The Indian Panorama

Tag: crime

  • Indian-origin woman in Singapore attacked for not wearing a mask

    Indian-origin woman in Singapore attacked for not wearing a mask

    SINGAPORE (TIP): Almost two years after a man allegedly kicked her in the chest and hurled racial slurs at her, Indian-origin woman Hindocha Nita Vishnubhai said she had not been able to overcome the trauma caused by the incident in Chua Chu Kang housing estate on May 7, 2021.

    The 57-year-old was speaking in a district court on Wednesday, January 18, the first day of the trial of the accused, Wong Xing Fong, now aged 32. Wong has denied the allegations against him.

    According to court documents, Wong is accused of hurling racial slurs at Hindocha with the deliberate intention of “wounding” her “racial feelings”. He is also accused of voluntarily causing hurt by kicking Hindocha’s chest in an attack aggravated by the racial element.

    On Wednesday, Hindocha was called as the prosecution’s first witness, but she broke down as she walked into the courtroom, according to a media report.

    It was not clear if she cried on seeing Wong but District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan stood the case down temporarily to allow time for her to compose herself and for a screen to be set up that shielded her from view, the report stated. As the trial resumed about 30 minutes later, Hindocha took the stand to tell the court what happened on the day of the attack.

    Hindocha said she typically brisk walks to work as she does not have the time to do any other form of exercise before work and had pulled down her face mask to the chin to breathe more freely.

    At the time, Singapore’s covid-19 regulations mandated that everyone keep their face masks on unless they were exercising. As Hindocha was approaching a bus stop beside the Northvale Condominium located along Choa Chu Kang Drive, she heard someone shouting at her from behind, she told the court.

    She turned around to see “a couple”, Wong and an unnamed woman, gesturing at her and telling her to mask up. She gestured back to indicate that she was exercising and perspiring. At this point, Wong walked towards her and hurled the racial slur at her, Hindocha claimed. “I don’t like to fight, sir, so I said, ‘God bless you’,” she said, adding that then Wong ran towards her and gave her a “flying kick” in the chest.

    The impact, said Hindocha, caused her to fall on her back, leaving her left forearm and palm bleeding.

    She alleged that Wong and his female companion then “jogged” away as though nothing had happened.

    “I was crying very loudly, sir. I was very scared. Till today, (if) you bring me (to) that road I will cry…I was very scared,” she said. A woman at the bus stop helped her up and gave her a first-aid plaster for her injuries, she said.

    Hindocha said she narrated her ordeal to her husband and manager at work and reported the incident to the police only later that evening after she had finished her second job as an English tutor at a tuition center. She had her injuries examined by a doctor at a polyclinic on May 10.

    When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Foo how the incident had affected her, Hindocha said she felt both scared and sad. Wong’s lawyer told Hindocha that it was his client’s position that she was not exercising and had no reason to pull her mask down.

    He added that Wong had not used vulgarities against her and had also not kicked her in the chest.

    Wong also claimed that Hindocha spat at him and told him sarcastically that she was brisk-walking and that he should mind his own business. Hindocha disagreed with all these statements.

    During re-examination by DPP Foo, Hindocha said that while she had difficulty remembering the precise location of the attack, she clearly remembers Wong kicking her.

    The second witness was the doctor who attended Hindocha.

    The trial will continue Thursday and Friday before being adjourned until early February.

    Anyone found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt can be jailed for up to three years or fined up to SGD 5,000 or both. However, in cases where the offence is racially or religiously aggravated, the court may sentence the person to 1.5 times the amount of punishment to which he or she would otherwise have been liable.

    As for those found guilty of deliberately intending to wound the religious or racial feelings of any person, they can be jailed for up to three years or fined or both.

  • Indian-origin businessman’s gas station attacked in New Zealand

    Indian-origin businessman’s gas station attacked in New Zealand

    AUCKLAND (TIP): A gas station owned by an Indian-origin businessman was attacked by unknown assailants in New Zealand, a media report has said, in yet another instance of violence against small-scale businesses in the country. The gas station on Kaurilands Road owned by Kanna Sharma in Auckland was ram-raided by robbers in the early hours on Thursday, a police statement said. Around 2.20 am, the store was rammed through the front door at least three times, shattering the glass and damaging the front grille, media reported. The thieves stole cigarettes, vapes, and many other products from Sharma’s shop, the report said. Sharma said it’s the third such attack on his business, it said. “It’s a nightmare,” Sharma told the media.

    “This is the third time I’ve been ram-raided, and I’m shattered. My family is shattered. It’s hard to believe a place like New Zealand can be such a nightmare,” he added.

    New Zealand has seen an uptick in the cases of violence against small-scale businesses in recent times. A 34-year-old Indian-origin dairy shop worker, Janak Patel, was murdered in Sandringham in November last year.

  • Indian American man stabs nine-year-old son to death

    Indian American man stabs nine-year-old son to death

    MCKINNEY, TX (TIP): An Indian American man in Texas faces capital murder charges for allegedly stabbing his nine-year-old son to death, police said. Subramanian Ponnazhakan, 39, of McKinney, is in police custody at a hospital for “self-inflicted wounds” and his bail has been set at $1 million, the McKinney Police Department said in a statement on Sunday, January 8. Police said they got a call from a neighbor last week who said that a woman had found her son “unconscious and bleeding” inside a home near Highway 380 and Custer Road. When officers entered the house “forcefully”, they found the woman’s husband in the act of inflicting self-harm with a knife. The boy, who was found with multiple stab wounds in the garage, was pronounced dead on the spot. Police said that further investigations are on in the case. “We continue to keep the child’s mother and their entire family in our thoughts and prayers during this unspeakably difficult time,” a McKinney Police Department spokeswoman said.

  • Indian-Origin Man gets Life for Brutally Murdering his Partner in UK

    Indian-Origin Man gets Life for Brutally Murdering his Partner in UK

    LONDON  (TIP): A 23-year-old Indian-origin man who stopped a police officer in the street and made comments implicating himself in an attack on his estranged partner has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her brutal murder by a UK court.

    Jigukumar Sorthi was sentenced to serve a minimum of 28 years behind bars before being considered for parole after he was found guilty of the murder of 21-year-old Bhavini Pravin, who was found stabbed at her home in the city of Leicester in March.

    “This was a horrific, brutal and merciless killing. You took the life of a beautiful, talented young woman, just 21 years of age,” Justice Timothy Spencer told Jigukumar Sorthi at the sentencing hearing at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday.

    During a murder trial earlier this month, the jury heard how he had felt jilted by Bhavini Pravin after she broke off plans for their wedding ceremony.

    At around 12.30 pm on March 2, Jigukumar Sorthi went to her home and once inside they talked for a few minutes before Jigukumar Sorthi stabbed her multiple times and left the property.

    Leicestershire Police and East Midlands Ambulance Service personnel were called to the address where the victim was pronounced dead.

    Less than two hours after the incident, Jigukumar Sorthi approached an officer outside Spinney Hill Police Station in Leicester and made admissions implicating himself in the stabbing of Bhavini Pravin.

    A post-mortem examination was carried out and concluded Bhavini Pravin died as a result of multiple stab wounds.

    “Bhavini was a young woman who had the rest of her life to look forward to. She was a gentle caring soul and came from a close and very private family. It is fair to say she was the apple of her parents” eyes,” said Detective Inspector Kenny Henry, the senior investigating officer from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit Major Crime team.

    “Losing Bhavini so early in life and in such tragic circumstances continues to take its toll on her parents and brothers – their lives have been changed forever. To have lost their beloved daughter to someone who they trusted to take care of her is something they will never recover from,” he said, adding that the sentence would hopefully be of some comfort to her family.

    “Being present during the trial was understandably difficult for the family and I must commend their bravery, courage, and dignity throughout. Nothing will bring Bhavini back but I can only hope that today’s outcome will, in due course, be of some comfort knowing that the man who ended their daughter’s life has been brought to justice,” he added.

    According to local ‘Leicester Mercury” reports, Jigukumar Sorthi had a civil ceremony with Bhavini Pravin in India in 2017 and followed her to England on a spousal visa in August 2018.

    However, the couple lived at separate addresses and the match did not seem to work out.

    Bhavini Pravin was to marry Jigukumar Sorthi in a religious Hindu wedding ceremony, but her family called it off a day before the murder.

    Bhavini Pravin’s life was cut short in a brutal, callous attack in her own home. The defendant took a knife to her house and yet tried to claim he was not in control of his actions,” said Lucie Boulter from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

    “We prepared compelling evidence that showed the court that this was clearly planned and premeditated,” she said.

    When he gave himself up to the police, Jigukumar Sorthi alleged that Bhavini Pravin had ruined his life.

    His lawyer told the court that his client had struggled to cope with life in the UK during the court proceedings which were translated into Gujarati for his benefit.

  • Indian arrested for stabbing wife to death in Miami

    Indian arrested for stabbing wife to death in Miami

    MIAMI, FL (TIP): Philip Mathew (Nevin), 34, of Wixom, Michigan has been arrested and charged in the murder of his Malayalee wife Merin Joy, 26. She was a nurse at Broad Health Coral Springs Hospital.

    Merin died around 7:30 am on Tuesday, July 28 as she was returning to the parking area to return home after her night shift. At approximately 7:38 a.m., Coral Springs Dispatch received a 911 call from Broward Health Coral Springs, about a possible stabbing and hit and run in progress.  Once officers arrived on the scene, contact was made with the victim, Merin Joy, age 26, who was in the west parking lot with multiple stab wounds.  Rescue arrived on the scene and transported the victim to Broward Health North for treatment where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

    Coral Springs Police detectives conducted an investigation and determined the suspect to be Philip Mathew, age 34, of Wixon, Michigan. The incident is believed to be part of a domestic dispute that was ongoing between the suspect and the victim. Mathew was located in Coral Springs at an area hotel where he sustained a self-inflicted knife wound and was transported to an area hospital for treatment. He was taken into custody within a few hours of the initial 911 call and was charged with First Degree Murder.

  • Indian American Charged with Destruction of Federal Property

    Indian American Charged with Destruction of Federal Property

    PORTLAND (TIP): An Indian American is among seven people who have been arrested and face federal charges for their roles in weekend riots at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Acting Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Eben Roberts and U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced July 7.

    According to court documents, since May 26, 2020, protests in downtown Portland have regularly been followed by nightly criminal activity including assaults on law enforcement officers, destruction of property, looting, arson, and vandalism.

    Shant Singh Ahuja, 28, of Oceanside, California, is charged with destruction of federal property. On July 4, 2020, Ahuja is accused of willfully destroying a closed-circuit video camera mounted on the exterior of the Hatfield Courthouse.

    The Hatfield Federal Courthouse has been a repeated target of vandalism, sustaining extensive damage. U.S. Marshals Service deputies and officers from the Federal Protective Service, HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) working to protect the courthouse have been subjected to threats; aerial fireworks including mortars; high intensity lasers targeting officers’ eyes; thrown rocks, bottles, and balloons filled with paint from demonstrators while performing their duties.

     

     

     

     

  • 2 Indian-origin men jailed for ‘largest’ bust with 20 million pounds of drugs in UK

    2 Indian-origin men jailed for ‘largest’ bust with 20 million pounds of drugs in UK

    LONDON (TIP): Two Indian-origin men have been sentenced to a total of 34 years in what Scotland Yard described as one of its biggest drugs busts in the UK, worth more than 20 million pounds.

    Shakti Gupta, 34, from Birmingham and Baldev Singh Sahota, 54, from Oldbury in West Midlands was jailed for 18 years and 16 years respectively following a haul of 172 kg of cocaine, one of the largest land seizures of Class A or illegal drugs in the country.

    “This operation has resulted in one of the largest land seizures of cocaine within the UK, ever,” said Detective Superintendent Neil Ballard, from the Metropolitan Police Specialist Crime Command.

    “It is an extremely significant amount of Class A drugs that indicates the scale of this organized drug supply, which the Met has successfully dismantled,” he said.

    On December 11 last year, a team of the Met’s Specialist Crime officers, supported by West Midlands Police, carried out a stop of a vehicle on the A45 highway, which was being driven by Sahota.

    On inspection of the van, officers discovered a large quantity of Class A drugs (cocaine) had been mixed among pallets of frozen food. The total weight of the cocaine discovered was 168 kg.

    A further search was carried out at an address in Olds Trading Estate Park in Hockley, Birmingham, the same day.

    A further 4 kg of Class A drugs (cocaine and MDMA) and 1 kg of the cutting agent were discovered inside the address. Gupta was arrested following the second raid and both men were taken into custody within the West Midlands Police jurisdiction.

    They were charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, namely cocaine and appeared at Birmingham Crown Court in January this year, where they pleaded guilty to the offence.

    The duo was sentenced at the same court earlier this month.

    “This sentencing result is due to the hard work and commitment from those involved in dismantling drugs networks that are intrinsically linked to the violence that we have seen playing out on our streets throughout the country,” said Ballard.

    “This result should serve as a stark warning to anyone involved in the supply of drugs in London and the rest of the UK that we will do everything we legitimately can to bring you to justice,” he said.

    “The Met will continue to work with, and assist, our colleagues in other forces around the country, who are all dedicated to removing the drugs from our streets and reducing the serious violence associated with drugs supply, to protect the public,” he added.

    The Met Police released the details of the case this week as part of an appeal for information on anyone suspected of similar criminal activity.

    (Source: PTI)

     

  • Indian American Attorney Shot Dead in Georgia

    Indian American Attorney Shot Dead in Georgia

    ATLANTA (TIP): An Indian origin senior staff attorney at Cobb County Magistrate was shot and killed May 9 morning while confronting a gunman outside a home in Locust Grove, a report in Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

    Rajesh Mehta, 45, was shot multiple times by 29-year-old Terrance Scott outside the home on Hansen Drive, said police.

    Following the fatal shooting, Scott allegedly broke into the house, held a woman hostage and sexually assaulted her before an hours long standoff with officers, Locust Grove Police Chief Jesse Patton said. Children were inside the home at the time.

    Mehta worked as the staff attorney for three separate chief magistrate judges since joining the court in 2008. Prior to that, the University of Georgia law school graduate worked under Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark.

  • Indian American Mother Charged with Murder of 4-Year-Old Son

    Indian American Mother Charged with Murder of 4-Year-Old Son

    HOUSTON, TX (TIP): A 36-year-old Sugar Land woman of India origin is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of her son.

    Ritika Rohatgi Agrawal is charged with the capital murder of her 4-year-old son, who was found dead in their home in Sugar Land in Texas on March 28.

    “Sugar Land police and fire-EMS responded to 5200 block of Weatherstone Circle in Gardens of Avalon at 10:40 a.m. A man arrived home and saw blood throughout his house and his 36-year-old wife wandering around with cut wounds to her neck and wrists that appeared to be self-inflicted. Their four-year-old son was found dead upstairs with his throat slit. Ritika Rohatgi Agrawal (DOB 01-09-84) is charged with murder. She woman was transported by ambulance to a hospital” said City of Sugar land spokesman Doug Adolph.

    Authorities suspect Ritika Rohatgi Agrawal may be suffering from mental illness.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Indian American Doctors Indicted for Kickback Conspiracy

    Indian American Doctors Indicted for Kickback Conspiracy

    HOUSTON(TIP): Two Indian doctors from Northeast Ohio and two drug company salesmen were indicted in federal court for their roles in a kickback conspiracy in which the doctors allegedly received money and other things of value in exchange for writing prescriptions of Nuedexta for patients that did not have the condition.

    Named in the 83-count indictment are: Deepak Raheja, 63, of Hudson; Bhupinder Sawhny, 70, of Gates Mills, Gregory Hayslette, 43, of Aurora; Frank Mazzucco, 41, of Dublin. All four are charged with conspiracy to solicit, receive, offer and pay health care kickbacks.

    According to the indictment:

    Raheja is a medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry and neurology whose primary practice location was 2307 West 14th Street in Cleveland. Sawhny is a medical doctor who specialized in neurosurgery whose primary practice location was 6731 Ridge Road in Parma.

    Raheja and Sawhny wrote more Nuedexta prescriptions and caused the submission of billings to Medicare and Medicaid for Nuedexta prescriptions for patients that did not have PBA.

    Raheja and Sawhny also submitted and caused the submission of materially false and fictitious prior authorizations to Medicaid MCOs that reflected diagnoses of PBA for patients that did not actually have PBA.

    Raheja falsely diagnosed patients with PBA and recorded and caused the recording of false symptoms in patient records to support a diagnosis of PBA.

    Sawhny also allegedly permitted unauthorized access to protected patient health information.

    “We all trust our doctors to make decisions based on what is best for the patient, not based on which sales representative is paying them money on the side and springing for steak dinners,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “Doctors and the pharmaceutical sales reps who don’t follow the rules will be held accountable for their actions.”

    “These doctors will now answer to a court of law for financially benefitting from lucrative speaking engagements and writing questionable prescriptions for one medication,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith said. “The FBI will continue collaborative efforts to root out healthcare fraud and hold those responsible accountable for their fraudulent, unethical behavior.”

    “Kickbacks are to ethics like a magnet to a compass — you lose your direction,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Imagine trusting your doctor to do what’s right for your health and finding out he’s instead doing what’s right for his wallet. This is much more than a financial crime.”

  • Indian Americans from New York Arrested for Distributing Millions of Opioid Pills Imported from India

    Indian Americans from New York Arrested for Distributing Millions of Opioid Pills Imported from India

    NEW YORK(TIP): On Sept 12, a complaint was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging eight defendants of Indian origin, Ezhil Sezhian Kamaldoss, Harpreet Singh, Parthiban Narayanasamy, Baljeet Singh, Deepak Manchanda, Gulab, Mukul Chugh and Vikas M. Verma with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance containing Tramadol, a synthetic opioid.  The defendants were arrested Sept 12 morning and made initial appearances before United States Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom.

    Since approximately January 2018, law enforcement agents with FDA-OCI, USPIS, HSI, CBP, DEA, FBI and other agencies have been investigating the large-scale importation of misbranded controlled substances, including Tramadol, into the United States from India.  As part of the defendants’ scheme, distributors in India shipped misbranded Tramadol and other drugs to individuals and entities in the United States through the U.S. mail and other commercial couriers.  The defendants primarily operated out of a warehouse in Queens where they repackaged the pills and mailed them to customers throughout the United States.  The defendants maintained daily ledgers detailing the names, addresses, pill size and pill amounts ordered by customers.  During the course of the investigation, the defendants distributed millions of Tramadol pills.

    Ezhil Sezhian Kamaldoss is also charged with money laundering.  If convicted, Ezhil Sezhian Kamaldoss faces up to 25 years’ imprisonment.  The remaining defendants each face up to five years’ imprisonment.

  • Indian Origin Houston Man Charged in First Known Case Since Bump Stock Ban

    Indian Origin Houston Man Charged in First Known Case Since Bump Stock Ban

    HOUSTON(TIP):  A federal grand jury has indicted a 43-year-old Houston man of Indian origin on four counts of firearms violations including possession of a machine gun, specifically, a bump stock, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

    The four-count indictment, returned Sept 5, alleges Ajay Dhingra possessed a machine gun, made two materially false statements in the acquisition of two firearms and unlawfully possessed a firearm after having been adjudicated as a mental defective or who had been committed to a mental institution.

    Previously charged by criminal complaint, he made his initial appearance in federal court Aug  19, 2019, at which time he was ordered into custody pending further criminal proceedings.

    According to court records, on or about Aug. 17, 2019, Dhingra called the George Bush Foundation and left a concerning message. Authorities discovered Dhingra had previously been committed to a mental institution, according to the allegations. As such, he is prohibited by federal law of possessing a firearm or ammunition.

    The charges further allege law enforcement contacted Dhingra at his residence where they found two firearms in his possession, one of which law enforcement identified as a rifle with an installed bump stock.

    Authorities obtained a search warrant, which allegedly resulted in the discovery of a Glock pistol, a Colt rifle with a bump stock and 277 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.

    According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), this is the first case filed in Texas and what is believed to be the first nationwide involving illegal possession of bump stocks since the law was implemented in March 2019.

    If convicted of any of the charges, Dhingra faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

     

  • Indian-Origin Man gets reduced sentence for drunken drive killing

    Indian-Origin Man gets reduced sentence for drunken drive killing

    LONDON(TIP): An Indian-origin man who was jailed for 13 years for killing three teenage boys in an accident in January has been given relief of  two-and-a-half years on his sentence.

    Jaynesh Chudasama, 29, admitted to driving at more than two-and-a-half times over the alcohol limit on January 26 evening, when the fatal collision occurred near a bus stop at Hayes in west London.

    Traces of cannabis were also found in the car hire worker’s system following his arrest.

    At the latest hearing, the Court of Appeal concluded that there had been an error in sentencing him to 13 years behind bars for the crime and cut his sentence down to 10 and-a-half years instead to take his guilty pleas into account.

    “Prior to consideration of his guilty pleas, this was a case for the maximum sentence of 14 years. The appropriate discount for the pleas, however, was not one third but one quarter,” said Judge Brian Leveson at a judgment hand-down hearing, during which the victims’ families shouted slogans opposing the ruling.

    “The death of each of the victims in this case is a disaster and tragedy of almost unimaginable proportions for them, their families and their friends. We have read many statements about the catastrophic impact each has had on so many lives. No sentence of the court can assuage that loss,” the judge noted.

    The trial had heard how Harry Rice, 17, George Wilkinson and Josh McGuinness, both 16, were instantly killed as they were hit by Chudasama’s speeding car while on their way to a friend’s birthday party.

    Family members of the boys were among around 30 members of the public who attended the Royal Courts of Justice in London for the decision and chanted “disgrace” as the judgment was handed down.

    The judge had to move the hearing to a different court room due to the disruption.

    Besides his jail sentence, Chudasama will also be disqualified from driving for 12 years and three months and have to pass an extended driving test.

    He had been described as a “coward” in court for trying to escape the scene, leaving his victims to die on the road, but was chased down and caught by the boys’ friends.

    Despite the efforts of paramedics, all three boys were pronounced dead at the scene. Photographs from the scene showed the smashed wreckage of a car, including a caved-in fence.

    Some of the victims’ relatives believe the crash was deliberate and want Chudasama charged with murder.

     

     

  • Father fatally shot, 5-year-old son wounded in Bronx shooting

    Father fatally shot, 5-year-old son wounded in Bronx shooting

    Mohammed Jaffer 

    NEW YORK(TIP): A man was killed in front of his 5-year-old son, who was also wounded, during a shooting in the Bronx Tuesday, October 23, police said.

    The incident was reported at around 4:30 p.m. outside the Butler Houses in the Claremont section of the borough.

     

    The father and son were reportedly shot in a stairwell between the fifth and sixth floors.

     

    The father, 29-year-old Jaquan Williams, was shot in the chest while the 5-year-old boy suffered a wound to the arm.

     

    Police responded and took the pair to St. Barnabus Hospital. Williams later died as a result of his wounds.

     

    Police lieutenant Eric Dim told 1010 WINS he was able to make a tourniquet out of his belt to stop the bleeding on the boy’s arm.

     

    “He was very calm, we were rubbing his head telling him he was going to be okay,” said Dim, who added that the 5-year-old was “very brave.”

     

    As of Wednesday morning, police have made no arrests. The NYPD said the investigation is ongoing

     

     

     

     

  • Indian-Origin Man and 16 other Gang Members Jailed for Sex Abuse in UK

    Indian-Origin Man and 16 other Gang Members Jailed for Sex Abuse in UK

    LONDON(TIP): An Indian-origin ringleader is one of the 16 men jailed for a combined period of over 200 years for being part of a grooming gang which sexually abused vulnerable young girls in the West Yorkshire region of England.

    Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 35, was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years behind bars, with other members of the gang jailed for between five and 18 years in jail at Leeds Crown Court.

    The court had been hearing the cases since the beginning of January and were told of the men’s years of repeated serious sexual abuse of the girls, supplying them with drugs and alcohol and trafficking them across the West Yorkshire region for their sexual gratification.

    The third trial in the case concluded on October 8, with reporting restrictions imposed on the entire case by the judge lifted only on Friday.

    “The investigation into this case has been extremely complex and the investigative team have worked tirelessly for the past five years to ensure that no stone has been left unturned. We welcome the convictions and sentences which have been passed down throughout the year to these depraved individuals, who subjected vulnerable young children to unthinkable sexual and physical abuse,” said Detective Chief Inspector Ian Mottershaw, from West Yorkshire Police, who led the investigation.

    “I hope the outcomes of these trials will enable the victims to start the process of putting this trauma behind them and reassure any other potential victims that we will treat them with the utmost respect and sensitivity and take positive action against perpetrators,” he said.

    Jailing the men, who are all of South Asian origin including Pakistani-origin men, Judge Geoffrey Marson said: “The way you treated these girls defies understanding; this abuse was vile and wicked. As cases of sexual abuse with which the courts have to deal, this case comes top of the scale”.

    Ringleader Dhaliwal, a married father of two, had been charged with 21 counts of rape, assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault, five counts of inciting sexual activity with a child, 13 counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of making indecent images, one count of inciting child prostitution, two offences of administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual act and a racially aggravated assault.

    As Dhaliwal was sentenced, the judge added, “The extent and gravity of your offending far exceeds anything which I have previously encountered. Children’s lives have been ruined and families profoundly affected by seeing their children, over months and years, out of control, having been groomed by you and other members of your gang”.

    A further four men found guilty will be sentenced on November 1 at Leeds Crown Court and have been remanded in custody. All 20 men will also be handed down indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, put in place to prevent them from any unsupervised contact with female children under 18.

    The convictions follow an “extensive and extremely complex and sensitive investigation” conducted by detectives in Kirklees district of West Yorkshire, spanning nearly five years, in order to bring a case in front of a judge.

    In 2013, the first report was made to the police by a victim and since that point, police identified 15 victims and pieced together the investigation.

    The location of the crimes was around Huddersfield and all suspects originate from that town. The offences committed occurred between 2004 and 2011 against girls aged between 11 and 17.

     

  • Indian-Origin Chirag Patel Jailed in UK for 19 High Value Stolen Vehicles

    Indian-Origin Chirag Patel Jailed in UK for 19 High Value Stolen Vehicles

    LONDON (TIP): Indian-origin Chirag Patel has been sentenced to eight years in jail by a UK court for handling of 19 stolen high-value vehicles worth over 7,00,000 pounds.

    Patel, 39, was found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods and possession of criminal property at the end of a five-week trial at Croydon Crown Court.

    “Patel played the leading role in a sophisticated operation to handle high-value, stolen vehicles, motivated only by sheer greed,” said Acting Detective Sergeant Billy Clough, who led the investigation for the Metropolitan Police.

    “He even attempted to convince the jury that he was a legitimate businessman, who had simply been unlucky in obtaining such a vast quantity of stolen items, but the jury saw through this and convicted him of being the key player in a significant criminal enterprise,” he said.

    Patel was jailed for conspiracy to handle stolen goods in relation to the cars and keys, for which he received eight years’ imprisonment.

    He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for possessing criminal property and in relation to over 440,000 pounds of unexplained cash deposits which had been identified from two personal bank accounts in his name

    Both the sentences will run concurrently.

    “I hope this sentence sends a message that those involved in this type of organized criminality will be pursued robustly,” the Met Police said.

    The court was told that in February 2015, Patel reported to police that his Porsche had been stolen.

    At first, Patel resisted giving his home address, instead providing details of his parent’s address.

    When he finally gave his own address, officers attended the property as part of their investigation into the stolen car.

    Here they discovered a number of high-value vehicles in the basement car park. Officers identified that one of cars had a personalized number plate identical to one seen earlier on a vehicle outside Patel’s parent’s address.

    Further inquiries by officers established that the five vehicles in the car park had false number plates and all were later confirmed to have been stolen.

    Patel was arrested at his home address soon after.

    During a search of his property, Met Police officers recovered 26 sets of car keys, as well as lists of vehicles and registrations, machines for accessing on-board computers in vehicles, programming keys and a number of mobile phones, tablets and laptops.

    Following a detailed investigation, led by officers from Croydon’s Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit, a total of 19 stolen vehicles with an estimated value of 728,000 pounds were linked to Patel and subsequently seized, as well as nine sets of keys which had been stolen from Jaguar Land Rover’s plant in Solihull, West Midlands, and a laptop stolen during a burglary in Streatham area of south London.

    During the trial, judge H H J Gower praised the work of the Scotland Yard officer, Police Constable Andy Garland, whose work identified the first stolen vehicle.

    The judge said: “It was his sharp eyes and investigative nose and approach which first spotted a stolen vehicle and set this investigation in motion and he receives my formal commendation.”

    The police later discovered that Patel had been using the vehicles in the running of an “off-the-books” vehicle rental business, where vehicles were rented out to his associates and contacts.

    The vehicles had been stolen by unknown individuals during burglaries and keyless thefts across London between October 2012 and January 2015 and were stored at or near addresses owned by Patel and his family, or with associates who looked after the vehicles for him or rented them from him.

     The identities of the cars were concealed using legitimate insurance details of vehicles which had been written off on official records.

     

  • Woman fatally shot while walking with mother, friend in Brooklyn

    Woman fatally shot while walking with mother, friend in Brooklyn

    Mohammed Jaffer

    BROOKLYN, NY(TIP): A woman was shot to death while walking with her mother in Brooklyn late Sunday, October 7 night and now the father of her children is in custody.

    Police say 24-year-old Sade Sanchez, a mother of two, was shot multiple times on St. Nicholas and Menahan streets around 10:30 p.m.

    Sanchez was walking down the street with her mother and a male friend when police say her ex-boyfriend and the father of her two young sons, 26-year-old Gabriel Rivera, came up and started shooting.

    The victim was shot several times with bullets hitting her in the neck, chest, shoulder and stomach.

    The friend who was with the victim ran to the nearby 83rd Precinct to get help. Sanchez was rushed to nearby Wyckoff Hospital, just blocks away, but died 15 minutes later.

    It’s not clear if the shooter drove up or ran up to the group, but no one else was injured. Apparently, the former couple had recently broken up.

    “I know both of them. He was like a little brother to me. That’s like my little sister, you know. This is just a bad situation. It shouldn’t have happened at all. It shouldn’t have happened this way,” family friend Joseph Ayala said.

    Police say Rivera turned himself in to police later Monday morning.

    The suspect’s surrender gave little solace to Sanchez’s family who say Rivera had essentially stalked the young mother for weeks and ignored an order of protection.

    “You do everything that you’re supposed to and then it’s just not enough,” the victim’s aunt, Leanna Santos, said.

    Rivera is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

  • Man killed during early morning shooting in Flatbush

    Man killed during early morning shooting in Flatbush

    Mohammed Jaffer

    NEW YORK (TIP): — One man is dead after a shooting at a Brooklyn intersection early Monday, October 8., according to a 1010 Wins report.

    Police responded to a call of a man shot at the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Glenwood Road in Flatbush at around 3 a.m.

    When officers arrived at the scene, they found a 39-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest.

    The victim was taken to Kings Country Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

    It’s unclear what provoked the shooting and there were no arrests made as of 7 a.m.

    Police remained on the scene throughout the morning and the investigation will remain ongoing.

    The identity of the victim was being withheld pending family notification.

     

  • One dead, two arrested after shooting behind Fort Worth shopping center

    One dead, two arrested after shooting behind Fort Worth shopping center

    FORTWORTH, TX(TIP): Fort Worth police arrested two shooting suspects after they ran and attempted to hide inside Hulen Mall.

    The shooting happened behind a shopping center at Hulen Street and South Drive, but the two were captured inside of the mall midday Thursday, October 4, after witnesses saw them and called police.

    The two men were found in the bathroom of a clothing store near the food court and were trying to disguise themselves by changing clothes, police said. The men didn’t resist and were arrested. One of them had a handgun.

    Police say the person the suspects shot at died at the hospital. Witnesses saw him stumble and collapse near the intersection of Hulen and South.

    People who tried to help him at the scene saw at least one gunshot wound on his neck.

    “He had been shot in the neck and bleeding from his neck so bad it covered his whole abdomen,” said witness Chris Lawson. “Plain white t-shirt covered in blood, everybody ran over to help him.”

    Police are investigating witness reports that the victim may have been shot twice.

    Crime scene investigators could be seen Thursday afternoon looking over a car not far from where the victim was found. Detectives are examining how the car is connected to the shooting.

    The names of the two people arrested have not been released.

    (Source: FOX 4)

     

  • South Carolina shooting leaves one officer dead: cop killing suspect is 74-year-old Vietnam veteran

    South Carolina shooting leaves one officer dead: cop killing suspect is 74-year-old Vietnam veteran

    FLORENCE, SC(TIP): A man shot seven police officers in South Carolina, killing one, in a standoff so dangerous that the police had to use a bullet-proof vehicle to rescue the wounded, authorities said.

    The man also held children hostage for two hours in his Florence home on Wednesday afternoon, but they were released safely as the suspect was taken into custody, Florence County Sheriff Maj. Mike Nunn said.

    The South Carolina man who is accused of shooting seven law enforcement officers, killing one of them, has been identified as 74-year-old Fred Hopkins, who was being held by authorities Thursday, October 4 evening but not charged.

    Hopkins, who lived at the site of the shootings, was in custody and being hospitalized for a head injury, according to TV station WMBF. Florence County Deputy Chief Glenn Kirby said law enforcement officers have not spoken with Hopkins because of “multiple health issues,” the TV station reported.

    According to South Carolina Judicial Department records, Hopkins is a lawyer who was disbarred, the Greenville News reported. He wrongfully collected $18,000 in “attorney’s fees” and was disbarred in 1984.

    Court records show in 2014, Hopkins was charged with public disorderly conduct, according to the Associated Press. Records also show that he had criminal charges brought against him in 2015 for not paying a court-ordered fine. A jury found him guilty of not paying a fine in 2017, records also show. Divorce records show Fred Hopkins served in the Vietnam War. He was injured in his time overseas and received military disability, according to court filings.

    Hopkins described himself on Facebook as “a competitive marksman,” reported the Associated Press, and he shared photos of himself with a M-14 rifle at a firing range “set up exactly like one I used in Vietnam in 69-70.”

    Florence Police Officer Terrence Carraway was among the seven law enforcement officers shot. Carraway died from his injuries. He was a retired technical sergeant with the 315th Airlift Wing based in North Charleston.

  • Indian-Origin UK Based Couple Slashed with Knife in UK Fruit Store Robbery

    Indian-Origin UK Based Couple Slashed with Knife in UK Fruit Store Robbery

    LONDON (TIP): An Indian-origin UK based couple were slashed in a knife-point robbery at their fruit and vegetable shop in Handsworth, in the West Midlands region of England.

    Chaman Lal, a local politician, and his wife Vidya Wati were taken to a hospital with minor cuts and injuries after the armed robbery at their shop Uplands Fruits on Sandwell Road.

    West Midlands Police said a 45-year-old man and woman aged 33 were arrested on suspicion of the robbery and remain in police custody for questioning.

    “We don’t underestimate how distressing this would have been for the two victims. We have managed to quickly identify and arrest the suspects who will now be questioned,” said Detective Inspector Gemma Currie of West Midlands Police.

    Chaman Lal, a Labour Party Councillor for Soho and Jewellery Quarter in Handworth, near the city of Birmingham, runs the fruit and vegetable business with his family. The couple’s son, Bal, had released CCTV footage of the attack and offered GBP 1,000 reward to anyone with information about the attackers.

    “We are still shocked at the moment. It was a bad experience,” Councillor Lal said.

    “We have had very good support from our family and the community. We are grateful for all the support we have been getting,” he said.

    The shop reopened as usual and attracted a number of well-wishers.

     

     

     

  • Indian- Origin British Sikh Woman Jailed for Harassing Hindu Ex-Boyfriend and Family

    Indian- Origin British Sikh Woman Jailed for Harassing Hindu Ex-Boyfriend and Family

    LONDON (TIP): An Indian- origin British Sikh woman was handed down a two-year suspended jail term by a UK court for launching a campaign of racist abuse and harassment against her Hindu ex-boyfriend and his family over a period of five years, including posting beef through their door as an attack on their faith.

    Amandeep Mudhar had pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment and was handed down a two-year sentence at Swindon Crown Court in south-west England on September 25.

    “Most people from religious backgrounds seek to find a common ground on what they share, be it a faith in god or human nature. Not from you: your behavior was unrelenting, provocative and extremely frightening,” said Judge Robert Pawson during the sentencing hearing.

    The court was told of Amandeep Mudhar orchestrating a series of attacks on the unnamed family of her former boyfriend, including abusive and threatening phone calls and attacks on social media.

    The court was told that the 26-year-old had a brief relationship with the man, which was “never fully intimate”, over a few weeks in 2012.

    But after he ended the affair citing cultural differences, Amandeep Mudhar and her family launched into the attacks which included threats of rape against his sisters and mother and also to blow up their home and cars, the local daily reported.

    Prosecutor Sue Cavender told the court that after 2015, she was made subject to a harassment warning by the police and a civil injunction brought by the family, which prevented her from contacting them.

    However, she breached that with a social media message two minutes before it expired, saying to one of his two sisters “now watch what happens”, the report said.

    Amandeep Mudhar then enlisted the help of a friend, 30-year-old Sandeep Dogra, to send numerous “offensive” Facebook and Instagram posts directed at the family. As well as threats to kill them and rape them, one of the comments branded them “fat, like your elephant god”.

    The duo also went to the temple the family frequented, where they harassed the man’s parents, the report said.

    In another incident, a parcel of beef was put through the door of the family home which, being Hindus, they found very upsetting, the prosecution said.

    In victim impact statements, the man’s two sisters said they had suffered great stress for many years because of the harassment and one of them claimed that Amandeep Mudhar even got another child to bully her six-year-old son at school as part of her campaign of abuse.

    Amandeep Mudhar and Sandeep Dogra had both pleaded guilty to harassment but avoided time behind bars as they were handed down two-year suspended jail sentences, which refers to a deferred custodial sentence on strict conditions.

    She also faces a six-month curfew, during which her movements will be curtailed. She has also been directed to complete 100 hours of unpaid community service, attend rehabilitation days and pay 750 pounds towards legal costs.

    The judge also imposed a restraining order banning Amandeep Mudhar and Sandeep Dogra from contacting the family, going to the roads they live on or the temple they visit.

    “I hope this sentence draws a line in the sand and there will be no repetition. You have been warned, both of you,” the judge said.

    Amandeep Mudhar’s lawyer highlighted her difficult childhood, during which her mother treated her harshly, and Sandeep Dogra’s lawyer said that he became involved after he felt the victims had racially abused his mother.

    The court was told that they both had been shunned by their local community after the details of the case had emerged earlier this year.

     

  • The Accuser of Sexual Assault by Judge Kavanaugh to Testify Next Week

    The Accuser of Sexual Assault by Judge Kavanaugh to Testify Next Week

    Christine Blasey Ford seeks “fair terms and her safety”

    Protests against Kavanaugh’s confirmation; 56 arrested

    NEW YORK(TIP):  The woman who has accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault is prepared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, so long as senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” her lawyer told the committee on Thursday, September 20, according to a news report in New York Times.

    The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, ruled out Monday as a possibility, but also appeared to leave the door open to testifying even if the F.B.I. does not investigate her accusations, as she had previously requested. The surprise offer was the latest twist in an on-again, off-again negotiation between Dr. Blasey and Senate Republicans, who have scheduled a hearing for Monday and set Friday as a deadline for Dr. Blasey to tell them whether she would attend.

    “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety. A hearing on Monday is not possible, and the committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event,” wrote the lawyer, Debra S. Katz, adding, “Her strong preference continues to be for the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow for a full investigation prior to her testimony.”

    Dr. Blasey’s accusations have rocked Washington, upending the confirmation proceeding for Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second nominee to the Supreme Court, only days before he was to receive a vote in the committee. A research psychologist in Northern California, Dr. Blasey — who is sometimes called by her married name, Ford — has accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school in the early 1980s — an allegation he has vigorously denied.

    Thursday’s email jump-started talks between Dr. Blasey’s lawyers and Democratic and Republican committee aides that continued into the evening. They centered mostly on logistical issues, such as timing and security for Dr. Blasey, and whether there might be additional witnesses; the discussions were cordial, according to several people familiar with them.

    But there were a number of sticking points. Dr. Blasey’s lawyers asked for the committee to subpoena other witnesses, and for Judge Kavanaugh to testify first, but both requests are viewed by Republicans as nonstarters. Republicans had proposed bringing in an outside counsel to do the questioning, but the lawyers objected, fearing that the hearing would take a prosecutorial tone and arguing that senators themselves should be engaged.

    The lawyers suggested Thursday as a hearing date, which Mr. Grassley is considering and taking up with his colleagues. And there was one point of agreement: Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that they needed to take steps to ensure Dr. Blasey’s security.

    The talks came only a day after Republicans and Dr. Blasey appeared to reach a stalemate, with Republicans — backed by President Trump — demanding that Dr. Blasey testify on Monday or not at all, and Dr. Blasey resisting.

    For his part, Judge Kavanaugh said he wants a hearing as soon as possible, so that “I can clear my name.”

    “Since the moment I first heard this allegation, I have categorically and unequivocally denied it,” he wrote in a letter released by the White House. “I remain committed to defending my integrity.”

    Dr. Blasey’s offer seemed to catch the White House off-guard. Trump advisers and people close to Judge Kavanaugh were betting that she was unlikely to testify, and her decision to do so left Mr. Trump less bullish on the judge’s chances for confirmation than he was earlier this week.

    The way forward — and what effect it might have on Judge Kavanaugh’s chances for confirmation — remained unclear. On Wednesday, Republicans, sensing Judge Kavanaugh had enough support to be confirmed despite the allegations, set a committee meeting for Wednesday for a possible vote to move the nomination to the floor. That session is now in question.

    George Hartmann, a spokesman for Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, declined on Thursday to say whether Mr. Grassley would accept a date other than Monday.

    “We’re glad to hear back,” Mr. Hartmann said, “but that’s about the extent to which we can comment.”

    The Blasey email appeared to put Republicans — who on Wednesday were accusing Dr. Blasey of backing out and calling her sincerity into question — back on the defensive. Republicans are aware that they can ill afford to look as if they are railroading a sexual assault survivor. If they stick to their position that Dr. Blasey can testify on Monday or not at all, they risk looking like bullies — just weeks before midterm elections when their party is already expected to suffer from a backlash from women.

    With the Senate out of session and many members back in their home states, Republicans were noticeably silent on Thursday on Dr. Blasey’s offer. Democrats, meanwhile, appeared to be sticking to their position that an F.B.I. investigation should precede any hearing.

    “Our view on the Democratic side seems to hardening and deepening that an F.B.I. investigation should be done, and I’m going to be reaching out to my Republican colleagues to set a timetable,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview before the Blasey email.

    But after it came to light, he softened. Dr. Blasey, he said, has “a right to decide how and when she tells her story.”

    “So, if the terms are acceptable to her, I certainly would be there,” Mr. Blumenthal said.

    Those close to Dr. Blasey, 51, have described her as overwhelmed and terrified. Since she went public on Sunday in an interview published by The Washington Post, Dr. Blasey has received an outpouring of support on social media, but also vulgar emails and messages, including some death threats — a point Ms. Katz reiterated in her email on Thursday to the committee.

    “As you are aware, she has been receiving death threats, which have been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and she and her family have been forced out of their home,” the email said. “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”

    In both the interview with The Post and a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Dr. Blasey said that she had been at a small gathering of teens in suburban Maryland when Mr. Kavanaugh and a friend pushed her into a bedroom. As the friend watched, she said, Mr. Kavanaugh pushed her onto a bed, jumped on her, groped her and tried to remove her clothing. He placed his hand over her mouth to muffle her calls for help as his friend turned up some music.

    When his friend jumped on them, they all tumbled off the bed, she said. She then dashed from the room.

    As the accusations play out in the era of the #MeToo movement, Dr. Blasey’s charges are invariably evoking comparisons to the 1991 confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexual harassment by the law professor Anita Hill. Those hearings infuriated women across the United States who were outraged at the sight of Professor Hill, an African-American woman, being grilled by an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee.

    Some of those men — including Mr. Grassley — are still on the panel. And while there are now four women on the committee, all are Democrats.

    Earlier on Thursday, committee Republicans had decided to hire an outside counsel to lead their questioning of Dr. Blasey, rather than the committee members themselves, to avoid the image of 11 male senators questioning Dr. Blasey about her account.

    Instead, they were seeking to enlist the help of an experienced litigator familiar with assault cases — and are seeking a woman, according to one person familiar with the search. But because Dr. Blasey’s lawyers objected, the future of that plan is now unclear.

    Opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation continues to grow. About 270 Yale alumni — including the actor Noah Emmerich, the novelist Claire Messud and the filmmaker Ira Sachs — signed a petition demanding that the nominee insist on the full release of records relating to his White House service. Citing their alma mater’s devotion to “lux et veritas” — truth and light — the petition said it was contrary to the professed ideals of the university to withhold some records.

    Meantime, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, an independent, and his lieutenant governor, Byron Mallott, a Democrat, came out on Thursday against Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They said they worry that Judge Kavanaugh would jeopardize Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, adding that his “record does not demonstrate a commitment to legal precedent that protects working families.” They also said that he has been hostile to laws that are favorable to Alaskan Natives. And, they added, “We believe a thorough review of past allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh is needed before a confirmation vote takes place.”

    The statement from the governor and his lieutenant governor increased the pressure on Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and a key undecided vote in the narrowly divided Senate.

    Meanwhile, protests erupted against Judge Kavanaugh. Dozens of protesters opposed to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court targeted the offices of swing vote Republican senators Thursday to pressure them to vote against President Donald Trump’s nominee, who is denying allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school in the 1980s.

    Capitol Hill Police said they arrested 56 people on Thursday related to Kavanaugh protests on Capitol Hill. Roughly two dozen of those were arrested outside the office of Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, according to a police officer on the scene.

    Defiantly blocking the hallway in front of Corker’s office, the protesters, representing a coalition of progressive groups, chanted, “We believe women” and “Corker vote no” as US Capitol Police removed them.

    The senator was not there, his staff said.

    The protesters then moved down the hall to the office of Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Maine Republican and a key vote who supported the Judiciary Committee delaying a vote on the judge to get testimony from his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

    The protesters continued to visit the offices of key senators throughout the day, including Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    (Source: NY Times; CNN)

  • Indian-Origin Bus Driver Who Killed 2 in UK Crash was Suffering from Dementia

    Indian-Origin Bus Driver Who Killed 2 in UK Crash was Suffering from Dementia

    LONDON(TIP):  Indian-origin bus driver, suffering from dementia was found by a UK court to have caused the deaths of two people with his dangerous driving in the city of Coventry nearly three years ago.

    Kailash Chander was deemed unfit to stand trial for the fatal crash due to his mental state and the jury at a “trial of facts” hearing at Birmingham Crown Court was directed to only determine whether Kailash Chander “did the acts”.

    Kailash Chander, a former town mayor of Leamington Spa, mistook the accelerator for the brake before the fatal smash, which caused the death of seven-year-old schoolboy Rowan Fitzgerald, who was sitting at the front of the upper deck of the bus and died of a head injury.

    A 76-year-old pedestrian, Dora Hancox, died from multiple injuries after being hit by the double-decker bus and a falling lamppost when it crashed into a supermarket in October 2015.

    Kailash Chander had been warned about his “erratic” driving after four crashes in the previous three years, the court was told. It was said he had struggled to punch a ticket seconds before the fatal crash because his hands were shaking.

    Judge Paul Farrer, summing up the case at the hearing, said one witness had described the movement of Kailash Chander’s double-decker bus as appearing to have “no driver with the accelerator jammed on”.

    The court heard that Kailash Chander had experienced suicidal thoughts, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and was “very preoccupied” by the crash. The 80-year-old may face a supervision order at a further hearing in November.

    Bus company Midland Red South, which has pleaded guilty to health and safety law breaches, faces an unlimited fine and will also be sentenced later.

    Lawyers for Kailash Chander, who was 77 at the time of the crash, argued he was driving carelessly and should not be found guilty of dangerous driving.

    Before the jury handed down their verdict, the judge told the panel: “You will obviously feel sympathy for the very real tragedy that has befallen Mrs. Hancox and her family and Rowan and his family.

    “But in judging this case and in deciding whether the prosecution have proved the act of dangerous driving, you have to put emotion to one side. You are here to judge the evidence objectively and dispassionately.”

    A spokesperson for the bus company said: “We are deeply sorry for the heartache of those affected, particularly the families of Rowan Fitzgerald and Dora Hancox.”

    In a statement, Rowan Fitzgerald’s family said “no sentence would ever stop the hurt that we feel” for his loss and called for a change in the law preventing people driving buses in old age.

     

     

  • Paul Manafort and special counsel close to deal for guilty plea, reports CNN

    Paul Manafort and special counsel close to deal for guilty plea, reports CNN

    WASHINGTON(TIP): Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman embattled by criminal indictments, may no longer fight the charges related to his Ukrainian lobbying operation, says a CNN report.

    He and the special counsel’s office are close to a deal for a guilty plea ahead of his upcoming trial, according to a source familiar with the matter. A deal is expected but the source cautioned the two sides have been close before.

    The incentive appears to be to reach a deal ahead of a pretrial motion hearing scheduled for Friday and before jury selection begins Monday in DC District Court. That’s also a week before Manafort and prosecutors make new filings in Virginia to discuss the charges and convictions he faces there.

    A plea Friday, September 14, would bring to an end one of the most active criminal cases in the DC federal court system this year. Manafort’s lawyers have filed hundreds of pages in courts to fight prosecutors’ allegations and have brought two appeals unsuccessfully, and his legal fees mounted to more than a million dollars, according to two people familiar with his case.

    Proceedings scheduled for Monday would kick off a second grueling, expensive, politically explosive three-week-or-longer trial in federal court. Manafort faces seven counts of foreign lobbying violations, money laundering conspiracy and witness tampering. The trial was likely to put on display the secret dealings of Washington’s lobbying and law firm elite.

    Manafort is accused in DC of not disclosing to the Justice Department his work for Ukrainian politicians and laundering that income. Prosecutors allege he set up meetings with lawmakers and fashioned public relations efforts in the US on the Ukrainians’ behalf.

    A jury convicted Manafort in Virginia last month on eight bank and tax fraud charges related to his lobbying wealth after a three-week trial. The evidence was largely about how he had kept money off his books and relied on others to help him lie to banks and the government. At trial, prosecutors showed how Manafort worked for pro-Russian Ukrainians and funneled millions of dollars in income through Cypriot accounts.

    It was not clear if the deal with the special counsel’s office would include cooperation. The plea is expected to address both sets of charges he faces — for the upcoming trial in DC and the 10 counts he still faces in Virginia.

    Manafort has not yet entered a new plea before the judge in DC and prosecutors have not yet revealed the terms of any deal reached with him. If a deal comes through, it will likely be announced at the court hearing at 11 a.m. Friday.

    Plea signs

    In the last few days, the prosecutors’ activities shifted from trial preparation to negotiations, according to a person familiar with the case.

    Then indications added to the possibility that a plea deal was in the works. Members of Manafort’s legal team were spotted spending several hours at the special counsel office’s Thursday, even sending a junior member of the defense team to bring lunch inside. Uzo Asonye, a prosecutor who tried Manafort’s case in Virginia, was also at the office Thursday.

    Several news outlets reported on possible ongoing talks this week. ABC News reported Thursday evening that Manafort had tentatively agreed to a deal.

    The judge overseeing his case in DC, Amy Berman Jackson, delayed a major court hearing about his upcoming trial twice this week. First, she moved it from Wednesday to Friday. Then, as lawyers inside the special counsel’s office began to leave Thursday, the judge pushed the hearing back another hour and a half Friday morning, giving no reason.

    Months of pressure

    Manafort has maintained that he is not guilty since special counsel Robert Mueller’s office first charged him with foreign lobbying and financial crimes last October. But he has had several reasons to cut a deal. With it, he could lessen the risk of another conviction and of harsh sentences, escape paying thousands of dollars for three or more lawyers to try the case and avoid the attention on himself, his associates and family.

    His unwillingness to cooperate with prosecutors since before his indictment has unspooled into several sets of new charges, making his case more complicated.

    Adding to the complications in the negotiations, Manafort’s legal team has attempted to preserve the possibility of a presidential pardon, the prospect of which a lawyer for President Donald Trump suggested to members of his earlier legal team, according to people briefed on the matter.

    After the first indictment in October, the White House distanced itself from Manafort and downplayed his time leading the Trump campaign. But in recent weeks, as Manafort faced a conviction in his related case in Virginia, Trump sympathized with him.

    “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family,” the President tweeted the week of his conviction. ” ‘Justice’ took a 12-year-old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’ – make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!”

    Manafort, Trump’s top political operative from May to August 2016, has long been considered one of the bigger fish for the special counsel’s office to hook in its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign. In addition to the financial and lobbying charges against Manafort, the special counsel’s team has said it’s investigating allegations he colluded with Russia while working for Trump.

    It is not known the extent that Manafort was still in touch with his Russia-friendly clients from Ukraine in 2015 and 2016, though even after his arrest he has stayed in touch with a Russian associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, whom prosecutors say has ties to the country’s military intelligence agency.

    Speculation that Manafort could flip to help prosecutors has built since his first charge, even leading to a judge in Virginia accusing prosecutors of trying to get Manafort to “sing” and “get” Trump. “You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment or whatever. That’s what you’re really interested in,” Judge T.S. Ellis said in court in Virginia in May.

    One year under indictment

    Over the past months, Manafort’s legal options slimmed as the special counsel notched several wins against him, including sending him to jail, securing several cooperators and gaining convictions.

    Manafort’s case marked the first indictment in Mueller’s investigation. The allegations revealed last October reiterated a year of news reports that Manafort had secretly funneled income from Ukrainian lobbying contacts for years.

    After his arrest in October, he was detained by the court in his Alexandria, Virginia, home for more than eight months.

    Prosecutors pressured Manafort further when they filed new mortgage and tax fraud charges against him in February — weeks after they discovered he was offering to secure his bail with homes tied up in his alleged mortgage fraud.

    At the time, prosecutors gave Manafort the option of keeping all his charges in the DC federal court. Instead, he gambled on splitting the case into two trial tracks, in two demographically different courts.

    Prosecutors also gained the cooperation of his longtime associate Rick Gates, who had been indicted alongside him. Gates pleaded guilty in February to helping Manafort use bank accounts in Cyprus and Grenadines to hide millions they had made while lobbying for Ukrainian politicians. Gates testified against Manafort in the Virginia trial, saying his former boss had directed him to commit the fraud.

    The special counsel’s office added a second potential cooperator against Manafort in late August when another lobbyist for Ukrainians, Sam Patten, pleaded guilty to a foreign lobbying charge. Patten’s name is likely to appear in evidence against Manafort, prosecutors said, and he has agreed to help the special counsel’s office as part of his plea. Patten worked with Manafort’s Russian associate Kilimnik through 2017 and admitted in court to illegally using a straw purchaser to buy Trump inaugural tickets for an oligarch.

    In June, prosecutors won another boost when a DC-based grand jury added witness tampering charges to Manafort’s indictment.

    Manafort and Kilimnik were accused by prosecutors of reaching out to potential witnesses in his case and coaching their possible testimony. Kilimnik has not appeared in US court or entered any plea. He has not been charged with other crimes.

    After the witness tampering accusation surfaced, a federal judge in DC revoked Manafort’s bail, sending him to jail. He is still being detained in Alexandria.

    On August 21, prosecutors won the first conviction of Manafort following the trial. Though the Virginia jurors convicted him of eight counts, they deadlocked on 10 remaining charges, splitting 11 guilty votes to one not guilty. The judge declared a mistrial on those counts. Prosecutors had not yet said what they’d do with those charges, and Manafort had not yet appealed the conviction.

    (Source: CNN)