‘I told them 30 times I was innocent’

Independent Newspapers

The court heard that clothing and shoes containing blood spatters sent for DNA analysis came back with no evidence linking Jonathan Davids to the attack on Anene Booysen. PICTURE: CANDICE CHAPLIN

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Cape Town - After repeatedly declaring he was innocent of the rape and murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen, Jonathan Davids, 22, is a free man after the State announced it had no evidence against him.

Earlier this year, Davids and co-accused Johannes Kana were arrested for the murder and mutilation of 17-year-old Booysen.

She was savagely gang-raped before being disembowelled and left for dead. She died from her injuries in Tygerberg Hospital on February 2.

The court heard that clothing and shoes containing blood spatters sent for DNA analysis came back with no evidence linking Davids to the attack on Booysen.

On Tuesday, a jubilant “yes!” was heard from family and friends as the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court heard that Davids was free to go.

State prosecutor Maria Marshall announced: “The State is withdrawing the case from Davids. He was implicated in this case, but after a thorough investigation the State has decided to withdraw the case against him.”

Lena Kana, mother of rape and murder accused Johannes Kana, outside the Bredasdorp Magistrate's Court. PICTURE: CANDICE CHAPLIN

Independent Newspapers

The case against Kana was postponed to June 3 for plea proceedings before being moved to the Western Cape High Court.

Outside court on Tuesday, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said there was no evidence to link Davids to the murder.

“The State has withdrawn charges against Jonathan Davids. It means that there is no evidence linking him to the case, the investigation has been finalised.

“Initially, he was implicated in the matter. A thorough investigation has been done and there is no evidence to secure a conviction.

“Evidence has come back and it couldn’t link him to the crime. There was a confession from Kana, though, and he is facing charges of rape and murder,” Ntabazalila said.

After the ruling, angry South Africans took to social media to express their outrage, with one calling it “appalling”.

Back home with his friends and family on Tuesday, Davids said he felt disappointed.

“I probably told them 30 times that I was innocent.”

He added that he managed to get through four months of jail with the support of God and the knowledge he was innocent.

“The evening they arrested me was the first time I heard about Anene. They never said she had died; they only told me the next day.

“The last time I saw her she only greeted me in the pub.”

When asked how he felt when it was said during his bail application that Anene allegedly said it was a “bruin” Zwai that did it to her, Davids said he knew he was innocent.

“I can’t believe what her mother and what they (the community) thought of me.”

He added that now he had been released he felt nothing and did not know what he would do on his first day back home.

“I missed everything (while in jail).”

Davids said Anene had been like a sister to him and that he would visit her grave.

“The real perpetrators are still walking free.”

His family and friends celebrated at their home with a braai on Tuesday.

Davids’s uncle, Nico September, said he was grateful to all those who had supported the family.

“I knew he was innocent. So many were against us. The detectives and police officers are not doing their jobs properly.

“No one even questioned whether Anene was mutilated or not. At the moment, you are guilty until you prove that you are innocent.”

Francois Davids, Jonathan’s brother, said he was deeply happy to have his sibling back home.

“I am relieved that he is finally free. We always supported him.”

Meanwhile, Johannes Kana - Kana’s uncle - said he was unable to find a job because his name was the same as his nephew’s.

“I have sent out six CVs, but I can’t find a job… I don’t have money.

“My wife also can’t find a job because of her surname and my children are also suffering because of it.”

Kana added that their family supported his nephew whether he was guilty or not.

“All of us are positive. If he has done it and is still in jail we will support him because we are family.”

Cape Argus

Police arrest man who exhumed, sold corpses of relatives for N16,000

A 40 - year old man, Agboola Kolawole, who exhumed the corpses of his relatives and  sold for N16,000 has been arrested by the police in Lagos State.

The suspect told newsmen that a friend of his,Fatai Akiwowo, instigated the crime,  when he was looking for money to pay his child’s West Africa Examination Council (WAEC)fees.
Four other members of the syndicate, who have been going around cemeteries and tombs, have been arrested by men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad of the state police command.
They were all on, Tuesday afternoon, paraded before newsmen by the image maker in charge of the state police command,  Ngozi Braide, who disclosed that the police were on the trail of other members of the gang.
According to the Lagos State police spokesperson, “on  May 15, 2013 , based on information received by O\C SARS , SP Abba Kyari, one Adeleke was arrested in Owode Town , Ogun State.
The police spokesperson also said that the suspect was arrested with human hands , which he was trying to sell for twenty one thousand naira
She continued that “he confessed that a certain Sanni Kazeem sold the hand to him for N6,000 and when Sanni was arrested, he also confessed and further stated that he had supplied two human heads to a dealer named Akiwowo Fatai.”

How I Handle The Insults Nigerians Throw At Me - Soundcity's Moet Abebe

Here's what Laura Monyeazo Abebe aka Moet said when she was asked how she handles insults people throw at her in a very recent interview with Flytime TV.
Moet actually has a law degree from the University of Manchester.
With the work I do I always hope for the best but expect the worst. I hope I have been able to get genuine fans who love and appreciate what I do but at the same time, I do know that not everyone will like me as I am very far from perfect.

So I expect to get a few insults tossed at me here and there especially on twitter. I often ignore the insults because I know who I am and those who know me love me for me. However, one thing I do know is that I will not take any insults towards my family lightly and those are the times I speak out to ensure that I'm not looking to be liked but I will be respected.

• My advice to aspiring youths 

I'm not necessarily one to give advice because I am still making mistakes and learning from them but the one piece of advice I would pass on to the youths aspiring to be as bold and as daring as myself would be to always remain persistent.

Nothing comes easy. You rise and then you fall and then you rise again. The main thing is to have your eye on your individual goal and have it at the back of your mind that you will not give up till you cross the finish line.

• Moet in seven words:

Moët is a strong, easy-going extrovert chasing her dreams

  

•  What I’ll never be caught wearing:

Those plastic sandals that some girls seem to be wearing anywhere nowadays... Gross
See full interview here

Mercy Aigbe and Toyin Aimakhu Go To Prison

The two ladies in prison attire

Mercy Aigbe Gentry and Toyin Aimakhu Johnson on a movie set....Oh don't be misled by the headline, that's how Mercy captioned the photo - it's a scene from a movie they are currently shooting - can't wait to see the movie (I really dislike yoruba movies, they always have very dumb themes but I love watching these two actresses)....lol..See another photo below:

Mother City awaits Obamas

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama
Image by: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS

The Obamas are coming to South Africa. But whether Barack and Michelle will stop over in Cape Town to receive the freedom of the city is not clear.

More than a year ago, mayor Patricia de Lille proposed that the pair receive the city's highest award. In February this year her spokesman Solly Malatsi said they had officially awarded the civic honour to them. "It's now a matter of where the actual thing should take place," said Malatsi at the time.

Though Obama and the First Lady's visit to Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa was announced on Monday, yesterday Jack Hillmeyer, spokesman for the US embassy in Pretoria, could not say if they would visit the Mother City.
"We won't have any details to give until we get closer to the trip," said Hillmeyer.
Malatsi was asked if the Obamas would accept the award in Cape Town, but he did not want to commit himself.
"We will wait for official direction from President Jacob Zuma's office . The Presidency will guide us on all issues related to this matter in terms of state protocol," Malatsi said.
Malatsi said they had been discussing the "issue for a number of months" with the Presidency. Hillmeyer said Obama will meet with leaders from government, business, civil society and the youth.
"The trip will underscore the president's [Obama's] commitment to broadening and deepening the cooperation between the US and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity," said Hillmeyer.
"He really believes this is a moment of promise for Africa."
The visit, he said, will "reinforce three key themes": advancing economic growth in Africa through trade and investment; engaging the next generation of African leaders; and supporting the African advance for democratic governance.

Indian Acid Attack Victim Fights For Justice

At 17, Sonali Mukherjee had everything going for her. She was a beautiful, intelligent and ambitious young woman, dedicated to excelling in her studies.

She was president of the Student Union, captain of the National Cadet Corps and an honor student set to pursue a PhD in sociology despite her modest family background -- her father used to work as a security guard in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand and her mother was a housewife.

"I had seen my parents struggle for the most basic things, so I strived to achieve something big so that I could give my family a better life," she said.

However, Mukherjee's life changed after three male students from her college started harassing her. She didn't respond to their advances, so they threatened to destroy her.

At first, she wasn't intimidated. During her time in the cadet corps, an organization in all schools and colleges in India aimed at grooming students to join the military, Mukherjee had won several prizes for her shooting skills.

On a hot summer day when Mukherjee was fast asleep on the roof of her house, the three men threw a jug of acid on her. For the first few seconds she was in shock and didn't know what had happened.

"All I could feel was this tremendous amount of pain, it was burning, like someone had thrown me into a fire," she tells CNN 10 years after the 2003 attack.

In the fraction of a second it took for the acid to melt her face and part of her upper chest, Mukherjee lost her ability to see, hear, eat, walk and talk.

Mukherjee, now 27, said she looked and felt like a corpse.

"I had hardly even lived my life, but that one incident changed the entire meaning of my life. It felt like the light had gone out all of a sudden, and darkness had surrounded me on all sides. I had no hope, I didn't know what to do," she says.

Mukherjee's heartbroken grandfather died soon after and her mother fell into depression -- only her father remained resilient.

"I can't tell you how much it hurts me to see my daughter in this state but being the head of the family I couldn't afford to break down," Charan Das Mukherjee says.

And with sheer willpower and determination both father and daughter continue their fight for justice and for recovery.

It felt like the light had gone out all of a sudden, and darkness had surrounded me on all sides.
Sonali Mukherjee, acid attack victim
"I decided I don't want to die like this, or live like this. I decided I can't give up, I have to get better, I have to punish those guys and I have to support my family. I held my father's hand and crawled back to life."

Her father sold their family's ancestral land, gold and spent every penny of savings on her treatment -- she recently underwent her 27th reconstructive surgery.

In 2012, Mukherjee decided to participate in the country's most popular game show -- the Indian edition of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

She took part because she needed the money and she wanted the world to know her plight as a victim of an acid attack.

"I've grown up watching your films and now I can't see you but I can feel you," she told host Amitabh Bachchan, who is also India's biggest superstar.

She won the $40,000 jackpot, enabling her to move to the Indian capital, New Delhi, for better medical treatment.

"When she came to us she had 98% burns. She had no ears, no eyes, no eyelids, no nose, no lips, no scalp and no chest," said her doctor, BLK Hospital's Sanjeev Bagai.

Bagai and his medical team have managed to reconstruct her lips, eyelids, nose, but the challenge now is to give her "some kind of a normal face, somewhere close to what a normal human being would look like," he says.

The men who scarred her for life were freed after just two years in jail.

Mukherjee has appealed the court's decision but years on she's yet to get a date in court.

"My father spent every penny, hoping I would get justice. But in the end we lost everything, while the criminals are out there."

India passed a new law in April that punishes perpetrators of acid attacks with 10 years to life in prison, along with a fine.

My Wife Is Too Lazy, Husband Tells Court

Malam Wahab Ahmed of Ojagboro area, Ilorin, on Tuesday, told an Ilorin Area Court that he was seeking for divorce from his wife, Abike Wahab, for her lazy nature and "I-don't-care attitude."

The 48-year-old man told the court that he had been married for six years now and that his wife hardly swept their bedroom and surroundings whenever she woke up in the morning,"not until I force her to do so."

The petitioner told the court that his wife was fond of sleeping and watching movies thereby abandoning her domestic activities.

According to him, their marriage was contracted in 2007 and has produced two male children.

"My lord, I want an end to this marriage because I cannot cope with her dirty and lazy habit anymore."

The respondent objected to the prayer of her husband, saying she was still interested in the marriage.

"My husband complains a lot and forces me to do things that were beyond my capacity. I promise to do his wish henceforth."

She prayed the court for an adjournment for her to make a reconciliatory move.

The Presiding Judge, Mr Ibrahim Abdulquadri, however adjourned the case to June 6 for a report of settlement or continuation of hearing.