The families left devastated by the downing of MH17 have spoken up 10 years after the atrocity to reveal the heartbreaking moments they realised their lives had changed forever. Woke up at about maybe quarter to, 10 minutes to seven. Also in the habit of just putting the radio on at that time as soon as I put the kettle on. You know? The plane was shot down by a missile as it flew over conflict-ravaged eastern Ukraine, which was held then by pro-Russian separatists.
A joint investigation into the shooting led by the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine concluded the missile system was transported from the Russian Federation to a farm field near Pervomaiskyi in eastern Ukraine. The Hague sentenced the men to life in prison, but the EU does not have an extradition treaty with Russia and the men remain at large.
Unarmed AFP officers were deployed immediately to the crash zone to identify the Australian victims, repatriate them back home and collect evidence to piece together how the shocking event had happened. AFP chief scientist Simon Walsh was deployed to the 50sq km crime scene early to begin the painstaking work of identifying the victims through forensic chemistry, DNA and fingerprinting.
I think also because of its complexity, it was an incident that we worked on for long periods of time. Howard and Susan Horder, retirees from Brisbane, were killed returning home from a holiday in Europe. And they were just treated so beautifully and with so much respect. I took an ambulance to the hospital, saw a doctor, got stitches, had a follow-up appointment, got medicated, and the lot. Police say the "unpredictable" beach patrols are aimed at catching criminals by surprise.
They were known as pious and prominent members of the community. While people knew they had connections to Hamas, neighbors say no one could have guessed how deep those links truly went. Dylan Brister, 27, and Cameron Allan, 20, spiked Calum Simpson's drink leaving him unconscious, before subjecting him to a serious sexual assault that was recorded on a mobile phone. Mr Simpson, 24, later died from intoxication caused by Class C drug Etizolam and alcohol.
