Farnsworth Sarah
Sarah Farnsworth has been an ABC Journalist since 2005. After starting her news career in Victoria's south-west, she spent two years covering regional affairs before moving to Melbourne. She has covered general news for both ABC radio and TV. For five years, Sarah was the TV court reporter in Melbourne, covering major crime cases for the 7PM news and News 24. She can also be heard regularly on 774 Local Radio and has worked in TV current affairs.
Latest by Farnsworth Sarah
Russell Street bomber to stand trial over 1980s rape allegations
Craig Minogue, who is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in the 1986 police headquarters bombing, pleads not guilty to 38 charges over alleged rapes.
'It's madness': GP denies designing a heart check program that led to a woman's death
A doctor is accused of fabricating his evidence to "save his own skin" at an inquest into a corporate heart check program that led to a Melbourne woman's death.
Peta Hickey was offered a CT scan by her employer. She didn't survive it
An inquest hears a Melbourne woman suffered an an allergic reaction to contrast dye used during a CT scan and died after her employer offered her a health check she didn't need.
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This legal scandal had 'potentially catastrophic' consequences, but there's a possibility no-one will face charges
Victoria's anti-corruption agency says it does not have the power or money necessary to go after police officers involved in the state's biggest legal scandal — the use of gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo against her own clients.
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Royal commission lawyers lay out potentially 'catastrophic consequences' of Lawyer X scandal
By Danny Tran and Sarah Farnsworth
Nicola Gobbo, the prolific police informer who has brought Victoria's justice system to its knees, may have tarnished the legal case of notorious Melbourne gangster Tony Mokbel, according to royal commission lawyers.
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Cardinal Pell says inquiry's conclusions 'not supported by evidence'
Cardinal George Pell accuses the child sexual abuse royal commission of making findings "not supported by evidence" in its unredacted report, which found he was explicitly told in 1982 of the reason paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was being moved between parishes.
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Here's what we know from the royal commission about George Pell's handling of child sexual abuse complaints
For years, questions have been asked about what Cardinal George Pell might have known about clerical abuse within the Catholic Church. A report that could be released within days may give us the best answer we will ever get.
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George Pell's child sex abuse convictions have been quashed by the High Court. So what happens now?
By Sarah Farnsworth and staff
After more than a year in prison, Catholic Cardinal George Pell has left jail a free man after the High Court overturned his child sexual abuse convictions. But there are still a lot of questions to answer.
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George Pell arrives at church property in Melbourne after being freed from prison
By Kate McKenna, Sarah Farnsworth, staff and wires
Cardinal Pell is released from Barwon Prison and driven in convoy to a church property in Melbourne's inner east after the High Court quashes his child sexual abuse convictions.
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In a near-empty room this morning, the High Court will decide George Pell's fate
By Sarah Farnsworth and High Court reporter Elizabeth Byrne
There will be no crowds of victims' advocates or the Cardinal's supporters when the High Court hands down its decision on his appeal against his convictions for abusing two choirboys in the 1990s.
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High Court reserves decision on George Pell's appeal against child sex abuse convictions
By Danny Tran, Sarah Farnsworth, Elizabeth Byrne and staff
After two days of dense legal argument, the High Court of Australia reserves its decision on whether it will overturn Cardinal George Pell's convictions for child sexual abuse.
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First day of Pell High Court appeal closes as lawyers argue 'sheer unlikelihood' of events
By High Court reporter Elizabeth Byrne and Sarah Farnsworth
George Pell's appeal hearing is underway in Canberra, with all eyes — in Australia and overseas — on the High Court as it ponders the future of the former advisor to the Pope and most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex offences.
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Is Paul Dale an incredibly 'lucky man' or the victim of a stitch up?
The former Victoria Police drug squad detective is often slapped with the label of "disgraced cop", but Paul Dale wants the public to believe he is the victim of police corruption and a media stitch-up.
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Veteran detectives split over what Nicola Gobbo told them
Veteran detectives Ron Iddles and Steve Waddell are at odds over whether criminal barrister Nicola Gobbo told them a suspect confessed to planning a 2003 gangland murder.
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Ban on Chinese visitors sends Victoria's tourism industry into 'meltdown'
By Sarah Farnsworth and James Hancock
Hit by a double whammy of bushfires and now a travel ban from China due to the coronavirus, the industry is having a "horrific" start to the year.
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This Norwegian-flagged supply vessel answered fire-hit Mallacoota's SOS
A ship arrived off Mallacoota on New Year's eve — but it wasn't the much-anticipated Navy. Without fanfare, the Norwegian-flagged supply vessel Far Saracen arrived at the bushfire-besieged town in response to an SOS call from Victoria's Emergency Services.
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Simon Overland denied keeping diaries days before three of them were found in storage
Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland will be recalled to the Lawyer X royal commission after three of his diaries were found in an unmarked box in a storage facility — just days after telling the inquiry he never kept diaries or day books.
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'Did you watch the nightly news?': Ex-police chief accused of ignoring Lawyer X legal concerns
Simon Overland denies he blatantly ignored concerns about Nicola Gobbo snitching on her clients, as he is accused at the Lawyer X royal commission of not wanting to get legal advice because it would have put an end to the practice.
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Ex-police chief Christine Nixon has 'no recollection' of being told about Nicola Gobbo's informing
By Sarah Farnsworth and staff
Christine Nixon tells the Lawyer X royal commission she only learnt about Nicola Gobbo's role as a police informer when it became public last year, despite being the chief commissioner of Victoria Police when much of the informing occurred.
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Simon Overland defends 'unbelievable' evidence at Lawyer X royal commission
Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland faces tough questioning at the Lawyer X royal commission, as he concedes Nicola Gobbo's informing could amount to a perversion of the course of justice.
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Simon Overland says he wasn't told Nicola Gobbo's informing breached legal obligations
Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland tells a royal commission he did not know Nicola Gobbo was informing on her clients, in breach of her legal obligations to them, as his investigators never told him.
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Illegal, unethical, chaotic: Ex-deputy commissioner unloads on Victoria Police
Victoria Police's use of Lawyer X was illegal, unethical, chaotic and born out of a toxic culture in the force, ex-deputy commissioner Sir Ken Jones tells a royal commission.
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Victoria Police hoped a George Pell story would knock the Lawyer X scandal 'off the front page', emails show
Emails between Graham Ashton and his media advisers in 2014 show how they discussed delaying the release of information about Lawyer X in the hopes a story about George Pell appearing at the child abuse royal commission would "knock [it] way off the front page".
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Lawyer X royal commissioner demands answers on Nicola Gobbo's 7.30 interview
By Sarah Farnsworth and staff
The frustrated head of the Lawyer X royal commission, Margaret McMurdo, demands to know why Nicola Gobbo has refused to turn up to the inquiry to give evidence, but has given a "lengthy interview to nationwide media".
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Highest levels of police knew of Nicola Gobbo's informing so I didn't question it, Graham Ashton says
By Sarah Farnsworth and staff
As barrister turned informer Nicola Gobbo breaks her silence from a secret location, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton tells the royal commission into her use he did not think to question it when he found out about her role in 2007.
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