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9 MAY 2026 | VOL .53 NO.19
Megaphone diplomacy
Car hits child
By JACK MADDERN Police have become involved in the Side Piece Deli civil war, with operator Sam Kaye claiming a neighbour had used a megaphone to hurl obscenities at the cafe.
By JACK MADDERN
A child was hit by a car on their way to Mosman Park Primary School last Tuesday, reigniting parents’ calls for the area’s streets to be made safer.
The child was hit at the intersection of Horgan and Victoria streets – within the 40kmh school speed zone, the school’s Parents and Citzens’ committee said in a statement. It was close to the school crossing that lost its traffic warden 18 months ago. Shortages of traffic wardens, who say inflexible rules discourage them from working, have become a political issue in the western suburbs (Warden rules endanger kids, POST May 2). While the child sustained only bumps and bruises, things could have been worse if the car had not been travelling at under the speed limit, the P&C statement said. “If that had been the standard 40kmh school zone speed, the outcome may have been very different,” the statement read. “This child was lucky. “The question the community is now asking is why luck should have anything to do with getting
Local steps up … A retired Mosman Park resident acts as shepherd for grateful school-kids after the incident. There is no trained warden available. Photo: Jack Maddern “It reflects a broader and volunteering in an unofficial cato school safely.” Hazel Batten, who has a child well-documented safety issue pacity to usher children safely at the school, said: “We are at around the school,” the state- across the school crossing. A P&C report they said that ment read. our wits’ end. The Mosman Park Primary in 2025 there were nine colli“We’d love for our kids to walk or bike to school. But it isn’t School community has for three sions near the school involving safe. The incident last week years been calling on govern- school children and vehicles has shown that, and the many ments to make the roads around or bikes, and 106 near misses. A total of 64 of those near others in the past several years.” the school safer. Since the school lost its traffic misses involved vehicles. The P&C said this was not an warden a local man has been • Please turn to page 69 isolated incident.
Pregnant L-plater jailed over Neds road rage crush By BEN DICKINSON A “psychologically vulnerable” pregnant mother with “childlike” intellectual impairment and no criminal history, has been jailed after her splitsecond decision during a traumatic driving lesson in Nedlands left a man with a broken leg. Rebecca Diane Weir was learning to drive on Stirling Highway on August 5, 2023, with
her partner, Jed Palmer, giving instructions from the front passenger seat. She was 27 years old, eight months pregnant, and had her two young children in the back of the car. The now 30-year-old, who is pregnant with her sixth child, sobbed uncontrollably in the dock of Perth District Court on Tuesday as Judge Wendy Hughes detailed how Palmer became enraged at the driver
Highway fracas and serious injury opposite the Windsor Cinema.
Residents complained they had been banned from the Swanbourne premises. The eight-month conflict is set for a Supreme Court showdown due to start next month. As Mr Kaye recently won a Business News 40 under 40 award for the success of his cafe business, he claimed that neighbours had shouted expletives over a megaphone towards Side Piece and had blasted static noise over speakers for hours. Neighbour Kerry Wells admitted she had lost her cool when she shouted “Shut the f*** up” at cafegoers. “Mr Kaye banned me from the premises when I have asked for the cacophony in the rear alfresco to be toned down,” she said in an email to Claremont councillors and the POST. Mr Kaye claimed Ms Wells was shouting expletives over a megaphone during the incident. Police were called and mediated a ceasefire. The Supreme Court action brought by neighbour Ian Satchwell will examine Claremont council’s approvals of the business. The Town has just issued a permit for the cafe to have outdoor seating on its Shenton Road footpath. The permit limits the area to four customers, which may address the frequent complaints about long queues of customers spreading onto the footpath and neighbouring verges. And a change to the Town’s laneway policy will limit delivery trucks blocking the rear lane. Mr Kaye’s success in running • Please turn to page 68
of a nearby Toyota Camry and “stuck his finger up” at him. When Weir stopped her L-plated Hyundai i30 at traffic lights near the Windsor Cinema, Palmer leaped out of the car and threw a drink bottle at the other driver – a man in a high-vis hooded jumper – as he emerged from the Camry. Palmer then punched the Camry driver as another man emerged from the car’s passenger seat. A bystander’s mobile phone footage shows the passenger rushing to help his friend, before Palmer pushes him onto the road between the two vehicles and punches him. As Palmer turns his attention back to the driver, the Hyundai lurches forward, pinning the passenger between the two vehicles. The man’s legs are crushed • Please turn to page 69
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