Macquarie University 'failed' to call police after sex assault, 2GB's Ray Hadley revealed
GEMMA JONES
The Daily Telegraph
February 26, 2013 4:17PM
A YOUNG Sri Lankan man arrested over the sexual assault of a female student at Macquarie University in Sydney's northwest is an asylum seeker, immigration officials have confirmed.
However, the accused man was not living in student accommodation at Macquarie University at the time of the attack, an immigration department spokeswoman said this afternoon.
Police say the 20-year-old student was asleep in a student accommodation building at the uni when a man broke into her room and indecently assaulted her about 3.20am last Thursday.
The woman woke up during the attack and the man fled.
Police say they arrested a 21-year-old Sri Lankan national at Railway Square in Sydney's CBD on Tuesday morning and took him to Surry Hills police station for questioning.
Macquarie University provides services for asylum seekers, including temporary accommodation, under a 2012 agreement with the Red Cross Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme (ASAS).
It was claimed earlier today, the university failed to call police immediately after security was told of the indecent assault.
The victim waited almost eight hours for help, 2GB's Ray Hadley revealed this morning.
He said a security guard came to the girl's unit about 10 minutes after the indecent assault and that he may have touched parts of the crime scene.
The victim and her flatmates assumed police had been called after the 3.20am attack but uniformed officers and detectives only came after the young women called them around 11am.
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Asylum seekers intercepted near Ashmore Islands on 25th boat of 2013
Alice Coote
The Daily Telegraph
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/asylum-seekers-intercepted-near-ashmore-islands-on-25th-boat-of-2013/story-e6freuy9-1226585445130
February 26, 2013 12:00AM
A BOAT carrying 68 people was intercepted off the north-west coast on the weekend.
The vessel was discovered to the north-east of Ashmore Islands on Saturday night and HMAS Maitland, under the control of the Border Protection Command was called to assist.
It is the 25th boat arrival for the year with more than 3000 people arriving by boat since December 1.
As a result of safety concerns due to poor weather conditions the 68 asylum seekers were embarked in HMAS Maitland under the coordination of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia).
A statement from the office of the Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare said the people would be transferred to Darwin to undergo initial health, security and identity checks.
The vessel was first detected by a Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 surveillance aircraft.
Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said it was an "all time record summer of illegal boat arrivals", with more than 1000 extra people arriving this summer than last summer.
"Disturbingly not even the treacherous conditions of the monsoon season, with reports of a cyclone continuing to develop off our north-west coast this evening, are dissuading people smugglers," Mr Morrison said.
"Labor's border protection crisis is reaching new levels of failure and still they have no answer to stopping the boats."