Crime
UK police officer bags 26 years jail term for rape
UK police officer bags 26 years jail term for rape
A detective constable of the Greater Manchester Police, Stephen Hardy, Wednesday, was sentenced to 26 years for raping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl, Sky News reports.
Hardy was found guilty of 20 offences, including six counts of rape, following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The victim, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, said the abuse had permanently affected her mental health and left her scared for her future.
She also noted that she was not sure she would ever be able to fully trust members of law enforcement.
“I maintain a deep fear of authority figures, despite overcoming that fear to report these crimes. His position in the Greater Manchester Police force has deeply affected me,” she stressed.
Delivering the judgment, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said during the sentencing that Hardy used his teenage victim as a “puppet or sex object.”
Trevor-Jones said, “You have never shown one iota of remorse for your behaviour.
“The indictment reflects a highly calculated and cynical course of grooming behaviour.”
He described the detective constable as having a “devious” personality with a “sinister streak.”
“You have been a long-serving police officer. That is a career that will now inevitably end,” the judge said.
Trevor-Jones lamented that, even though Hardy was aware of the trauma faced by rape victims, it was “aggravating” that he still proceeded with the unlawful act.
“You would have been well aware of the widespread and lasting trauma that victims of sexual abuse suffer and yet you gave no thought to that and that is an aggravating factor,” the judge lamented.
The prosecuting counsel, Vanessa Thomson, said the victim, who was in court with members of her family during the hearing, reported the abuse to police in 2020.
Thomson described the defendant (Hardy) as”a controlling and manipulative man.”
Counsel to the defendant, Laura Nash, said Hardy continued to deny all the offences and that he would “inevitably” find his prison sentence “harder than most” because he was a police officer.
Following Hardy’s conviction in July, GMP said he was suspended from duty and would face disciplinary proceedings, Head of the force’s Professional Standards Branch, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Allen stated.
After his conviction, Detective Sergeant Abigail Thomas, of the GMP’s Major Incident Team, said, “Stephen Hardy has been exposed as a manipulative individual who committed abhorrent offences over a significant period of time. His behaviour and actions go against everything we stand for within policing.
“Tackling violence against women and girls is one of the Force’s top priorities, and anyone found within the organisation to be abusing their position to harm others can expect to face the consequences.”
UK police officer bags 26 years jail term for rape
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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