Home
About MAKO
Services
Contact
Prevention
MAKO/Files
Community Notification
Report
Referral
Profile's
Facts/ Stats
Online Dangers
Child Safety
MAKO Petitions
Research/ Resources
Books
DNA Info
Safety For Women
News/ Articles
Your Comments
Australian Politicians/ Contacts
Join
Sponsors
Donations
Links
|
A STUDENT sent a callous email threatening to kill missing teenager Daniel Morcombe after he was rejected from Australian Idol auditions, a court was told today. David Charles Brine, 23, was jailed for two years suspended after he serves four months by District Court judge Alan Wilson in Brisbane today. Brine, of Underwood in Brisbane's south, pleaded guilty to threatening to murder in a document on May 8 last year. Brine set up an email account with the user name "Dan is with me" and sent this message to police: "Dan Morcombe is now in my possession. "He was sold to me by his kidnappers because they no longer had any use for him. He is well but a little worse for wear. If his parents want to see him alive again they must compensate me for the loss of such a beautiful toy." Defence barrister Brad Farr said Brine sent the email, which he had written the night before, when he was among many people sent away without getting an audition for the Channel Ten reality television program Australian Idol because organisers had run out of time. "He went back to the internet cafe and sent the email. He did it at a time when he was very frustrated that day by what he had just experienced," Mr Farr said. Brine checked daily for a reply to his message, which he sent to Crime Stoppers. He also attempted to access the Morcombe family's telephone number online. Daniel, 13, was abducted while waiting at a bus stop on a highway near his Sunshine Coast hinterland on December 7, 2003. He has not been found. Judge Wilson, describing the message as very cruel, said it played on a parents' deepest and most horrible fears. Daniel's parents' were told about the message only after it was revealed to be a hoax. They revealed the distress it caused them in statements to the court. "It defies belief that someone could inflict further pain upon us," wrote Daniel's father, Bruce Morcombe. "Our family was in crisis when Mr Brine knowingly caused us further trauma and distress." Brine told police the email was a hoax and a joke. Brine, who completed a degree at the Queensland University of Technology in media and communications last year, was described by Mr Farr as naive and immature, from a good family and a regular long-term churchgoer. As a result of the investigation Brine was also charged with possessing child abuse computer images, and was fined $1500 after pleading guilty in Brisbane Magistrates Court last year. The Australian (27-1-2005) Suzanne Klotz |
Australian News
WANTED OFFENDERS
Safety For Women
Report Sex Crime
Victim Assistance/Referral
Community Notification
2011. All Rights Reserved.
Legal/Disclaimer/
Privacy/
Terms Of Use.