Kavanaugh sex assault accuser comes forward as Democrats seek to block SCOTUS nomination
Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh © Joshua Roberts / Reuters
A woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has revealed her name and said she is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Democrats fight to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
The accuser, Christine Blassey Ford, is “willing to do whatever it takes to get her story forth,” her attorney Debra Katz told NBC on Monday.
Ford claims that Kavanaugh forced himself on her at a high school party in the 1980s, pinning her to a bed and attempting to undress her. She said that Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth when she screamed, and only stopped when another teenager broke up the encounter.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Ford told the Washington Post. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.” Ford does not remember the date or location of the party on question, however, and says that she first spoke about it in couples’ therapy with her husband in 2012.
Kavanaugh denied the allegations outright. In a statement released through the White House, he said “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” The teenage friend who allegedly broke up the encounter, Mark Judge, also denied the accusation, telling the Weekly Standard that it was “absolutely nuts.” Kavanaugh said on Monday that he is willing to refute Ford’s “false allegation” before the Senate Judiciary Committee if necessary.
The allegation was made public last week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), an opponent of Kavanaugh’s nomination who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Feinstein said she received a letter detailing the allegations in July, but sat on it until last Wednesday, ostensibly out of respect for Ford.
However, Feinstein is now calling for an FBI investigation before Kavanaugh is confirmed. Senators are expected to vote on Kavanaugh this Thursday, but an open investigation could stall the vote - certainly past the first Monday in October when the Supreme Court is due to meet, and perhaps even until after November’s midterm elections, when Democrats hope to retake a majority in the House and Senate.
The allegations in the letter are uncorroborated, and all parties involved were minors at the time. Republicans have dismissed the letter as a late-game attempt to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released a letter on Friday in which 65 women who knew Kavanaugh in high school testified that the judge always “behaved honorably and treated women with respect.”
Feinstein is facing backlash for bringing the letter into play so close to the confirmation vote, and in the words of Fox News’ Tammy Bruce, using it as a “political hatchet.”
Katz denied that her client’s letter was politically motivated.
“No one in their right mind, regardless of their motive, would want to inject themselves into this process and face the kind of annihilation that she will be subjected to by those who want this nominee to go through,” the attorney told NBC. “This is not a politically motivated action. In fact, she was quite reluctant to come forward.”
Stalling tactic or not, Senators Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) and Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) have both called for the vote to be postponed until the allegations are investigated fully. Both are critics of President Trump and neither are up for reelection in their mostly conservative states.
Republicans hold a razor-thin 51-49 majority in the Senate. To block Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Senate Democrats will need to vote unanimously and secure the vote of at least two Republicans. If the vote comes down to a tie, Vice President Mike Pence would vote to break the deadlock.
Democrats have been bitterly opposed to Trump’s choice of Kavanaugh for the nation’s highest court. Following the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, Kavanaugh’s appointment would tilt the balance of the court to the right, potentially impacting American law for decades to come.
At the White House on Monday, Trump called Kavanaugh “as high quality an individual as you’ll ever see” and said he was willing to “take a little delay” to make sure all the proper procedures have been followed.
Sen. Grassley has said that Ford's accusation “deserves to be heard” in an “appropriate” manner, but he intends to press on as planned with Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote later this week.
Reality TV Surgeon, girlfriend,
charged in California drug rapes
Police poring over 'thousands and thousands of videos and images'
on Grant Robicheaux's phone
The Associated Press 
Grant Robicheaux, 38, a California doctor who appeared in a reality TV dating show, and Cerissa Laura Riley, 31, have been charged with drugging and sexually assaulting two women. (Newport Beach Police Department/Associated Press)
A California physician who appeared in a reality TV dating show and his alleged female accomplice have been charged with drugging and sexually assaulting two women, and authorities said Tuesday there could be many more victims.
Orthopedic surgeon Grant Robicheaux, 38, of Newport Beach and Cerissa Laura Riley, 31, of Brea were arrested Sept. 12 after being charged with rape by use of drugs, oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance, and other crimes, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told a news conference in Santa Ana.
Investigators were meticulously going through "thousands and thousands of videos and images on Robicheaux's phone, many also including Riley," Rackauckas said.
Some videos show women who "appear to be highly intoxicated beyond the ability to consent or resist, and they're barely responsive to the defendant's sexual advances. Based on this evidence, we believe that there might be many unidentified victims out there," he said.
'Good looks and charm'
The district attorney showed reporters video of Robicheaux from a now-cancelled Bravo TV show called Online Dating Rituals of the American Male in an episode titled "Three's A Crowd."
"We believe the defendants used their good looks and charm to lower the inhibitions of their potential prey," Rackauckas said, releasing an array of information about many locations and events associated with Robicheaux and Riley.
The defendants, who were released on $100,000 US bail, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The two women who were allegedly assaulted met the pair during social encounters.
"Women who have encountered these two might have felt a false sense of security due to the fact that both defendants are clean cut, good-looking," Rackauckas said.
Investigators suspect there could be more victims, and say Robicheaux and Riley might have traveled to events including the Burning Man festival in Nevada, seen here in 2017. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)
According to prosecutors, Robicheaux and Riley met a 32-year-old woman at a Newport Beach restaurant on April 10, 2016, invited her to a party and then escorted her to Robicheaux's apartment when she was intoxicated.
The pair allegedly gave the victim multiple drugs and then sexually assaulted her while she was incapable of resisting. The woman called police the next day and a forensic exam found multiple controlled substances.
Drugs and guns
On Oct. 2, 2016, the defendants allegedly drank alcohol with another woman at a Newport Beach bar until she was unconscious, brought her to Robicheaux's apartment and sexually assaulted her. The district attorney's office said the victim awakened and screamed for help until a neighbour called police, who began an investigation.
Other charges against the two allege large amounts of illegal drugs were found in Robicheaux's residence in January 2018. Robicheaux is also accused of possessing two illegal, unregistered assault rifles, four other firearms and several large-capacity magazines.
The district attorney said events and places the pair may have travelled to since 2015 include the Burning Man festival in Nevada, the Dirtybird Campout festival in Silverado, Calif., the Splash House festival in Palm Springs, and landmarks near Page, Ariz.
Robicheaux was an undergraduate at Louisiana State University and then graduated from its medical school in 2007, Rackauckas said. He then did postgraduate work at New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City and did an orthopedic surgery residency at University of California Irvine Medical Centre in Orange, Calif. He was licensed to practise medicine in California on May 30, 2009.
A message left at Robicheaux's office wasn't immediately returned Tuesday, and a home number listed for him did not have a voicemail. Riley's number was unlisted, and she was otherwise unable to be reached.
The Bravo reality show aired for one season, is no longer in production and there are no plans to bring it back, a spokesperson for NBC Universal said in an email.
Female Uber driver suing NFL star Jameis Winston
over alleged groping
$1.7m settlement for rape accusation in university
A female Uber driver is suing Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston over claims of sexual assault stemming from an alleged incident in 2016.
A civil lawsuit filed in Arizona on Tuesday claims that Winston, 24, grabbed the woman's crotch while they waited at the drive-through of a Mexican restaurant in the Phoenix area in the early hours of the morning on March 13, 2016.
The woman is reportedly seeking $75,000 in damages over the alleged incident, which she reported to Uber without filing a civil or criminal complaint, according to AP.
Winston was suspended for three games by the NFL in June after an eight-month investigation, which deemed he had violated the league’s personal conduct policy by “touching the driver in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent.”
The quarterback will serve the final game of the ban when Tampa Bay plays the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday.
© Mike Ehrmann / AFP
However, the woman, identified as ‘Kate' in federal papers, is said be unhappy at how Winston has conducted himself since the alleged incident.
"She is unimpressed by his continued lack of honesty or awareness into his behavior," said attorney John Clune, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
"Maybe a more direct financial penalty will get his attention. He needs to learn from this and have some genuine insight or pay the penalty.
"She knows that she might be just a speed bump for him in his football career, but she is not going to be a small one."
Winston had expressed regret at the accusations at the first day of training camp this year, saying: “I should never have put myself in that situation. All I can do is grow and learn from that… I’ve made a lot of positive changes since then.”
College rape accusation
The player has faced assault allegations in the past, being accused of raping a fellow student at Florida State University, although he was not charged.
The university settled a Title XI lawsuit of $1.7 million related to its handling of the allegations with the player’s accuser, Erica Kinsman, in 2016.
Winston was drafted as the number 1 overall pick by the Bucs in 2015, and has gone on to start 45 games. The club has yet to comment on the lawsuit, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Murdered European amateur golf champ, suspect lived contrasting lives in Iowa city
The Associated Press 
Spanish golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena is shown with her trophy after winning the European women's amateur championship in Senica, Slovakia, on July 28, in this handout from the European Golf Association. Her body was found on the Coldwater Links Golf Course in Ames, Iowa, on Monday morning. (EPA-EFE)
Celia Barquin Arozamena was a top amateur golfer from Spain who was finishing her degree at Iowa State University. Collin Daniel Richards was a former inmate from small-town Iowa with a history of violence.
Wanted to rape and kill a woman
The Big 12 conference champion, Barquin had dreams of making the pro tour and spent hours practicing at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames. Jobless and homeless, Richards had been living in a tent in an encampment near the course and had spoken of his desire to "rape and kill a woman," police said.
Richards was charged with stabbing Barquin to death during a random attack while she was golfing by herself in broad daylight on Monday morning. Barquin's body was found in a pond on the course near the ninth hole after fellow golfers noticed her abandoned bag and called police. Richards was arrested within hours, suffering from injuries to his face and hand after Barquin apparently tried to fight him off, investigators said.
"My girl. Such bad luck she had," her mother, Miriam Arozamena, told Spanish broadcaster Tele 5 on Wednesday. Of Richards, she said, "He was just going out with the goal of killing. … And he came across my girl."
As Barquin's colleagues began grieving the loss of a talented teammate and classmate, Richards was ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond at the county jail and facing the rest of his life in prison. It was, said Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell, a "cowardly act of violence."
'Devastated and heartbroken'
The university had planned to honour Barquin at its football game Saturday for being its female athlete of the year — news that had brought Barquin to tears, according to athletic director Jamie Pollard. Instead, football players will wear helmet decals with her initials to mourn the loss.
"We're all devastated and heartbroken," said Pollard, who choked back tears at a news conference.
The golf course issued a statement calling Barquin an amazing young woman with an infectious smile who "made the people around her better."
Barquin was a top golfer in Spain as a teenager and came to Iowa State to pursue her career, drawn by its facilities, coaches, and picturesque campus. She became one of the best in school history and was completing her civil engineering degree after exhausting her athletic eligibility earlier this year. She recently won an amateur tournament in Europe and competed in the U.S. Women's Open Championship.
Richards had lived in small towns throughout western Iowa, residing with his mother, father and grandparents at various times. He ended up in Ames in January 2017 when he was placed in a halfway house there after violating his probation, court records show. By then, he had convictions for burglary, theft, criminal mischief and harassment. A judge revoked his probation, and he was sent to prison in November 2017.
'Troubling to happen... in broad daylight'
Richards left a state prison in southeastern Iowa in June after completing the sentence. Soon he was back in Ames, arrested weeks later after being found passed out at a liquor store and admitting that he drank heavily after taking antidepressants.
Police Cmdr. Geoff Huff said homicides are rare in the city, and it's "very troubling for something like this to happen in broad daylight."
Police said officers recovered a knife that Richards had given to acquaintances after the slaying, as well as bloody clothing from his belongings.
Officers were called to the course around 10:20 a.m. Monday to investigate a possible missing female player. They found Barquin's body in the pond with several stab wounds to her upper torso, head and neck, according to the complaint filed Tuesday against Richards.
A police dog tracked Barquin's scent to a homeless encampment along a creek near the golf course where Richards had been living in a tent, the complaint said. Officers found Richards with several fresh scratches on his face consistent with fighting and a deep laceration in his left hand that he tried to hide, it said.
"What did he do to her?" an acquaintance of Richards allegedly asked officers who were searching the area.
That man told investigators Richards had said in recent days that he had "an urge to rape and kill a woman," the complaint said. A second acquaintance told police that Richards arrived at his nearby home on Monday appearing "disheveled and covered in blood, sand and water" before bathing and leaving.
Court records show that since 2014, Richards had been charged with abusing a former girlfriend, stealing a pickup truck after wrecking his own vehicle, using a baseball bat to smash a car window and burglarizing a gas station. In one case, the Iowa State Patrol seized a long knife from him during a traffic stop. In another, he threatened to return to a convenience store to shoot clerks after they caught him shoplifting.
Barquin's former team announced Tuesday it was pulling out of the East & West Match Play in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to grieve their loss. Women's golf coach Christie Martens said Barquin was an "outstanding representative of our school."
Professional golfer Sergio Garcia, one of Barquin's favourite players, tweeted that he was heartbroken by the news, saying he'd had the pleasure of meeting Barquin and calling her a "special person."
72yo Brit priest accused of groping woman
& kicking two policemen in Rome
It took a chase, a brutal fistfight, and a call for backup to subdue a 72-year-old British priest after women complained he groped them on a train. The struggle reportedly left two officers with cuts and a broken nose.
Father Peter Slocombe, a Catholic priest at Saint Joseph’s Church in Gloucestershire and a chaplain at the University of Gloucester, was enjoying a holiday trip to Italy. The police were called in on Monday after two women complained that the traveling clergyman groped their breasts and behinds at Rome’s Termini train station.
Termini train station in Rome, Italy © Max Rossi / Reuters
The priest fled the scene, and had to be chased for several minutes before the officers caught up, it is said. Once they did, Father Slocombe decided he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“This guy was crazy. He was punching and kicking out at the officers,” a police spokesperson, quoted by The Sun, said.
Police said that during the fight, Father Slocombe, dressed in plain clothes, shouted that he was innocent and “a man of the cloth” as officers tried to subdue him. They managed to overpower the handsy priest after calling for backup.
Two officers were admitted to the hospital as result of the fight. One ended up with a broken nose, and both had cuts and bruises, it is reported.
The priest was sentenced to two years and eight months of house arrest at a Vatican training college. He was also ordered to pay €5,000 (US$5,800) to each of the injured officers.
Slocombe was “shocked” by the verdict, his lawyer told the British media, as the clergyman denied all the allegations and plans to appeal the court’s decision.
“The train was crowded, and he said he had his hands in his pockets all the time because he was afraid of pickpockets,” a member of the priest’s legal team argued.
Democrats pick & choose sex assault abusers to believe
also, Brett Kavanaugh Update
The end justifies the means for liberals
Karen Monahan said that she was “smeared, threatened, (and) isolated” by the Democratic party when she came forward with allegations of physical and emotional abuse against Rep. Ellison, the Democratic National Committee deputy chair and Minnesota attorney general candidate.
“I’ve been smeared, threatened, isolated from my own party,” Monahan tweeted Monday. “I provided medical records from 2017, stating on two different Dr. Visits, I told them about the abuse and who did it. My therapist released records stating I have been dealing and healing from the abuse.”
According to Monahan, Ellison became irate when Monahan didn’t take out the trash quick enough, allegedly dragging her off the bed, where she was listening to podcasts at the time, by the hair, and calling her a “**** b*tch.”
Monahan allegedly recorded the encounter, but has not released the video. She claims it is too traumatic for her. Monahan did, however, share text messages between herself and Ellison, in which the pair discussed some of their relationship problems, albeit without any hard acknowledgement of abuse from Ellison.
Her son, meanwhile, wrote a Facebook post backing up Monahan’s claims. He described his mother's ordeal as “pure hell,” and claims that he saw text messages from Ellison in which the Congressman would alternate between abusive rage and begging Monahan to stay with him.
Ellison denied the abuse charges, which allegedly took place in 2016. The Democratic party at large has been tight-lipped on the supposed abuse, with progressive icon and Ellison ally Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) telling the Washington Post he had “nothing” to say about it last month, before rushing out the door of the Senate.
Senator Kamala Harris (D-California), a rising progressive star and hot tip for a run at the presidency in 2020, told the Post that an internal investigation was underway, and that the party will “let that run its course.”
“We watched her so-called political friends stand by say or do nothing,” Monahan’s son wrote. “The same people who are posting about social justice are ready to smear my mom, protect a person who abused her and broke the law.”
Update on the Kavanaugh situation
The social-justice brigade were marching to a different beat in recent days, with Democrats demanding that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote be postponed so that allegations of sexual misconduct against him be investigated.
Kavanaugh is accused of forcing himself on college professor Christine Blasey Ford, when the pair were in high school in the early 1980s. Ford made the claim in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) in July, but Feinstein withheld the evidence until last Wednesday, ostensibly out of respect for Ford, but timing-wise it would, hypothetically, appear a smart move: Democrats have been looking to stall Kavanaugh’s confirmation, ideally until November, when midterm elections give the party a fighting chance of retaking a majority in the Senate.
Ford claims not to remember the year the alleged abuse took place, where it took place, or who was in the room to witness it. One alleged witness, a school friend of Kavanaugh’s called the allegation “absolutely nuts,” Kavanaugh himself vehemently denied it, and a number of the judge’s ex-girlfriends came forward to testify to his character.
Ford has called for an FBI investigation before she testifies to the Senate. Growing impatient, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has vowed to press ahead with a hearing scheduled for Monday, saying “there is no reason for any further delay.”
Despite the patchy nature of Ford’s allegations, and the obvious 11th-hour opportunism of Feinstein and co., Democrats have rallied around the accuser. Hillary Clinton told MSNBC on Tuesday that Ford deserves “the benefit of the doubt.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said that Kavanaugh’s “simple denial is not the end of everything,” while Feinstein echoed Ford’s demand that an FBI investigation take place before a vote is held.
Hawaiian Senator Mazie Hirono (D) went one step further and blasted anyone who dared question Ford’s claim, especially men. “I just want to say to the men of this country: Just shut up and step up. Do the right thing for a change,” the hotheaded lawmaker said on Tuesday. “I want to thank Dr. Ford. I commend her courage. I believe her,” Hirono added.
Senate Democrats’ solidarity with Ford and apparent disregard for Monahan clearly illustrates that politics trumps principle, and is a case of “rules for thee, not for me:” a phrase that is fast becoming the party’s unofficial maxim.
Liberals have always been "The end justifies the means" kind of people.
DIY GUN ACTIVIST ACCUSED OF
CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT, IS ON THE LAMB
MICHELLE GROSKOPFCODY WILSON, THE founder of Defense Distributed who is best known for making the world’s first fully 3-D-printed gun, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. On Wednesday, the District Court in Travis County, Texas, issued an arrest warrant for Wilson on charges of sexual assault, a second-degree felony.
"A warrant has been issued, and Mr. Wilson’s name entered into the national law enforcement computer for sexual assault of a child," Officer told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. "We’re also working with national and international law enforcement partners to locate him and bring him to justice."
According to the affidavit of the arrest warrant, which was obtained by WIRED, a juvenile female under the age of 17 alleges that Wilson, age 30, sexually assaulted her in a hotel on August 15 and then paid her $500. In Texas, the age of consent is 17. Austin police later confirmed the girl was 16. In an interview with investigators at the Center for Child Protection on August 27, the unnamed accuser said she met Wilson through the website SugarDaddyMeet.com. Wilson allegedly went by the name of “Sanjuro” on the site. The two exchanged messages on the site, and then exchanged phone numbers and spoke by text message.
“Sanjuro” identified himself as Wilson, according to the affidavit, and allegedly told the girl during their chats that he was “a big deal.” She told police she didn’t recognize the name, so she researched Wilson online. She told investigators they later set up a time to meet in person.
On August 15, she said, they met in the parking lot of a coffee shop in Austin. Video surveillance footage seen by the police confirms the alleged victim was there at approximately 8:09 pm. She told investigators that Wilson arrived in a black Ford Edge SUV—the same make and model as a vehicle registered to Wilson’s 3-D-printed gun company, according to police.
According to Officer, the detectives who met with the alleged victim said it was unlikely anyone would mistake her for an adult. "In their opinion, if someone mistakes her age it would be because someone thinks she’s younger, not older, than the 16 year-old she is," Officer said.
The victim stated that the two then drove to the Archer Hotel and entered a room, which police say they corroborated with surveillance footage and hotel records. Once in the room, the victim told investigators, she and Wilson engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex, after which Wilson paid her $500. She said the two left the hotel and that Wilson dropped her off at a Whataburger the same night.
Wilson did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Wilson previously gained international attention, including coverage by WIRED, for his work to bring 3-D-printed guns into the mainstream. When the State Department demanded in 2013 that Wilson remove his printable-gun blueprints from his website or risk violating federal export controls, he complied. Then, he took the government to court, arguing that the blueprints were simply a form of speech, protected by the First Amendment.
"If code is speech, the constitutional contradictions are evident," Wilson told WIRED at the time. "So what if this code is a gun?”
This summer, the Justice Department settled the case, giving Wilson license to continue publishing the blueprints. It was only after the settlement that Wilson relaunched his online repository of blueprints. In August, after a district court judge in Seattle ordered an injunction against the sharing of 3-D-printed gun blueprints online, Wilson announced he would begin selling the blueprints instead. His argument: While the injunction prevented him from giving the specs away for free, it didn’t forbid him from selling them.
Police are now encouraging anyone who might have information about the case to reach out. They are working with United States Marshals to locate Wilson.
Sally Fields opens up about her experience of
sexual abuse by her actor stepfather
Narjas Zatat 
Fields’s childhood was riddled with molestation at the hands of her stepdad (Picture: CNN/Amanpour/ABC)
Sally Field has opened up about her experience of sexual abuse ahead of the release of her new memoire, 'In Pieces'. The 71-year-old actress writes candidly about the shocking sexual abuse she faced from her stepfather, the late actor Jock Mahoney.
She recalled that the molestation began at a very young age, and at first, she struggled with the wrongness of what he had been doing. ‘It was my whole life and it grew and grew and grew into more erotic play as I got older and older and as a child aged 7,8,9 and 10. I knew there was something inside me that wanted it to stop but I didn’t know that it was any different from any other child.’
Jock died in 1989 at 70 years of age.
‘I didn’t know that it was something I had a right to speak about and that this feeling wasn’t just because I was wrong,’ she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. ‘I was mixed up in how much I adored him and how much he terrified me.’
In her memoir, she writes that she didn’t speak to her mum about the abuse for many years, not until she was dying of cancer in 2011.
The veteran actress also had words to say about Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault. Does the pain of abuse ever really go away?
‘Never,’ she says. ‘It never goes. Whether it’s an abusive stepfather that is throughout your childhood or it’s in your young adulthood when somebody believes they have rights that aren’t theirs- it never goes away.
‘I believe that these women have lived with it and swallowed it and tried to submerge it and forget about it, but you don’t forget about it and it colours your relationships. Trust me, I trust no one. I have a very difficult time really letting down and saying “I trust you”.’
The abuse left a mark on her for years to come, and as a teenager, she was heavily depressed.
‘It was hard for me to see any success,’ she admitted. ‘It never penetrated my mind. I was lucky enough to be taken, during the first year of The Flying Nun, when I was terribly depressed… to The Actor’s Studio and it began to transition my life because I met and started working with Lee Strasburg so that I then could reach out for what I really wanted.
‘When I was 12 years old was the first time I stepped on a stage and at that moment something happened, it the arts. That’s why the arts should be in every school, for a troubled child the bells rang, the fog cleared, I could hear myself.
I found at The Actor’s Studio for the first time there was a method that I could earn, techniques that I could learn to take me where I wanted to go.’
Her book also reveals details about her intense romance with her ex, the late Burt Reynolds. They met in 1977 on the set of the film Smokey and the Bandit, and appeared in four films together before they ended things in the 80s.
Burt once called Fields the love of his life (Picture: Rex Features)
I just began to take care of him and look out and after him as if he was much more important than anything I had to do and so if he needed me it meant drop everything that I valued so that I could be there and be kind of diminished and reality I was asking to be diminished because I was diminishing myself.’
Millionaire who live-streamed child sex abuse
jailed for just four-and-a-half years
Jimmy NsubugaA millionaire grandfather has received just four-and-a-half years in jail after live-streaming the abuse of children. Martin Lawes, 75, was given a reduced sentence from ten years because of his age, medical condition and previous ‘good character’.
He also struck a deal after admitting three counts of entering into a dealing for the sexual exploitation of minors at Auckland’s High Court on Tuesday.
Lawes, who owned a myriad of properties and was a successful businessman, also pleaded guilty to importing and possessing illegal material. Justice Edwin Wylie said he ‘directed and watched’ the abuse online from his home in Auckland, New Zealand. Some of the victims were just three years old, Stuff reported.
Directing child sex abuse is the same as committing it personally and should be recognized as such, not charged as child pornography.
Lawes, who is married, had initially denied the charges but eventually confessed to police in 2015 and admitted handing over money to the people involved, according to a court document.
Investigators later found he had paid five adults, who were linked to the online child abuse videos, a total of 36 times. Authorities discovered 296 media files on Lawes’ computer that featured children being sexually abused or exploited.
Although Lawes received a reduced sentence, Justice Wylie did not take any time off for remorse because he didn’t think the paedophile had shown any. He added: ‘I am not persuaded you have shown real remorse and your initial reaction was one of entitlement and self-justification.’
Justice Wylie called Lawes’ actions ‘pre-meditated, repetitive and persistent’. Lawes had started by talking to vulnerable Asian women in 2000 on chat forums and then he progressed to viewing child abuse. He once held the title of Justice of the Peace.
Sin is progressive!
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