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Tuesday 7 October 2014
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A win for the Accused ROSEBUD Secondary College students were named joint state winners at the state awards night at Hamer Hall last month for their performance of Accused. They shared the award with Hoppers Crossing. The win comes after a year of planning and rehearsals. The team has now been nominated for the National Story of the Year Award. Wakakirri is a national festival that celebrates learning through the creation and sharing of stories. To enter the Wakakirri Challenge, schools create stories using dance, creative movement, acting, song, and film to be performed, screened and displayed across Australia. The Aboriginal word Wakakirri means ‘to dance a story’, according to Wangaaypuwan people from Cobar, NSW. Established in 1992, Wakakirri is Australia’s largest annual arts event for schools involving 20,000 students. Live performances and online stories reach more than one million people each year. Other major awards collected by Rosebud Secondary included best combination of dancing and acting, best combination of dance and drama, best dance production, and best adapted story. Student choreographers Sophie Armstrong and Alexandra Dellaportas were presented with the trophy on stage, and are already planning next year’s production. Performance can be viewed online at Wakakirri.com
Another life lost to coward punch Chris Brennan chris@mpnews.com.au THE family of a young man killed in a “violent, frightening and completely unprovoked attack” in Rye has issued a heartfelt plea for an end to the carnage that has claimed dozens of lives in socalled “coward punch” attacks, while criticising the sentence handed down to the killer. Dylan Closter, 20, was sentenced to nine years and three months’ jail
with a six-year minimum term in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday after belatedly pleading guilty to manslaughter and affray over the death of David Cassai, 22, in Rye on New Year’s Eve 2012. Mr Cassai’s mother, Caterina Politi, said she was bitterly disappointed at the sentence handed down to her son’s killer, but welcomed new Victorian laws that take effect from this week that mandate a minimum term of 10 years’ jail for one-punch deaths.
WHAT’S ON AT NEPTOURS *CROWN CASINO – MONTHLY* Casino’s bus program with a HEALESVILLE SANCTUARY great BUFFET lunch (all) $35. Tue 11 Nov Only persons over the age of Adults $70 (p/s) $60 (ch) $50 18 permitted. STRICTLY BALLROOM LAST THURSDAY EACH Wed 25 March MONTH Adults $125 (p/s) $110 QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET THE LION KING Tue 14 Oct - all $30. Shop for all the bargains we Wed 11 March (matinee) do not have down here. (a) $120 (p/s) $110 We even supply a couple DIRTY DANCING of Eskys for some of your Wed 25 Mar perishables. Adults $115 (p/s) $105 STITCHES & CRAFT SHOW Caulfield Racecourse Thu 23 Oct All $55
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“Six years minimum – it will never be enough, but it doesn't send a message of deterrence and punishment for a man who took my son’s life,” Ms Politi said outside court. “People waste their lives on the dole for five years and six years. Ten years is more significant.” A large group of friends and supporters of Mr Cassai’s family attended the court on Thursday wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the message: ‘Stop. One punch can kill’.
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Portsea Hotel when the deadly attack occurred. The three men had planned to catch the bus home to Rosebud but discovered the bus only went as far as Rye and decided to walk the rest of the way. However, they were “ambushed” by Closter, an apprentice plumber who was then aged 18, and two friends Thomas McCluskey-Sharp, 26, and Tyrone Russell, 22, outside a Rye pizza shop. Continued Page 12
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Mr Cassai's sister, Luisa, said she was hopeful the tragic and avoidable death of brother would lead to greater awareness of the consequences of violence. “This isn't just for David. It's in his memory, but it's for everyone that's lost their lives from this,” she said. David Cassai, who lived in Templestowe, was on the way home to his family’s holiday house in Rosebud with two friends in the early hours of December 31 after a night out at the
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