Golf ball fractures Australian taxi passenger's skull

Six weeks ago, mother of two Natasha Cossell packed up her belongings and moved to Melbourne to start a new life. She wasn't expecting to undergo quite the upheaval and life-threatening drama that has enveloped her for the past two weeks after she ventured out for her first social night in Melbourne.

Sitting in the front of a taxi with the window wound down as it drove through Central Lakes Boulevard on February 28, she was just one minute from her new home when she felt something strike her on the side of the head. The taxi driver found a golf ball lying on the ground when he stopped the car.

By the time Ms Cossell reached home, the pain was so bad that the taxi driver phoned 000. Paramedics suggested taking her to hospital but she refused. Next morning, the pain was so intense and her hearing was gone in one ear that she changed her mind about hospital. She was found to have a fractured skull that was pushing up against her brain, causing a brain leak. She underwent emergency surgery that night.



Ms Cossell, who was discharged from hospital on Thursday, had to have therapy to fully regain her speech and to walk, and continues to suffer headaches.

Detective Senior Constable Arnaud Lenferna from Werribee CIU said: ''The likelihood of a ball which has been hit at a car without it being aimed at the car, landing through a open window of a car and striking Natasha in the head, is bizarre and highly unlikely and that is why police are investigating this as suspicious.''

''The injuries she sustained are consistent with either a fairly hard hit or a throw and considering it was 2am in the morning, we don't suspect anyone was playing golf, so all we can assume is that people were throwing golf balls in the paddock there.''