Australia’s most wanted man, who eluded capture for seven years by hiding in dense forests, was captured and charged with murder yesterday, ending a frustrating and at times violent hunt, police said.
Malcolm Naden was heavily bearded, barefoot and wearing muddy clothes when New South Wales police found him just after midnight at a remote house near the town of Gloucester, about 260km north of Sydney. The former slaughterhouse worker has been charged with the 2005 strangling death of a cousin and other violent crimes.
A police dog bit Naden in the raid, which was prompted by a tip. Police found a loaded semiautomatic rifle on the property, but said no shots were fired during the arrest.
About 50 officers had been searching for Naden around the clock since December last year, when police say he shot and wounded an officer during a raid at a campsite.
“Australia’s most wanted man is behind bars,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said.
He called Naden a “master bushman,” an Australian term for a wilderness survival expert.
“He has been in this area for a number of years. He knows it better than the back of his hand,” Scipione said.
Naden was taken to a hospital under heavy guard for treatment of the leg wound. The 38-year-old said nothing to reporters as he shuffled, feet shackled and face covered, into a police van after being released from hospital.
He vanished from the home he shared with his grandparents near the rural city of Dubbo in 2005, shortly after his 24-year-old cousin, Kristy Scholes, was strangled in a bedroom of the house. He quickly became a suspect in the killing and officials, aware of his sharp survival skills, believed he was hiding out somewhere in a vast stretch of unforgiving and heavily forested terrain.
Gloucester is about 450km east of Dubbo.
He was charged with murder in connection with Scholes’ death, two counts of aggravated indecent assault related to a 2004 attack on a teen and shooting with intent to murder in relation to the incident in December.
Naden is also a suspect in the disappearance of his cousin, Lateesha Nolan.
Her father, Mick Peet, said a detective called him at about 2am and said: “We’ve got him.”
Peet’s four children, roused from their sleep by the ringing telephone, ran into his room and joined him in jumping around “like we won the lottery,” he said. “It made me go all weak in the knees and I just thought: ‘I hope he’s alive, first up, because I need him alive to answer questions.’ You can always imagine what might have happened to her, but you’d never know until you get the answers.”
Naden’s lawyer, Michael Jones, did not apply for bail. The case was adjourned until April 24.
“He’s in reasonable health, but he’s very tired,” Jones said outside court. “He’s got serious bite marks on both legs inflicted by police dogs at the time of his arrest. Other than that, that’s all I can say.”
New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell praised the police for their work.
“While it may have taken longer than everyone hoped ... this arrest shows that the New South Wales Police Force always gets their man,” O’Farrell said.
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
‘VIOLATIONS OF DISCIPLINE’: Miao Hua has come up through the political department in the military and he was already fairly senior before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday. Miao Hua (苗華) was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to corruption. It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. China in June
RSS