Latest news with #complainants
The Herald
14 hours ago
- Business
- The Herald
Do your homework before investing your hard-earned money
Once again, hundreds of people have lost money they can ill afford to lose investing in what appeared to be a legitimate financial enterprise. All of them have now been left out of pocket, with some in dire financial straits as a result. The company's office in Greenacres is closed and its website is no longer accessible. The person running the operation also seems to be ducking and diving attempts from the complainants, as well as this newspaper, to obtain an explanation for what is looking more and more like a scam. Police are investigating after receiving numerous complaints. Unfortunately, trusting people have again allegedly been duped into putting money into an operation promising regular high returns and being left with nothing in the end. The real heartbreak, though, is that many investors either took out bank loans or used their pension payouts or life savings for the investments on the premise of quick returns. They have been left in a terrible position — no pension to sustain them, no nest egg for the future, bank loans to repay. There are more than 300 complainants on one WhatsApp group. The stories are heartrending. One man is going through a divorce he says is because of the money he lost, another investor has to beg for milk and bread from neighbours just to get by. A third is battling depression. Most complainants are from the Eastern Cape — Gqeberha mainly — with a few from Cape Town and Durban. Though the company, which started operating in 2024, did initially make some payouts, they seem to have stopped at the beginning of the year. Is it a scam? Only time will tell. If it was not a deliberate ploy to fleece the unsuspecting, the person who ran the scheme should come forward and explain what went wrong instead of going to ground and avoiding calls. We implore would-be investors in any financial enterprise, do your homework before parting with your money. Whatever claims are made on the website or in promotional material, check them thoroughly to test their veracity. The Herald
CTV News
13-06-2025
- CTV News
Trial of Waverley man accused of historical sex crimes by two young women continues in Midland
Robert Moroziuk, 50, accused of historical sex crimes by two complainants walks out of the Midland, Ont. courthouse on June 13, 2025. (CTV News / Mike Arsalides) Warning: Content in this article may be upsetting or triggering to some readers. The defence cross-examined a second complainant who alleges she was sexually violated by a Waverley man when she was a child between 2011 and 2015. Robert Moroziuk, 50, is charged with nine counts, including sexual assault, sexual interference, invitational to sexual touching and forcible confinement, relating to allegations made by two young women who said they were children at the time, between the ages of five and 12 and came forward to provincial police last year. Moroziuk heard testimony from his second accuser in a Midland courtroom Friday as defence lawyer Andrew Knott cross-examined the witness trying to find illustrate to the court inconsistencies in testimony and lapses in memory. The witness told the court Moroziuk touched her breasts and pulled down his shorts to expose himself to her in his backyard. When exactly it happened was not clear. The witness previously told the court it was during the summer. Robert Moroziuk Robert Moroziuk, 50, accused of historical sex crimes by two complainants walks out of the Midland, Ont. courthouse on June 13, 2025. (CTV News / Mike Arsalides) The defence repeatedly suggested to the complainant the incidents never occurred. 'I'm going to suggest you don't have an independent recollection of them because they did not happen,' Knott told the witness. '100% they did happen,' said the young woman who described her memory as 'foggy.' She revealed she has been diagnosed with PTSD, depression and anxiety. 'I wouldn't say it is so foggy that I can't remember,' she clarified when pressed by Knott about the reliability of her memory. Knott made a series of suggestions to the witness stating Moroziuk did not expose himself, make comments about her body; including her breasts, try to kiss her or touch her body. The witness disagreed with each of the suggestions made by the defence. She maintained the incidents occurred. Knott, during his approximately two hours of cross-examination of the witness, proposed the complainant only provided a statement to police to help bolster testimony from the other complainant in the case. Identities of the complainants are protected by a publication ban. The Crown told the court it intends to call three more witnesses to testify. The defence said it will also call its own witnesses to testify. The third day of the trial before Justice Philop John Brissette is scheduled for next week in Barrie.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
MARTIN GALLAGHER: Real policing cannot be delivered by officers sitting at a laptop
Social media can be a real boon, with individuals connecting in useful or entertaining ways that would have been unimaginable twenty years ago. Sadly, some of these connections have been far from useful. Social media has evolved in some areas as a means to share evil ideas, from terrorist content to extreme right and left views. But the evil content is far outweighed by the entertaining or useful. While it is correct that the police are made aware of and tackle content that seeks to cause actual harm, the bar for what falls into this category has been dropping year on year. Opinion and disagreement are not the place of the police. We have allowed the service to become involved in areas that some may find offensive but are far from criminal - and harm no one. This has been gradual, but with no sensible barriers put in place by the police, more and more ridiculous complaints have been received. These complainants, had they attended at a police station, would simply have been told that straightforward disagreement is not a police matter. Being offended is not a crime. By taking on an increasing number of such complaints, the danger is that the police become complacent and allow the bar for what is a police matter to continue to slip. Dealing with online arguments removes resource from where it is really needed. Actual crime solvency is down, while violent crime, particularly amongst the young, is rising. Policing a Twitter spat might be far easier than catching a housebreaker - but the impact of one is far greater than the other. The police need to be far stronger around what they will, and will not, become involved in within the virtual world and refocus on actual crime, not hurt feelings. There are finite resources available. These officers need to be directed to work of worth - not virtue-signalling. We do need police back on the streets to but the thin blue line has become considerably thinner since Police Scotland was formed - with 1,000 fewer police officers than at formation in 2013. Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, talks of avoiding the service being 'cannibalised' by looming decisions over potentially cutting police pay versus officer numbers. Sadly, it has already happened. Policing fills the holes other parts of the public sector have allowed to develop, while pet projects and niche topics have been prioritised rather than real impacts on lives. The police who are left are working from fewer and fewer police stations, in fewer communities. The Chief Constable, Jo Farrell, spoke of officers working from new premises that will improve officer and staff wellbeing. This is all very good, but what of operational realities and the needs of the public? It is crystal clear, too, that crime is expanding online, and it is right that resources are directed, where appropriate, to the virtual realm. Fraud has been allowed to metastasise while policing has been absent. However, walk down any high street in the country and it is obvious real policing is still required - and cannot be delivered at closing time by an officer sitting in front of a lap top. Technology, such as body-worn video cameras, is freeing up officer time. There needs to be careful consideration of where this capacity is applied. Rushing headlong into the virtual world while the real world suffers a dearth of policing presence would be folly. The police have made sacrifices, as numbers have dwindled and demands, many of which are not core business, have risen. The ill-advised policy of 'proportionate response' - where minor crime is effectively disregarded - is one such trade-off, while the lack of a policing presence outside nightclubs as they close is another. And officers are still spending too much time dealing with those with mental health problems, which prevents them from undertaking their core duties of preventing and fighting crime. The answer lies in grasping a nettle the Chief Constable and Cabinet Secretary acknowledged but did not take hold off. The days of politely asking Government bodies to shoulder their burden are over. They must now be told. You have to be on the streets to police them. If the police are not freed from responsibilities that aren't theirs, this will not happen. ■ Martin Gallagher is a former superintendent with Police Scotland, who served as area commander of Paisley
