Jury convicts person on U.K. female genital mutilation law for first time
By Sommer Brokaw
(UPI) -- A mother has become the first person in Great Britain to be convicted of female genital mutilation since the practice was outlawed over three decades ago.
A British jury found the unnamed 37-year-old mother, originally from Uganda and living in Britain for a number of years, guilty Friday of committing female genital mutilation, often known as FGM, two years ago on her 3-year-old daughter, the Crown Prosecution Service, which brought the case to trial, said.
The verdict marks the first time anyone has been convicted of FGM since the United Kingdom criminalized the practice in the 1985. The practice is also banned in Uganda.
"It is significant that this is the first FGM conviction in the UK and I hope this sends out a clear message that the Met and other partner agencies will thoroughly investigate FGM cases and pursue prosecutions, whilst offering full support to victims and affected parties," inspector Allen Davis, the Metropolitan Police's lead officer for FGM, said in a statement.
The woman's trial started at the Old Bailey on Jan. 14, and she will be sentenced in the same court March 8. The father, 43, was a co-defendant in the trial, but was found not guilty of the same offense.
The parents brought their 3-year-old daughter into a hospital in August 2017 with serious injuries that doctors later discovered were consistent with female genital mutilation, officials said. This led to their arrests.
Police said they found out during the investigation that the mother was interested in witchcraft and had spells and curses in her home including two cow tongues in her freezer bound in wire with nails and a small knife embedded in them. Police said they also found 40 limes containing small pieces of paper linked to witchcraft spells against people connected to the investigation.
The mother said her daughter injured herself by falling from a kitchen counter onto an metal-lined cupboard door. However, medical experts said the injuries could not have occurred that way.
Instead, authorities discovered the girl's genital region was mutilated with a sharp instrument about 12 hours before she was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
"Female genital mutilation has an appalling physical and emotional impact on victims that usually lasts their entire life," the Crown Prosecution Service's Lynette Woodrow said. "We can only imagine how much pain this vulnerable young girl suffered and how terrified she was."
Last November in the U.S., a federal judge in Michigan determined a federal law criminalizing female genital mutilation is unconstitutional, saying the practice is a "local criminal activity" that should be addressed by states. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman dismissed six of eight charges against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who was accused of carrying out the procedure on nine girls between the ages of 8 and 13.
Was the decision to charge this woman made after police discovered she was completely insane? Is it likely to be a precedent for charges against less insane people, or will the UK continue to bury such horrid suffering of little girls in a cloak of political correctness?
Deaths of accused rapists in Bangladesh
tied to suspected vigilantes
By Nicholas Sakelaris
Women march in solidarity with the #MeToo movement in Bangladesh, where three accused rapists have been found murdered in the same fashion with a note around their neck warning other rapists to watch out. Photo by Monirul Alam/EPA-EFE
(UPI) -- Three rape suspects in Bangladesh have been found dead with notes around their necks confessing to crimes, suggesting a vigilante is committing extrajudicial killings.
At least one of the notes referenced a possible alter ego for the killer, Hercules, Al Jazeera reported. Two of the victims were accused of gang-raping a student from a religious school in Bhandaria on Jan. 14. The third victim was one of four men accused of gang-raping a garment worker in Savar outside Dhaka on Jan. 7.
One of the letters left around the victim's neck read, "I am Pirojpur Bhandaria's ... rapist Rakib. This is the punishment for rape. Rapists beware. Hercules," {link:DailyPakistan.com reported.
Family members of the victims said they had been picked up by plain-clothed people before they were found dead.
One of the bodies was found about 160 miles from the others.
Police are investigating the incidents.
"At this point, we are not even sure that the same person or the group is doing these murders," Sohel Rana, Additional Inspector General of Police Headquarters, told Al Jazeera.
Rape convictions are rare in Bangladesh, prompting some on social media to hail Hercules as a "vigilante" delivering justice for victims.
Human rights activist Nur Khan Liton disagreed, but acknowledged the country is enraged about recent rape incidents.
"The recent killings naturally raise a lot of questions, especially considering the facts that the country has a long tainted record of extrajudicial killings," Liton told Al Jazeera. "The government should launch a proper investigation to probe these murders. No one should be allowed to be killed extrajudiciously."
No-one should be allowed to gang-rape women or girls, but it happens all too often in Bangladesh, and all too often the perpetrators get away with it. If the judicial system is inadequate to deal with the problem, vigilantes will often emerge. Vigilantes are not the problem, the pathetic judicial system is the problem. Let's watch to see if the vigilantes get as much justice as gang-rapists.
The most recent victim was found in a village in southwestern Jhalakathi on Jan. 26. The body was face down with a wound near the eye that looked like a bullet hole.
"It felt strange and scary to see this happen in my area ... but it also felt like justice," Mahmud Hasan, chairman of the Shaulakania Union, a government unit.
Thirty-three men arrested over Halifax, UK
child sex abuse - nationalities kept secret
A woman told West Yorkshire Police she was abused as a child in Halifax
It follows allegations made by a woman about abuse she suffered as a child in Halifax, Calderdale, between 2002 and 2005.
The arrested men, aged between 30 and 40, have been released under investigation pending further inquiries.
Homes in Calderdale, Bradford and Kirklees were searched, police said.
West Yorkshire Police said the arrests were part of an "ongoing operation", which started in October last year.
Det Insp Laura Nield, of the Calderdale District Safeguarding unit, said: "We would urge anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, no matter when it took place, to report it to the police.
"You will be listened to, taken seriously and supported by professionals with experience of dealing with these kind of offences."
The force had specialist safeguarding units across the county and worked with local authorities and charities to "bring offenders to justice", she said.
In January, the force arrested 55 men from Dewsbury, Batley and Bradford in connection with historical child sex abuse cases in West Yorkshire.
The claims made by seven women related to abuse against them as children between 2002 and 2009.
In 2016, four men were sentenced to long prison terms for sexually assaulting a 13 and a 15 year old in Dewsbury. All 4 men had Muslim names and may have been Pakistani. British media sees no need to warn British girls about the dangers of being groomed by Pakistani gangs. The nationalities of both the 33 and the 55 arrested last month are being kept secret. But all other large gangs of child grooming rapists in Britain have been 95-100% Pakistani Muslims.
I wonder if the secrecy has anything to do with Brexit? I wonder why UK media doesn't care?
Former Australian Teacher Arrested Over
Child Sex Abuse Charges in Cambodia
According to the anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection force of the Siem Reap Provincial Police, Mulroy coerced the minors, all from poor families, to have sex with him in exchange for food and money.
APLE (Action Pour Les Enfants) Cambodia child protection specialist Khoem Vando said that Mulroy brought six Cambodian boys to his rented home in Slorkram where he sexually abused them in November 2018.
“After his arrest, he became sick and was sent to the provincial referral hospital for treatment,” Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department chief Colonel Chea Heng was quoted as saying.
When Mulroy recovers, he will be sent to the provincial court for further questioning.
A former teacher at Trinity Catholic College in Lismore, New South Wales, Mulroy visited Cambodia in 2014 when he brought his Year 11 students to Siem Reap to build houses for the poor.
The students reportedly raised $7500 to buy building materials for the project. They used their own money for their airfares and accommodation.
The trip resulted in Mulroy being hailed as a hero among the locals. In December 2015, Mulroy left Trinity College and moved to Cambodia soon after.
Ex GAA coach to be extradited from US
to Ireland on <400 child sex charges
Shane Phelan A judge in New York has ruled a former GAA coach can be extradited to Ireland to face almost 400 charges of child sex abuse.
Last week the man broke down at his extradition hearing (2nd story on link).
A lawyer for the man also said his client had not fled Ireland, as claimed by authorities, but moved to the US, where he lived openly and used his real name.
However, in a ruling on Tuesday, Judge Daniel Stewart of the United States District Court in Albany certified that the man could be extradited.
“Having reviewed the documents that have been appropriately authenticated and submitted to the court, and having conducted a hearing and listened to the representative for the government and [the suspect’s] attorney, I now conclude that the requirements of extradition have been satisfied,” the judge said in a written ruling.
The judge also rejected an argument put forward by the man’s lawyer that probable cause had not been proven, which is required before an extradition request can be certified.
“The court also finds probable cause to believe that the crimes charged occurred and that the accused is responsible. The charges at issue derive from the claim that [the suspect] had a long-standing sexually abusive relationship with two young boys whom he had befriended, groomed, and exploited when they were between the ages of 12 and 19,” Judge Stewarts said.
“The detail provided in the statement of facts and the information provided to the court is extensive, and the court notes that the information is based upon a large number of witness statements, including statements from the alleged victims and independent exhibits. [The suspect] himself left Ireland before he had an opportunity to be questioned by the police in the presence of his solicitor.”
The man left Ireland in 2013 while gardaí were investigating claims he sexually abused two boys at a GAA ground and elsewhere between 2004 and 2009.
He is charged with 394 criminal counts – including 210 of sexual assault and 177 counts of rape – arising from alleged prolonged sexual abuse of two minor victims.
Shaming of sexual assault survivor sparked
varsity hockey brawl - obviously in Canada
Anjuli Patil · CBC News 
A player and his coach say the shaming of a sexual assault survivor is what sparked an intense brawl between the two Nova Scotia university men's hockey teams during a game in Wolfville, N.S., on Saturday, but the other team disputes this.
Sam Studnicka, a player with St. Francis Xavier University X-Men, and his coach, Brad Peddle, on Monday released statements about the fight with Axemen players from Acadia University.
Studnicka said a comment was made to him by a member of the Axemen during the third period of the game. He said he told Peddle, who addressed it with the on-ice officials and the head coach of Acadia.
Studnicka said he was "completely shocked" when minutes later the opposing player was sent to take a faceoff with him.
The brawl started soon after.
Studnicka did not identify the opposing player or the sexual assault survivor, or specify what was said.
I think it's pretty obvious who the sex assault survivor is. If not, keep reading.
I am proud of the way my teammates stood up for me
and for something bigger than hockey.
- Sam Studnicka
He said in his three years playing hockey, he's faced similar "insulting and derogatory comments on the ice. It has taken an emotional toll on me."
He said players from the Axemen team have "elicited repeated on-ice comments directed towards me" and that it "has been frustrating."
Acadia won the game 6-3.
A few videos of the fight were uploaded to YouTube.
The videos show players from both teams grabbing at one another, throwing punches and hurling insults.
One video shows a player from Acadia's team hitting people with his hockey stick from the bench. It also shows Peddle standing at the divider between the benches and yelling at the Acadia bench.
Studnicka said he was happy his teammates didn't let the incident slide.
"I am proud of the way my teammates stood up for me and for something bigger than hockey. This event shows that more education is still needed on this issue," Studnicka said.
"It is a serious societal issue, and we need more awareness and education on all levels so young men are aware of the implications of their words and actions."
'Very avoidable'
Peddle said after 14 years of coaching at the university level, he doesn't approve of fighting in the league, but he defended his players for standing up for their teammate.
"That is more important than winning a hockey game. It is a testament to the character and integrity of the student-athletes in our locker room," Peddle said.
Peddle went on to say he believed the incident was "very avoidable" based on "repeated discussions about the situation."
"Supporting Sam has always been the top priority," Peddle said. "In this specific instance, our team took a stand to protect him from repeated, unnecessary insults that have no place in sport or the greater society."
'Not consistent' with allegation
Acadia University's executive director of varsity athletics says the school started its own investigation on Sunday and was in contact with Atlantic University Sport (AUS) on Monday.
"The information we have gathered is not consistent with the allegations," made by St. Francis Xavier, Kevin Dickie told CBC News on Monday.
Dickie said Acadia is participating in the AUS investigation, but considers the behaviour unacceptable "on numerous levels."
'Hear both sides'
AUS's men's hockey commissioner Dave McLean and executive director Phil Currie released a statement Tuesday saying they're "reviewing the numerous infractions which occurred in Saturday night's game."
A complete list of automatic suspensions will likely be released on Wednesday and will take effect immediately and be in place for a game scheduled for that day.
"On the whole, this egregious incident flies in the face of our regulations, our policies and our values," said Currie. "Our student-athletes are students first and, as such, our conference does not tolerate violence."
On Monday night, Currie told CBC News in a phone interview he thought it was important for Studnicka "to come forward and say his piece publicly."
"I applaud him for having the courage to do so, but that doesn't change the investigation we're pursuing in reference to the incident, and our commissioner will still do his work and look at all the issues related to the incident," Currie said.
Currie said the investigation will involve interviewing all the players and "natural justice properties and philosophies."
"It's important we hear both sides of each of these issues and then, from there, determine if we need more information experts or more information from other players, whatever the case may be," he said.
As hockey brawls go, this was relatively tame, at least compared to the 'donnybrooks' in the NHL when the big, bad, Philadelphia Flyers were winning Stanley Cups but beating their opponents half to death. But they are quite rare these days as concussions are emerging as being life-threatening and career ending. Most talented hockey players behave with some degree of integrity, while less talented players resort to whatever it take to get noticed.
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