You be the judge as this list of articles from news sources around Australia show the increasing victimisation  of all of us as the criminals gain and keep the upper hand.

If you get angry about our increasing defencelessness - don't get angry - get even.  Let your local State aand Federal Politician know how you feel.  Demand that ordinary law-abiding citizens be allowed to own firearms to defend their homes and families.  Don't be put off by the party line.   Ask them what they would do if their home was invaded by an intruder and the police took 11 hours to attend.

This page will be added to on a regular basis - call back and check the score!!

Gunned down minutes from home   
The Sun-Herald 17 December, 2000
Eamonn Duff

A husband yesterday pleaded for help in catching the callous killer who gunned down his wife in broad daylight, minutes from the family home.

Barbara Saunders, 53, was found bleeding and unconscious in a Normanhurst driveway on Friday afternoon.

She had suffered a single gunshot and died before arriving at Hornsby Hospital.

Fighting back tears and with his two 25-year-old twin sons, Steven and Gregory, by his side, Keith Saunders said: "I don't think there could be any worse news than this.

"It has shattered a very close family and left us without a mother who lived her entire life for her children.

"She simply went out on Friday to enjoy a Christmas lunch in the city and never made it home.

"It's just bloody senseless. I don't understand what sort of person would do this."

Mrs Saunders caught the train from the city. It arrived at the quiet northern suburb of Normanhurst at 5.06pm.

She stepped off the platform and walked towards home by the most direct route running parallel with the railway line. At 5.15pm, a passer-by saw her lying on a driveway in Huddart Avenue.

Crime Agencies Detective Senior Constable Gary Jubelin said this was all the time a killer required to destroy the lives of a family counting down to Christmas.

"It was a tragic, senseless crime," he said. "Here was a woman walking home from a railway station, going about her business. During that short journey, she came across somebody and it meant she never made it back to her family."

Police conducted an extensive search of the area on Friday night, continuing round the clock into yesterday afternoon.

"I can confirm that a number of items were recovered but I am not prepared to divulge any more than that right now," Constable Jubelin said.

"We are looking at all possible motives and while one is robbery, it's too early to comment."

Mr Saunders said: "She was a quiet, intelligent, gentle person. She perhaps went out once a month and Friday's luncheon with her girlfriends would have been the highlight of her year."

With tears running down their cheeks but determined to help their father keep his composure, Mr Saunders's sons remained behind him.

"She would not have had an enemy in the world and what we are going through now is absolutely horrendous," Mr Saunders said.

"If there is anyone out there who can help, who saw anything unusual, please, please contact the police. We cannot let this happen to another family.

"That would be unforgivable."

Anyone with information should contact 9476 9799.
 

QUEENSLAND has the highest rate of sexual assaults in the nation, according to new figures.

Crime statistics released by Federal Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone showed sexual assaults had jumped 30 percent in Queensland between 1995 and 1999.

There were 100.2 sexual assaults per 100,000 people during 1999.

The Australian average for this period was 74.22 victims per 100,000 people.

Queensland was followed by the Northern Territory (95.4), South Australia (88.4), Western Australia (83.4) and NSW (69).
Sexual assaults were more likely to be committed against women than men and often went unreported.

Almost half of all victims were young women under 20 years old, just over half of all male victims were aged under 15 years.
Most of the sexual assaults victims knew their attackers.

But Queensland had the highest proportion of sexual assault cases finalised within 30 days.

The report also found Queensland had the second lowest burglary rate in the nation, with 1604.79 victims per 100,000 people.

It also had the second lowest motor vehicle theft in Australia with 519.62 per 100,000 people.

The report also showed armed and unarmed robberies were among the fastest growing crimes in the country.
Robbery, along with burglaries were most closely associated with drug addiction.

NSW had an armed robbery rate of 72 per 100,000, followed by Western Australia (50), Victoria (39.9), ACT (37.1), Queensland (35.8) and South Australia (35.4).

Nationwide, armed robberies accounted for 42 percent of all robberies in 1999. Almost 50 percent of these happened at retail locations, with firearms used in 15 percent of them in 1999.

The Northern Territory had the highest homicide figures (4.67 per 100,000 people).

The Top End was followed by South Australia (2.68), Western Australia (2.52), Queensland (2.13) and NSW (2.11).

In 1999, there were 133,000 assaults across the country — or about 15 an hour.

Assault rates were higher for men than women across all age categories.

But women were more likely to be assaulted by someone known to them and have a higher probability of sexual assault.
Senator Vanstone said she was "appalled" at figures which showed the homicide rates against women were highest in minors under 12 months.

"I think that's an appalling statistic for females to be the most at risk of homicide when under 12 months," she said.
"Families with very young children are at a very high stress level. And intervention should be at an early stage."

Queensland had the fourth highest ratio of indigenous to non-indigenous prisoners in Australia after Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia.

Senator Vanstone said the indigenous imprisonment rate was too high with a cultural change needed in the criminal justice system.

Bullets fired at a family's car in Sydney killed a young mother and critically wounded her husband last night but left their three-year-old son unscathed.

Police do not know whether the attack was random or if the family was targeted by the killers.

Police said the 20-year-old woman, 22-year-old man and their son were driving along Kathleen Street, Lakemba, shortly after 10pm (AEST) when shots were fired at their car.

Campsie Local Area Commander Superintendent John Richardson said the woman, a passenger in the front seat, was fatally wounded in the chest.

The man was shot in the throat but was able to drive the white Toyota Seca to the intersection of The Boulevard and Sproule Street, where it stopped.

The young boy was in the back seat and escaped injury.

Police arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting and tried to resuscitate the wounded couple, but the woman died at the scene.

Their child was today staying with relatives, Supt Richardson said.

Homicide squad detectives were interviewing residents and a search was under way for bullet shells, a gun or anything related to the incident, Supt Richardson said.

"The most important thing for us is that we need information from anyone who saw or heard anything around the area about 10pm (AEST) last night," he said.

He appealed for anyone who saw or heard anything to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Supt Richardson said police had found a burnt-out stolen car in the nearby suburb of Wiley Park.

He said he believed the maroon Nissan Pulsar Sedan might be connected to the shooting.

"But at this stage that hasn't been confirmed," he said, adding that police were combing the area around it.

Supt Richardson said he believed the shots had been fired from a car.

But another car, a blue utility, had also been found earlier and towed from the scene.

"As far as we're concerned we're not quite sure we have the shooter's vehicle," Supt Richardson said.

Shop staff in terror as armed hold-ups spiral

The number of armed robberies in WA (Western Australia) has increased by two-thirds in the past five years .....

There were more than 420 armed robberies in the first five months of this year, compared with 250 for the same period in 1995, an increase of 67 per cent.

Last financial year, there were 1166 robberies where victims were threatened with
weapons such as guns, knives, axes and clubs and, increasingly common, blood-filled syringes.

A COMMISSIONED police officer refused to approve overtime last week for officers to go to the assistance of a resident who had an intruder in his house, the police union said yesterday.

Queensland Police Union general-secretary Merv Bainbridge said it was no secret police regions were broke and without resources to ensure public safety.

Logan and Gold Coast police are the latest in a string of regions to voice concerns about dwindling funds having an adverse impact on police operations.

Officers from Logan said yesterday a commissioned officer had refused the overtime for officers to attend the incident with a home intruder.

The officers said all overtime was suspended and could be authorised only by police inspectors or an assistant commissioner.

"We have regularly been told not to attend priority jobs, including occasions where a person's safety is at great risk at the hand of a criminal," a Logan officer said.

Gold Coast police said that because of staff rostering shortfalls, they were left hamstrung by rigid rostering and overtime constraints, allowing criminals to escape detection.

Officers are also outraged after an armed burglar slipped through police hands because senior management refused to authorise $120 in overtime to call in a dog squad officer.

Police said they cornered the man in bushland at Pimpama on Good Friday, but he escaped detection as approval was sought to call in back-up officers.

A spokesman for Police Minister Tom Barton yesterday rejected the claims saying no proof was provided to back any allegations put forward by the union and police officers.

Police have recorded close to 40 shootings in south-west Sydney in the past four months.
22/2/2000 Shots fired at McDonald's Punchbowl - no injuries

22/2/2000 Shots fired in home at Cabramatta.

21/2/000   Two men shot in stomach and leg outside the Yum Yum Bakery Punchbowl.
While paramedics were taking victims to hospital a car attempted to ram the ambulance.

20/2/2000 Man shot on Illwarra Road near Marickville Railway Station

17/2/2000 Shots fired at a home in Arunta Close in Green Valley

16/2/2000 House shot at in Canley Vale

13/2/2000 Man shot in shoulder and back and a 40 year old woman shot in shoulder trying to protect two others being shot at on Hector Street Chester Hill

4/2/2000 20 year old woman injured in shooting outside Buddhist Temple in Wetherill Park

2/2/2000 19 year old man shot in arm outside a karaoke bar during a drive-by attack in Canley Heights.