NZ- Court hears of mother's death threat

9-1-2008 New Zealand:

A solo mother accused of murdering a convicted paedophile told friends she was going to kill him after he was found sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl, a court was told.

Glen Stinson was bashed to death in a violent vigilante attack on July 31 last year in Foxton.

It is alleged that two men dealt blows to his head and neck in the savage attack that lasted as little as a minute, while the woman watched on, before leaving him for dead. His battered body was found dumped outside a poultry farm.

The woman, 32, who has name suppression, and Aubrey Harrison, 27, denied charges of murder and appeared in the High Court at Palmerston North yesterday. Mr Harrison's uncle, Bruce Tamatea, 46, has pleaded guilty to the murder.

On the night of the killing the group had been drinking at Tamatea's home, before Mr Stinson was found touching the girl.

His partner of three months, Lesley Moana, found him lying on the bed in the dark, under a blanket, with the girl sitting on his knee. Just three weeks earlier he had been accused of molesting a 15-year-old at the home.

Another woman at the party attacked Mr Stinson and he was pushed down the stairs.

Prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk said the woman "wanted to do more" and told the party she was "going to kill the bastard".

As Ms Moana and Mr Stinson walked back to his boarding house a car stopped and they were forced inside, but Ms Moana was dropped off.

The prosecution said Mr Stinson was kept as a "virtual captive", beaten by the woman as they drove out to Himatangi Beach and back to Foxton. It is alleged he was then punched and kicked to death by Tamatea and Harrison.

Mr Vanderkolk said the injuries were inflicted in more than one minute but less than five, showing the viciousness of the beating.

Mr Stinson had tearfully and pathetically asked them to stop and showed no signs of defending himself. The accused saw the attack as avenging the sexual abuse by killing the paedophile, Mr Vanderkolk said.

Twenty-five witnesses are expected to be called, including the girl abused by Mr Stinson.

Mr Stinson had a history of sex offences against young girls dating back to 1967, and was due to appear in court on four charges, including the attempted rape of a girl under 12, when he was killed. ..News Source.. by KELLY BURNS - The Dominion Post

AU- A MAN fatally beat another - who he believed to be a pedophile - to protect his fiancee from sexual assault, a court has heard.

8-26-2008 Australia:

Duane Matthew Simpson today told the Supreme Court he "lost control" and killed Robert Albert Gardiner only after "extreme and grave provocation".

The court was told Simpson attacked Gardiner after walking in on the attempted assault of Tiahn Louise Lovell - who is charged with assisting her fiance's crime of manslaughter.

Gilbert Aitken, for Simpson, said Gardiner's actions mitigated his client's conduct.

"Simpson's first reaction was to go to the aid and protection of his fiancee, and all sorts of things were going through his head," he said.

"He saw a man trying to grope his fiancee, trying to touch her breasts, and he knew Gardiner was a sex offender who had been jailed for offences of violence.

"It was extreme and grave provocation, and he lost control."

Simpson, 27, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Lovell, 31, and their friend Brenton James Grosser, 44, have admitted assisting an offender.

Simpson killed Gardiner, whose badly beaten body was found at a property at Wandearah East, near Port Pirie, on Australia Day last year.

His ankles were bound by red tape, his shorts pulled down around his ankles and his T-shirt was stuck around his neck.

A broken piece of a whisky bottle was found wedged inside Gardiner's mouth and one of his legs was broken after his death.

In sentencing submissions today, Mr Aitken said Gardiner liked to get drunk and incite fights by claiming he was a pedophile.

He said Lovell had shared with Simpson her long history of sexual abuse and domestic violence.

It was these factors, he said, that prompted Simpson's actions.

"My client is now absolutely shocked by the gravity of his actions, and is genuinely remorseful," he said.

Justice Trish Kelly will sentence all three offenders next month. ..News Source.. by SEAN FEWSTER, COURT REPORTER

--------------------------------------------------------------

Three people accused of murdering a man at Wandearah East, near Port Pirie, have changed their pleas in the Supreme Court at Port Augusta.

7-23-2008 Australia:

Duane Matthew Simpson, 27, Brenton James Grosser, 44, and Tiahn Louise Lovell, 31, each pleaded not guilty to bashing Robert Albert Gardiner to death, in January 2007.

Their trial began this month but was stopped when Simpson pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Lovell and Grosser have admitted to assisting an offender.

There will be a sentencing submissions hearing in Adelaide next month. ..News Source.. by ABC North and West

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Man jailed for killing sex offender

9-23-2008 Australia:

A SOUTH Australian man kicked and bashed a convicted sex offender to death after the man tried to grope his girlfriend, a court has been told.

Duane Matthew Simpson, 27, was today jailed for at least six years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Robert Gardiner on Australia Day last year.

SA Supreme Court justice Trish Kelly said a post-mortem examination showed Mr Gardiner suffered 10 to 15 blows to the head, consistent with being hit, kicked and stomped on.

His body also showed signs of being run over and he was found to have a broken cheekbone and part of a broken bottle wedged in his throat.

"Basically you kicked and beat Mr Gardiner to death in a sustained and violent attack," the judge told Simpson.

She said Simpson had admitted losing control after he saw the victim making sexual advances to his girlfriend, Tiahn Louise Lovell, at a house they all shared near Port Pirie, north of Adelaide.

The judge said Simpson had problems with anger management and abused both drugs and alcohol.

He also was aware that Mr Gardiner was a convicted sex offender.

After the bashing Simpson, and another occupant of the house, Brenton James Grosser, bound the dead man's ankles with tape and moved his body out of the house.

Simpson, Grosser and Lovell then fled the scene but were tracked down by police.

Justice Kelly said she accepted that Simpson had been provoked by Mr Gardiner's action but described his response as out of proportion.

She imposed a sentence of nine years and four months with a non-parole-period of six years.

Grosser, 45, was jailed for a minimum of six months after pleading guilty to assisting an offender while Lovell, 31, was given a six-month suspended sentence also for assisting an offender.

..News Source.. by The Australian

Canada- Man returns to jail for killing inmate

6-8-2008 Canada:

Attacker's six-year sentence for stabbing likely to be served in isolation, Crown says

A 37-year-old man, released from prison in January after serving a lengthy sentence for robberies, has been returned for another six years, this time for the fatal stabbing of a fellow inmate at Joyceville Institution two-and-a-half years ago.

Dennis George pleaded guilty in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice last week to manslaughter in the death of LeRoy Paupst.

George's lawyer, John Dillon, and assistant Crown attorney Ross Drummond joined in recommending the six-year sentence to the judge.

Drummond told Justice Rommel Masse that George was an early suspect in the stabbing, but investigators with the joint-forces penitentiary squad were unable to find enough evidence to charge him.

It wasn't until after his release on Jan. 21 and subsequent arrest on a criminal harassment charge that the case was made for them - by George.

Drummond said George called the penitentiary squad from a London, Ont., jail in February and confessed to the killing, telling them "he got into it with Mr. Paupst and he died."

He claimed then, according to Drummond, that "he wanted to deal with what happened and get on with his life."

Paupst, a convicted sex offender less than a month away from release, was stabbed and died from massive blood loss on New Year's Day, 2005. It was a single puncture wound that severed an artery, according to the Crown, contrary to early reports that Paupst had been stabbed a number of times in the abdomen.

Drummond told the judge that Joyceville at the time had "open inmate movement" around 5:30 p. m., which meant virtually the entire prison population - 440 men - was in flux and moving between their ranges and recreation areas.

He told the judge that Corrections

staff noticed Paupst stumbling along a corridor between a prison courtyard and an interior recreation area around 5:55 p. m. and saw him collapse near a small canteen. They went to his aid and subsequently had him rushed to Kingston General Hospital by ambulance. But Paupst was pronounced dead at 7:03 p. m.

Masse was told that an autopsy determined that a single stab wound had cut into an artery and he'd bled to death internally.

Investigators immediately secured the video surveillance tapes from cameras overlooking the courtyard, where the attack took place, but Drummond said the film only captured the backs of two inmates running away. One of them appeared to be the same height and the same build as George, he added, but the images weren't conclusive.

Masse also heard that prison staff recovered the weapon - a bolt, ground to a point at one end - discarded on the ground close to the attack site.

The shank was actually one of about a dozen homemade weapons recovered in the search that followed the fatal stabbing, but Drummond said it was established as the one used to kill Paupst when the Centre for Forensic Science identified his DNA on it.

Drummond said George was considered a prime suspect because he has a history of assaults on sex offenders.

Drummond told Masse a second DNA sample was recovered from the bolt and while George couldn't be excluded as the donor, there were insufficient alleles to determine the DNA was his.

Paupst, a 47-year-old auto mechanic, was nearing the end of the five-year sentence he received in St. Thomas, Ont., for sexual crimes against women and girls committed between 1986 and 1998.

His victims ranged in age from 11 to 48 and a number of his crimes were distinguished by gratuitous cruelty.

National Parole Board records indicate that he kneed one of his victims, a pregnant woman, in the stomach; bit a teenage victim's breast hard enough to draw blood; and held a knife inches from the throat of a female co-worker after choking her.

He also required his victims to testify at his trial, then declined to question any of them and changed his pleas to guilty at the last minute. It was a manoeuvre his trial judge characterized as "some sort of perverse last thrust at them, to put them through further misery."

It wasn't disclosed in court whether George knew any of the details of Paupst's crimes, but the judge was told he knew his victim was a sex offender.

Defence lawyer Dillon told the judge that his client claims his attack was precipitated by a conversation he'd overheard between Paupst and another sex offender. The men were talking in a prison bathroom, Dillon said, and his client heard Paupst talking about his approaching release and describing unpleasant things he intended to do to the victims who'd testified against him.

People in the institution see his client as "a good guy," Dillon told Masse, and overhearing that conversation placed him in an untenable situation.

Dillon said George couldn't report what he'd heard to the authorities without being labelled a "rat," but George views himself as a protector of the weak, according to his lawyer.

"He has a need to protect weaker people and he felt these victims were weak," Dillon said.

It was in that context, Dillon argued, that George confronted Paupst "and admits stabbing him." His client didn't intend to kill, he said, and thought he was stabbing Paupst "in a place that was unlikely to cause death." As it turned out, "it was a crap shoot and he died."

Drummond, in explaining the joint recommendation, told the judge that George's six years will be longer and harder than the time he's used to serving.

By confessing to the killing and admitting his problem with sex offenders, the Crown told the court George has created significant housing problems for himself.

"Virtually every prison in the [federal] system is an integrated system," he explained, so it's likely George will have to be isolated from the general population.

Drummond said it's also likely, though not certain, that the National Parole Board will make him serve every day of his six-year sentence.

Masse, noting the recommendation before him, turned to George.

"You took a life," he said. "I'm of the view, sir, that [six years] is somewhat light."

He accepted it, however, considering that "the Crown, the authorities had nowhere near enough evidence against you."

Masse said: "You turned yourself in. I give you great credit for that, sir."

He was also influenced, he said, by the likelihood George will serve much of his sentence in isolation and will probably have to serve all of it.

Masse made a recommendation that George receive psychological counselling to deal with his anger-control problem in the presence of sex offenders. ..News Source.. by SUE YANAGISAWA WHIG-STANDARD COURT REPORTER

Coast Guard officer strangled after 'sexual moves' on men

12-13-2007 Trindad:

A Coast Guard officer was strangled at his Morvant apartment on Tuesday night, after he allegedly lured two young men into his apartment and attempted to sexually assault them.

The dead man was identified as Petty Officer Alister Joseph, also popularly known as "Big Joe", of Almond Court, Morvant.

Police said that around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the two men, one aged 20 of Jogie Road, San Juan, the other, 22, of Picadilly Street, Port of Spain, went to Joseph's apartment after he reportedly told them he wanted to hire them to paint his apartment for Christmas.

Police said that after the two men entered, Joseph, 46, locked the door behind him.

With the men inside, the heavily built Joseph offered them alcoholic drinks, which they accepted. He then told the men he was going into his bedroom to change his clothes.

The two men in the meantime were in the sitting room.

Joseph later emerged from his bedroom, reportedly naked, and began "making sexual advances" towards the men. They tried to avoid him and headed to the door, but Joseph had the keys. The men then began fighting back.

One grabbed a cord lying nearby and placed it around the Coast Guard's neck while the other stabbed him. It is believed that both men pulled the cord around Joseph's neck during the struggle and he died on the spot.

The men then called the police.

A team of investigators from both the Homicide Bureau and the Morvant CID, led by Acting Assistant Superintendent David Abraham, visited the scene where they conducted enquiries.

Joseph's body was later removed to the Port of Spain mortuary. A post mortem done at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday confirmed that death was due to strangulation.

Yesterday, one female relative described Joseph as a "private person" who was devoted to his Coast Guard job. The two suspects remained in police custody up to last night being questioned.

PC Phillip of the Homicide Bureau is continuing investigations. ..more.. by Trindad News

Five arrested for vigilante murder

12-11-2007 New Zealand

Five men were arrested yesterday for stoning to death a man they had accused of raping a three-year-old girl, Pretoria police said.

“The man, 29, from Winterveldt north of Pretoria, was pulled out of his home in Winterveldt during the early hours of Sunday morning. He was then stoned to death,” said Inspector Paul Ramaloko.

After the killing, the toddler was taken to a doctor and it was discovered that she had not been raped.

“All five men will appear in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court soon,” Ramaloko said. ..more.. by Sowetan News

Alleged sex offender killed for 'honour'

1-27-2007 Canada

THE victim of a so-called honour killing was under investigation for alleged sex offences it has been revealed after a murder trial.

Taxi boss Mohammed Shaheen was blasted to death by his brother-in-law at his business premises in Chorlton, Manchester.

Police believe the killing was motivated by anger over sex assaults on women dating back nine years 42-year-old Mr Shaheen is alleged to have carried out.
Advertisement

Police were investigating the sex allegations at the time of the killing but after murderer Khyber Khan was jailed for at least 30 years the enquiry has been closed.

Khyber, aged 28, travelled from his home in Pakistan to Manchester in September 2005 after it was alleged that Mr Shaheen had been behaving "alarmingly" and had made death threats to the parents of one alleged victim.

Khan was only in the country four days but managed to arm himself with a shotgun.

On the day of the murder he phoned Mr Shaheen's business, Olympic Taxis on Keppel Road, Chorlton asking for him.

When he eventually was connected to Mr Shaheen, a worker at the premises heard the soon-to-be victim say he "did not want to know" the would-be killer.

Shortly after that exchange Khan walked into the premises and without a word blasted Mr Shaheen in the chest with a single barrel shotgun in front of staff.

A Manchester court heard that police, paramedics and taxi drivers rushed to the scene to help the stricken victim who was taken to hospital but was found dead on arrival.

Four hours after the killing Khan's sister, Nasreen Khan, 26, drove him to Manchester airport and gave him money for a ticket to Lahore.

The mother-of-two, from Cornbrook Park Road, Old Trafford, was later arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice. She denied the charge but was found guilty and jailed for two years.

Her sister, Parveen Khan, faced the same charge but the jury were unable to reach a verdict and she was freed.

Through the investigation and trial the killer Khyber Khan insisted he was innocent. He claimed he had been falsely identified by witnesses of the shooting.

Manchester police knew the identity of the killer from the start of the investigation. Through international police contacts they were able to track Khan's movements as he embarked on a world tour to evade arrest. From Pakistan he travelled to Kabul in Afghanistan, then to Abu Dhabi before attempting to gain entry to Canada.

There immigration officers became suspicious and he was deported to the UK. Manchester detectives were waiting to arrest him when he got of a plane at Heathrow airport.

Trial judge Anthony Gee said: "Our civilised society cannot for one moment contemplate so-called honour killings nor anyone who takes the law into their own hands. Those who do so may expect no mercy."

He jailed Khan for life and ordered that he serve at least 30 years before he can be considered for release.

He commended the police officers who worked on this case for their thoroughness and sensitivity.

Detective Sergeant Sam Pickering who lead the investigation into the killing said: "This has been a long and complex investigation and I am pleased that Khan has been brought to justice.

"Mohammed Iqbal Shaheen leaves a wife and son who have been devastated by their loss and this incident is made even more tragic by the fact that the man responsible for her husband's death is her own brother.

"I hope today's result will go some way to helping his family and friends to begin to come to terms with what has happened and start to rebuild their lives." ..more.. by Joanne Payton

Hugs for death accused as he leaves court on bail

10-19-2007 New Zealand

A man accused of murdering his convicted sex offender father and burning down his house walked out of court and into the arms of waiting supporters after receiving bail yesterday.


Jamie Stewart Davies, 30, of Raglan, made a brief appearance in the Hamilton District Court before Judge Merelina Burnett, who was told bail was not opposed by police.

The body of Allan Wallace Davies, 57, was found in his burnt-out house in Struve St, Ngaruawahia, on September 28.

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Davies died before the fire, allegedly from injuries suffered in an assault.

Jamie Davies is charged with his murder, and arson.

Allan Davies was to be sentenced on Tuesday on five charges of indecently assaulting a girl under 12.

Davies' bail conditions were not read out in court, but the Waikato Times understands they include an order to report to police, not to be on licensed premises except for supermarkets, or to consume alcohol or drugs.

He also has to live in Raglan and surrender his passport.

A group of about half a dozen supporters waited for Davies outside court, and many engulfed him in hugs as he left the building.

Davies will reappear in court next month for pre-depositions. ..more.. by REON SUDDABY - Waikato

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Stepson cleared of murdering sex offender

10-24-2008 New Zealand:

Emotional supporters of Jamie Davies embraced and gave thumbs-up gestures after a High Court jury yesterday found him not guilty of murdering his convicted sex offender stepfather.

Jamie Stewart Davies, 31, was charged with murdering Ngaruawahia man Allan Wallace Davies, 57, last year. After 5 1/2 hours of deliberations, the jury found Davies guilty of manslaughter.

Allan Davies' body was found in his burned-out house in Struve St, Ngaruawahia, on September 28. An autopsy showed he died before the fire from injuries police said were inflicted by Davies.

Davies pleaded guilty to the arson at the start of the trial.

Outside court yesterday, Jamie Davies' supporters told the Waikato Times the jury had made the right decision.

"We're just very relieved and very raw at the moment," one supporter said. "The effects of this will be ongoing for the rest of our lives."

Davies was remanded in custody by Justice Lang. He will be sentenced in December.

During the trial, in the High Court at Hamilton, defence counsel Paul Mabey QC told the court that Davies had never intended to kill his stepfather.

Mr Mabey said Davies had gone to his stepfather's home to confront him over his historic sex offending.

The court heard that Allan Davies had been due to be sentenced in the Hamilton District Court after he was found guilty of five representative charges of committing indecencies with a girl under the age of 12.

In a taped interview with police, Jamie Davies admitting punching his stepfather 20 to 40 times but said he had not meant to kill him.

Mr Mabey said Davies was a troubled and confused person, who had lashed out without any thought of the consequences.

He described the early morning attack as "frenzied and thoughtless".

Earlier in the trial, Dr Timothy Koelmeyer - who did the autopsy on Mr Davies - gave evidence.

The court heard that Mr Davies' death was caused by an injury to his heart and a combination of fractures on both sides of the chest and breast bone. Dr Koelmeyer said Mr Davies' injuries could have been inflicted in a very short period of time.

The Crown alleged Davies had intentionally inflicted the fatal injuries on his stepfather and had wanted him dead.

Crown prosecutor Ross Douch said that after killing his stepfather, Davies had lit a fire in a calculated attempt to destroy the evidence.

During the trial, the Crown called taxi driver Barbara Tauranga to give evidence. She had taken Davies to his stepfather's home the morning of the incident. During the trip, Davies repeatedly called his stepfather a "bastard" and said he wanted him dead. ..News Source.. by AARON LEAMAN - Waikato Times

Man 'thought neighbours were pedophiles'

A MELBOURNE man allegedly murdered two of his neighbours because he wrongly believed they were pedophiles, a court was told today.
6-8-2007 Australia:

Codie Jeffrey Jakeman, 21, of Melton South, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court where he pleaded not guilty on the ground of mental impairment to two counts of murder.

His neighbours John Philemon Greene, 59, and his de facto wife Kathryn Hogg, 46, both had intellectual disabilities and were well-known and liked in the community, the court was told..

However, Mr Jakeman allegedly believed they were pedophiles and had told others he wanted to kill all pedophiles and rid the world of them, according to a police summary tendered to the court.

Police allege the couple were murdered on June 10 last year when they went to Mr Jakeman's house to help him with renovations.

Mr Greene died of head and chest injuries and Ms Hogg of head and neck wounds. Their bodies were found in Mr Jakeman's home.

Magistrate Donna Bakos remanded Mr Jakeman in custody for trial in the Victorian Supreme Court in September. ..more.. by News.com.au

Rape suspect gunned down

9-19-2007 Philippines

One of the suspects in the brutal rape-slay of a 13-year-old in Bago City, Negros Occidental, was shot dead on Monday, in what the police described as a "Sparrow-type of operation" of the New People's Army.

The victim identified as Ivan Calero, 37, was gunned down by two suspects armed with .45 and 9mm caliber pistols, and the incident was witnessed by his 6-year-old child, in Purok Helga, Brgy. Don Jorge Araneta, Bago City.

Calero died from four gunshot wounds in the head and chest, initial police investigations showed.

Calero, a trisikad driver, was among the three persons invited for questioning by the Bago police, in connection with the brutal rape-slay of Ma. Teresa Medrano in the barangay on June 20.

Police investigations also indicated that Calero, who was driving a trisikad, accompanied by his minor child, was on his way home, when the suspects flagged them down.

Without any provocation, the two unidentified armed men opened fire at Calero, but spared his daughter, police said.

The suspects did not even bother to cover their faces with bonnets or handkerchiefs to hide their identities when they shot Calero, in the presence also of other witnesses.

Responding Bago policemen recovered four empty shells of .9mm and .45 caliber pistols from the scene.

Supt. Alex Belonio, Bago police chief, yesterday said charges had not been filed against Calero, in connection with the rape-slay of Medrano, for lack of evidence.

The house of Calero is about 200 meters away from the creek where the decomposing body of Medrano placed in a sack was discovered by a rice farmer on June 20.

The two companions of Calero, identified as Jose Sedayon and Efren Fria, who were also invited for questioning, were later released by the Bago police after witnesses failed to identify them.

Police investigations showed that Medrano had four hack wounds in the nape and on the left and right side of her face, two fractured ribs and right lower jaw, hematoma in both knees and bite marks on her left breast, aside from signs of being molested.

PO1 Calixto Galido, Bago police investigator, said the killing of Calero was done in a professional manner.

The Bago police is looking into the possibility that the killing may be related to the killing of Medrano and was initiated, either by a "vigilante group", by insurgents, or persons who wanted to silence him.

Testimonies gathered by the Bago police from witnesses also showed that the two gunmen who were accompanied by two others and fled on board two motorcycles, are strangers to the place.*GPB ..more.. by GILBERT BAYORAN

Police seek more after paedophile death

8-4-2007 New Zealand:

More people can expect a knock on the door from the police over the death of a convicted paedophile in Foxton.

Police yesterday arrested a 27-year-old for the murder of Glen Stinson, the sex offender found dead on a rural property last Saturday.

The arrest follows the court appearance of a woman on assault and kidnap charges.

Inspector Mark Harrison says they want to talk to other people who were at the Palmerston North address where Stinson was the night before his body was found.

He won't talk about whether Stinson's death could be related to historical sex offences, or fresh charges he was facing. ..more.. by New Zealand City Limited



Second man due in court on murder charge
8-6-2007 New Zealand

A second man will appear in court on Monday charged with the murder of a convicted pedophile who was found dead in Foxton.

The body of Glen Donald Stinson, 57, was found on Wylies Road last weekend. He had convictions for sexual offending against children and was facing fresh charges.

A man, 27, was charged with his murder on Friday. The police say a Palmerston North man, 46, who was arrested in Woodville on Sunday, has also been charged with murder.

A woman, 31, is also facing kidnapping and assault charges over the incident. ..more.. by Radio New Zealnd

Man bullied to his death, court hears

6-13-2007 United Kingdom:
A man with severe learning difficulties was subjected to hours of violent torture before being forced to eat 70 paracetamol tablets and bullied off a viaduct where he fell to his death, a British court heard today.

Steven Hoskin was beaten, forced to wear a dog collar and "walked" around on a lead and forced to confess to being a paedophile before he was killed on July 6th last year.

Mr Hoskin, 39, who was illiterate and had the reading ability of a six-year-old, suffered hours of "terrifying torture" at the hands of Darren Stewart, Martin Pollard and three teenagers who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Hoskin, from St Austell, Cornwall, had taken an IQ test three years before his death and came in the bottom 0.4% of the country.

Stewart, 30, Pollard, 21 and a 17-year-old girl, all from the St Austell area, deny murder. The three have pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and Stewart and Pollard have pleaded guilty to a charge of false imprisonment.

Two teenage boys, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, deny assault occasioning actual bodily harm and all three teenagers deny false imprisonment. Stewart also denies one charge of intimidating a witness.

At Truro Crown Court, Cornwall, prosecutor Sarah Munro QC said that Mr Hoskin's death "came at the end of an evening during which he was subjected to hours of humiliating, painful and terrifying torment, violence and abuse in which all five played a part."

"These five treated Steven Hoskin like a slave in his own flat," she said. "They literally treated him like a dog, forced to wear his own dog's collar and lead, they found it funny."

Ms Munro told the court that Mr Hoskin was forced to confess he was a paedophile and made to sit on the floor under graffiti that read "nonce" and "should be hung".

After the initial violent abuse had finished, the court heard that the two teenage boys and Pollard left the flat.

Stewart and the teenage girl then forced Mr Hoskin to eat the tablets, the court heard. Ms Munro said that when Pollard returned to the scene, and with Mr Hoskin clearly sick, the three then hatched a plan as to how he should die.

The court heard that at about midnight they took him on a 20-minute walk to the top of a viaduct.

Ms Munro said: "Steven Hoskin fell 35 metres, 100 feet, from a viaduct.

"He was forced and bullied into falling to his death.

"Add to that the fact that over the months his will, his ability to stand up to anyone, had been completely overridden by the treatment he had received.

"He was easy pickings for bullies, he was the perfect target."

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow. ..more.. by The Irish Times

Angry Mob Kill Alleged Pedophile in Noida

4-5-2007 India:
In India a 50-year-old man who allegedly raped a five-year-old girl, died in hospital after being lynched by an angry mob reported to number 1,000.

According to The Hindu the child was also taken to hospital where she underwent surgery for her injuries.

A police officer told The Statesman:

"The locals saw the girl, dragged Arjun [Singh] out of the shelter and started beating him up...The accused has been selling ice-cream in the village for the past few years."

The attack happened in Nithari village in Noida, near New Delhi, on Tuesday. ..more.. by The Statesman

KNIFE MURDER SUSPECT FLEES

1-26-2007 United Kingdom:
A KEY suspect in the brutal murder of a pensioner has fled to England, police said yesterday. Detectives believe the man will help them capture the killer of 73- year-old Norman Moffatt.

He was stabbed near his home in Coleraine, Co Derry, on January 26, 2001 while out buying a morning paper as his wife and daughter were asleep. Police believe the murder- er planned to attack a paedophile but got the wrong man.

The detective heading the inquiry said they have received new information that could crack the case. On the sixth anniversary of the atrocity, Inspector Nigel Kyle urged any relatives who may be shielding the killer to break their silence.

He added: "While the murderer may not have a conscience I am sure that his family and his friends do.

"Quite how they can remain silent when they know the person who killed a 73-year-old man in cold blood is beyond me."

Insp Kyle appealed to two people standing at a phone box near the scene of the attack to contact police or else face becoming suspects.

He said: "I can't understand why they wouldn't come forward unless they are trying to shield the person involved." ..more.. by Alan Erwin

'KILLED BY HIS PALS'

3-22-2007 United Kingdom:
FOUR neighbours tortured a disabled man then drowned him because they thought he was a paedophile, a court heard.

Sean Miles, 37, who had an IQ of just 50, was stripped, slashed with a knife and battered with a golf club last May.

He was then marched to the river where he was drowned by the gang he thought were his friends.

Edward Doyle, 34, Terry McMasters, 24, and sisters Tracey, 36, and Karen Fathers, 35, of Littlemoor, Oxford, all deny murder.

Sean's carers said: "He was a sweet man who never did any harm."

The trial at Oxford crown court continues. ..more.. by Mirror.uk.co