AUSTRALIA. ABORIGINAL CHILD KILLER JAILED AFTER COURT REJECTS TRIBAL DEATH PENALTY

Terrence Dann, an Aboriginal man, was sentenced to life in prison for hanging his two young stepchildren after a court refused his plea to return home and face a tribal death penalty. Dann, 37, hanged his 14-month-old stepson and his four-year-old stepdaughter in a cemetery in the far northwestern town of Derby in April after a fight with their mother. Dann pleaded guilty to the Western Australian Supreme Court on and asked that he be returned to his hometown to face death at the hands of his clansmen. "I must go back and face my people for what has happened ... it's called a death penalty," he said in a letter read out in court by his lawyer.