2 inmates charged with killing 4 in South Carolina prison

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two convicts each serving a life sentence for killing a mother and her child have been charged with murder in the strangulation deaths of four inmates inside a South Carolina prison.

Denver Simmons and Jacob Philip lured each of the four inmates into a cell at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia on Friday morning, then worked together to attack and choke them, according to arrest warrants released early Saturday.

Two of the inmates were also beaten or stabbed with a broken broomstick, according to the warrants released by State Law Enforcement Division agents.

The attacks took place within 30 minutes, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said in a statement Saturday.

One inmate was choked with an electrical cord, while another had his chest pressed down while he was being strangled. The cause of death for the other two inmates was also strangulation, Watts said.

The warrants gave no reason for the attacks. They did say there is video of the killings and the men confessed to investigators.

The Corrections Department will conduct an internal investigation into the killings after the criminal investigation is finished, Corrections Department Director Bryan Stirling told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Because of the ongoing investigation, Stirling would not talk about whether prison policies were broken or how the inmates came to be together.

Prison records show the four inmates killed were considered minimum security risks. The Kirkland prison serves several roles in South Carolina's system. It operates a specialized housing unit for the state's most dangerous inmates, an assessment and evaluation center for new inmates sentenced to more than three months, and a 24-bed infirmary, according to the Corrections website.

Simmons, 35, has been behind bars since his 2007 arrest on charges he killed a woman he knew in Colleton County, took her debit card and ate pizza for lunch, then got her 13-year-old son from school and killed him too.

Philip, 25, has been in prison since 2013. Authorities said he strangled his girlfriend and her 8-year-old daughter in Berkeley County.

Prison records show Simmons has three disciplinary infractions in four years for being out of place, disrespect and refusing to obey an order. Philip has no disciplinary actions against him in nearly two years in state prison.

Records did not show if the inmates had lawyers.

The four inmates killed were John King, 52; Jason Kelley, 35; Jimmy Ham, 56; and William Scruggs, 44, prison officials said.

King was serving time for a variety of crimes and had a projected release date of October 2020. Kelley was serving 15 years for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. He was scheduled for release in August 2020.

Ham was scheduled for release this November after serving a sentence for a variety of offenses. Scruggs was sentenced to life in prison for murder and first-degree burglary.

Associated Press

'Arrogant' backpacker sparks fury on coach by refusing to remove "rancid" smelly feet from fellow traveller's head rest

© Provided by Trinity Mirror Plc Credits: Viral Press

An "arrogant" female backpacker caused outrage on a coach when she put her "rancid" smelly feet next to another passenger's head.
The woman, believed to be French, was branded "arrogant" and refused to remove her feet from the chair.
Narong Thaopanya, 21, was travelling on the coach from Bangkok to Sukhothai province in northern Thailand on March 30.
He was overcome by a rancid smell when the young woman was sat in the seat behind him and put her sweaty feet on top of the chair at his side.
Narong politely asked her to take down her feet but she refused to listen - staring at him and putting her legs up again.
The army reservist recorded the woman took pictures of her "arrogant behaviour".
He said: ‘"This woman's face was beautiful but she had no manners.
"The smell from her feet was filling the whole bus. It was hot and made me feel sick, because her feet were next to my head.
"I asked her many times to put her legs on the ground and she would not do it. She just kept them in the air."

© Provided by Trinity Mirror Plc Credits: Viral Press

Narong said visitors to other countries should show respect and think about whether they would act in such a way if they were at home.He said: "Somebody will have to use the seat and put their head where her dirty feet have been.
"Would she have done this in her own country? If think that she thought she could get do it because she is a woman.
"People should be more respectful when they are visitors to other people’s countries."

Source : Mirror 

Man at NRA headquarters accidentally shoots himself

© Provided by Independent Print Limited

In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, a National Rifle Association employee has accidentally shot himself while doing firearms training at the organisations headquarters.

The 46-year-old man accidentally discharged his pistol while he was holstering it at the NRA's National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. 

The staffer of the National Firearms Museum, a site within the NRA's Headquarters, suffered a minor wound to his lower body and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

No criminal chargers have been filed.

The NRA is the US's biggest gun rights organisation and has long been a champion of gun safety.

According to the Gun Violence Archive there have been 552 reported unintentional shootings in 2017 (five or six a day).

There were 2,200 unintentional shootings in 2016.

Overall, the Gun Violence Archive has tracked 
15,704 incidents of gun violence in 2017.

Source :Indy 100

Shocking ! Husband Tortured His Wife & Forced Her To Watch As He Murdered Her Four Children

Few shared the compassion that pastor Fred Harris had for convicted murderer Gregory Green. Gregory was behind bars for stabbing his wife Tonya to death in 1991. She had been six months pregnant with his baby, but Fred believed Gregory deserved a second chance.

Despite being turned down for parole several times, the pastor wrote letters on Gregory’s behalf to the Michigan Parole Board, explaining that they had been friends before he committed the crime.

"He was a member of our church," he wrote. "I feel he has paid for his unfortunate lack of self-control and the damage he has caused as much as possible and is sorry." Fred said Gregory would be welcomed back into the church and the community on his release. They were forgiving words for a man who had killed his wife after she told him she was leaving.


Gregory had called 911 and waited for police to arrest him. ‘I stabbed her,’ he’d said. ‘She’s in the kitchen.’

He’d claimed insanity for his crime, but was found to be competent and charged with second-degree murder. But in 2008, he was granted parole after spending 15 years in prison – partly down to Fred’s lobbying.

Once he was back in the community, Gregory, 49, fell in love with the pastor’s daughter, Faith, and she showed the same compassion towards him as her father had. Faith was a single mum with two children – student Kara Allen, 17, and Chadney Allen, 19, who was a graduate and loved tight hugs from his mum.

Two years later, Faith and Gregory married and had two daughters: Koi, then Kaleigh. Both girls loved ballet, singing and dressing up.

They all lived together in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and neighbours thought they were a regular family. But Faith soon found out she’d made the wrong choice with Gregory when she saw his temper first hand.

She tried to take a restraining order out against him in 2013, stating that, "He’s kicking things…threatening me… saying things are going to get ugly."

But her petition was denied. In August 2016, she filed for divorce – it had been her third attempt.

But Gregory wasn’t willing to let her get away. On the night of 21 September 2016, he decided that if he couldn’t be with his family, no one could.

He took his two biological daughters, then five and four, and sat them in his car. He attached a hosepipe from the exhaust and killed them both with the fumes.

Gregory carried them back inside and placed them in their beds.

He then tied his wife to a chair in the basement with duct tape and zip ties, and tortured the grieving mum. Gregory shot her in the foot and slashed her face from ear to chin with a box cutter.
Horrific ordeal

Faith knew her younger children were dead – but Gregory wasn’t done. He dragged his stepchildren downstairs and shot them dead, execution-style, in front of their hysterical mum.

With his wife bleeding almost to death, Gregory called 911 and confessed to the killings, just as he’d done when he killed his first wife. Emergency services rushed to the scene and found Chadney and Kara dead at Faith’s feet, and Koi and Kaleigh dead in bed.

The killer dad was arrested and, incredibly, paramedics were able to save Faith.

 In October 2016, Faith found the strength to go and watch her estranged husband charged with murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, torture, unlawful imprisonment, felonious assault, felon in possession and felony firearm.

She was in a wheelchair with a black veil over her face to hide the injuries from her attack. Days earlier she’d buried her four children in front of more than 1,000 mourners.

She’d written a letter to her children. "My dear babies, I love you all," it read. "You were always unique in your own way."

Gregory was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation but was cleared and declared competent to stand trial.

Earlier this year, Gregory Green pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree murder as part of a plea agreement to save Faith and her family the trauma of a trial.

"I left my two girls in the car," he admitted to the court, before confessing he’d killed his stepchildren and tortured Faith too.
The prosecution said that the killings were planned because there was evidence he’d gone shopping a week before for the piping needed to poison his children in the car.

Faith bravely stood in front of the man who had slaughtered her four children and read a statement. The long scar on her face was a reminder of the torture that had been inflicted on her. She told Gregory he would "burn in hell for all eternity".

"You’re a con artist. You’re a monster," she said. "You’re a devil in disguise."

Faith told the man, who she was now divorced from, that his attempt to make her suffer didn’t work.

"While I stand up here trembling with fear, I put on my bravest face to be in the same room with the man who murdered all four of my children," she said. "Two of them violently in front of me with a gun. He killed my other two babies with a hose that ran from the tail pipe of his car to where they were sleeping."

Faith spoke of her short-term memory loss and her post-traumatic stress disorder that has left her with migraines and nightmares.

"Sometimes, I dream of the night all this happened and wake up screaming thinking that I could save my children," she said. "Then I realise that nightmare is actually reality and my children are really gone, and I try to find the strength to start my day somehow. I miss my children so much that words will never be able to explain."
She’ll never heal

Faith said there are days when she wishes she’d died and knows the hole in her heart will never heal.

Gregory took the stand and attempted to show his remorse.

"God knows the heart. He knows how sorry I am," he said.

They were empty words from a man who had murdered the children of the woman who had opened her heart to give him a second chance at life.

As part of the plea agreement he was told he’d spend 47 to 107 years in prison. He will be 97 before he gets a chance for parole.
 The judge was damning with her words and said it was by far the worst case she’d seen.

"Fathers are supposed to protect their children," she said. "Husbands are supposed to protect their wives. Your actions are inconceivable."

Gregory is back behind bars. He betrayed the trust of the very people who had found it in their hearts to give him another chance. History repeated itself and ended four
young lives.

How Nigerian Churches Are Encouraging Corruption – Obasanjo

A former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the activities of church leaders are contributing to the rampart cases of corruption across the country.

Speaking on Saturday at the convention of Victory Life Bible Church International in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Mr. Obasanjo said fighting corruption should not be a one-off affair because it would bounce back with vengeance.

“There is no doubt that all our institutions have been tarnished by the brush of corruption,” Mr. Obasanjo, a retired army general, said in his speech titled ‘The Role of the Church in the Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria.”

“If the Church, as an institution, does not take bribe or get involved in other corrupt practice, the behaviour of some of our men of God leaves much to be desired.


“They not only celebrate but venerate those whose sources of wealth are questionable. They accept gifts (offering) from just anybody without asking questions. This gives the impression that anything is acceptable in the house of God.

“But if Jesus can chase out those buying and selling from the temple with the declaration that, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves,’ then it is time to stand up against corruption.”

Mr. Obasanjo, who was represented at the event by Femi Olajide, the chapel of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library’s Christ the Glorious King Church, called on the Church to clean its Augean stable in order to restore its holiness.

He also advocated that prosperity messages be preached with caution and moderation.

“Our present day ‘money changers’ and ‘merchants’ must be chased out of the Church and put to shame in the larger society.

“While miracles, signs and wonders are the expectations of true believers, such must be based on righteousness. To preach that one can acquire wealth without labour is not only deceitful; it is a call to corruption. It is false preaching and it is sinful.

“We must be careful in believing and celebrating every testimony of miraculous blessing, hence we end up being hoodwinked into celebrating corruption.”

Mr. Obasanjo, who was president between 1999 and 2007, said he took a “bold step” to curb corruption, adding that the fight against corruption was made a “top priority” during his administration.

He also said his government never lacked the political will to support the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, two anti-corruption agencies Mr. Obasanjo created.

He further said the rise of public administration and the discovery of oil and natural gas were two major events that increased corrupt practices in the country.

“The government has tried to contain corruption through the enactment of laws and the enforcement of integrity systems, but success has been slow in coming,” Mr. Obasanjo said.

“Legislations alone are not enough as they are often breached by those who make them and those who implement them.”

Premium Times

Germany-based Nigerian Requests To Renounce Nigerian Citizenship

A Nigerian based in Germany has asked to dump his Nigerian citizenship. The request was made in a letter dated 13 March and addressed to the Nigerian Consulate-General in Frankfurt.

The disaffected citizen followed it up by handing over his Nigerian passport as a prelude to severance of ties with Nigeria.                           

However, the Consular-General responded that it has no power to grant the request. In a letter(Ref. NCF/CON 046/1) dated 14 March and signed by Joe E. Waribagha, Consular Officer, on behalf of the Consul-General, the Nigerian Consulate referred the applicant to Chapter 111 Article 29, Sub-section 1-2.                                                                                  

"The above-mentioned Chapter of the Constitution clearly states that all prospective applicants, who desire to renounce their Nigerian citizenship, that the power to approve renunciation of Nigerian citizenship or restoration of same is the sole prerogative of Mr. President, as enshrined in the Constitution.          

"In view of the above, the Nigerian Consulate wish (sic) to inform you that it does not have the power to approve the request to renounce your Nigerian citizenship. You are, therefore, advised to follow due process as stated by the Constitution. Consequently, the Consulate is returning your Nigerian passport to you," said the letter.

Reply to Letter of Renouncitation
Source : Sahara Reporters  Sahara Reporters Media

Nigerian Students Abandoned In Romania By Sponsors Make Heartbreaking Plea

…

We may soon be deported without completing our courses after three years in university’ …CBN, Finance Ministry blocked payments – NIMASA About 295 Nigerian students undergoing specialised courses in maritime in Romania say they are in distress.

Constanta-Maritime-University Reason: They are under the threat of losing their studentship and deported back to Nigeria on the grounds of non-payment of school fees. The students, studying maritime navigation and maritime engineering at Constanta Maritime University, Romania under the Nigeria Seafearers Development Programme, are being sponsored by the Nigeria Maritime Safety Agency (NIMASA).

128 of the students are in their third year in the university while the rest are in final year. “Our school fees and welfare payment have been due since October 2016 as it marked the beginning of a new session”, the students said in a save-our-soul (SOS) message to Sunday Vanguard.


“Currently, the Romania Immigration is concerned about the lack of funds to cater for our basic needs as students which include accommodation, feeding, utilities, textbooks/ educational materials and other logistics which they interpret as living below the required standard as international students, and if this issue is not addressed immediately, we may be expelled from the school and deported back to Nigeria.

With this, the vision of boosting manpower in the maritime sector in Nigeria will be defeated. Most of the students have been ejected from their apartments, thus making them homeless. Going to school has been suspended because we can’t attend lectures on empty stomach and no money for transportation anymore”, the students wrote.

They pleaded with NIMASA, the Federal Ministry of Transport, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly to help them out of their predicament. Meanwhile, Sunday Vanguard learnt, at the weekend, that payments to the students by NIMASA had been delayed by the lack of approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The students said: “ We were opportune to play host to the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Peterside Dakuku, and the Senate Committee on Maritime on the 9th of November 2016 during their fact-finding visit to Romania.

“We used the opportunity to plead with the DG to consider remitting our school fees and welfare allowance to avoid what happened earlier last year as the delay and threat of possible expulsion and deportation were a reoccurring decimal since 2015”.

“In his response to our plea, he assured that he had initiated all payments and what was left was for the money to reflect in the school’s account. “Since they left here, we have been patiently waiting for the money to reflect and it usually takes three working days, but in this case that has not come to reality.

“Presently, we are in a very unfortunate situation here since the Immigration Service of Romania has become knowledgeable of the fact that our bank accounts are reading far below the limits expected of foreign students studying in Romania.

“Right now, some of us have been evicted by our landlords. We are made to walk in shame and this is disgraceful to our identities as Nigerians and to the image of our country”.

Responding on the matter, a source at NIMASA blamed the students’ plight on lack of approval to remit the fees by the CBN and the Ministry of Finance. The source said, “Truly for like à year now, NIMASA has been unable to meet its obligations to our students in Romania.

The payment delay was not intentional but because the CBN and Ministry of Finance blocked our accounts. So we could not meet the obligations”.

“Luckily, on Thursday, the CBN and the Ministry of Finance gave approval and we have since commenced payments into the accounts of the students in Romania and I am sure by now they would have started receiving the money”.

Meet the HIV-Positive beauty Queen crowned Miss Congo UK 2017

Horcelie Sinda Wa Mbongo, an HIV positive lady was crowned the winner at the 2017 Miss Congo in UK pageant, which held at Stratford Town Hall, last weekend.

Speaking after winning the competition, the newly crowned queen said: 'I’m happy I’ve won at least something in my life. My story has warmed people’s hearts and that’s the most important thing.'

The 22-year-old, who is a student at the Chelsea College of Arts in the UK, reportedly discovered her HIV status at the age of 11. She was HIV positive from birth.

Shocking! See woman who storms wedding in Kenya with two children, claiming the groom was her husband

There was drama at the PCEA Church in Kanyama, Mathira Constituency, Kenya on Saturday, April 8th, when a wedding taking place was temporary stopped after a woman claims that the groom was her husband and father of her children. 

The woman identified as Lydia Mugure stormed the church accompanied by her two children and demanded entry after police officers locked the main gate denying her and other church members access. While outside the church, she cried that her husband had neglected her and their children since December 2016. She claims he was getting married to the officiating minister's secretary named Grace.

"We broke up on December 31, 2016. I have no problem with our separation but he has decided to marry again. I have two children, one aged 10 and the other aged 5. What I want is he takes his children with him. He has married another woman in pretence of having no children. I also want to marry without the stress of being a mother," she said.

"We have been married for ten years. I don't want him. On Wednesday, he had told me that the wedding would not take place. As at yesterday (Friday April 7th) plans of the wedding were still on. That is why I came here today to disrupt the wedding. Let us first settle the children dispute and then we can move on after that. He has a pending case at the children's court. He has been summoned four times to appear before the court, but he has never honoured the court summons" ranted Ms Mugure.

After exchanging their vows, the new couple quickly left the church while being hidden by family members. A crowd outside the church reportedly stoned the couple's convoy as it sped off.

Congregants, who attended the wedding criticized the officiating Minister named Moses Muturi for rushing the function, saying they had been informed of the wedding just few days ago. They threatened to boycott Sunday service unless Rev. Muturi apologizes and rectifies his mistake.

"Rev. Muturi is corrupt. He had received money from the groom and that is why he rushed the whole exercise," a congregant who spoke under anonymity, alleged.

"The two, who tied the knot, are not our church members. We protested the announcement of their planned wedding last Sunday. Today, we were locked out of the church. There was no single elder in the church to witness the wedding. That was just wrong. The Rev. has smeared mud on our church,"another source added.

However, the Minister said the wedding can only be stopped by a court order. 

"So, we had no reason to stop the wedding. So, the two's marriage is now formal. The former wife can go to court," said Rev. Muturi.

Source: Edaily.co.ke

Janet Jackson splits from third husband three months after giving birth

 

Janet Jackson has split from her multi-millionaire husband, Qatari business Tycoon, Wissam Al Mana, just months after giving birth to her first child at the age of 50, Daily Mail reports. Janet Jackson wed her husband in 2012 in a glamourous, but quiet wedding and in Jan 2017, their first child, Eissa, a son, was born. 
There were rumours of a split within days of her son’s birth, when she was seen in public without a wedding ring but it was dismissed as just a rumour.

According to Daily Mail, a source close to the Pop star, revealed Friday night:

‘Sadly, Janet and Wissam have decided that it wasn’t working and to go their separate ways. 

‘They’re both busy people but determined to be good parents, even if they’re apart. It’s amicable and Eissa will stay with his mother, who is basing herself in London.’

Last week, a leading entertainment website claimed her soon-to-be  ex-husband, Al Mana had helped Jackson settle down as she traded fame for a role as a devoted mother and wife.

Divorce settlement could be complex and costly as 42-year-old Al Mana, CEO of the multinational Al Mana business conglomerate, is estimated to have a fortune of around £800million – at least four times Ms Jackson’s net worth.

The singer was briefly married to singer James DeBarge in 1984 but the pair split the following year and the marriage was later annulled. Her second husband was Mexican back-up dancer Rene Elizondo.

UK Issues Terror Alert To Citizens In Nigeria

The United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued a terror alert to its citizens currently living in Nigeria or planning to visit the country to be more vigilant during the Easter period.

There have been pockets of suicide bombings in the North-East.

The British Foreign Travel Advice, which was updated on Friday night, stated, “Summary and Terrorism section: you should be particularly vigilant around the Easter period.”

It then provided an updated list of possible places that could be targeted by terrorist attacks in the country.

“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to: Borno; Yobe; Adamawa; Gombe; riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states within 20km of the border with Niger in Zamfara State.

“The FCO also advises against all but essential travel to: Bauchi; Zamfara; Kano; Kaduna; Jigawa; Katsina; Kogi within 20km of the border with Niger in Sokoto and Kebbi states; Jos City in Plateau State; Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau; non-riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states; and Abia State,” the office said.

It noted that there was a continuing high threat from terrorism, adding that most attacks occurred in the North-East, particularly in Borno (including central Maiduguri and along access routes into the city), Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe states.

The British government warned that major towns and cities remained particularly at risk, including Kano, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Punch.

My Husband Left Me To Marry Ibori's Daughter – Abioye Suenu's First Wife

My Husband Left Me To Marry Ibori's Daughter – Abioye Suenu's First Wife

Hours after we brought you news about James Ibor's daughter's marriage ceremony, a fresh report has emerged about the first wife of the Abioye Suenu who has allegedly claimed that her husband was stolen from her...

Read details as shared by the publisher at Drumbeats Mag on the saga:

As Delta State politicians celebrate the marriage ceremony between Suenu Abioye and Ms Erhiatake Ibori at the Western Delta University on Saturday in Oghara, Ethiope West LGA of Delta State, Suenu's first wife has cried out that the daughter of ex-convict, Ibori stole her husband.

Mrs Abioye further disclosed that though her husband who is a Muslim has promised that he would not bring home a second wife.

Suenu Abioye who we gathered owned Club Slicks in Victoria Garden City, Lekki, Lagos is a happily maried with two kids. According to his wife friend who craved anonymity, Suenu is a husler and he denied the paternity of Erhiatake child, he only came back after he spent so much she got from being Chairman Appropriation to renovate his Club and entice him. she also claimed that some of the 'family' members who represnted Suenu were rented.

A source hinted that Ms Ibori has another child for a bouncer in London when her Father was governor.