The Victorian Opposition has pledged to prevent transgender prisoners convicted of violent sex crimes from being housed in women’s correctional facilities, following widespread concern over a case presided over by Victorian County Court Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis.

The controversy centres on an inmate, anonymised as Hilary Maloney, who sexually abused his five-year-old daughter under the direction of an American pedophile.

In a July sentencing, Judge Karapanagiotidis imposed a minimum jail term of 2.5 years, noting that Maloney’s transition to being a woman reduced his “moral culpability.”

Critics argue the sentence is exceptionally lenient, with the maximum penalty for the offences being 25 years and the standard sentence around 10 years.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin said the decision exposed vulnerable women to risk.

“There needs to be a line in the sand that says, no, there are certain things that are not acceptable and people going into opposite-sex prisons are putting people at risk,” he said, pledging that a Coalition government would bar transgender sex offenders from women’s prisons.

Women’s groups have also condemned the ruling, describing the placement of the inmate in the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre as an ongoing threat to female prisoners.

Maloney’s lawyer, Isabelle Skaburskis, defended her client, noting the inmate had spent 13 months in solitary confinement and describing her as “a vulnerable individual who does not pose a threat to other prisoners.”

The Andrews government has declined to intervene in the case, stating it would be inappropriate to comment on sentencing decisions made independently by the courts.

Source: The Australian.

Former ANZ trader Etienne Alexiou admitted to lying to the corporate regulator ASIC during a dramatic day of testimony in his long-running legal action against the bank.

Alexiou, who was sacked as global head of ANZ’s balance sheet trading department in September 2015, claims he was dismissed for blowing the whistle on alleged manipulation of the bank bill swap rate (BBSW), while ANZ maintains he was fired for sending lewd messages to colleagues.

The bank settled a related ASIC case for $50 million in 2017.

During cross-examination, Alexiou conceded that his statement to ASIC on May 22, 2015, denying knowledge of anyone attempting to influence the BBSW, was false.

“On reflection, I think I was [lying],” he told the court, adding, “I certainly did not intend to lie.” He had earlier been granted an indemnity certificate under Section 128 of the Evidence Act, protecting him from self-incrimination in future proceedings.

The court also examined offensive messages Alexiou sent to colleagues, including inappropriate comments about mothers at his daughter’s school and objectifying remarks about women, which he acknowledged were “derogatory and offensive.”

Alexiou accepted these messages were “inappropriate to (his) wife and daughters.”

Now running his own private equity firm, Alexiou faces a trial expected to last six weeks, where the focus will remain on his whistleblowing claims against ANZ and the circumstances surrounding his dismissal.

Source: The Australian.

Eleven-year-old John Kounadis is among the first children in Australia to be cured of drug-resistant epilepsy thanks to a groundbreaking AI “detective” developed by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH).

For three years, John experienced multiple nightly seizures, yet standard MRI scans failed to detect a cause. Using the AI tool, researchers identified a tiny lesion in his right frontal lobe.

Following careful review and 3D modelling, John underwent brain surgery in May and has been seizure-free since.

John’s father, Spiros Kounadis, praised his son’s bravery: “The morning of the surgery John woke up early after a good night’s sleep and said ‘let’s go do this’. I am very proud of him.”

John himself said confidently, “I just wanted to get it out of me,” and is now back to normal, even aspiring to become a paramedic.

MCRI neurologist Dr Emma Macdonald-Laurs, who led the study, said the AI tool “helps us put the puzzle pieces together quicker so we can offer potentially life-changing surgery earlier.”

She emphasised that the technology complements human expertise and is especially crucial for detecting tiny lesions, like the dysplasias often missed in children.

Dr Macdonald-Laurs added that uncontrolled seizures can profoundly affect children and families, including causing learning difficulties, social isolation, stress, and medication side effects.

“That’s why I love doing this work, because there are stories like this in epilepsy surgery where you can really change the course of someone’s life,” she said.

The team plans to expand the AI tool to pediatric hospitals nationwide to improve diagnosis, speed up surgical referrals, and enhance long-term outcomes for children with epilepsy.

Source: The Advertiser.