Crime
UK neo-natal nurse charged with murder of newborn babies
A neo-natal nurse was on trial in Britain on Monday, charged with the murder of seven babies in her care and the attempted killing of 10 others.
Lucy Letby, 32, has denied murdering five boys and two girls and attempting to murder another five boys and five girls between June 2015 and June 2016.
She is alleged to have carried out the killings at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Chester, northwest England, where she was working.
Opening the prosecution case, lawyer Nick Johnson said that neo-natal mortality at the hospital had been comparable to other units around the country.
But over 18 months from January 2015 it saw a “significant” rise in the number of deaths and serious catastrophic collapses.
Consultants were concerned because babies who were dying deteriorated unexpectedly. Some who collapsed did not respond to appropriate treatment.
Others collapsed then dramatically recovered, defying “the normal experience” of doctors, he told a jury at Manchester Crown Court.
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“Having searched for a cause, which they were unable to find, the consultants noticed that the inexplicable collapses and deaths did have one common denominator,” he alleged.
“The presence of one of the neo-natal nurses and that nurse was Lucy Letby.”
Johnson said deaths and collapses happened on night shifts when Letby was on shift, then when she moved to work during the day.
One review suggested that in the 12 months from mid-2015, two children were poisoned with insulin. The “only reasonable conclusion” that can be drawn was that it was done deliberately, he added.
“This was no accident,” he said, describing the collapses and deaths of all 17 children concerned as not “naturally occurring tragedies”.
The lawyer said some were injected with air in their bloodstream, while others were fed with insulin or too much milk.
“They were all the work, we say, of the woman in the dock, who we say was the constant malevolent presence when things took a turn for the worse of these 17 children,” Johnson alleged.
In all, Letby is facing 22 charges — seven of murder and 15 of attempted murder, as she allegedly tried to kill some children more than once.
The court was told that the youngest alleged murder victim — a boy who was born prematurely — was just a day old and “well” but died within 90 minutes of Letby coming on duty on June 8, 2015.
Medical experts said his death was consistent with a deliberate injection of air or something else into his circulation minutes before his collapse.
The jury heard that discolouration on the boy’s skin was consistent with some of the other cases in which Letby is alleged to have injected air into a victim’s bloodstream.
Letby then tried to kill the boy’s twin sister just hours later, it was alleged. She was revived and does not appear to have suffered any adverse effects, said Johnson.
UK neo-natal nurse charged with murder of newborn babies
Crime
Court remands 2 brothers for alleged culpable homicide, armed robbery
A Kaduna High Court on Tuesday ordered that two brothers be remanded in a correctional centre for alleged culpable homicide and armed robbery.
The police charged Hamza Jibrin, 27 and Yusuf Jibrin 24, with conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide.
Justice Aisha Shagari ordered the remand of the defendants, after they pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them.
Shagari adjourned the matter until Dec. 12 for hearing.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, James Edward, said that the defendants and two others at large, while armed with matchete and other dangerous weapons along Airport Road, Kaduna, on Nov. 7, robbed and caused the death of a 26-year-old man, Rabiu Sani.
He said the defendants stole the deceased’s HP laptop, two cell phones, his wallet which contained two ATM cards and cash sum of N30,000.
Edward said that the offence is punishable under the Robbery and Firearms ( Special Provision) Act LFN, 2004.
The Defence counsel, Habiba Usman, had pleaded with the court to grant her clients bail.
Usman while moving her bail application, urged the court to gtant her client bail on literal terms, adding , that the defendants would be of good behaviour and would not jump bail.
Crime
Trader bags 9 months jail term for attempted theft
A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced a 20-year-old trader, Darwang Chung, to nine months in prison for attempted theft.
Chung, who resides at Gyel in Jos South, pleaded guilty to the one count charge of attempted theft.
The Magistrate, Mr Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Bokkos, in his judgement, gave the convict an option of N30,000 fine, or to risk six months in prison and a compensation of N15,000 or another 3 months in prison in default.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Labaran Ahmed, told the court that the case was reported on Oct. 6, at the”B” Division Police Station by one Yohanna Dalyop, the complainant.
Ahmed said the convict jumped over the fence into the house of the complainant and was caught.
He said that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code Law.
Crime
Special Fraud Unit arraigns suspect for cybercrime
The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Police, on Tuesday arraigned a defendant before a Federal High Court in Lagos, over alleged unlawful interception of digital infrastructure.
The defendant, Ayodeji Oyenekan, was charged before Justice A. Aluko, on a three-count charge bordering on cybercrime.
He, however. pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, Mr M. Y. Bello, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime in February 2022.
He, alleged that the defendant intentionally and without authorisation, intercepted digital infrastructure server hosted by Amazon Web Services, property of Meplaylist Classic Entertainment.
According to the prosecution, the defendant caused the said Meplaylist Classic Entertainment Ltd. loss of property, by altering Amazon Web services, which restricted the rightful owner access to its server.
He alleged that the defendant inputted his email address ayodeji.oye@meplaylist.com, and allegedly built a mobility startup called Hellobikee, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The defendant was also alleged to have fraudulently made use of the electronic unique identification feature of Meplaylist, through his email, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 12(1), 16(1), and 22(2)(a) of the Cybercrime ( Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015.
The court granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety in like sum.
The court held that the defendant shall remain in the correctional facility, pending perfection of all conditions of bail as spelt out by the court.
He adjourned the case until Jan. 21, 2025, for trial.
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