19y/o Briton given suspended sentence for making up gang rape claims in Cyprus
A young British woman, who recanted her claim that she was raped by a group of Israeli men in a Cyprus hotel, was given a four-month suspended sentence for what a local court termed ‘public mischief’.
The court sentence for the 19-year-old was suspended for three years, and she has been ordered to pay €148 in legal fees. The ruling, closely watched by women’s rights groups, brings good news for her family as it means that she can now return to the UK.
She was given “a second chance” according to judge Michalis Papathanasiou, who read out the verdict. He led a three-month trial (3rd story on link) in which the young woman was accused of public mischief after recanting her claim that she was raped by 12 Israeli holidaymakers last July.
FILE PHOTO © REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Her case resonated widely in the British press when it emerged she had allegedly been forced by Cypriot investigators to sign a retraction statement – something police have denied.
London piled enormous pressure on Cypriot authorities, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab demanding that they “make it right” and not impose a heavy penalty on the woman.
Whatever happened, this young woman need a lot of prayer and help.
Fake GRU agent with crush on last Tsar detained over weapons & accused of raping daughter he fathered with cousin ‘wife’
Andrey, the suspect in the case, during a court hearing. Judge ordered to put him in pre-trial detention for two months. ©Sputnik / Nina Alekseeva
A seemingly respectable religious family is suspected of hiding a despicable story of domestic abuse and incestuous rape. Police have already arrested the father for stashing an illegal arsenal of firearms.
If all details about the 10-member family at the center of the story currently floating around in the media are confirmed, it may well give fodder to a horror movie script. Officials have, so far, been restrained in their reporting, but what they said is already disturbing.
On Monday evening, police went to the family home in the village of Khimozi, which is located some 30km (18.6 miles) south of St. Petersburg. They were following up on a tip from a local resident, who said she believed the head of the family has been raping his 13-year-old daughter for years. Once let inside, they reportedly discovered lots of hastily hidden illegal firearms.
Images released by investigators show the interior of the large three-story house cluttered with furniture, clothes and other household items, and enough deadly weapons to arm a small squad. Andrey, the family head, reportedly had five assault rifles, a light machine gun, two submachine guns, several handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and a few hand grenades.
The 46-year-old also reportedly had body armor marked “FSB” implying it belonged to the Russian Federal Security Service.
Photo courtesy of 47news.ru
The arsenal by itself is enough to be jailed, but the police are yet to confirm whether the more serious accusation of sexual abuse was confirmed. According to the local media, both the suspected victim and her mother, Svetlana, told the police that Andrey was indeed a rapist.
If true, the horrors that happened behind the walls were well kept from the rest of the village. Locals say the house residents were a bit strange and kept their distance, but otherwise friendly and helpful. The only obviously strange thing about their property is a large cross erected in front of the house, but people in Khimozi saw it as nothing more than a sign of deep religious devotion. Inside the house, police found many religious icons – indicating that the Bible was indeed important in the household.
There are eight children in the family, including two adult men in the early 20s, four boys and two girls. Andrey is the biological father of six of them. The children were home-schooled and didn’t have much contact outside of the family, but neither were kept in isolation. Andrey, who is reportedly a big fan of Russia’s last emperor, Nikolas II, took them to historical reenactment events, where he and the kids dressed up in period costumes.
Photo courtesy of 47news.ru
Digging through public records made things a lot weirder. Apparently Andrey started his life under a different family name, but changed it in 1997. Svetlana has the same name by birth too, because she and Andrey are cousins. Her family has not heard from her since 2000 and believed that her partner had dragged her into some kind of a religious cult. The couple reportedly had a wedding ceremony in church, but never bothered to register a marriage with the secular authorities.
When the officers started finding guns during their first visit, Andrey claimed he had a rank of colonel and served in the Russian military intelligence, GRU. Federal agents, who were called to check if he was telling the truth, said the man had nothing to do with the intelligence community and suggested he may need medical help to treat his delusion.
What exactly life in the family looked like remains somewhat of a mystery at the moment. There were rooms for physical training and a heavily-used shooting range in the basement. The worse-case scenario is that Andrey was terrorizing his family into submission and trained them to become some sort of a militia unit under his command for purposes unknown. Hopefully the investigation will help shed some light.
Khimozi, Russia
Sexsomnia defense very appealing
but doesn't work in Ontario
Ryan Hartman's 3rd appeal denied in sexsomnia case
CBC News 
Ryan Hartman hides his face beneath an umbrella as he leaves the courthouse in Brockville, Ont., on Jan. 24, 2019. (CBC)
An Ontario Superior Court judge has denied the latest attempt by a Brockville, Ont., man to shed a sexual assault conviction.
At the Brockville courthouse Tuesday, Justice Kenneth Pedlar said there's no doubt Ryan Hartman was guilty of sexual assault. Rather, the question was whether his charter right to a fair trial had been violated by the length of the legal process.
To that, Pedlar agreed with the previous judge who decided the delays were within reason.
Judy Trinh
@judyatrinh
Justice Pedlar: “one size doesn’t fit all...Jordan has hard dates- there can be a softness to it but there can still be unreasonable delays. One size doesn’t fit well- you gotta have room for flexibility. The ceiling is presumptive”
Judy Trinh
@judyatrinh
Pedlar: “This is an unusual case.” Second trial took 3 and half years to conclude.
“I don’t accept the position of the appellant”
I don’t accept that the previous judge’s decision was flawed”
Ryan Hartman had another appeal of his sexual assault conviction denied by an Ontario Superior Court judge Jan. 7, 2020. (@bekahdaoust/Twitter)
That woman, Bekah D'Aoust, successfully argued for the court to lift the publication ban usually placed on survivors of sexual assault, saying she wanted to be able to speak freely about what happened in hopes of helping others.
After an unsuccessful appeal and then a successful appeal, Hartman's conviction was upheld.
During the second trial, Hartman's defence tried to argue it was a case of "sexsomnia" — that he'd been asleep at the time of the assault and was unaware of his actions.
Hartman was found guilty by a judge in November 2018, but his defence launched what's also known as a Jordan appeal.
From 2016: Supreme Court sets new deadlines for completing trials
In March 2019, the judge rejected that appeal and sentenced Hartman to a year in jail and three years of probation.
Hartman then appealed both the guilty verdict and the judge's rejection of the Jordan application.
A year in jail, that's like a 6 month holiday in Canada. It's certainly not justice for rape.
Indian court schedules executions for 2012 New Delhi bus gang rape, torture, & murder
By Danielle Haynes(UPI) -- A New Delhi court on Tuesday scheduled the executions of four men found guilty of brutally gang raping and killing a 23-year-old woman in 2012.
The court scheduled Mukesh, 32; Pawan Gupta, 25; Vinay Sharma, 26; and Akshay Kumar Singh, 31, to be executed Jan. 22 at Tihar Jail.
The 17 y/o was the worst offender. He should be on that list, but, instead, he's been walking free for years.
New Delhi gang-rape bus
The announcement comes more than six years after they were sentenced to death for the Dec. 16, 2012, slaying of the woman who came to be known in India as "Nirbhaya," which means "fearless" in Hindi. Prosecutors said five men and a male juvenile attacked the woman after she and a male companion boarded a bus.
The perpetrators took turns raping the woman and assaulting her with an iron rod while the bus drove around for an hour. The bus driver was among the attackers.
The men also beat the woman's companion and dumped them both by the side of the road after the attack. Both victims were hospitalized and the woman died from her injuries two weeks later.
The five adults were sentenced to death and the juvenile received a three-year prison sentence, which he has completed. One of the adult perpetrators killed himself in prison.
The Press Trust of India reported the four men likely will be hanged simultaneously.
Nirbhaya's family said the issuance of the death warrant provides her with justice. "The hanging of the four convicts will restore the faith of women in law," her mother said.
It shouldn't! It is still pathetic in India, but is far superior to Pakistan.
The woman's rape and death prompted protests in India, accusing the government of failing to adequately protect women.
Bus Staff in India Attack Girl (14) and Throw Her to Her Death
Two 'vulnerable' schoolgirls 'groomed and
sexually exploited' by 7 Huddersfield men
Seven Pakistani, Muslim men are on trial for
the alleged prolific abuse of two children
By Stephanie FinneganExaminer Live
Top row: Usman Ali, AKA Johnny, (left) and Banaras Hussain. Bottom row: Abdul Majid, AKA Smokey, (left) and Gul Riaz, AKA Saj. (Image: Huddersfield Examiner)
Two vulnerable children were 'groomed and sexually exploited' by Huddersfield men, a court heard.
Leeds Crown Court heard the schoolgirls were raped in the Huddersfield area between 1995 and 2007.
Usman Ali, Banaras Hussain, Abdul Majid, Gul Riaz and three other defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny all charges.
Opening the trial today (Tuesday), prosecutor Kate Batty told the jury that the case concerns the sexual exploitation of two young girls who were deliberately targeted by older men who wanted to use them for their own sexual purposes.
Mrs Batty said the girls' vulnerability and low self-esteem meant they were more likely to submit to older men.
She said the girls were groomed between the ages of 12 and 14 by being made to feel special, including by being given cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
Mrs Batty said the first complainant was introduced to older men by a school friend and soon found herself regularly 'out of it' with drink and drugs, adding: "She didn’t know their names half of the time or she would know only their nickname.
"She was threatened, she was spoken down to, she was intimidated and she was assaulted.
"She was frightened and she saw absolutely no way out of this life."
She said the girl's family did everything they could to keep her safe and sought help from social services and the police 'time and time again', adding: "Back then, perhaps the authorities didn't have the understanding that they now have about grooming and child sexual exploitation.
"Social services eventually told [the girl's] family that [she] must love it if she keeps going back."
The court heard the abuse happened in cars, car parks, Greenhead Park, a hotel and flats, including in a flat belonging to a man who was 'involved with drugs and had a gun'.
Speaking about the second complainant, Mrs Batty said: "The final straw for her was when she was thrown out of a car with her trousers round her ankles, having had sex with two or three of the men in the car - she can't remember [how many].
"She was drunk and drugged. She was 15 years old."
Mrs Batty also said a male who abused one of the girls still remains unidentified.
She told jurors that the issues in the case are narrow.
Summarising the men's defences to the allegations, she said the defendants mostly either say they were misidentified or the sex was consensual.
Majid's defence is that he believed his accuser to be much older than she was and that all sexual activity was consensual.
He claims she was an 'enthusiastic' participant and she wanted him to leave his wife to be with her, which he was not prepared to do.
The men, including one man from Shipley in Bradford, deny 12 charges including rape and indecent assault.
Ali, also known as Johnny, 34, of Park Drive in Huddersfield, denies two counts of rape.
Hussain, 39, of Scarborough Road in Shipley, denies one count of rape. He denies ever being known by the nickname 'Butcher'.
Majid, also known as Smokey, 35, of Lightcliffe Road in Crosland Moor, denies two counts of rape.
Riaz, also known as Saj, 43, of Balmoral Avenue in Crosland Moor, denies two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault.
A 37-year-old man denies one count of rape.
A 36-year-old man denies one count of rape.
A 30-year-old man denies one count of rape.
The trial continues tomorrow (Wednesday).
And just south of Leeds, at Sheffield Crown Court...
Girl, 15, 'was repeatedly raped and sexually exploited by Asian grooming gang but no action was taken when she reported abuse to So. Yorkshire Police'
The rape and grooming of a vulnerable teenage girl was not investigated until five years after police were first informed, a court has heard.
Nine men, mostly from Sheffield, went on trial today accused of raping the girl when she was aged between 15 and 17 - treating her 'like a piece of meat' and abusing her 'for their own sexual gratification'.
A tenth man is accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The abuse was carried out when the teenage victim was drunk or on drugs, supplied by the grooming gang, jurors were told.
The complainant first told police about being raped and used for under-age sex in 2011 but no investigation was carried out or crime recorded, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
When the victim initially disclosed 'one rape and incidents of sex with adult men as a minor' to police, no crime was recorded by South Yorkshire Police.
When she complained for a second time about being raped in the same year, 'that investigation was too short-lived,' prosecutor Peter Hampton told a jury at Sheffield Crown Court, today.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr Hampton said: 'To these men she was nothing more than an object. These acts occurred while [the complainant] was drunk or high on drugs which had been supplied to her by the defendants.
'On other occasions [she] was forcibly raped.'
Mr Hampton added: 'When [she] did speak to those in authority, she found that no effective action was taken to stop it.'
The prosecutor said she had been referred to social services and later placed on the child protection register during her childhood.
The girl's case was only taken seriously when she was interviewed as part of the further investigation in 2016/17.
Saba Moussa Mohammad, left, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Usman Din, right, denies three counts of rape and one count of trafficking
The prosecutor said: 'By the time [the complainant] fell into the clutches of these defendants and others who abused and exploited her, she was already broken.
'She may as well have had a target on her back as far as those who were criminally minded were concerned.'
Mr Hampton said the complainant was 'effectively and efficiently groomed' by a 19-year-old woman called Amanda Spencer who knew many men in the Kurdish community in Sheffield - and introduced her to some of the defendants who would go on to rape her.
He said eight of the defendants were Kurdish (and, hence, Muslim).
The girl first disclosed some of what had happened to her when she was interviewed by officers aged 15 while 'still in the grip of exploitation' by Miss Spencer and some of the defendants, the court was told.
She distrusted the authorities and this situation was not helped when South Yorkshire Police 'did nothing more than submit an intelligence report', the court was told.
The prosecutor said this was 'despite the fact that [she] had disclosed one rape and other incident of sex with adult men as a minor'.
'No crime was recorded by the force and no investigation, in reality, followed.'
Mr Hampton said police had further contact with the teenager and, in 2016, interviews with her began which resulted in the current trial.
Usman Din, 35, denies three counts of rape and one count of trafficking.
Tony Juone, 61, denies one count of rape.
Kamaran Mahmoodi, 39, denies one count of rape.
Shangar Ibrahimi, 30, denies one count of rape.
Farhad Mirzaie, 29, denies two counts of rape.
Kawan Omar Ahmed, 31, denies two counts of rape.
Saman Mohammed, 41, denies one count of rape.
Jasim Sammad Mohammed, 37, denies three counts of rape.
Nzar Anwar, 40, denies one count of rape and one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
A 10th defendant, Saba Moussa Mohammad, 41, denies a single count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
All 10 defendants are from Sheffield, apart from Shangar Ibrahimi, of Barnsley.
The trial continues.
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