The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 1

9Qq wi FRIDAY 2 JANUARY 1998 Ejrtrcsfc The man 144th Year No. 44,479 est; i I CYW a 1 1 Tho Ccscsd; The battle 0 continues Mr A. 5f: -the big ife w)b, loved; 'r Year in review, children, -i. screen T(D)ddlIler9s tadly fonmnid Jaidyn's mum at scene Grim find for walkers Kennedy curse claims one more Aspen, Thursday Sometime in the future, a member of America's most famous family will live to be old and die with dignity, untouched by scandal or tragedy. Hut for now, it seems the Kennedys of Massachusetts will have to settle for being perennially cursed.

Another chapter in the almost unbelievable saga of family tragedy and misfortune was written yesterday with the death of Michael Kennedy, son of the late Robert Kennedy, in a skiing accident at Aspen, Colorado. Mr Kennedy, 39, was the second of the assassinated former senator's 1 1 children to die in tragic circumstances. His brother David died in Florida in 1984 of a suspected heroin overdose. Once viewed as the next Kennedy star, Michael fell from grace last year when it was revealed he had had an affair with his family's babysitter. The scandal is thought to have influenced the withdrawal of his older brother, Joseph, from the race to become governor of Massachusetts in 1998.

Allegations that the babysitter was 14 when the affair began six years ago prompted a police investigation, which was later dropped. Authorities at Aspen yesterday said Kennedy hit a tree head-first about 4.15pm while skiing on an intermediate run during a football game with members of his family. Relatives knelt beside him praying as he was given emergency treatment by the resort's ski patrol before being taken to hospital. He died of massive head injuries an hour later. His older brother Joseph said: "Michael's death is a terrible tragedy for his entire family.

We will miss him dearly." A statement released by the resort said: "Ethel Kennedy and her family are mourning the loss of their beloved son Continued: PAGE A9 By STEPHEN CAUCHI and BRETT FOLEY The search for toddler Jai-, dyn Leskie whose disappearance sparked one of the biggest police hunts in Victorian history appears to have ended the discovery of a child's remains in a lake near Moe. An elderly woman and her grandson found the body about yesterday floating near a pylon in Blue Rock Lake, about 20 kilometres north of the La Trobe Valley town from where laidyn disappeared. Police last night said they could not confirm that the body was that of laidyn, who was 14 months old when he was reported missing on 15 June last year. Inspector Chris Major of the Morwell CI8 said the body appeared to be that of a child aged two to three. He was not aware of any other child fitting that description who had gone missing in the area.

The body was being taken to Melbourne last night. Jaidyn's mother, 22-year-old Bilynda Murphy, was taken by police to the scene of the discovery last night with a friend, identified only as Dave. Inspector Major said the child's body had been examined by a forensic pathologist after being removed from the water about 8pm. But he said the identity could not be confirmed, and that laidyn Leskie disappeared in June last year. police would also be unabld to determine the extent of any injuries until more tests were done.

Inspector Major said the body appeared to have been in the lake for "quite some but the water had had "a preserving He said the child was in a green tracksuit. Asked if it matched what laidyn had been wearing when he went missing, he said: "Not that I'm aware of." Inspector Major confirmed that Blue Rock Lake had been one of the areas covered by aerial surveillance during the massive police search for Jai-dyn last year. Ms Murphy's former boy-friend, Mr Gregory Domaszewicz, 28, who was babysitting Jaidyn on the night of his disappearance, was charged on 16 July with the child's murder. An agonising wait: Jaidyn Leskie's mother, Bilynda Murphy (right), is shown the site at Blue Rock Lake, about 20 kilometres from Moe, where the body of a toddler was found yesterday afternoon. Picture: Angela wylie A mother's pain (The search for a little boy lost spot overlooking Blue Rock Lake with two friends and police.

Ms Murphy made the sad Journey as the sun was setting four uncertain hours after she received the news that a body had been found at the lake. Before being shown down to the vantage point by police, Ms Murphy said: "The police haven't told me anything. One of the homicide guys told us to come here." When asked if she was relieved that the mystery of her sonb disappearance had been solved, she said: "Not like this." By BRETT FOLEY Looking bewildered and frightened, the mother of missing Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie made a harrowing walk last night to a vantage point overlooking the lake location where a toddler's body had been found. Ms Bilynda Murphy last saw her son alive on 14 June when she left him in the care of her boyfriend, Mr Gregory Domaszewicz, before a night out in Traralgon. Ms Murphy, pale and with tears welling in her eyes, walked the 200 metres in the evening warmth to the bushland also were A pig's head was found outside the house from which Jaidyn disappeared but a court was told later that it was the result of an unrelated pay-back.

Kenneth Stephen Penfold, 26, of James St, Moe, admitted throwing the pig's head at the house because of a dispute with Mr Domaszewicz. Mr Domaszewicz had been in dispute with Mr Penfold's sister, Yvonne, a former girlfriend. Ms Murphy is due to reappear in court on 28 January, charged with assaulting and making harassing calls to Ms Penfold. Mr Brett Leskie, Jaidyn's father, has a daughter with Ms Murphy, Breehanna, 3, and another daughter with Ms Murphy's sister Kadee. By FERGUS SHIEL rMoe toddler Jaidyn Leskie's disappearance last June while in the care of his mother's boyfriend sparked one of Victoria's most intensive searches.

But the 20-day search, costing about $1 million, failed to find the 14-month-old child. Jaidyn was last seen on 14 June with Mr Gregory Domaszewicz, 28, the boyfriend of Jaidyn's mother, Ms Bilynda Murphy. Mr Domaszewicz had collected the toddler to babysit him while Ms Murphy went driqking at a Traralgon hotel. Ms Murphy, 22, discovered Jaidyn missing about 5am on 15 June and, with Mr Domaszewicz, notified police. Just over a month later, Mr 4' pissing mother bilynda Murphy and boyfriend Tf-scfi, Domaszewicz was charged with the boy's murder.

Mr Domaszewicz, an unemployed self-taught motor mechanic, of Narracan Drive, Newborough, denies killing the boy. He has been in custody since 16 July and is awaiting a 10-day contested committal hearing due to start on 2 February in Moe. The search for Jaidyn Leskie was said to be the biggest since the Prime Minister, Mr Harold Holt, disappeared in wild surf near Portsea in 1967. Divers searched Lake Narracan, eight kilometres north of Moe, for the boy after it was partially drained. Thermal imaging equipment was used to scour a local tip, and drains and paddocks near Mr Domaszewicz's house were searched.

A dam, a swamp and 54 hectares of I Michael Kennedy Expanding National purse snatched from Bronwyn Bishop Mai VjMMMMMMiMi' J.I,i,,,iM.,.wnftnrc,il.,. inn Mrs Bishop will be acting Finance Minister I Mrs Bishop will be acting Finance Minister 1 I i We are excited to introduce our new store at from next Thursday until the 1 1th of fmm npvt Thnrctnv until thp I i th nf IIUMUUJ HIV January while Mr Fahey is on leave. 1 Vfc fl I mLJ January while Mr Fahey is on leave. I Tbo MMtMCMMNt froM Mi9 offlot OH 19 DtCMlbtf irj-j "life i 410 Glenhuntly Rd, ELQTERnVJICtl Ph: 9528 6025 Melbourne's best range of curtain and upholstery fabrics at the lowest prices. I a.

GLENHUNTLY RD I I Pi 181 Australian poultry exports ban A reported ban on Australian poultry exports imposed by the United Arab Emirates was a regrettable development for the fledgling poultry export industry, the Federal Government said yesterday. UAE authorities blamed the Indefinite ban on live and frozen poultry from Australia, Hong Kong and China on the deadly "bird flu" that has killed four people In Hong Kong and Infected at least nine others, It was reported from Dubai. A spokesman for the Primary Industries Minister, Mr John Anderson, stressed that the chicken influenza virus, which occasionally strikes flocks In Australia, could not be contracted by humans unlike the Hong Kong strain. The spokesman said the Government was still bullish about the prospect of poultry exports eventually generating millions of dollars and considerable employment for Australia. AAP The Soviet secrets on Hitler i By BILL BIRNBAUER the truth about Adolf Hitler death has Intrigued the world since Germany surrender in May 1945.

After Soviet troops advanced through the ruins of Berlin and the war ended, Joseph Stalin announced Hitler was dead, but two months later told Americas President Harry Truman that the Fueh-rerls body had not been found. For decades, there were reported sightings, of Hitler. It is now known that an ailing Hitler and his long-time mistress and new wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide In his bunker beneath the centre of Berlin and that their bodies were taken outside where they jwere burned and buried. It was discovered only recently, however, that the a year after the war, Vecretly conducted probably he most thorough Investigation of Hitlers last days, then hid their findings. The Investigation, known as Operation jContlnued: PAGE A4 By PHILLIP HUDSON, Canberra Mrs Bronwyn Bishop, once touted as the woman who could become Australia's first woman prime minister, has been thwarted in what would have been her first opportunity to control the nation's purse strings.

Mrs Bishop, the Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel, announced in a press release a week before Christmas that she would become acting Finance Minister from 25 December until 11-January. It surprised many senior Government members. The office of the Finance Minister, Mr John Fahey, had not been consulted. Although no subsequent' announcement was made, the latest monthly update of Government revenue and spending, released on New Year's Eve, carried the name of the Family Services Minister, Mr Warwick Smith, as the acting Finance Minister. liwf) INCORPORATING Making Ends Meet Short ends and remnants aptclalMa Mrs Bishop, who is known in political circles for her ambition, yesterday said she had been asked by the Prime Minister's office to take on the role while Mr Fahey was on holidays.

"I got a letter from John Howard's office asking me to be acting in that position," Mrs Bishop said. "But Warwick wanted to do it so that's fine by me." Mrs Bishop's chief of staff, Mr Russ Street, said Mr Fahey had asked Mr Smith to do the job and Mrs Bishop had "agreed that would be He said she was not upset about the change. Mr Smith could not be contacted yesterday. 3 vt' fx. iW nn.

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