'Egg boy' Will Connolly donates $100,000 to help mosque attack survivors

The Australian teenager dubbed "Egg Boy" after he smashed a raw egg on the head of far-right Senator Fraser Anning has donated $100,000 toward helping those affected by the Christchurch mosque attacks.

The money was raised on two Go Fund Me pages set up by others after Will Connolly, 17, egged Anning, who had blamed Muslim immigration for the shooting.

In an Instagram post, Connolly said he had donated $99,922.36 to the Christchurch Foundation and Victim Support. The post did not say whether that was Australian dollars, but if it is, the amount would be nearly NZ$106,000.

The money was transferred "after a huge amount of red tape", Connolly said in the Tuesday evening post.

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"I decided to donate all monies to help provide some relief to the victims of the massacre… it wasn't mine to keep," he said.

"To the victims of the Tragedy, I whole heartedly hope that this can bring some relief to you."

The teenager had egged Mr Anning at a far-right rally in Moorabbin in Melbourne's south-east on March 16, the day after the Christchurch terror attack.

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Senator Anning was criticised around the world for saying Muslims were "not blameless" for the mosque shootings which killed 50 people.

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Will, a 17-year-old student from Melbourne's bayside, cracked an egg on the head of the politician during the Melbourne rally, in response to his comments. He was then tackled to the ground by a group of the senator's supporters.

Following the incident, police handed Will an official caution, but he was not charged.

At the time, Will's lawyer Peter Gordon said his client was relieved with the "common sense outcome" from police.

"[Will] appreciates that he went about expressing a passionately held view in the wrong way and he acknowledges that," he said.

"He thanks the police and his family and everyone who has supported him through a pretty stressful time for him. He wants to get back to pursuing his year 12 studies."

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Latrell Mitchell rules out Rabbitohs for fear of being in GI's shadow

Latrell Mitchell has always been compared to Greg Inglis during his short but esteemed career so far – and that is the very reason, he says, why he will never play for South Sydney.

In the same week Mitchell joined the NSW Blues camp and whispers emerged he had already agreed to a two-year extension with the Sydney Roosters for around $800,000 a year, the gun centre for the first time gave an insight into why he hasn't seriously entertained persistent links with the Rabbitohs.

"I have always thought about [the move] with GI moving out, but then again, I've been hyped up after 'GI' for most of my career now, and I think if I move there I'd be more of a shadow," Mitchell said. "I am a person that wants to make my own name.

"I know me and GI have the same attributes on the field. Then again, I want to try and be better than Greg. I know he would have tried to be better than his idol. And I know for a fact he would want me to be better than him. That is the way it goes.

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"I want to be myself, be my own man and play my own game. They have a big [Indigenous] fan base. My old boy came down to Souths to have a crack. He got homesick and went home. He has always been a Souths supporter and has always rubbed it in. I don’t know how to explain it."

Like everybody else in the game, Mitchell wanted Inglis to "finish off on a high" before his recent retirement but now wishes him only the best. "I just hope he's doing well off the field," Mitchell said.

Mitchell's future beyond 2020 at the Sydney Roosters has been a huge storyline for most of the season, and after Inglis's shock retirement the young pin-up was heavily linked with a move across to the other side of Anzac Parade.

Even the most rusted-on Souths fan, however, would now understand Mitchell's reluctance to pull on the cardinal and myrtle. The past few months became stressful for Mitchell as he went through a messy split with long-time manager Steve Deacon and linked with new agent Wayde Rushton.

"You can’t put all your trust in one bucket with someone. All that stuff is in the past," he said.

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When the Roosters extension is posed to him, Mitchell did not appear surprised, giving the look of a man who has heard every story linking him at some stage to all 15 rival clubs.

"That's the first time I'm hearing this. How much was it?" Mitchell asked.

When told around $800,000 a year, Mitchell smiled and said: "I would love to see that. I am still under contract with the Roosters until next year. Whatever happens, happens. I will leave it all aside. I don’t need to worry about it."

The only concern for Mitchell right now is winning another series for the Blues. He would have loved the chance to play alongside Luke Keary in what shaped as an all-Roosters left edge with Boyd Cordner and James Tedesco sweeping across the back.

Mitchell was just as excited to link up with good mate and new NSW No.6 Cody Walker, the debutant he's also had the privilege of playing under with the Indigenous All Stars at the start of the year.

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Queensland have their own superstar 21-year-old in Kalyn Ponga but Maroons fans will be fearing what Mitchell is capable of for the Blues.

If they need reminding, Queenslanders need only to go back and watch what he did to the Wests Tigers a few Saturday nights back at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Roosters and NSW skipper Cordner has seen first hand how Mitchell has blossomed spectacularly since he first stormed onto the Origin arena last year and the Blues captain is expecting even more from him this time around.

"There are times in the game when he's the only player in the NRL who can do what he does, and I suppose that's why he's so good. He's a game-breaker," Cordner said.

Canada issues summons for Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg following no-show

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At a parliamentary hearing in Ottawa on Tuesday sat two name cards – "Mark Zuckerberg" and "Sheryl Sandberg" – and two empty chairs.

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For the second time in less than a year, Facebook's founder and its chief operating officer declined to appear before an international committee of legislators from nearly a dozen countries who are investigating privacy, big data and democracy.

This did not please the Canadian hosts of the committee, who blasted the pair for not appearing, and the panel issued an unusual, open-ended summons: Zuckerberg and Sandberg will be required to come before Parliament should they venture to Canada for any reason.

"If Mr Zuckerberg or Ms Sandberg decides to come here for a tech conference, or to go fishing, Parliament will be able to serve that summons and have them brought here," said Charlie Angus, a member of the left-wing New Democratic Party.

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If they entered the country and didn't appear before the committee, Parliament could hold them in contempt, said Bob Zimmer, a Conservative who chairs the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

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While the threat seemed mostly symbolic, Tuesday's hearing showed again that anger and frustration with Facebook is real – and arguably growing.

In recent years, the company has been dogged by allegations that it is dodging responsibility for the spread of disinformation on the social network and not protecting users' personal information – accusations repeated before the international committee Tuesday.

The committee – officially called the International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy – is made up of representatives from Canada, Britain, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Ireland, Latvia and Singapore.

The group first met in London last year. Zuckerberg was invited but did not show up.

Though other technology companies, including Google, were summoned to the Ottawa gathering, it was Facebook's decision to send relatively junior representatives that drew the most outrage.

Zimmer called the top executives' absence "abhorrent".

"Shame on Mark Zuckerberg and shame on Sheryl Sandberg for not showing up today," he said during the hearing, according to CNN.

As the hearing progressed, legislators grilled Facebook's representatives on its handling of disinformation, casting the company as a threat to democratic institutions.

Damian Collins, a British legislator, pressed Facebook on why it had not removed a digitally manipulated video of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that went viral last week.

The company's director of public policy, Neil Potts, countered that Facebook had done something – it downranked the video, making the content less likely to appear in users' news feeds.

In separate testimony, former Facebook adviser Roger McNamee urged governments to close such platforms until they were completely overhauled.

"At the end of the day, though, the most effective path to reform would be to shut down the platforms at least temporarily," McNamee said, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "Any country can go first. The platforms have left you no choice. The time has come to call their bluff."

Though Canadian legislators did not announce any further steps, their anger was evident.

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith of the governing Liberal Party mocked Zuckerberg for vowing, in a recent opinion piece for The Washington Post, to keep talking to legislators.

"If he was an honest individual writing those words," Erskine-Smith said, "he'd be sitting in that chair."

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Heavily pregnant woman allegedly assaulted in Surry Hills

A heavily pregnant 26-year-old woman was walking to work in Sydney's inner east on Tuesday morning when she was allegedly assaulted by another woman who suddenly emerged from an alcove.

NSW Police said there was no provocation for the attack in which the woman was allegedly punched repeatedly in the head by the stranger.

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The alleged assailant, 28, then pulled the victim's hair and rammed her into a power pole on Wentworth Avenue in Surry Hills.

The victim, who is 30 weeks pregnant, fell to the roadway where she was helped by a passerby who attempted to separate the women.

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"The civilian did not hesitate to leap to the rescue of the pregnant woman and we commend his bravery," said Chief Inspector Adam Johnson.

At the same time, a probationary police constable, who happened to be walking by just before 9am, restrained the alleged attacker.

"We would also like to praise the swift response of the probationary constable who saved the woman from further harm," Chief Inspector Johnson said.

Nine News reported the constable, who shielded the victim from a further assault, had only been with the police force for three weeks.

The alleged attacker was taken to Surry Hills Police Station and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

She appeared in Central Local Court where she was ordered to remain in custody.

The pregnant woman was taken to hospital for observation and treatment.

The child's father told 2GB's Ben Fordham the unborn child was unharmed.

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'We have got to get this right': Liberal MP warns broad support needed for Indigenous referendum

A key Coalition proponent of constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians has warned that strong bipartisan support will be crucial for a successful referendum and rushing the process could risk a Brexit-like outcome.

Julian Leeser, a Liberal MP and co-chair of Parliament's constitutional recognition committee, said it would be premature to stake out political positions before the completion of a comprehensive "co-design" of the referendum proposal.

"Nobody in Australian politics wants to put up a referendum that doesn't succeed, so we have got to get this right," Mr Leeser said on Tuesday.

"We know that to have a referendum pass you need to have bipartisan support.

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"And indeed we have had two referenda fail when we had bipartisan support from party leaders but not from some senators and premiers."

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Indigenous constitutional recognition has been on the political agenda for a decade, but attention has focused on the concept of a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous "Voice to Parliament" since 2017, when it was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Voice would be a representative body advising on policies affecting Indigenous people.

The proposal has been backed by Labor but has faced hostility in the Coalition, with senior figures describing it as a "third chamber" of Parliament. That claim has been rejected by advocates of the idea.

In a report late last year, MPs from both sides on the constitutional recognition committee backed further exploration of the concept and recommended a "co-design" consultation process with Indigenous communities that would examine national, regional and local elements of a Voice. The Morrison government supported the findings and has provided funding for the design process.

Labor had committed to a referendum in this term of Parliament had it been elected.

Mr Leeser said "Labor was writing cheques it couldn't cash" and the detail had to be sorted out first.

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"At one point, they flirted with a referendum being put forward without the detail. We've seen an international example of that — it's called Brexit … Vote first and sort out the details later. It didn't end well," he said.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said it was difficult to arrive at a final position while the concept remained "exceptionally vague" but reiterated resistance among senior Liberals to a constitutional Voice to Parliament.

"To the extent that the concept has meant, or means, and in my observation it likely does mean, some kind of constitutionally enshrined extra parliamentary process … members of the executive government, the government itself, have rejected that notion," Mr Porter told Sky News on Tuesday.

"But that doesn't mean that you don't give full consideration to other plans or models and ways in which to recognise Indigenous people in the Australian constitution."

Constitutional lawyer and Cobble Cobble woman Megan Davis said it was "very early days" and the Morrison government was just settling in.

"It's important to exercise patience and respect. We have always sought to educate and persuade government and the Australian people on the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the proposal for a referendum on a Voice to Parliament," Professor Davis said.

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Cody Walker to remain silent during Advance Australia Fair

Cody Walker says he will not sing the national anthem before the State of Origin opener next Wednesday, even though millions of sports fans will be tuned in to what will be one of the biggest sports events of the year.

Just as he remained silent during Advance Australia Fair before the Indigenous All Stars game at the start of the year, Walker will not change his mind because of the enormous interest surrounding the Origin opener at what will be a packed-out Suncorp Stadium.

While insisting he did not want to court controversy, the Blues rookie told the Herald on Tuesday: "I'm not pushing my views on anyone, it's just how me and my family have grown up and how I feel. I've already voiced my opinion, and I want to reiterate it's just my opinion.''

Blues coach Brad Fittler said it was completely up to Walker if he chose to remain silent during the anthem but he added: "I'll be singing it."

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Walker, however, found a high-powered supporter in Johnathan Thurston, who said he thought there should have been more debate about the anthem when several Indigenous All Stars brought the matter to a head at AAMI Park in February.

"The stand the team took on not singing the national anthem … it was like it was just brushed over,'' Thurston said in an interview with the Herald.

"They did that and there wasn't really any discussion to come out of that, even though it was a stand they took for themselves and their family.

"I thought it was great leadership by the team. Cody Walker came out after the game and said the national anthem doesn't represent him or his family. We made a decision based on that and that was pretty much the end of it. I can't remember anyone from the game coming out and having a further discussion about it."

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga also supported further debate straight after the All Stars game and said: "We expect them to sing the national anthem, but I'm also in favour of the fact, if it is offensive to Indigenous Australians, let's have a discussion about it.

"We're a multicultural society, so all of Australia should decide on what our anthem should be. The majority of us are third- and fourth-generation Australians now. What does contemporary Australia want? If it's important to people, why not call for a referendum?"

In the US, The NFL was last year forced to review its policy after many players refused to stand for the American national anthem, with players given the option to remain in the dressing-room if they did not want to sing The Star-Spangled Banner.

While Walker will literally stay tight-lipped during the anthem, he was more than happy to sing the praises of his NSW left-edge combination of fellow indigenous stars Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr.

Such was the popularity of his centre and winger, Walker's two sons, Kian and Kade, have run around wanting to be Addo-Carr and Mitchell.

"When I did the Fox League interview with my boys, they came on TV and when asked who their favourite players were they said, 'Fox and Latrell'," Walker said.

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"They won't be getting the No.3 and No.5 on the back of their jerseys, I can tell you. It will be the No.6.

"I played with both of them in the All Stars game, but I was on the right edge. They are superstars of the game. I can count my lucky stars."

Moments after learning of his first Origin selection on Sunday, Walker received some praise and advice from one of the most popular league identities north of the border – Souths coach Wayne Bennett.

"He was very happy when I saw him Sunday. I got three handshakes and a cuddle. That's a record I think," Walker said.

"It's always good to hear those things from a guy who is a legend. He's an unbelievably-experienced coach and we're so lucky to have him at the club.

"He told me to soak up the week, not let the hype leading up to the game get to me, but let the game get me up."

Morrison's new economic worry: Reserve Bank running out of bullets

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Scott Morrison got the government re-elected on the back of a budget built on an illusion: that the economy was growing strongly and would go on doing so for a decade. The illusion allowed Morrison to boast about getting the budget back into surplus and keeping it there, despite promising the most expensive tax cuts we’ve seen.

The illusion began falling apart even while the election campaign progressed. The Reserve Bank board responded to the deterioration in the economic outlook at its meeting 11 days before the election.

It’s now clear to me that it decided to bolster the economy by lowering interest rates, but not to start cutting until its next meeting, which would be after the election – next Tuesday.

If that wasn’t bad enough for Morrison, with all his skiting about returning the budget to surplus he may have painted himself – and the economy – into a corner.

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In a speech last week, Reserve Bank governor Dr Philip Lowe made it clear that cutting interest rates might not be enough to keep the economy growing. He asked for his economic lever, “monetary policy” (interest rates), to be assisted by the government’s economic lever, “fiscal policy” (the budget).

He specifically mentioned the need to increase government spending on infrastructure projects, but he could have added a “cash splash” similar to those Kevin Rudd used to fend off recession after the global financial crisis in 2008.

See the problem? Any major slowdown in the economy would reduce tax collections and increase government spending on unemployment benefits, either stopping the budget returning to surplus or soon putting it back into deficit.

That happens automatically, whether the government likes it or not. That’s before any explicit government decisions to increase infrastructure spending, or splash cash or cut taxes, also worsened the budget balance.

And consider this. The Reserve’s official interest rate is already at a record low of 1.5 per cent. Its practice is to cut the official rate in steps of 0.25 percentage points. That means it’s got only six shots left in its locker before it hits what pompous economists call the “zero lower bound”.

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What happens if all the shots have been fired, but they’re not enough to keep the economy growing? The budget – increased government spending or tax cuts – is all that’s left.

The economics of this is simple, clear and conventional behaviour in a downturn. All that’s different is that rates are so close to zero. For Morrison, however, the politics would involve a huge climb-down and about-face.

My colleague Latika Bourke has reported Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst saying that, according to the party’s private polling, the Coalition experienced a critical “reset” with April’s budget. The government’s commitment to get the budget back to surplus cut through with voters and provided a sustained bounce in the Coalition’s primary vote.

The promised budget surplus also sent a message to voters that the Coalition could manage the economy, Bourke reported.

Oh dear. Bit early to be counting your chickens.

The first blow during the election campaign to the government’s confident budget forecasts of continuing strong growth came with news that the overall cost of the basket of goods and services measured by the consumer price index did not change during the March quarter, cutting the annual inflation rate to 1.3 per cent, even further below the Reserve’s target of 2 to 3 per cent on average.

Such weak growth in prices is a sign of weak demand in the economy.

The second blow was that, rather than increasing as the budget forecast it would, the annual rise in the wage price index remained stuck at 2.3 per cent for the third quarter in a row. The budget has wages rising by 2.75 per cent by next June, by 3.25 per cent a year later and 3.5 per cent a year after that.

As Lowe never tires of explaining, it’s the weak growth in wages that does most to explain the weakening growth in consumer spending and, hence, the economy overall. Labor had plans to increase wages; Morrison’s plan is “be patient”.

The third blow to the budget’s overoptimism was that, after being stuck at 5 per cent for six months, in April the rate of unemployment worsened to 5.2 per cent. The rate of underemployment jumped to 8.5 per cent.

Why didn’t Labor make more of these signs of weakening economic growth during the campaign? It had no desire to cast doubt on the veracity of the government’s budget forecasts because, just as they provided the basis for the government’s big tax cuts, they were also the basis for Labor’s tax and spending plans.

Labor was intent on proving that its budget surpluses over the next four years would be bigger than the government’s – $17 billion bigger, to be precise.

Think of it: an election campaign over which side was best at getting the budget back to surplus, just as a slowing economy and the limits to interest-rate cutting mean that, at best, any return to surplus is likely to be temporary.

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Morrison’s $1080 tax refund cheques in a few months will help bolster consumer spending, but they’re a poor substitute for decent annual pay rises.

Ross Gittins is economics editor.

'Just lock your door when you're asleep': Female uni students pressured to perform sexual acts

Female university students were pressured into giving lap dances, sharing intimate details of their sexual experiences, and being "slapped on the ass by everybody" as they ran past a group of men before entering a party as part of college hazing at the University of New England.

The hazing was documented in a report on the Armidale university's residential colleges by the Human Rights Commission.

The university asked the commission to conduct the report in the wake of its damning 2017 report on sexual assault and harassment across Australian universities, which found the University of New England had the highest rate of sexual assault of any university in the country.

Some students told the commission they encountered men at the colleges who either did not understand or did not respect sexual consent.

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One woman said she was sleeping in her own bed when a male student entered her room, laid on top of her and started kissing her. The woman demanded he leave and reported the incident to a senior student, who worked for the college, only to be told she "probably should just lock your door when you’re asleep".

And social events documented by the commission included a "GI Joes and Army Hoes" party with promotional material that instructed attendees to "dress up like the title says".

Sexualised themes, the commission said, reinforced attitudes of objectification and sexual entitlement which contributed to incidences of assault and harassment.

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The commission made 25 recommendations to the university to address the colleges' problems, ranging from increased consent training, to more security cameras, to university audits of the colleges' responses to reports of sexual misconduct, all of which it has agreed to implement.

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Nina Funnell, director of the advocacy group End Rape on Campus, said the issues were not confined to the University of New England.

"We see these… problems replicated across the country and bigger questions need to be asked about colleges as institutions and the toxic environments which go along with them," Ms Funnell said.

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Other colleges, including the sandstone colleges at the University of Sydney, have previously grappled with hazing crises.

University of New England vice-chancellor Professor Annabelle Duncan said the university acknowledged it had a role to play in educating its students about respect and consent and thanked students who spoke to the commission.

"It is important to note that of the 25 recommendations that relate to UNE's colleges, work is completed or underway to meet 17 of the recommendations," Professor Duncan said.

An additional three recommendations related to the Catholic Church-owned St Albert's College, which is located at the University of New England but run independently. It was singled out in End Rape on Campus' 2018 Red Zone report on sexual assault and harassment.

St Albert's has agreed to implement those recommendations.

Australian sailor sentenced to eight years for honeymoon death

Miami: An Australian man whose wife disappeared while they honeymooned at sea has been sentenced to eight years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

Lewis Bennett, 42, apologised to the family of Isabella Hellman during a hearing before US District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami on Tuesday. He waived his right to appeal.

Bennett was originally charged with murder, with investigators alleging he intentionally tried to sink the boat, but later dropped the charges.

Bennett, a dual Australia-UK citizen, had asked the judge to let him out of prison sooner so he could raise the couple's daughter, who turns three in July and is being raised by Bennett's parents in Scotland.

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"If you may permit me to be with my daughter as soon as possible," Bennett said. "I want to bring her up in a manner that is respectful to my wife's wishes."

But Moreno sided with prosecutors and chose eight years in prison as the sentence and three years on supervised release.

Hellman disappeared as the couple sailed off the Bahamas in May 2017.

A statement from the US Attorney's office says Bennett had experience sailing, including training on emergency procedures, and had previously travelled from St Marteen to Australia.

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His wife, a naturalised US citizen born in Cuba, had not trained in emergency sailing procedures and had less experience.

The couple had been married for three months when they set sail to St Marteen, Puerto Rico and Cuba for a delayed honeymoon in late April.

After they left Cuba on May 14, Bennett asked Hellman take over control of the boat for the night so he could go rest in the boat's cabin, according to court documents.

He didn't require her to wear a life jacket, harness or personal locator, prosecutors said in the statement.

He said he woke up when the craft hit something and Hellman was missing.

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The government maintained he didn't use the satellite phone to call for help. Instead, he loaded provisions and stolen silver coins onto a life raft and boarded it.

Prosecutors said he called for help 45 minutes after he had woken up realising his wife was gone.

A US Coast Guard helicopter rescued him; authorities searched for Hellman for four days, but never found her body.

A Florida state judge declared Hellman dead earlier this month to clear the way for the couple's daughter to inherit her mother's estate.

"Hellman's death occurred as a result of Bennett's knowledge of circumstances that existed that could have reasonably enabled him to foresee threat to life," the US Attorney's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FBI said an inspection found that holes in the hull were inflicted from the inside and hatches were opened in a deliberate attempt to sink the boat.

Bennett was initially arrested and charged with murder last year before reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors. He had already pleaded guilty to transporting $US100,000 ($A144,340) in stolen coins.

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'I'm a very powerful shaman': Accused killer had been banned from restaurant

Accused killer Henry Hammond was banned from a Thornbury restaurant where he volunteered because he frightened the customers.

Lentil as Anything manager Dayle Lee Jones said Mr Hammond was living in a van beside the restaurant car park and had come to believe he was the Norse god Odin.

She was forced to bar him from the restaurant – a non-profit, pay-as-you-feel eatery that is 99 per cent run by volunteers – after alarming incidents including one in which he repeatedly threw himself against the window, scaring customers.

Mr Hammond faced court on Monday charged with the murder of Courtney Herron, whose body was discovered in Royal Park on  Saturday morning.

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The killing triggered a wave of grief from the many who loved her and from the wider community distraught and outraged at the death of another woman, allegedly at the hands of a man, in Melbourne.

Ms Herron had also been sleeping rough and battling drug addiction.

Mr Hammond's family released a statement on Tuesday expressing their shock at Ms Herron's death.

"Our deepest sympathy and compassion goes out to Courtney’s family and friends on their heartbreaking loss," the statement reads.

"Henry Hammond grew up loved by his family and friends. For many years he has struggled with mental illness, more recently drug issues and homelessness.

"We ask the media to please respect our privacy as we try to process this tragedy. Our hearts go out to Courtney’s family and friends."

On Tuesday it also emerged that Mr Hammond, 27, had appeared in a 2018 "Street Talk" segment of The Footy Show at Hosier Lane in Melbourne's CBD.

A dishevelled Mr Hammond, who was playing a recorder, told host Sam Newman: "I've put bamboo through my nose because I'm a very powerful shaman."

Footage later in the segment shows him dancing and flinging his arms towards the sky.

Ms Lee Jones said Mr Hammond came into Lentil As Anything every day as a patron and the restaurant took him on as a volunteer because he didn't have any money.

"I spent many an hour sitting outside on the kerb with him giving him the opportunity to have somebody to talk at, not necessarily talk to," she said.

"Talking to him, it was his love life and I don’t know what happened with his fiancee … I know he was devastated. He never once mentioned he had a son."

She said his behaviour deteriorated to the point that she was concerned about him being around other staff and patrons.

"Because of his aggression – we try to give people a second chance, especially when mental health is involved – it just became too much. And so I had to ban him from the restaurant."

Ms Lee Jones said she had called police about Mr Hammond several times because of his threatening behaviour and his belief he was a god.

"I ended up calling the mental health services in the northern ward to get them to come and pick him up because he didn’t have anybody … He was always here, out the front, he was intimidating and scary."

Ms Lee Jones said she and her staff were devastated by Ms Herron's murder and the fact someone they knew had been implicated.

Eurydice Dixon, 22, had volunteered at the same restaurant before she was murdered in Princes Park by Jaymes Todd on June 13 last year.

“She was an amazing person," Ms Lee Jones said.

"[It's] one extreme where one volunteer is killed senselessly, [then another] to have someone who was a volunteer and patron, who we tried to help, to be standing accused of murder."

Ms Lee Jones said when she tried to get Mr Hammond psychiatric help last year she was left on hold for two hours until someone could speak to her.

She said services met with Mr Hammond that year and had attempted to find him appropriate accommodation, but she did not know if he was ever placed anywhere. The last thing she heard was that his mother was looking for him because he had "disappeared again".

Ms Jones agreed to speak about Mr Hammond's case in the hope it would draw attention to what she and experts agree is a buckling mental health system.

"There is a bigger and bigger gap, we see it here," she said, referring to her more vulnerable regulars.

"[Mental health workers] are under pressure. There's not enough funding."

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