(Original Post 6-3-09)
A 20 year old Phoenix man was charged with 2 counts of sexual assault, a count of kidnapping, and a count of taking a surreptitious photo. John Hock, 20, had allegedly assaulted the victim, who he knew for a couple of months, on February 26, with the victim alerting police in early March.
Hock set up a computer with a webcam and sexually assaulted a woman he knew as she was passed out from drinking alcohol, according to a Phoenix police probable cause statement released on Monday.
As he did this, he signed onto a Web account and broadcasted the sexual assault live on the Internet, the statement said. The video was then posted to a Web site where it was repeatedly played until the site pulled it off, police said.
Police said Hock raped the woman in her own bedroom after she had been asleep for four to five hours.
She learned about the video after receiving text messages from her friends. After she signed up, the victim found photos of her nude from the waist down. Hock allegedly commented that he knew the victim was passed out and that he was having sex with her without her knowledge.
(Update 9-6-10) Hock plead guilty to attempted sexual assault and voyeurism Thursday, September 2 in Maricopa County Superior Court for the attack. He's expected to be sentenced October 8. Apparentely, Hock is known online for his risque videoes. It is also thought that Hock specifically groomed the victim for the assault.
(Update 10-26-10) On Wednesday, October 20, Hock was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and lifetime parole supervision. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah presided over the sentencing. The victim said, "I opened up my home to him and ended up being molested and videotaped while sleeping."
When Judge Hannah asked about the sentence, the victim said "I think it should be more, Your Honor." Hock said that "I don't think it's fair that I should be a sex offender for the rest of my life over this."
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Saudi prince who murdered servant "lover" sentenced to life with 20 year minimum
A Saudi prince who used his servant as a "human punchbag" was jailed for life today for beating and strangling him to death. Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, 34, stood with his arms folded and showed no emotion as he was told he must serve a minimum term of 20 years in jail.
The prince killed 32-year-old Bandar Abdulaziz in a brutal assault with a "sexual element" at their five-star hotel in central London in February. It was the culmination of a campaign of "sadistic" abuse including a previous "nasty" assault in a hotel lift weeks before.
Mr Justice Bean told the prince, who had tried to claim diplomatic immunity when he was first arrested: "No-one in this country is above the law." Saud, a member of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful families, did not flinch as the judge described the injuries he had inflicted on the "subservient" Mr Abdulaziz.
The judge said: "I cannot be sure that you intended to kill your victim. I think the most likely explanation is that you could not care less whether you killed him or not." Saud, shaven-headed and wearing a black top, was watched from the public gallery by his father Prince Abdulaziz, looking ashen-faced and glancing between his son in the dock and the judge passing sentence.
An Old Bailey jury heard how the prince bit his victim hard on both cheeks during his murderous attack at their suite in the Landmark hotel in Marylebone. Saud was fuelled by champagne and Sex on the Beach cocktails when he began the ferocious beating after a Valentine's Day night out.
He was found guilty of murder as well as a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent relating to the attack in the lift. If he ever returns to his home country, Saud faces the possibility of execution because being gay is a capital offence there, and he could seek asylum in Britain when he is eventually released.
The judge said: "It is very unusual for a prince to be in the dock on a murder charge. But your trial has proceeded in just the same way as anyone else's would in this court. No one in this country is above the law. It would be wrong for me to sentence you either more severely or more leniently because of your membership of the royal family in Saudi Arabia. You killed Bandar in the course of a sustained and ferocious assault. You were in a position of domination over him, as demonstrated both by the lift incident and by the sexually explicit photographs you took of him, at some point prior to February 15, which were found on your mobile phone. Bandar was a vulnerable victim, entirely subjugated to your will. You were in a position of authority and trust over him which you exploited ruthlessly. Whether or not your relationship with him had involved sexual intercourse as well makes no difference to sentence in this case."
Saud's initial claim that the aide's injuries were caused by a mugging were exposed after police discovered CCTV footage of the lift attack on January 22. The judge said: "The most chilling aspect of that footage is that your victim did not resist at all. He was so completely subservient to you that after being treated as a human punchbag he followed you meekly out of the lift."
The attack left the aide's ear swollen to three times the normal size and "beyond medical treatment".
Saud did not take him to hospital and inflicted a further attack in the lift on a later occasion - further evidence, said the judge of "this having been a violent and abusive relationship over a period of weeks if not longer".
The attack which killed Mr Abdulaziz left him with so many injuries, including bleeding in the brain, a fractured larynx and bruising in the abdomen, that pathologists could not say for certain what caused his death.
Saud had murdered him between 1.40am and 2.40am and spent the next 12 hours on the phone "working out his options". "If you had any remorse you would have sought medical help immediately. But you were only concerned for yourself," said the judge.
The prince told a "pack of lies" to paramedics and police before admitting he carried out the killing shortly before the trial - claiming it was manslaughter but not murder, he added. "To this day you have not explained why you killed him."
A prosecution application for costs was adjourned to be heard on Friday. The sentence spells an end to the gay prince's luxury playboy lifestyle in which he dined in fine restaurants and was attended by male escorts in his hotel room.
A gay masseur who visited him there described the "dashing" Saud as a cross between Omar Sharif and Nigel Havers. In court, his lawyers made a failed bid before the trial started to stop evidence of his homosexuality being made public.
The suave prince pretended Mr Abdulaziz was his friend and travelling companion but no-one seemed aware of the darker side of his treatment of the aide.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said: "Beneath the surface this was a deeply abusive relationship which the defendant exploited for sadistic reasons, for his own personal gratification." Mr Laidlaw said the assault leading to the aide's death "was a really terrible, a really brutal attack".
Saud, who told detectives he was the grandson of the Saudi king, had denied killing his servant until shortly before the trial, before finally admitting that he had caused his death. Jurors rejected a claim by his barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC that he was only guilty of manslaughter. Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane said: "He treated Bandar with utter contempt."
The prince killed 32-year-old Bandar Abdulaziz in a brutal assault with a "sexual element" at their five-star hotel in central London in February. It was the culmination of a campaign of "sadistic" abuse including a previous "nasty" assault in a hotel lift weeks before.
Mr Justice Bean told the prince, who had tried to claim diplomatic immunity when he was first arrested: "No-one in this country is above the law." Saud, a member of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful families, did not flinch as the judge described the injuries he had inflicted on the "subservient" Mr Abdulaziz.
The judge said: "I cannot be sure that you intended to kill your victim. I think the most likely explanation is that you could not care less whether you killed him or not." Saud, shaven-headed and wearing a black top, was watched from the public gallery by his father Prince Abdulaziz, looking ashen-faced and glancing between his son in the dock and the judge passing sentence.
An Old Bailey jury heard how the prince bit his victim hard on both cheeks during his murderous attack at their suite in the Landmark hotel in Marylebone. Saud was fuelled by champagne and Sex on the Beach cocktails when he began the ferocious beating after a Valentine's Day night out.
He was found guilty of murder as well as a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent relating to the attack in the lift. If he ever returns to his home country, Saud faces the possibility of execution because being gay is a capital offence there, and he could seek asylum in Britain when he is eventually released.
The judge said: "It is very unusual for a prince to be in the dock on a murder charge. But your trial has proceeded in just the same way as anyone else's would in this court. No one in this country is above the law. It would be wrong for me to sentence you either more severely or more leniently because of your membership of the royal family in Saudi Arabia. You killed Bandar in the course of a sustained and ferocious assault. You were in a position of domination over him, as demonstrated both by the lift incident and by the sexually explicit photographs you took of him, at some point prior to February 15, which were found on your mobile phone. Bandar was a vulnerable victim, entirely subjugated to your will. You were in a position of authority and trust over him which you exploited ruthlessly. Whether or not your relationship with him had involved sexual intercourse as well makes no difference to sentence in this case."
Saud's initial claim that the aide's injuries were caused by a mugging were exposed after police discovered CCTV footage of the lift attack on January 22. The judge said: "The most chilling aspect of that footage is that your victim did not resist at all. He was so completely subservient to you that after being treated as a human punchbag he followed you meekly out of the lift."
The attack left the aide's ear swollen to three times the normal size and "beyond medical treatment".
Saud did not take him to hospital and inflicted a further attack in the lift on a later occasion - further evidence, said the judge of "this having been a violent and abusive relationship over a period of weeks if not longer".
The attack which killed Mr Abdulaziz left him with so many injuries, including bleeding in the brain, a fractured larynx and bruising in the abdomen, that pathologists could not say for certain what caused his death.
Saud had murdered him between 1.40am and 2.40am and spent the next 12 hours on the phone "working out his options". "If you had any remorse you would have sought medical help immediately. But you were only concerned for yourself," said the judge.
The prince told a "pack of lies" to paramedics and police before admitting he carried out the killing shortly before the trial - claiming it was manslaughter but not murder, he added. "To this day you have not explained why you killed him."
A prosecution application for costs was adjourned to be heard on Friday. The sentence spells an end to the gay prince's luxury playboy lifestyle in which he dined in fine restaurants and was attended by male escorts in his hotel room.
A gay masseur who visited him there described the "dashing" Saud as a cross between Omar Sharif and Nigel Havers. In court, his lawyers made a failed bid before the trial started to stop evidence of his homosexuality being made public.
The suave prince pretended Mr Abdulaziz was his friend and travelling companion but no-one seemed aware of the darker side of his treatment of the aide.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said: "Beneath the surface this was a deeply abusive relationship which the defendant exploited for sadistic reasons, for his own personal gratification." Mr Laidlaw said the assault leading to the aide's death "was a really terrible, a really brutal attack".
Saud, who told detectives he was the grandson of the Saudi king, had denied killing his servant until shortly before the trial, before finally admitting that he had caused his death. Jurors rejected a claim by his barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC that he was only guilty of manslaughter. Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane said: "He treated Bandar with utter contempt."
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Passaic, NJ man gets LWOP for ax murder of wife
[34-year-old Fernando] Chireno was convicted of murder in June, after jurors rejected his insanity defense. The victim, who was 26 when she died, had a restraining order against him because of past domestic violence. She ran for her life from her Myrtle Avenue home on April 18, 2008, after Chireno broke in. The couple's children were left in the bedroom as Mrs. Chireno was stabbed 15 times and left in a pool of blood on the street. She died a short time later in surgery.
Before sentencing, Chireno "apologized " to the victim's mother, Carlita Pozo. “From the deepness of my heart, I am sorry. I lost my mind. I was having problems and no one was helping me. I know nothing is going to give you your daughter back, but I, too, lost her. Please, I ask from my heart that you forgive me.”
Judge Reddin issued this statement while handing down the LWOP sentence. “It boggles my mind to think that a human being could do to another human being what he did to Luisa Chireno This was not a spur-of-the-moment attack. He went out and bought the ax. He goes to her house at 2 in the morning. He ripped the hair right out of her head. That’s the savagery of this crime, He buried that ax in her back, and he walked away from the scene.”
Pozo fainted after the sentencing and had to be led out of the courtroom.
Jealous northern England man sentenced to life without parole for at least 30 years for murder of nurse
By Peter Magill [Burnley chief reporter]
FORMER ambulance technician who murdered his ex-girlfriend while on bail for her rape was jailed for a minimum of 30 years today. Ambulance technician and bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, launched a frenzied knife attack on nurse and mother-of-one Jane Clough, 26, as she arrived for work at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July. She was admitted to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit where she worked as colleagues tried in vain to save her.
Vass, described as “manipulative and controlling”, was freed to kill after being given bail while awaiting trial over allegations that he had repeatedly raped her. The rape charges were dropped after the murder. John and Penny Clough, her parents, were angered by both decisions - first to free him and then to let the rape charges lie on file. They sat in the public gallery just yards from Vass in the dock as he was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.
Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down the mandatory life sentence before telling Vass he will serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release. Vass wept uncontrollably, covering his face his hands as he was told he would only be eligible for parole in 2040.
The victim’s parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that, after stabbing and slashing Miss Clough with a 3in (7.6cm) blade, he walked away momentarily, then went back seconds later to finish her off.
”As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat,” Judge Russell said as he passed sentence. ”It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge. This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter. Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you. She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother.”
The court heard that Miss Clough kept a diary, detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do.
She and her family, who held a protest outside court before the case began this morning, were “rocked and devastated” when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving Miss Clough “extremely concerned for her safety”. She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried “Johnny was going to do something stupid”.
He had been relying on her to drop the charges.
Another entry read of fears he would “get his revenge”, adding: “What’s he going to do?”
Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Miss Clough giving evidence. Mr Watson said the couple met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass.
”He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,” Mr Watson told the court. By early 2009 Miss Clough was pregnant but Vass had become controlling and “sexually demanding”.
In November that year she plucked up courage to report him to police, telling officers of the months of physical and sexual abuse and the repeated rapes even when she was seven months pregnant.
Text messages between the pair were read out.
Miss Clough sent him a message saying: “You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?” He replied: “We are staying together regardless of our problems.” A second text read: “Why should you come back? To push me about, grab me, rip my clothes off, make me cry...” Another said: “You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night.”
Vass’s replies read: “Please can I come home... best behaviour promise”, and “I do love you Janey. Either get pregnant or engaged. Your choice.”
Vass was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, an ex-boyfriend of Miss Clough, if he was found guilty he would kill her - but the threat was dismissed as “bravado”. When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to take “retribution”, the court heard.
FORMER ambulance technician who murdered his ex-girlfriend while on bail for her rape was jailed for a minimum of 30 years today. Ambulance technician and bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, launched a frenzied knife attack on nurse and mother-of-one Jane Clough, 26, as she arrived for work at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July. She was admitted to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit where she worked as colleagues tried in vain to save her.
Vass, described as “manipulative and controlling”, was freed to kill after being given bail while awaiting trial over allegations that he had repeatedly raped her. The rape charges were dropped after the murder. John and Penny Clough, her parents, were angered by both decisions - first to free him and then to let the rape charges lie on file. They sat in the public gallery just yards from Vass in the dock as he was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.
Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down the mandatory life sentence before telling Vass he will serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release. Vass wept uncontrollably, covering his face his hands as he was told he would only be eligible for parole in 2040.
The victim’s parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that, after stabbing and slashing Miss Clough with a 3in (7.6cm) blade, he walked away momentarily, then went back seconds later to finish her off.
”As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat,” Judge Russell said as he passed sentence. ”It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge. This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter. Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you. She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother.”
The court heard that Miss Clough kept a diary, detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do.
She and her family, who held a protest outside court before the case began this morning, were “rocked and devastated” when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving Miss Clough “extremely concerned for her safety”. She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried “Johnny was going to do something stupid”.
He had been relying on her to drop the charges.
Another entry read of fears he would “get his revenge”, adding: “What’s he going to do?”
Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Miss Clough giving evidence. Mr Watson said the couple met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass.
”He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,” Mr Watson told the court. By early 2009 Miss Clough was pregnant but Vass had become controlling and “sexually demanding”.
In November that year she plucked up courage to report him to police, telling officers of the months of physical and sexual abuse and the repeated rapes even when she was seven months pregnant.
Text messages between the pair were read out.
Miss Clough sent him a message saying: “You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?” He replied: “We are staying together regardless of our problems.” A second text read: “Why should you come back? To push me about, grab me, rip my clothes off, make me cry...” Another said: “You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night.”
Vass’s replies read: “Please can I come home... best behaviour promise”, and “I do love you Janey. Either get pregnant or engaged. Your choice.”
Vass was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, an ex-boyfriend of Miss Clough, if he was found guilty he would kill her - but the threat was dismissed as “bravado”. When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to take “retribution”, the court heard.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Female swim coach charged with sexual abuse of 17 year old girl pleads guilty, sentenced to year in jail
Sarah Blessing, a 27 year old South Plainfield, NJ woman who is a 5th grade teacher and Edison, NJ swim coach, was charged Wednesday, December 2 with sexually exploiting a 17 year old swim student at Bishop George Ahr High School. Blessing was formally charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a girl, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan and Edison police chief Thomas Bryan.
The relationship lasted for 6 months, from June to her arrest, according to officials, and was found out when Diocese of Metuchen officials notified Edison police. The Metuchen Dioscese fired Blessing from her swim coach job, a job she held for four years. "The Diocese and Bishop Ahr High School is shocked and saddened to learn of these allegations," officials said in a statement [December 1, 2009]. We, of course, take matters of this nature very seriously."
Blessing , a 5th grade teacher at Park Middle School in Scotch Plains, was suspended from that job pending the outcome of her case. She is being held on $150,000 bond without a cash option at the Middlesex County Jail in North Brunswick. Superior Court Judge James Mulvihill has ordered that Blessing not contact her victim.
Authorities ask that anybody with information about Blessing call Investigator Raj Chopra of the prosecutor’s office at (732) 745-3600, or Edison police detectives Michael Michalski or Tim Farrell at (732) 248-7525.
(Update 8-6-10) Blessing plead guilty yesterday to criminal sexual contact and witness tampering in front of MIddlesex County Judge Judge Joseph Paone, according to prosecutors. She must forfeit her teaching certificate and the right to hold public sector jobs in New Jersey. Blessing must also undergo mental health treatment and have no contact with the victim or girls under 18 without supervision.
She is expected to be sentenced to a year in jail when Judge Paone formally sentences Blessing on September 30.
(Update 10-2-10) Blessing was sentenced to 364 days in jail and 5 years probation September 30, 2010 by Judge Paone. At the sentencing hearing, Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua said that Blessing met the victim during a troubled period for the girl. The victim's mother asked Blessing to "watch out for her," but instead Blessing "took my daughter's innocence away." ""The betrayal of trust is a huge thing here," said Bevacqua.
Before the sentencing Blessing read a statement saying "I wasn't manipulative. It wasn't predatory. I had feelings for this person."
Blessing will not be allowed to have any contact with the victim or any unsupervised contact with females under the age of 18 and must undergo mental health counseling. Under the sentence, she can no longer teach and will be barred from holding public employment in New Jersey.
Blessing faced a maximum sentence of a decade behind bars. Criminal sexual contact is a felony which lands one on the sex offender list for life under New Jersey's Megan's Law.
Taken from a New Jersey lawyer's site:
Criminal sexual contact is a third degree charge and if a person is convicted of this crime they will face 3 to 5 years in prison, and serious fines. Additionally, the person will be required to register under New Jersey's Megan's law which is a lifelong notification system in which the local community where the offender lives is provided with his personal information and details about the crime for which he was convicted.
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