Camp pair ‘vanished’ - Arnold Thomas & Becker · 2020-06-02 · vanished from their High...

SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020 heraldsun.com.au NEWS 09

V1 - MHSE01Z01MA

Holocaust descendant calls out Nazi riderTHE grandson of Holocaustsurvivors has bravely con-fronted a man wearing a Naziswastika in a Melbourne park.

David, 53, was walking inHeatherton’s Karkarook Parkabout 5pm on Friday when hewas “gobsmacked” to see aman casually riding past, wear-ing a swastika armband.

“Having grown up as thegrandson of Holocaust survi-vors, it’s an emotive issue,” hesaid.

“When you see these sortsof things you get angry.

“It’s not the sort of thingyou expect to see in Mel-bourne … it’s just horrible.”

The incident has promptedrenewed calls from Australia’sAnti-Defamation Commissionfor the State Government tourgently ban public displays ofthe swastika and prosecute of-fenders.

“It’s sickening to think that,in Melbourne, neo-Nazi thugsfeel free to openly wear thissymbol of genocide and evil,knowing there is nothing Vic-toria police can do to stopthem,” commission chairmanDvir Abramovich said.

David said he ran to catchup to the man wearing theswastika and confronted him.

“He said, ‘it’s a flag of theGerman people’, and I ex-plained it wasn’t,” he said.

The man then startedspouting anti-Semitic rhetoricand conspiracy theories, soDavid walked away.

The man wasn’t aggressive,“just trying to push his agen-da”, he said.

A bystander had alreadycalled police, who arrived asDavid was leaving the park.

“The police said to me … hewas known to them and theywould deal with him,” Davidsaid.

MANDY SQUIRES

Lion trainer Jennifer Brown.

Prayers for hurt keeper SHOALHAVEN Zoo has been inundated with support for mauled big-cat keeper Jennifer Brown, who is still fighting for her life.

The experienced zookeeper, 35, suffered deep cuts to her head and neck when she was attacked by two young male lions on Friday.

The NSW zoo yesterday asked the community to continue to “pray” for her.

Puzzle of 18

hours

POLICE have cut to about 18hours the time frame in whichRussell Hill and Carol Clayvanished from their HighCountry campsite.

Investigators believe some-thing happened to the friendsovernight or the morning afterthey last made contact fromthe Dry River Creek Track inthe Wonnangatta Valley.

It is 73 days since they left ontheir camping trip. Their disap-pearance has gripped Victori-ans and is the subject of a majormissing persons squad inquiry.

Investigators know Mr Hilltalked via his radio with afriend at about 6.30pm onMarch 20, a day after settingoff to East Gippsland.

He spoke only briefly be-cause night was falling and hewanted to set up camp.

Other High Country visi-tors came across their campabout 2pm the next day.

They saw fire had destroyeda tent and camp furniture andhad also scorched the side ofMr Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser.

The fire remains one of themost intriguing elements ofthe case because, despite anarson chemist’s investigation,its exact cause is not known.

Detective Inspector An-drew Stamper, the head of themissing persons squad, said itwas as though Mr Hill, 74, andMs Clay, 73, had disappearedinto thin air.

He said search and rescuesquad officers, who have runmajor operations in the sur-rounding area, were convincedthey would have found sometrace of the friends if they werestill there.

Insp. Stamper said talk ofwild dogs removing remains ofpeople who died in the High

Country had foundation, buttraces, such as footwear orclothing, would be expected tohave been left behind.

Insp. Stamper said it waspossible something had gonewrong while the pair were outexploring the bush.

But both getting into thekind of trouble that led todeath was less likely, he said.

Investigators are trying totrack every person who was inthe area where Mr Hill, ofDrouin, and Ms Clay, who isfrom Pakenham, travelled.

Insp. Stamper said a lot ofpeople were in the High Coun-try that weekend as coronavi-rus restrictions loomed.

Investigators have beenworking via public appeals andintensive investigation to findeveryone who was in a wideexpanse of the High Countryto see if they noticed anythingthat could help the inquiry.

Mr Hill had been in theKing Billy and Bluff Track areafrom March 13 to 16 on a separ-ate solo visit with his newdrone. He also took the droneon the trip with Ms Clay thenext week.

It has not been recoveredand remains another puzzlingelement of the inquiry.

Anyone with any other in-formation on the disappear-ance, or who has any CCTV ordashcam footage, can callCrime Stoppers on 1800 333000 or visit the websitewww.crimestoppersvic.com.au.mark.buttler@news.com.au

Camp pair ‘vanished’

Carol Clay and Russell Hill.

MARK BUTTLER CHIEF POLICE REPORTER

BIG-WAVE surfer Ross Clarke-Jones is taking legal action against the producers of Australian Survivor, claiming he suffered a debilitating injury during filming of the hit reality show.

Clarke-Jones, who is named as Howard Ross Clarke-Jones in court documents, is suing Endemol Shine Australia, the production company that produces Australian Survivor for Channel 10.

He is claiming damages, loss of past and future earnings, and medical expenses after injuring his ankle during a rope challenge.

Clarke-Jones was paid $25,000 totake part in the series, called AustralianSurvivor: Champions v Contenders, which was shot in Fiji between April 29 and June 23 last year. At stake was a $500,000 first prize.

Clarke-Jones and the other contestants in late May last year took part in a challenge where they had to

swing on a rope from one raised wooden platform to another.

Clarke-Jones was the third contestant to swing on the rope, which broke while he was in mid-air. He crashed to the ground, injuring his ankle, and had to leave the show.

In a statement of claim filed in theSupreme Court of Victoria, it is claimed Clarke-Jones, who lives on Phillip Island, suffered loss of earnings, as well as depression and anxiety, as a result of the injury to ligaments in his ankle.

“At the date of the injury, the plaintiff was a professional big-wave surfer with sponsorship arrangements, including with Red Bull and Quiksilver,” the document says.

“The plaintiff is and has been sincehis injury totally incapacitated for his previous employment and claims past loss of earnings and future loss of earnings.

“The plaintiff also claims loss of opportunity in relation to competing for the prize money available on Survivor, and other professional big- wave surfing related events, awards and business opportunities.”

It is claimed the incident was caused by the negligence and/or breach of duty of Endemol Shine Australia Pty Ltd.

Clarke-Jones is being representedby law firm Arnold Thomas & Becker.

“Ross very reluctantly has decidedto take the litigation pathway but felt he had no other option,” Lee Flanagan, partner at Arnold Thomas & Becker said.

Endemol Shine Australia was contacted for comment. GOSSIP QUEEN, P22-23

Injured surfer sues over Survivor fallEXCLUSIVEFIONA BYRNE

Australian Survivorcontestant Ross

Clarke-Jones iscarried from the

set after being hurtin a challenge.