Well DANG! The link doesn't work. Anyway it's http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com if somebody not html challenged can make it fly.
The upside is that there is one less scumbag in the world; the downside is the trauma to the lady from his assault, a trauma that will probably last her a lifetime.
My normally robust *Anglophilia* really diminishes every time I read a story like this out of Australia, or England, or Canada...
More info:
Guard asked for smoke after shooting robber
By Drew Warne-Smith and Natalie O'Brien
July 31, 2004
WHEN Karen Brown shot William Aquilina in the carpark of the Moorebank Hotel he had just robbed, shocked witnesses had no idea she was a security guard.
Dressed in tight black jeans and a leather jacket, the blonde looked like a patron of the sprawling, modern hotel in Sydney's southwest.
Witnesses said Ms Brown, who is the de facto wife of a member of the Lone Wolf bikie club, followed Aquilina to his car, shot him through the closed window of his vehicle and then "wandered around" the parking lot, bleeding from a scalp wound on the back of her head.
For some minutes after the shooting, Aquilina lay slumped in the driver's seat of the stolen getaway car coughing up blood.
As the robber lay dying, Ms Brown asked a bystander for a cigarette, but he declined, saying he had only one left.
It was only later, as Ms Brown was being treated by a paramedic that police realised she might still have a gun, said witness Sam Capar.
"One cop suddenly yelled out to check if she had a gun, but she didn't. So they just took her away in an ambulance," he said.
The fatal shooting last Monday has prompted security industry insiders to question the circumstances surrounding the robbery, in which Ms Brown, dressed in plain clothes, was alone and picking up about $55,000 in cash.
Aquilina bashed Ms Brown with brass knuckles in the robbery, and it is feared she may lose the sight of one eye.
Scans have revealed Ms Brown suffered a fractured skull and a broken nose in the attack during the robbery. She is still being treated in hospital and is yet to be interviewed by police.
Ms Brown worked for Elite Guard Forces, a company run by her de facto husband, George Muratore, which was believed to be subcontracting the job from a company called Divisional Security Group.
Through barrister Joseph Busuttil, Mr Muratore refused to answer questions on whether his company carried out the necessary security-risk assessments for its role in collecting cash from the hotel, or whether Ms Brown as a plainclothes "soft skin" guard had breached regulations in taking delivery of such a large sum.
Police sources have told The Weekend Australian the Lone Wolf Motorcycle club, which has its headquarters in Lismore, northeast NSW, is a low-profile club that has not attracted police attention.
George Muratore's father, Vic Muratore, defended the couple over their membership of the Lone Wolf club. "Just because they ride the bikes doesn't mean they've done anything wrong," he said. "It has nothing to do with this."
He considered Ms Brown as a daughter. She was a "kind person" who was always helping friends. "All the time you see her, she is doing things for others," he said. "Helping with the shopping, whatever."
Neighbours of the pair in Rooty Hill, western Sydney, who asked not to be named, said Ms Brown and George Muratore led a "quiet life" and had never caused any trouble.
Why I killed the robber
ECLUSIVE by BEN JONSTON and WARREN OWENS
01aug04
THE security guard who shot and killed a robber who bashed her has spoken about her ordeal for the first time.
Shaking and crying, a traumatised Karen Brown, 42, said yesterday she had feared for her life as she was punched in the head several times by William Aquilina, who was armed with a knuckle duster.
"I was so scared," she said of the ambush and shooting outside a hotel in Sydney's southwest last Monday morning.
Ms Brown suffered a fractured skull, a fractured eye socket, a fractured nose, a fractured left hand and possible brain damage when the 25-year-old grabbed her hair, king-hit her and then battered her to the ground.
The convicted criminal then dragged her across the bitumen towards a stolen getaway car before she could release a bag containing between $30,000 and $50,000 in hotel takings.
Moments later, a bleeding Ms Brown, who was dressed in casual clothes and whose gun had been concealed, shot Aquilina as he sat in the car.
Surrounded by her family, Ms Brown tried to recall the incident that left her covered in blood in the hotel car park.
"I looked up through a bloody haze," Ms Brown said. "I did not know where I was or exactly what had happened to me. All I knew was that blood was pouring into my eyes and my head was throbbing."
Despite her injuries, which also include severe concussion and a floating bone fragment behind her eyeball, Ms Brown said she felt sympathy for Aquilina's family and expressed remorse for what had occurred.
"I really feel sorry for his family," said Ms Brown, who has been a security guard for four years. "It must be awful. I just wish this had never happened. It's been a terrible week."
Ms Brown had been collecting and banking the pub's takings for the past five months.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before and nothing prepares you for this," she said.
Ms Brown's sister, Katrina, said the incident had been devastating.
"It has completely wrecked her life," she said at the Sydney home Ms Brown shares with her de facto, George Muratore. "She's a complete mental and physical wreck. This is the worst thing that's ever happened in her life. She has never hurt anybody or anything before and it's completely crushed her."
Mr Muratore's father, Vic, 73, said he believed Ms Brown should not be punished.
"She should not be charged -- I would have done the same thing," he said. "If you pay me to protect, I have to protect. Everybody reckons she's a champion.
"We have known her for seven years and she is a very decent person -- she is a good person.
"I say sorry for the other people, but you deserve what you get when you do something like that."
But Aquilina's grandfather, retired policeman Frank Rasmussen, has said Ms Brown should be charged.
"He was murdered," Mr Rasmussen said. "That woman should have torn into that hotel as soon as she alleges she was hit and she should have asked for help. Instead, she advanced on my grandson and shot him in cold blood.
"She's just a bitch. Sorry."
Mr Rasmussen said he was upset by how his grandson -- who has convictions for drugs and robbery -- had been portrayed.
"They're saying he's a rotten dangerous criminal and he's not. He's lovable," he said.
"We still don't believe he's done this on his own -- he's too good a person.
"He's never been involved in anything like this in almost 26 years that we've known him. It's not in his nature."
Ms Brown underwent further medical tests on Thursday. Detectives are not expecting to speak to her until tomorrow.
Channel 7 has secured Ms Brown for the only television interview, on Today Tonight, tomorrow night.
My guess is she'll walk - as she should - but will have nightmares for years to come.