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NATION

Jury told of Wheatley ‘lies’MELBOURNE:Music industry identity GlennWheatley toldlies about a $650,000 tax fraud and offered up his lawyer toinvestigators to avoid jail, a jury has heard.

The allegations came during theVictorian SupremeCourt trial ofsolicitor Paul JohnGregory, 60, whohas pleaded not guilty to two countsof defrauding the commonwealthand one count of dishonestlycausing a risk of loss to thecommonwealth.

The Crown alleges Gregory helpedWheatley (pictured) avoid payingtax on over $650,000 in income.

Stabbing feudSYDNEY: A man who had along-running feud with hison-and-off girlfriend’sbrother has admitted tofatally stabbing him, aSydney court has been told.

Anthony Good, 24, hasadmitted causing the deathof Mario Banobic, 20, bystabbing him six timesduring a fight at a party inthe Sydney suburb of StClair on June 7, 2008, theNSW Supreme Court wastold yesterday.

12yo’s joy rideMELBOURNE: A 12-year-oldboy is facing five chargesafter a stolen car was driventhrough the streets ofGeelong in a brief policechase. The boy and his16-year-old passenger wereallegedly caught behind thewheel at a set of traffic lightswhen a police car pulled upbeside them, a policespokesman said.

Landslide on trackSYDNEY: Trains weresuspended and motoristsdiverted yesterday in theBlue Mountains, west ofSydney, after heavy rainfallcaused a landslip.

CityRail says anembankment collapsed atWentworth Falls around4pm (AEDT) yesterday.

Samaritan shotSYDNEY: A man who wentto the aid of a neighbourbeing chased by two men inSydney’s southwest has beenshot in the foot.

Police and paramedicswere called to a block ofunits on Lawrence HargraveRd in Warwick Farm at2.45pm (AEDT) yesterdayafter reports a man had beenshot.

Surgeon chargedSYDNEY: A Sydneyneurosurgeon has beencharged over the drug-related deaths of two women.

Suresh SurendranathNair, 41, has previouslyfaced court charged withsupplying a prohibited drugat his Elizabeth Bayapartment, in Sydney’s east,on November 19.

Without naming him,police said Nair wouldappear in court todaycharged with one count ofmurder and one count ofmanslaughter.

Vics criticisedMELBOURNE: VictorianPremier John Brumbywants to meet with Indianhigh commissioner SujathaSingh to assure her that hisgovernment is doing all itcan to stop attacks onIndian students.

Mrs Singh reportedlycriticised Victoria for beingin denial over the scale of theproblem and falling behindother states in tacklingracist attacks.

Croc docs ‘should be secret’CANBERRA: Documents revealing details ofamultimillion-dollar tax case against PaulHogan should not bemade public simply tosatisfymedia demand, the High Court hasbeen told.TheCrocodile Dundee star (pictured), who

lives in California, has appealed to theHighCourt against amajority decision by the

Federal Court in June in favour ofreleasing the documents.

The documents, put togetherby the Australian CrimeCommission , relate to allegationsMrHogan secretedmillions ofdollars in offshore tax havens.

DownUnder done over by lawSYDNEY: They sang about all thingsantipodean — Vegemite, beer and a‘‘fried-out’’ Kombi van — but a FederalCourt judge has ruled Men at Workbreached copyright when they ripped off apopular Australian folk tune to create theirsmash 1980s hit Down Under.

The theft may cost them millions ofdollars in unpaid royalties.

Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobsonhanded down his judgment in Sydney onThursday and said the famous flute riff wasunmistakably the same as the children’stune Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.

The original melody was penned morethan 75 years ago by Toorak teacher MarionSinclair for a Girl Guides competition.

In the end, it was Men at Work’s ColinHay’s (pictured) own admission that hesang Kookaburra while performing thathelped the judge come to his decision.

Driver faces prisonBest mate killed, then mum slain in revenge attack

ByDANIEL FOGARTYinMelbourne

BRENTON David Chaplinkilled his best mate in a carcrash, then his mother wasmurdered and father in-jured in a revenge attack.

He now faces the prospectof years in jail.

Leigh Charter, 20, diedwhen Chaplin (pictured), aP-plater who had been drink-ing, lost control of his speed-ing Holden Commodore andslammed into a pole in east-ern Victoria in January 2008.

In an ‘‘act of pure revenge’’,

Mr Charter’s father, alsonamed Leigh, murdered MrChaplin’s mother Wendy andcritically injured his fatherTrevor in their HarcourtNorth home 13 months later.

Mr Charter Sr then tookhis own life.

The tragedy has ‘‘effect-ively destroyed two entirefamilies’’, Victoria’s chiefcrown prosecutor GavinSilbert SC told the VictorianCounty Court yesterday.

And it has left Harcourt, asmall central Victorian townwith a population of less than500, a divided society.

Judge Ross Howie said hehad no option but to jailChaplin, 22, who pleadedguilty to culpable driving.

The tragedy began unfold-ing after five mates, all agedunder 21, headed fromHarcourt across the state tothe Gippsland holiday townof Seaspray.

A few hours after arrivingin the town, the boys headedfor a park near where theywere staying and enjoyed abarbie, beer and bourbon.

Then they made the fatefuldecision to visit a femalefriend in another part of the

town. Chaplin had consumedthe least amount of alcohol,and it was decided that heshould drive.

As they drove through theHoneysuckles Estate onShoreline Drive, local resi-dent Susanne Somerville re-members hearing a soundlike a ‘‘jet approaching’’.

A short time later, asChaplin fiddled with theradio, he lost control of thecar and hit a pole.

Mr Charter, who was notwearing a seatbelt, wasthrown from the vehicleand died.

Court hears of star’s tackleSYDNEY: Brett Stewart’s pantswere undone and his ‘‘old guy’’was visible when a fatherconfronted theManly rugbyleague star about sex assaultclaims, a court has been told.

The father told police his17-year-old daughter hadpointed to aman in a suit, whomshe said had just ‘‘hurt her’’.

The father told police themanwas clearly drunk and he noticedtheman’s belt was open and hisfly was undone.

Abbottdodges

Joyce rantCANBERRA: Tony Abbott hasbeen forced to clear up commentsby Barnaby Joyce, reassuringvoters the coalition isn’t planningto cut foreign aid or slash thepublic service.

On the hustings in Canberra fora shopping centre walkabout inwhat could become a phoney elec-tion campaign, the OppositionLeader was dogged by questionsabout his finance spokesman.

Mr Abbott slapped down theideas put forward by SenatorJoyce, stressing his commitmentto current aid spending and ‘‘sup-port’’ for the public service.

On Wednesday, Senator Joyceargued that sending money over-seas made little sense when Aust-ralia faced staggering debt underthe Rudd government.

DOUBLE VISION: It’s set to be a confusing year for teachers at Victoria’s Mt Clear College. The school in the state’scentral highlands has enrolled eight sets of twins into Year 7 this year. They are, from left, Jake and Brody Evans,Taylor and Claure Mennen, Ally and Meg Mead, Dylan and Tyler Trickey, Dana and Catherine Pettie, Ali and KareemAhmed, Catherine and Jayde Fadersen, and (centre) Kealey and Caleb McHoul. Picture IAN WILSON