Latest news with #prosecutor
The Independent
4 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Heaven security guard ‘a proven liar' who targeted drunk woman, rape trial told
A Heaven security guard accused of raping a 19-year-old woman is 'a proven liar' who targeted her after realising she was drunk, a court has heard. Morenikeji Adewole, 47, of Dartford, Kent, is on trial accused of raping the teenager in his car near the central London club in the early hours of November 1 2024, which he denies. Jurors were previously told that the woman was visibly drunk and stumbling and that a person can be too intoxicated to give proper consent. Giving her closing speech at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor Marion Smullen said the complainant, who cannot be identified, had drunk an unusually high amount of alcohol on the night of the alleged incident, and that Adewole took advantage of her state and 'jolly well knew what he was doing'. She told jurors: 'The only person who was sober that night was Mr Adewole. All of those young people that night had been drinking. 'He targeted somebody that he knew was drunk.' The alleged victim had queued outside the club for around two hours with five friends for a Halloween event but only three of the group were allowed in. Toxicology reports conducted after the alleged incident showed the average alcohol level recorded in the complainant and the group of friends was three-and-a-half times over the legal driving limit, the prosecutor said. Ms Smullen said: 'That young girl did not have capacity. She was so drunk that she did not know what she was doing. 'Mr Adewole could not have had any reasonable belief that she was consenting.' The defendant previously pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of an identification document with improper intention, and had been employed at Heaven using a false ID under the name Olusola Julius Alabi, the trial previously heard. He also gave a fake name to police when he was arrested and was only correctly identified later through fingerprint evidence. Ms Smullen said the convictions showed Adewole had 'lied consistently' since January 2024, when he began working at the nightclub. '[He is] a proven liar, somebody who is quite happy to lie when it suits him,' the prosecutor said. Jurors were previously played the alleged victim's police interview, in which she told officers she was a Christian who was 'saving herself until marriage' and felt 'violated'. She said she had attempted to push the security guard away when they were together in his car but he carried on and penetrated her vagina. Ms Smullen said the woman's testimony was at complete odds with Adewole's version of events. She told jurors: 'We have got this young girl who has basically decided she doesn't want sex before marriage. 'But according to Mr Adewole, she was desperate for sex, so desperate she throws away her own beliefs in order to have sex with him.' The prosecutor asked members of the jury to consider all the evidence in the case 'with a scientific and careful eye'. Ms Smullen said abrasions identified on and around the complainant's vagina during a medical examination were caused by penetration from the defendant. Adewole claimed in his evidence during the trial that there was sexual activity but he did not have penetrative intercourse with the woman. He added that the woman had earlier told him she was 25 years old but in the car she said she was 19 and he 'stopped immediately'. Stephan Alfred, defending Adewole, compared the security guard's case to 'a Victorian trial of morality' and said the evidence pointed 'far more in the direction of Mr Adewole being accurate than the other way round'. Examining the alleged victim's evidence in his closing speech, he told jurors: 'This young lady professes to remember the conscious bits and does not remember the unconscious bits. 'She does not have a memory of quite a few other significant moments during the course of that evening.' Mr Alfred told jurors that CCTV footage showing the woman getting back into Adewole's car 'in a kindly fashion' did not fit with the actions of someone who had just been raped. He said: 'According to every single one of the friends, she said words to the effect of 'I had sex with the bouncer'. 'Is someone whose aim is to get into the club by 'f****** a bouncer' the sign of someone who lacks the capability of making a choice? 'There is a purpose behind it.' The alleged victim denied making such statements when put to her during her evidence. The barrister asked the jury to consider how Adewole 'puts his hi-vis jacket back on and just saunters back to work' following the alleged offence, suggesting he might try and make himself 'a bit more scarce' if it had occurred. Police were contacted at 2.59pm on November 1 when the alleged victim reported being raped, the trial previously heard. Officers traced Adewole through his car and he was arrested at Heaven nightclub on November 11 2024. The jury retired to consider its verdict on Thursday afternoon.
The Sun
4 days ago
- General
- The Sun
Mum made twisted arrangement with convicted paedo to rape her 12-year-old daughter while husband was away for the week
A MUM made a twisted arrangement with a convicted paedo to rape her 12-year-old daughter while her husband was away for the week. John Davies, 45, sent the woman a string of depraved messages as they hatched the sick plot. The fiend detailed what he planned to do the schoolgirl and shared pictures of his sex toy collection. Davies also instructed what underwear she should wear during the visit, which was arranged while the mum's husband was away. But his twisted plan was foiled before Davies could act on it when police turned up at his home in Staffordshire to arrest him and discovered the vile messages. They also found 132 Category A indecent images of children - the most serious classification - showing girls as young as six being raped. Davies has now been jailed for 14-and-a-half years with a further five-and-a-half years on licence. He was convicted of arranging and/or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, including rape and assault by penetration of a child under 13. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Davies was jailed in 2016 for offences including attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and attempted sexual activity with a child under 16. The predator breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) five times between 2022 and 2023. During this time, he began arranging with the mum to rape her daughter. Prosecutor Josh Daley said: "He sent a picture of his sex toy collection and discussed how he would use gags, restraints and a collar. "He said, 'It is a fantasy of mine. I want somebody to give me a chance'. "He also sent a category A image of a child aged between seven and nine." Police turned up at his home on April 27, 2024, after receiving intelligence Davies had breached the SHPO. They recovered the second phone in a kitchen cupboard that contained the vile cache of child sex images. Officers also found sick messages where Davies stated he "ideally" liked girls aged between seven and 10 being "f*****". As well as arranging to rape the schoolgirl, Davies also admitted attempted sexual communication with a child; distributing a class A indecent image of a child; three charges of making indecent images of children; and three charges of breaching a SHPO. Judge Graeme Smith branded the paedo "undoubtedly dangerous" and placed him on the sex offender's register for life. Detective Constable Nathalie Connolly lead the case. She said: 'I am pleased that we have been able to deliver a positive outcome on this case. 'I hope this sentencing shows that we are committed to tackling child sex offences and keeping children across Staffordshire safe.' 1
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Ex-surgeon jailed over sex attacks on 299 victims in France's largest-ever child abuse trial
A former surgeon has been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison after being found guilty of raping or sexually abusing 299 victims – most of whom were his child patients – in France 's largest-ever child abuse trial. Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, was accused of a pattern of violence spanning more than three decades, between 1989 and 2014, committed against 158 boys and 141 girls. The survivors were aged 11 on average and alone in their hospital rooms when he attacked them, with some unconscious at the time and so having no memory of the assaults. The 74-year-old's four-month trial began in February, and he admitted to all charges the following month. He previously told the court in Vannes: "I committed odious acts. They were only children... I am aware that these injuries are irreparable. I cannot go back in time, but I owe it to all of these people and their loved ones to take responsibility for my actions." Prosecutors sought a 20-year term as it is the maximum sentence for aggravated rape and under French law, sentences cannot be added together. However state prosecutor, Stephane Kellenberger had also made the rare request for a post-sentence preventative detention order, saying there was 'no way to verify' Le Scouarnec's claim he no longer felt any sexual attraction to children. He is already serving a 15-year sentence after being found guilty in 2020 of rape and sexual assault of four children, including two of his nieces. Kellenberger said Le Scouarnec may face an additional trial in the future, after new allegations were raised in this trial including abuse involving his granddaughter. Not all victims were initially aware they had been abused. Some were contacted by investigators after their names appeared in journals kept by Le Scouarnec, in which he meticulously documented his crimes. One man, now in his 30s, told Le Scouarnec's trial he was assaulted during a consultation in 1995 when he was a young boy. "I remember certain things in the recovery room. I was in total panic. I called my dad," he told the court. Despite the scope of the allegations, Le Scouarnec has remained calm and composed throughout the trial. "I didn't see them as people," he told the court. "They were the destination of my fantasies. As the trial went on, I began to see them as individuals, with emotions, anger, suffering and distress." Le Scouarnec's trial comes as activists are pushing to tackle taboos that have long surrounded sexual abuse in France. The most prominent case was that of Gisèle Pelicot, who was drugged and raped by her now ex-husband and dozens of other men. The defendants were all convicted and sentenced in December to three to 20 years in prison, following a horrific three-month trial in Avignon. Campaigners for the rights of women and children protested outside the courthouse before Le Scouarnec's trial. Their placards read: "Impunity is over," "We believe you" and "Silence Violence". Ms Pelicot's lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told The Independent he believes the courageous example of his client, who has become a symbol in the struggle against sexual violence, inspired Le Scouarnec's victims after she waived her anonymity in her case. Spokespeople for the appeals court in Rennes overseeing the case confirmed that some of the civil parties had expressed the wish to testify publicly. The Le Scouarnec case began in 2017 when a six-year-old neighbour said the doctor had touched her over the fence separating their properties. A search of his home uncovered more than 300,000 photos, 650 paedophilic, zoophilic and scatological video files, as well as notebooks where he described himself as a paedophile and detailed his actions, according to investigation documents. He has also admitted to child abuse dating to 1985-1986, but some cases could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired. Le Scouarnec had been convicted in 2005 for possessing and importing child sexual abuse material and sentenced to four months of suspended prison time. Despite that conviction, he was appointed as a hospital practitioner the following year. Some child protection groups had joined the proceedings as civil parties, saying they hoped to toughen the legal framework to prevent such abuse. More about France child abuse trial court
Bloomberg
23-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Andrew Left's New Lawyer Says Case Doesn't Fit Trump Priorities
Short seller Andrew Left is making a new push to sway the US Justice Department to drop fraud charges filed against him last year, hiring a former federal prosecutor to make fresh arguments directly to the Trump administration. The strategy hinges on convincing the Justice Department that the case against Left isn't in line with President Donald Trump's enforcement priorities. It's an argument that could gain traction with a department that has already dropped some criminal cases as a result of the president's directives.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
Verdict in Kim Kardashian heist trial expected in Paris
A verdict is due in the trial of 10 people accused of robbing US celebrity Kim Kardashian of millions of dollars' worth of jewellery in Paris nearly a decade men and one woman are accused of carrying out or aiding the armed burglary of £10m (£7.55m) worth of jewellery, including a diamond engagement ring, during Paris Fashion Week in 2016. Prosecutors are seeking a 10-year sentence for four of the men accused of carrying out the robbery, and between eight and six years for the five other men and woman accused of being accessories to the crime. The defendants delivered their final statements in court and were dismissed on Friday morning, with a verdict expected later in the day. Many of the defendants are now elderly and unwell, leading French media to dub them the "grandpa robbers".But since the trial started on 28 April, both prosecutors and civil parties have vigorously pushed back against the notion that the alleged robbers were harmless, with Kardashian stating the heist – during which she was tied up and held at gunpoint – had left her general Anne-Dominique Merville said the sentences should reflect the "seriousness" and the "violence" of the urged the jury not to be swayed by the age and the health conditions of the defendants who – at the time of the heist – were "seasoned robbers".On the night between 3 and 4 October 2016, as Kardashian was in her room at the Hotel de Pourtales in central Paris, a gang of five men made their way into the three kept guard downstairs, two forced receptionist Abderrahmane Ouatiki – now also a plaintiff in the case – to take them to Kardashian's room and act as translator as they demanded she hand over her jewellery, including an engagement ring worth $4m. Then, they defendants were arrested by police in January 2017, but the jewellery was never evidence for Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, and Yunice Abbas, 71, placed them at the scene of the crime, and the two have admitted their involvement. However, Khedache – who is now disabled, deaf and mute – has denied he was the ringleader. Although he admitted he was one of the two who went into Kardashian's room, pointed a gun at her and tied her up, he said he was never violent, "least of all with a woman".His lawyers urged the jury to bear in mind his health condition and said that there was no risk of him reoffending. "At his age, prison time means a life sentence," lawyer Frank Berton who has Parkinson's disease and recently underwent heart surgery, told the jury on Friday morning that regretted his actions. "I'm sorry for what I was capable of doing," he the other defendants was a man who worked as a driver for the Kardashian family. He denies providing information on their movements to the robbers and another man who prosecutors say was the getaway week, during an emotional five-hour testimony delivered through an interpreter, Kim Kardashian shared her traumatic memories of that was composed but at times struggled to fight back tears as she recalled the moment she feared the robbers would sexually assault her."I don't wish that kind of terror on anyone - to think you could be killed or raped... I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," the 44-year-old said, standing metres away from the defendants and dabbing her eyes with a also said among the jewellery taken from her was a watch that her late father had gifted her. "I can't get that back, it wasn't just jewellery... someone took away my memories," she the court president, David De Pas, read out a letter written of apology written by Khedache, Kardashian said that she forgave him. However, she said it could not erase the trauma she had receptionist Abderrahmane Ouatiki, the other plaintiff in the case, was present in court throughout the trial. Since the heist, the Algerian former PhD student has experienced PTSD, quit his studies and left France. In his closing arguments, his lawyer said that while it was "harder to be a victim when one is anonymous and poor" and that "not everyone can afford to be surrounded by bodyguards to sleep better", he believed justice could finally "restore the balance".
