Haiti crisis: How did gangs take over country? Is it past point of no return? Watch Q&A with Stuart Ramsay
Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and senior foreign producer Dominique van Heerden have answered your questions after a reporting mission took them into the middle of Haiti's gang violence crisis. Catch up in the stream below.
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Reuters
6 hours ago
- Reuters
Rays SS Wander Franco faces potential 5-year prison term
June 23 - Prosecutors on Monday recommended a five-year prison sentence for Wander Franco, the suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop who is charged with sexual abuse of a minor in his native Dominican Republic. With closing arguments complete, a panel of three judges will begin deliberations and the presiding judge case said he will announce a verdict on Thursday. Franco also faced charges of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of a minor, stemming from a relationship he had with a girl who was 14 at the time. However, only the sexual abuse charge is being pursued, according to a release from the public prosecutor's office. Franco's defense team, meanwhile, claims there is a lack of evidence and is arguing for the case to be dismissed altogether, according to ESPN. The prosecutors also requested 10 years in prison for the victim's mother, who is accused of sexual exploitation of minors and money laundering for allegedly accepting money from Franco to consent to the relationship. Franco, 24, was a rising Major League Baseball star in August 2023 when he was placed on administrative leave amid allegations he engaged in a relationship with an underage girl. He was moved to the MLB's restricted list in July and remains the subject of an MLB investigation. Franco remains under contract to the Rays, who signed him to an 11-year, $182 million contract extension in 2021. He is not paid while on the MLB restricted list. --Field Level Media
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Cape Town gangs wey dey recruit small-small children into di gangs
Di father wey still dey in shock lie down on one small single bed and e point to two bullet holes for di wall of im house. Dis na clear evidence of di moment wey destroy im family life forever. Dem shoot Devon Africa four-year-old son, Davin, for February, e bin dey di middle of one crossfire shoot-out between criminals. E be victim of di gang warfare wey dey disturb Cape Flats, di towns around Cape Town – di area na legacy of apartheid, wen dem force non-white population comot from di centre of di wealthy city go di under-resourced outskirts. "Dis na di bullet hole here," e tok. "Dis na wia e sleep." Di family bin already don endure unspeakable horror. Davin older sister, Kelly Amber, die two years earlier, dem shoot am too as rivals fire gun at each oda. She be 12. Now, na only one pikin remain for Devon and im wife, Undean, dia youngest daughter. "She ask me: 'Wia my brother dey?" Undean tok. "So I tell her say e dey wit Jesus for daddy heart and for my heart." These murders happun for one area known as Wesbank, but many oda families across di wider Cape Flats area don at one time endure similar nightmares, despite assurances by di police say dem go increase patrols. Di numbers tell horrifying story. Di Western Cape province – wia di Cape Flats dey - consistently see majority of gang-related murders for South Africa, according to di police. Officially, dis na policing priority for di government. President Cyril Ramaphosa set up one special unit to fight gang violence for 2018, e also briefly deploy army to di area di following year, but di problem no stop, and di killings continue. "Whole history and generations of pipo wey dem born into these gangs dey," Gareth Newham, head of di Justice and Violence Prevention programme for di Institute for Security Studies for Johannesburg. "[Dem] flourish for areas wey di state don abandon or areas wey dey underdeveloped. Di gangs dey provide a form of social structure wey dey provide services to di communities wey di state no dey do anytin for. Dem dey provide food for homes. Money for electricity. Money for transport or funerals. These gangs even dey pay school fees." Dem dey among di pipo for di community and "dat na why e dey very difficult for di police to tackle dem… e mean say dem fit use non-gang members' houses to store drugs and store weapons". But pipo dey wey dey try tackle di issue. Fifteen kilometres (nine miles) away from Wesbank na Hanover Park wia Pastor Craven Engel dey glued to im mobile phone almost all day, every day in im quest for peace. Im mission na to mediate in gang conflicts to stop dis violence and di killings, wey profitable trade in drugs dey ginger. Im and im team dey try follow one basic formula: detection, interruption and changing mindsets. "Hanover Park no really get any economy to tok of," Pastor Engel. "Most of di economy na from di drug culture. Dat na di biggest economy." Pastor Engel say dem no fit overlook di impact of di apartheid for di area but neither can generational trauma - manifested as drug addiction and then family breakdown. "Di substance [drug] create unemployment, di substance create robbery, e create gang fights sake of turfs. So, di substance dey di middle of so many of di atrocities within di community," Pastor Engel tok. E estimate say around 70% of local children wey dey there dey live wit some kind of addiction. Dis community of around 50,000 pipo gatz endure shootings and stabbings almost daily. And most time, na young pipo dey do di killing and na dem dey die. "Di policing approach alone no fit solve di problem bicos you fit arrest pipo bicos dem be members of di members, for having guns and for shootings and murders. Dem go go prison, but then, younger members go replace dem. And dat dey create a whole different set of problems. E dey likely say dem go get into fights ova territory and turf," Mr Newham tok. "How dem dey shoot pikin seven times for head or three times for im back? How stray bullet take dey hit pikin?" Pastor Engel ask. On im phone, e call community leaders and gang kingpins, wey dey constantly try to reduce di violence. Wen BBC Africa Eye visit am, e bin dey try broker one ceasefire between two warring gangs - and e bin manage to reach di jailed leader of one of dem. "If I want something to happun then e go happun. You understand pastor?" di gang boss tok for phone. "But I fit tell you one thing. I be pesin wey like to fight back if I come under fire." Threats. Even from behind bars. But Pastor Engel no dey give up. E dey highly visible for im community, weda for di house of a parishioner or bifor im large and loud congregation for di pulpit on a Sunday. "I think wetin make am dey very, very terrible now now na say more children dey involved for di gangs, bicos di gangs dey recruit between diages of eight and 15 years old," e tok. Di programme e dey run bin dey receive government money, but di funds no dey again. To cut off di supply lines and protect di innocent, e go meet victims and perpetrators anywhere and at any time. E dey also send rehabilitated gang members to negotiate directly wit warring factions. Those wey dey live on di edge of death know how important e dey to push for peace instead. Glenn Hans na one such person. E dey meet wit rival gangs to convince dem to honour a ceasefire. "I bin also dey dis game. As long as you make decision say you wan be better pesin. Dat's all," e tell one group of gang members. One of dem get chilling response: "Di more we kill, di more ground we seize and di more ground we get, di more we fit build. So, for me to speak about peace - I no fit make dat kain decision bicos no be my decision to ensure peace." Di ceasefire wey dem eventually agree on bin last just for few days, shattered by di killing of two pipo for one drive-by shooting. But some pipo wey don dey deep inside di conflict don get enough. Fernando - or Nando - Johnston dey part of one gang called di Mongrels, and e dey try find way out wit di help of Pastor Engel. Di pastor describe Mr Johnston as young pesin dem "born into di gang" since im whole family dey involved. "For dis game na only two options dey – na either you go jail or you die, " Oga Johnston tok. "I really wan change direction and I believe say way out always dey. Dat na di reason I approach di pastor - to ask am if plan or way dey to take me." E go join one six- to 12-week programme of rehabilitation wey di pastor dey run and wey charitable donations dey fund wey dey designed to get pipo off drugs and into work. "Di thing na you fit now start to dey build yourself up again," Pastor Engel tell am. "You go fit get job and make money for yourself. Then you no go need hustle and scavenge around here anymore." "I ready to go, pastor," Johnston tok as e ready to leave im battered and scarred community in search of a new path. Pipo wey close to am don gada to wish am well. Im mother, Angeline April, hold back her tears, desperate say, dis time, her son go choose life. "Please just make di best of dis opportunity, Nando," she tok. "Yes mummy, I always make di best of a situation." "Fernando papa na gangster but my oda children papa na gentleman," Mr Johnston mama tok. "But bicos e be gangster, di children also chook body for gangsterism despite say I constantly dey warn dem. E no easy to raise four boys on my own, you know. I always dey encourage am to change, bicos I love am well-well." And so far so good for Mr Johnston. Two weeks afta e start di programme, e still dey there. "Nando dey stabilize. E dey for works programme. E dey see im family, e dey see im children. We allow am go house and e come back and we test am and no find drugs for im system," Pastor Engel tok. Hope na rare commodity for here, but sometimes e dey spring through di cracks for di streets wey don see so much trauma. No be all streets, though. Very little hope dey found at Devon Africa and Undean Koopman house, wey siddon for di middle of battlefield. Di cycle of killings and retaliation wey don hit di area wey dey di edges of dis beautiful South African city dey overwhelming for many of those wey just dey struggle to survive. And those caught in the middle often gatz make impossible choices. "Community members, even if dem dey opposed to di gangs, are not necessarily pro-police for two reasons," Mr Newham tok. "One na say dem no know if police go come if dem call dem. And if dem call di police, dem no know if di police officers dey corrupt. Pipo no understand di scale of di challenge for South Africa." Sentiments reflected by di peacemakers on di frontlines for dis war. "Nobody go come from anywhere to help or save us. Not from overseas. Not from our local government. Nobody go come wit magic wand to cure di Cape Flats," Pastor Engel tok. "As individuals we gatz dey determined to build up resilience, create hope for our pipo and grow. Bicos politics clearly don fail us."
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Disgraced MLB star Wander Franco learns fate amid sexual abuse trial
Former MLB star Wander Franco could be looking at a lengthy stint in prison - if prosecutors in the Dominican Republic get their way. The former Tampa Bay Rays shortstop is on trial in his native Dominican Republic, facing charges of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation against a minor and human trafficking, involving a girl who was 14 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Dominican prosecutors requested on Monday that the 24-year-old baseball player be sentenced to five years in prison. The prosecutors said in court there is sufficient evidence to prove Franco had a relationship with the minor for four months and that he transferred large sums of money to the minor´s mother to consent to the illegal relationship. The prosecutors also requested the minor´s mother be sentenced to 10 years in prison, arguing she sexually trafficked her daughter. In a previous hearing, prosecutors described the evidence presented as 'convincing' and 'compelling.' Franco was having an All-Star season in 2023 before Dominican authorities began investigating allegations he had been in a relationship with a minor and paid her mother thousands of dollars for her consent. The authorities allege that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos (or $17,000) to the mother of the minor on January 5, 2023, to consent to the abuse. Prosecutors say that the minor's mother went from being a bank employee to leading an ostentatious life and acquiring assets using the funds she received from Franco. During raids on the house of the minor's mother, prosecutors say they found $68,500 and $35,000 that they allege was delivered by Franco. When the case first went to trial earlier this month, the Dominican authorities laid out their arguments against the former MLB player in the first hearing. 'Franco Aybar abducted the victim for sexual purposes for several days in the municipality of Villa Montellano, in the province of Puerto Plata,' prosecutors reiterated. '(He) then sent large sums of money to her mother (also under indictment) to prevent her from reporting him.' They claimed that the money was used to buy property. Prosecutors repeatedly alleged that Franco maintained a relationship of sexual exploitation and abuse for eight months with the minor. They argued that during that period, the minor's mother benefited from payments of money in exchange for maintaining her silence. However, when Franco's defense team first took the stand, his lawyers argued that the prosecution had no evidence to connect their client to the crimes he's accused of. They further claimed that the accusation is flawed. Franco was having an All-Star season in 2023 before authorities began investigating After an investigation that lasted over a year, judge Pascual Valenzuela ruled last September that the evidence was worthy of the case moving to trial. 'It's a solid accusation and the court understood it,' prosecutor Claudio Cordero said at the time. 'The evidence linked the defendants to what's described in the accusation.' Franco is also facing separate gun-related charges in the Dominican Republic and could face up to five additional years behind bars if convicted. Franco, who signed a $182million, 11-year contract with the Rays in 2021, was also arrested in November for illegally carrying a gun in his vehicle. It followed an argument in an apartment complex parking lot. The firearm was registered under the name of Franco's uncle and one of the MLB star's lawyers said because the gun has a license, 'there's nothing illegal about it.'
