Suspected vandal stuck atop telecoms mast in Bauchi State

Residents of Bayara community, a suburb in Bauchi State, weekend, woke up to the startling discovery of a suspected vandal atop a telecoms mast.
Vanguard learnt from a reliable source that the suspect, whose name was giving as Babangida Bangis, 30, had in the early hours of the day, climbed the mast to vandalise it but was unable to come down out of fear.
The incident attracted the attention of residents of the community, motorists and passers-by to the scene located a few metres away from the Bauchi-Dass Road axis.
It was gathered that it took the efforts of two policemen, who climbed up the mast, where the suspect was hanging, to persuade him to come down.
Speaking with Vanguard on the development, state Police Public Relations Officer, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect had been arrested.
He said: “The suspect had been charged to court on a two-count charge. The first charge, is attempted theft, while the second one is attempted suicide, because he wanted to jump down from the mast so as to avoid been arrested.”
An eyewitness, who gave his name as Kabiru Mohammed, however, explained that Babangida was first seen at the highest point of the mast by some farmers residing in the area, when they were going to their farms in the morning.

Source...........
http://www.vanguardngr.com

Lawyer tells of agonising scenes as doctors forced to let a Jehovah's Witness who wanted to live, die

A lawyer who advised doctors that they must let a 22-year-old Jehovah's Witness die even though he wanted to live has spoken of the agonising scenes before the young man's death.

Robert Tobin, a partner in the London law firm Kennedy’s, was called in by an unnamed NHS Trust when the man, a Jehovah’s Witness who was critically ill with sickle cell anaemia, refused a blood transfusion which could have saved his life.

Over three weeks the man gradually deteriorated as the crisis progressed, before eventually dying.  

“Medical staff were understandably upset at seeing a patient deteriorate before their eyes knowing a simple procedure could have been provided that would have saved his life,” Mr Tobin said.

The man’s mother, also a Jehovah’s Witness, was at her son’s bedside, and an elder from the man’s church also attended. The trust was concerned that they were unduly influencing him but a doctor from a neighbouring trust who was called in to assess him said he had full capacity and was making the decision on his own.

Mr Tobin said: “I don’t know what his mother was thinking as she sat by and watched him die. I assume either she felt powerless or she felt bound to her own religious code of conduct which says you can’t share blood with others.

“He had full capacity, he made his decision, however irrational. His doctors were bound by that. The rules are very clear.”

Mr Tobin said that  at the Trust’s request, the Jehovah’s Witness signed an advance directive - the so-called “living Will” - setting out his wishes in case he lost mental capacity in the future.

Mr Tobin highlighted the ethical discrepancy in the law which forbids the same doctors from assisting those who want to die.

He contrasted the Jehovah's Witness's case with those cases raised in the debate over assisted dying, in which patients have petitioned the courts for the right to seek help to end their lives.

Last week Tony Nicklinson who has “locked in” syndrome after suffering a massive stroke, sought a ruling exempting doctors from criminal prosecution if they assisted his suicide.

“There is a subtle distinciton between a patient’s right to life and a patient’s right to die,” Mr Tobin said.

While the law forced medical staff to stand aside and not intervene in the case of the 22 year old Jehovah’s Witness, even though the man had no intention of ending his life, they were prevented from intervening to help patients such as Tony Nicklinson die at a time of their choosing.

“But the same doctors could be faced on a another day with a patient who wants assistance to die when his condition becomes impossible to live with. In that case the doctors could face criminal prosecution if they helped him to realise his wish,” said Mr Tobin.

While the legal distinction was clear for doctors treating the Jehovah's Witness, the ethical one was not. Both patients wanted to exercise their personal autonomy but only one - the Jehovah’s Witness - was able to do so, because he needed no assistance.

Mr Tobin added: “It is tragic that his goal was not to die but to ensure that he obeyed what he regarded as his religious commands. Death only came about as a consequence of that and not, as with those wishing assistance with dying, as the primary aim."

Source..........

http://www.independent.co.uk

Pregnant Motorist faces giving birth in jail after lying to police.

Julie Sheppard, who is five months pregnant, was sentenced for lying to police about who was driving the car which smashed into her. 

The 35-year-old was ‘bullied’ into saying Damien Bourne, 24, was not behind the wheel when he wrote off her Vauxhall Corsa. 

Bourne was not insured and his mother, who arrived on the scene soon afterwards, convinced Sheppard she should lie and say Bourne’s girlfriend, Lisa Newey, was driving the Vauxhall Astra. 

As part of the deal, Bourne and Newey accepted full liability and Sheppard received £2,000 from insurers.

However, the scam began to unravel when police began their investigation into the incident in which Bourne’s six-year-old son was injured. 

Sheppard, of Chickerell, Dorset, confessed everything when interviewed four months later. After she was sentenced to 12 weeks for perverting the course of justice and four weeks concurrent for fraud, Sheppard’s husband David spoke of his anger at Bourne. 

He said: ‘I feel like she was bullied into lying. Damien Bourne has caused my pregnant wife to go to prison. She made a silly mistake.’ 

Bourne, of Weymouth, was jailed for 12 weeks for perverting the course of justice and disqualified from driving for one month at Dorchester crown court. 

Newey, 28, also of Weymouth, received a suspended sentence after the incident in their hometown in June last year.

Source.............

http://www.metro.co.uk

Reps move to override Jonathan’s veto on bills

The House of Representatives may override President Goodluck Jonathan’s veto on bills passed by the National Assembly as part of moves to assert the lawmakers’ constitutional powers.

Our correspondent learnt on Sunday that the move was to make a statement that it could invoke its legislative powers under the 1999 Constitution (as amended) “if that will get Mr. President to assent to bills.”

As many as 10 of the bills passed by the 6th Assembly were returned by Jonathan.

Findings indicated that the bills were being treated afresh by the House with the attendant cost and time implications.

Already, the 7th House has passed over 32 bills since June 6, 2011.

Investigations showed that about 70 per cent of the bills had not received presidential assent, save for the 2011 Supplementary Appropriation Act, the 2012 Appropriation Act and the AMCON amendment Act.

Under Section 58 of the constitution, the President is empowered to assent to bills passed by the legislature in order to receive the force of law.

However, where he withholds his assent, the constitution provides that he should communicate his reason to the legislature within 30 days of the passage of the bill.

Failing to comply with this provision, the legislature is empowered to pass the bill into law after securing two-thirds votes of the two chambers of the National Assembly.

Section 58(4-5) reads, “Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within 30 days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.

“Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

However, the National Assembly has rarely invoked this provision since 1999 except in the case of the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission when it upturned the veto of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

It was learnt on Sunday that lawmakers had resolved that they might invoke the constitutional provision henceforth if Jonathan should continue to ignore bills by passed by the legislature.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed this when his comments were sought.

“If the trend (not assenting to bills) continues, it is most likely that we shall apply the constitutional provision. “We cannot continue this way all the time.

“The legislature has its role to play, so is the executive”, he stated.

Lawmakers were said to have resolved to be “bold” in tackling the President, following the May 29 accusation and counter-accusation between the Speaker of the House, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, and Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on the refusal of the President to assent bills passed by the House.

Source...........

http://www.punchng.com

Liberia extradites Ivorians suspected of border attacks

The Liberian government has extradited 41 Ivorians accused of trying to launch cross-border raids on Ivory Coast.

They were arrested by United Nations peacekeepers in April as they tried to cross from Liberia with guns and ammunition.

It was believed the group was working in support of former President Laurent Gbagbo, who is facing war crimes charges in The Hague.

Violent border attacks have resulted in at least 60 deaths, including those of seven UN peacekeepers earlier in June.

The 41 Ivorians who were extradited are expected to face an investigation in their home country.

They were transported in an armed convoy of four trucks from the central prison of Zwerdu to the border, before being handed over to Ivory Coast authorities, AFP reports.

In June, Ivory Coast said it had foiled a plot to overthrow the government organised by Gbagbo’s supporters.

The former president was ousted from power in December 2010, but refused to leave his post for four months.

He was captured in April 2011 by recognised election winner Alassane Ouattara’s forces.

The BBC reports that some 70,000 Ivorians have been living in camps and with host families in Liberia near the border after fleeing the country in the wake of the crisis.

The crisis had added to existing disputes in the border region over rights to cocoa-producing land – Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest cocoa producer

Source...........

http://www.punchng.com

Woman Who Made Sex Tape With 16 Year Old Son Jailed For 4 Years For Incest

A woman who made a sex tape with her teenage son after they were reunited after 15 years apart claims their relationship was not
incest - but a case of
'genetic attraction'. Mistie Rebecca Atkinson, 32, was sentenced to four years
and eight months behind bars in Napa County Superior Court, California on Wednesday.
It came after she was found in a Ukiah, California motel room with the 16-year-old
boy, who had recorded his mother giving him oral sex on his phone.
Authorities also recovered nude photos Atkinson had sent him
after tracking him down through Facebook. She had not seen him for 15 years. But in a letter to the court, Atkinson, claimed she did not
consider it incest, the Napa Valley Register reported.

Atkinson could be out in as little as two years and four months for good behaviour.
She reportedly had no contact with her son until last year when she began sending him inappropriate messages on the social networking site.
The boy was living with his father at the time and was aware
Atkinson was his mother. She did not have custody rights to
him.
'It appears she hadn't had any contact with the son for 15 years' a source told the New York Daily News.
'She contacted him late last year via Facebook and was sending him messages inappropriately.'
The sexual contact began after police responded to domestic
violence reports between Atkinson and her live-in boyfriend in
Nice, California.

The relationship came to light when the boy's relatives reported the inappropriate Facebook messages between him
and Atkinson.

Atkinson and the teen were found in a motel room on March 2.
Police found videos on the boy's phone from a month earlier showing Atkinson performing oral sex on the teenager and having sex with him.
Atkinson also sent nude
pictures of herself to him from her phone, court documents said. They had also talked about running away together.

In May, she had pleaded no contest to incest, oral copulation, lewd contact with a minor and distribution of
lewd material to a minor.

Source.....
http://www.informationnigeria.org

Tunisia extradites Qaddafi's PM to Libya

A Tunisian official says former Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Al-
Mahmoudi has been extradited to Libya.
The presidential aide who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity
said that the former Libyan leader left Tunisia by plane on
Sunday morning from the Al Aouina military airport near Tunis, the capital.

A close associate of Tunisia's ruling party confirmed the extradition, also speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government
protocol.

Al-Mahmoudi, Libya's last prime minister under deposed
leader Muammar Qaddafi, fled to Tunisia nine months ago.

He had said he is afraid
of being executed by the rebels who overthrew Qaddafi if he returns home.

Source...
http://m.cbsnews.com