Hairdresser infected 5 partners with HIV, called victim ‘dramatic, paranoid fool,’ court hears
A Scottish hairdresser who stands accused of infecting five sexual partners with HIV told one of his victims he was being “overdramatic” when asked whether he had contracted the infection, a court has heard.
Daryll Rowe, 26, is accused of infecting five of his partners and attempting to pass on the disease on to another five. The jury at Lewes Crown Court heard evidence from a video interview where one of the alleged victims told police officers he had met Rowe in Brighton, East Sussex, in January last year.
During the interview, the man said: “I remember not really enjoying it. There were moments when I was like, I wanna get up and go. [Afterwards] I went to the toilet and the condom was on the sink and I noticed that it had, like, it was completely broken.
"Like the whole top of it was off. At the time I didn’t see him put it on. Because I had seen it broken I was kind of freaking out a bit.”
The man told Detective Constable Sarah Townsend he was in pain after having sex with Rowe and was later given antiviral drugs to prevent him contracting HIV as well as treatment for genital herpes.
The jury was then read a series of messages where the student pleaded with Rowe to tell him whether he had caught the virus, to which the hairdresser allegedly responded: “And yes I’m riddled by the way,” before he called his former sex partner a “dramatic, paranoid fool that’s easily wound up.” He later branded the suspected victim an “idiot.”
Rowe, originally from Edinburgh and now of no fixed abode, initially faced four charges of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and six of attempting to cause GBH with intent. One charge of attempting contagion, however, has now been dropped. The trial is expected to last six weeks.
Labour suspends MP Jared O’Mara over misogynistic jokes about rape & teenage girls
MP with vulgar, disgusting mouth - anyone surprised he's Labour?
Jared O’Mara, an MP accused of making homophobic and misogynistic remarks, has been suspended by Labour, the party says. O’Mara is said to have made rape jokes, branded British women “fatties” and called a woman he met on a dating app an “ugly b***h.”
The 36-year-old Sheffield Hallam MP, who was elected this year, has already apologized for remarks made online in 2002 and 2004, but denies some more recent allegations. Labour says it is now investigating “comments and behavior which have been reported from earlier this year.”
“There will be a full investigation by the Labour Party and then, as a result of that, a final decision will be made about his future,” Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC.
On Monday, O’Mara resigned from the Women and Equalities Committee after right-wing blog Guido Fawkes unearthed offensive comments made by O’Mara some time ago. He claimed he had been on a “journey” since posting the comments more than a decade ago.
On Tuesday, however, Sophie Evans, a pub worker from Sheffield, alleged O’Mara called her an “ugly b***h” at a music venue he was DJ-ing at in March this year, prior to his election.
Speaking to the BBC, Evans said some of the things he said to her were “not broadcastable,” adding “there were some transphobic slurs in there.” O’Mara denies the allegation.
On Wednesday, even more claims emerged when Guido Fawkes revealed comments O’Mara had made online. O’Mara allegedly wrote about “sexy little slags” and “teenage girls” being “fingered” in an Arctic Monkey’s review.
In another review on a local band in Sheffield, O’Mara allegedly described “a rhythm section that’s tighter than your mother was when I took her virginity all those years ago,” and concluded listening to the band was “even better than receiving fellatio from .... Angelina Jolie.”
Earlier allegations against O’Mara include him joking about having an orgy with members of Girls Aloud, claiming Michelle McManus only won Pop Idol “because she was fat,” and suggesting it would be funny if jazz star Jamie Cullum was “sodomized with his own piano.”
He also made homophobic references to “fudge-packing” and “poofters.”
Alleged sexual abuse victims of Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer take extradition fight to Israel
By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill
PHOTO: Sisters Nicole Mayer, Elly Sapper and Dassi Erlich are in Israel to campaign for Malka Leifer's extradition. (ABC News: Aaron Hollett)
For the last three years, Malka Leifer has been hiding out in Israel avoiding extradition to Australia, and now her victims have come to demand her return.
"It is a bit nerve-racking and scary but at the same time I feel proud of myself," Elly Sapper said.
The 28-year-old is one of the ex-students who are alleging the former school principal abused them.
She has come to Israel with her two sisters, also alleged victims, to launch a campaign demanding Ms Leifer return to face court in Melbourne.
"I want them to really understand what we are going through and that every day this lady is running free, running wild, it's really traumatic for us," Ms Sapper said.
PHOTO: Malka Leifer is accused of molesting students at a Jewish school in Melbourne. (Supplied)
Ms Leifer is wanted by Victorian police on 74 charges of child sexual abuse including indecent assault and rape, allegedly committed while she was the principal of the Adass Israel ultra-orthodox Jewish girls' school in Melbourne.
But Ms Leifer has avoided every single one of her extradition hearings in the last three years, claiming she suffers from panic attacks and anxiety.
Australian officials were then shocked last year when an Israeli judge halted extradition proceedings while the former principal underwent a psychiatric treatment regime.
Elly Sapper's sister Dassi Erlich said it had been traumatic watching the case be plagued by delays.
"It's been absolutely devastating. Knowing that she's been able to play the system," Ms Erlich said.
In May, Ms Erlich and her sisters were horrified to learn Ms Leifer had been spotted out and about in Israel at a religious festival, appearing to enjoy a normal life despite her claim to be too unwell to attend court.
"We do feel very let down by the legal system here," Ms Erich said. "That [she] has somehow managed to put her anxiety attacks and panic attacks ahead of the trauma that she has caused."
Older sister Nicole Mayer said she and her sisters hoped to raise awareness in Israel of the case and the failure to extradite Ms Leifer.
"I'm just really hoping we will be able to leave Israel with something accomplished," Ms Mayer said. "If that doesn't happen I won't know where to turn next."
On Wednesday, the sisters took their fight to Israel's parliament, demanding answers and trying to persuade Israeli politicians to take up their cause.
PHOTO: The sisters are hoping to raise awareness of the case in Israel. (ABC News: Sophie NcNeill)
Opposition member Michal Biran was among the members who pledged to try to get the case reviewed.
"I hope the pressure will bring the judicial system and the health system to reconsider their decisions," she said.
The parliamentarian said it appeared to her that the former principal was manipulating the legal system. "We can see the way she's hospitalising herself like two days before a hearing, and then getting out two days afterwards," Ms Biran said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who will visit Israel next week, said he would raise the case with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.
But Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely defended the delays in the case, telling the ABC the Israeli Government was already doing all it could to see that the extradition request is carried out.
"The Israeli Government is taking it very seriously," Ms Hotovely said. "We are doing our best in order to make sure this woman goes through a trial in Australia, this is our goal. We have no interest in having people like that here."
Good! Giver her an Ativan and get her in court and extradited! We'll expect an announcement next week.
The sorry state of child detainees in Ireland
(and probably everywhere else)
Over 40% of child detainees at risk of abuse and neglect
By Noel Baker
Senior Reporter
Data on teenagers at the country’s main children detention campus has found that more than half were in care or known to the care system, and more than 40% were considered to be at risk of abuse and neglect.
Oberstown Youth Detention Centre. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
The data was published this week by the Oberstown Children Detention Campus and relates to the first three months of this year, when 69 young people were detained at the facility in Co Dublin, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years.
The information on those detained at Oberstown shows that many had a difficult upbringing, had a range of personal problems including issues with drugs and mental health, and were at risk and also posed a risk to others through challenging and sometimes violent behaviour.
The data showed that there were concerns about self-harm in respect of 32% of those detained at Oberstown in the first three months of this year, while 42% were considered at risk of neglect or abuse.
More than one-third of detainees came from Dublin, and for 10 young people it was their first time in detention.
Of the 69 detainees, 37 had multiple charges relating to theft and fraud, while a smaller number of cases related to assault — including sexual assault — criminal damage and in 9% of cases, firearms and offensive weapons charges. Just over half of those detained were on remand orders and a slightly smaller percentage of young people were on detention orders, with periods of detention ranging from 30 days to more than four years. Two-thirds of detainees were Irish and 23% were from the Travelling community.
One-fifth had lost a parent and more than half had an absent parent, while 45% had been in care prior to detention. Five of those in detention were either fathers already or expectant fathers.
The snapshot also showed that: 55% had a mental health need; 32% were on prescribed medication for a mental health concern; 78% had substance misuse problems; and just 14% were engaged in education prior to detention. One-third had some form of diagnosed learning difficulty.
Of those detained, 47 had demonstrated challenging behaviour in the past or on the campus. Three young people with no record of aggressive or violent behaviour before going to Oberstown had engaged in that behaviour while on campus.
During the first quarter of the year, 68% of those detained were discharged, mostly on remand orders.
Commenting on the data, Pat Bergin, director at Oberstown, said the data would help to better understand the characteristics of young people placed at the facility, adding that they have complex needs and risks, which he said frequently require a holistic and multi-agency response. He said he hoped the data would inform the necessary services and interventions that would assist young people in moving on from offending behaviour.
Airdrie paedophile jailed for four years for
sick historic abuse of young girl
James Grahames abused his victim, now in her 40s, for four years including on the day of her first Holy Communion
An Airdrie predator who molested a young girl on the day of her first Holy Communion has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
James Grahames was brought to justice after his victim – seven at the time of the sickening offence and now in her 40s – confronted him as an adult over the abuse that had haunted her.
During the 55-year-old pervert’s sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, judge Lord Burns told Grahames: “You were found guilty of the sexual abuse of a child over a four-year period when she was between four and seven years of age.
“It is plain from the victim impact statement that this behaviour has had a devastating effect on her and, years later, she remains tormented by the memory of what you did to her.”
But the judge said he took into account that Grahames had no record of similar offending, adding: “This course of conduct, prolonged and serious as it is, I think can be regarded as an isolated one which does not represent the man you have become.”
Lord Burns also told Grahames that he would remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
Self-confessed alcoholic Grahames, formerly of Wilson Street, was earlier found guilty of indecency towards his child victim between 1979 and 1983, at an address in Airdrie. During the horrific abuse he committed sex acts on the girl and had her look at sexually explicit pictures.
Grahames’ earlier trial at the High Court in Livingston heard how he had made his victim perform a sex act after she stepped out of her communion dress. She said the abuse had begun with an undressing game and escalated to him asking her to perform sex acts.
The woman revealed that after going to counselling she had summoned the strength to confront her childhood abuser.
Defence counsel Allan Macleod said: “It is his position that he does not accept that he committed this offence.” Mr Macleod said Grahames had suffered strokes and depression and had made repeated suicide attempts. “The prison authorities are aware of this and are monitoring him as a consequence of that,” he told the court.
Mr Macleod added that Grahames had struggled with alcoholism and consumed a huge quantity of drink.
The solicitor added: “He is a religious man. He has been a regular church attendee throughout his life. He had recently been given a Bible and took some solace from that.”
He'll find no solace in the Bible until he accepts responsibility for what he has done and asked his victim for forgiveness and asked his Lord for forgiveness.
