As it happened: WA news on Thursday, July 24

Perth grandmother Donna Nelson will learn in September whether an attempt to appeal her drug-smuggling conviction in Japan has been successful.

A raft of new evidence was rejected by a Japanese court this afternoon, including the report of Australian cyber and romance scam expert Professor Monica Witty, who analysed exchanges between Nelson and her online lover known as “Kelly”.

In rejecting Witty’s analysis, the judge said there was “no compelling reason” for it to be included in the appeal.

Nelson, 59, was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $10,000 last year after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

She had been caught at Narita airport in January 2023 with a suitcase carrying about two kilograms of methamphetamine, but has maintained that she was the victim of a Nigerian love scam, and that “Kelly” had arranged for her to bring the suitcase from Laos.

Nelson’s family had travelled to Japan for the latest appeal hearing.

The Tokyo High Court will hand down its final judgment on September 25.

A Perth woman will be sentenced under new state laws brought in last year to crack down on racism after she admitted in court to performing a Nazi salute while on a night out in Northbridge earlier this month.

Theresa Plunkett-Hill, 42, is facing two years in prison and a fine of up to $24,000 after she pleaded guilty on Thursday to making a Nazi gesture that would be visible in a public place.

After her first appearance in court two weeks ago, Plunkett-Hill laughed off her arrest, saying it was a “good effort” to have stayed out so late.

When asked whether she was racist, Plunkett-Hill replied: “What does racist mean?”

“We need to answer the first question about racism,” she told 9News Perth.

“So when you pose a question, you have to be clear about the question that you’re asking and what you mean by that particular term in the context that we’re in.”

Plunkett-Hill used a duty lawyer to address the magistrate during her hearing at Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday, where she entered a plea of guilty.

She will be sentenced in the same court on August 7.

Mitchell Forth, one of the men who was convicted of being involved in the killing of Swan View schoolboy Cassius Turvey, will appeal his sentence.

Forth, 27, was acquitted of murder by a Supreme Court of WA jury in May, but found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison over the 15-year-old’s death in 2022.

He received a nine-year sentence for the manslaughter and a total of three years for other assaults and stealings that occurred in the days before.

Cassius was killed after being chased across a vacant reserve in the east Perth suburb of Middle Swan by local thugs Brodie Palmer and Jack Brearley.

It was Brearley, Chief Justice Peter Quinlan found, who delivered the fatal blows to Cassius’ head with the metal handle of a shopping trolley.

Cassius died in hospital from those injuries 10 days later.

The trio, as well as Brearley’s then-girlfriend Aleesha Gilmore, were charged with his murder but pleaded not guilty, and the matter was taken to a 12-week trial earlier this year.

Gilmore was eventually acquitted of any involvement in Cassius’ death but found guilty of other offences in the days before.

Brearley and Palmer were sentenced to life in prison.

In documents lodged with the WA Court of Appeal this week, Forth’s legal team have stated they will appeal against his conviction and his sentence.

“The verdict of guilty on which the conviction is based should be set aside because having regard to the evidence it is unreasonable or cannot be supported,” it read.

A second document stated that his sentence of nine years solely for the manslaughter charge was “manifestly excessive given his personal circumstances and the circumstances of his offending”.

Throughout the trial, Forth maintained that he was not part of the group that chased Cassius and other indigenous teens across the reserve, but prosecutors said he could still be convicted of murder or manslaughter because he was with them at the time.

Perth grandmother Donna Nelson will learn in September whether an attempt to appeal her drug-smuggling conviction in Japan has been successful.

A raft of new evidence was rejected by a Japanese court this afternoon, including the report of Australian cyber and romance scam expert Professor Monica Witty, who analysed exchanges between Nelson and her online lover known as “Kelly”.

In rejecting Witty’s analysis, the judge said there was “no compelling reason” for it to be included in the appeal.

Nelson, 59, was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $10,000 last year after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

She had been caught at Narita airport in January 2023 with a suitcase carrying about two kilograms of methamphetamine, but has maintained that she was the victim of a Nigerian love scam, and that “Kelly” had arranged for her to bring the suitcase from Laos.

Nelson’s family had travelled to Japan for the latest appeal hearing.

The Tokyo High Court will hand down its final judgment on September 25.

Scott Morrison says a planned AUKUS shipbuilding facility in Western Australia should become a joint base with the US to help address the Trump administration’s “legitimate issues” with the submarine deal he designed and announced as prime minister in 2021.

The controversial idea, with advocates in both Canberra and Washington, would allow the upgraded facility at Henderson, south of Perth, to host and repair American submarines, not just Australian ones, and give the US direct access to the Indian Ocean, a strategic asset.

As the Pentagon reviews the AUKUS agreement to see if it fits with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, one of the key issues is whether the US can part with the three nuclear-powered submarines Australia is due to buy.

Read the full story here.

Mitchell Forth, one of the men who was convicted of being involved in the killing of Swan View schoolboy Cassius Turvey, will appeal his sentence.

Forth, 27, was acquitted of murder by a Supreme Court of WA jury in May, but found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison over the 15-year-old’s death in 2022.

He received a nine-year sentence for the manslaughter and a total of three years for other assaults and stealings that occurred in the days before.

Cassius was killed after being chased across a vacant reserve in the east Perth suburb of Middle Swan by local thugs Brodie Palmer and Jack Brearley.

It was Brearley, Chief Justice Peter Quinlan found, who delivered the fatal blows to Cassius’ head with the metal handle of a shopping trolley.

Cassius died in hospital from those injuries 10 days later.

The trio, as well as Brearley’s then-girlfriend Aleesha Gilmore, were charged with his murder but pleaded not guilty, and the matter was taken to a 12-week trial earlier this year.

Gilmore was eventually acquitted of any involvement in Cassius’ death but found guilty of other offences in the days before.

Brearley and Palmer were sentenced to life in prison.

In documents lodged with the WA Court of Appeal this week, Forth’s legal team have stated they will appeal against his conviction and his sentence.

“The verdict of guilty on which the conviction is based should be set aside because having regard to the evidence it is unreasonable or cannot be supported,” it read.

A second document stated that his sentence of nine years solely for the manslaughter charge was “manifestly excessive given his personal circumstances and the circumstances of his offending”.

Throughout the trial, Forth maintained that he was not part of the group that chased Cassius and other indigenous teens across the reserve, but prosecutors said he could still be convicted of murder or manslaughter because he was with them at the time.