Man ‘awarded’ 14 years imprisonment for raping 29-year-old virgin

A 32-year-old security guard, Kenechukwu Okonkwo, was on Friday sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for raping a 29 year-old virgin.

Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye while passing the sentence at an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, described rape as an `act of extreme violence’ against women.

Ipaye said that there should be zero tolerance to any form of violence against women and vulnerable members of the society.

“I hereby sentence you, Kenechukwu Okonkwo, to 14 years imprisonment to commence from today March 24, 2017,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okonkwo was arraigned in court on July 14, 2015 on a charge of rape which is contrary to Section 258 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

During the trial, the prosecution led by Adeniji said that Okonkwo committed the offence on Dec. 27, 2013 in his one-bedroomed apartment located in Ketu Lagos.

Adeniji said: “The complainant was a 29-year-old saleswoman (name withheld) who was a virgin.

“She was experiencing accommodation problems and was about to be evicted from her home.

“The complainant however, confided in Okonkwo about her problem and he offered to keep some of her property in his apartment.

“She came to inspect his apartment which was a ‘face me I face you,’ doubting the suitability of his apartment and when she turned to leave, Okonkwo blocked her exit and forcefully dragged her from the corridor into his apartment.

“She was screaming and begging him in Igbo language and he responded saying that ‘you have been suffering me for too long,” he said.

The prosecutor said the convict however, gagged her with wrapper to stifle her scream and had forceful carnal knowledge of her in his bedroom.

“The noise and commotion in the apartment attracted Okonkwo’s co-tenant who came to intervene to no avail.

“It was when the landlord knocked on Okonkwo’s door to enquire about the noise that the complainant was able to escape,” Adeniji said.
However Okonkwo, in his testimony during the trial, claimed that the sexual intercourse between him and the complainant was consensual.

He said that he had a desire to marry her and she usually visited him at his apartment on Sundays with members of her church.

“On that fateful day, I attended a naming ceremony and while I was leaving the ceremony, I received a phone call from the complainant saying that she was at my house.

“I got home and she collected the bag of pure water I was carrying and asked me what I wanted to eat and I told her I wanted to eat Indomie.

“She changed into a pair of tights from her jeans trousers to make the Indomie and I played an adult movie which we watched together while we had dinner.

“She made me promise that I will marry her and thereafter, we made love,” he said.

However, when he was being cross-examined by Adeniji, Okonkwo admitted, contrary to his testimony, that the complainant visited him for the first time on the day of the incident.

Justice Ipaye, in convicting Okonkwo, noted inconsistencies in his testimony.

She said: “The defendant is not only economical with the truth, he should not be believed.

“There were inconsistencies in his testimonies and his longstanding friend who testified on his behalf as DW2, could not recall knowing her as his girlfriend.

“She was at risk of having her belongings thrown out of where she was staying and he took advantage of her vulnerable state on the night of Dec. 27, 2013.

“After hearing and observing the defendant and the complainant give their testimonies, her account is more in line with narration of her accommodation problem.

“Her visit to the defendant was not a social visit but to establish the suitability of his home to keep some of her belongings at the time.

“She is of a very slim build and could have been easily overpowered by the defendant and her account was more in line with the account of the medical doctors who testified on behalf of the prosecution,” Ipaye said.
NAN reports that four witnesses testified on behalf of the prosecution — the complainant, the investigating police officer and two medical doctors.

Noting the impact of the medical evidence on her conviction of Okonkwo for the crime, Ipaye said: “Penetration, however slight, constitutes the offence of rape.

“I have no doubt about the penile penetration, as the testimony of the complainant was clear, concise and unequivocal.

“PW3, Dr Oluwaseun Osungbusi, is a medical doctor with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). He came to testify on behalf of his colleague, Dr Justina Oyemarin, who attended to the complainant on the night of the alleged rape.

“He and Oyemarin both worked at the Ikosi Primary Health Centre where the complainant sought treatment after the alleged rape.

“Oyemarin’s report noted that the complainant had a broken hymen, had bruises on her body and had heavy vaginal bleeding and discharge.

“PW4 was Dr Joseph Onwoh, a medical doctor with over 30 years of experience in gynaecology.

“In his testimony, he told the court that when the complainant was referred to him, she was bleeding and had a ragged, broken hymen.

“He counselled her and advised her to keep her bloodstained underwear as evidence in case the matter goes to court.

“He can be seen as a first responder who saw the complainant in her state of distress and his testimony was in line with the test results presented by Osungbusi,” she said.

NAN reports that counsel to the convict, Mr Worer Obuagbaka, in his plea for mercy, told the court that Okonkwo was a first time offender and was repentant.

“The convict is a first time offender and the only son of his family; he lost his mother last year to cervical cancer and has been in custody since December 2013.

“During this period, he has learnt his lesson, I plead with the court to pass a light sentence on the convict and temper justice with mercy,” Obuagbaka said.

However, the prosecutor, Mr Kazeem Adeniji, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, commended the judgment.

 

Source: The Guardian

Ex-Council Chairman Who Stole N1.4b Must Go To Jail, Appeal Court Rule.

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by a former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly and former Caretaker Chairman of Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of the state, Gabriel Daudu, against his conviction for a N1.4 billion fraud.

Mr. Daudu, who was arraigned before a Federal High Court, Lokoja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 208-count charge bordering on money laundering and misappropriation of public funds, was found guilty of 77 counts by Justice Inyang Ekwo and sentenced to 154 years imprisonment.

In his ruling, the trial judge, held that the prosecution proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt, and therefore, sentenced Mr. Daudu to two years on each of the 77 counts to run concurrently.

Dissatisfied with his conviction, Mr. Daudu approached the appellate court praying that his conviction be set aside.

However, in a unanimous decision on Wednesday, the Appeal Court upheld the ruling of the lower court and dismissed Mr. Daudu’s appeal as unmeritorious and lacking in merit.

 

Source: Sahara Reporters

Beggars stab man six times for not giving them money

Two homeless beggars have been jailed for stabbing a man who refused to hand out a few coins to them in Newcastle.

The man reportedly was making his way to a cash machine to get some money for a cab when the beggars attacked him.

According to Metro UK,  they punched and kicked him before stabbing him six times while he curled up in a bid to protect himself for refusing to give them cash.

Keith Newbold was drenched in his blood, staggered to a nearby takeaway and drifted in and out of consciousness before he was picked up by an ambulance to the hospital.

While Newbold was fighting for his life, the attackers, who had taken his belongings, passed on his bank card to Sean Kelly, 23, who tried to use it at McDonald’s.

They were jailed for 12 years and 14 months respectively.

Man jailed two years with option of fine for raping 10-year-old.

An Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada on Wednesday sentenced a 40-year-old driver, Mansir Mohammed, to two years imprisonment and 12 strokes of cane for raping a 10-year-old boy.

The judge, Alhassan Kusherki, ordered that the convict be flogged at a designated public place and the people around made to know why he was being flogged.

Mr. Kusherki handed down the sentence after the convict pleaded guilty to unlawfully having sexual knowledge with a minor.

“Base on his plea which he said it is true; I hereby convict him on same offence.

“Such acts ought not to be prevalent in the society. You are supposed to be among God fearing people.

“This punishment will make him have a rethink and it will serve as deterrent to others.

“You are hereby sentenced to two years imprisonment or you pay a fine of N50, 000,” he said.

The judge also said thatN5,250 be paid to the victim as medical expenses.

The prosecuting counsel, Abdullah Tanko, had earlier said that the convict of Angwan Dodo in Gwagwalada had on February 14 had sexual intercourse with the 10-year-old boy through the anus.

Mr. Tanko said that the convict repeatedly carried out the crime five times.

He further explained that the minor was taken to the Rosa Haske hospital for treatment where N5, 250 was spent on his treatment; and the matter was reported to the Police by Adamu Ali on February 18.

 

Source: NAN

AFP: How prison term transformed Watford captain Troy Deeney’s life for the better

Watford striker Troy Deeney’s “light bulb” moment came when the cell door slammed and he contemplated a 10-month jail term for affray five years ago, he told AFP.

The 28-year-old, locked up for assaulting a student outside a pub, entered prison with words from his mother ringing in his ears — that it was at times like that she wished he had not been born.

But Deeney rebuilt his life and his career and two years after he was released having served three months, he was appointed Watford captain, a role he retains to this day.

“It was survival mode after that. People will go ‘right yeah survival mode’ and say that’s a bit drastic but it was that.

“All my feelings and emotions cut off as I said to myself ‘you’ve got to get through this next few months’.

“I didn’t have enough time to sulk or cry and do all the things you would think are natural reactions.

“If my mum died now I’d be a mess. I’d be crying all over the place and drinking loads of beer like everyone else would. I didn’t have that luxury.”

Deeney said incarceration transformed him for the better.

“I always knew I would come out better but it was about how I went about doing it,” said Deeney.

“Part of the course was alcohol dependency which was compulsory if I was to be eligible for a tag (to wear on early release).

“I got into speaking, I used to be closed and have a lot of anger in me, at the group sessions.

“I still speak to a psychologist. People feel sorry for themselves and think the world owes them something and then you realise it’s not that bad.”

Deeney, now teetotal, was particularly close to the man he called his father, Paul Anthony Burke — his biological father left home early on. He has a tattoo which bears Burke’s date of birth and death.

It was to Burke that Deeney’s thoughts turned when Watford gained automatic promotion to the Premier League in the 2014/15 season.

“I just cried,” admits Deeney. “I remember I found out on the bus that we got promoted as other results went our way — everyone went crazy.”

He added: “I always wanted to be a footballer and always liked the idea of playing in the Premier League. I had played in League One (the third tier) with Walsall, then the Championship.

“My dad and granddad would be so proud. I rang my wife (Stacey and mother of their two children, Myles and Amelia) and said I’m going there to his graveside.

“However, at 6 in the evening it was shut so I went out with the team.

“Then the next morning I went with a thermos of tea to the cemetery and had a cup of tea and sat there talking to his gravestone.”

Deeney, who has set up his own foundation to help seriously ill children and distributes football kit to youngsters on the tough estate where he once lived in Birmingham, says he has used his prison experience to advise young offenders.

“I would probably stay away from talking in prisons because I had a career going in and I had one going out,” said Deeney, who invited two of the prison guards to the Championship play-off final in 2014 as a way of thanking them for encouraging him to go to the prison gym and keep fit.

“I can’t resonate with a lot of people there as there are a lot who have lived on that same road (crime) and once they are out they go back to doing the same thing.

“Driving out there in a Range Rover probably doesn’t sit well with them,” added Deeney, who nevertheless stays in touch with two of the inmates he considers friends.

Deeney spoke to AFP after speaking at Sport Industry NextGen in partnership with Barclays.

Three drug traffickers get 5 years jail term each.

Three drug traffickers are to spend the next 15 years behind bars, a court ruled in Lagos on Monday.

A Federal High Court which handed down the verdict, said the trio – Bukola Adeoye, 24; Muyideen Ipumafayi, 35; and Alani Babaraji, 30 – were convicted following their guilty pleas.

The judge, who gave the convicts an option of N5 million fine each, are to spend five years each in jail.

They were arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on three separate charges bordering on trafficking in hemp.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ms. Adeoye was first arraigned on March 6, 2013, before Justice John Tsoho and had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

However, Mr. Tsoho was transferred from the Lagos Division of the court, while Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, took over as the new trial judge.

On February 1, Ms. Adeoye opted to change her plea and pleaded not guilty; she was re-arraigned and remanded in prison while the court adjourned proceedings for a review of facts.

The prosecutor said she was arrested at Ejigbo in Lagos with about 12.15 kg of cannabis sativa (hemp).

Mr. Ipumafayi was arrested on December 7, 2016 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway for also transporting about 10.4 kg of hemp.

He was arraigned on January 26 and had pleaded guilty to the charges while the court also adjourned for a review of facts.

Mr. Babaraji was arrested on November 29, 2016 at an uncompleted building at the Ijegun area of Lagos for dealing in 1.1kg of Cannabis. He was arraigned on January 26 and pleaded guilty to the charge.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, the prosecutor, Jeremiah Aernan, reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered evidences before the court.

He tendered a statement of the convicts, a request for scientific aid form, as well as exhibits.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Olatoregun found the trio including a woman guilty of the offences as charged.

She sentenced the trio to a term of five years imprisonment each which will run from the date of judgment.

 

Source: NAN

Former Israeli President freed after 5 years in jail for rape

Israel’s former president, Moshe Katsav, was on Wednesday freed on parole after serving five of his seven-year prison sentence for rape and other sexual offenses.

Live television and radio broadcasts showed Mr. Katsav walking out of the Maasiyahu Prison, east of Tel Aviv, where about a dozen of family members and supporters were waiting for him.

He hugged his wife, Gila, and entered a car that took him to his home in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi.

His release came about an hour after the State Attorney, Shai Nitzan, said that the prosecution would not appeal the Parole Committee’s decision to grant Mr. Katsav an early release.

Under the terms of his parole, Mr. Katsav would have to join a prison service rehabilitation programme.

He would also have to stay under house arrest every night, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., until the end of his parole period.

The committee also imposed restrictions on speaking to the media and forbade him to hold a job position in which he would have female subordinates.

Mr. Katsav, 71, was born in Iran and became the first president who was born in a Muslim country.

He served as Israel’s seventh president between 2000 and 2007.

In 1977, at the age of 30, he first became a parliament member with the right-wing Likud party.

In November 2011, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed his conviction on two counts of rape of a former employee during his term as a tourism minister in the 1990s.

He was also convicted of indecent sexual assaults and sexual harassment of two other women while being president, and obstruction of justice.

James Ibori’s December 20 Homecoming Collapses As His Confiscation Hearing Begins

James Onanefe Ibori, the former Delta State governor who became the international symbol of Nigerian corruption when he was tried and jailed in the United Kingdom in 2012, will not be home for Christmas at the weekend, or anytime soon, contrary to rumors.

A former commissioner in Mr. Ibori’s administration, Ighoyota Amori, had created the euphoria among Ibori’s followers that his former principal will be home for the Xmas from his jail cell in England.

Mr. Amori first made the claim on September 25 in a speech in Ibori’s hometown of Oghara, Ethiope West local government area of the state, during the 50th birthday celebration of the former Commissioner for Transport, Ben Igbakpa.

“Our leader, Chief James Onanefe Ibori will soon return to Oghara,” he bragged repeatedly, asking for prayers for their hero.  “Chief James Onanefe Ibori will spend this year’s Christmas with us here. His coming is as certain as death. We will all gather to give him a wonderful reception here in Oghara. And our lives will begin again once he returns to the country.”

But Mr. Amori assurances were as fraudulent as Ibori’s bank balances.  Just three days ago, Mr. Ibori’s spokesperson Tony Eluemunor issued a statement asking the public to disregard any talk of Ibori returning home anytime soon.

SaharaReporters reliably gathered that hopes of Mr. Ibori’s release had been based on the grievous miscalculation that his lawyer’s claim of corruption by some UK policemen involved in his investigation, as well as the prosecution team’s dissolution would magically result in his early freedom.  The judge handling his case has however insisted that the confiscation hearing aimed at determining if Ibori hid any of his assets from the UK authorities would go ahead.

That hearing, not shameless Christmas parties in Delta State paid for with dubious funds, is all that Mr. Ibori could look forward to this week, as it was scheduled to begin yesterday December 19, and may last till the middle of 2017.

Based on Mr. Amori’s baseless declarations, however, a chain of events was unleashed in Delta State as the government, members of the People Democratic Party, the people of Oghara, and some other elated Deltans began to prepare to welcome him home today, December 20, a date that became widely publicized.

SaharaReporters reliably learned that at various political and social gatherings, Amori repeatedly publicized this date for Ibori’s homecoming, with the local media whipped into a frenzy about it.

Following Amori predictions, the people of Oghara, embarked on cleaning up and beautifying the community with Ibori posters all over the place.

Equally thrilled, SaharaReporters learned that state governor. Ifeanyi Okowa released over one billion Naira ‘sfor the renovation of Ibori country home and for road constructions, among other things.

Salesgirl jailed 2 years for stealing N1.6m sales proceeds

An Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court on Monday, sentenced a 25-year-old woman, Abiola Alani, to two years imprisonment for stealing N1.6 million proceeds from Vitafoam sales.

Alani, who address was not given, was charged with one count of stealing.

The convict pleaded guilty as charged.

The Magistrate, Mr Idowu Olayinka, in his judgment, said that after all investigations, the accused was found guilty.

Olayinka sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment, with an option of a N20, 000 fine.

He, however, ordered that the convict must have paid back the stolen money before the fine can be effective.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Augustine Ozimini, told the court that Alani committed the crime between May 2015 and June 2016.

Ozimini said that money belonged to one Mrs Egbesola Moriyike, the employer of Alani.

Ozimini said that Alani who was a sales girl to the complainant, converted N 1.6 million proceeds of sale of vitafoam products to her personal use.

“Alani sold some vitafoam mattresses and could not account for the proceeds between May 2015 and June2016,’’ he said.

The offences contravened Sections 390(6) of the Criminal Laws of Ogun, 2006.

Court Jails Ex-Soldier And 7 Others 104 Years For Kidnapping Delta Speaker

The Delta State High Court, sitting in Kwale, Ndokwa West local government area, on Tuesday sentenced an ex-soldier and seven others to 104 years imprisonment for kidnapping the current House of Assembly speaker, Mr. Monday Igbuya.

Mr. Igbuya was allegedly kidnapped in May 2009 in Sapele, the headquarters of Sapele Local Government area by Godspower Omoniyi, an ex-soldier; Godspower Ikoro; Ernest Atteh; John Adapamu; Ife Freedom; Sunday Uba Tiemo; Kemi Koinyan; and Isaiah Mumbor.  He released after six days.

SaharaReporters learned that the eight suspects, who were earlier charged to the Sapele High Court in 2011 after their arrest by security agents, were later transferred to Kwale for trial on a six-count charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, armed robbery and the substantive case of kidnapping and demanding with menace the sum of N100m as ransom.

In his judgement, the presiding judge, Justice O. Jaloggo-Williams, found the eight accused persons guilty on the two-count charge of kidnapping and demanding property with menace.  He sentenced them to 10 years each with hard labor for kidnapping; and three years each for demanding N100m with menace.

Justice Jaloggo-Williams ruled that the accused were responsible for the kidnapping of the Speaker, but discharged them on the count of armed robbery for lack of sufficient evidence by the prosecution.  The sentences will run concurrently.

The convicts were charged under the Criminal Code Law Section 364 (I) and (II), which prescribed a 10-year jail term for offenders, before the Delta House of Assembly enacted a new anti-kidnapping Law in 2016 which now prescribes life imprisonment for offenders.

Nigerian man jailed 4 months for stealing 10 fishes

A Magistrates’ Court in Evbouriaria , Benin City, on Thursday sentenced a man, Sylvester Livinus, 22, to four months imprisonment for stealing 10 cat fish.

 

The Chief Magistrate, C.E. Oghuma, however, gave the convict N 5, 000 option of fine.

 

Earlier, the prosecutor, Olatoye Oluwaseun, told the court that the accused committed the offence on September 18, at about 2:45p.m. at No. 1, Toronto St. Benin.

 

Mr. Oluwaseun said the cat fish which belonged to Noma Okunbor, was valued at N10, 000.

 

He said the offence contravened Section 309 (9) of the Criminal Code.

Journalist jailed three months for tweets.

A Bahraini court has jailed a journalist for three months over a tweet deemed insulting to religion, Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday.

 

Faisal Hayyat, a journalist and a blogger who hosts a satirical channel on YouTube, was convicted Tuesday of insulting a “religious symbol and group,” the watchdog said.

 

He has been in detention since October 9, the last time he tweeted saying that he had been summoned by police for investigation.

 

The content of the tweet that the charges refer to is not clear, but on October 8, Hayyat posted tweets denouncing Muawiyah, the first caliph of the 7th-century Umayyad Caliphate, who is despised by Shiite Muslims for a conflict with their revered Imam Ali.

 

The Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom has been shaken by unrest since security forces crushed protests led by crowds of its Shiite majority demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister in 2011.

 

Scores of Shiites have been jailed on charges of involvement in the unrest and others have been stripped of their citizenship.

 

The crackdown has drawn criticism from the United Nations and the United States.

Barber jailed 18 months for stabbing boy in Lagos.

An Ogudu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday sentenced a barber, Waheed Bello, to 18 months imprisonment for stabbing and injuring a man on his back with a knife.

Bello of Diala St., Mile 12 market area, Lagos, pleaded guilty to the charge of assault occasioning harm with another at large and asked the court to temper justice with mercy.

Delivering her judgment, the Magistrate, Mrs. O. S. Amzat, advised the convict to turn a new leaf while in prison, after sentencing him with no option of fine.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Sgt. Ihiehie Lucky told the court that the offence was committed around noon on Nov. 22 at Diala St. in Mile 12 area of Lagos.

Lucky said the complainant, a sales boy, reported the incident at the Mile 12 Police Station on Nov. 22.

“The complainant reported that on that fateful day, he was at Diala St. when the convict and his friend accosted him, forcefully, demanding for money.

“He asked them what money they were talking about and before he knew it, they held his trouser pocket trying to remove his money.

“He hit the convict’s friend who fell down and when they found out that they couldn’t withstand him, the accused snatched the knife of a roadside butcher and stabbed him on the back,” he said.

Lucky said that the complainant immediately fell down and the convict took his N9,000 from his pocket, as well as his N14,500 Samsung phone and ran away with his friend.

He said that some members of the public later helped the complainant to apprehend and arrest the convict.

The prosecutor said the offence committed contravened sections 409, 404 and 243 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Burn American Flag, Go To Jail; Trump Warns

The President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has warned that anybody who burns American flag may lose citizenship or go to jail.

He posted this on his Twitter handle on Tuesday.

“Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!,” he said.

Credit: dailytrust

BREAKING: Egypt court overturns life sentence against ex-president Muahammad Morsi.

Egypt’s Court of Cassation overturned on Tuesday a life sentence against deposed President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered a retrial in the case that revolves around accusations of espionage with Palestinian group Hamas.

The court last week overturned a death sentence against Mursi in a separate case, meaning he no longer faces execution.

 

Democratically elected after the 2011 uprising, Mursi was overthrown in mid-2013 by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi following mass protests against his rule, and was immediately arrested.

 

He remains in jail on a separate espionage conviction.

Philippines to jail nine-year-old children for crimes.

Children as young as nine could be jailed in the Philippines for certain crimes under a proposed law backed by the president, sparking concern Monday from the United Nations and rights groups.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies have been pushing to pass laws by December that would restore the death penalty and lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9.

Duterte won May elections largely because of a vow to kill tens of thousands of drug dealers, also promising on the campaign trail to close a loophole in the juvenile justice system that he said allowed traffickers to use minors as narcotic couriers.

“Adult criminals knowingly and purposely make use of youth below 15 years of age to commit crimes, such as drug trafficking,” Pantaleon Alvarez, one of the proposed law’s main backers, said in an explanatory note.

While Duterte wanted the age threshold dropped to 12, his allies went one step further by calling for it to be lowered to nine.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF reminded the Philippines of its international obligations.

Manila is a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says criminal responsibility below the age of 12 is not acceptable.

“Jail is no place for a child. It is alarming for children to be institutionalised (sent to a penal institution),” UNICEF said in a position paper sent to AFP Monday. “It will be retrogression on the part of the Philippine Government.”

Rights organisations launched a campaign called #ChildrenNotCriminals to urge lawmakers to reconsider their support for the law.

One of the groups, Plan International, told AFP that children on the wrong side of the law were often victims of criminal gangs.

“It is unfair that it’s always the children who are blamed. This will result in children becoming hardened criminals,” said Ernesto Almocera of Plan International Philippines.

The advocates appealed to Duterte to explore factors that led children to commit crimes, such as poverty and lack of parental guidance and education.

“We cannot hold children to the same standard as we hold adult offenders,” Melanie Llana of the Philippine Action for Youth Offenders told AFP. “Are we really going to jail 9-year-olds who we know are not fully mature?”

Duterte’s hardline approach to criminals has drawn criticism from its ally the United States, the UN and human rights groups.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in police operations and 2,800 have died in unexplained circumstances since Duterte took office on June 30, according to official figures.

Critics allege some of these deaths amount to state-sponsored extrajudicial killings, a charge Duterte has rejected.

FG proposes 2-year jail term for Nigerians hoarding dollar.

The Federal Government has proposed an amendment to the Foreign-Exchange Act to enable the imprisonment of anyone who holds foreign currencies, especially the dollar, for more than 30 days

This is the latest measure the government and the Central Bank of Nigeria are considering to stem the volatility in the exchange rate and bolster the ailing naira, according to a Bloomberg report.

In the new proposals, which were published on the website of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission last week, the CBN is seeking the power to control capital flows and stop people from taking forex out of the country.

According to the draft amendment of the Foreign Exchange Act, anybody holding dollars in cash for more than 30 days risk a jail term for as long as two years or a fine of 20 per cent of the amount.

Regulators should also be able to prevent money being repatriated “in accordance with the terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the central bank from time to time,” the draft states.

The existing law is “narrow in scope and prohibits the seizure, forfeiture or expropriation of imported money by the government without providing for exceptions,” it adds.

The amendments, according to the document, are necessary “for effective monitoring and control, and to ensure probity in foreign exchange transactions in Nigeria.”

The CBN has increased capital controls since the price of oil, Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner, started crashing in the second half of 2014.

It had pegged the naira for 15 months until June this year, a move analysts blamed for causing investors to flee the country, the economy to contract in the first half of the year and the inflation rate to rise to an 11-year high.

The latest move will further worry foreign investors, according to a Lagos-based research and investment advisory firm, SBM Intelligence.

The Department of State Security officials had last week arrested some black market forex dealers for exchanging the naira at a rate weaker than 400 per dollar, compared with the existing street rate of around 460.

The naira-dollar official exchange rate, which analysts accused the CBN of still manipulating, is 315 against the greenback.

“The CBN wants to take its regulatory onus to frightening proportions,” analysts at SBM said in an e-mailed note in response to the new draft law.

“The move smacks of desperation and can only result in negative investor perception and capital flight,” they added.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said the apex bank did not introduce the bill in a text message response to Bloomberg. He did not elaborate.

The Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, while reacting to the development said, “If it did not emanate from the CBN as claimed by its spokesman, it may have emanated from the Presidency or other sources. But the fact is that when you compel people not to hold dollars after stopping the use of naira debit cards abroad, you are discouraging people to bring in money into the country.

“You also push more people to the parallel market and create further gap between the official and black market exchange rates.”

Kwara High Court Jails Student 10 Years for Cultism

A Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin and presided over by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye, has sentenced a student of Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Fatai Olasile, to ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of N50, 000 for membership of a secret cult and involvement in cult-related activities in the state.

Olasile was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on membership of Eiye secret cult, contrary to section 2 of Secret Cult and Secret Societies Law of Kwara State.

He was also sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for unlawful possession of a locally made pistol punishable under section 3 (1) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, 2004.

The prosecution, led by Barrister Kamaldeen Ajibade, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, called three witnesses and tendered exhibits to prove its case.

Another person identified as Mohammed Kehinde and two others were also arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, initiation of new members to secret cult and membership of the secret cult.

After a careful analysis of the case and the evidence presented by the prosecution, led by Barrister Ajibade, Justice Oyinloye found the first and second accused persons guilty and sentenced them to 10 years’ imprisonment each with a fine of N50, 000. The third accused person was however discharged and acquitted of the said offences.

Also, on 3 November, 2016, a middle aged man, Rasheed Abiola and one other were also arraigned before Justice I. A. Yusuf of the Kwara State High court on a two-count charge of membership of secret cult and illegal possession of firearms.

Justice Yusuf found the first accused person guilty of count two of the offences of dealing with illegal possession of firearms and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment and discharged him of the second offence of cultism.

The second accused person was, however, discharged and acquitted of count one and two of the alleged offences.
Commenting on the outcome of the cases, Barrister Ajibade applauded the judgments and emphasized the Ahmed administration’s zero tolerance to cultism due to its negative impact on youths and the society at large.

He stressed that the government will continue to employ all lawful means to stamp out cultism and other related crimes in the state.

Banker jailed 195 years for N21m theft.

A Kano High Court has sentenced a banker, Aliyu Suleiman, to 195 years imprisonment for stealing from a microfinance bank in Albasu Local Government Area of Kano State.

The court, presided over by Justice Dije Abdu Aboki, convicted and sentenced Suleiman on a 105-count charge to 195 years imprisonment with fines of N300,000 which if he failed to pay will give him additional prison terms.

The convict was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on September 30, 2014, for stealing over N21,000,000 from Albasu Microfinance Bank and diverting same into his account.

Suleiman had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

In her judgement yesterday, Aboki sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment on each of count one to 44 and fine of N300,000 on each.

Where the convict defaults the fine, he is to serve additional six months imprisonment on each count.

From count 45 to 74, the convict was sentenced fined N500,000 or 12 months imprisonment on each count while on count 75 to 105, he is to pay a fine of N200,000 or 12 months imprisonment on each count with the exception of count 97 which appeared to be a duplication.

The sentences were to run concurrently. The convict was also ordered to restitute N14,815,000 to the Albasu community or spend five more years in prison.

The convict was a former employee of Oceanic Bank who was engaged and entrusted by the Albasu community to take charge of its microfinance bank. But the convict violated that trust and siphoned over N21 million by forging signatures of the other signatories to the funds.

Watch How Saudi Teen Flirted Online With American Woman Before Ending Up In Jail

Abu Sin, a young man in Saudi Arabia, met Christina Crockett, a 21-year-old in California, on YouNow, an online community forum that allows people to chat publicly in real time.

He spoke bits and pieces of English. She spoke no Arabic. Yet over weeks of chats they found an often hilarious way to bridge their linguistic and cultural divides. Their conversations soon attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers in Saudi Arabia and around the world.

In one video exchange, Abu Sin — a nickname that means “the toothless one” because he had crooked front teeth — is wearing a black baseball hat flipped sideways. Blond-haired Christina is wearing a gray tank top. (Police told local media that Abu Sin is 19, but some have questioned that.)

“Christina, I love you,” says Abu Sin in broken English.

“I love you, too,” she replies, smiling.

Then he asks her, jokingly, to marry him. She tells him to wait, and draws a wedding band on her finger. “I want to marry you, too,” she says.

“Yes, yes,” says Abu Sin. “Thank you very much.”

Then, Saudi Arabia’s morality authorities found out about Abu Sin’s cyber romance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOTptHfMko

In the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom, there are strict rules separating the genders. Virtually all public spaces are segregated, and most women wear head-to-toe black abayas as well as veils covering their face and hair. Unmarried men and women who mingle romantically often face harassment, heavy fines, even arrest at the hands of the religious police. If caught, women in particular face social stigma and punishment by their families.

So many young Saudis have turned to social media networks to pursue forbidden relationships. And the religious police have followed, monitoring online forums. Still, Abu Sin’s exchanges with Christina seemed harmless, since she lived thousands of miles away.

Nevertheless, Saudi authorities arrested him late last month for “unethical behaviour” because of the chats, according to Saudi media outlets. His exchanges with Christina, according to lawyers, could violate the nation’s cybercrime law that bans creating online material that goes against morals and religious values, as well as its rigid interpretation of Islamic law.

Credit: washingtonpost

Banker gets 12-year jail term, forfeits N43m for money laundering.

The Federal High Court in Ibadan has sentenced a former employee of Wema Bank, Ademola Oni, to 12-year imprisonment for conspiracy and money laundering.

The court, which was presided over by Justice Joyce Abudmalik on Thursday, also ordered that the convict forfeit all his properties and cash in various banks as proceeds of crime.

The properties to be forfeited by the convict are an empty plot of land fenced with black gate located along the road beside Secam Church, Providence Estate, Sango Eleyele Expressway, Ibadan.

He is also to forfeit a Honda Accord Car 2014 model and another empty plot of land located at Alao Akala Estate, along Akubu Ojuirin, near Apostolic Church, Ikolaba, Ibadan.

Others are a storey building located at Aminu Olaniran Street, Ikolaba behind the Apostolic church, Ikolaba Assembly, Ikolaba, Ibadan; and three acres of land at Okuna Village, Along Akufo Village, by Fumakson filling station, Ido Local Government Area, Ibadan.

An empty plot of land at No. 16, Awolowo Avenue, Old Bodija, Ibadan; a storey building located at No. 16, Awolowo Avenue, Old Badija, Ibadan; and a borehole machine are to be forfeited also.

He is also to forfeit several sums in bank accounts, including N43,259,441.22 in a fixed deposit account with FCMB; N70,614.60 in the name of ‘De-City-Life Enterprise with account No. 22749019 also domiciled with FCMB; another N7,189.22 in the name of Oni Iyabo Mary in the same bank; and N966,788.81 in the First Bank account of Ezomal Ventures, among others.

Ademola was arraigned alongside six former officials of the CBN and 15 others from different commercial banks in an alleged case of conspiracy and money laundering.

The bankers allegedly conspired to steal and conceal mutilated and defaced local currency amounting to N8bn from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Ademola, who was the fourth defendant in the case, entered into a plea bargain with the prosecution, and pleaded guilty to an amended charge.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday, October 6th, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Adeniyi Adebisi, presented the perfected agreement and an amended charge to the court against him.

Ademola pleaded guilty to five of the 24-count amended charge.

Justice Abudmalik convicted him and sentenced him to two-and-a-half years on each of the five counts. The sentences are to run concurrently

The trial of the other defendants continues.

Court remands Police Inspector for killing ‘okada’ rider

A Magistrate Court sitting in Oke Eda, Akure, Ondo State on Friday ordered for the remand of a police inspector, Anthony Nwadike in prison custody for allegedly killing an motorcycle rider in Omifon in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

 

Sources said the deceased, Sunday Joseph and two other persons were shot by the alleged killer cop during an argument.

 

They were said to be on the motorcycle and met the accused person and some other police men at a police check-point.

 

It was learnt that accused threw a big stick to the deceased on the motorcycle to stop him, making the deceased and his passengers to fall down.

Consequently, it was learnt that an argument ensued between the deceased and the policemen.

 

This reportedly led to the shooting of the three people by the cop .

 

The deceased was said to have died on the spot while the two other victims were still in critical condition at the hospital.

 

The accused person however pleaded not guilty to the offence but his plea was not taken.

 

In his ruling, Magistrate; V. Bob-Manuel ordered that the accused person should be remanded in Olokuta Prison and adjourned the case till October 12.

Father Walks Out Of Jail After 25 Years As DNA Evidence Reveals He Is Not Guilty Of Crime

A Philadelphia man walked free after 25 years behind bars as DNA evidence proved he did not rape and murder his neighbor.

Anthony Wright, 44, was 20 years old when he was convicted in the death of 77-year-old Louise Talley in the Nicetown neighborhood.

Authorities found her naked body on the floor of her home in October 1991. Talley had been raped and stabbed 10 times with a kitchen knife in the back, chest and neck.

Wright was taken into custody the following day. He was serving a term of life without parole when new DNA testing showed another man had raped Talley.

Authorities inspected sperm found inside Talley’s body and found none of Wright’s DNA. It was Ronnie Byrd, a former crack addict from Nicetown, who assaulted her, tests showed in 2014.

Wright had initially told police he had taken money from Talley before killing her. He later took back his confession and said he had been coerced into giving it. The detectives, who have since retired, denied having pressured Wright to confess, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for less than two hours before declaring Wright not guilty on Tuesday.

Wright walked free a few hours later, surrounded by his relatives. His father, his 28-year-old son and his two granddaughters, 1 and 8 years old, witnessed his first moments as a free man.

‘I can’t even put it into words right now, man,’ Wright told The Philadelphia Inquirer. ‘It’s unbelievable. It’s the greatest day of my life.’

Wright’s mother has died. His 63-year-old father plans to take Wright to Florida, where he lives, before Wright goes back to Philadelphia.

This is the 344th time someone in the United States is exonerated thanks to DNA evidence according to the Innocence Project, which led Wright’s defense.

Father Walks Out Of Jail After 25 Years As DNA Evidence Reveals He Is Not Guilty Of Crime1

British Man to Face Jail In Dubai For Sharing Facebook Charity Post Urging People To Buy Blankets For Refugees

A British man, Scott Richard, 42, has been arrested in Dubai and held without charge for 3 weeks after he shared a Facebook post on charity telling people to buy blankets and other items for refugees in Afghanistan.

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it’s a crime to organize donations or advertise charities not registered in the country.
According to the law,  charities not registered in the UAE can only be promoted with the written approval of the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai.
Mr Richards, who had been working in Dubai as an economic development adviser, says he’s been denied access to a lawyer and he’s been denied bail.
He faces up to one year in prison and a fine of 100,000 dirhams (£20,000).

Nigerian Man With 217 ATM Cards Detained At Muscat International Airport, Oman

A Nigerian man has been detained at Muscat International Airport, Oman after he allegedly tried to smuggle 217 bank cards.


Royal Oman Police arrested the Nigerian national today, August 9, while attempting to smuggle the cards at the airport. Oman is an Arab country in the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula…

Wow: See The “Luxury” Prison Cell Of Brazilian Drug Lord, Jarvis Pavao. [Pictures]

Paraguayan authorities got a surprise when they raided a Brazilian drug lord’s jail cell… and found a three-room luxury suite complete with library, kitchen, conference room and plasma TV.

Jarvis Chimenes Pavao, considered one of South America’s most dangerous drug traffickers, had been serving an eight-year sentence for money laundering at the Tacumbu prison in the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion.

But little did anyone on the outside know what kind of lifestyle that really meant — until a powerful bomb was discovered inside the prison.

Chimenes Pavao, who was due for release next year but facing extradition back to Brazil on drug charges, had allegedly planned to use the plastic explosives to blow a hole in the prison walls and escape.

But his plan backfired when police poured into the prison to investigate and discovered his pimped out cell.

The “VIP cell,” as it was known to prisoners, had three rooms with en suite bathroom, a kitchen and conference room, air conditioning, stylishly tiled walls, plush furniture and a library complete with a DVD collection to watch on the big-screen plasma TV, AFP reporters saw during a visit.

The DVDs included the full collection of “Pablo Escobar,” a TV series on the feared Colombian kingpin who was killed in 1993, a hero of Chimenes Pavao’s.

Prison Cell 2

– Friends in high places –

The raid, which took place Tuesday night, has already shaken up the Paraguayan penal system.

Chimenes Pavao’s lawyer, Laura Acasuso, told reporters the corruption that enabled her client to turn his cell into a luxury suite reached all the way to the top.

“Six or seven justice ministers and six or seven prison directors” took bribes from Chimenes Pavao, she said.

Justice Minister Carla Bacigalupo was sacked almost as soon as the scandal broke. Her replacement, Ever Martinez, vowed a crackdown.

“We’re going to demolish Chimenes Pavao’s cell and take measures against the prison directors who allowed this inmate to enjoy these privileges,” he said.

Chimenes Pavao has now been transferred to a cell in a police special operations unit.

Among the 3,500 inmates at Tacumbu — double its capacity — many already say they miss him.

“I don’t know what’s going to become of us without him,” said a fellow prisoner, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said Chimenes Pavao was a generous benefactor who paid for a football pitch and chapel at the prison, as well as employing bodyguards among the inmates.

“He was the most loved man in this prison,” said another inmate, Antonio Gonzalez.

Prison Cell 3

– ‘Not a saint’ –

Like at many prisons across Latin America, most inmates at Tacumbu eat only irregularly and sleep on cardboard boxes or directly on the floor. Riots are common.

“It’s miserable,” said Josieux, another prisoner from Brazil. “Two inmates died of hunger and cold” in June, he said.

Things were different for Chimenes Pavao, who was arrested on the Brazil-Paraguay border — a hotbed of smuggling — and is accused of ordering the killing of business tycoon Jorge Rafaat in the same region last month.

To be transferred to the pavilion where he was held, inmates had to pay $5,000, plus weekly rent of $600, a former inmate, Osvaldo Arias, said in a TV interview.

In return, they were allowed to use cell phones, the internet and receive visitors anytime, he said.

“He never said he was a saint,” said Chimenes Pavao’s lawyer.

“But he was completing his sentence and helping out with the money he earns legally through his companies,” which employ 1,200 people, she said.

She said her client paid for lodgings for prison directors, toilets for the guards, the renovation of the prison library and the cooks’ salaries.

Engage In Female Genital Mutilation, Go To Jail– Aregbesola

Worried by the recent rating of Osun State as number one on the hierarchy of the six Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) most endemic states, the wife of Osun State Governor, Alhaja Sherifat Abidemi Aregbesola has warned perpetrators of the risk of going to jail.

Addressing a press conference in Osogbo, Alhaja Aregbesola  expressed  sadness that despite efforts being put in place to eradicate the practice, the recent rating by the National Demographic Heath Survey (NDHS) calls for drastic step to stem the ugly trend.

She vowed not to only continue to intensify campaign against the practice but ensure that whosoever is found culpable henceforth is brought to book.

Brandishing copies of the law of Osun State that prohibits the practice of FGM in the state, the First Lady said after the on-going campaign and widespread awareness in all the nooks and crannies of the state, violators would be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.

Alhaja Aregbesola further posited that FGM is also a violation of fundamental human rights as it is sometimes carried out at a very young age when there is no possibility of individual’s consent.

She noted that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), through a study, has confirmed that the practice of Female Genital Mutilation in the endemic states in Nigeria was only anchored on various traditional beliefs and the social pressure to conform to culture.

According to her, “documented studies have shown that the health implications of FGM range from dangerous infections arising from unsanitary conditions in which the practice is carried out to death through severe bleeding as well as pain and trauma as mutilated infants, girls and women face irreversible lifelong health risks among other consequences.”

Aregbesola noted that the reason adduced by those engaged in removal of the external female genitalia was not tenable and that they were just inflicting unwarranted lifelong trauma on the circumcised females and denying them sexual pleasure simply for cultural beliefs and tradition.

Credit: Leadership

Lagos To Jail Street Hawkers From July- Ambode

The Lagos State Government on Friday said that from July 1, 2016, it would commence a total enforcement against street trading and street hawkers, saying that the law banning their activities across the metropolis would take its full course.

Speaking at a live interview session on Television Continental, the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode said that the renewed enforcement is in line with Section One of the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003 which restricts street trading and hawking in the metropolis.

The Governor, while sympathising with the family of a street hawker who was knocked down by an articulated truck while trying to evade arrest from officials of Kick Against Indiscipline along Maryland Bus stop on Wednesday, regretted that the situation led to the destruction of public assets.

“It is not in our DNA to allow someone to just die by road accident or the way it happened in respect of the incident. But beyond the fact that we lost one person while crossing the road as a result of evading arrest by KAI officials, I need to tell Lagosians that over 49 buses were actually destroyed and it is costing us like almost N139m to put those buses back on the road,” he said.

Credit: Punch

Buy From Street Hawkers, Go To Jail– Kaduna Govt

The Kaduna state government has enacted a law that makes it a criminal offence for any person that buys from a street hawker, making both the hawker and buyer liable for prosecution.

The Spokesman of Kaduna State House of Assembly, Nuhu Goro Shadalafiya, who made this known to newsmen in Kaduna yesterday said, Governor Nasir El-Rufai should be credited for new act passed last month.

The member who also spoke against the allegation that the 34-member KDHA have been compromised with new exotic cars, said that the cars were for the official works of the 34 Chairmen of the 34 committees of the House as every member of the House chairs a committee. On the anti-hawking law, he said: “We have also pass a bill into law to checkmate hawkers who deprive people from owning shops.

Credit: Vanguard

Photo Of Jailed Top Tanzanian Govt. Official Carrying Bucket Of Water In Prison

Pictured is former Tanzanian Revenue Authority boss, Harry Kitilya carrying a bucket of water in prison. He is currently in jail for corruption, money laundering and theft of public funds. He and other public figures are involved in a 600 million US dollar bribery scandal involving London-based ICBC Standard Bank….But who is he waving to, fellow inmates?

Source; Nationalhelm

Appeal Court Affirms Nollywood Actress, Ibinabo Fiberisima’s 5-Year Jail Term

The Court of Appeal in Lagos on Friday, dismissed an appeal by Nollywood actress Ibinabo Fiberesima challenging a jail term slammed on her by a Lagos High Court.

 

Ibinabo was sentenced to five years imprisonment by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi of a Lagos High Court for reckless driving which led to the death of a hospital staff.

 

She was alleged to have driven her car recklessly on the Lekki-Epe Expressway and knocked down a man, Giwa Suraj.

 

The deceased was said to be a staff of a Lagos state’s hospital. A Magistrate court (court of first instance) had earlier given the appellant an option of N100,000 fine for the offence. The judgment of the magistrate was,however, set aside by the high court which replaced the option of fine with a jail term.

 

Dissatisfied, Fiberesima had filed an appeal through her lawyer, Mr Nnaemeka Amaechina, urging the court to set aside the five-year sentence.

 

Delivering judgment on Friday, the appellate court dismissed Fiberisima’s appeal and affirmed the decision of the Lagos High Court. In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Jamilu Yammama Tukur, the court held that the trial Magistrate Court lacked the discretion to have granted Ibinabo an option of fine having been convicted.

 

The court further held that the appeal lacked merit and consequently dismissed it. Other members of the panel are Justice U.I. Ndukwe-Anyanwu (presiding) and Justice Tijani Abubakar. It will be recalled that the appellate court had earlier ordered the appellant to appear before it when judgement was to be delivered.

 

Counsel to the appellant, Amaechina, said the judgment will be challenged at the Supreme Court, adding that a notice of appeal had already been filed. Justice Oluwayemi of the trial court had held that the magistrate exercised “judicial recklessness” when he gave the convict an option of fine. The court noted that the trial Magistrate must have misdirected himself based on the allocutus made by the counsel to the convict that she is a working mother.

 

Oluwayemi had held that Sections 28 of the Traffic Law under which the accused was convicted did not give an option of fine.

 

She held that “when a term of imprisonment is mandatory for an offence the court cannot and should not give an option of fine.” She insisted that the fine did not serve the purpose of justice in the case and subsequently ordered that the N100, 000 be returned to the appellant.

 

Credit : Vanguard

77-Year-Old U.S. Man Sentenced To Jail In Spain After Falling For Romance Scam

A retired pastor from Maine 77 year old Joseph Bryon Martin, was arrested by the Apanish police last year for carrying $450,00 worth of cocaine and has been sentenced to six years in a Spanish prison after he allegedly fell victim to a “romance scam” that targets senior citizens in the United States.

Martin had no idea he was moving drugs. He thought he was only doing a favour for the woman he met online in 2009 by helping her move real estate documents she asked him to help her with.

His son, Andy Martin, told Fox News Latino that he is bringing his dad’s plight to the public because
“I’d like to get the word out about this,””so other lonely seniors don’t fall prey.”

“Seniors get trapped, and they send money, and, once they do that, these people sell their information to other scammers. I want people to know what’s happening.”

He testified in February before the US Senate Special Committee on Aging, which is looking into catfishing schemes that target seniors.
He said:

“At the age of 77 and in poor health, this likely is a life sentence,” Martin told the committee about his father. “The idea that my dad is now a convicted international drug smuggler is surreal, as he had no prior criminal history. Before this conviction, my dad had never been charged with even a misdemeanor. I don’t recall him ever getting so much as a speeding ticket or parking ticket in his entire life.”

According to Andy, his dad had been chatting online with a Spanish woman he met on the Internet in 2009 who went by the name of Joy. She told his dad that she was a struggling artist and needed money and even though his dad was retired and only had the little money he got from the Govt. He always gave ‘Joy’ between  $500-$2500 each month  and couldn’t always pay his own rent.

However when his Dad got married to his third wife in April 2015, they were all relieved. His dad tried to break things off with Joy with the news that he had married someone else in the US and that he would no longer send her money.

Somehow Joy convinced his Dad to travel to Peru to pick up real estate documents for an estate she claimed she had inherited. She told him she couldn’t get a visa to make the trip to Peru herself and his Dad fell for it. He said they all told his Dad not to go, even his new wife objected to it but he still made the trip.

In Peru, he picked up two sealed packages that he told Andy felt like books, according to the Portland Press Herald.

However, his flight to London was stopped in Madrid and Martin was subsequently arrested by local authorities who found the cocaine in his possession.

Andy said his father suffers from chronic back pain and needs surgery. He had been treated for prostate cancer, had quadruple bypass surgery and has a pacemaker. He’s living in the prison infirmary with eight to ten other prisoners. He’s asking the US committee to help seek his father’s releases based on his poor health.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed on Wednesday that they have created a new initiative to fight such scams on the elderly called “Operation Cocoon.”
So far it has prevented 16 senior citizens from boarding planes, and foreign authorities have arrested 15 suspects alleged to be involved in the “romance scam.”

23-Year-Old Bags 6 Months Jail Time For Stealing Blackberry Bold 6 Phone

A 23-year-old, Azeez Ibrahim, was on Wednesday sentenced to six months imprisonment for pleading guilty to stealing a Blackberry Bold 6 phone valued at N25, 000.

The Magistrate, Mrs O. Sule-Amzat, who handed down the verdict, warned the convict to turn a new leaf while serving his term in prison.

 
Earlier, the prosecutor, Sgt Ihiehie Lucky told the court that the accused of No 13, Buhari St., Ikorodu, had on Feb. 3 at about 4.30 p.m. at Abiola Gardens in Alausa, lkeja, committed the offence.

 
He said the complainant, Ekpe Ifeoma, reported at the Ojota Police Station that the accused had snatched her handbag containing her blackberry phone valued at N25, 000.

He said the police called the complainants’ phone and tracked down the accused with the phone at Mile 12.

The offence contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

 

(NAN)

Group Demands Unconditional Release Of Brig.-Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti, Others

A human rights group, Beko Rights Klub, has called for immediate release and reinstatement of Brig.-Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti and other soldiers sentenced to various jail terms by a military tribunal for mutiny.

 

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group made the request during a protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly in Lagos on Wednesday.

 

 

The group, which chanted solidarity songs, blocked the entrance to the House until lawmakers persuaded them to be orderly.

 

 

The convener, Mr Debo Adeniran, said the protest was part of activities lined up to mark the 10th anniversary of the demise of renowned human rights activist, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti.

 

Adeniran said recent revelations in arms deal in the country attested to the fact that Enitan was not guilty of any act of mutiny.

 

“The Beko Rights Klub is utilising this occasion of the commemoration of Beko’s passage to call on the Nigerian government to grant Brigadier-General Enitan Ransome Kuti, son of our late hero, national pardon.

 

“Following his court martial after the Baga massacre by Boko Haram insurgents in 2015, Enitan remains in imprison till date, even though history has absolved him”, said Adeniran.

 

 

Adeniran, who is also the Chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), said Enitan did not deserve any blame.

 

According to him, Enitan should be held shoulders high since his innocence has been proved by the ongoing Dasukigate.

 

“We are strongly convinced that the revelations reeled out from the arms procurement scandal and the Dasukigate confirm his innocence and patriotism.

 

“In fact, we believe, with those expositions, the actions of Enitan and others are justifiable, reasonable and dialectical”, he added.

 

The group urged the House to do all within its powers to work with the National Assembly in order to ensure the prompt release and reinstatement of Enitan and others by the federal government.

 

In his response, the Majority Leader of the House, Mr Sanai Agunbiade, said the legislators shared the same sentiments with the group based on justice, fairness and rule of law.

 

Agunbiade said “the cause you are fighting for is humanitarian and just.

“This is a cause we also believe in and which every Nigerian who believes in what is right also believes in, therefore, we can assure you that your petition will be thoroughly looked into.”

 

Agunbiade, therefore, said the House would do the needful in ensuring that the right thing was done in what the group was clamouring for.

 

 

(NAN)

Israel Jails Former Prime Minister For Receiving Bribe

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been ordered to serve 18 months in jail for bribery. Olmert had been sentenced to six years by a lower court in 2014, but this has now been reduced by the Supreme Court.

The 70-year-old was convicted over a property deal that took place while he served as mayor of Jerusalem, prior to becoming prime minister in 2006.

Olmert, who stepped down in 2009, will become the first former Israeli head of government to go to prison. He is due to begin his sentence on 15 February.

 

The Supreme Court acquitted Olmert of receiving a 500,000-shekel ($130,000; £86,000) bribe from the developers of Holyland, a controversial block of flats in Jerusalem, after he appealed against the March 2014 conviction.

A separate conviction of illicitly taking a 60,000-shekel payment for another project was upheld.

Several other government officials and businesspeople were convicted alongside Olmert in 2014.

In a separate case, Olmert was sentenced earlier this year to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust for accepting illegal payments from an American businessman.

Chinese Man Compensated With $200,000 After 11 Years For Wrongful Murder Conviction

A man four times wrongly convicted of murder received 200,000 dollars in compensation for his 11 years of imprisonment.

 

Prosecutor at the central court said Zeng Aiyun was freed in July on grounds of insufficient evidence, in spite of three death sentences he received between 2004 and 2010 for murdering a graduate school classmate.

 

He said all the three verdicts by the Xiangtan Intermediate People’s Court were rejected by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing and a retrial ordered in 2010.

 

The prosecutor said in the retrial Zeng was found guilty again and sentenced to life imprisonment.

 

He said Zeng was ordered to pay 178,143 Yuan in compensation to the family of victim Zhou Yuheng.

 

The prosecutor said police later found the real killer, who had framed Zeng.

 

 

(dpa/NAN)

Prisoner Boasts Of His Luxury Lifestyle In Jail

A cocky prisoner has been showing off his luxury life in jail with pictures of his 50in television, hoard of top-of-the-line trainers and stacks of food.

Warren Tevlin is currently serving a 30-month sentence for burglary at Forest Bank Prison in Salford, Greater Manchester.

The father-of-four then took to social media to boast of hosting parties in his cell and relaxing in bed in front of The X Factor.

According to The Sun, Tevlin, 32, has an iPhone 6 worth more than £500, £115 Gucci flip-flops and also enjoys sleeping under Egyptian cotton sheets.

Despite prisoners often being banned from social media, Tevlin has been on Snapchat and Facebook bragging about his life inside.

On snapchat, he posted a picture of his television and wrote: ‘A bit of X Factor in bed why not.’ And on Facebook he said: ‘Santa has been to see mr t. loads of new clothes n foot where.’

Tevlin, who was previously jailed for a similar crime in 2011, has posted pictures of his collection of Nike and Puma trainers and a massive stack of food, including Kellogg’s cereal, Ryvita and Tetley tea.

His behaviour has been criticised by Manchester MP Graham Stringer, who called for an inquiry.

Mr Stringer said: ‘My major concern is he is using the internet and posting things and that would allow him to threaten or abuse people.

‘He shouldn’t have access to the internet in that way. At the very minimum he is boasting about the luxury of his situation which many people will find offensive.’

A prison service spokesman has however confirmed that Tevlin has been stripped of his privileges and could even face extra time added to his sentence.

Myanmar Woman Sentenced To 6 Months In Jail For Facebook Post Mocking Army Uniform Color

A Myanmar court has jailed a woman for six months for a Facebook post “ridiculing” the country’s army chief and the colour of a new uniform.

 
Chaw Sandi Tun, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s election-winning National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was found guilty under a new telecommunications law prohibiting the use of the telecoms network to “extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb, inappropriately influence or intimidate”.

 
“My daughter was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at Ma U Bin township court this morning under Section 66(d) of the telecoms law. We will appeal as we are not satisfied,” her mother Ei San told the AFP news agency.

 

 

Chaw Sandi Tun’s post compared the light green new uniform for army officers with that of a “longyi”, a traditional Myanmar skirt worn by opposition icon Suu Kyi.
“If you love mother that much, why don’t you wrap mother’s longyi on your head?” the post said.

 
The maximum penalty she faced was three years in jail. Her lawyer confirmed the sentence but said his client denied making the post.

 
“She said her Facebook account had been hacked several times and that she didn’t post that post,” Robert San Aung told reporters.

 
Chaw Sandi Tun was arrested in October. The same month, Patrick Kum Jaa Lee, an NGO worker, was also arrested for a Facebook post that mocked the army.

 
Myanmar has been ruled by a quasi-civilian government since 2011 following five decades of military rule and has been widely praised for ushering in a series of economic and political reforms.

 
But in recent months critics have accused the military and government of returning to junta-era tactics, with arrests over social media posts.

 
A violent police crackdown on a student protest earlier this year left scores wounded.

Mother Shaves Daughter’s Hair, Declares Her A Cancer Patient Just To Raise Money

Authorities in Texas said they arrested a mother accused of shaving her 7-year-old daughter’s head and fraudulently claiming the child had cancer. The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office said Juanita Garcia, 46, organized multiple fundraisers to obtain money she claimed was needed for her 7-year-old daughter’s cancer treatments.

The sheriff’s office said a joint investigation with Child Protective Services found Garcia would tell people in person and on social media that the child was terminal and had only months to live.

Authorities said Garcia went so far as to shave her daughter’s head and actually convinced the child she was suffering from the disease.

However, investigators said the girl was actually in perfect health, and Garcia admitted during questioning that she had made up the cancer story to scam money out of generous strangers.

The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office has urged people to verify and confirm information from fundraisers that they choose to participate in.

Garcia was booked into the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a felony charge of exploitation of a child. She was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Nigerian Woman Jailed 9 Years In The UK For Burning Lover’s Private Parts With A Hot Iron

A Nigerian woman who burned a man’s legs and genitals with a hot iron during sex has been jailed for nine years.
Kenya Alozie, 31, was having sex with a man in his 30s at an address in Plumstead, south-east London, on May 15 when she used a hot iron to assault him in what police describe as a “calculated attack”.She also attacked the man with a broken bottle causing him a number of serious injuries including deep cuts and burns.
He has since undergone a number of hospital treatments and surgery.

Alozie, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday after being found guilty of GBH with intent.At the time of the attack, Alozie’s student visa, that she obtained to study at Coventry University, was due to expire and she was due to return to her family in Nigeria at the end of May.
Police arrested her on May 24 just after she boarded a flight at Heathrow Airport and charged her with the offence the following day. Dectective  Duncan Clark from Greenwich police, said:

Alozie committed a calculated and pre-planned attack. She ensured she had a broken bottle to hand and a hot iron to strike the victim and seriously harm him.
The sentence imposed clearly reflects the seriousness of this extremely violent attack.

 Evening Standard

Thai Man Faces Jail For Insulting King’s Dog With ‘Sarcastic’ Internet Post

A factory worker in Thailand who is facing up to 37 years in jail for insulting the military rulers is also being investigated for mocking the king’s dog.

Strict lèse-majesté laws in Thailand make it a crime to criticise, defame or insult members of the royal family, and can land people in jail for up to 15 years on each count.

Thanakorn Siripaiboon was charged by a military court with making a “sarcastic” internet post about Tongdaeng, or Copper, a much-loved street mongrel rescued by King Bhumibol Adulyadej from an alley.

Praised for her loyalty and obedience, Tongdaeng is a household name. The king wrote and illustrated a book about her in 2002 and an animated film this year, Khun Tongdaeng: The Inspiration, is second in the box office. “Khun” is a Thai term of respect.

Credit: Guardian

25-Year-Old Gets Four Years For Dealing In Cocaine

A 25-year-old man, Dapo Sunday, has been sentenced to a prison term of four years for dealing in cocaine and heroin.

Sunday was convicted and sentenced on Friday on two counts bordering on the offence by Justice C.J. Aneke of a Federal High Court in Lagos State.

His conviction and sentence came after he had pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against him by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency.

The agency had told the court that Sunday was apprehended on May 25, 2015, at Amatua Market, Fagba-Ifako, Agege, Lagos, with 8.5 grams of cocaine and 15.8 grams of heroin.

The NDLEA prosecutor, J. I. Aernan, had said, “The offences are contrary to and punishable under Section 11(c) of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap. N30, Law of Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

In proving his case, Aernan had tendered the seized illicit drugs, the convict’s confessional statement, and other exhibits which were admitted by the court.

In his judgment, Aneke said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubts and sentenced Sunday to a prison term of four years on each count to run concurrently.

Vietnamese Man Wrongfully Jailed For 17 Years Has Murder Conviction Overturned

Christmas came early for a 53-year-old old Vietnamese man who served 17 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit as the conviction was overturned and official apology made. On Thursday, Dec. 3, authorities in Binh Thuan Province officially apologized to Huynh Van Nen. They admitted that severe mistakes had been made, leading to the wrong sentence. He was only cleared of the crime in October.
Nen was arrested in May 1998 for the death of his neighbor Nguyen Thi Bong earlier that year. Investigators said Nen admitted to killing her to steal her belongings.
Police also said that Nen also confessed that he and nine of his relatives had killed another woman, Duong Thi My, in 1993. All of them were arrested soon after that.
In August 2000, a court in the central province of Binh Thuan found him guilty of murdering Bong. He was sentenced to life in prison.
One month later, Nguyen Phuc Thanh, a relative by marriage, appealed the verdict on Nen’s behalf. Thanh claimed that two of his friends, Nguyen Tho and Ho Van Viet, were the killers and told him about the crime.
The appeal was rejected, as were several others in the following years.
In 2005, after several hearings, Nen and his relatives were cleared of killing My. All of them were apologized to and compensated, except for Nen, who went on to serve his jail sentence for the murder of Bong.

In November 2014, the Supreme Court ordered his case to be reopened. This time investigators concluded that he had not killed Bong. On October 22, he was released on bail for medical treatment. On October 28, after 17 years, his wrongful conviction in the death of Bong was finally overturned.

Tho, one of the two suspects, was arrested last month. He confessed to the murder. The other suspect, Viet, died in 2001. The authorities have not mentioned how they will compensate Nen.
     “I hope that other offices will cooperate with us to rapidly restore Huynh Van Nen’s full rights, helping him return to his normal life,” judge Tran Thi Kim Huong from Binh Thuan said after delivering the official apology.
Speaking to local media after the official apology on Thursday, Nen who was in tears said:
     “I have lived in bitterness and humiliation for more than 17 years. Someone asked me if I had ever thought about suicide, to which I said no. Although I was wronged, I always believed that someone would clear my name. I believe in justice and it finally happened to me, even though it’s late.”

“I hope that investigators and judges will give careful consideration to every decision they make, so no one will ever be wrongfully convicted like I was,” he added.

Man Gets 25 Years Jail Term For Infecting Villagers With HIV

A Cambodian man was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for infecting 270 people with HIV while he was working as an unlicensed doctor in a village. Yem Chrin, 57, was arrested in December 2014 after a routine health check revealed unusually high numbers of HIV-positive villagers in Battambang province’s Roka commune in western Cambodia.

On Thursday, he was found guilty of torture with aggravating circumstances, operating a clinic without a licence, and intentionally spreading HIV, said Toch Sopheakdey, a spokesman for the Battambang Provincial Court of First Instance. Besides a 25-year sentence, Chrin also faces a five-million-riel fine (1,235 dollars).

“This sends a clear message to the other doctors nationwide who are providing medical treatment without a licence to be aware,” Sopheakdey told newsmen. An investigation by UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and local authorities traced the outbreak to Chrin and his reuse of tainted needles.

Credit: Vanguard

Nigeria Customs Boss Vows To Jail Corrupt Officers

The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, on Wednesday warned that he would either discipline, dismiss or jail any officer found guilty of corrupt practices.

Mr. Ali gave the warning while addressing officers and men of the NCS in Calabar, capital of Cross River.

He said there was need for them to be of good conduct and show professionalism while carrying out their duties.

The C-G said his administration would have zero tolerance for corruption, hence the need for officers and men of the service to shun all forms of corruption.

“I want to make it clear to all of you that I have zero tolerance for indiscipline and corruption. I will dismiss and jail any officer found guilty of such.

“Indiscipline will no longer have a place in the NCS. We must have officers and men with impeccable character to promote the image of the service.

“Anyone caught falsifying any documents or compromising with fake imported goods will also be dismissed and jailed.

“The NCS has resolved that anyone caught in an unprofessional conduct, no matter the circumstances, will be dismissed and jailed for the offence,’’ the comptroller-general said.

Credit: PremiumTimes

Nigerian Man Shoots US Female Judge

A Nigerian man named  Chimene Onyeri, 28, has been arrested in connection with the shooting of a Texas state judge, Julie Kocurek. He was a defendant the judge was prosecuting at the time of the shooting. Chimene was in the process of being prosecuted by Kocurek in a fraud case from 2012, when she was shot in the driveway of her Austin home on Friday night. She didn’t die, but had a ‘serious injury’ from the Gun shot…

He will now be questioned about the shooting as he is indicted for a theft in Louisiana. Kocurek had been receiving threats after presiding over controversial cases.
She was taken to hospital in a serious condition on Friday and has since been upgraded to a stable condition. Police said her injuries are not believed to be life threatening and refused to comment further on the arrest.

Source: Daily Mail

Tears Flow As Transgender Woman Is Sent To An All-Men’s Prison

A transgender woman and a makeup artist, Tara Hudson, 26, has been sent to a men’s prison in a move her mother says will endanger and humiliate her.

Tara has lived as a woman all her adult life and has gone through six years of gender reconstruction surgery.

Magistrates sent Tara, who admitted to a bar assault on Boxing Day last year, to a male prison because her passport says she is still a male. Her mum, Jackie, said there’s nothing male about her and she feels the men are going to go after her. .
She says Tara’s doctor has even confirmed that she is now a woman. Tara was sentenced to 12 weeks inside the tough all-male Bristol prison.

She said: “There’s nothing male about her, nobody would know the difference. She looks like a woman. She’s gorgeous.

“We think it’s totally outrageous. I don’t think she will cope well at all. I just feel the men are going to go after her. It’s going to be humiliating.”

Tara was born Aaron. Jackie has now written to the court and the prison governor in a bid to overturn the decision, Bristolpost reports.

She says she just wants to get her daughter into a safe, female environment where she belongs and she will continue to fight the decision. She says her daughter still has the vestige remains of a penis, despite having 34EE breasts.

She said the hormone treatment has shrunken Tara’s manhood and she’s due to have it removed at some point. Tara regularly gets abuse for her gender status and is on a hormone replacement course as well as medication for depression.


Oscar Pistorius To Be Released On October 20

Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole next week after serving one year of his five-year jail term for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, the South African department of correctional services said Thursday.

The parole board “approved the placement of offender Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision as from 20 October 2015,” the department said in a statement.

Oscar Pistorius

“The parole board considered all submissions, including the offender’s profile report, the directives of the Parole Review Board and the submission of the victim’s family.”

The Paralympian star’s lawyers had argued that he should have been released and granted house arrest in August after serving one-sixth of his jail term sentence for killing Steenkamp in 2013.

But he remained behind bars after Justice Minister Michael Masutha made a last-minute intervention and the case was referred for review.

After meeting last week, the parole board said it wanted to consult with Steenkamp’s family over Pistorius’s possible release.

Steenkamp’s parents say Pistorius killed their daughter on purpose and have previously contested any parole.

Pistorius’s family had accused officials of bowing to “political and media hype” in denying him parole.

“I do think correctional services have probably considered how unfairly he has been treated. He should have been released on August 21,” Brian Webber, a lawyer representing Pistorius, told AFP last week.

In a trial that made headlines around the world, Pistorius, now 28, was jailed last year for killing Steenkamp, a model and law graduate.

He was found guilty of culpable homicide — a charge equivalent to manslaughter — after saying he shot her through a locked bathroom door because he mistook her for an intruder.

After his release, Pistorius will face a further test on November 3 when prosecutors appeal to South Africa’s Supreme Court for a murder conviction and a tougher sentence.

Once a poster boy for Paralympic sport, Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner” for the prosthetic legs he wore on the track, rose to global fame when he raced against able-bodied competitors in the 2012 London Olympics.

Caitlyn Jenner Finally Speaks About The Car Accident And Fear Of Going To Men’s Jail

Caitlyn Jenner is finally talking about the February multi-vehicle accident on California’s Pacific Coast Highway that left one woman dead as she spoke with Today’s Matt Lauer.

Caitlyn could face a misdemeanor manslaughter charge for the collision, pending the decision of Los Angeles County prosecutors and says to Matt:

“I remember it very little, I remember it happening and that’s about it. A tragedy like this, you’ll never get over it. You just learn to live with it the best you possibly can.”

The charge carries a potential one-year jail sentence, but legal experts told the Los Angeles Times that incarceration is unlikely for Jenner, who was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol while driving.

The star also refuted claims that she was speeding during the accident saying: “I was under the speed limit, I was going 46 in a 50 – my air bag didn’t even go off”.

Jenner also told Lauer that her team is making sure that if she does end up getting sentenced to jail time, it won’t be in a men’s correctional facility.

“The media wants that picture, don’t they,” Jenner said. “That is the worst case scenario. I will say the men’s county jail, it is an enormous problem that they would put trans women in a men’s county jail.”

Kentucky Clerk Released From Jail, Vows To ‘Keep On Pressing’

Kentucky clerk who defied orders to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples was released from jail Tuesday, but her lawyer says she will continue to resist until officials find a way to accommodate her religious opposition to gay unions.

Kim Davis emerged from the Carter County Detention Center to a swell of cheers from Christian supporters who’d been rallying outside the gates since she was ordered behind bars on Thursday.

She later was introduced to the crowd to the song “Eye of the Tiger,” raising her hands above her head and weeping on stage with her husband, lawyer and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Out before her flew a variety of signs and banners, including an American and a Confederate flag. Davis thanked the supporters and encouraged them to act as they believe God wanted.

“Just keep on pressing,” Davis said. “Don’t let down. Because He is here.”

Read Morenbcnews

Oscar Pistorius To Stay In Prison Until At Least Mid-September – Family

Oscar Pistorius’s parole review has been set for 18 September, meaning the athlete will spend at least another three weeks in jail, his family has said.

Pistorius, who was convicted of culpable homicide for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was due to be moved to house arrest last Friday after serving 10 months behind bars.

But Michael Masutha, the justice minister, referred the matter back to the parole review board. The justice department said the athlete had been approved to be moved to house arrest too soon.

Pistorius should have served 10 months, or one-sixth of his five-year sentence before being considered for release, a justice department spokesman said last week. But he was approved for parole in June, eight months into his sentence.

Pistorius is set to remain in jail as the review panel, which includes three judges, could take weeks or even months to make its decision.

Orubebe Deserves To Rot In Jail, Oshiomhole Fumes

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Wednesday said former Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe is afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned probe of several billions of naira squandered on the East-West road and on the Amnesty programme under his watch as Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs.

The governor said that fear of an impending probe was what triggered Mr. Orubebe’s latest outburst in the media.

Mr. Oshiomhole, in a statement by his spokesperson, Peter Okhiria, said the “incompetence” of people like Mr. Orubebe contributed to the dismal failure of the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.

“Our attention has been drawn to the latest outburst of one clown called Godsday Orubebe in his attempt to taint the image of the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“It is no surprise that the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, failed woefully because he surrounded himself with such charlatans as Godsday Orubebe, whose only credential is his ethnic origin and the large size of his bowler hat.

“Here was a man whose un-ministerial conduct at the election nearly plunged the nation into an avoidable crisis

“Does Orubebe really think Nigerians are fools, does he truly believe Nigerians have forgotten so soon the ignoble role he played in his attempt to truncate the release of the election results and announcement of the eventual winner of that election, a move which could have plunged the nation into another civil war?

“Is it not a shame that Orubebe who should be cooling off his heel in jail for that failed plot to truncate democracy has now found a convoluted voice?

“We are not surprised at the timing of Orubebe’s latest outburst. It is no doubt unconnected with the planned probe by President Muhammadu Buhari of the billions of naira allocated to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, even as the East-West road remains in bad shape and the probe of the fleecing of amnesty funds under his watch.

“We are aware that Orubebe, the perpetual noise maker, has raised the decibel of his noise a notch higher so that he would have a ready-made defence of witch-hunting if he is indicted in the planned probe of Amnesty funds.

“Orubebe is a yesterday’s man. We could have chosen to ignore him like his Delta brother, Mr. Sunny Onuesoke, an unknown entity who doesn’t know the arithmetic of financing, but decided to delve into a matter of a World Bank loan, something completely beyond his mental and intellectual capacity, but we simply can’t let Orubebe have the last say.

“We are not unaware that it has now become the fad for drowning and neophyte politicians to take cheap shots at the impeccable character of the Comrade Governor just to gain cheap publicity. However, Orubebe’s image, as he himself knows, is beyond redemption.

“Is it not laughable that Orubebe, the clown, accused Oshiomhole of biting the fingers that fed him? Pray, how did Jonathan feed Oshiomhole? Did he feed Oshiomhole by supervising over a government that fleeced the nation of trillions of naira, thereby denying Edo State her rightful share of funds for development? Or did he feed Oshiomhole by canvassing votes for him!

“Our candid advice is for Orubebe, a perpetual failed governorship aspirant, to go to his family and apologise for the irreparable damage done to the family name with his infamous outburst beamed live to the whole world, before coming forward to confront Governor Adams Oshiomhole who is not in any way in the same class as him.

“It is no wonder that Nigeria was at a state of near collapse until President Muhammadu Buhari came on a rescue mission and rendered people like Orubebe irrelevant.

“Never again will characters like Orubebe take us on the path of Golgotha; never again will they hold sway in the affairs of Nigeria and ruin the collective aspiration of the people.”

Read More: premiumtimesng

Iran Relaxes Jail Sanction For Men Who Can’t Pay Dowry

Hard up Iranian husbands will no longer face jail for failing to pay dowries that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, following passage of a new law, it was reported Wednesday.

But spouses who claim to be impecunious yet are then proven to have the means to pay can still look forward to prison.

In the Islamic republic, the families of brides-to-be negotiate fiercely to get the top amount of what is known as Mehrieh, payment in gold coin-like tokens known as bahar azadi (spring of freedom in Farsi).

There are even trendy ways of doing it. A family can ask for one coin for the total number of years in the date she was born, according to the Iranian calendar.

So the dowry of a 24-year-old woman born in 1370 (1991) would be 1,370 coins worth $367,000 (334,000 euros) at the current gold price.

Read More: ngrguardiannews

US jails Nigeria’s ‘Ayatollah Mustapha’ for 22 years for aiding Al-Qaeda

A Nigerian accused of receiving weapons training from al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate and writing rap lyrics, among other contributions, for the group’s English-language media operations was sentenced on Wednesday to 22 years in United States prison, authorities said.

 

Lawal Babafemi, 35, also known as Ayatollah Mustapha, was sentenced by US District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn after pleading guilty in April 2014 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

 

Prosecutors had sought up to 30 years in prison for Babafemi, who was extradited from Nigeria in 2013 after being arrested several times two years earlier on local terrorism charges.

 

Babafemi’s court-appointed lawyer in Brooklyn was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Prosecutors said that from January 2010 to August 2011, Babafemi traveled from Nigeria to Yemen twice to meet with leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP.

 

During his time with that group, Babafemi, who went by the name “Ayatollah Mustapha,” worked on AQAP’s media operations, including its magazine “Inspire,” prosecutors said.

 

He and two other individuals including a Vietnamese man named Minh Quang Pham contributed writing and editing, prosecutors said, and Babafemi became close with Samir Khan, a US citizen who was Inspire’s editor.

 

Together, the men appeared in the magazine in a photograph, wearing camouflage and holding rifles, authorities say.

 

After Khan and Pham had the idea of recording rap songs as AQAP propaganda, Babafemi began writing lyrics about jihad, prosecutors said.

 

The group’s leadership, including Anwar al-Awlaki, paid Babafemi almost $9,000 to recruit English speakers from Nigeria, prosecutors said.

 

Khan and Awlaki, a US citizen born in New Mexico, were killed in US drone strikes in Yemen in 2011. Pham was extradited to the United States in March and is awaiting trial.

 

Source : PM News

UK To Jail Illegal Migrants’ Landlords

Britain has announced new measures to tackle illegal migrants by forcing landlords to evict them, as a growing number of migrants in Calais continued their attempts to enter the UK via the undersea cross-channel Eurotunnel.

Under the measures announced on Monday, British landlords who do not remove illegal migrants, or who do not check their immigration status before renting them a property, could be jailed for up to five years.

The move, announced by Greg Clark, Britain’s communities secretary, is set to be included in a new immigration bill to be debated by the British parliament in coming months.

Britain also announced that another 100 guards would be placed on duty at the tunnel’s terminal in Calais, while UK border officials were to begin working inside the control room of the tunnel.

The migrants continued their attempts to cross the English channel via a freight train to Britain on Monday night.

Another 1,700 attempts were made by migrants in Calais to cross via the tunnel overnight on Sunday, according to French police sources. The number of people making the attempt was a major increase on the past few nights when there were only a few hundred.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from the Eurotunnel’s reinforced fence in Calais, said the attempts continued “despite quite a heavy police presence”.

“Migrants at night try and hop over this fence and literally try to grab hold of a train as it goes by in some instances. That’s why we’ve seen so many deaths in recent months,” our correspondent said.

“The French authorities have put in extra lighting, we just heard a helicopter going over and there are police scattered around this area.”

Court Sends Lamido & Sons To Jail

A federal court has ordered a former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, accused of fraud, remanded in prison custody in Kano till September 28.

The former governor was arraigned on Thursday alongside his children for receiving N1.35 billion kickback from a government contractor. The money was allegedly paid into accounts controlled by the governor and his sons.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is accusing the four suspects of money laundering, amongst other charges. They were due for arraignment Wednesday, but the court appearance was rescheduled to Thursday (today). Security was stepped up around the court vicinity in Kano ahead of the hearing Thursday.

Delivering a ruling, Justice Evelyn Anyadike ordered that the four accused persons be remanded in a Kano Prison Custody because the EFCC said they lacked enough facilities to accommodate them.

She rejected the pleas of defence counsel, Effiong Effiong, SAN, that the accused be kept at EFCC custody, saying the commission had complained of inadequate facilities.

Read More: premiumtimesng

Jail Or Freedom? Fani-Kayode To Know Fate July 1

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday fixed July 1 for judgment in the money laundering trial of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia adjourned the case to July 1 following the absence of the lead prosecuting counsel, Festus Keyamo.

When a lawyer announced appearance for Mr. Keyamo, the judge said she would prefer Mr. Keyamo, who had been prosecuting the case.

Ms. Ofili-Ajumogobia had on May 5 fixed June 18 for judgment following adoption of final written addresses and summary arguments by lawyers to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as that of the accused.

Mr. Fani-Kayode, whose trial began in 2008 before Justice Ramat Mohammed, was arraigned by the EFCC for allegedly laundering about N100 million while he was minister of culture and tourism and subsequently, aviation minister.

The allegedly laundered sum was, however, reduced to N2.1million on Nov. 17, 2014 after Ms. Ofili-Ajumogobia dismissed 38 of the 40-count charge levelled against Mr. Fani-Kayode for want of proof.

The EFCC prosecutor, Mr. Keyamo, while urging the court to uphold the remaining two counts and to accordingly convict Mr. Fani-Kayode, said the former minister failed to exonerate himself of the allegations.

Read More: premiumtimesng

BREAKING: Egypt Court Sentences Morsi To Life In Jail For Spying

An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, to life in prison over spying.

Two members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, Khairat El-Shater and Mohammed El-Beltagy, and 14 others were also sentenced by the court in Cairo on Tuesday to death by hanging over charges of delivering secret documents abroad between 2005 and 2013.

Back in May, a court in Egypt sentenced Morsi along with 105 others to death for a mass prison break in 2011 during the country’s revolution against long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The death sentences were to be referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, for consultative review and confirmation. The Grand Mufti’s verdict is non-binding on the court.

The final verdict on the death sentence is expected to be announced shortly.

Morsi had also been given a 20-year prison term in a separate trial in April on charges of protester deaths in 2012. The case stemmed from the deaths and torture of demonstrators outside his presidential palace in December 2012.

Morsi, the country’s first democratically-elected president, was ousted in July 2013 in a military coup led by the former head of the armed forces and the current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Creditpresstv

Missing $20bn: Many Will Go To Jail After May 29… Sen. Adeyeye- Report

As the Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, engage in war of words over the alleged unaccounted $20 billion accrued to the Excess Crude Account, ECA, while the NGF was in crisis, Senator Olusola Adeyeye has said that many Nigerians will go to jail after May 29, when the new administration would have taken over power.
Meantime, Senator Adeyeye has ruled out the possibility of the serving Senate President, Senator David Mark emerging as the President of the Senate in the 8th senate when the All Progressives Congress, APC, has the majority of Senators with 60 Senators against the 49 of the PDP.
Speaking to Vanguard in Abuja yesterday, Senator Adeyeye, APC, Osun Central said that Nigerians are being giving different figures by those who manage the economy and that even the alleged unremitted $20 billion by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, will be accounted for after May 29.
He said, “To me and to most observant Nigerians, what we have heard over the years is an endless renditions of ‘abracadabra’ when it comes to the management of the limited resources of Nigeria.  It is the case of, ’the more you look, the less you see.
“When you ask different people who ought to know about the magnitude of the revenue that had accrued to the federation, always, you get conflicting figures. The figures from the Minister of Finance are never the same as those of the Accountant – General of the Federation; they are never the same as those of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“They are never the same as those of the Budget management office; they are never the same as those of the Nigerian National petroleum corporation. So, you keep hearing figures and you don’t know who to believe but I have good news, by the grace of God, on the 29th of May, a new government would be inaugurated in Nigeria.
“Nigerians overwhelmingly expect that new government to diligently, look at the books not with an eye to persecute anyone but to ensure that the resources of Nigeria are properly accounted for.  I am confident that it will not be long before we begin to unravel this knotty issue of the revenues of Nigeria.
“The action that the new government should take on the controversial money should be exactly those which are already prescribed by the laws of the land. The constitution does not give room for retroactive legislation.
“There are good laws in Nigeria; there are laws against murder, kidnapping, and embezzlement. If funds have been embezzled, I pray to God that the law will take its proper course and people would be brought to book. That, there should be no sacred cow anywhere.”
Reacting to the comment by the former acting National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, that the party was not going to zone positions of National Assembly presiding officers, he said that the former APC boss may have spoken the minds of the party’s leaders.Adeyeye said, “Chief Bisi Akande is a former Acting Chairman of our great party.  He is a member of the Board of Trustees and a revered elder of our party. Whatever he said is correct and I believe because Akande is not a man who speaks frivolously, I believe that he is speaking the minds of the leadership of the APC.
“If our party says offices will not be zoned, so be it, it means those who are interested will throw their hats into the field. Even when there is no zoning, people are going to be sensitive to be ethnocentric dimension of Nigerian politics and the geopolitical configuration of our land.
“I don’t expect for example, that somebody from the North West would vie for the position of the Senate President when someone from the zone is already the President. I pray that a day will come when there will be that level of trust in each other and we won’t have to worry about the part of the country that a political office holder comes from.
“The rules of the National Assembly allows for a member of any political party to emerge into the office of the two top posts in the National Assembly. All other posts are assigned to the majority and the minority caucus. If the majority party conducts itself in such a way that a member of the minority party emerges as either the top or second positions in any of the chambers, so be it.”Also commenting on the issue of ranking in the consideration of Senate leadership, the Osun State born Professor turn politician said, “Honesty, I don’t believe in strict ranking which says if you are the oldest member,  then you must be this, there must be other factors, you must look at the temperament of these persons who are ranked.
“You must look at the intellectual withal of these persons, you must look at the antecedents of these persons, you must look at the ability of these persons to build consensus and to transcend primordial interest.
“That said, again my prayer is that a day will come when our first question will be, who is the best person who can occupy this position. When Rick Sanctorum became the Whip of the US Senate, he was not what we call a ranking member of the Senate, he had spent two terms of three years each in the House of Representatives, he contested election to become senator and he won.
“Because people knew his ideological thrust, they felt he was best suited to maintain party position and cohesiveness in their caucus, hence, they elected him, as their whip. He was a first timer. If the senate presidency is solely based on ranking, someone like Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia or Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts would have become the senate president because they are the most senior in the US senate.”
Senator Adeyeye further explained that there was nothing wrong in the APC trying to be involved in who become the principal officers of the National Assembly, even though, he reasoned that it had to be done in consultations with serving party members.According to him, “Politics is not a one man game, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria currently does not allow for independent candidature.    Everybody who got elected into the National Assembly was elected on the platform of a party.
“That party therefore cannot said to be a miss when it shows interest on those who were running its affairs within the chambers of the National Assembly what we are hoping will happen is that our leaders who are outside would consult with us, will respect our wishes but in the end, none of them would vote, it’s the members who would vote.
“Let no member blame any leader for whatever became the outcome of the election but we can’t blame them for showing interest.”

Read More: vanguardngr

Don’t be Afraid of Jail, Aisha Buhari Tells Patience Jonathan

Hajia Aishat Buhari, wife of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has replied the wife President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Patience Jonathan who has been campaigning that General Buhari will jail his political opponents if elected President in the March 28 election, saying Patience Jonathan needs not fear as Nigerians only want a change in the way Nigeria is being run presently .

Speaking at a mega rally where she interacted with Women in Edo State Thursday, Hajia Buhari said the PDP’s attempt to paint her husband black ith the tar of religion is a desperate attempt to hoodwink the people, saying only those who want to loot the treasury campaign with religion which is at variance with politics.

She said: “Each zone of the country has its peculiar problems. For me in this zone, girl-child trafficking should be considered one of our problems, though I know there is unemployment.

Read More: vanguardngr

We Must Stop Buhari Before He Sends Us To Jail, Politician Cries Out

PDP’s candidate for Adamawa South Senatorial District, Silas Zwingina, has claimed that the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, intends to send public office holders to jail if he emerges president.

Mr. Zwingina, therefore, urged his party members to work hard to ensure that Mr. Buhari fails in his bid to become president.

Speaking in Yola, the Adamawa state capital, Mr. Zwingina said “we have to stop Buhari and his plan to build more prisons to jail politicians. “You know Buhari, he will send us to jail for between 200 to 300 years and it is the lucky ones among us that will get 50 years.

“As you know, there is no way you will hold office in Nigeria and go scot free if the authorities want to get you.

“Buhari is determined to send people to jail and even APC governors are not comfortable with him and that’s why many of them are not following his campaign team,” Mr. Zwingina alleged.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan is better than Mr. Buhari and needs to be returned to continue his transformation agenda.

Read More: saharareporters.com

Read Buhari’s Promise to Corrupt Officials

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has revealed what he plans on doing to corrupt public officials if elected president in February 14. Speaking on Tuesday at a presidential rally held at the Pantami International Stadium, Gombe State, the APC presidential candidate revealed that any public official who betrayed the trust of Nigerians and illegally enriched himself under his administration would be made to face the full wrath of the law, Punch reports.

Buhari, who is a former head of state, also promised Nigerians that there would be no hiding place for corrupt elected officials, comprising governors and other government officials in his administration.

“We must do away with corruption as well as develop the Nigerian economy, if we are elected into office by the grace of God, any elected official that is elected or appointed to serve under me must be transparent, because if any of them embezzles public funds, he will face the consequences,” he said.

Read More: naij.com

I won’t Fight Corruption by Sending people to Jail – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has said his commitment and method of solving corruption problems is  not dependent on the number of people his administration tries or jails in court.

Though, he said his government has tried many Nigerians to show that it did not support corruption, he said the number of people tried for corruption related offences  would never stem the tide of hydra-headed problem.

He said this at the ancient Mapo Hall, the venue for the flag-off of his campaign for a second term ticket in the 2015 elections.

According to him, “If I try 10 million Nigerians and jail 5 million, that does not stop corruption problem. Let me re-assure Nigerians that we will win war against terror. My commitment and method of solving corruption is not in terms of the number of people I try or jail.”

President Jonathan who used the forum to reel out the achievements of his administration noted that that his government had empowered over one million people through its various intervention programmes.

Read More: vanguardngr.com