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Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with

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Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. The lawyer representing one of the

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Speaker 1: men accused of kidnapping and murdering Sydney grandfather Chris Bagsarian

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Speaker 1: says his client is no mastermind. Paul McGirr said on

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Speaker 1: Thursday his client, twenty nine year old Jared Andrews, didn't

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Speaker 1: orchestrate the February thirteen kidnapping of Chris Bagsarian from his

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Speaker 1: home in Sydney's North Ride, and added he found the

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Speaker 1: facts of the case confronting. Look speak and RISI's cost

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Speaker 1: of facts that I've read in my experience as a

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Speaker 1: police officer of the defense lawyer, and I just have

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Speaker 1: to remind myself that I have a job to do

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Speaker 1: under these circumstances, because these matters are extremely sensitive and

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Speaker 1: in that particular respect, certainly from what I can gather,

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Speaker 1: my client was no master mind in respect to his

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Speaker 1: involvement in this particular matter. But more wait for brief

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Speaker 1: taken there and of course it's not lost on leave

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Speaker 1: to sensitive nature or on this particular matter thela victim's family.

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Speaker 1: But as I said, I have a job to do,

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Speaker 1: and it's very of this particular moment. Jared Andrews and

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Speaker 1: twenty four year old Daniel Stevens were charged with murder

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Speaker 1: and detaining company with intent to ransom on Wednesday. The

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Speaker 1: charges followed dramatic arrests at the men's family homes in

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Speaker 1: Sydney's Hills District early that day. Andrews and Stevens appeared

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Speaker 1: in Blacktown Court via videolink on Thursday. Police alleged the

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Speaker 1: pair snatched eighty five year old mister Bagsarian in a

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Speaker 1: case of mistaken identity in mid February with the intention

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Speaker 1: of holding him for ransom. Documents filed in court on

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Speaker 1: Thursday revealed the grandfather was allegedly killed within forty eight

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Speaker 1: hours of his kidnapping. His remains were found near a

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Speaker 1: golf club in Pitttown, approximately fifty kilometers from his home

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday. The matter has been a jes earned to

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Speaker 1: April seventeen. Andrews and Stevens did not apply for bail

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Speaker 1: and will remain behind bars. They have yet to enter. Please.

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Speaker 1: Head of the Bondai Royal Commission, Virginia Bell, on Thursday,

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Speaker 1: visited the site of the December fourteen terror attack where

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Speaker 1: fifteen innocent people were killed by two gunmen allegedly motivated

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Speaker 1: by extremist Islamic ideology. Virginia Bell also met with survivors

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Speaker 1: of the massacre as well as family members of the deceased.

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Speaker 1: At that informal meeting, she explained why the inquiry won't

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Speaker 1: directly investigate the incident and took questions. Billionaire Lawrence Escalante

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Speaker 1: found himself in the middle of a scuffle outside of

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Speaker 1: Perth Court on Thursday. The founder and major shareholder of

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Speaker 1: online gambling company Virtual Gaming Worlds, who's facing drug and

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Speaker 1: domestic violence charges, was attempting to make a swift exit

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Speaker 1: from the Perth Magistrate's Court when a security guard holding

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Speaker 1: an umbrella got tangled up with a camera opera, so

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Speaker 1: excuse us dodges. Escalante stood down from his role as

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Speaker 1: Virtual Gaming World's chairman and CEO last month after he

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Speaker 1: was charged with multiple offenses. He's defending the charges and

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Speaker 1: is on bail. Escalante will return to court in June.

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Speaker 1: You can check out those stories live right now at

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Speaker 1: the Australian dot Com dot a U and come back

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Speaker 1: to the front first thing in the morning for a

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Speaker 1: close look at a new twist in the Britney Higgins

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Speaker 1: Bruce Lamon saga that just keeps going. This time a

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Speaker 1: finding by the Press Council that's caused a whole lot

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Speaker 1: more controversy. That's right here Friday morning,