SA Police Service Website Hacked

With some disastrous consequences:

Nearly 16 000 whistle-blowers have had their personal details published online after a cyberattack on the SAPS website.

Hundreds of police officers’ names, ranks and contact details were also uploaded by the hacker, who said the attack was in retaliation for the Marikana shootings.

The hacker appeared to have performed a data dump last Friday when complainants’ details were downloaded from the SAPS website’s e-mail server and uploaded on to another site.

Many of the 15 767 e-mails were detailed with incidents of crimes such as rape, murder and robbery, as well as the names and contact details of the whistle-blowers.

The hacker took to social media to claim the online attack.

“South African Police saps.gov.za e-mails Leaked… #OpMarikanaMiners We Did Not Forget #Anonymous,” tweeted @DomainerAnon.

His profile picture is a man wearing a mask, similar to that used by the anarchist character “V” in the film V for Vendetta. He says he is from “OZ (Australia) but currently on walkabouts”.

The mask is based on the face of Guy Fawkes, the best-known member of the gang of men who tried to blow up the House of Lords in London in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Above the list of the officers’ details, a message reads: “The reason for this action is to serve as a reminder to the government regarding the murders of 34 protesting miners outside the Marikana platinum mine by police. To date no officers have been brought to justice… This situation will NOT be tolerated.”

By 8am on Wednesday, the data had been downloaded 330 times.

“I’m very worried about this,” one of the whistle-blowers told The Star, on condition of anonymity.

He had sent an e-mail to the police saying that the police were not properly investigating the rape of a 14-year-old girl in KZN.

He said he was still in the dark about the investigation.

National police spokesman Brigadier Phuti Setati said this morning that there would be a media briefing at 1pm today.

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” said Dr Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.

He said it was a “huge breach of police security systems” and could have serious ramifications for whistle-blowers if the information fell into the hands of criminals…

 

Woman Accused of Stealing a Bible

Huff Po:

If you steal a book that famously commands you not to steal, does that drive home the point or negate it?

Fleming, 23, of Powder Springs, Ga., was arrested April 26, for allegedly stealing the good book from a Barnes & Noble in Cobb County, Ga.

She was charged with misdemeanor shoplifting, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Fleming was released on a $1,000 bond, MyFoxAtlanta.com reported.

However, she could have avoided the whole thing if she went to a church instead of a book store.

That’s because many churches and other groups offer Bibles for free…

Duh!

 

Precious Relics Stolen from Church

CNN:

Relics were taken from a Catholic church in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. Police say the items may eventually turn up. CNN affiliate KSDK reports

 

Will South Africans Ever Be Shocked by Rape?

The BBC:

At a time when Indians are re-examining their society in the light of a single, horrific incident of gang rape, South Africa seems numb – unable to muster much more than a collective shrug in the face of almost unbelievably grim statistics – seemingly far worse than India’s.

Here almost 60,000 rapes are reported to the police each year – more than double the number in India, in a far smaller country.

Experts believe the true figure is at least 10 times that – 600,000 attacks

It is not that the issue is ignored – far from it.

This week South African newspapers are carrying gruesome stories of what is being described as a new trend – the rape of elderly grandmothers, mostly in rural communities…

Read the rest including a video report here.

 

Burglar Calls 911

Yahoo! News:

A suspected burglar called 911 after the owner of the home he broke into caught and held him at gunpoint.

The suspect, Christopher Moore, placed the emergency call in Springtown, Texas, during the botched burglary attempt early Tuesday after James Gerow, the homeowner, and Gerow’s son pointed guns at him as he sat in his pickup truck parked in the driveway.

“I’m out in the country somewhere,” Moore told the 911 operator during the 10-minute call. “Some guy’s got a gun on me.”

Gerow’s wife, Lindy, placed a concurrent call to 911 that confirmed Moore’s account.

“You better come quick,” she said, “or my husband’s going to shoot him.”

“If he gets out of the truck, shoot him in the legs,” James Gerow told his son, according to the Dallas Morning News Crime Blog. “You ain’t gotta kill him—just shoot him in the legs.”

When police arrived, both Moore and Lindy Gerow were still talking to 911 dispatchers.

According to CBS’ Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate, Moore was arrested and charged with burglary. He’s currently being held on a $35,000 bond.

 

Australia: Sex-abuse Victim Sentenced for ‘Revenge’ Burglaries at Catholic Churches

Sounds more like a copout:

A man sexually abused by a priest as a six-year-old who exacted revenge – unleashing his “deeply entrenched hatred” for the Catholic order by burgling dozens of its churches across suburban Melbourne – was today jailed for a maximum of four years.

A judge earlier heard the man’s “rancour and rage” against the Catholic Church surfaced 20 years ago in South Australia when he was first convicted of the offence of “sacrilege”.

His barrister told the County Court earlier this month that after his client’s removal a year ago as a worker with the St Vincent de Paul Society, the “rage and anger that has so dominated his life took over and he became unstable”.

The barrister Mark Regan said the man, now 44, had a “deeply entrenched belief system of the wrong perpetrated against him” by the priest and the Catholic Church which he resented.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to 59 charges of mostly aggravated burglary, burglary and theft that involved more than 30 churches, parish houses, a respite school and a presbytery.

Prosecutor Catharine Sedgwick detailed how the man offended against “soft targets” over seven months from Camberwell to Dandenong, Essendon to Ringwood and Epping, Balwyn and Coburg until his arrest last May.

Ms Sedgwick said he ransacked offices and stole money from safes, cash boxes, donation envelopes and raffle payments, sometimes while priests slept.

He told police he felt his crimes were “payback” for being molested and was handed a phone book in custody to mark the churches he burgled.

Mr Regan distinguished the nature of the burglaries from domestic-related, residential targets and submitted the man acted covertly and avoided confrontations.

His mother confirmed in evidence her son was about six when he told her a priest had molested him by “playing with parts of my body he shouldn’t be touching”.

She reported the matter to police but “nothing was ever done” and told the judge much of his obsessiveness and unresolved anger stemmed from that.

“I should have done a lot more than I did,” she lamented.

The judge today told the man he had harboured a great resentment against the church.

She said that on the balance of probabilities, there was “force behind” his assertions about being molested as a young child.

The judge said that the man cannot keep “utilising” his past as a reason for offending.

She described the offences as non-confrontational, and the impact had been of property loss only, but the seriousness was in the repitition of the offences.

He was ordered to serve a minimum of two and a half years.

But yes, it would indeed seem as if there are various ways in which one can exact your ‘revenge’ Down-Under…

 

Australian Priest Bites Off Another Priest’s Ear

During a scandalous brawl in Perth, Australia:

It’s a holy war!

An 80-year-old Catholic priest bit off another priest’s ear and socked him in the face over a parking spot in Australia, according to Perth Now.

Father Thomas Henry Byrne appeared in court Friday after he allegedly started the violent brawl when 81-year-old Father Thomas Joseph Cameron Smith wouldn’t give up his parking space. After a brief scuffle, Byrne reportedly told Smith to pick up an item on the ground.

The item was Smith’s ear, according to the Daily Mail, though it took him a while to figure out what it was.

Smith wrapped the flesh in a tea towel and drove to a local hospital, where staffed phoned him an ambulance. He was taken to surgery, while cops went to arrest Byrne on a charge of grievous bodily harm. Byrne had a black eye when he showed up in court on Friday, according to the Independent.

An East Perth magistrate ordered that Byrne not go within 30 feet of Smith, who lives in the same apartment complex.

Perthians…

 

Son Held for Cleric Father’s Murder

A 28-year-old man has been arrested for the murder of his cleric father, Free State police said on Saturday.

Times Live:

“He was arrested on Friday after a lengthy interrogation by the police,” spokesman Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said.

The 60-year-old clergyman and his future son-in-law were killed at their home on Thursday night.

The cleric was in the living room with his wife, son, and daughter’s fiance when three intruders entered the house.

The assailants locked the reverend’s son in the bathroom. He was not hurt.

The daughter’s 25-year-old fiance was shot in the head and died at the scene.

The reverend was wounded and taken to hospital. He died on Friday morning.

His 59-year-old wife was taken to hospital, but it was unknown if she was shot or assaulted.

The cleric’s son will appear in the Harrismith Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

A man spotted by police walking on the N3 highway and covered in blood was arrested on Friday.

He was found in possession of five cellphones and a firearm. One of the cellphones belonged to a member of the family.

The man is also set to appear in the same court on Monday.

 

Vicar Murder Suspect Plotted to Kill Archbishop of Canterbury …

A drifter accused of murdering a vicar had plotted to kill the Archbishop of Canterbury, even travelling to the city to work out how to get past Rowan Williams’s security.

The Telegraph reports:

 

A drifter accused of murdering a vicar was plotting the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a court heard.

Stephen Farrow, 48, claimed he had visited Canterbury several times to work out if he could kill Rowan Williams but there was “too much security” for him to attempt it.

Farrow has admitted killing the Reverend John Suddards, 59, at his vicarage in Thornbury, Glos., but denies murdering the vicar and pensioner Betty Yates, 77.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Farrow told people he had been abused by a priest as a child and texted a friend to say “the Church will be the first to suffer” before the killings.

Richard Evans, a mental health nurse, assessed Farrow after his first appearance before magistrates following the vicar’s death in February.

He said: “He said he had been to Canterbury, in Kent, several times to work out whether he could kill Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop.

“He said the security was astronomical but that he intended to kill him.

“He said he was quite grateful that he was arrested because this would have continued and he would have committed further offences.

“He made it clear, without prompting, that he didn’t do it for the notoriety or recognition”

Speaking about Rev Suddards: “He told me he watched him die and there was a significant amount of blood…

Terrible!

There’s more here.

 

Another Police Officer Killed

In Hout Bay, Cape Town:

A police officer had been shot dead and another injured in Hout Bay, Western Cape police said on Saturday.

“A 26-year-old female constable died on the scene while her 27-year-old colleague was seriously injured in the incident,” provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Arno Lamoer said.

The constables, aged 26 and 27, were on duty in Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay on Friday night when they were shot. – Sapa

A 26 year-old female…

RIP

The Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille has condemned the attack on the two officers.