Mickeys

A taxi driver was arrested on Wednesday after he was caught transporting 49 school children in a 16-seater minibus taxi between KwaZulu-Natal’s Mooi River and Estcourt, national transport department said.

Another incident..... believe it or not!

Sir Richard Branson and JK Rowling are expected to be among the guests at a fund-raising event to mark the 1,000th day since Madeleine McCann went missing.

Madeleine's Fund raised almost £2m in the first 10 months after she disappeared

Around 180 people have been invited by her parents Kate and Gerry McCann to attend the £150-a-head dinner, raffle and auction at Sir Richard’s Kensington Roof Gardens in west London.

Half the money raised will go to the McCanns’ fund to find their daughter, with the other half split between the charities Missing People and Missing Children Europe.

Supporters of the couple from Rothley, Leicestershire, will also launch 1,000 glowing paper lanterns into the night sky in Britain, Portugal and the US to coincide with the anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Almost £2m was raised for Madeleine’s Fund in the first 10 months after she went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007.

But as the number of donations lessened her parents spent hundreds of thousands of pounds hiring a series of private detectives to continue the search.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell stressed there was no “crisis” in the fund, which currently stands at approximately £500,000.

“But even if the fund were to run dry, it doesn’t mean the search stops,” he said.

Mr Mitchell said the west London dinner would be attended primarily by the couple’s friends and long-term supporters, including their millionaire backer Brian Kennedy.

The paper lanterns will be launched at 7.30pm British time from about 20 different locations, including Praia da Luz, Rothley and Mrs McCann’s hometown of Liverpool.

taken from SkyNews

A 16-year-old youth has been found guilty of attempted GBH after throwing bleach over a woman who had asked him to be quiet in a cinema.

Mrs Warden was attacked while she was at this family restaurant in Leeds

The teenager, who is too young to be identified, had already admitted attacking the woman, 46, as she was having a meal with her husband and two children.

Annette Warden and her family had visited the Vue cinema on Kirkstall Road, Leeds, to see a Harry Potter film in July.

Just one spare seat separated Mrs Warden from a group of young people who were messing about and making noise during the screening.

After politely asking them to be quiet, she alerted a member of staff who warned the group that they would be ejected if they continued the disruption.

Following the film, the 16-year-old shouted obscenities at Mrs Warden as her family went into a nearby restaurant.

Riled by her complaint, the teenager was then driven to a petrol station. He claimed he wanted to buy eggs so he could throw them at her and cause her embarrassment.

Unable to find eggs, he purchased a bottle of Domestos bleach and returned to the Frankie and Benny’s restaurant.

In evidence one waiter described how the youth came “charging in with liquid flying”.

He squirted bleach around Mrs Warden’s head and back, with some ending up in her eyes.

She screamed as the youth ran off and when she realised that it was bleach she hurried to the toilets to wash it off.

Mrs Warden was then taken to hospital where medics washed her eyes with saline solution. Fortunately she suffered no serious damage.

The court case rested on whether the teenager had intended to cause serious harm to his victim.

Speaking after the verdict at Leeds Crown Court, Inspector Richard Baildon of West Yorkshire Police said the family were “mentally scarred” by the incident.

He said: “This was a cruel and cowardly attack on a mother enjoying a Sunday evening out with her family who simply asked a rowdy group of youths to be quiet during a film.

“That is something most of us would have done without expecting it to result in the truly appalling actions that followed.”

The teenager will be sentenced once reports on his character and level of maturity have been completed.

taken from SkyNews

A man has revealed how he abandoned a bid to rescue his teenage son to save his screaming wife after their car plunged into a river in New Zealand.

New Zealand police: Emergency services were also unable to rescue the boy

Stacy Horton rescued his partner Vanessa, 35, as their 13-year-old boy Silva drowned in the Whanganui River on North Island.

The father said he arrived at the scene minutes after the family’s Mazda MPV station wagon skidded down a grassy bank, over a 10-metre cliff and into the water.

He heard his wife screaming in the darkness and could see his son’s friend and the family dog scrambling up the bank. But Silva was trapped inside the submerged car.

Mr Horton told the Dominion Post newspaper he had tried to dive down to the vehicle, which was pointing engine first into the water with the tail lights shining more than 3ft below the surface.

“I tried to get down and get him but I couldn’t – it was just too deep. And Vanessa was going under,” the father said.

“I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail lights but it was too far and I couldn’t get him.

“Instead of going down and risking my life as well as my wife and son’s, I chose to take V(anessa) back and sat on the shore praying. It was all I could do.”

The emergency services were also unable to rescue the boy from inside the vehicle.

Police spokeswoman Kim Perks said it was a very tough call for Mr Horton.

“I would certainly not have wanted to be in his shoes,” she said.

Senior fire station officer Gary Wilson said the water was dark and murky and firefighters had struggled in vain to reach the car.

“We tried everything but to no avail,” Mr Wilson said. Divers recovered the boy’s body on Sunday.

taken from SkyNews

Bloemfontein – A Free State man was on Thursday sentenced in the Petrus Steyn Regional Court to 19 life imprisonment terms for repeatedly raping his daughter between 2004 and 2007, police said.

Koloi Motaung, 45, of the Mamafubedu informal settlement near Petrus Steyn started raping and assaulting his daughter in 2004 while she was 15-years-old, Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said.

The crimes started while the father and daughter were staying in Atteridgeville, near Pretoria in 2004. Motaung was arrested for the crimes in Atteridgeville, but released in the same year.

The man followed his daughter to family near Petrus Steyn where she was sent following his arrest. He repeatedly raped her during 2005 and 2006.

In 2007 a case of assault was opened against Motaung after the girl was taken to other relatives on a farm in Heilbron. Her father again followed her there. The girl’s aunt, who stayed with her on the Heilbron farm, eventually told Petrus Steyn police about the girl’s ordeal.

“Police arrested him on another rape allegation.”

Mophiring said dockets from Atteridgeville and Heilbron were retrieved by investigators and 23 charges were brought against Motaung in the Petrus Steyn Regional Court.

taken from News24

The rapist accused of imprisoning Jaycee Dugard for 18 years slipped through the net and should have been caught earlier, according to the official report into the case.

The highly critical report, released by California’s inspector general, acknowledged that Phillip Garrido had been under little supervision.

Officials failed to spot anything was wrong despite making 60 visits to the Garrido household, where Jaycee was apparently held.

Garrido and his wife Nancy are accused of kidnapping Jaycee as an 11-year-old in South Lake Tahoe, California, in 1991.

The girl was kept as a virtual sex slave, prosecutors say.

Garrido is said to have abducted Jaycee just three years after he was released from prison where he served less than 11 years of a 50-year sentence for rape.

Jaycee was kept 'as slave'

Jaycee, now 29, was discovered alive in August after allegedly being imprisoned by the Garridos at their home in Antioch, east of San Francisco.

“There were missed clues and opportunities to discover her existence,” Inspector General David Shaw said at a news conference in Sacramento.

“I don’t think the system is broken, but there are a lot of improvements that can be made.”

n a blistering indictment of the state’s Department of Corrections and federal parole officers, Shaw said officials had missed numerous opportunities to discover Dugard and her two daughters.

The daughters were both allegedly fathered by Garrido.

The initial assessment of Garrido by state parole officials put him in a low-risk sex offender category, which meant significantly lighter supervision.

“The department failed to utilize tools that could have led to the discovery of Jaycee Dugard and her children,” Shaw said. (continue reading…)

Cape Town – Two judges in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday refused baby killer Dina Rodrigues leave to appeal against her life sentence in jail.

Rodrigues is serving a life sentence after she was convicted of hiring four men and paying them R10 000 to murder six-month-old Jordan Leigh Norton on June 15 2005.

Jordan Leigh was the daughter of Neil Wilson, with whom Rodrigues had a relationship. The baby was stabbed to death with a knife.

Sipho Mfazwe and Mongezi Bobo¬tyane were found guilty with Rodrigues in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison, while Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu were given 15-year jail sentences.

Rodrigues and her fellow accused applied for leave to appeal before a full bench of judges in July this year.

Judges André le Grange and Jeanette Traverso agreed with Judge Basheer Wagley’s initial sentence, while Judge Essa Moosa suggested a sentence of 26 years in jail.

The majority verdict of Le Grange and Traverso meant that Rodrigues would remain behind bars for now. It is not yet known if she will now go the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein.

Le Grange pointed to the overwhelming evidence during the trial that Rodrigues was the main offender.

“The motive for this callous killing of a six-month-old baby in the sanctity and security of her home can evoke very little mercy or sympathy, if any.”

He said there was also ample time and opportunity for them to come to their senses the day before the murder and to decide not to go ahead, after their first attempt failed.

“They continued under false pretences and slaughtered the baby like an animal until it was dead.”

story from News24

A father has been charged with murdering his five chidren and their mother amid reports the victim’s throats had been cut.

Mesca Damas has been charged with six counts of first degree murder

Authorities in southwest Florida charged Mesac Damas with six counts of first-degree murder in what has been dubbed “the worst of the worst” killing spree.

According to reports in the States, Damas was found hiding in a property in Haiti after flying there from his Florida home.

Damas claims that he surrendered voluntarily to police and had travelled to Haiti to “say goodbye” to his family.

The 33-year-old had boarded a flight from Miami International Airport to the Caribbean nation on Friday.

The following evening, deputies found wife Guerline Damas and their five children slain in a Naples town house.

Police issue picture

A relative told the Associated Press news agency that the victims had had their throats cut.

Florida investigators are travelling to Haiti to interview Damas.

Just days before he left the country, a Department of Children and Families caseworker visited the family’s apartment unannounced, it has emerged.

The caseworker reported that the children, ages 11 months to 9 years, seemed healthy and safe.

Mesac Damas was apparently home and dinner was cooked.

The toddler was playing with her doll while the older daughter, dressed in pink, asked the caseworker if she had brought her a pink book bag, because she was going to school next year.

The boys were in T-shirts and shorts and the worker didn’t see any bruises or marks.

The murders have been described by police in Florida as “the worst of the worst”.

taken from SkyNews

I received this in my Inbox over the weekend, enjoy!

This is one of the neatest stories you will ever hear. You will know precisely what this little girl is talking about at the end (you’ll want to share this one with your loved ones and special friends)!

‘Danielle keeps repeating it over and over again. We’ve been back to this animal shelter at least five times. It has been weeks now since we started all of this,’ the mother told the volunteer.

‘What is it she keeps asking for?’ the volunteer asked.
‘Puppy size!’ replied the mother
‘Well, we have plenty of puppies, if that’s what she’s looking for.’  ’I know….. we have seen most of them, ‘ the mom said in  frustration…

Just then Danielle came walking  into the office

‘Well, did you find one?’ asked  her mom.

‘No, not this time,’ Danielle said with sadness in her voice. ‘Can we come back on the weekend?’
The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed

‘You never know when we will get more dogs. Unfortunately, there’s always a supply,’ the volunteer said.

Danielle took her mother by the hand and headed to the door. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll find one this weekend,’ she said.

Over the next few days both Mom and Dad had long conversations with her. They both felt she was being too particular. ‘It’s this weekend or we’re not looking any more,’ Dad finally said in frustration.
‘We don’t want to hear anything more about puppy size, either,’ Mom added.

Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday morning. By now Danielle knew her way around, so she ran right for the section that housed the smaller dogs.

Tired of the routine, mom sat in the small waiting room at the end of the first row of cages.  There was an observation window so you could see the animals during times when visitors weren’t permitted.
Danielle walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to take a closer look. One by one the dogs were brought out and she held each one.
One by one she said, ‘Sorry, but you’re not the one.’

It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup. The volunteer opened the cage door and the child carefully picked up the dog and held it closely. This time she took a little longer.

‘Mom, that’s it! I found the right puppy!  He’s the one! I know it!’ She screamed with joy. ‘It’s the puppy size!’

‘But it’s the same size as all the other puppies you held over the last few weeks,’ Mom said.

‘No not size… The sighs. When I held him in my arms, he sighed,’ she said.
‘Don’t you remember? When I asked you one day what love is, you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart. The more you love, the bigger the sigh!’

The two women looked at each other for a moment. Mom didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As she stooped down to hug the child, she did a little of both.

‘Mom, every time you hold me, I sigh. When you and Daddy come home from work and hug each other, you both sigh. I knew I would find the right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms,’ she said. Then, holding the puppy up close to her face, she said, ‘Mom, he loves me. I heard the sighs of his heart!’

Close your eyes for a moment and think about the love that makes you sigh. I not only find it in the arms of my loved ones, but in the caress of a sunset, the kiss of the moonlight and the gentle brush of cool air on a hot day.  They are the sighs of God. Take the time to stop and listen; you will be surprised at what you hear. ‘Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.’

I hope your life is filled with Sighs!!!

This undated photo provided by her stepfather William Carl Probyn shows Jaycee Lee Dugard. (AP)

Sacramento – Sheriff’s officials said on Thursday they believe a woman who walked into a police station had been kidnapped as an 11-year-old in 1991 outside her South Lake Tahoe home.

The woman came into the Concord police station and said she was Jaycee Lee Dugard, the victim of the abduction 18 years ago, said the official,  Les Lovell.

“We’re 99% sure it’s her and DNA tests were being conducted.”

Lovell said Concord police did an investigation after the woman surfaced and he received a call on Wednesday from investigators who had tentatively identified her as Dugard.

“Her family has been contacted and they are in the process of arranging a meeting”, said Lovell, who was a detective assigned to help investigate the kidnapping in 1991.

“We’re very confident at this point in time that it is her.”

Witnesses reported that a vehicle with two people drove up to Dugard and abducted her while her stepfather was watching on June 10 1991, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release on Thursday.

The investigation has been ongoing since she was abducted.

Lovell said two people were in custody in connection with the case, but he could not elaborate.

story from News24

Two months old and in heart failure – my baby needed an operation.

Baby Zaan

My third son, Zaan, the smaller one of twins, was diagnosed with a heart defect two days after birth. To put it in layman terms, he had a 1cm hole between the left and right side of his 3cm heart with a single valve in-between instead of two. This type of atrioventricular canal defect has to be corrected surgically between 4 and 6 months.

Zaan spent the first 3 weeks in Neo-Natal ICU. When he came home, he had a feeding tube for milk, a saturation monitor to check his oxygen levels and oxygen for when he slept. At the age of 6 weeks he needed oxygen all the time. We went for weekly check-ups at the paediatric cardiologist. Our aim was to get him as close to 5kg as possible by mid November. He would have been 3 and a half months old then, and he needed to have the heart operation before the doctors and staff went on annual leave.

However, Zaan was 2 months old when he went into heart failure. He was stabilised in the Paediatric ICU for a week and his operation was moved up to a week later. On Monday, 22 October 2007, Zaan was admitted to the PICU. He weighed 3.5kg and was only 2 and a half months old. One of the smallest babies to receive this type of operation.

We were given a booklet, made by a mother whose son had undergone the same operation, with photographs of what to expect afterwards. We were also told not to get a fright if our baby was blue. The procedure was explained by the cardiologist, as well as the recovery. Because of Zaan’s age and oxygen dependency his recovery could take longer and the risks of the operation were higher. Even with all of this information we still received a huge shock when we saw our son for the first time after the operation.

Six o’clock on Tuesday morning we were at his bed, his operation scheduled for 7:30. The nurses prepped him and we walked with him to the theatre. There we were able to kiss him one last time before the anaesthetist and theatre staff started with their work. Opposite the theatre was a small waiting room. That room terrified me! We couldn’t sit there and wait so we went for a walk.

Zaan came out of the theatre at midday. As soon as we walked into the PICU you could feel the charged atmosphere. All the staff were hyper alert and ready to react to the first sign of an emergency. Everyone was hushed. The machines beeping next to Zaan’s bed was constantly checked and changes were made as soon as one of the 13 alarms went off. More medicine was connected to the arterial line and drainage bags were monitored. Notes were made every 15 minutes of his stats.

Today I wish that I had taken a photograph of Zaan right after the operation. It’s almost impossible to explain his colour. I took one the next day when his colour had returned to normal. My baby looked like he was swollen to double his size. His whole body was the colour of a purple-blue bruise. Zaan had swollen so much from the by-pass during the operation that the surgeon was unable to close his chest. The chest cavity was left open with a covering of synthetic skin. On Friday the swelling had gone down enough for them to close his chest and stitch him up.

He was on the N2O ventilator for seven days. Another 3 days to wean him of the oxygen ventilator and by 3 November, he was taken of the ventilator completely. He still received oxygen, but with a box covering his head instead of a machine. On 22 November Zaan came home. He still needed regular check-ups at the cardiologist, but his operation was a success.

taken from Parent24

Dis spesiaal vir die van ons wat met Afrikaans groot geword het, waar daar Volksrympies heeldag en aldag voorgele was!

Ek het een van my gunsteling boeke her ontdek, genoem: Die Skatkis – Rympies en Stories!

Hier is n paar Volksrympies wat jou sal laat terug dink aan die goue ou dae.

London – A 19-year-old actor from the Harry Potter movies was ordered on Tuesday to do 120 hours of community service for growing cannabis, but his co-defendant was sentenced to six weeks behind bars.

James Waylett, who plays Potter-hating bully and fellow Hogwarts pupil Vincent Crabbe, pleaded guilty last week, after being charged in April following his arrest with a friend, John Innis, 20, in central London.

“I accept that the cultivation of this cannabis was on a small scale, and this was not in any way a commercial venture on your part. Nevertheless you used a sophisticated growing system to do so,” said judge Timothy Workman.

“I give you credit for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, your co-operation with police and the fact that you are, until now, a man of good character,” added the judge at London’s City of Westminster Magistrates Court.

Innis was sentenced to six weeks’ custody in a young offenders’ institution, and fined £500 ($820)

The pair were detained in April after Waylett took a photo of police while driving past a group of officers. Innis’s car was stopped, and police found eight bags of cannabis and a knife.

When police looked at Waylett’s mobile phone to see the picture he had taken, they found other photos of cannabis plants. Officers then searched the home of his mother in Kilburn, northwest London, and found 10 cannabis plants.

Another three bags of cannabis were found in Innis’s possession. Innis admitted possessing a knife and having 11 bags of cannabis.

Waylett appears as the overweight, greedy and dim-witted sidekick of villain Draco Malfoy in all of the films about the boy wizard.

The charge against him in April was announced just hours before the Potter stars walked up the red carpet in London for the world premiere of the sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Tabloid newspaper The Sun reported at the time that the cannabis plants could have produced drugs worth £2 000, printing its story under the headline “Harry Pothead”.

taken from News24