Tag: Sexual assault

New protests over rape and murder of Indian doctor see police use water cannon, tear gas on demonstrators

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New Delhi — Thousands of angry students and other protesters marched on the streets of eastern Indian city of Kolkata in the West Bengal state on Tuesday demanding justice for a doctor who was brutally raped and killed earlier this month at a city hospital.

The police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters who were on their way to the state secretariat building to demand the resignation of Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the West Bengal state, whom they accuse of mishandling the case.

Indian TV networks aired videos showing protesters climbing barricades that had been placed at the Howrah Bridge, as police used water cannons to stop them.

Police use a water cannon to disperse activists carrying India’s national flag as they march toward the state secretariat amid protests over the rape and murder of a doctor, near Howrah bridge in Kolkata, Aug. 27, 2024.

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty

The brutalized body of a 31-year-old doctor was found with multiple injuries in a lecture hall at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Aug. 9. The female doctor had gone to the lecture hall to rest during a night shift when she was attacked. An autopsy confirmed sexual assault and multiple injuries sustained before she died, suggesting she resisted and may have been tortured before being murdered.

The Kolkata Police arrested a volunteer member of the force on Aug. 10 and have charged him with rape and murder, but the brutality of the case has drawn nationwide outrage, with medics across the country demanding safer workplaces and citizens demanding safety for women in a country with a shameful record of rape.

Doctors at public hospitals across India refused to work last week, turning away all but emergency patients as part of a national strike over the rape and murder.

Kolkata police had turned the city into a virtual fortress ahead of Tuesday’s planned protest, barricading all roads leading to the state secretariat and deploying 6,000 personnel in full riot gear. The police said they had not given permission for the protest march, and the Trinamool Congress party, which is in power in West Bengal state, alleged that it was an attempt by opposition parties to create unrest in the city.

Police clashed with the protesters Tuesday morning as some of the crowd managed to climb over the barricades, but the demonstrators were stopped before they could reach the state secretariat.

Activists stomp on police barricades as they march toward the state secretariat to demand the resignation of the chief minister of India’s West Bengal state, in Kolkata, Aug. 27, 2024.

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the opposition in West Bengal, claimed several students were injured Tuesday amid the clashes with the police and called for a new, 12-hour general strike in the state on Wednesday to protest the response.

India’s federal Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), which was tasked with investigating the rape-murder in Kolkata, subjected the prime suspect, Sanjay Roy, to a polygraph test last week, the results of which were yet to be released Tuesday. Many in the country hope the results will shed new light on whether other people could have been involved in the attack, as has been suggested by the victim’s father.

India reported an average of nearly 90 rapes per day in 2022, according to the most recent data available from the National Crime Records Bureau. Experts believe the real number could be much higher, as many rapes go unreported due to prevailing stigmas around sexual violence and a lack of faith in police investigations. Conviction rates remain low, with many cases becoming mired for years in India’s overwhelmed criminal justice system.

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August 27, 2024
Detroit Marriott sued over alleged sexual assault and hostile work environment

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A former employee of the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center is suing the hotel chain after she alleges she was sexually assaulted by a manager and then forced to leave her job.

The Dearborn woman, whom Metro Times won’t identify because she was the victim of an alleged crime, claims in the lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court that the Detroit Marriott “created a sexually hostile environment” and failed to protect her.

According to the lawsuit, manager Dhurba Koirala invited the employee to his hotel room at the end of her shift at 1 p.m. on Aug. 8 “under the guise that other employees would be present.”

Koirala made her drinks and food, and at 7 a.m. the next day, she woke up disoriented in his bed, the lawsuit alleges. She “discovered that her underwear was inside out, and her menstruation product was missing,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by Marko Law, a prominent Michigan civil rights firm.

Koirala “made harmful, unlawful and offensive contact” with the employee’s body, the lawsuit alleges.

The woman filed a police report and underwent a rape testing kit, and the DNA matched the manager, according to the suit.

Marko says Koirala has been criminally charged.

Every employer has an “obligation to provide a safe business environment for its staff and prevent its employees from injuring others,” her attorney Jon Marko said in a statement Monday. “Not only did Marriott breach its duty when it failed to protect our client, no person should be sexually assaulted as a condition of employment.”

She was “forced to leave her position at Marriott as a result of this incident and has not been able to work since due to the trauma she has endured,” Marko said.

The lawsuit alleges negligence, gross negligence, direct negligence, retaliation, hostile work environment, and violations of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

The defendants named in the suit are Marriott International, Detroit HMS LLC, Detroit Hotel Services, Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, and Sodexo.

According to the suit, the hotel breached its duty because “they knew or should have known that Koirala had a history of sexually assaulting and sexually harassing employees and intentionally and willfully ignored the behavior and allowed him to assault and harass employees.”

Metro Times couldn’t immediately reach the Marriott for comment.

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Steve Neavling

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August 26, 2024
Man turns himself in, claiming to be behind deadly knife attack, German police say

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SOLINGEN, Germany — German police said early Sunday that a 26-year-old man turned himself in, claiming to be behind the deadly Solingen knife attack that left three dead and eight wounded at a festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.

Düsseldorf police said in a joint statement with the prosecutor’s office that the man “stated that he was responsible for the attack,” adding he had been arrested before, but didn’t provide details. “This person’s involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated,” the statement said.

On Saturday the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence. The extremist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and that he carried out the assaults Friday night “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.” The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Officials had earlier said a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion he knew about the planned attack and failed to inform authorities, but that he was not the attacker. Two female witnesses told police they overheard the boy and an unknown person before the attack speaking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officials said.

People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time Friday that a man had assaulted several people with a knife on the city’s central square, the Fronhof. The three people killed were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims’ throats.

Solingen, a city of about 160,000 residents near the bigger cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf, was holding a “Festival of Diversity” to celebrate its anniversary. It began Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. The attack took place in front of one stage.

The festival was canceled as police looked for clues in the cordoned-off square.

The IS militant group declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria about a decade ago, but now holds no control over any land and has lost many prominent leaders. The group is mostly out of global news headlines.

Still, it continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including lethal operations in Iran and Russia earlier this year that killed dozens of people. Its sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq still carry out attacks on government forces in both countries as well as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.

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August 25, 2024
Harvey Weinstein will remain locked up in New York while awaiting rape retrial

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NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein will remain in custody in New York while awaiting retrial on rape and sexual assault charges in Manhattan, prosecutors confirmed Monday as the former movie mogul made a brief court appearance related to California’s request to extradite him there.

But after the New York case is complete, he will return to California to serve his pending 16-year sentence for a separate rape conviction there first, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.

“Today, defendant Harvey Weinstein was formally arraigned on a governor’s warrant issued by Governor Kathy Hochul, who exercised her authority for him to remain in New York State until his case in New York County is adjudicated,” Katz said. “He will serve the California sentence first, as it is now his primary sentence.”

Weinstein, who has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 while already serving a 23-year sentence in New York. His 2020 conviction in Manhattan was was thrown out this spring by the state’s top court, which ruled that the judge in the original trial unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.

The retrial in Manhattan is tentatively scheduled for November.

The 72-year-old Weinstein, with one hand cuffed to his wheelchair and another grasping a book and a magazine, appeared in Queens criminal court for less than five minutes Monday as his lawyers agreed that he will remain at the nearby Rikers Island jail complex. Weinstein has returned there after being hospitalized last month for health problems including COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs.

The extradition matter has been taking place in Queens, rather than Manhattan, court due to its proximity to Rikers Island.

Prosecutors in Manhattan said last month that they aim to bring new sexual assault charges against Weinstein but haven’t given more details, nor a timeline for bringing the potential new charges.

Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala suggested at the time that prosecutors’ talk of new accusers raised questions about the strength of their current case.

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August 19, 2024
Songwriter-producer The-Dream seeks dismissal of sexual assault lawsuit

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for The-Dream, a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer, are seeking the dismissal of a woman’s lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault and other abuse.

The producer, whose legal name is Terius Gesteelde-Diamant, was a writer and producer on huge hits including Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” He has denied allegations of sexual assault, rape and other abuse made in a June lawsuit by singer Chanaaz Mangroe.

Gesteelde-Diamant’s lawyers want the suit to be thrown out entirely, writing in their motion filed Friday in a Los Angeles federal court that Mangroe’s lawyers are “using the judicial system to propagate a false and defamatory narrative about Diamant, a highly respected Black musician in the arts industry, for their own financial gain and to his extreme detriment.”

Mangroe, who performed under the stage name Channii Monroe, alleged in the June lawsuit that Gesteelde-Diamant lured her into “an abusive, violent, and manipulative relationship filled with physical assaults, violent sexual encounters, and horrific psychological manipulation” after she left her native Netherlands for the U.S. with hopes of making it big as a singer.

The motion also aims to dismiss or, alternatively, strike the lawsuit’s rape claim, on technical grounds.

In a statement Friday, Desirée F. Moore, who is representing Gesteelde-Diamant and his company, argued the lawsuit is a “shotgun pleading,” which she says is grounds for dismissal because it doesn’t specify specific factual allegations against each defendant.

Meredith Firetog, one of the lawyers representing Mangroe, said in an email to The Associated Press Friday that the arguments made in the motion to dismiss are “wholly unpersuasive.”

“We look forward to opposing the motions” and proceeding with the case, Firetog said.

If the case isn’t dismissed, Gesteelde-Diamant’s lawyers want a judge to strike portions of the complaint they deemed “impermissibly immaterial, impertinent, and scandalous material.” They also want the company he co-owns, Contra Paris, LLC, dismissed because it primarily does business in Atlanta and is registered in Delaware.

The Associated Press doesn’t typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Mangroe has.

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August 17, 2024
Protests grow in India over the rape and killing of a doctor at a state-run hospital

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NEW DELHI — Thousands of people marched through various Indian cities Friday to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a government hospital, demanding justice and better security at medical campuses and hospitals.

Demonstrators held signs calling for accountability for the woman’s rape and killing as they gathered near Parliament in New Delhi. Similar protests were held in the eastern city of Kolkata — the capital of West Bengal state where the killing took place — and other Indian cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The protests, which have generally been peaceful, began Aug. 9 when police discovered the bloodied body of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital’s seminar hall in Kolkata.

An autopsy later confirmed sexual assault, and a police volunteer was detained in connection with the crime. The family of the victim alleged it was a case of a gang rape and more were involved.

State government officers who first began investigating the case have been accused of mishandling it. Police later handed the case to federal investigators following a court order.

In the days since, mounting anger has boiled over into nationwide outrage and stirred protests over violence against women. The protests have also led thousands of doctors and paramedics to walk out of some public hospitals across India and demand a safer working environment.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India. In 2022, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape — a 20% increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

Many cases of crimes against women go unreported in India due to stigma surrounding sexual violence, as well as a lack of faith in the police. Women’s rights activists say the problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where the community sometimes shames victims of sexual assault and families worry about their social standing.

Richa Garg, a doctor who was part of the protests Friday in New Delhi, said she no longer felt safe at her workplace.

“As a woman, it boils my blood. The culprits of this crime should be found immediately … and our workplaces should be made safer,” she said.

On Wednesday night, the hospital where the trainee doctor was killed was attacked. Police did not identify who was behind the rampage, but said they have arrested 19 so far.

The Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest grouping of medics, called late Thursday for a “nationwide withdrawal of services,” except essential services, for 24 hours starting Saturday.

“Doctors, especially women are vulnerable to violence because of the nature of the profession. It is for the authorities to provide for the safety of doctors inside hospitals and campuses,” the IMA said in a statement issued on the social media platform X.

Political parties, Bollywood actors and other high profile celebrities have also voiced shock at the crime and called for stricter punishments for those who commit them.

“Monstrous behavior against women should be severely and promptly punished,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday in an address to the nation on its 78th Independence Day.

For many, the gruesome nature of the attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus. The attack galvanized massive protests, sometimes violent, and inspired lawmakers to order harsher penalties for such crimes, as well as the creation of fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases. Under pressure, the government also introduced the death penalty for repeat offenders.

The rape law amended in 2013 also criminalized stalking and voyeurism and lowered the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.

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August 16, 2024
Gascón retaliated against prosecutor for exposing deception of transgender sex offender, suit claims

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A veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor alleges he faced retaliation from District Attorney George Gascón for exposing misconduct in the widely publicized case of child molester Hannah Tubbs, who began identifying as a transgender woman after her 2014 arrest for the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Palmdale.

Deputy District Attorney Shea Sanna, 36, said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Aug. 13, in Los Angeles Superior Court that Gascón and his administration pressured him to suppress information about Tubbs’ use of gender identity as a ploy to gain more favorable jail treatment and retaliated against him when he refused to comply.

The lawsuit, which also names Los Angeles County as a defendant, alleges Sanna faced further retaliation after reporting and resisting Gascón’s unethical directives.

“For the past two years, Gascon has tried to silence me,” Sanna said in a statement. “He has suspended me without pay, threatened my livelihood, attacked my credibility, tarnished my reputation, demoted me, investigated me and harassed me, all so I would obey him; so I would stay quiet; so I wouldn’t speak up on behalf of those most affected by his misguided political policies.”

Sanna, who has worked for the District Attorney’s Office since 2018, was suspended for five days without pay in February 2023 for misgendering Tubbs. In October 2023, he was demoted and transferred to the Santa Clarita office, resulting in a pay cut and less meaningful cases, the suit states.

Tubbs was just two weeks shy of her 18th birthday when she was arrested after DNA evidence showed that she sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl in the stall of a women’s bathroom inside Denny’s restaurant in Palmdale on New Year’s Day in 2014.

She was sentenced to two years at a juvenile facility after Gascón’s office declined to move the case to adult court.

In a statement, the reform-minded Gascón reaffirmed that he believes juveniles should not be tried as adults, but said he has learned from the Tubbs case that adjustments sometimes are warranted.

In an unrelated case, Tubbs was charged with murder in Kern County for allegedly beating a fellow survivalist group member to death with a rock in 2019. She pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in December 2023 to 15 years in prison.

Revealing phone call to father

Sanna was assigned the Palmdale sexual assault case against Tubbs on Oct. 28, 2021.

Less than a month later, Tubbs telephoned his father from a Los Angeles County jail indicating that he planned to claim he was transgender to obtain favorable housing in a female juvenile facility, according to the suit.

“On the recordings, Tubbs and his father laughed and joked about his transition and his chosen name of Hannah,” the suit states.

Tubbs allegedly informed his father that although it might be difficult, he needed to refer to him by that name in court and use female pronouns. At all other times, Tubbs’ acquaintances used male pronouns when referring to her during phone calls from jail, the suit says.

Tubbs was convicted of the Palmdale sexual assault on Nov. 30, 2021.

After the hearing, the court bailiff and custody staff notified Sanna that a search of Tubbs’ property bag revealed she had not taken any of the hormone tablets given her to assist with gender transition, as each remained undisturbed in foil packaging.

‘Hands were tied’

Due to a directive from Gascon ending the practice of sending any juveniles to the adult court system, Sanna’s “hands were tied,” prompting him to request that Tubbs be sentenced to a maximum of two years in a secure youth facility, the suit states.

Sanna alleges he was blocked from presenting to the court 256 jail calls detailing Tubbs’ alleged deception and portraying him as a racist, deviant, dangerous sexual predator.

Sanna was removed from the Tubbs case on Feb. 1, 2022, a day after allegedly emailing the jail call recordings to Assistant Head Deputy Frank Santoro and Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gowan.

The case was assigned to Gowen, who did not review the recordings before authoring a report for a multidisciplinary treatment hearing largely based on the representations of Tubbs, his attorney and his father, the suit says.

“The court did not ask any questions, which Gowen likely would not have been properly prepared to answer, and rubber-stamped the report,” the suit states.

Sanna has acknowledged that in April 2022, after he was removed from the Tubbs case, he asked Larry Droeger, a bureau director for the District Attorney’s Office, for permission to alert the court of Tubbs’ deception.

“My question to you now is this,” Sanna wrote to Droeger, “what do you expect me to do when, as a prosecutor who took an oath to abide by ethical obligations, I am on the sidelines, prohibited from notifying the court of a matter as to which I have relevant material information?”

Critical of other cases

Sanna has been an outspoken critic of Gascón’s handling of other cases, including one involving convicted murderer Andrew Cachu, who was released from custody in 2021 after serving just six years of a 50-year prison sentence when the D.A.’s former special assistant, Alisa Blair, refused to call witnesses during a disposition hearing.

Cachu originally was tried in adult court even though he was two months shy of his 18th birthday when he shot and killed 41-year-old Louis Amela outside a Palmdale restaurant in March 2015. Under changes in state law since then, however, he was entitled to a retroactive transfer hearing to determine if his conviction should be in juvenile or adult court.

While waiting in jail for his case to be resolved, Cachu was told by his mother Bertha Cachu, in a phone conversation that Blair had agreed to intervene on his behalf.

“That’s Gascón’s special adviser,” Bertha Cachu explained to her son in a recording of the call obtained by the Southern California News Group. “Oh my God! She’s going to be coming in your case. Did you hear that, man? She’s good. She’s the one I’ve been emailing back and forth.”

Originally Published: August 13, 2024 at 6:26 p.m.

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Scott Schwebke

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August 13, 2024
UPDATE: 2005 Sexual Assault Case Against T.I. & Tiny Has Reportedly Been Dismissed

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A sexual assault lawsuit against T.I. and his wife, Tiny Harris, has reportedly been dismissed.

RELATED: Explained: Sean “Diddy” Combs & The Unsettled Sexual Assault Lawsuits Against Him

More Details On The Dismissed Sexual Assault Case Against T.I. & Tiny

According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, the dismissal of the suit was filed on Thursday, August 8. It was allegedly approved by Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett at the United States District Court of California.

“The court agreed with Tip and Tameka that Jane Doe doesn’t appear to have any viable claims. As Tip and Tameka stated three years ago, these allegations are some of the many false, salacious allegations thrown out into the media in a cheap attempt to extort money from them,” a representative for the couple reportedly told the outlet.

The outlet adds that the suit was reportedly “dismissed without prejudice.” According to Shouse California Law Group, this means the case “is dismissed but can still be refiled at a later point.”

Here’s What The Lawsuit Accused The Couple Of

As The Shade Room previously reported, a Jane Doe plaintiff filed the suit against the couple. Doe accused the pair of sexually assaulting her “in or around 2005.”

At the time of the alleged incident, Doe was reportedly enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Furthermore, she alleged she met the couple at a nightclub one evening. Doe alleged she accepted a drink from Harris and later left the club with the couple and two unknown women.

TRIGGER WARNING: This portion of the article contains graphic sexual content.

Later that evening, they allegedly arrived at a hotel where the two women were ordered to leave. There, she alleged she undressed with the couple, they showered together, and she was ordered to lay on a bed.

Doe ultimately alleged that Tiny rubbed her naked body on her. Additionally, she alleged that T.I. penetrated her with his toe. Furthermore, she allegedly passed out and was awoken the next day to her vagina being in “serious pain,” itching and throbbing.

More Details On T.I. & Tiny’s Request For The Lawsuit To Be Dismissed

Furthermore, as The Shade Room previously reported, T.I. and Tiny reacted to the lawsuit via an exclusive statement shared with TMZ.

“On the heels of positivity, negativity always rears its ugly head. This plaintiff has been threatening to file this lawsuit for THREE years. For THREE years, we have emphatically and categorically denied these allegations,” they stated. “For THREE years we have maintained our innocence and refused to pay these extortionate demands for things we didn’t do. For THREE years, we’ve maintained the same position while the claims in this story have changed time and time again. Our position is clear… We are innocent of these fake claims, we will not be shaken down, and we look forward to our day in court.”

According to PEOPLE, T.I. and Tiny officially filed a motion to dismiss the case in July. The couple reportedly wanted the suit dismissed “in its entirety, with prejudice.” Additionally, the couple reportedly asserted that Doe “fail[ed] to allege facts” to prove her claims.

RELATED: T.I. & Tiny Respond After Being Accused Of 2005 Sexual Battery And Assault In New Lawsuit

What Do You Think Roomies?

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Jadriena Solomon

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August 9, 2024
Kevin Spacey’s waterfront Baltimore condo sold at auction after foreclosure

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BALTIMORE (AP) — Kevin Spacey’s $5.6 million waterfront condominium in Baltimore has been sold at auction amid the disgraced actor’s financial struggles following a slew of sexual misconduct allegations.

Last summer, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. That was his second court victory since he saw off a $40 million lawsuit in 2022 in New York brought by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.

But Spacey said in an emotional interview with British broadcast host Piers Morgan last month that he was millions of dollars in debt, largely because of unpaid legal bills, and facing foreclosure on the Baltimore property.

Spacey moved to the Baltimore area when he started shooting the hugely popular political thriller “House of Cards” there in 2012. Speaking through tears during the interview, Spacey said he would have to go back to Baltimore and put all his things in storage. He said he nearly had to file for bankruptcy a couple times but managed to dodge it.

His luxury condo on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor sold at auction Thursday morning for $3.24 million, according to the auctioneer’s website. It sits on a floating pier and boasts six bedrooms, seven full baths, an elevator, sauna, home theater, rooftop terrace, multiple verandas and a four-car garage.

A small group of potential buyers gathered on the steps of the downtown Baltimore Circuit Court building and made their bids, according to local media reports. The suggested opening bid was $1.5 million.

The winning bidder was acting as proxy for a real estate developer and local businessman whose identity hasn’t been disclosed, The Baltimore Sun reported.

During tearful testimony in a London courtroom last summer, Spacey denied the allegations against him and told the jury how they had destroyed his acting career as the #MeToo movement gained momentum in the U.S.

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July 27, 2024
Educators wonder how to teach the writings of Alice Munro in wake of daughter’s revelations

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NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, Robert Lecker has read, taught and written about Alice Munro, the Nobel laureate from Canada renowned for her short stories. A professor of English at McGill University in Montreal, and author of numerous critical studies of Canadian fiction, he has thought of Munro as the “jewel” in the crown of her country’s literature and source of some of the richest material for classroom discussion.

But since learning that Munro declined to leave her husband after he had sexually assaulted and harassed her daughter, Lecker now wonders how to teach her work, or if he should even try.

“I had decided to teach a graduate course on Munro in the winter of 2025,” Lecker says. “Now I have serious questions whether I feel ethically capable of offering that course.”

Andrea Robin Skinner, daughter of Munro and James Munro, wrote in the Toronto Star earlier this month that she had been assaulted at age 9 by Munro’s second husband, Gerard Fremlin. She alleged that he continued to harass and abuse her for the next few years, losing interest when she reached her teens. In her 20s, she told her mother about Fremlin’s abuse. But Munro, after briefly leaving Fremlin, returned and remained with him until his death in 2013. She would explain to Skinner that she “loved him too much” to remain apart.

When Munro died in May at age 92, she was celebrated worldwide for narratives which documented rare insight into her characters’ secrets, motivations, passions and cruelties, especially those of girls and women. Admirers cited her not just as a literary inspiration, but as a kind of moral guide, sometimes described as “Saint Alice.” A New York Times essay that ran shortly after her death, by Canadian author Sheila Heti, was titled “I Don’t Write Like Alice Munro, But I Want to Live Like Her.”

“No one knows the compromises another makes, especially when that person is as private as she was and transforms her trials into fiction,” Heti wrote. “Yet whatever the truth of her daily existence, she still shines as a symbol of artistic purity.”

Educators in Canada and beyond are now rethinking her life and work. At Western University in London, Ontario, Munro’s alma mater, the school has posted a statement on its website saying that it was “taking time to carefully consider the impact” of the revelations. Since 2018, Western University has offered an Alice Munro Chair in Creativity, with a mission to “Lead the creative culture of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, serving as a mentor and a model.” That chair, held for the past academic year by Heti, will be left unfilled as “we carefully consider Munro’s legacy and her ties to Western,” according to the school.

Requests with Heti’s agent and publicists for comment were not immediately answered.

For the fall semester at Harvard University, authors and faculty members Laura van den Berg and Neel Mukherjee will be co-teaching “Reading for Fiction Writers,” a review of literary works ranging from the science fiction of Octavia Butler to the “realist” fiction of Munro. Van den Berg, a prize-winning writer whose books include the story collection “The Isle of Youth” and the novel “State of Paradise,” says that Munro’s failure to support Skinner has forced her to rethink her approach to the class.

“I’ll never read Munro the same away again, and won’t be teaching her the same way,” she says. “To me, what was so painful about what Andrea Skinner has been through is the silence. And feeling that she could break her silence after her mother was gone. To me, to just stand in front a group of students and read the lecture I had originally prepared would feel like a second silencing.”

A former student of Lecker’s, Kellie Elrick, says she is still figuring out how Munro should be taught and how to think of her work. Munro’s stories have enriched her life, she says, and she doesn’t regret reading them. Elrick, entering her fourth year at McGill, sees parallel narratives, “difficult to reconcile,” of “Munro the writer” and “Munro the mother.”

“I think that it’s perhaps both productive and dangerous to read an author’s work biographically,” she added. “It may allow us (the readers) to think we may understand things, but there are things we can never truly know about the lives and intentions of writers.”

One of the Munro stories that van den Berg and Mukherjee plan to teach is “Friend of My Youth,” narrated by a woman long estranged from her mother, whose “ideas were in line with some progressive notions of her times, and mine echoed the notions that were favored in mine.” Mukherjee, a Booker Prize finalist in 2014 for the novel “The Lives of Others,” is unsure about how, or whether, to work in the recent news about Munro when teaching ”Friend of My Youth,” which the author had dedicated to her own mother.

He believes in separating the “art from the artist, that we all have done bad things.” He considers himself “very conflicted,” sharing van den Berg’s horror that Munro chose her husband over her daughter, but also finding that her work may have gained “richer depth, now that we know something in her life that she may have been trying to come to terms with.”

“I don’t see writers as would-be saints,” he says.

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July 18, 2024
Man accused of holding girlfriend captive in Minnesota college dorm room reaches plea deal

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A man who was accused of holding his girlfriend captive in her dorm room at a Minnesota college for three days while raping, beating and waterboarding her has reached a plea deal that calls for a sentence of up to 7 1/2 years.

Keanu Avery Labatte, 20, of Granite Falls, pleaded guilty Friday to an amended charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. He admitted to choking and sexually assaulting the woman in her room at St. Catherine University in September. In return, prosecutors agreed to dismiss four other charges, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

His attorney, Thomas Beito, said Labatte admitted to choking her during the assault. “He did not admit to the other kind of salacious details that were involved here, such as waterboarding, or holding her hostage or kidnapping,” Beito said. “We deny that any of that happened.”

Labatte remains free on an $80,000 bond ahead of sentencing Nov. 4. Beito said he will ask Judge Kellie Charles for probation, “due to his age, due to the fact that he doesn’t have any prior significant criminal history.”

Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesperson for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors will ask the judge to give Labatte the full 7 1/2-year term.

According to the complaint, Labatte went to the campus on a Thursday to visit his girlfriend of two months. After finding texts, pictures and social media content that infuriated him, he took her phone, the complaint said. She was strangled, threatened with a knife, forced to lie in a bathtub while Labatte covered her face with a washcloth and poured water on her, and sexually assaulted, the complaint alleged.

That Sunday morning, she persuaded him to let her leave to get food from the cafeteria. But she went to the university’s security office and told them she was being abused. They notified police, and officers noted marks on her neck, the complaint said.

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July 13, 2024
US envoy to Japan expresses regret over alleged sex crimes by military personnel in Okinawa

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TOKYO — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel expressed regret on Saturday for the handling of two cases of sexual assaults allegedly committed by American military personnel on Okinawa, which have again stoked resentment of the heavy U.S. troop presence on the strategic island in Japan’s far southwest.

The issue broke out late last month, triggering an uproar over reports that two American service members had been charged with sexual assaults months earlier.

Both cases were first reported in local media in late June. In one arrest made in March, a member of the U.S. Air Force was charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a teenager, and while in May a U.S. Marine was arrested on charges of attempted rape resulting in injury. Further details about the alleged victims were not released.

Okinawa police said they did not announce the cases out of privacy considerations related to the victims. The Foreign Ministry, per police decision, also did not notify Okinawa prefectural officials.

The cases are a reminder to many Okinawans of the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. service members, which sparked massive protests against the U.S. presence. It led to a 1996 agreement between Tokyo and Washington to close a key U.S. air base, although the plan has been repeatedly delayed due to protests at the site designated for its replacement on another part of the island.

Emanuel said he deeply regretted what happened to the individuals, their families and their community, but fell short of apologizing. “Obviously, you got to let the criminal justice process play out. But that doesn’t mean you don’t express on a human level your sense of regret.”

“We have to do better,” he said, adding that the U.S. military’s high standards and protocols for education and training of its troops was “just not working.”

Emanuel said the U.S. may be able to propose measures to improve training and transparency with the public at U.S.-Japan foreign and defense ministers’ security talks expected later this month in Tokyo.

On Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the Japanese authorities would do their utmost to provide more prompt disclosures of alleged crime related to U.S. military personnel on Okinawa while protecting victims’ privacy.

The cases could be a setback for the defense relationship at a time when Okinawa is seen increasingly important in the face of rising tensions with China.

Some 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Japan under a bilateral security pact, about half of them on Okinawa, where residents have long complained about heavy U.S. troop presence and related accidents, crime and noise.

Emanuel commented on the issue while visiting Fukushima, on Japan’s northeast coast.

Earlier Saturday, the ambassador visited the nearby town of Minamisoma to join junior surfers and sample locally-caught flounder for lunch, aiming to highlight the safety of the area’s seawater and seafood amid ongoing discharges of treated and diluted radioactive water from the tsuamni-ruined Fukusima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

China has banned Japanese seafood over the discharges, a move Emanuel criticized as unjustified.

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July 6, 2024
Person of interest in custody in sex assault of sunbathing woman at NYC’s Central Park: sources

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NEW YORK — A man in New York Police Department custody in a forcible touching case is the person police believe attacked a woman sunbathing in Central Park last month, police sources told ABC News.

Jermaine Longmire, 42, has not been charged in the June 24 sexual assault of the woman in the park, but the sources said DNA links him to the incident.

The Central Park sexual assault prompted a manhunt for the suspect, who police say attacked the sunbather in the Great Hill section of the park near 104th Street in the middle of the afternoon.

Longmire has been in custody at Rikers Island after he was charged with groping a 27-year-old woman on a southbound A train platform on the Upper West Side on June 15.

In that case, Longmire is accused of coming up behind the victim and putting his hand under her dress.

Police say he has five previous arrests in New York City, as well as prior arrests in Florida, including for sex crimes.

No charges have been filed against him in the Central Park case, which is expected to go before a grand jury.

Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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July 2, 2024
US will gradually resume avocado inspections in conflictive Mexican state, ambassador says

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MEXICO CITY — U.S. government inspections of avocados and mangoes in the Mexican state of Michoacan will gradually resume, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar announced Friday, a week after they were suspended over an assault on inspectors.

The U.S. Agriculture Department inspectors “will gradually begin to return to the packing plants following recent aggression against them,” Salazar said in a statement. “However, it is still necessary to advance in guaranteeing their security before reaching full operations.”

“In fact, more work still needs to be done so that the (agriculture) inspectors are safe and can resume inspections and thereby eliminate the impediments to the trade of avocado and mango to the United States from Michoacan.”

Last weekend, two USDA employees were assaulted and temporarily held by assailants in Michoacan, Salazar said earlier this week. That led the U.S. to suspend inspections in Mexico’s biggest avocado-producing state.

The employees work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Because the United States also grows avocados, U.S. inspectors work in Mexico to ensure exported avocados don’t carry diseases that could hurt U.S. crops.

Earlier this week, Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said the inspectors had been stopped in a protest by residents of Aranza in western Michoacan on June 14.

He downplayed the situation, suggesting the inspectors were never at risk. He said that he got in touch with the U.S. Embassy the following day and that state forces were providing security for the state’s avocado producers and packers.

Many avocado growers in Michoacan say drug gangs threaten them or their family members with kidnapping or death unless they pay protection money, sometimes amounting to thousands of dollars per acre.

There have also been reports of organized crime bringing avocados grown in other states not approved for export and trying to get them through U.S. inspections.

In February 2022, the U.S. government suspended inspections of Mexican avocados “until further notice” after a U.S. plant safety inspector in Michoacan received a threatening message. The halt was lifted after about a week.

Later that year, Jalisco became the second Mexican state authorized to export avocados to the U.S.

The new pause in inspections didn’t block shipments of Mexican avocados to the United States, because Jalisco is now an exporter and there are a lot of Michoacan avocados already in transit.

Salazar said he was optimistic things were moving in a positive direction, but would not be satisified until the inspectors can work without threats to their safety.

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June 21, 2024
Two more players from South Dakota baseball team plead guilty to lesser charge in rape case

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4 things to know from June 18, 2024

4 things to know from June 18, 2024

01:37

Three of six South Dakota players from a baseball team made up of high school-aged players who were charged as adults last summer with rape have pleaded guilty to a lesser felony charge.

Two former members of the American Legion team from Mitchell pleaded guilty Monday to being an accessory to a felony, KELO-TV reported. Another player reached the same plea deal earlier this month. All three could face up to five years in prison when they’re sentenced in August.

Three other players who were charged as adults last August still face the original counts of second-degree rape and aiding and abetting second-degree rape. They have a status hearing July 1.

Meanwhile, another three players were charged in juvenile court.

According to prosecutors, the victims were 16 when they were sexually assaulted during a tournament in Rapid City last June.

The American Legion sponsors summer baseball leagues for high school-aged players throughout the U.S.

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June 18, 2024
Kim Porter’s Dad ‘Disgusted’ By Video Of Diddy Abusing Cassie – Now Wonders What His Daughter Experienced While Dating Rapper! – Perez Hilton

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The father of Kim Porter spoke out about the video of her ex, Diddy, brutally abusing Cassie Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel back in 2016.

In an interview published with Rolling Stone on Friday, Jake Porter shared that, like so many of us, he was extremely “disgusted” by the shocking surveillance footage released last month that backed the allegations she made in a now-settled lawsuit. He told the outlet:

“You can say I was disgusted with the video, and I wouldn’t treat my enemy like that. It was despicable. I couldn’t believe it. I was in Vietnam, and I wouldn’t do that to my enemy.”

Related: Howard University Revokes Diddy’s Honorary College Degree — And Returns HUGE Donation!

Although Jake never witnessed Diddy physically harming Kim before her sudden death from pneumonia in 2018, he now cannot help but “wonder” what she possibly experienced behind closed doors in light of the assault toward Cassie. Sadly, we’ve heard about the alleged abuse Kim suffered at the hands of Diddy in the wake of the video. The musician’s former bodyguard previously claimed he saw him attacking women “around for or five times,” including Kim and Cassie. Awful. Two sources claimed to Rolling Stone last month that Diddy physically abused Kim. Former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry even told the outlet:

“I remember Kim used to go through a lot of stuff. If you live around them, you get to see the toxic relationship.… I think every relationship he had that I experienced around him was like that.”

Jeez. We cannot imagine how hard it must be for the father to have so many unanswered questions about what happened to Kim. One thing Jake does know, though, is that he has a “different outlook” on the rapper, who is being sued for similar claims of abuse, assault, and trafficking. The 78-year-old dad added:

“I didn’t know he could stoop that low. I imagine it surprised a lot of people. I wouldn’t even do a dog like that. My heart goes out to Cassie.”

According to Rolling Stone, Jake declined to answer many questions about the situation. However, he did mention that Kim genuinely loved Diddy. For those who don’t know, the model and the music mogul dated on and off from 1994 to 2007. Kim ended things with Diddy for good when she found out he fathered a secret child while she was pregnant with their twin daughters. While the actress loved Diddy during their relationship, her dad noted she “just couldn’t live with” the Bad Boy Records founder in the same house in the end:

“I think he was a very jealous person. They both loved each other. Kim’s love was legitimate. Puffy’s love, I don’t know what he calls love, you know what I mean? I really don’t think he has any idea what love is.”

Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.

[Image via Drew Altizer/WENN, Derrick Salters/WENN, FayesVision/WENN]

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June 8, 2024
New York Senate passes bill to tighten legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to toss rape conviction

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ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to explicitly allow evidence of prior sexual offenses in sex crimes cases, a move to change the legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to overturn his rape conviction.

The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 55-4. The proposal now moves to the state Assembly.

Lawmakers began pushing the measure weeks after the state’s high court tossed Weinstein’s conviction in a ruling that found a trial judge unfairly allowed women to testify about assault allegations that weren’t part of the criminal charges against Weinstein.

The state does allow such evidence in limited instances, such as to prove a motive or plan, but the rules are determined by existing legal precedent, rather than state law.

The bill would make clear that evidence of previous sexual offenses can be heard in sex crimes cases, even if those prior allegations are not directly part of the underlying criminal charges. The proposal would also give judges discretion to not allow such testimony if it would create “undue prejudice” against a defendant.

Sponsors of the bill said its language is similar to a standard used by the federal government and more than a dozen other states.

The Legal Aid Society, which provides free legal representation, has warned that the proposal would confuse jurors by allowing too much outside evidence at trials and would result in unfair convictions.

Weinstein has denied the charges against him in New York, which include allegedly raping an aspiring actor and sexually assaulting a production assistant. His 2020 conviction was a major moment in the #MeToo movement. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is seeking to retry him as soon as September.

The disgraced movie mogul has separately been convicted of rape in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison there. He remains jailed in New York.

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May 22, 2024
A Guide to the Many Lawsuits Against Diddy

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Rodney “Lil Rod’ Jones Jr., a record producer from Chicago, filed a 105-page federal complaint against Combs accusing him and the people who work with him of being part of an illegal racketeering enterprise. Jones alleges in his complaint that he has “irrefutable evidence of: (a) the acquisition, use, and distribution of ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, marijuana, and mushrooms; (b) the displaying and distribution of unregistered illegal firearms; and (c) the solicitation of minors and sex workers.”

According to Jones, as he alleges in the complaint, Combs reached out to Jones in 2022 to help him produce songs, but Jones claims the work Combs required of him went far beyond producing music. He claims in the lawsuit that he was tasked with procuring drugs and soliciting sex workers to “perform sex acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs.” Jones alleges that Combs also required him to tape these sex acts and that Combs would “often threaten to inflict bodily harm” on him if he did not comply with his demands. Jones alleged in his complaint that Combs kept “specific bottles of alcohol designated for females” on hand and, “according to Mr. Jones, Mr. Combs forced all the women to drink laced DeLeon liquor. Upon information and belief, Mr. Combs laced the liquor with ecstasy,” the lawsuit claims. He also accuses Combs of sexual harassment and assault for allegedly grabbing him without his consent and forcing him to work while Combs paraded around naked. Jones also alleges that Combs once left him alone in a makeshift studio on a yacht with Cuba Gooding Jr., who he said then began “touching, groping, and fondling” his upper thighs near his groin. He said Gooding did not stop until he forcibly pushed him away.

February 2, 2024, in Manhattan’s federal court.

Ongoing. Jones’s lawyer has accused Combs of “harassing behavior,” including “manufacturing stories about Plaintiff on TMZ and dispatching his agents to harass Plaintiff’s 8-year-old daughter, the mother of his child, and ex-spouses, all of whom have expressed fear of potential harm by Defendant Combs.” Jones’s attorney told Judge J. Paul Oetken, who is overseeing the case, that an additional police report had been filed on March 3. Jones is asking the court for a jury trial.

When reached out to for comment, Combs’s attorney Shawn Holley provided a near-identical statement he provided to The New York Times on February 26, 2024. “Mr. Jones is nothing more than a con man, shamelessly looking for an easy and wholly undeserved payday,” it said. “We have indisputable, incontrovertible proof that his claims are complete fabrications. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn has refused to return our calls. We look forward to addressing these ridiculous claims in court and intend to take all appropriate action against all who are attempting to peddle them.”

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May 22, 2024
Sean

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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ troubles continued Tuesday as a lawsuit filed in New York federal court accused the hip-hop mogul of drugging and sexually assaulting a model in 2003.

The lawsuit was filed by Crystal McKinney under the NYC Gender Motivated Violence Act, which allows victims of violence committed on the basis of gender in the city to sue their abusers, regardless of when the abuse took place. The window for filing lawsuits under that act expires in 2025.

McKinney is also suing Combs’ record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, his label’s distributor, Universal Music Group, and Combs’ fashion brand, Sean John Clothing.

According to the suit, then 22-year-old McKinney, who was a rising fashion model, was introduced to Combs by an unnamed fashion designer in 2003. The suit alleges the designer dressed and styled McKinney “to ensure Combs found her attractive” before taking her to meet Combs at Cipriani Downtown, a New York City restaurant.

According to the lawsuit, Combs made a number of flirtatious and sexually suggestive remarks about McKinney’s appearance in front of the other dinner guests, including the designer. Later that night, Combs allegedly invited McKinney to his recording studio, where he was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana with several male companions, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit says that Comb passed McKinney a joint, saying, “You’ve never had weed like this before,” which McKinney interpreted to mean the marijuana was laced with some other drug.

“Although plaintiff insisted that she had enough after that, Combs pressured her to imbibe more alcohol and marijuana by telling her that she was acting too uptight,” the lawsuit reads.

After McKinney became “very intoxicated,” the lawsuit claims, Combs led her into the bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterward, she alleges she lost consciousness and woke up in a cab.

CBS News has reached out to Combs’ representatives for comment. Universal Music Group declined to comment “pending lawyers’ review of the lawsuit.”

A Homeland Security Ivestigations vehicle is seen outside the home of Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles on March 25, 2024.

DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images

McKinney claims her modeling opportunities disappeared after the alleged incident because Combs had her “‘blackballed’ in the industry and utilized his significant influence to impede [her] career growth.” According to the suit, in the years following the alleged incident, McKinney became anxious, depressed and addicted to drugs and alcohol, and she attempted suicide around 2004.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a security video aired by CNN on Friday that allegedly shows Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Combs on Sunday publicly apologized for the incident, saying his behavior was “inexcusable,” and that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.

Earlier this month, Combs asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and hideous claim” that was filed too late under the law.

In March, Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law enforcement officers due to a possible ongoing sex trafficking investigation, U.S. officials said at the time.

Other accusations against the music mogul include those made by two women in November last year, one week after he settled a separate lawsuit with the singer Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse. The women’s lawsuits were filed on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.

In February, a male music producer also filed a federal lawsuit against Combs accusing him of sexual misconduct.

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S. Dev

S. Dev is a news editor for CBSNews.com.

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May 21, 2024
A French court clears director Roman Polanski of defaming a British actor

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PARIS — PARIS (AP) —

A French court acquitted filmmaker Roman Polanski Tuesday of defaming a British actor whom he described as a liar after she accused him of sexual assault. The case stems from a 2019 interview with Paris Match magazine, where Polanski allegedly called Charlotte Lewis a liar following her accusations.

The court’s ruling did not address the truth of the rape allegation but focused solely on whether Polanski’s comments in the interview constituted defamation against Lewis. Polanski denied the charges.

The verdict was delivered Tuesday afternoon in a Paris court.

Lewis said she felt let down by the verdict and would appeal.

“I feel sad,” she said. “For us, it’s not over.”

Polanski was not in court. His lawyer Delphine Meillet called him to announce the news. She said the court recognized his right to challenge people who make accusations against him. She noted that the verdict came on the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, calling it “a symbolic day.”

“It’s a victory for the rights of the defense,” the lawyer said.

At the heart of the accusations was that Polanski rebutted Lewis’s allegations of sexual assault in the 2019 interview with Paris Match, describing them as a “heinous lie.” Lewis had contended the remarks were defamatory, launching a legal battle against the 90-year-old director, known for classics such as “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown,” and “The Pianist.”

Lewis, who first made her allegations public in 2010, claimed Polanski “sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old,” referring to an incident in 1983 in Paris during a casting session for his film “Pirates.”

The filmmaker has faced several other accusations of sexual assault that allegedly occurred over several decades, including a notable case from 1977 where he was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old in the United States. He pleaded guilty but fled to Europe in 1978 before sentencing could take place.

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May 14, 2024