She Says Weekly: 23 April 2024

To get She Says Weekly straight to your inbox every Tuesday sign up here.

What a f*cking week, right? I don’t think I even need to introduce it, let’s just get straight into it.

MAGIC MUSHROOM DEATH

Police are currently investigating the death of a 53-year-old woman at a wellness centre in Clunes, Victoria. Her death came after consuming a drink at the health retreat that allegedly contained mushrooms. Two other people were also taken to hospital after consuming the drink.

While I think this mushroom-related death was an accident, Erin Patterson, who is currently in prison accused of murdering three people with a poisonous mushroom meal, has actually faced court on Monday. She appeared via video link for her lawyers to reject an offer to fast-track her case at a better-resourced Melbourne Court. She will appear again on May 7.

CHANNEL 7 BEING SUED.. AGAIN

You would have thought Channel 7 would be better at fact-checking by now, especially given they had to settle with a man for wrongfully naming him as the man who kidnapped Cleo Smith. Alas, they have done it again.

20-year-old UTS student, Ben Cohen, was wrongfully named as the Bondi killer multiple times, on multiple different platforms. He was reported as “40-year-old Benjamin Cohen” on the Seven website, Youtube channel on on air.

Channel 7 apologised and blamed “human error” for the wrongful identification.

It has been revealed that Mr Cohen has engaged top lawyer Patrick George, to help him sue for defamation.

This highlights, once again, the importance of fact-checking. One “human error” can negatively affect someone for the rest of their life. Will Channel 7 learn this time? (probably not)

BONDI JUNCTION CANDLELIT VIGIL

The pavilion at Bondi Beach flew at half mast on Sunday as hundreds of mourners gathered on the beach to grieve the six people killed in the Bondi Junction massacre.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns and opposition leader Peter Dutton were among the many people who lit candles in remembrance of the six people killed, and in respect of the twelve others who were injured and still recovering.

NSW health minister Ryan Park also confirmed that nine-month-old baby Harriet, whose mother Ash Good was murdered in the attack, has been discharged from hospital.

BRITTANY HIGGINS STATEMENT

On the TIA socials we followed along with the recent developments regarding Bruce Lehrmann, including the *official* confirmation that he did rape Brittany Higgins.

Five days after that confirmation Higgins shared a statement that began with “I was raped. No judgment was ever going to change this truth. I lived with the shame, humiliation, and fear of what telling my story would mean for my life and career, like so many other victim-survivors.”

In her statement she thanked Justice Lee for his “trauma-informed approach, recognising that reactions to assault can vary wildly.”

Interestingly, Higgins also made the following apology: “Senator Reynolds and Fiona Brown have also been hurt and for that I am also sorry. My perceptions and feelings about what happened in the days and weeks after my rape are different from theirs. I deeply regret we have not yet found common ground. I hope we can resolve our differences with a better understanding of each other’s experience.”

In response to this apology, Senator Linda Reynolds said she welcomed the “olive branch” but would be proceeding with her defamation case.

While the findings against Bruce Lehrmann were not criminal, and therefore there is nothing on his record to say he is a rapist, I feel like it was a small win for Justice Lee to say ‘Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins.” It will not change what happened, but it is an admission that Brittany is a victim, she was raped, she was telling the trust. It is deeply worrying how long it took for this to happen.

AUSSIE OLYMPIC TEAM ANNOUNCEMENTS

As someone who is not *sporty* it is ridiculous how excited I get when the Olympics come around. Does anyone else remember staying up late to watch One Direction perform at the 2012 Olympics?

So far 60 people have been selected for 7 sports - 31 of those female, 29 male, including 37 debutants.

ON OUR SOCIALS