Court frees Osun Monarch of raping NYSC member,says they had a regular sexual relationship

Justice Oyejide Falola of the Osun State High Court sitting in Ikirun on Tuesday gave the verdict today, putting an end to a three-year sexual case that has brought national attention on the traditional king, the Alowa of Ilowa-Ijesa, Oba Adebukola Alli, and his accuser, Helen Okpara.

Delivering judgment, Falola said that the plaintiff, Miss Helen Okpara, failed to tender enough exhibits to convince the court beyond reasonable doubt that she was raped by the monarch.

 The judge also held that the plaintiff, who accused the #monarch of raping her at his private residence in Osogbo, failed to prove that she was raped.

 He said a case of #rape could only be established with exhibits such as bed sheet, the victim’s pant and a medical report indicating forceful penetration, adding that the prosecutor failed to tender all these.Falola said Okpara also failed to show the bruises on her private part as evidence that she was raped.

 He further said the prosecutor failed to show to the court the plaintiff’s torn clothes as she had claimed in her submissions before the court.

 While stressing that a case of rape must be proved with injuries sustained on the private part as well as other parts of the body, Falola said the court was not convinced that Okpara sustained any injury.

 Falola said the court was able to establish the fact that Okpara and the monarch had been having regular sexual #relationship before a misunderstanding ensued between them.

 He, however, condemned such relationship involving a traditional ruler, saying his action had brought his stool into disrepute as well as disgrace to his family and community.

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For those who missed her account, Read below

  "I was raped by the Alowa of Ilowa on Friday, March 25. Before then, I had been introduced to the monarch during the last INEC registration exercise.

"One day, on my way from the school, Oba Alli gave me a ride and told me that he wanted me to be a computer facilitator for the schools in the community. That was after he got to know that I was computer literate and we drew a plan on the format the assignment would take." She explained that she later had a session with the students and after introducing the system to them, the traditional ruler offered to take her back to school. But instead of dropping her at the school, he reportedly took her to his residence in Osogbo, a few kilometers to her place of primary assignment.

 "He said I should not worry, that he would bring me back home and eventually we arrived at his residence in Osogbo where he entertained me. It was getting late and I wanted to go home as he started to caress me. I got up begging him, but he turned down my pleas,"

She explained further that the monarch later stripped her and went outside to soak her clothes, stressing that before he came back, she had locked the door.

PRIVATE JET OWNERS IN NIGERIA TO PAY LUXURY TAX

The Federal Government is planning to impose a form of luxury tax on owners and operators of private jets in the country, top officials of the Ministry of Aviation have confirmed.

The plan, currently being fine-tuned by the Aviation Reform Committee, which is also looking into certain areas of the aviation sector, will be perfected very soon.

According to the top government officials close to the move, the plan to impose the luxury tax will be preceded by the new general aviation policy, which is currently being drafted by the government.

Ahead of the release of the general aviation policy, the Aviation ministry has reviewed the 2006 Civil Aviation Act, which will lead to the promulgation of a new Act.

It was learnt that the ministry was planning to send the draft Civil Aviation Bill to the National Assembly.

However, the ministry is currently taking the draft bill to some stakeholders for their input and comments.

In the proposed general aviation policy, the government is also planning to stop private jet owners from making use of the Air Operators Certificate. An AOC is a permit that allows aircraft owners and operators to do commercial flights.

Government, it was gathered, reasoned that since private jets owners did not operate commercial flights, it was needless to continue to require them to possess the AOC.

However, sources close to the situation said the proposal to exempt the private jet owners from possessing the AOC before they could be permitted to fly under the policy would be followed up with the introduction of the luxury tax.

A source privy to the plan explained that the luxury tax on all private jet owners. “is patterned after what is in operation in Brazil and most European countries.”

The source said, “You know the government is exempting private jet owners from possessing AOC in the proposed general aviation policy that will be unveiled very soon. As soon as this is implemented, the government will start asking all private jets to pay the luxury tax.”

The official added, “The idea is that since chartered aircraft operators and regular commercial airlines are already paying ticket sales tax and passenger service tax to the government, private jet owners should also pay a form of tax, which most countries of the world called luxury tax. The plan to exempt private jet owners from possessing an AOC before they can fly is just part of the whole policy proposal.

“All these foreign private jets coming into the country must either come under an AOC and be mandated to pay ticket sales charge and passenger service charge, or you stay under private category and pay luxury tax. Once you are flying within the country for some time, you must fall in one of the categories.”

When contacted, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi, said there was the need to wait for the government to unveil the new general aviation policy.

In a text message response sent to our correspondent, Obi said, “Let’s wait for the new policy to be released first.”

If the government implements the luxury tax policy, popular business moguls, bank executives and religious leaders who own private jets will be mandated to pay the tax.

They are the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Chairman, Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga; Chairman, Zenon Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola; General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; and General Overseer, Living Faith World Outreach, Bishop David Oyedepo.

The government had suspended the importation of private jets for some months now, owing to the new general aviation policy being put together by the Aviation ministry.

Top ministry officials said the new policy had been completed, except for some legal details relating to the Civil Aviation Act, 2006.

Private jet ownership in Nigeria grew by 650 per cent from 20 in 2007 to over 150 jets in 2012.

Some wealthy Nigerians had acquired at least 130 private jets with a sum of N1.02tn ($6.5bn) in the last five years, it was gathered.

Some stakeholders, however, reasoned that the new general aviation policy was part of government’s plans to grow Nigeria’s private jet sector, apart from building more private jet terminals at various airports across the country.

FIFTH GRADERS CHARGED WITH MURDER CONSPIRACY ARE 'DANGER TO OTHERS'

A Washington prosecutor who is charging two boys aged 10 and 11 with conspiracy to commit murder concedes that it is "very rare" to try someone so young, but said the felony charges were necessary because the boys' crime was premeditated and experts determined they were "a danger to others."
The fifth graders from Colville, Wash., were arrested in February and Steven County Superior Court judge ruled recently that the boys are competent to stand trial on murder conspiracy charges, witness tampering and juvenile possession of a firearm.
The boys allegedly plotted to shoot and stab a girl in their class because she was "really annoying," according to court documents.
Police noted in their report that the boys "did not display any emotion or remorse during the interview." When asked if he knew what he was going to do was dangerous, wrong and unlawful, the 10-year-old replied, "Yes, I just want her dead."
The boys said there were other students they were targeting, even providing officials with six additional names.
"I was a defense attorney for about 14 years in North Carolina and have been a prosecutor for about 12 years here in the state of Washington and I'm not aware of other cases like this," Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen told ABCNews.com. "I don't know that it's absolutely unique, but it's certainly very rare."
Rasmussen also has no qualms about the prosecution.
Referring to psychologists who examined the boys, Rasmussen said, "Both of these professionals believed that the boys presented a danger to other people and that was an important feature for the judge's decision."
The judge found that both boys had capacity to understand right from wrong and cleared the way for juvenile court. They remain in custody with a bond of $100,000 for each boy.
"We are very thankful that nobody was harmed," Rasmussen said. "But for the courage of a fourth grader to tell a teacher that he had seen a knife, this plot would have been carried out."
"As to why children do this, I wish I knew. It is very troubling. It's very scary," he said. "I don't have an explanation and the explanation that the boys gave for why they had planned to do this is entirely inadequate."
Defense attorneys Dee Hokom and Don Richter did not respond to requests for comment.
On Feb. 7, a Colville police officer responded to Colville Elementary School where a fourth grader had alerted a school employee that another student had a knife.
School officials searched the backpacks of the student and his friend who was with him and they found a knife, an ammunition clip and a "functioning" .45 caliber Remington 1911 semi-automatic handgun in 10-year-old's bag, according to court documents.
When a staff member asked the boy why he brought a gun to school, the said that he and his friend were going to "get" a female student identified as "S.L.T." in court documents. When the staffer asked what he meant, he said they "were going to get S.L.T. away from the school and do her in."
The 11-year-old stated that he was going to be the "knifer" and his friend was going to be the "shooter." A third friend was aware of the plot, but they planned to give him $80 to keep it a secret.
The 11-year-old told the administrator that they were planning on killing the girl "because she was really annoying," according to court documents.
"[The 11-year-old] stated that he had been friends with her [S.L.T.] for several months but that he hated her now," the filing said. "He also indicated that S.L.T. had recently become rude and would pick on him."
The younger boy said that he had been in a short "dating relationship" with the girl they were targeting, but would not go into any details, according to the court filing.
The younger boy told police that the had taken the gun from his older brother's room and that his brother had taken it from their dead grandfather's home a few months before.
While the boys were waiting to be taken to a juvenile detention center, the older boy allegedly said to the younger, "If I find out who told them about our weapons I'm going to kill them. I don't care, when I get out of jail I'm going to come back and kill them."
The boys' names are not being used because of their young ages.

Why Fifth Graders Were Charged With Murder Conspiracy

In the state of Washington, a child under the age of 8 is not capable of being charged with a crime because they don't have the capacity to comprehend things and have criminal intent. From ages 8 to 11, that presumption of no capacity exists but can be overcome if the state can provide evidence that proves otherwise.
In this case, the court looked at whether the boys understood the consequences of the act and determined they understood the consequences of what they planned and tried to keep it secret.
If convicted, the boys face a maximum guideline sentence time of about two-and-a-half years, Rasmussen said. However, if the judge finds that the guideline sentence is unjust he can potentially decrease or increase it. Confinement until the age of 21 is the maximum

GAMBIAN PRESIDENT WARNS HOMOSEXUALS TO STAY AWAY FROM THE COUNTRY OR REGRET BEING BORN

Gambian president, Yahya Jammeh, has warned that any gay or lesbians found in the country will "regret" being born. During a speech on March 28th at the opening of the country’s parliament, President Jammeh said:

Homosexuality is anti-humanity. I have never seen homosexual chicken, or turkey. If you are convicted of homosexuality in this country, there will be no mercy for offenders.

Homosexuality is anti-god, anti-human, and anti-civilization. Homosexuals are not welcome in the Gambia. If we catch you, you will regret why you are born. I have buffalos from South Africa and Brazil and they never date each other. We are ready to eat grass but we will not compromise on this. Allowing homosexuality means allowing satanic rights. We will not allow gays here.

So homosexuals, biko stay away from Gambia!

HENRY OKAH BAGS 24-YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY BOMBING

Nigerian Henry Okah has been jailed for 24 years by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg earlier on  Tuesday.

"Effectively, the accused [Okah] is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment," Judge Neels Claassen said as he handed down sentence.

On 21 January, Okah was found guilty on 13 counts of terrorism, including engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, and delivering, placing, and detonating an explosive device.

The charges related to two car bombs in Abuja, Nigeria, in which 12 people were killed and 36 injured on 1 October 2010, the anniversary of the country's independence.

The second bombing took place in Warri on 15 March 2010 at a post amnesty dialogue meeting. One person was killed and 11 seriously injured.

In both bombings, two car bombs went off minutes apart in both places. The cars were parked in close proximity to each other.

Claassen sentenced Okah to 12 years imprisonment for each of the bombings and 13 years for the threats made to the South African government after his arrest in October 2010.

The 13 years would run concurrently with the 24 years.

In January, during judgment Claassen said the State had proved Okah's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and his failure to testify meant the evidence against him remained uncontested.

Okah has denied any involvement, claiming the charges against him were politically motivated.

 

LINDSAY LOHAN SENTENCED TO 90 DAYS IN REHAB, 30 DAYS COMMUNITY LABOR

The embattled actress was today sentenced to 90 days in rehab, 30 days community service and 18 months of psychological counseling.

What did she do? Reckless driving and providing false information to a police officer, all while on probation for shoplifting in 2012.

The misdemeanor charges stem from a 2012 car accident in which Lindsay's car rear-ended a truck. When police officers arrived at the scene, Lindsay lied that her assistant was the one driving, plus they found alcohol in her car. She managed to avoid jail today. Looking good and all put together by the way…..

Nwankwo Kanu has lost N1.4 billion in his Hotel business

 

 

Kanu Nwankwo

Nigeria’s football star, Nwankwo Kanu has lost N1.4 billion in his hotel business and the Managing Director of the hotel, Mr. Ayoola Gam Ikon, 49, has been arrested and charged to court for the alleged fraud.
Operatives of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit arrested Ikon, the managing director of Hardley Suites Limited situated at Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island, Lagos southwest Nigeria, for allegedly stealing the N1.4 billion belonging to the hotel and suites owned by Kanu.
Also arrested along with him over the alleged fraud is a hotel staff, Oke Samuel. They were arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s court on a 19-count charge of felony to wit, obtaining money under false pretence.

The police alleged in charge suit No. K/8/2013 that Ikon was arrested following a complaint by the management of Hardley Suites Limited, Nwankwo Kanu and Ogbonna Kanu, that Ikon between 2005 and 2012 allegedly defrauded them of the sum of about N1.4 billion on the pretence of using the money to expand the existing facilities of the hotel by constructing and furnishing of additional blocks of 30 suites and conference facilities, but he allegedly failed to use the money for the purpose and allegedly converted the money to his personal use.

He was also alleged to have forged a special resolution purportedly made by the board of directors of Hardley Suites Limited to obtain loans of N187 million, N50 million and N493 million from Skye Bank Plc without authorization. The offences, the accused allegedly committed, according to the prosecutor A.M. Animashaun, contravenes sections 8 (a) 1 (a) of the advanced fee fraud and other fraud related offences Act 2006 as applicable in Lagos State.

The accused pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The prosecutor presented before the court an application for the remand of the accused persons in prison custody pending advice from the office of the directorate of public prosecution, DPP, because the lower court lacks the jurisdiction to try the matter.

But the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. O.O. Oshin overruled him with legal facts after quoting copiously from several sections of the criminal justice administration laws of Lagos State to buttress her claim that the court has the jurisdiction to hear and admit the accused to bail. She admitted the first defendant to bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum.

One of the sureties must be the defendant himself, the other should be a civil servant on level 16. She also admitted the second defendant to bail in the sum of N500,000, with two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties must be a level 16 civil servant while the other must be working with a reputable company. She adjourned the matter till 4 April, 2013 for mention. The defendants were, however, moved to Ikoyi Prison, Lagos pending when they would fulfil the bail conditions.

Ex-Cop Found Guilty Of Savagely Murdering 1-Year-Old Daughter “He Beat The Tar Out That Baby”

A former Jackson police detective is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Via ClarionLedger reports:

After an emotional trial that lasted nearly two weeks, a jury early Thursday evening found Natyyo Gray guilty of capital murder in the death of his 1-year-old daughter Zoe.
“This was certainly a horrible, horrible thing,” Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith said after the verdict was issued. “It’s kind of hard to describe how this could have possibly been at the hands of the father.”

Prosecutors delivered their closing arguments with an image of a smiling, healthy Zoe shown on the projector as they spoke, a stark contrast from the gruesome images they showed of Zoe Brown’s mangled body earlier in the trial.
At the time of her death, Zoe had sustained bruises to her forehead, back and pelvis, along with extensive abdominal bruising and a large hematoma on the top of her head. She also had a lacerated liver and pancreas and was bleeding from her anus. An autopsy determined she bled to death after being beaten.
In his closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride repeatedly asked jurors to put “the animal” who hurt her behind bars.
“He beat the tar out of that little baby,” McBride said grimly.

But his attorney has pledged to appeal the ruling.

“It will definitely be appealed. We feel there are issues of the law that need to be addressed by the Mississippi Supreme Court in this matter.”
He would not elaborate on what those issues were, adding only that there were “numerous” things that the high court should look at.
While waiting for jurors to return a verdict, Gray sat quietly, his hands folded in his lap.
Later, as bailiffs escorted him from the courtroom, Gray turned calmly to someone in the audience and said, “I’ll see you.”

He should be put down immediately. His incarceration will cost taxpayers thousands of dollars depending on how long he lives. 20 years will cost close to a million dollars. One shot would be perfect. What do prisoners think of baby killers, especially ex cops?

Read more at http://bossip.com/733630/justice-ex-cop-found-guilty-of-savagely-murdering-1-year-old-daughter-he-beat-the-tar-out-that-baby