Thứ Tư, 25 tháng 4, 2018

Denmark awaits verdict on whether Kim Wall was murdered

Inventor Peter Madsen is accused of murdering and dismembering the young journalist, in a trial that has shocked a country.
Danish inventor Peter Madsen is on trial for the murder of journalist Kim Wall
Image:Danish inventor Peter Madsen is on trial for the murder of journalist Kim Wall
A court in Denmark will deliver the verdict today in a horrific murder case which has gripped and shocked a nation.
Danish inventor Peter Madsen faces a life sentence if found guilty of the mutilation and murder of 30-year-old Swedish journalist Kim Wall.
Her dismembered body was discovered in a bay near Copenhagen last year. She had gone missing after accepting Madsen's invitation for a short voyage on his home-made submarine.
The 11-day trial, spread over seven weeks, heard some truly horrific detail as the prosecution laid out its case against Mr Madsen who denies murder and sexual assault but admits dismembering her body.
Inventor Peter Madsen designed the submarine
Image:Inventor Peter Madsen designed the submarine
The prosecution alleges that he asked Ms Wall on to his miniature submarine so that he could fulfil the most vile and violent of sexual fantasies.
Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jensen told the court that he believed Madsen had strangled or beheaded Ms Wall after torturing her inside his submarine.
The judge and two lay judges, who must decide on the verdict, watched as the prosecution showed images of her mutilated body and played a selection of more than 140 internet video clips found on Madsen's computer and iPhone.
The online "snuff videos" depicted the murder, torture, beheading and impalement of women.
The court also heard that on the night Ms Wall is known to have died, he had googled the words "beheading" and "girl" and then watched a clip of a woman having her throat slit.
"There is no doubt that he murdered Kim Wall on purpose and that he had a sexual motive," the prosecutor said.
"It is uncertain whether Peter Madsen murdered Kim Wall by strangulation or cutting of the throat, but there is nothing that sows doubt about whether he killed Kim Wall on purpose."
This photo shows allegedly Swedish journalist Kim Wall standing in the tower of the private submarine 'UC3 Nautilus' on August 10, 2017 in Copenhagen Harbor
Image:This photo shows Kim Wall standing in the tower of the private submarine 'UC3 Nautilus' on August 10, 2017 in Copenhagen Harbour
A post-mortem examination of Ms Wall's remains revealed that she had been stabbed multiple times in the genitals.
Marks on her wrist and ankles showed she had been strapped to pipes inside the vessel, the prosecution alleged.
Mr Buch-Jensen also revealed the conclusion of a court-ordered psychiatric report on Madsen, which described the defendant being "intelligent, emotionally impaired with a severe lack of empathy, anger and guilt... and with psychopathic tendencies".
Kim Wall was a freelance journalist with a bright future. Her work had already been published in The Guardian, The New York Times, Vice and Time Magazine.
She had travelled to remote corners of the world and was attracted by off-beat, under reported and sometimes quirky stories.
At the time of her murder, she was living with her boyfriend near Peter Madsen's workshop in a disused Copenhagen shipyard.
She had heard about the eccentric inventor who is a minor celebrity in Denmark. His home-made sub and quest to build the first ever amateur rocket capable of taking him to space made him an attractive subject for a story.
She had contacted him months earlier asking for an interview. On 10 August last year, out of the blue, he replied. He accepted the interview request and invited her aboard his submarine that evening.
Despite having organised her own leaving party that same evening before a move to Beijing, she agreed to board the vessel with him.
Early the following morning, she had failed to return home and her boyfriend reported her missing.
Ms Wall had travelled extensively to report on social and economic issues
Image:Ms Wall had travelled extensively to report on social and economic issues
Hours later, Mr Madsen was rescued from his sinking submarine in a bay south of the Danish capital. Ms Wall was not with him.
He claimed initially that he had dropped her off at a jetty as planned the previous evening. However his story then changed several times.
First he said she had died in an accident when she hit her head on the submarine's hatch and he had decided to bury her at sea.
However his explanation changed again when parts of her body were discovered weighed down on the Baltic Sea bed.
The parts included her head which showed no signs of an injury consistent with a blow to the skull.
He then claimed she had died of exhaust fume poisoning inside the vessel while he was outside on its deck.
But the forensic pathologist found no indication of such poisoning.
In court, he admitted dismembering her body, calling it a "very very traumatic event which I do not want to describe".
But he later calmly explained that he dismembered her in order to be able to lift the body out through the vessel's narrow hatch.
"What do you do when you have a big problem?" he told the court. "You divide it into something smaller."
The Nautilus submarine pictured in 2008. Pic: WikimediaCommons/Frumperino
Image:The Nautilus submarine pictured in 2008. Pic: WikimediaCommons/Frumperino
He had decided to dismember and dispose of her body, he said, party because he had panicked and partly to spare Ms Wall's family of the knowledge that she had died of exhaust fumes.
However the forensic pathologist determined that some of Ms Wall's wounds were inflicted while she was alive or very shortly after she had died. Madsen had said he dismembered her many hours later.
"He had fresh scratches on both forearms and dried blood under his left nostril. The blood belonged to Kim Wall," the prosecutor told the court.
Asked about the snuff videos on his computer, Madsen said it was no different from watching a horror film.
"It's as crazy as the movie you've seen, Seven. It's the same as films you've seen, Jakob." he said to the prosecutor.
Madsen's defence lawyer, Bettina Hale Engmark, has capitalised on the prosecution's inability to determine exactly how Ms Wall died.
"It is not my client's duty to prove that he is innocent. It is the task of the prosecutor to prove that he is guilty," she told the court, arguing that the prosecution details were "not based on facts".
In summing up on Monday, the prosecutor told Copenhagen City Court that Madsen, 47, should be given a life sentence, which is usually an average of 16 years in Denmark.
But should Madsen receive a sentence of 16 years or less, Mr Buch-Jepsen argued that the defendant to be placed in "forvaring", or safe custody - a sentence with no definite time limit.
Retslaegeradet, Denmark's leading medical authority, told the court that Mr Madsen "poses such a significant and immediate danger to other people's life, body, health or freedom that the use of custody may be required to prevent this danger".

Rapper Meek Mill seen courtside at NBA game hours after release from jail

The star celebrates his release by greeting players and watching the Philadelphia 76ers match next to Hollywood actor Kevin Hart.
Mill and Hart celebrate with a drink courtside at the game
Image:Mill and Hart celebrate with a drink courtside at the game
US rapper Meek Mill has made his first public appearance after being freed from prison at a basketball game in Philadelphia.
The star, whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, spent five months in jail after being sentenced to serve two to four years in November for probation violations.
His supporters have been running a campaign to get him out while he appeals against gun and drug convictions dating back 10 years.
On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court directed the Philadelphia judge who jailed him to immediately issue an order releasing him on unsecured bail.
"I feel great," he said before entering the Wells Fargo Centre, where he rang the ceremonial bell before the start of Game 5 of the Philadelphia 76ers-Miami Heat play-off series.
Meek Mill was at the NBA game in Philadelphia soon after leaving prison
Image:Meek Mill was at the NBA game in Philadelphia soon after leaving prison
"It would just mean a lot for him to be back in Philly, in the city of Philadelphia with the fans, especially with a game like that tonight," 76ers player Ben Simmons said.
"Welcome home Meek Mill," the game announcer told the rapper, who sat courtside next to actor Kevin Hart, Sixers co-owner Michael Rubin, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and Democratic Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf.
Before the game, Mill greeted the home team's players in their changing room.
A team of lawyers had campaigned to get Mill freed, levelling fierce criticism at the judge as a stream of high-powered figures and celebrities visited him in jail hours before the Supreme Court ruling.
Mill issued a statement saying the past months had been "a nightmare", and thanked his many supporters and visitors, who included Mr Rubin and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Britain 'considering rival' to EU Galileo satellite project

The UK is reportedly being shut out of elements of the programme because the EU cannot share information with non-EU members.
BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN - DECEMBER 28:  In this handout photo supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA), A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the Giove-A satellite, part of the Galileo GPS positioning system, blasts off at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 28, 2005 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The 3.8 billion-euro Galileo navigation network is designed to rival the current US system. It will give EU states guaranteed access to a space-borne precise timing and location service independent of the United States. (Photo by ESA via Getty Images)
Image:2005: Russian Soyuz rocket carries the Giove-A satellite, part of the Galileo GPS positioning system
The UK is considering launching its own satellite navigation system to rival the EU's Galileo project after being shut out of key elements of the programme, according to reports.
It comes after a row with Brussels over whether Britain can be trusted with sensitive European security information after the country voted to leave the bloc, the Financial Times reported.
Galileo is the EU's Global Satellite Navigation System (GNSS) which provides accurate positioning and timing information.
Business Secretary Greg Clark is reportedly taking legal advice on whether the UK Government can recoup the €1.4bn (£1.2bn) it has invested in the programme since 2003.
BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN - DECEMBER 28:  In this handout photo supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA), A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the Giove-A satellite, part of the Galileo GPS positioning system, blasts off at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 28, 2005 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The 3.8 billion-euro Galileo navigation network is designed to rival the current US system. It will give EU states guaranteed access to a space-borne precise timing and location service independent of the United States. (Photo by ESA via Getty Images)
Image:A UK Government official reportedly said the EU was 'playing hardball'
Mr Clark warned the European Commission's actions could threaten continuing "mutually beneficial" defence and security co-operation with Britain after it has left the EU.
He added the Government would continue to ensure the UK was able to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by the "commercial space age".
"We have made it clear we do not accept the commission's position on Galileo, which could seriously damage mutually beneficial collaboration on security and defence matters," he said.
"Given the UK's integral role in the programme, any such exclusion could cause years of delays and a cost increase stretching into the billions.
Baikonur, KAZAKHSTAN: (FILES) -- A file photo taken 15 December 2005 shows Europe's global navigation satellite system Galileo on display in the workshop of the Baikonur cosmodrome. The European Commission warned 15 March 2007 that it will examine new ways to complete the Galileo satellite navigation system after the project stalled amid doubts about profitibility. The system, worth around 1.5 billion euros (1.95 billion dollars) and meant to be in space in 2010, is aimed at breaking Europe's de
Image:Galileo on display in the workshop of the Baikonur cosmodrome
"We will continue to work with the UK space sector on this issue and through our modern industrial strategy will ensure the UK can realise the opportunities of the commercial space age."
The Government is said to be fighting back by preparing to block the procurement of the next batch of Galileo satellites - intended to rival the United States system - at a meeting of the European Space Agency council in Berlin.

The man who revealed abuse in English football helps young players in Brazil

Andy Woodward, who was abused as a boy by Barry Bennell, is asked to help fight child sexual abuse in Brazilian football.
Video:Woodward to fight child sex abuse in Brazilian football
The man who first revealed details of the sexual abuse of young players in English football has travelled to Brazil to try to help youngsters there.
Andy Woodward's harrowing story of abuse as a boy by his coach Barry Bennell prompted hundreds more men to come forward with tales of sexual exploitation as young players.
The scandal was the darkest chapter in Britain's footballing history and it has triggered an international movement exposing widespread child abuse in football.
A similar scandal is now escalating in Argentina. Allegations that young players were abused and forced into prostitution are emerging at two of the country's most famous football clubs.
Youngsters play football in front of a mural of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi (L) and Brazil's Neymar
Image:Youngsters play football in front of a mural of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi (L) and Brazil's Neymar
While in Brazil, the President of Sao Paulo players' union asked Mr Woodward to visit to help encourage victims to come forward.
Speaking to me in Sao Paulo, he recalls how the coach who gave him a golden opportunity in football ruined his life.
"That night when I was 10 and he did what he did to me.... from that night onwards my life changed," said Mr Woodward.
"That trauma took away my childhood. At 44, I'm going to start my life."
Sky's Sally Lockwood with Andy Woodward
Image:Sky's Sally Lockwood with Andy Woodward
Part of that new start is working to protect other children. But here in Brazil the challenge is enormous.
Football is far more than a sport here, it is a national obsession.
In a country where many children have next to nothing, they worship their heroes on the field, they kick a ball as soon as they can walk and life in football represents an escape from poverty.
For families living in the country's many slums or favelas, getting their child a break in football is a more realistic dream than getting them educated.
Former goalkeeper Alexandre Montrimas ended his 20-year career when he spoke out about abuse in Brazilian football clubs.
"No one wanted to know," he told me. "I stopped speaking about it because I had no support."
But when Andy Woodward broke his silence in November 2016, the press coverage reached Brazil and people finally began to talk about the issue.
Alexandre Montrimas explains that abuse is hidden in the country's extreme poverty. He played for a small team in Sao Paulo when he was 17 and like many young players, he was taken to live at the club because it was so far from his home.
It is in these "hostels", where young players live at hundreds of Brazilian clubs, that abuse can hide undetected.
Children far from home, dependant on the clubs for absolutely everything, are vulnerable to grooming, exploitation and blackmail.
"Abuse or exploitation is happening in every club in Brazil," said Mr Montrimas. "Abuse is happening to teenagers as well as children. Because power is power in football. At any age."
Alexandre Montrimas' career ended after he spoke out about abuse
Image:Alexandre Montrimas' career ended after he spoke out about abuse
The power of football in Brazil is fierce. To speak out about abuse takes huge courage in any country, but in Brazil the sacrifice is huge.
For a child to get a break in football is every family's dream. It can pull them out of extreme poverty. For a child or teenager to speak out about abuse not only shatters that dream, but it means they lose everything.
Abuse isn't exclusive to one club, one country, one sport. But the wave of abuse that's emerging worldwide was triggered by one English player.
Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association said in a statement: "Andy Woodward was responsible for revealing the extent of child sex abuse in football when he had the courage to come out publicly in 2016.
"As a result a momentum gathered causing so many other cases to be revealed... all such sufferers have been offered help and support by the players union. the PFA.
"Without Andy Woodward it is doubtful that such focus would have come about and this issue would have remained buried."

Denmark awaits verdict on whether Kim Wall was murdered

Inventor Peter Madsen is accused of murdering and dismembering the young journalist, in a trial that has shocked a country. 09:17, UK, We...