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World Cup winner Jerome Boateng convicted of assaulting ex-girlfriend, fined more than $2MN – report
9 Sep, 2021 13:23 / Updated 1 hour ago
Former Bayern Munich man Jerome Boateng has been handed a fine of €1.8 million (around $2.1 million) after being convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his twin daughters, AFP has reported.
Boateng, who signed for Ligue 1 outfit Lyon in early September, was accused of injuring a woman identified only as Sherin S during a holiday in 2018, with prosecutors alleging that the 2014 World Cup-winning defender was guilty of wilful bodily harm.
The footballer, 33, denied the charges but is now said to have been handed the whopping fine following the verdict.
In advance of the trial, prosecutors stated that Boateng threw a lamp and a cooling box at his former partner in an assault alleged to have taken place in the Caribbean three years ago. Legal counsel also state that Boateng insulted Sherin S, hit her and also pulled her hair.
Boateng denied the charges in court and recounted a contrasting perspective on the alleged incident, saying that they had an argument after a dispute between the pair over a game of cards.
He also said that Sherin S hit him, causing an injury to his lip, before he pushed her away, at which point she fell to the ground. He continued to say that he threw a pillow against a table in frustration, which caused a lamp to fall to the floor.
The court heard from four witnesses linked to the event. The trial had been delayed from its original date in December after a witness was unable to appear before the court.
Boateng recently ended a ten-year association with Bayern, during which time he made 364 appearances for the Bundesliga giants and won 22 trophies – including two Champions League and nine German top division titles – along the way.
In February, Kasia Lenhardt, the 25-year-old model ex-girlfriend of Boateng's was found dead at a dwelling in Berlin.
It is understood that she took her own life while Boateng was playing for Bayern Munich Club World Cup in Qatar, with reports in Germany suggesting that Boateng had recently ended their relationship.
Afrika Bambaataa Sued for Alleged Sex Abuse & Trafficking
By Tatiana Cirisano
9/9/2021
Afrika Bambaataa attends the Meeting of the Minds town hall discussion at the National Black Theater on November 13, 2011 in New York City.
An anonymous victim claims he was sexually abused and prostituted as a minor by hip-hop pioneer Afrikaa Bambaata in a lawsuit filed last month.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in New York on Aug. 9 and obtained by Billboard, the John Doe plaintiff claims that for four years beginning in 1991, when he was 12 years old, he was "repeatedly sexually abused and sex trafficked" at the hands of Afrikaa Bambaataa. Bambaataa, known for his influential 1982 single "Planet Rock" and for founding hip-hop organization Zulu Nation, is referred to in the lawsuit by his birth name, Lance Taylor. Metropolis newspaper first reported the news.
Billboard's multiple attempts to reach Taylor for comment were unanswered at press time. Tanner & Ortega, the law firm representing Doe, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit claims that after Doe attended Zulu Nation meetings, Taylor began inviting Doe to his apartment "several times a week" and encouraging him to use a gym on the premises, where Taylor "would comment about Plaintiff's muscular body and would touch Plaintiff on the shoulders, biceps and torso." At Taylor's apartment, Taylor began touching Doe's "private areas" and encouraging him to masturbate while watching pornographic videos together, the lawsuit alleges, and the "mutual masturbation" later "progressed to sodomy."
The lawsuit claims that Doe is also a sex trafficking victim, as Taylor allegedly transported Doe to other locations and offered Doe "for sex to other adult men" in exchange for money. During these encounters, Taylor "would watch as Plaintiff was sodomized by other adult men."
Doe claims that he suffered "physical injury, severe and permanent emotional distress, mental anguish, depression and embarrassment" as a result of the alleged abuse, was "prevented from obtaining the full enjoyment of life" and "has been unable to keep a steady job." This led to a loss of income and/or loss of earning capacity, the lawsuit states.
Doe did not speak of the alleged abuse until informing his mother while in his early 30s, according to the lawsuit, and filed the lawsuit under the New York Child Victims Act passed in 2019, which extends the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse in New York. The deadline to file such suits fell was Aug. 14. Doe is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit also names Zulu Nation, Universal Zulu Nation and XYZ Corp., an entity believed to be affiliated with them, as defendants, accusing them of providing Taylor "with access to children, including Plaintiff, despite knowing that he would likely use their position to groom and to sexually abuse them." Universal Zulu Nation cut ties with Taylor in 2016 after he was accused of sexual abuse by Ronald Savage, a music executive who was one of Taylor's "crate boys" -- kids who helped haul records for DJs. Taylor has denied those allegations, calling them a "cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation."
In a statement provided to Chicago's Metropolis, the first publication to report on the suit, representatives for Zulu Nation said: "Nothing has changed since 2016 when these decades ago accusations first surfaced. This is a personal matter for Afrika Bambaataa and his lawyers to deal with and has absolutely nothing to do with the 10 year long UZN-DOCA mission, programs and projects which continue in the revolutionary legacy of both The Black Panther Party & The Young Lords Party to 'Serve The People, Body & Soul.'"
'I'm coming for the BBC': Paul Gambaccini accuses his former employer
of complicity in child sex abuse 'witch hunt'
By GLEN KEOGH FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 18:12 EDT, 9 September 2021 |
Paul Gambaccini said yesterday he is 'coming for the BBC' over its alleged complicity in the child sex abuse 'witch hunt'.
In an explosive interview with the corporation's Victoria Derbyshire, Mr Gambaccini, who presents BBC Radio 2's Pick of the Pops, accused his employer of being 'on the side of the wrongdoers' in its reporting of alleged VIP abuse cases.
He even offered to go 'head-to-head' with the BBC's outgoing news chief Fran Unsworth in a public debate, in which he said he would 'dissect her like a frog'.
Mr Gambaccini, 72, interviewed on BBC News yesterday, was arrested over false sex abuse allegations in 2013 and spent a year on bail before the case was dropped by Operation Yewtree detectives working under Miss (Cressida) Dick, then a Scotland Yard assistant commissioner.
Speaking to Miss Derbyshire, Mr Gambaccini criticised the BBC for its interviews with the fantasist 'Nick', who accused a string of VIPs of involvement in a murderous paedophile ring.
He said 'Nick' – aka Carl Beech – had been given 'free reign' on the BBC's Six O'Clock News, and also hit out at the corporation's coverage of a police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home in 2014.
Of the alleged targeting of celebrities in Yewtree and other operations, he said: 'All throughout the witch-hunt the BBC was on the side of the wrongdoers.
'We haven't come for the BBC yet… but don't think we are going to go away.
'In the years to come, boy, the truth about the BBC's complicity in the witch-hunt will be known.'
On BBC director of news Miss Unsworth, who has announced she was leaving the corporation, he added: 'Fran Unsworth has taken life's last leap and a good thing too because she was on the wrong side with the Cliff Richard thing.
'I will go head to head with Fran Unsworth in any public forum and I will dissect her like a frog, without ether.'
Premier League ace Benjamin Mendy rape trial date set
with Man City star jailed until at least January
10 Sep, 2021 16:14
Benjamin Mendy has had a date set for his rape trial © Hannah McKay / Reuters
Benjamin Mendy's trial for four counts of rape and one of sexual assault has been scheduled for late January, with the three-time Premier League champion remanded in custody until the court case begins.
The former France international was charged by Cheshire Constabulary in August for an alleged string of sexual offences on three women dating between October 2020 and August 2021.
It was revealed on Friday that Mendy's trial will begin on January 24 2022 and is expected to last for a period of around two-and-a-half weeks, with the player set to be held in custody until a verdict is reached.
No pleas were recorded at Friday's pre-hearing, with another set to take place on November 15. A second man, identified as Louis Saha Matturie, was also charged with four counts of rape as part of the ongoing investigation into Mendy.
"The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised Cheshire Constabulary to charge a second man in connection with allegations of sexual assault," a spokesperson for Cheshire Police said.
"The charges relate to three complainants over the age of 16 and are alleged to have taken place between April 2021 and August 2021. Matturie, of Eccles, has been remanded in custody."
Mendy, who joined City in a then-world record transfer fee for a defender of around $78 million in 2017, was suspended by his club after he was charged in the case – although the club was questioned in some quarters for reportedly continuing to select him after being made aware that he was under investigation by police.
That news was especially jarring to some after Everton suspended a first-team player over the course of the summer amid a police investigations into allegations against him.
Should Mendy be convicted of the alleged crimes, it is almost certain that he would face lengthy jail time as a result, and will also likely have his contract terminated with the Premier League champions.
In common with many footballers' contracts, Mendy's terms contain a clause giving the club options if he engages in an act "which is likely to bring the club or the game of football into disrepute".
‘Is it about getting away with rape?’ Twitter horrified at reports
disgraced comic Bill Cosby releasing new TV show
10 Sep, 2021 13:32
Accused serial sexual predator Bill Cosby, who was controversially released from prison in June, is reportedly working on a new TV show. Many on Twitter reacted to the news with disgust.
The 84-year-old “has been flexing his creative muscle” at his Massachusetts home in the months since his release from prison, Fox News reported on Thursday, citing the spokesman for the entertainer, Andrew Wyatt.
“Things are happening. He’s working on a number of projects right now, a number of ideas for a TV show that has him on the phone with producers, working with guys every day,” Wyatt said. “He's giving his creative ideas and input.”
He said details of the potential projects will remain under wraps for now, but revealed that Cosby had “started discussions with producers back when he was still behind bars” at a Pennsylvania prison.
Cosby, the once-beloved star of a family-friendly TV sitcom named after him, fell from public grace in the mid 2010s, after multiple women came forward to accuse him of sexual crimes he allegedly committed over decades. He was charged, tried and finally convicted in 2018 in a case of aggravated indecent assault against accuser Andrea Constand, but the sentence was overturned this year, after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled it to be in violation of an agreement with a prosecutor.
With many people believing Cosby to be a serial date-rapist who got away on a technicality, it’s no surprise that the idea of him returning to our screens triggered horrified outrage on Twitter. If his show does launch, anyone who has “a little dignity” won’t watch it, one commenter said.
The outpouring of disgust may be somewhat premature. In a separate interview with TMZ, Wyatt said Cosby’s plans for a comedy tour had to be put on ice due to an impending trial in a civil lawsuit.
One of his accusers, Judy Huth, filed against him in 2014, accusing him of sexually assaulting her in the 1970s, when she was aged 15. The comedian denied the allegation. Her case stalled while Cosby was being tried for allegedly attacking Andrea Constand, but now a trial has been scheduled for spring next year, the report said. Cosby was said to be concerned that the inevitable negative publicity from the trial would overshadow his tour.
If the same reasoning is true for his other projects, Cosby’s ambition for a comeback may be years away, if it’s even possible.
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