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.

 

Wife Charged with Murder of Priest

Anglican priest’s body was discovered by his two young children.

The Sowetan:

The wife of a Butterworth Anglican Church priest yesterday made a brief appearance in the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of her husband earlier this month.

Lungiswa Xuba, 40, and Vuyo Mehlo, 40, were arrested in Elliot last week Friday by Butterworth police detectives in connection with the death of Xuba’s husband, the Reverend Ongama Xuba.

At this stage it is not clear what Mehlo’s relationship is to Xuba.

Butterworth police spokesman, Captain Jackson Manatha confirmed their arrest and charges.

“After their arrest on Friday last week they were detained by police until they appeared in court yesterday. They made a brief court appearance and are expected back in court next week for a formal bail application.

“Both are charged with the murder of Xuba,” Manatha said.

Ongama was found lying dead in a pool of blood on August 3 inside the St Peters Anglican Church house yard in King Street, Butterworth.

He had multiple stab wounds to his upper body.

His body was discovered by his two young children who arrived home with their mother after returning from a shop.

“After seeing his body in a pool of blood, the two children returned quickly to inform their mother that their father was covered in blood.

“It is alleged that the mother and her two children had gone to town to buy something for the deceased.

“It is not clear how the perpetrator gained entrance to the house,” Manatha said.

At the time, Manatha said the motive for the murder was not known and that nothing had been taken from the house.

Ongama’s death shocked many in Butterworth and his church leader, Bishop Elliot Williams of the Mbhashe Anglican Church, described his death and the news of his wife’s arrest as “terrible”.

Eastern Cape Council of Churches leader Reverend Mpumelelo Qwabaza said police should not leave any stone unturned in their investigation.

“It is sad news to hear that the wife of the deceased has been arrested in this case.

“But we call for people to cooperate with the police investigation and we are praying that the congregation must be calm and let the police do their work.”

Qwabaza said they wanted a speedy investigation into the matter so that the truth could be revealed.

“There are children involved in this and two families, so it would be nice to see the investigations speedily resolved to have closure in this matter.

“(Ongama) was a leader who did not deserve to die like that.”

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luxolo Tyali confirmed the case and said the two would appear in court next week Wednesday. “They are currently remanded in custody.

“By next week they will both be given an opportunity to exercise their right to have their legal representatives in the case,” Tyali said.

 

Man Confesses Horrific Murder to Priest, Who Calls Police

In the Huffington Post:

Jonathan Smith drove from Columbus, Ohio, to New York City with a burden on his conscience so heavy that he unloaded on the first Catholic priest he saw: “Someone is dead, and I feel really bad about it.”

According to the New York Post, the priest in the midtown Manhattan Catholic Church of St. Francis of Assis quickly called the police, who then took a formal confession from Smith: “I killed my girlfriend in Columbus, Ohio.”

• Visit the New York Post to read the more about Jonathan Smith’s murder confession.

WSNY radio reported on July 23 that murder charges were filed against Smith in connection with death of his girlfriend, Darlene Hart, whose beaten body was found in his burning home on July 14.

The priest who heard the initial confession clarified to the New York Post that Smith was not giving formal religious confession, which would have prohibited the priest from sharing any information.

Instead, the priest explained, Jonathan Smith was telling the priest with a desire to turn himself in.

 

James Holmes: Spitting and Demonic Possession

Fr Dwight Longenecker writes:

Demonic infestation is a rare, strange and terrible psycho-spiritual affliction. It’s also real. Was James Holmes possessed?

But before we get there, how disgusting is this not?

Accused movie theater gunman James Holmes is spitting at jail officers so frequently that at one point he was made to wear a face guard, sources told ABC News.

Holmes’ odd behavior was first seen by the public when he appeared in court Monday looking dazed, alternately bug-eyed and nodding with his eyes closing.

But ABC News has learned that his loopy court appearance was just one of several bizarre behaviors…

Vile. But back to Fr Dwight:

What makes a mild mannered, promising young scientist decide to arm himself to the teeth, walk into a suburban movie theater and start killing innocent people at random?

Did he have a bad childhood experience? Doesn’t seem that way. Everybody says he was a nice, very smart, shy kid. Maybe a bit of a geek, but there are millions of geeks who don’t go on killing sprees. Was he insane? There weren’t any warning signs that he was crazy. Was he politically or religiously motivated? No evidence. Was he driven crazy by violent video games? He didn’t seem to play more than most kids. Was his mind poisoned by the nihilistic second Batman movie? It was a dark film, but millions saw it and didn’t go on a rampage. Was he somehow “possessed” by the Joker character? Some say the demonic Joker drove Heath Ledger to kill himself.

Now it’s getting spooky. There was a weird phone message with bizarre guttural voices and moans. Was he demon possessed? Maybe. It happens.

Demonic infestation is a rare, strange and terrible psycho-spiritual affliction. In simple terms, a malevolent, separate intelligence infests the mind and spirit of a person. It takes over the rational faculties and dominates the personality. The phenomenon is real, but anyone who has ever dealt with the problem realizes that the demonic realm is complex. The human person is an intricate organism in which the physical, mental and spiritual aspects are totally interwoven. Therefore, in most cases, trying to diagnose the possibility of demonic influence is extremely difficult.

This is because, in theory, demonic influence in a personality can exist on several different levels. Experts disagree about the terminology and extent of the diabolical influence, and in this arcane discipline, for reasons that will become clear, there are few set rules or guidelines. However, some levels of demonic involvement can be observed…

Is James Holmes demon possessed? It is impossible to say without a detailed diagnosis. Even then, it is a slippery question. We are dealing with a reality that is rubbery. In many ways this is the wrong question. Better to ask, “Was James Holmes taken over by Evil?”

Do read on here.

 

North West Priest Arrested for Murder

iol news:

A priest has been arrested for murder in Vrischgewagte near Mahikeng, North West police said on Saturday.

Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said the priest allegedly gave four women a concoction that was meant to heal them on Thursday.

“Two of them died and two are in Gelukspan Hospital after consuming it.”

He said the priest gave the women a mixture of spirits, cocoa and chillies to drink. They later complained of stomach aches.

The priest was expected to appear in the Atamelang Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

 

The Actions of a Child Killer? Mitchells Plain

I was at the Police Station in Mitchells Plain (having taken someone to lay down an affidavit) on Thursday when a woman suddenly came rushing in, crying and screaming quite uncontrollably. Everyone automatically stopped what they were doing, turned and watched as she rushed up to the counter repeatedly saying: ‘My kind… My kind’ (my child, my child). The Police Officer behind the counter asked her what had happened. Through the sobs she managed to blurt out that she had just lost her child in the Town Centre (which was a stone’s throw away from the Police Station) and that she did not know where he was.

Now the ‘Town Centre’ of Mitchells Plain is not the nicest of places. It’s a crumbling maze of alleys, bustling with shops and informal trading of various kinds going on. Unsightly, noisy and smelly, it’s the kind of place you don’t want to go to unless you absolutely must - and certainly not a place where you would take your two-year old child.

Many years ago I was busy with mission work in the area when I was caught up in the midst a riot or protest of some kind (gone wrong) with hooligans running amok, bashing in shop windows and assaulting anyone crossing their path of destruction. With the Public Order Police on the outside, there was little that they could do to help those stuck in the completely pandemonious Town Centre. I swore that I would never set a foot there again…

The by now hysterical woman was being consoled by police officers and strangers alike. One police woman mercifully had the presence of mind to take her to the back of the police station, perhaps to a trauma room or something. The whole scene was quite upsetting to some. All felt much sympathy for her. And a quick prayer for the safe return of her son and strength for the desperate mother was quite appropriate. How little did we know then, that just two days later, this same woman would be taken into custody, charged with the heinous crimes of child murder and abandonment.

Partly because I had witnessed the reporting of a lost child - which has become something of a prevalent and high-profiled scourge here in the Western Cape - I was intermittently scanning the news, waiting, hoping and praying for a positive outcome: A mother and child eventually joyfully reunited. People rallied. Social media went into full swing. The search was on. He would be found.

But sadly, yet again, this was not to be. Our local Eye Witness News takes up the story:

The mother of two-year-old boy from Mitchell’s Plain confessed to his murder.

Tauriq Jacobs little’s body was found in a shallow grave at a primary school in Beacon Valley on Saturday afternoon.
He was last seen near the local mall with his mother on Thursday.

A massive search was launched and his mother was taken into custody on a charge of abandonment.

Police say the 36-year-old mother confessed to the crime on Saturday night and is due to appear in the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of murder and abandonment.

The police’s November Filander said they were investigating the cause of his death.

“The autopsy will shed light on the cause of death,” he said.

Seemingly, her whole outburst was nothing but an act… Or perhaps the dregs of a guilt ridden conscience.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens next. Rumours are already flying around. The mainstream media will keep us up to speed no doubt, while the tabloids will provide all the grotty details. One thing is for sure: We live in a fallen and sick world. And for an innocent two-year old, a new year will not dawn. Already (the year is but a few hours old) crime is leading us in. Come the end of 2012, I wonder, how many more lives will be lost, altered or irreversible changed because of the evil state of man? May God in His mercy help us.

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? – Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)

 

Blackheath, Cape Town: Taxi Driver Guilty on 10 Murder Counts

Jacob Humphreys is guilty of murder! News 24:

Cape Town – Taxi driver Jacob Humphreys was found guilty on Monday of murdering 10 schoolchildren who were killed when his minibus was hit by a train at a level crossing at Blackheath outside Cape Town last year.

Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney found Humphreys, 55, guilty on 10 charges of murder and four of attempted murder.

Relatives of the children who had packed into the public gallery gasped as Henney delivered the verdict. Some burst into tears and sobbed.

Humphreys remained expressionless and kept his hands clasped in front of him.

He faced 10 charges of murder, or alternatively manslaughter, as well as four of attempted murder, or assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

‘No other conclusion’

Humphreys was transporting children to school in a taxi on August 25 last year when he overtook a row of cars and ignored safety signals at the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath.

A train hit the taxi and 10 of the children died.

Henney said he not could think of a better example of a person being able to foresee the consequences of their actions when he shot through the level crossing.

“What other conclusion could a person reach?”

Outside court relatives of Liesl August, 11, Cody Erasmus, 15, Jody Phillips, 13, Reece Smith, 7; Nolan February, 13, Michaelin de Koker, 11, Jason Pedro, 14, Nadine Marthinissen, 16, Jeane-Pierre Willeman, 13, and Jade Adams, 10, cried and embraced each other.

“I am happy that justice has been done,” said Vanique Skippos, a relative of Marthinissen.

On Friday prosecutor Susan Galloway told the court that Humphreys could have foreseen the consequences of skipping through a closed train level crossing.

She said she would show Humphreys had subjectively foreseen the possibility of his act causing death and was therefore insensitively reckless.

Strange loss of memory

Defence lawyer Johann Engelbrecht said during the trial that Humphreys suffered from retrograde amnesia and could not remember anything from the time his taxi stood still at the Buttskop level crossing to the time he woke up and was taken to hospital.

Henney said it was strange that Humphreys remembered the moment just before the accident but nothing else.

He said if Humphreys’ vehicle had stood still behind another vehicle, it should have been that vehicle which was hit.

The judgment comes as the National Prosecuting Authority takes a tougher stance against reckless drivers.

Less than two weeks ago, the NPA announced its decision to charge people responsible for fatal car accidents with murder instead of culpable homicide.

The authority’s reasoning is that if it can be proved that a motorist foresaw the possibility of an accident, but took the risk anyway, there is a form of intention to cause death.

Humphreys will be sentenced in February next year.

I drove past the crash on the way to work that morning, last year. It truly was horrific…

 

The Salvation Army Chaplain Who Heard a Confession of Murder, and Told

In the Catholic Herald:

There are about 500 murders a year in this country, which is of course 500 too many – but only a few of them get large-scale media coverage. One such, now come to trial, is the sad case of Joanna Yeates, the details of which are very well known.

Two things strike me in this matter. The first is that it would be far better for all of us, but particularly for Miss Yeates’s family, if certain parts of the trial were held in camera. It is distressing to hear the details of how she was murdered; distressing for us – but for her parents well-night unendurable, I would think. Of course the jury have to hear these details, as they are evidence, but do the rest of us have to know? Is there a legitimate public interest? I do not think so.

The second matter is this, covered by this report in the Daily Telegraph:

While [Tabak] was being held in prison on remand, he admitted for the first time that he had strangled his next-door neighbour, Bristol Crown Court heard.

On Feb 8 he spoke to Peter Brotherton, a voluntary chaplain with the Salvation Army, said the prosecutor, Nigel Lickley QC.

Tabak told him: “I’m going to tell you something that will shock you … I’m going to plead guilty’ … The chaplain asked him “what for?” and Tabak replied: “For the crime that I have done.” When he was asked if he meant “the young lady
in Bristol” he said “yes” and the chaplain asked him: “Are you sorry?” Mr Lickley told the court: “He said he was.”

What this means is that Tabak had a conversation with a prison chaplain, and this conversation is now being used as evidence against him in court. Whether the evidence given by the prison chaplain proves to be important or not, time will tell, but I am surprised, to say the least, that the prison chaplain has volunteered to give evidence against Tabak, if that is indeed the case.

This brings to mind important considerations for us Catholics. What is told a priest under the seal of Confession can never be disclosed without the penitent’s permission. This means that whenever we go to Confession, we can be quite sure that what we say is confidential. I have never heard of a priest who broke the seal of Confession; there has been at least one priest who died rather
than break the seal – the famous St John of Nepomuk, who was hurled off Charles Bridge in Prague by the King of Bohemia because he refused to tell the King the secrets of the Queen’s confession. And quite right too. Catholics have an absolute right to know that their Confessions will never be divulged to anyone.

But quite apart from the seal that protects the confessional secret, there is the ordinary professional confidentiality that binds priests, lawyers, doctors and others. If you tell a priest something that you wish to be treated as confidential, then the priest is bound to keep that to himself. I do not wish to make any judgment about the chaplain to whom Tabak spoke, as I do not know the
full facts of the case, but, if I were a prison chaplain, I would never divulge what went on in private conversations between me and the prisoners. If I did so, the prisoners, I imagine, would not talk to me.

Or am I wrong about this?

Gunman Kills Pregnant Woman in Church, Baby Saved

The gunman then turned the gun on himself as he knelt before the altar:

Madrid, Spain – A gunman walked into a Catholic church and killed a pregnant woman Thursday, then committed suicide, but emergency crews performed a C-section on the woman inside the church and saved the baby, a police official said.

Another woman sitting near the victim was wounded by a stray bullet in the shooting, which occurred just before a Mass at St. Mary’s Church in an upper-middle class neighborhood of Madrid, the National Police official said.

The pregnant woman was just days away from giving birth.

The official said preliminary investigations indicated there was no relation between the 34-year-old man and the 36-year-old woman he killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

Neither the man nor the woman were named and the motive for the attack was not immediately known. But the newspaper El Mundo said the man knelt before the altar of the church before he shot himself in the head and that he used to be the woman’s boyfriend.

The paper gave no source, and it was not clear if the child was his. El Mundo said the baby delivered in the emergency procedure was a boy.

It quoted witnesses as saying the shooting occurred as dozens of people were getting ready for the evening Mass and the parish priest was getting his gown on to conduct the service.

No other details on the attack were immediately available.