Prostitute gets 10 years for 'degrading' killing of Sydney teacher

5-11-2012 Australia:

A 24-year-old male prostitute who subjected a respected Sydney high school teacher to a "cruel and degrading death" by binding and gagging him and leaving him to die, has been sentenced to 10 years' jail.

A Supreme Court judge said Yutian Li had demonstrated a "complete lack of humanity toward a fellow human being" when he killed Ian Craigie in his inner city flat in September 2009.

Mr Craigie, 63, a retired barrister who taught Classical Greek at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, was reported missing on September 21 when he failed to turn up to school.

He was found dead in his Glebe flat three days later.

Li pleaded guilty to manslaughter, one count of armed robbery and eight counts of obtaining money by deception.

Justice Christine Adamson said the two men had sex on a regular basis at the Glebe flat after meeting at a Granville brothel.

Li admitted that one morning in late September, he bound Mr Craigie's hands, feet, mouth and thighs with packing tape, stole his bank card and car, left the unit and did not return.

"The manner of restraint was cruel and degrading," Justice Adamson said.

"The offender went to considerable effort to disable and silence the deceased. He was aware that there was a good chance no one would find the deceased before he died."

Li later claimed that he did not call triple-0 because his English wasn't good enough and that he believed that the 63-year-old would be able to free himself or call for help.

He proceeded to use the dead man's keycard to withdraw $1000 a day - the maximum allowed - for the next week, until he was apprehended.

"His failure to ring triple-0 shows his complete lack of humanity towards another human being who he had exploited and ultimately killed for his own gain," Justice Adamson said.

Mr Craigie's body was so decomposed that it was hard for the coroner to determine the exact cause of death, but it was believed to be a combination of asphyxiation and dehydration.

In accepting Li's manslaughter plea, the prosecution in the case accepted that he did not intend to kill Mr Craigie. However, Justice Adamson found that he "must have had some idea that the deceased would not survive".

She rejected Li's claim that, after initially paying the young man for sex, Mr Craigie then tried to blackmail him by threatening to send naked pictures to the media if Li did not continue the relationship.

Instead, she found that the 24-year-old had been motivated by greed.

"The speed with which the offender accessed the bank accounts of the deceased is inconsistent with fear and anxiety."

"It bespeaks the calculated implementation of a preconceived plan."

Justice Adamson sentenced Li to a maximum of 10 years in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of eight and a half years. With time served, he will be eligible for parole in March 2018.

Outside court, Mr Craigie's close friend Scott McCallum said he had expected a longer sentence given the gravity of the offence. ..Source.. by Paul Bibby

Man who killed sex offender could spend 6 years in jail

3-28-2011 Canada:

A Montreal crown prosecutor has recommended six years in jail for a man convicted in a vigilante-style killing.

Patrick Belanger was convicted of the manslaughter death of 63-year-old Leonard Wells at a Snowdon-area apartment building.

In July 2009, Belanger attacked Wells after he spotted child pornography on the man’s computer.

Belanger became angry and began punching Wells repeatedly.

The victim died in hospital.

Wells was a known sex offender from Ontario.

During a pre-sentencing hearing at the Montreal courthouse Monday afternoon, lawyers debated what sentence the 28-year-old Belanger deserved.

In his arguments, crown attorney Thierry Nadon said a clear message needed to be sent that people should not take justice into their own hands.

On the other side, the defense argued three years behind bars would be enough. In court, lawyer Julien Archambault discussed his client’s alcohol and drug problems, and argued his client was a victim of sexual abuse in his youth.

Therapist Clement Proulx was one of eight people to testify for Belanger.

“This is somebody who has less than one per cent of a chance of recidivism, of committing another crime like that, of committing any crime. He doesn’t have a background of criminal history,” he said.

Eric Schorer is the janitor at the building where the crime took place.

He agreed Belanger deserved a less harsh sentence.

“I don’t think he wanted to kill him. He’s a normal type of person. He needs a break in life. He had a really rough life,” Schorer said.

The crown’s suggestion was in line with a similar recent case.

In 2009, a British Columbia resident received seven years in prison for attacking a suspected pedophile with a baseball bat.

Clifford Frederic Martin struck his victim as he lay sleeping.

The man he killed was accused of molesting a 13-year-old girl.

Justice Louise Boudreau will hand down a sentence on April 21. ..Source.. by Global Montreal

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Child-porn discovery not a 'licence to kill': Canadian man who beat his neighbour to death after finding child pornography on his computer will serve six years behind bars

4-1-2011:

A man who beat his neighbour to death after finding child pornography on his computer should serve six years behind bars, says the Crown.

Patrick Belanger, 28, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the July 2009 beating death of Leonard Wells, 63, in west-end Montreal.

Prosecutor Thierry Nadon told a Quebec Court judge the sentence would send a clear message to society that vigilante killings are unacceptable and that a man's pedophilic tendencies don't give citizens "a licence to kill."

Belanger will be sentenced on April 21.

He was initially charged with first-degree murder following the attack on July 25, 2009. He had been helping Wells to move and had asked to use his computer while the two were taking a break.

He flew into a rage when he stumbled across images of children being sexually assaulted. Belanger called 911 and warned he would take matters into his own hands unless Wells was arrested immediately. He began punching and kicking the man when police failed to arrive after 20 minutes.

Belanger called 911 a second time as Wells lay in a pool of his own blood. The victim was transported to hospital in a coma and died a month later.

Belanger later told the court the child-porn images triggered memories of his own father's tale of childhood sexual abuse. The defendant also said he was drunk at the time of the beating and he had been an alcoholic for several years.

But the Crown said the "horrific" and "revolting" images did not give Belanger an excuse to kill a man.

"We cannot allow people to mete out their own justice," Nadon told the court.

"(Otherwise) we would be promoting anarchy. Incidents such as this one ... do not give him a licence to kill."

The prosecutor said the fact Belanger waited 20 minutes to administer the beating was evidence the killing was premeditated.

Defence lawyer Julien Archambault countered Belanger had no criminal record and has been in alcohol rehab for two years.

He requested a three-year prison term.

Belanger told judge Louise Bourdeau he's a changed man and was "not thinking rationally" at the time of the deadly attack.

"I'll have to pay for what I did," he added. "I have no hard feelings towards the Crown. Justice must be served." ..source..

Teenager admits killing her 69-year-old ‘best pal’

10-11-2010 Scotland:

Harry Smith suffered a haemorrhage after being repeatedly hit by Elaine Fleming.

A teenage girl who killed a pensioner in an attack at his home was heard saying: "I didn't want him to die, he was my best pal", a court has heard.

But underage drinker Elaine Fleming had earlier called her victim "a paedophile and a pervert" and shouted she was "going to kill the bastard".

Fleming, then aged 17, repeatedly punched Harry Smith in a fatal attack at his home in Mainsford Avenue, Drongan, in Ayrshire, on October 13 last year. The 69-year-old victim suffered a massive haemorrhage in his head and died later at hospital in Ayr.

Fleming, now 18, of Hannahston Avenue, Drongan, admitted the culpable homicide of Mr Smith, when she appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Defence counsel Mark Stewart QC said Fleming was "extremely upset" over being charged with causing the death of her friend. He said it was "an odd friendship" given their ages.

A judge agreed to continue the teenager's bail for a background report to be prepared on her before sentencing.

But Lord Kinclaven told Fleming: "You should be under no illusion a custodial sentence will be uppermost in the court's mind."

The court heard Mr Smith, a father-of-two, had lived alone since the death of his wife some years previously.

Advocate depute David Young QC said that following his wife's death Mr Smith had taken to drinking and allowed others into his house to drink, among them youngsters including Fleming.

Fleming had turned up at his house on the day of the fatal attack and began drinking. Two schoolgirls later arrived and found her lying in "a drunken stupor" on the sofa next to Mr Smith. They tried to wake her but failed.

Mr Young told the court the girls said Mr Smith put a hand inside Fleming's trousers and up her top. One girl said he had remarked "Do you want her awake?" but the other said he said he was looking for money and checked her pockets.

After Fleming woke she left the house with one of the girls who told her what had occurred.

Commotion

Mr Young said: "This was the first that she was aware of anything happening. On hearing about the incident the accused said that she was going to go to his house to 'go off her head at him'."

The prosecutor said she later went back to Mr Smith's home and confronted him shouting and swearing, calling him a paedophile and a pervert and saying he had touched her when she was asleep.

He said Fleming went in and out of the house several times, including occasions when she was put out by others, but kept returning.

Mr Young said: "The commotion was overheard by several people who began to gather at the front driveway of the house.

"The accused was seen to be very irate and at one point she was heard to shout 'I'm going to kill the bastard', although this was said to be the sort of thing that she would say when in a temper. Witnesses described her as being very drunk," he said.

Fleming was seen punching the pensioner to the head. During the attack he sat on a couch and did not retaliate. Eventually his head slumped to the side but Fleming accused him of pretending to sleep. But others became concerned and an ambulance was called.

Mr Young said: "After the incident the accused remained at the scene and was described as being hysterical, at times rolling on the ground crying and screaming. She is reported as saying 'I didn't want him to die, he was my best pal' and 'I knew I hit him, but I didn't mean to do that'."

The assault victim was taken to Ayr Hospital where he was found to be unconscious and unresponsive and was placed on life support. A decision was later taken to switch off the ventilator.

Fleming was later interviewed by police and admitted hitting the deceased a couple of times, after being told he had been touching her, but said she thought it was to his shoulder and chest. ..Source.. by S-TV.com

UK- Paedophile vigilantes face life terms

2-22-2002 United Kingdom:

Retired sea captain murdered after he was cleared of indecently assaulting nine-year-old girl

Two self-appointed "paedophile vigilantes" face life sentences for the murder of a retired sea captain committed according to a plan drawn up by a teenage girl high on cannabis and alcohol.

Pub cellarman Ian Lawless, 40, and his jobless godson Gary Lawson, 19, shouted abuse as they were found guilty of setting fire to the Grimsby flat of Alf Wilkins, 67, a former deep sea fisherman and tugboat captain who had been cleared of indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Two other neighbours on the Yarborough estate in Grimsby were also convicted for their part in the murder. Mr Wilkins died of smoke inhalation after the pair set fire to his flat by igniting an accelerant they had poured through his letter box.

Chantelle Day, 17, who drew up the murder plan, will be sentenced later for conspiracy, while Gary Fairbanks, 43, was given two years for intimidating a witness.

After the five week trial at Hull crown court, Detective Superintendent Gavin Baggs, who led the murder inquiry, warned the case sent "a strong message about what happens to people who chose to take the law into their own hands".

He said: "Alfred Wilkins was a well liked old man who kept himself to himself, but who was tormented by criminal offences founded by speculation. We are particularly grateful to witnesses who bravely spoke out, sometimes against neighbours, friends and relatives."

Lawson and Lawless - who was described as obnoxious by his QC - both claimed that their actions had widespread support on the estate.

The trial heard that the pensioner, who was waiting for a hip operation, had been targeted ruthlessly - taunted in the street and savagely beaten a week before his death by two hooded men who burst into his graffiti-sprayed flat.

He led a lonely life and had befriended some of the children on the estate, but those involved with the murderous gang repaid him with vicious rumour-mongering and steadily worsening violence.

The trial was told that a murder plot was hatched over drunken drug-taking sessions, based on an illiterate blueprint drawn up by Day, who was then Lawson's 16-year-old girlfriend. This proposed not only a variety of ways of killing Wilkins but also gave details of alibis for those involved.

Extracts read to the jury included: "Put some socks in his mouth with some Sellotape over it. Pour petrol all over his flat and all over him. Then set him on fire. Then set fire to his flat making sure it is all blown up with him in it."

The trial heard details of Lawless's chronic drunkenness and fantasies, which included an attempt to persuade fellow prisoners on remand that he was a member of the Taliban. Lawson meanwhile openly boasted of the day that turpentine was poured through Wilkins's letterbox and set alight: "He is going to get done in. I am going to do it. He is going to get blown up."

The day after his victim's flat had been left a blackened ruin, he said to a friend: "I told you I would do him in. I killed Alf."

Wilkins's suffocated body was found in the kitchen of his flat in February last year with the word "Nonce" - prison slang for sex offender - scrawled on the window, and his 12-year-old black alsatian Lucky lying nearby. Lawson told Humberside police detectives after his arrest: "When it became known Alf was dead, everyone wanted to party."

Fairbanks was found not guilty of incitement to murder but admitted telling a witness Mandy Tasker, his next-door neighbour: "Tasker, you're a fucking grass. I am going to petrol bomb your house." ..Source.. by Martin Wainwright

UK- SEX CON KILLER HUNT

6-10-2005 United Kingdom:

A CONVICTED sex offender has been found stabbed to death at home.

Gerald Furlong, 67, was discovered in his flat with multiple knife wounds.

Police had not ruled out a vigilante attack as the motive for murder.

The delivery driver from Enfield, North London, had been given a three-year probation order in 1992 for five counts of indecent assault. His body was found on Sunday.

Det Chief Insp John MacDonald said: "We are looking at all possibilities.

"The conviction is quite historic and it's not necessarily the motive for this brutal attack." ..News Source.. by Mirror.co.uk

Victim killed own dad after teacher abuse, court told

1-19-2008 Ireland:

THE sentencing of a former Marist Brother heard evidence yesterday from a man who killed his own father in the belief that he had gained financially from his sexual abuse.

Paul Gordon (43) says he was sexually abused by three brothers at St John's Primary School in Sligo in the 1970s.

Yesterday, waiving his right to anonymity, he was the sole witness in the sentencing hearing of former Marist Brother Martin Meaney (65), who has pleaded guilty to five sample charges of indecently assaulting Mr Gordon when he was eight. He will be sentenced next week.

It emerged in evidence that Mr Gordon believed his alcoholic father was being paid money by another Marist Brother to get his son to present himself to be sexually abused.

In 1983, Mr Gordon was jailed for eight years for the manslaughter of his father -- and only after his release did the truth emerge.

His claims eventually spearheaded a garda investigation which has led to hundreds of past pupils being interviewed and of charges being brought against five former teachers.

Gda Det Sgt Dermot Flannery told the court that Mr Gordon had shown "courage and determination in exposing a dark chapter in the history of the school".

Formerly known as Brother Gregory, Meaney taught in St John's from 1970 to 1972. In December 1991 he pleaded guilty to eight sample charges out of a total of 109 charges of buggery, indecent assault, sexual assault and rape of six boys at a primary school in Castlerea where he subsequently taught and he was sentenced to 18 years in jail. This was later reduced to 12 years on appeal.

He now lives alone in a bedsit in Dublin. He was questioned by Sligo gardai while still in Arbour Hill and he admitted he had selected Mr Gordon for abuse. "He was a pasty-faced, weak little lad, pale and sickly and I felt sorry for him. I did feel for boys who were deprived. I did pick the weakest lad in Paul Gordon," he said.

The abuse took place in the classroom after school and when he took the child for music classes.

Mr Gordon made his initial complaint in 1995 but the DPP recommended no prosecution. However in 1999, the garda investigation team was set up.

Indecent

In 1999 and again in 2001, retired teacher Michael Cunnane received suspended sentences for indecently assaulting eight boys.

In June 2005, Peter White (74), formerly Brother Agnellus, of Celbridge Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to eight sample charges of indecent assault on two boys at the school.

In July 2005, a teacher at St John's National School, Sligo, Patrick Curran, was found guilty of indecently assaulting nine boys. He was sentenced to 12 years, since reduced to nine. ..more.. by Anita Guidera

Killed tourist 'mistaken for pedophile'

8-19-2005 United Kingdom

AUSTRALIAN tourist Newton Thompson may have been murdered in London earlier this month because of his uncanny resemblance to convicted pedophile Robert Excell, a police source says.

Police are investigating the death of Mr Thompson, whose body was found at a hotel in Paddington, west London, on August 2.

He had suffered heavy blows to the back of his head.

Excell was deported from Western Australia to his native UK on July 30, two days before Mr Thompson's murder.

Excell, 66, and Mr Thompson, 61, both had longish white hair and clipped white beards, and both wore almost identical silver metal-framed glasses.

"The likeness between the victim and Excell is quite uncanny and the timing of the murder could be important," an unnamed police source was quoted as telling The Sun.

"We urgently want to hear from anyone who saw Mr Thompson on the night he was murdered.

"We also want to hear if anyone heard someone bragging about killing Excell."

Mr Thompson, from the southern Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, was on a six-week tour of the UK and Ireland.

He was using the Paddington hotel as his base during his travels. ..more.. by News.com.au

Friends 'beat pensioner to death over child sex claims'

12-14-2004 United Kingdom:
John Fallen, 69, of Dunfermline, was found dead early on January 2 following the New Year’s Day attack.

A neighbour told the jury that she heard heated conversation in Mr Fallen’s flat and then the fearful cries of the elderly widower, known to his friends as Jack.

The High Court in Dunfermline was told that Neil Dougal, 36, of Glenrothes, and his friend Mark Hunter, 39, of Dunfermline, who both deny culpable homicide, had been drinking vodka with their partners on New Year’s Day when they decided to visit Mr Fallen to “find out the truth” about the child abuse claims.

The pensioner, whose wife had died two years earlier, lived alone with his dog. His flat was just a few minutes’ walk from Mr Dougal’s home, where the two accused had been drinking.

Jacqueline Gorniak, 28, Mr Hunter’s partner, who was giving evidence yesterday, said that the two men had returned after about ten minutes. Mr Dougal described how he punched and kicked Mr Fallen and stamped on his head, she said. Later he phoned a friend and bragged that he had “done the business”.

Ms Gorniak said she felt sick when she heard what they had done. She said she was not convinced that the sexual assault allegations were true. She said that the men told her that Mr Hunter had been the first to throw a punch. “Neil had asked (Mr Fallen) if the allegations were true and that’s when Mark hit him,” she said.

Later at about 4.30am Mr Hunter and Ms Gorniak left Mr Dougal’s house to return home and passed Mr Fallen’s flat, where police were erecting a scene-of-crime tape. She said that Mr Hunter had wished the policeman a happy new year and asked him what had happened, but the policeman had refused to say.

Earlier Mr Fallen’s American neighbour, Dorothy Todd, 70, said that she heard the pensioner cry out in terror shortly before he was found dead. She said she had heard voices in Mr Fallen’s flat from about 9.30pm and they suddenly got louder at about 11.30pm. At that point, she said, her whole flat shook for a few minutes as if it had been hit by an earthquake. After watching two people leave, she tried to call Mr Fallen but got no answer so she rang his daughter, who called police.

Christine Atherton, Mr Dougal’s sister, said that her brother “loved” Mr Fallen and treated him like a member of the family. “Michelle (her brother’s partner) and Neil were very close to him. They saw each other every day. They were very upset at the allegations. But Neil said he would let the police deal with it,” she said.

The trial continues. ..more.. by Shirley English



Attacker 'left footprints on skull of dead pensioner'
12-15-2004 United Kingdom:
A PENSIONER kicked to death in his own home was struck with such force his attacker left several footprints imprinted on his skull, a court has heard.

A pathologist yesterday told the High Court in Dunfermline that John Fallen, 69, died after a single blow to the head caused a massive brain haemorrhage.

Professor Derek Pounder said he was in no doubt that the fatal blow had been struck while Mr Fallen had been lying on the ground. He added that, before Mr Fallen died, he had been kicked at least 15 times in the head.

Prof Pounder told the High Court: "Mr Fallen sustained a number of punches, kicks and stamps targeted around the eyes, ears and cheeks. Some of the injuries had the pattern of a shoe imprinted on the victim’s skin surrounding the skull."

Mr Fallen was found dead in his Dunfermline flat just after midnight on January 2 this year. The court was told that the two men accused of killing him, Neil Dougal, 36, and Mark Hunter, 39, had been drinking on New Year’s Day when they decided to confront Mr Fallen about rumours he had molested a girl.

Dougal’s brother, John Dougal, told the court that while his brother had admitted visiting Mr Fallen, he said the pensioner was alive and standing when he had left.

Dougal, of Glenrothes, and Hunter, of Dunfermline, both deny assaulting Mr Fallen, repeatedly punching him, kicking him, stamping on his head and body and killing him. The trial continues. ..more.. by Evening News



Suspect in death trial 'threatened co-accused'
12-17-2004 United Kingdom:
THE trial of two brothers-in-law accused of beating a pensioner to death has heard claims that one had threatened the other with repercussions in jail.

David Burns QC made the allegation yesterday as he defended landscape gardener Mark Hunter. Hunter, 39, is jointly accused with 36-year-old Neil Dougal of the culpable homicide of 69-year-old John Fallen at his home in Dunfermline on New Year’s Day this year.

Each has blamed the other for giving Mr Fallen a severe beating after hearing rumours that he had sexually abused a young girl. In evidence, Dougal admitted being at Mr Fallen’s house on the night he died and said he "couldn’t believe it" when he learned of his death.

He said his wife had phoned Hunter, who came round to his flat and they agreed to tell police that they had all been drinking together on the night of the incident and that none of them had left at any point. The court heard that Hunter broke the pact and told police that they had visited the old man. Hunter said that while he had hit Mr Fallen once and kicked him twice, Dougal "lost it" and kicked and punched him repeatedly.

Mr Burns, cross-examining Dougal, accused him of threatening Hunter as the two arrived at court yesterday. Dougal replied: "He’s also threatened me. My whole family got threatened today."

Dougal, of Glenrothes, and Hunter, of Dunfermline, both deny the charge of culpable homicide. The trial continues. ..more.. by Evening News


Men jailed for vigilante killing: Dougal and Hunter were jailed for a total of 20 years
1-18-2005 United Kingdom:
Two men have been jailed for a total of 20 years for battering a pensioner to death after hearing he had been accused of being a paedophile. Neil Dougal and his brother-in-law Mark Hunter were found guilty of the assault on 69-year-old Jack Fallen at his home in Dunfermline last January.

The retired dockyard worker was kicked and stamped on up to 20 times.

At the High Court in Forfar, Dougal, 36, and Hunter, 39, were each jailed for 10 years. At their trial, the High Court in Dunfermline heard how the pair had conned their way into Mr Fallen's home after hearing he had been arrested for abusing a young girl.

Some of the blows received by Mr Fallen, who lived alone, were so fierce that training shoe imprints were left on his body. He died of a brain haemorrhage.

There is no question, but that I have a duty to impose custodial sentences of a significant length

Lord Brodie

Dougal, a house painter, and Hunter, a landscape gardener, were found guilty of killing the elderly widower on New Year's Day 2004.

They had blamed each other for landing the fatal blow.

Sentencing them, Lord Brodie said: "You must both understand you have been found guilty 'art and part' for the culpable homicide of the late Mr Fallen and the sentences I impose must reflect that.

"There is no question, but that I have a duty to impose custodial sentences of a significant length.

"The jury were entitled to find you both went, not with the intention of killing him, but to seriously assault him.

"The evidence from the post-mortem report and from the witness in the upstairs flat from what she heard, point to a very severe assault on an elderly man who was alone in his house. I do not see significant differences between your positions."

'Ugly conversation'

Mr Fallen had been arrested over Christmas 2003 and accused of sexually abusing a child, which he admitted to police was true.

When news of Mr Fallen's arrest as a suspected paedophile reached the close-knit community around Haig Crescent, Dunfermline, Dougal and Hunter hatched a plan to beat up Mr Fallen, who had been released on bail six days earlier.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice said the duo had an "ugly conversation" and then decided to "go round and sort old Jack out".

Each claimed the other had been "jubilant", having "done in a beast" and that they had left the house first while their victim was still alive.

Fife Constabulary launched a murder hunt, but six days later Hunter came forward and confessed what he and his brother-in-law had done.

From the start he tried to blame Dougal, telling police he had "lost it" and "wellied" the old man, but Dougal claimed Hunter had egged him on.

Vigilante action is not noble and is never justified

Det Insp Alex Watson

However, after an eight-day trial the jury took less than 90 minutes to find both men guilty of culpable homicide.

Dougal, now of Julian Court, Glenrothes and Hunter, of Robertson Road, Dunfermline, showed no emotion as they were led away from court.

Counsel Matt Jackson, representing Hunter, said his client was "a man who felt a very heavy burden of conscience upon himself".

Detective Inspector Alex Watson said: "We were convinced Mr Fallen knew his killers and had let them in. There was very little sign of any disturbance.

"Every time Mark Hunter looked out of his bedroom window in Robertson Road he would have seen the police incident bus.

"He obviously couldn't live with what he had done. Vigilante action is not noble and is never justified." ..more.. by BBC News