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Josh Duggar asks for acquittal in child sex abuse image trial
Head Topics
1/21/2022 8:33:00 AM
Josh Duggar asks for acquittal in child sex abuse image trial
Josh Duggar's defense team has filed a motion for acquittal or a new trial.
During his pre-trial hearing, Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Gerald Faulkner, who has worked on more than 1,000 child exploitation cases in the last 11 years, testified that materials found on a computer belonging to Duggar included files that were the “top five worst I’ve ever had to examine” and included child sex abuse images and videos of minors as young as 18 months.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the two counts of which he was convicted. Duggar’s sentence has not yet been announced.
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Former Vancouver Canuck Jake Virtanen charged
in sex assault investigation
(Larry MacDougal/CP)
By Hana Mae Nassar and Martin MacMahon
Posted Jan 27, 2022, 12:27PM PST.
City News
Former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen has been charged with sexual assault.
Vancouver police say the BC Prosecution Service approved the count against the 25-year-old, who currently plays in Russia, in connection with an incident that’s said to have happened in September 2017.
Virtanen’s first court appearance on this charge is set for Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. in Vancouver Provincial Court.
“Crown is in contact with his lawyer, so I presume that they will have conversations surrounding how to compel him to court or what the best way would be to compel him to court,” said Cst. Tania Visintin Thursday.
In May 2021, the VPD confirmed it was looking into sexual misconduct allegations against the hockey player after claims surfaced on social media. In posts, a woman claimed Virtanen sexually assaulted her in a Vancouver hotel when she was 18, despite her pleading for him to stop.
Shortly after accusations emerged, the Canucks placed Virtanen on leave as an independent investigation was conducted.
A civil suit was filed in Kelowna against him that same month, to which he responded on June 1 saying what happened between him and the woman was consensual.
In his response, Virtanen denied the woman “expressed any indication, verbal or physical, that she did not want to engage in physical activity.” He asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed and for the court to award him special costs, due to the nature of the allegations.
In August 2021, Virtanen’s agent questioned the complainant’s decision to pursue a civil suit over seeking civil charges, saying the way the accusation unfolded was “unusual and troubling.”
Visintin says the VPD’s investigation has concluded. There had been some confusion initially as to where exactly the assault was said to have taken place, with court documents citing a West Vancouver hotel as the location.
Visintin confirms the VPD’s probe was the only one before the courts.
“This charge is for an incident that happened in Vancouver on Sept. 26, 2017, and that was led by Vancouver police,” she said.
Vancouver police say Virtanen is not currently in custody.
No further details have been provided.
Prince Andrew wants disgraced actor to testify at trial - media
The royal reportedly wants Kevin Spacey to admit that he invited
convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to Buckingham Palace
Prince Andrew is allegedly seeking the assistance of actor and accused sex predator Kevin Spacey in clearing his name, the Sun reported, citing sources.
The Duke of York’s legal team allegedly wants the actor to tell a jury that recently-convicted sex offender and Jeffrey Epstein “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell was Spacey’s guest - not the prince’s - during a 2002 tour of Buckingham Palace.
Photos have circulated of Maxwell and Spacey in the palace, and the source told the Sun that while the prince had invited the actor, it was Spacey who had invited Maxwell.
The tour was apparently arranged for former US president Bill Clinton - a figure who has also been linked to the deceased Epstein, and who was also a friend of Spacey.
The prince reportedly planned to ask for Spacey’s help as he prepares to battle the sex assault lawsuit filed against him by Epstein’s “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Spacey was fired from a very successful TV series after reports of him abusing boys and young men. Two of his accusers died before any lawsuits or charges were processed.
Despite the existence of a now-infamous photograph where the Duke of York and Roberts are pictured together with Maxwell, the prince has claimed he never met the young woman.
Roberts has claimed she was trafficked to the prince by Epstein and forced to have sex with him three times when she was 17. She is seeking unspecified damages, thought to be millions of pounds, on charges of rape, sexual assault and battery.
The Duke of York earlier this week demanded a “trial by jury” regarding the accusations of rape and sexual assault Roberts leveled against him. Responding officially to his accuser’s claims five months ago, he rejected 41 accusations of wrongdoing - while admitting 40 times that he “lack[ed] sufficient information to admit or deny” other claims.
One of the claims he apparently denied was that he and Maxwell were close friends. The two were photographed together multiple times dating back to the 1980s.
Earlier this month, former head of Prince Andrew’s security, Paul Page, told an ITV documentary that Maxwell was a regular guest at the Buckingham Palace
He stated that a colleague of his “remembered her coming in four times in one day” at one point.
What a sad, sad case! Good grief!
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Man guilty of stalking tennis star Raducanu
A 35-year-old man has been found guilty in a UK court of stalking teenage tennis ace Emma Raducanu
James D. Morgan/Getty Images
Ex-Amazon delivery driver Amrit Magar will be sentenced at a later date for a stalking campaign of US Open winner, 19-year-old Brit Emma Raducanu, after being found guilty at Bromley Magistrates' Court on Friday.
Raducanu, ranked 18th in the world, told police that she remains nervous to leave her house after being inundated with unwanted notes and gifts from the 35-year-old Magar, who is married.
The court heard that Magar became besotted with Raducanu after watching her compete on television while he was unemployed, and later discovered her home address by asking locals in the area of London she lives with her parents.
He left the tennis star a series of notes, with one saying that she "deserved love" and another providing an illustration of the 23 miles he claims he walked from his home in north London to her residence.
The court was also told that in early December Magar decorated a tree on the Raducanu property with Christmas ornaments and decorations, as well as stealing a tennis shoe from the garden thinking it was Raducanu's - but instead it belonged to her father.
When he was later arrested, Magar was carrying the shoe in a bag and told officers that it was a "memento".
In a victim impact statement which was read to court, Raducanu detailed exactly how the ordeal has affected her and that it has left her fearful of leaving her house alone.
"Since all this has happened, I have felt creeped out. I feel very apprehensive if I go out, especially if I am on my own," she detailed to officers.
"Because of this I feel like my freedom has been taken away from me. I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I feel on edge and worried this could happen again. I don't feel safe in my own home which is where I should feel safest.
"I want to move to a new house with better security because I am worried he might come back as he knows where my home is."
Speaking to the court on Friday, Magar detailed the "shame" he says he feels for having put the teenage star through such an ordeal - but District Judge Sushil Kumar refuted suggestions that he wasn't aware that what he was doing was illegal, saying: "His inability to explain how he did not think this was harassment is incapable of belief."
Magar is expected to be sentenced in February and was released on bail under strict instruction to not contact Raducanu or her family or to visit the street on which they live.
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