Grace Crivellaro

A woman is facing up to 20 years’ jail after she allegedly detained and robbed a man who sought her out for sex services at a Wollongong address, a court has heard. Tiarny Sturgeon, 31, and Brad Takkenberg, 28, dialled into Wollongong Local Court on Friday amid allegations they robbed a man of $1000 on Thursday. “The facts before the court are very serious,” Magistrate Robert Rabbidge said during Sturgeon’s bail application. “No person should have to suffer what has allegedly been suffered.” Th…

An innocent Dapto man was left hospitalised with stab wounds to his neck, back, and hand, as well as having a tooth knocked out, after being attacked by a vicious home invader. Adam Goodacre, 38, climbed a ladder and removed the fly screen from a bathroom window to gain entry into the locked Burringbar Street home in the early hours of July 3, 2023. The couple inside awoke to loud noises and saw an angry Goodacre, who had a knife in hand, standing in the hallway. The man tried to calm Goodacre…

A traffic worker was seriously injured after being struck by a “remorseful” driver who told a court he was blinded by the glaring sun in Gwynneville. The worker needed major emergency surgery after scans revealed she had a fractured skull and an extradural haemorrhage (bleed between the brain membrane and skull). The driver, Maximilian Steven Stahl Lawson, 24, fronted Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm. Tendered court document…

A man accused of scribing offensive language in thick black writing on a 103-year-old marble cenotaph in Austinmer intends to own up to the vandalism. Jack Westren, 24, faced Wollongong Local Court for the first time on Tuesday, April 9, since being charged with wilfully damaging or defacing a protected place and damaging property the month prior. During a brief mention, defence lawyer Darryl Quirk said Westren intends to formally enter guilty pleas on his next court date, with an agreed set o…

A Wollongong mum will remain off the road for a month after she was clocked travelling 40kmh over the speeding limit while on the way to McDonald’s. The magistrate flicked through Yun Han’s traffic record as she considered the appeal for leniency in her licence suspension at Wollongong Local Court on Thursday, April 11. She noted it wasn’t Han’s first time flooring it. “You do a lot of speeding, do you want me to count them?,” Magistrate Claire Girotto said, tallying up seven incidents since 2…

A 14-year-old boy has been airlifted to hospital with burns to his face after a deodorant can reportedly exploded in Albion Park. Emergency services responded to reports of a teenager suffering burns on Church Street about 1.30pm on Thursday, April 18. Paramedics treated him at the scene for burns on his face and limbs, before he was transported to Westmead Hospital via helicopter. At this stage, his condition is unknown.

An Illawarra teacher accused of sexually touching four students has successfully applied to have his bail conditions altered. William Robert Carberry, 56, has been charged with five counts of intentionally sexually touching a child aged between 10 and 16 on school grounds this year. The Calderwood man was arrested on March 6 and was bailed the next day under conditions including a prohibition on employment involving children. He is also banned from undertaking social activities that will bring…

A crowd gathered by a vibrant flower display at Lang Park calling for an end to domestic and sexual violence amid intensified grief and anger at the “terrifying number” of women being killed across the country. The 225 flowers represented a life taken too soon, each laid to remember the 150 women and 75 children who died at the hands of a man known to them in Australia over the last three years. “The number of deaths we’ve had this year has been really horrifying,” general manager of the Illawar…

A teenager who was locked up for brutally bashing two women during a wild Wollongong CBD brawl will be assessed for home detention. The Central Coast man was sentenced at Wollongong Local Court on May 7 to 30 months behind bars for what the magistrate described as an “appalling, brutal and cowardly” act in the early hours of March 12, 2023. A non-parole period of 15 months was imposed. The 19-year-old fought his charges in a hearing, but was found guilty of common assault, affray, and two counts…

A former aged care employee accused of draining more than $16,000 from an elderly client has denied the claims, saying she loved her and that it was the woman’s son who stole the funds. “I absolutely loved Jan to bits and I didn’t like the way Martin (her son) treated her,” the accused woman, Joanne Whyte, told Port Kembla Local Court on Monday, July 15. “She was just like a nanna, I just felt for her.” Whyte, 53, was arrested two days before Christmas in 2022, after she allegedly swiped $16,54…