Mickeys

A skydiver has survived plunging 3,000ft to the ground after a parachute jump went disastrously wrong.

Lareece Butler Picture from Lareece Butler's Facebook page

Lareece Butler, 26, suffered only bruises, a broken leg and concussion when she slammed into the ground, entangled in her chute.

The parachute was attached to the plane by a static line and was supposed to open after she leapt from the aircraft.

But instead, Miss Butler became caught up in the lines, spiralling to Earth as her terrified boyfriend looked helplessly on.

Doctors said her survival was “nothing but divine intervention, nothing short of a miracle”.

She is in a stable but serious condition in hospital following the incident in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Joos Vos, the manager of the EP Skydiving Club, said: “She was trained in all facets she needed to enjoy and perform a safe static line jump.

“Lareece exited the aircraft at 3,000ft (about 1,000m) performing a static line jump in an unstable body position which resulted in an entanglement of the main parachute with her harness.”

Family members told South African media Miss Butler was pushed out of the aircraft after refusing to jump – a claim rejected by the club.

Mr Vos said Miss Butler, who was an inexperienced skydiver, did not release her emergency parachute as she had been trained to do.

An investigation has been launched.

story from SkyNews

A student in China has confessed to stabbing to death a room-mate because of his snoring.

Snorer was stabbed in the chest and back in the middle of the night

“I told Zhao about it and he became angry. He verbally abused me several times, prompting me to kill him,” 23-year-old Guo Liwei was quoted as saying.

Zhao Yan, 22, was stabbed in the chest and back in the middle of the night.

The pair shared accommodation at Jilin agricultural university in the north-eastern province of Jilin, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Guo had previously complained to Zhao about his snoring and posted video of him snoring on a university website, which created more tension between the two, Xinhua reported.

Guo is currently awaiting sentencing by the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court.

Violent crimes have been on the rise in China, especially as the country’s rapid economic development has created a growing rich-poor gap.

story from SkyNews

Secret letters that could prove Dr Crippen’s innocence may explain the Government’s refusual to allow the executed killer’s exhumation, according to the family’s lawyer.

This waxwork model of Dr Crippen was photographed in 1913

Hawley Crippen was hanged at Pentonville Prison for the murder of his wife Belle 100 years ago.

Buried with him in his unconsecrated jail grave were letters from his mistress Ethel Le Neve, who was acquitted of being an accessory to his crime.

“Is there something in those letters that the authorities fear?” asked lawyer Giovanni di Stefano.

Mr di Stefano is asking the High Court for a judicial review of two recent legal decisions.

The Ministry of Justice has refused to let Crippen’s body be exhumed and repatriated to his native United States.

And the Criminal Cases Review Commission has turned down an application for an appeal against Crippen’s conviction.

Both organisations appear to argue that the man driving the two bids – second-cousin-three-times-removed James Crippen – is too remote a relative to have a genuine interest.

Mr di Stefano said: “The concept that a man executed 100 years ago cannot be exhumed and given a proper burial is frankly absurd.

“We are having to go to judicial review and that will be a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

The lawyer argues that recent forensic tests in the United States suggest that the body found in Crippen’s cellar was not that of his wife, but the remains of a man.

And he warns that the old practice of burying executed prisoners in unconsecrated ground could now constitute discrimination.

story from SkyNews

The deadly dangers of rail crossings should be part of the theory test for learner drivers, rail bosses have said.

The proposal came as newly released figures showed the extent of recklessness on Britain’s level-crossings.

Last year, there were 3,242 incidents of people either dodging round the barriers or racing through the red lights.

Some 13 people were killed, and there were 140 near-misses – an average of three a week.

Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher said: “Motorists are too often playing Russian Roulette with a 200-ton train, and tragically some of them lose their lives.”

He added: “Lives will be saved if motorists learn how to use level crossings safely from the day they pass their test.”

In the last year, Network Rail has been stepping up its safety campaign, with graphic adverts on TV and radio.

Slogans like ‘Don’t Run The Risk’, and ‘Would It Kill You To Wait?’, have been accompanied by footage of hair-raising narrow escapes, showing how close some people come to being killed.

In one incident, a woman is seen pushing a pram across the path of an oncoming train.

In another, a motorist ignores the red flashing lights and drives over the crossing just seconds before the train comes through.

Even if the police catch the culprits, many are let off with nothing more than a verbal warning.

The Office Of Rail Regulation wants a much tougher regime, with drivers being given nine points on their licence if found guilty. But as yet, that is still just a proposal.

story from SkyNews

Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school’s toilets.

Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood

Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.

Some parents are furious at what they say is a “total invasion of privacy” and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.

One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands.

She told the Sunday Mercury: “She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl’s toilets but we didn’t know anything about it.

“You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision.”

Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.

Privacy campaigners warn of the psychological effects of overuse of CCTV

School principal Terry Wales told Sky News: “It’s to safeguard our youngsters, many schools are using cameras now.

“We had a parents’ forum last night, we explained the arrangements and the parents were satisfied.

“We’ve found that when it comes to health and safety, children want to feel secure.”

But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.

Dylan Sharpe from Big Brother Watch told Sky News: “Children are entitled to privacy like anyone else.

“We’re raising a generation of children accustomed to being constantly watched and monitored, whether cameras are switched on or not.”

Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.

The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children’s privacy.

Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.

Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school.

In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent’s consent.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents.

story from SkyNews

A motorcycle gang has done a smash and grab on a London jeweller, making off with fistfuls of gems and watches in the middle of the day.

A motorcycle gang smashes the window of a West End jewellers in broad daylight and makes off with gems worth £50,000 each.

Five bikers mounted the pavement and screeched to a halt outside Mappin & Webb’s Piccadilly store in the West End.

They boldly spent five minutes beating through the reinforced glass windows with a sledgehammer and helping themselves to the goods, worth at least £50,000.

And when astonished passers-by stopped to look, the gang members drove their bikes at them to ward them off.

When the glass broke, it set off the store’s alarm system and poured anti-theft smoke out of the shop.

Amazingly, one man walked right past the robbers as if nothing was happening just as one of the group was leaning into the window and swiping jewels from the display.

The gang then sped off. They have not yet been traced by police.

Forensic officers and police examining the scene have cordoned off a large section of Old Bond Street, famed for its expensive jewellers.

The small holes demonstrate the strength of the reinforced glass

The same jeweller’s Regent Street store was raided at least three times in 2008. In one attack a Vauxhall Vectra was driven through the front doors and security gates.

In 2006 two teenagers were jailed after stealing goods worth about £26,000 from Mappin & Webb in Fenchurch Street.

The business holds two royal warrants and acts as silversmith to the Queen and Prince Charles.

The groups of thieves previously responsible have been dubbed “Fagin’s Kitchen” gangs after police discovered some members were aged in their early teens.

story from SkyNews

Le Havre, France – Three sailors have died of food poisoning on an oil tanker traversing the Channel between Britain and Europe, maritime authorities said, quoting the captain of the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel.

The captain of the Arionas reported the deaths overnight, French officials said, adding that the source of the food poisoning was not known.

The vessel was going from Cyprus to the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

taken from News24

Manie Potgieter from Lydenburg, who allegedly shot and killed Litasha van der Walt and wounded his wife, Daleen in a shooting incident on Saturday night, wrote a letter in which he accused his wife of having an extra-marital affair.

“Lord forgive me!” were the opening words of the letter.

Family friends of the Potgieters told Beeld on Tuesday that he was so jealous of his wife that he kept track of her from Iraq by means of a web camera. He was doing maintenance work in Iraq.

“She had to be home at a certain time every day and switch on the computer so he could watch her. There would be hell to pay if she was late,” said a good friend.

Potgieter, 51, reportedly walked into the Trout Inn restaurant in Lydenburg on Saturday night with a .32 revolver and first shot his 37-year-old wife, wounding her, and then shot and killed Van der Walt, 25.

This happened during the 18th birthday party of his stepson, Wimpie.

Potgieter fled after the shooting. He was arrested 24 hours later at a guesthouse outside White River.

According to the investigating officer, Thomas Motau, the letter clearly shows that Potgieter was extremely jealous of his wife.

In the letter he also accuses her of having a lesbian affair.

The murder weapon was found near Van der Walt’s body shortly after the murder. It is not registered in Potgieter’s name.

Police have since seized several firearms which were hidden in the roof of Potgieter’s house in Schoeman Street.

A rare Striker shotgun (with a drum magazine which holds 12-gauge shot), a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a .22 rifle were found, among others. Potgieter only has a licence for the Striker.

They also seized two swords, a hunting knife, a panga and a large amount of ammunition.

Potgieter told police that he had served as a mercenary in Iraq, but Beeld has established that he was working as a maintenance technician for an international company, RMS, in 2007.

He did maintenance work on buildings in the city of Tadji, where there is a large American military base. He was also responsible for the maintenance of the base’s electricity network and generators.

Daleen Potgieter is still being treated in the Eugène Marais hospital in Pretoria. Her condition is stable.

Her husband appeared briefly in court in Lydenburg on Tuesday. He will appear again on Wednesday and remains behind bars.

taken from News24

Pretoria – With only 93 days to go before the start of the 2010 World Cup, residents of Mamelodi-East near Pretoria during violent protests on Tuesday threatened to disrupt the tournament.

They are demanding that the government immediately supply them with houses, electricity, running water and flushing toilets.

“If the government could spend millions of rands and prepare for the World Cup so quickly, it’s a disgrace that people are still living in squalor in squatter camps,” Vusi Nkosi, a resident, said on Tuesday.

A schoolgirl armed with stones walks towards a police vehicle in Tsamayaweg, Mamelodi-East.

“The soccer means nothing to us because we won’t be able to watch it anyway, since we don’t have electricity.

“This time we will fight and toyi-toyi like the ANC taught us.”

Over 6 000 people live in seven squatter camps in close proximity to each other in Mamelodi-East.

Riotous residents have been blockading Tsamaya Road, Hector Peterson Street and Hans Strijdom Avenue with burning tyres and rubbish since 20:00 on Monday.

On Tuesday the police repeatedly tried to disperse the crowd by firing rubber bullets at them and firing live rounds in the air.

Several people were hit by rubber bullets.

Johannes Maheso, police spokesperson, said four men were arrested.

This protest followed similar demonstrations in Hammanskraal, Soshanguve and Brits.

Veronica Mphahlele, a community leader, said the government promised in 2000 that they would be given permanent houses and land of their own.

“It’s 10 years later and we’re still in the same position. All they do is send police to come and shoot at us.”

The residents are accusing council members, the police and the metro police of illegally selling land and houses intended for the poor to enrich themselves.

(continue reading…)

An American man is claiming R12.6m from the Monateng Safari Lodge outside Pretoria after he fell on a wet stoep.

US citizen Michael Francis Klesh walks with a stick to the North Gauteng Court in Pretoria.

Michael Francis Klesh, 55, a marketing specialist, says in his court documents that he fractured a vertebra and broke his left wrist. He was supposedly in shock for three to four months.

He is claiming R12 627 650 from Monateng after he fell outside his accommodation unit on the afternoon of January 19 2008.

Klesh alleges there wasn’t sufficient protection from rain water on the stoep and that there was no warning that the tiles might be slippery or dangerous when they’re wet.

Morris Baslian, Klesh’s legal representative, said Klesh and the defendant reached a verbal agreement when Klesh booked his accommodation by phone on January 10 2008.

When he arrived on January 14, he was given a piece of paper to sign “which is at best an offer and not a contract”.

The receptionist said the document was a “mere formality”.

Baslian said the defendant is relying on the indemnity clause in that document, which was not a condition of the original agreement (when Klesh made his booking).

The indemnity clause is also “hidden” in the document.

At the bottom of the document the signatory agrees to abide by Monateng’s rules and regulations, and gives consent for their vehicle to be searched.

Baslian said the indemnity clause should have been pointed out to the signatory.

Since the receptionist said the document is merely a formality, Klesh had no reason to suspect or believe that it would contain any conditions.

(continue reading…)

He loved him and was a big fan of his music, but now this musician had robbed them of their little boy, said a grieving Joyce Ntoga, aunt of Prince Mahube, 17, outside the Kliptown mortuary in Soweto, moments after she and other family members identified Prince’s body.

Phumelelo Masemelo's mother, Mameetse, lies in bed with a photograph of her son next to her.

Prince, Phumelelo Masemelo, 16, Mlugisi Cwayi, 17, and Andile Mthombeni, 19, died on Monday after musician Molemo Maarohanye, better known as Jub Jub and his friend Themba Tshabalala, drove their two Mini Coopers into the group of children.

The four friends died on the scene while two other schoolchildren, Fumani Mushanana, 17, and Frank Mlabo, 18, were seriously injured and taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital.

One of the boys is currently in a coma.

Maarohanye – who had also been a contestant in Survivor SA: Santa Carolina – and Tshabalala were apparently drag racing when the accident happened.

Blood samples were taken to determine whether the men had used drugs.

Police were still waiting for the lab results, said police spokesperson Inspector Kay Makhubela.

According to metro police spokesperson inspector Edna Mamonyane, breathalyser tests showed that Tshabalala’s blood alcohol levels were twice over the legal limit and Maarohanye’s was under the legal limit.

Family, friends and bystanders reacted with shock and anger on Wednesday.

“He was such a clever boy and wanted to become an architect.”

“He always told his mother: ‘Give me only two years and I will change this little house of yours. Jub Jub robbed us of him and he loved Jub Jub so much,” said Ntoga.

Prince’s mother, Janette Mahube, was too shocked to talk to the media.

(continue reading…)