Five-year-old Bangalore girl was sexually assaulted before she was killed: police sources
Edited by Janaki Fernandes | Updated: February 13, 2013 11:52 IST
Bangalore: A five-year-old girl found dead near her home in Bangalore's Madiwala area on Tuesday appears to have been sexually assaulted before she was killed, police sources said.
The post-mortem is awaited, but the sources said she appeared to have been tortured. Bite marks were found on the girl's hands and near her eyes.
The girl went missing on Monday evening and was found the next morning close to her home. Her body was sent to Victoria Hospital in Bangalore for post-mortem.
Mumbai: A small-time actress registered a rape case against her boyfriend at Versova police station yesterday, claiming that after getting her pregnant, he refused to marry her and asked her to abort their child. The accused, a cabin crew member with a private airline, had sexual relations with the actress on the pretext of marrying her, but after the victim informed him that she was pregnant, the 26-year-old accused ended their relationship, said a police official.
According to the police, the victim hails from Uttar Pradesh and had arrived in the city six years ago, and resided in Andheri. A few years ago, a common friend introduced her to accused Hardeep Singh Bajwa. Then four months ago, the two met while they were helping an accident victim in Versova, and after exchanging numbers parted ways. After a brief period, Hardeep telephoned her and asked her to meet him.
The accused become friendly with her and they fell in love. On one occasion, Hardeep met her in his car where he was consuming alcohol. He offered her a soft drink, which was spiked. When the victim lost consciousness, Hardeep took her to her apartment and raped her. "The next morning Hardeep promised me that he would marry me, and a few days later we went to a temple, and got married," the victim said. But she objected to the marriage, as a priest did not preside over the ceremony, and she demanded a proper wedding ceremony. Hardeep said that he would talk to his parents soon.
"After a few days, the victim told Hardeep that she was pregnant and that they should get married soon. The accused asked her to abort the child and broke up with her," said Sharad Borse, senior police inspector at Versova police station. Following the snub, the victim approached Hardeep's mother on Monday who refused to acknowledge her. The victim then lodged a complaint of rape and cheating against Hardeep at the Versova police station. The police are yet to arrest Hardeep, as they are recording the statements of the victim and other witnesses.
2 Arrested in Ma’ale Rehavam Demolition ‘Solidarity Protest’
Two Jewish protesters were arrested Wednesday in a solidarity demonstration for those expelled from their homes in Ma’ale Rehavam.
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By Chana Ya'ar
First Publish: 2/13/2013, 2:17 PM
Demolition at Ramat Migron
Israel news photo: Flash 90
Two Jewish protesters in Samaria (Shomron) were arrested Wednesday in a solidarity demonstration supporting Jews being expelled from their caravan homes in Ma’ale Rehavam, a Judean community located in the hills of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem.
The demonstration by some 60 activists briefly blocked the entrance to the Palestinian Authority capital of Ramallah, located next to the Jewish town of Beit El in Shomron, north of Jerusalem.
The protesters were expressing their solidarity with the residents who were being left homeless by the demolition Wednesday morning after Israeli security forces demolished the six caravan homes. One person at the Ma'ale Rehavam site was arrested for resisting the expulsion effort, while the homes were destroyed. By 1:00 p.m. the site was leveled, sources said.
Protesters in Shomron expressed their anger at the expulsion by reportedly smashing windows of vehicles bearing PA license plates, and slashing the tires of the cars, a source said.
At least two of the rioters were arrested and taken for question to the Binyamin regional police station. They are being represented by the Honenu legal aid organization.
The crowd was dispersed by Israeli security forces.
A New Zealand coroner has linked the death of a 31-year-old woman to her Coca-Cola addiction.
Natasha Harris died Feb. 25, 2010 from a cardiac arrhythmia, according to a 19-page coroner's report obtained by ABCNews.com. And while Harris, a mother of eight from Invercargill, New Zealand, was known to smoke heavily and skip multiple meals, coroner David Crerar concluded that the sugar and caffeine she got by drinking more than 2.6 gallons of Coca-Cola Classic per day was "a substantial factor" in her death.
"When all of the available evidence is considered, were it not for the consumption of very large quantities of Coke by Natasha Harris, it is unlikely that she would have died when she died and how she died," Crerar wrote in his report.
Harris's partner, Christopher Hodgkinson, said Harris would get headaches and act moody without her Coke fix, according to the coroner's report. Close friends said she would "get the shakes" and other withdrawal symptoms. Her heart would race, her liver was swollen, and her rotting teeth had to be removed. But, said the report, "the family did not consider that Coke was harmful due to the fact of it having no warning signs."
"Natasha Harris knew, or ought to have known and recognized, the health hazard of her chosen diet and lifestyle," Crerar wrote in his report, adding that fact that Harris had her teeth extracted several years before her death "should have been treated by her, and by her family, as a warning."
Dr. Christopher Holstege, chief of medical toxicology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said anything can be toxic in large enough quantities.
"In toxicology, everything comes down to dose. And it sounds as though she was certainly taking an excessive dose," he said, adding that drinking two gallons of soda per day with limited amounts of food can cause a dangerous imbalance in electrolytes. "You're also not getting essential nutrients when you're only drinking Coke. You're basically getting sugar, and you're going to be deficient in vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients."
Harris's reported Coke habit would have delivered more than 2.2 pounds of sugar daily, according to the coroner's report. She would have also ingested nearly a gram of caffeine, according to Coca-Cola's website.
"To me, it sounds like she was not a healthy woman in any way, shape or form," said Holstege.
The grisly case spans several days and multiple locations around New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Authorities at a news conference on Monday said Yusuf Ibrahim, now of Jersey City, fatally shot two other men in the past week or so during an argument in a parked car in his hometown, severed their heads and hands, buried their bodies and dumped the car in Philadelphia.
The victims were 25- and 27-year-olds. Authorities have not released their names because their next of kin had not been notified.
Sources however identified one of the men as 27-year-old Amgad Konds. He moved to America from Egypt four years ago, friends told NBC10’s Daralene Jones.
Friends say the victims were roommates living in Southwest Philadelphia and also shared an apartment in Jersey City.
Both men were foreign nationals, though police would not say what country they were from -- one of several questions they said they could not or would not answer.
State police Lt. Col. Matthew Wilson and First Assistant Attorney General Tom Calcagni declined to explain a motive for the killings, for instance. But they said the body parts were cut off to deter identification of the victims.
The investigation came together on Thursday, when state police got a tip about something suspicious in rural Buena Vista Township, 40 miles southwest of Philadelphia. There, they found disturbed dirt.
And when they obtained a search warrant, they dug up the two men's bodies.
A cadaver dog helped locate their heads and hands buried separately nearby.
One of the victims was reported missing on Thursday. Police said he hadn't been seen alive in four days.
As investigators started to zero in on Ibrahim, who was wanted in a Jersey City armed robbery on Sept. 20, police in Philadelphia found another clue.
Sources tell NBC10 police found Konds’ white 1997 Mercedes Benz on the 4100 block of Pennsgrove Avenue engulfed in flames hours after his body was discovered. Officers saw a man run away from the burning car and then drive off in a Nissan Sentra with Virginia tags. Officers gave chase, but the man got away.
New Jersey authorities said the car belonged to a victim and the man trying to set it afire was Ibrahim.
He was arrested Sunday at a home in Bayonne. He faces two charges of murder and two charges of desecration of human remains. The state attorney general's office is handling the prosecution.
Ibrahim, 28, was being held at the Atlantic County Jail on Monday and couldn't be reached for comment. There was no word on whether he had a lawyer.
One Public Execution And Public Humiliation of Young People By The Iranian Authorities In Tehran Today
Wednesday 13 February 2013
Iran Human Rights, February 13: One prisoner was publicly hanged in Tehran today. According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars the man was convicted of murdering two girls in 2005. The public execution was carried out early this morning at "Madani Street" east of Tehran.
The prisoner was not identified by name in the official Iranian media, but according to Iran Human Rights’ sources his name was "Ali Mohammad Zadeh".
Fars news agency also published pictures from the Iranian security forces’ campaign of arresting "thugs" in Tehran. The pictures show that masked security forces put several young men on display in public and humiliate them (Pictures below). Iran Human Rights (IHR) condemns today’s public execution and public humiliation of the young Iranians under the pretext of "fighting the thugs". Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said:”The campaign of public terrorization of the people in Tehran today once again reflects the Iranian authority’s leader Ali Khamenei’s fear of possible public protests in the coming months". Amiry-Moghaddam urged the international community to react to the Iranian authorities’ terrorization and humiliation of the people.
Chief Rueben Littlejohn of the San Diego Unified School District Police Department briefs media on Tuesday at School District headquarters in San Diego, California. District police arrested a Farb Middle School teacher for weapons possession on campus. — Eduardo Contreras
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego teacher was arrested Monday at Farb Middle School after he was found carrying a gun and a switchblade knife at the Tierrasanta campus, authorities said.
Ned Carter Walker, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade English, was jailed on felony charges of having weapons on school grounds, said Rueben Littlejohn, the San Diego Unified School District’s police chief.
Littlejohn, speaking at a Tuesday news conference, said he knew of no threats made by Walker to use the weapons, but “we speculate that this employee was somewhat infatuated with firearms” and wanted to be ready in case of an armed intruder on campus.
It is a felony in California for anyone except sworn law officers to have weapons on a school campus, even if the person has a permit to carry a gun, Littlejohn said. He said he didn’t know if Walker had a concealed weapons permit.
Walker, 41, was held on $50,000 in bail but had been released from jail as of Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday afternoon, a man answering a phone number associated with Walker said, “I have no comment at this time.”
Walker has been placed on administrative leave and a substitute teacher was assigned to his classes, Farb Principal Courtney Rizzo said in a letter on the school website.
Some staff members told the principal on Monday morning that they had heard Walker was keeping ammunition in locked cabinets in his classroom, Littlejohn said. He said Walker had told some students and staff that he had a gun, and that he loves firearms.
Rizzo searched Walker’s classroom but wasn’t able to get into two locked cabinets. She contacted police, who checked the cabinets but found nothing improper, Littlejohn said.
“When we asked him initially, he denied possessing any weapons,” Littlejohn said. He said Walker let officers check his car in the school parking lot. Then, he said, they noticed a bulge in one of Walker’s pockets.
They patted him down and found a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol with a 7-round magazine, and a switchblade knife with a 2 ½-inch blade, Littlejohn said.
Walker was arrested about 8:30 a.m. with no students around, the chief said. He said he didn’t know how long Walker had been carrying the pistol.
Walker has taught at Farb since 2006, and at Hamilton Elementary School for three years before that, Littlejohn said.
“There probably are a handful of teachers out there who know bringing a gun to school is not a good idea, but may not know it’s a felony,” Littlejohn said. “(Walker’s) intentions may be good, but nothing good came of this.”
Counselors were made available to students who wanted to talk about the incident.
