought match.
So far this season the Brumbies have won two games and lost two, with the wins coming against a relatively weak Sunwolves and the underperforming Sharks. They have lost both of their games so far against Australian sides, beaten by the Rebels and Reds. Last game they scraped ahead of the Sharks in a scrappy encounter.
The Waratahs are slightly ahead with two wins, a draw and a loss. The wins have been against the Stormers and Rebels, with the draw in South Africa against the Sharks and the loss against the Jaguares in Argentina. The only other Australian side they have played is the table toping Rebels, whom they beat. Their last game was a clinic in attacking rugby as they blitzed the Rebels.
The Brumbies will welcome David Pocock back after a sabbatical last season and an injury. He is a big game player with a track record of causing havoc at the breakdown. The breakdown laws have, however, changed since Pocock last played, so it will be interesting to see how he copes.
This match will also see the two frontrunners for the Wallabies 7 jersey (and captaincy) go head to head. The battle between Pocock and his Waratahs counterpart Michael Hooper will go a long way towards deciding the result.
The Waratahs will start with Jake Gordon, recovered from a concussion, at halfback this week. They also bring behemoth winger Taqele Naiyaravoro off the bench for his first start of the season. Curtis Rona moves to outside centre to make room for him, and Lalakai Foketi drops to the bench.
With Israel Folau left on the right wing, the Waratahs are making no secret of their game plan. They will try and replicate their tactics against the Rebels, with attacking kicks to Folau being the attacking focus. They will then try to spread the ball wide against a fractured defence.
The Brumbies have yet to hit their stride, but will be hoping that the return of Pocock disrupts the Waratahs attack. They will try and win the game with their big forwards, as they have no hope of beating the Tahs out wide.
Both teams are coming off a bye last week, so fatigue shouldn’t be an issue. The Waratahs are in better form, and have discovered their best attacking weapon in kicks to Folau. The Brumbies know what’s coming, but that doesn’t mean they can stop it – just ask Reece Hodge. NSW should win this one, and by quite a bit.
