Everyday thousands of children are being sexually abused. You can stop the abuse of at least one child by simply praying. You can possibly stop the abuse of thousands of children by forwarding the link in First Time Visitor? by email, Twitter or Facebook to every Christian you know. Save a child or lots of children!!!! Do Something, please!

3:15 PM prayer in brief:
Pray for God to stop 1 child from being molested today.
Pray for God to stop 1 child molestation happening now.
Pray for God to rescue 1 child from sexual slavery.
Pray for God to save 1 girl from genital circumcision.
Pray for God to stop 1 girl from becoming a child-bride.
If you have the faith pray for 100 children rather than one.
Give Thanks. There is more to this prayer here

Please note: All my writings and comments appear in bold italics in this colour

Showing posts with label acid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acid. Show all posts

Friday, 21 July 2023

Islam - Current Day > Insane Mohammad hacks Mom and Sis to pieces, injures 24 people including police with acid

..

Prayagraj: ‘ISIS inspired’ Mohammad Arif chops mother and sister

into pieces giving cries of ‘Allah Hu Akbar’, sets fire to his house,

attacks cops with acid


Why do I think all devout Muslims are insane?





OpIndia, July 21, 2023:


In a shocking case in Prayagraj, a man named Mohammad Arif (35) murdered his mother and sister using an axe. The accused gave the Islamic war cry “Allah hu Akbar” while committing the murders. His father and nephew too were seriously injured in the attack as Mohammad Arif tried to murder other members of his family.

After the murders, Arif set fire to the house.

Arif’s elder brother, Mohammad Azam, who managed to save himself, reportedly said that the former held radical views. “Arif held radical views. He was shouting ‘Allah hu Akbar’ while killing his mother and sister,” Mohammad Azam, brother of accused said. A video doing the rounds on social media shows Arif walking on the balcony with a black flag.

The accused pelted stones at the police upon their arrival. He also hurled on them 250 glass bottles filled with acid, and set fire to the house using the gas cylinder. The police had to release tear gas in order to bring Arif into their control. It was only after 2.5 hours of struggle that the police could catch hold of the radical. More than 24 people were reportedly injured in the acid attack and stone pelting.

It has come to light that Mohammad Arif used to watch ISIS videos and read books about the terrorist organisation. He had hatched a conspiracy to launch the attack almost a week ago. Arif told his brother Azam to vacate the house and live in another house which was built nearby. When Azam and other family members refused to leave, Arif chopped his mother and sister into pieces.

His elder brother Mohammad Azam reportedly said that Arif had help from two of his friends. He intended to finish the entire family and had carried with him a knife, sword, daggar [sic], chain, and acid….



Wednesday, 7 June 2023

Islam - Current Day > Muslim Rapes Hindu woman threatens he and her son; 60 brutal murders of Hindu girls by Muslim men; Rape rampant in Sudan war; 80 Afghan schoolgirls poisoned

..

India: Muslim rapes Hindu woman, threatens her with acid attack,

‘I am a Muslim and you know what I can do’

JUN 4, 2023 3:00 PM 
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Jihad Watch

He also threatened to kill her child and attempted to force her to convert to Islam. This is not widely regarded as a contravention of Qur’an 2:256, “There is no compulsion in religion,” as the person who is forcibly converted could have chosen death instead.

I am a Muslim, you know what I can do’: Hussain Sheikh rapes and threatens

Hindu woman with acid attack, forces her to convert to Islam, arrested

OpIndia, June 1, 2023:

Navapura police in Vadodara, Gujarat have arrested one Muhammad Hussain Sheikh on charges of rape and intimidation. The victim, a married Hindu woman who lived in Hussain’s neighbourhood, alleged that the accused threatened her with her and her son’s life. He also threatened her with an acid attack and attempted to convert her to Islam.

The police have booked Muhammad Hussain Sheikh under IPC sections 376, 354(A)(D), 323, 506(2), 406 and 452, based on a complaint filed by the Hindu married woman.

The victim said in her complaint that Hussain repeatedly threatened to kill her child in order to coerce her into speaking to him. He raped her and also threatened her with an acid attack if she reported him to the police or her family. All her jewellery was also taken away by the accused, which he later sold.

The Hindu woman alleged that Hussain took her to a Dargah around 20 days after he sexually assaulted her, where she was offered sweets and rosewater and forced to wear a Tabiz (amulet) around her neck and black strings were tied to her legs. The victim said that this was an attempt to convert her to Islam.

According to the victim, Mohammed Hussain used to threaten her by saying, “I am a Muslim and you know what I can do. I’ll fix you and your child.”

On the basis of the woman’s complaint, Navapura police arrested the accused Mohammed Hussain and sent him to jail. Although the Hindu woman also alleged that the accused compelled her to convert to Islam, the police denied the conversion allegation and did not invoke any sections of the anti-conversion law in the case. The police, meanwhile, recovered the jewellery of the victim which the accused sold….




India: 60 recent incidents of Muslim boys

brutally murdering Hindu girls

Might there be a discernible pattern here, or would that be “Islamophobic” to notice?

60 incidents of Hindu girls being brutally murdered by Muslim boys across Bharat

Hindu Post, June 2, 2023:

The brutal murder of minor teen Sakshi, stabbed 20 times by Sahil Khan who then went on to crush her head using a concrete block in Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy area, has shaken the conscience of the nation.

The brutal murders of Hindu girls by Muslims

Hindu girls are repeatedly falling into the trap of Muslims either in the name of love or friendship. At times, Hindu girls are paying the price for being friends with Islamists and on certain occasions turning down marriage proposals of their stalkers. Many Hindu girls are also

Here we list 60 incidents (PDF document) from across Bharat in the past few years where Hindu girls have lost their lives to the brutality of Muslims.

Delhi

1) Sahil Khan murdered minor teen Sakshi by stabbing her with a knife and crushing her head with a concrete block in Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy on May 29.

2) Aftab Amin Poonawala cut live-in partner Shraddha Walker to pieces and stored her body parts in a fridge after killing her brutally on 18 May 2022.

3) In August last year, a 16-year-old Hindu girl was shot dead by Ali in South Delhi.

4)On 19 February 2021, Layeek Khan alias Safeeq Khan assaulted Neetu with a hammer and killed her in cold blood for turning down his marriage proposal.

5) In November 2019, 18-year-old Neha was murdered and her body was stuffed in a suitcase by her live-in partner Lukman and his brothers Armaan and Shamsad following a fight between the couple.

Uttar Pradesh

1) On May 27 this year, a pregnant Seema Gautam was killed by her live-in partner Mohammad Naved in Shahjahanpur.

2) Chanda Singh, a widow and mother of two daughters, was trapped by Arif Hussain who took on the identity of Guddu Singh. Hussain strangled Chanda to death after she refused to perform namaz. The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Kaushambi on 14 February.

3) Slurs like “kaafir ki aulaad”, abuse of Hindu deities, thrashings and dowry harassment by her Muslim husband Faheem Qureshi and in-laws drove Varsha Raghuwanshi to suicide in February last year.

4) On 4 March 2022, a Hindu SC girl studying in class 9 was abducted by one Sahil Muqarram who raped and subsequently, murdered the girl by forcing her to consume poison. The case was reported from Saharanpur.

5) In March 2022, Shakir and Faiz murdered Bulandshahr resident Sushilavati and usurped her house.

6) In September 2022, Junaid, Sohail, Arif, Hafeez, Chhote and Karimuddin were arrested for the rape and murder of two minor sisters in Lakhimpur Kheri.

7) In a shocking incident, Mohammad Sufiyan pushed 19-year-old (17 as per Zee News) Nidhi from the fourth floor of an apartment in November last year. Nidhi’s family has alleged that he was forcing her to embrace Islam.

8) In a spine-chilling case, Wasi Ahmed murdered his wife Uma Sharma alias Arfa Fatima by giving her an electric shock on 22 December. The police recovered the victim’s body on December 24 from her bedroom in Lakhimpur Kheri District.

9) National-level kho-kho player Babli Rani (24) was strangled to death in Bijnor in September 2022 by railway labourer Shahzad (26) after she resisted his attempt to rape her.

10) In October 2021, a Hindu woman Nisha was murdered by her husband Dr Iqbal for refusing to embrace Islam. Already married and a father of four Iqbal trapped Nisha saying he was a Hindu and when the victim learnt his Muslim identity, he said each could follow their religion. The couple has two daughters. However, Iqbal started pressurizing Nisha to convert to Islam. The incident was reported from Bareilly.

11) In a gruesome case of grooming jihad, Shakib and his family had chopped Ekta Deshwal into pieces and buried her in a field. The horrific crime was reported from Meerut and took place in June 2019.

12) In June 2020, Naina Kaur was brutally stabbed to death by stalker Sheru Khan (22) while out shopping with her parents in Ghaziabad, NCR.

13) In yet another case of Love Jihad & murder, a Hindu lady Priya and her daughter were murdered by accused Mohammad Shamshad who introduced himself to her by the name of Amit Gurjar on Facebook. After befriending her and getting into a relationship with her, he murdered the woman & her daughter Kashish and buried their bodies in his drawing room in July 2020.

14) Priya Soni married Ajaz Ahmed without informing and seeking permission from her family in July 2020. In September, Ahmed with the help of his friend brutally murdered his wife for refusing to convert to Islam. The case was reported from Sonbhadra in UP.

15) In a case of grooming jihad reported from UP’s Badaun in September 2020, Asif, who had married Neha assuming the identity of Rajkumar, murdered Neha after she protested on learning his real identity.

16) Nadeem Khan was arrested in Lucknow for murdering his third wife Seema Soni by slitting her throat on 10 October 2019.

17) Archana (18) who had eloped with Javed, a married man with three children, died four weeks later due to excessive consumption of some medicines. The man was arrested after Archana’s family alleged foul play.

18) On 4 July 2017, Adnan Khan got his pregnant wife gang-raped by his two friends and then murdered by shooting her in the head at point-blank range. Furthermore, to ensure that she doesn’t survive, he slit her throat with a knife. The two had frequent fights after Adnan took a second wife by performing nikah according to his family’s wishes. The case was reported from Prayagraj in UP.

Maharashtra

1) In January 2023, Rehan Khan was arrested by the Mumbai Police after his wife Yashoda, who had converted and become Rubina Khan, was found hanging from the ceiling rod in their Dharavi home.

2) A disturbing case of grooming and murder was unearthed from Mumbai’s Goregaon West in April last year. 23-year-old bakery owner Mohammed Ansari was arrested for brutally killing 18-year-old Hindu girl Sonam Shukla. The girl, residing in Goregaon’s Prem Nagar area, was preparing for her NEET examinations.

3) Zakir Ahmed and his two aides were arrested for abducting and murdering Ambika Maraskolhe in September 2022. The case was reported from Maharashtra’s Amravati.

4) Mohammad Iqbal Sheikh murdered his Hindu wife Rupali Chandanshive (20) by slitting her throat for not following Islamic traditions and demanding a divorce. The incident occurred in the Tilak Nagar/Chembur area of Mumbai.

5) Urvi Vaishnav appears to be the latest victim of live-in gone wrong if the allegations by her family members are to be believed. The 27-year-old was found dead in Navi Mumbai and her family has accused her live-in partner Riyaz Khan of killing her.

6) Mohsin Khan slit the throat of his alleged girlfriend’s grandmother and minor brother for objecting to their relationship in Nagpur in December 2020.

7) Model Mansi Dixit was murdered and her body was stuffed into a bag by her boyfriend Muzammil Sayyed. The murder took place in Andheri West’s Millat Nagar on 15 October 2018. Sayyed he hit her on the head with a stool and strangled her to death following an argument.

West Bengal

1) Minor girl Rubi Kumari (13) was reportedly raped and murdered by one Sheikh Raja (19) on the day of Vijaya Dashami in October last year. Rubi Kumari’s dead body was recovered from railway tracks near Sheoraphuli (Sheorafuli) rail station in the Hooghly district.

2) Sheikh Sultan shot his girlfriend Subhologna Chakraborty dead after his fake Hindu identity was exposed, which led to the cancellation of their wedding. Things were at an advanced stage and the 35-year-old Subhologna was all set to have a court marriage with Sultan. But then the marriage was called off after the girl’s parents came to know of Sultan’s real identity.

There is more. Read the rest here.

=====================================================================================


'No woman feels safe': sexual violence rampant in Sudan war


Bahira Amin, Yahoo News
Tue, June 6, 2023 at 7:18 PM PDT·5 min read

Dozens of Sudanese women have reported sexual assault -- in their homes, by the roadside
and in commandeered hotels -- since the war erupted


Zeinab was fleeing war-torn Sudan's capital to seek safety when she found herself pinned to the ground, a rifle to her chest, as a paramilitary fighter raped her.

"I was sure we were about to die," she told AFP, recounting how she, her younger sister and two other women, one with an infant daughter, were all sexually violated.

Dozens of women have reported similar attacks -- in their homes, by the roadside and in commandeered hotels -- since the war erupted in mid-April between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

A month into the war, said Zeinab, the women were fleeing Khartoum when their minibus was stopped at an RSF checkpoint.

Terrified, they were marched into a warehouse where a man "in civilian clothes who seemed to be their commander" ordered Zeinab to the ground, she said.

"I was pinned down by one man while the other raped me," she told AFP. "When he was done, they switched.

"They wanted to keep my sister with them. I begged them on my hands and knees to let her go."

The women were eventually allowed to leave and escaped to Madani, 200 kilometres (120 miles) away, where they reported the attack to police and went to a hospital.

When Zeinab later recounted their ordeal, she had found refuge in another country.

"We're not the first people this has happened to, or the last," she said.

Sudan's war has claimed at least 1,800 lives and displaced over 1.5 million people.

The horrors of the conflict have been compounded by a wave of sexual violence, say survivors, medics and activists who spoke to AFP.

Most have requested anonymity or, like Zeinab, used a pseudonym for fear of reprisals against them and others.

Both Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have accused their enemies of such attacks.

And human rights lawyer Jehanne Henry said that indeed both sides have committed "notorious acts of sexual violence" in the past.

And why would they stop now? These girls are prisoners of war and Mohammed stated that they are at the mercy of the man who controls them.




Why is Islam so terrified of educated girls?



Nearly 80 Afghan school girls poisoned in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan


by Mukul Sharma, WION, June 5, 2023:

The anti-women tyranny in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan fiddled to another low as nearly 80 girls were poisoned and hospitalised in two separate attacks at their primary schools in northern Afghanistan’s Sar-e-Pul province on June 4.

A local education official confirmed the set of poisoning incidents to Associated Press. The education official said the person who orchestrated the poisoning had a personal grudge but did not elaborate.

According to Mohammad Rahmani, who heads the provincial education department, a total of 80 female students were poisoned in Sangcharak district of Sar-e-Pul.

He said 60 students were poisoned in Naswan-e-Kabod Aab School and 17 others were poisoned in Naswan-e-Faizabad School….

After replacing democratically-elected President Ashraf Ghani’s government in Kabul in August 2021, the globally unrecognised Taliban government has made it a matter of policy to erode rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls. But it is for the first time that a poisoning assault akin to the ones reported in Iran in recent months has been reported in Afghanistan.




Afghanistan: Nearly 80 primary school girls poisoned in two separate attacks


JUN 7, 2023 8:00 AM 
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
Jihad Watch

The Taliban Minister for Education, Sheikh Noorullah Munir, proclaimed that the Afghan regime’s ban on girls’ education is “based on culture and Islam.” The latest:

The anti-women tyranny in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan fiddled to another low as nearly 80 girls were poisoned and hospitalised in two separate attacks at their primary schools in northern Afghanistan’s Sar-e-Pul province

While the world is consumed with “Islamophobia” (Muslim victimhood supposedly perpetrated by infidels), the worst systemic abuses by Muslims against women and minorities — including murder — are almost universally ignored. Yet they can be found to varying degrees in every country that ascribes to sharia. In Afghanistan, the poisonings of the girls were reportedly “the first time that a poisoning assault akin to the ones reported in Iran in recent months has been reported in Afghanistan.”

Iran has seen a wave of poison attacks on girls, which have been described by a specialist as “a combination of different chemicals, which it is ‘not possible for ordinary people’ to access.” Yet few questions are asked or explanations expected from Islamic clerics globally about how some Muslim leaders use Islamic doctrines and assumptions to justify this abuse of women and girls.

Sar-e-pol Province, AFG


Friday, 9 September 2016

Indian Acid Attack Survivor Redefines Beauty on Runway During New York Fashion Week

Should acid throwers receive equal punishment - an eye for an eye? Without out any cosmetic surgery afterward? I think it would cause people to think before deciding to commit this insanely evil act.

© Lucas Jackson
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters

An Indian teenager who was disfigured in an acid attack received a rapturous response as she confidently strutted down the catwalk at New York Fashion Week on Thursday.

The smiling Reshma Qureshi opened the FTL Moda show to cheers and applause while wearing a long-sleeve embroidered white gown as part of the 19-year-old’s first trip to the US.

Far from the Indian city of Allahabad, where she was attacked by her brother-in-law and two other men with sulfuric acid in 2014, Qureshi was the highlight of the one of the world’s biggest fashion events.

© Lucas Jackson
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters

“This walk was important to me because there are so many girls like me who are survivors of acid attacks, and this will give them courage,” Qureshi said through a translator in Hindi, the Daily Mail reports.

“And it will also go to show people who judge people based on their appearance that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” she added. “You should look at everyone through the same eyes.”

Qureshi was 17 when she suffered severe facial burns and lost an eye while trying to save her sister from being attacked by her estranged brother-in-law.

The sisters were left to suffer for several hours on a roadside following the attack.

But, in the glitz and glamor of Fashion Week, Qureshi has become the face of a campaign to ban the open sale of acid in India.

© Lucas Jackson
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Following numerous and painful skin graft surgeries, she started working with the charity ‘Make Love Not Scars,’ which helps survivors of acid-attacks rehabilitate and regain confidence.

In India, at least 500 acid attacks take place every year, according to monitoring groups such as the Acid Survivors Foundation India.

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

The Most Unfortunate Children of Islam - If Only...

Found this gem in the 'comments' section of the previous post on 'honour killing in Jordan'.
Photos are added by me. 
Caution: the language and some photos are somewhat graphic. There were many photos I came across that were far, far beyond anything I would ever consider reproducing here - extremely disturbing photos like the one of a little Afghan girl beheaded for walking to school.

Don Laird
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Its funny, whenever you hear a Muslim talk about Islam the thing that strikes one the hardest, for those with insight into Islam and the truth of the same, is the contrast between reality and the stunning lies that fall out of their mouths.

In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary Muslims call their political ideology, Islam, a religion.

In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary Muslims tell us of their love for the weakest amongst their own, and from the death and madness that reflects from that murderously obscene departure from the truth can be found another grotesque reflection, as through their clenched teeth, they hiss of their "love" for non-Muslims.

Those Muslim lies, that poisonous black-hearted Muslim reality is, more often than not, reflected on those who bear the greatest burden of the poison of Islam, reflected on the faces of Muslim children.


These faces, some as yet unstained with the harsh reality of Islam, reflect trust, love, mirth, wonder, expectation and the simplicity and joy of childhood.

Unfortunately they will not remain this way for long, for in their future awaits a predator of the human soul, awaits the grotesque, awaits the mind numbing, awaits the hateful and the disfiguring, in their future awaits the love of Muhammad.

These are the faces of children, unsuspecting and oblivious, children who will meet the purest manifestation of poison, of sickness and of evil.....these are the children who will meet Islam.

These are the faces of little girls who will spend their childhoods learning that they are worth less than domestic livestock.

These are the faces of little girls who will learn that for a bodily function as normal as a heartbeat, their menstruation, they are the most vile, loathsome filth on the planet, reviled by even God himself.

These are the faces of little girls who will lead lives of grinding poverty and servitude, lives completely devoid of one shred of joy, lives in which laughter is little more than a distant echo......a taunting echo reminding them of innocence lost.

These are the faces of little girls that, for the heinous crime of seeking the joys and wondrous enlightenment of education, will melt and burn as they are splashed with acid.

These are the faces of little girls who, stunned and bewildered, will pack their meager belongings and be sent off to join the owners their parents sold them to.

These are the faces of little girls who, at tender prepubescent ages will, in accordance with the dictates of the mass murdering pedophile Muhammad, be married off to men in their 50's and 60's......where on their "wedding night", miles from their villages, their screams will shatter the night air as they are violently sodomized and raped by grunting, drooling Muslim husbands.


These are the faces, the bright shining faces of little girls who, as Muslim wives, leading lives of quiet desperation, will, for the crime of lacking in domestic skill or failing to bend over and hike their skirts fast enough for the Muslim master of the house, will be dragged outside, held down and have their ears and noses sliced off with a knife.

These are the faces of little girls, little girls who had the misfortune of being born female in the world of Muslims, and they will pay for that mistake by running, from cradle to grave, a gauntlet of violence, misery, brutality, indifference, servitude, grovelling deference, illiteracy, malnutrition and premature death.....in other words....they will live their lives according to the sadistic will of Muhammad.

These are the faces of little girls, little girls who will grow into women, and as women will, wrapped in suffocating cloth and scurrying like frightened mice from crevice to darkened alleyway, live lives as little more than life-support systems for vaginas and wombs, wombs become little more than arms factories.

These are the faces of little girls, little girls who, having no place left to turn, having nothing left to give, having no spot on their bodies unbruised by the love of Islam, little girls who will douse themselves with gasoline and self-immolate and, if they are lucky, will die.....and if not, as reflected in hospitals across the Muslim world, will spend their last earthly moments in tortuous agony, praying every moment for the merciful release that is their death.


These are the faces of little boys, little boys who will be taught that their sisters and mothers are little more than human garbage.

These are the faces of little boys who, burying their faces in pillows and covering their ears, will still hear the crunch as the fists of Muslim fathers meets the flesh of their mothers faces, as Muhammad's law is dispensed.

These are the faces of little boys who will bear witness to their fathers and brothers as they mutilate the bodies and faces of their sisters and mothers.

These are the faces of little boys who, through forced mind numbing repetitive recitation, will spend their days and nights being poisoned by the sickness of the madman Muhammad as reflected in the netherworld lunacy of the Koran.

These are the faces of little boys that will reflect confusion as they are told to dress in women's clothing and dance an erotic Bacha Bazi dance for the pleasure of leering Muslim pedophiles, for the pleasure of Muhammad and his men.

These are the faces of little boys, faces that will contort in agony and beg deliverance as they are treated to a post-dance evening of rape, forced oral sex and sodomy as they are passed from Muslim man to Muslim man.

These are the faces of little boys, faces of little boys that will render pink with their mother's arterial spray as her head is removed for the convenient contrivance of crime of adultery or blasphemy.

These are the faces of little boys who, with rumbling tummies, will be told the blackest of lies, will be told fabrications by the quintessential pimps of madness and hate; conniving mullahs and imams, truly, the blackest of liars to ever walk the face of the earth.


These are the faces of little boys who will be told that a better life awaits them after death, a life of riches, a life of plenty and ease, a life filled with fawning virgins and sumptuous feasts, all at their leisure and simply for their pleasure.....if only......if only.......they will perform this one small favour for Allah.

These are the faces of little boys that will be beaded with sweat as, their nervous fingers fumbling, they close the locks and hasps of the explosive vest placed on them with expertise by their own fathers and mothers.......all under the approving gaze of the leering reptiles; mullahs and imams.

These are the faces of little boys, little boys beguiled with the hypnotic and soothing reassurances, little boys who will wander through the marketplace, the moment of their death, a cell phone, a cell phone held in the grasping hands of mullahs and imams.

These are the faces of little boys, faces that will, in a deafening roar, in a blinding flash of light, in the sweetest agony of a life taking shower of glass and razor sharp shrapnel, as that number is dialed on the cell phone......simply evaporate, borne away on a river of blood and despair......borne away on a cowardly, murderous lie.

These are the children of Islam........children who never had a chance.

I had a thought.......if I could grab every one of these kids.......sweep them up in my arms and dash them off to safety......ahhhhh what the hell......it was just a thought.

Ladies and Gentlemen.....there is no joy in the world tonight.........for the love of Islam stalks the streets and alleyways.

Food for thought, catalyst for action.

Regards, Don Laird
Dogtown Bastard
Alberta, Canada

Friday, 19 December 2014

Acid Attacks in Britain and Canada, Why, and Why the Huge Contrast in Sentencing?

In Britain

Vikki Horsman said no matter how long the trio are sentenced to,
they have scarred her for life
A young woman who had acid thrown in her face for splitting up from her 80-year-old boyfriend says her life has been destroyed.

Mohammed Rafiq, from Smethwick in the West Midlands, paid £50 for two men to throw sulphuric acid over Vikki Horsman, causing 8% burns.

He has been jailed for 18 years for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent in April.

Ms Horsman, now 20, said Rafiq had become "controlling and paranoid".

Mohammed Rafiq, Steven Holmes and Shannon Heaps
had denied plotting to harm Ms Horsman
Shannon Heaps, 23, and Steven Holmes, 25, were jailed for 12 years and 18 years respectively at Wolverhampton Crown Court for causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Skin 'lifted'

Rafiq had denied masterminding the attack on Ms Horsman at her friend's house in Tividale, West Midlands, in retaliation for her ending the pair's relationship.

Recalling the attack, Ms Horsman told BBC News she was with Rafiq when someone knocked at the front door.

Rafiq told her it was a man to see her and, after she opened the door, a man in a hooded top and bandana handed her a parcel before throwing the corrosive liquid over her.

She suffered burns to her neck, face, left arm, right shoulder, an ear and splashes on her legs.

Vikki Horsman suffered burns to several areas of her body
Ms Horsman said she thought "it was the end" and could feel her skin lifting "layer by layer".

"Straight away, it was a piercing, burning sensation," she said.

"I could just feel my airways going tight, my lips blistering and just swelling... agonising pain. I had no idea what was happening."

She said she ran to look in a mirror then into the kitchen to splash water on her face.

She spent two weeks in hospital before Rafiq, who suffered burns to his legs, came to visit her. His late visit, along with her friend telling her about his strange behaviour, made her suspicious he was involved.

"He just didn't seem himself and from who they arrested previously, I didn't believe it was them," she said.

Why does a beautiful 18 year old girl have an affair with an ugly 80 year old man?

Ms Horsman said she was 18 when she first met Rafiq. He was, she added, "really supportive" towards her after she lost her parents and a third relative to illness in quick succession.

But the good Samaritan in him changed and he became more controlling once she passed her driving test and he bought her a car, she said.

"At times it [our relationship] did get to me but then after losing three of the closest people to me, I didn't have nobody so [it was] more of a case of I needed somebody, not wanted somebody," she said.

Good Samaritan? If you believe that, I have some extremely valuable stock in a gold mine in Bolivia I can sell you really cheap. He was no good Samaritan; good Samaritans expect nothing in return for their generosity. Rafiq, that lecherous, old man, was grooming her right from the start. He took advantage of an emotionally fragile girl to fulfill his own filthy desires.

Ms Horsman said she was not coerced or groomed by Rafiq and although she converted to Islam she has since reverted to her previous beliefs.

Eight months on from the attack, she said she cannot bear to look at her scars and still suffers flashbacks.

'All for pennies'

Doctors have told her she faces years of reconstructive surgery and Ms Horsman is still struggling to come to terms with the attack.

"Just for the sake of £50," she said.

"They can hurl that sort of stuff at somebody and just destroy someone's life in a matter of seconds... all for pennies?"

"No matter how long they get inside, they have scarred me for life.

"I'm the one doing the life sentence, not them."


Meanwhile, in Quebec, Canada

The Quebec man convicted of splashing a corrosive substance on his now ex-girlfriend has been sentenced to 57 months in prison minus time served.

Nikolas Stefanatos, 27, has been
sentenced to 57 months in prison
Nikolas Stefanatos, of Brossard, Quebec, has already served 41 months because time served before sentencing is equivalent to time and a half, meaning he will spend another 16 months in prison, for the 2012 attack on Tanya St-Arnauld.

Stefanatos pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in November after he sprayed the acid on 29-year-old  St-Arnauld during an argument.

She suffered burns to a fifth of her body and spent several days in an induced coma. After she was revived, she had the mobility "of an infant."

St Arnaud in coma
The paint on the apartment wall near the scene of the fight bubbled and peeled off from being sprayed with the product that Stefanatos sprayed on St-Arnauld.

St-Arnauld was in the courtroom and later told reporters she was not surprised by the sentence.

She said 16 months is not a lot of time, but she accepts the decision.

St Arnaud in laser treatments in Miami
It was the same sentence the Crown and defence had suggested to the judge on Dec. 3.

St-Arnauld has given birth to a boy since the attack, and said that one day, she'll have to explain why her skin is disfigured.

However, she said she's happy this part of the process is over, and looks forward to getting on with the rest of her life.

We pray Tanya and Vicki Horsman will have great success in the healing of their scars and in putting these traumas behind them so that they may have a good and happy life.

Tanya St Arnaud speaking to press. Her scars are not visible in this screen-grab
but one-fifth of her body was scarred so there is much we don't see.
She speaks eloquently and kindly and appears to be recovering emotionally
quite well.
Huge difference in sentencing

The similarities of the burns to the bodies of both these women are quite remarkable. However, the differences in the sentences handed down to the attackers is just as remarkable. In Britain,  Vicki's 3 attackers were sentenced to a total of 48 years in prison. In Canada, Tanya's attacker was sentenced to 59 months - one month short of 5 years. Why the difference?

In 2016, if not sooner, Tanya's attacker will be back on the streets. What kind of anxiety will she suffer from then? If Stefanatos is stupid enough to throw acid on her once, he is probably quite capable of doing it again or something worse. If he does, the judge who slapped his wrists will have her blood on his hands.

It is likely to be close to a decade before the first attacker in Vicki's case is back on the streets, and closer to 15 years before the other two are. It is very unlikely that Rafiq will live long enough to finish his sentence. Vicki can rest confidently in the knowledge that she is in very little or no danger from here on. Tanya won't have that luxury, though it shouldn't be luxury, it should be a right.

The British judge nailed the motivation for the attack right on the head: He said Ms Horsman was pleased with the sentences which reflected the "cold and callous" way the attack was planned by Rafiq and "his cronies".

Judge Nicholas Webb described the premeditated attack as "wicked" and Rafiq as "cruel as (and?) vengeful". He said the nature of the attack was designed to degrade Ms Horsman.

Passing sentence, the judge told Rafiq, Heaps and Holmes: "Acid attacks are not uncommon in certain parts of the world."

"Thankfully, they are rare in England. Quite often they are to punish a woman who has refused to bow to the demands of a spouse."

"In such cases it is done to leave a permanent reminder of what happens when a woman rejects attempts to control her."

Perhaps Canadian judges don't understand this; or perhaps they don't really care.