British High Court blocks release of 'black cab rapist'
By Susan McFarland
UPI -- After a surprise decision to release the "black cab rapist" from prison, three British High Court judges said Wednesday the man must remain locked up until the parole board takes a better look at his case.
The ruling follows the release earlier this year for John Worboys -- who is believed to have committed more rapes than anyone in British history. He was imprisoned in 2009 with a minimum term of eight years for drugging and assaulting 12 women.
A jury convicted him on 19 charges related to the dozen attacks, which authorities suspect are only a fraction of his total crimes.
At least 100 women have said they were assaulted by a Worboys, 60, who police also believe attacked 30 more while out on bail.
Worboys was granted release by the parole board in January. Two victims challenged the decision during a March 14 hearing.
Wednesday, the British justices ordered him behind bars until the parole board can take a closer look at his case and make a "fresh" determination.
Parole board chairman Nick Hardwick was forced this week to resign by justice secretary David Gauke.
Judge Brian Leveson said the parole board should have "undertaken further inquiry into the circumstances of [Worboys's] offending and in particular the extent to which the limited way in which he has described his offending may undermine his overall credibility."
The judge said the parole board also should have been aware that it did not have material from the police or prosecution to challenge the version of events.
The judges' decision also challenges a rule that says the parole board does not have to give reasons for decisions to release inmates.
Newfoundland Cabbie preyed on vulnerable women
Tara Bradbury (tara.bradbury@thetelegram.com) “This is my first time in jail and it will be my last, I promise you,” Lulzim (Leon) Jakupaj told a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge Wednesday afternoon.
“I truly feel sorry for those girls and whatever they have gone through,” Jakupaj told the court. “I’ve been working as hard as possible and I did learn my lessons and I’ve been trying to take any programs they can give me.”
Prosecutor Dana Sullivan argued for a prison term of between 2 ½ and three years and a lifetime sex offender registration for Jakupaj, whom she said abused a position of trust when he committed the assaults while on duty as a driver with City Wide Taxi. Both young women had relied on Jakupaj to get them home safely, she said.
“When Mr. Jakupaj was driving the cab, he was the person in control at all times,” Sullivan said. “He was in control of who to pick up and where they drove. He could choose who he wanted to be his victim, and he chose young women who were under the influence of alcohol.”
Sullivan told the judge, “We have to deter like-minded individuals, not only general members of the public but members of the public who are in similar positions of trust.”
Defence lawyer Amanda Summers argued for a total jail sentence of between six and 20 months, noting Jakupaj is seeing a psychiatrist and working as a garbage collector in prison.
Summers acknowledged the serious nature of Jakupaj’s crimes — and the need to send a message to the public to this effect — but said his assaults on the women would be considered on the lower end of the seriousness scale.
“Sexual assault could be anything from a kiss to full-on intercourse,” Summers said. “When someone hears sexual assault, they might automatically think intercourse. I just want to point out there’s a range.”
Jakupaj assaulted the first woman after picking her up downtown and driving her to her home in Paradise. After pulling into her driveway, he grabbed her by the back of the neck and forcibly kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. The woman, 24, pushed him away and got out of the car, and Jakupaj drove away.
He assaulted the other woman, 19, after driving her and a group of her friends home to Mount Pearl after a night out, then inviting himself in. The woman was coming out of a basement bathroom when Jakupaj pinned her against the wall, forcibly kissed her, pressed his forearm across her throat, touched her outside her clothes and pulled her pants partly down.
Jakupaj, who is a Canadian citizen but grew up in war-torn Kosovo, served as a child soldier for three years and came to Canada in 2007, Summers said. He had no criminal record until last spring, when he was convicted of breaking into a home after driving another female passenger in May 2016. He was sentenced to four years in jail as a result.
In that incident, Jakupaj had given a 22-year-old woman a ride to Kilbride from downtown. Minutes after she went inside the home, he followed her and was caught by her ex-boyfriend, who noticed him peeking in through the bedroom’s French door.
McGrath will sentence Jakupaj on the sexual assaults April 25.
Child marriage brochure prompts outrage in Sweden
It's good to see that Sweden's far-left government is being taken to task for its extreme political correctness, at least in this case.
© Global Look Press
A Swedish leaflet about child marriage has been withdrawn after it sparked outrage. The document outlines the illegality of underage marriage in Sweden, but many assumed it was condoning it instead.
The brochure was produced by Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) and aimed at people arriving in the country. Entitled, ‘Information for those married to a child,’ the document explains that child marriage is illegal in Sweden and the reasons why. It goes on to say that any child who arrives with a spouse will be treated as a lone child and placed in social care.
The brochure also points out that sex with anyone under the age of 15 is also illegal in Sweden. However, Swedish politicians and residents took issue with the language used in the brochure, saying it wasn’t strong enough for the subject matter.
Jan Björklund, the leader of the Liberal Party, tweeted that the brochure should be “withdrawn without delay.”
"The biggest failing is that the word ‘prison’ isn’t present, but rather it gives a bit of advice and tips on how to respond if you have a relationship our marriage laws forbid," Tobias Billstrom, the leader of the Moderate Party, said, as cited by the Local.
“The material has provoked strong reactions and many comments. We have withdrawn the material and will revise it," Petra Rinman of Socialstyrelsen said in a statement, which explained the brochure was compiled as part of a government framework to disseminate information to children who are declared married, as well as spouses and family members.
Many expressed their anger over the leaflet on social media, where many appeared to think the brochure was encouraging child marriage or that it was a sign that Sweden was legalizing child marriage.
"Sweden does not allow anyone under the age of 18 to enter into marriage in the country,” Socialstyrelsen’s legal head Pär Ödman said. “However, according to current legislation, the general rule is that marriage which is legal according to the law of the country in which it was carried out should be recognized in Sweden. New legislation is currently being prepared by the government."
The new legislation will state that foreign childhood marriage will not be recognized if one of the parties was underage when they arrived in Sweden. It will come into effect at the start of 2019.
Police investigating child sex abuse at
'swinging' parties in Australia
PERTH, Australia (KGO) -- Police are investigating 5 cases of suspected child sexual abuse during "swinging" parties in Australia.
Police say some of the children were drugged and abused during sex-parties organized by several adults. The Western Australia Police Force posted the update on its Facebook page. "The Taskforce was launched last month following the discovery of a recording device by a member of the public which contained videos showing adults, both male and a female, engaging in sexual acts with the eight year old girl," said police in a statement.
Police allege those adults include the girl's mother, her step-father and a male friend of both. "So far, three people have been arrested on a total of 23 charges in relation to the alleged sexual abuse," said police. Authorities have searched six properties in Perth and Western Australia and expect to make more arrests.
CNN: At least five children, most under the age of 10, are suspected to have been allegedly sexually abused by a group of adults in Western Australia, police said Friday.
One eight-year-old girl was assaulted multiple times by a number of adults, including her mother, step-father and a family friend, according to police.
They have been arrested and charged with 23 counts related to the alleged sexual abuse, including sexual penetration and indecent dealing.
Spike in child sex abuse charges turns spotlight on remote Aboriginal communities
Women and young children sit beside the road near the BP service station in Tennant Creek.
The Australian, LUKE GRIFFITHS
A Northern Territory youth, understood to be a boy in his mid to late teens, has been charged with five counts of sexual intercourse without consent following an incident this week involving a five-year-old boy at an unnamed remote community.
Police provided no more information other than that the youth had been remanded in custody.
A 14-year-old boy from South Australia’s remote Aboriginal lands has also been charged with the sexual assault of a child, believed to be a nine-year-old girl who was transferred to Alice Springs Hospital.
A spokeswoman for NT Health was unable to give an update on the girl’s condition as she had been checked out of the hospital by late yesterday afternoon.
The alleged incident occurred on Tuesday at Mimili, 1200km northwest of Adelaide in the vast Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, with the 14-year-old refused bail amid an ongoing police investigation.
Earlier this week, a 16-year-old boy was charged with sexual intercourse without consent with a four-year-old boy in the remote town of Ali Curung, 175km south of Tennant Creek.
Last month, a 24-year-old man was charged with sexually assaulting a two-year-old girl in Tennant Creek. And NT police said this week a girl, believed to be four, was allegedly indecently assaulted in Tennant Creek in January.
Senior Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet staff visited Tennant Creek and Ali Curung this week, where NT Families investigators had been working since Sunday’s rape of the four-year-old boy.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, a Darwin-based senator, has written to NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner seeking a full account of what happened to the children and asking whether they were previously known to child-protection agencies.
A spokesman for Senator Scullion said the minister was “shocked and appalled at the abhorrent incidents that have been reported in recent days”.
Barb Shaw, general manager of the Anyinginyi health network that serves Tennant Creek and its surrounds, was concerned that overcrowding in homes had led to a jump in dysfunctional behaviour. “There is an absolute sense of hopelessness in Tennant Creek and the region,” she said.
An inquiry into abuse in South Australia’s APY lands, conducted in 2008 and submitted to the NT’s recent royal commission into the protection and detention of children, noted 269 allegations of child sexual abuse in the region.
But that could be just the tip of the iceberg after the inquiry found the extent of child sexual abuse was hard to pinpoint because incidents regularly went unreported.
“In particular, in the lands, children lived in dysfunctional communities where there was considerable violence and fear, as well as drug and alcohol abuse and a sense of hopelessness,” the report said.
The inquiry heard evidence that girls in the APY lands were resigned to the fact that they were likely to be sexually abused.
Tennant Creek, AU
No comments:
Post a Comment