Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi, both 18, were freshmen roommates at Rutgers University. On Sept. 22, 2010 Tyler Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after learning that his roommate, Dharun Ravi, had secretly recorded and broadcast a video of him, Tyler Clementi, and another man engaging in homosexual behavior. At the time Dharun Ravi and an accomplice, Molly Wei, were both charged with invasion of privacy. They faced a 5-year sentence if convicted. The have both left Rutger’s University.
Prosecutors have now decided to upgrade the charges against Dharun Ravi. A grand jury in Middlesex County, New Jersey, handed down a 15-count indictment on April, 20, 2011, charging former Rutgers University freshman with a host of charges connected to his roommate Tyler Clementi’s suicide.
Prosecutors alleged Ravi not only invaded his roommate’s privacy, but tried to cover it up. In addition to bias intimidation, Ravi was also charged with witness and evidence tampering for allegedly destroying evidence and sending false tweets in an effort to throw off investigators.
“The grand jury indictment spells out cold and calculated acts against our son Tyler by his former college roommate. If these facts are true, as they appear to be, then it is important for our criminal justice system to establish clear accountability under law. We are eager to have the process move forward for justice in this case and to reinforce the standards of acceptable conduct in our society.”
Z and Vielpunkt are a pair of Humboldt penguins living at the Bremerhaven Zoo in northern Germany. They are among a group of 20 penguins living there and, like two other couples, Z and Vielpunkt are gay.
A few years ago the zoo provoked protests from the gay community when several female penguins were brought in to tempt the gay penguins to go straight. The gay penguins however remained faithful to their mates.
When zoo keepers noticed that an egg from a pair of penguins was being thrown out of the nest they tried repeatedly to return it, only to have the parents throw it out again. After a few unsuccessful attempts the zoo keepers thought that they would try to give the egg to Z and Vielpunkt. The gay pair accepted the abandoned egg and incubated it for 30 days until the baby was born. They continue to care for it as if they were the natural parents.
A statement from the zoo confirms that the chick – now four weeks old – is happy with it’s adoptive parents:
“Since the chick arrived, they have been behaving just as you would expect a heterosexual couple to do. The two happy fathers spend their days attentively protecting, caring for and feeding their adoptive offspring.”
Officials at the zoo in Poznan, western Poland, claim to have built the largest elephant house in Europe at a cost of 37 million zlotys ($11 million). However one of the residents, Ninio – a 10-year-old male African Bush elephant – has caught the eye of Michal Grzes. He thinks Ninio is gay.
Michal Grzes, a counselor from Poznan, is a member of the Law and Justice Party. Two of the party’s most high-profile members, the identical twin brothers Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski, have been outspoken in their homophobic views. Lech is the current president of Poland.
‘We didn’t pay 37 million zlotys for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there. We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?’
This is not Ninio’s first time at the Poznan zoo. He has been making the rounds. Nino was sent to Warsaw Zoo, where he lived for three years, until his aggressive behavior led to his transfer to a zoo in Budapest before he once again returned to Poznan.
He seems to have a problem with female elephants displaying very aggressive behavior towards them. He hits them and even pushes them into pools. However his attitude to male elephants is described as “affectionate.”
“He only liked his buddies and hit the cows with his trunk, and was very disrespectful on the whole,” Michal Grzes said.
Grzes said that if Nino does not alter his behavior and breed, he will become “dead weight” for the zoo. He is currently being kept separate from the other animals.
Not everyone shares Grzes’ opinion. Male elephants do engage in same-sex bonding and mounting. Such encounters are often associated with affectionate interactions, such as kissing and trunk intertwining.
Male elephants, who live apart from the general flock, often form ‘companionships‘, consisting of an older individual and one or sometimes two younger, attendant males with sexual behavior being an important part of the social dynamic.
According to the head of the Poznan zooNinio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14. He is still young and will soon be introduced to a female from the Netherlands to try and tempt him into breeding.
All this fuss over Ninio has had one good side effect for the zoo – visitors are now said to be flocking to the zoo the catch a glimpse of Ninio, Polish media reported.
Mayor Sam Adams, 45, publicly apologized for lying early in his campaign about the relationship with an 18-year-old man, Beau Breedlove, in 2005. The openly gay Portland, OR. mayor is also accused of asking the teen to lie for him as well. This has prompted many to call for the mayor to resign. He has refused to do so.
The mayor met privately with the four city commissioners to discuss his political future just three weeks after being sworn in. The next day Sam Adams informed City Commissioner Randy Leonard and the other commissioners that he had decided not to resign.
In a statement posted on his website the mayor said he believed that he still had positive contributions to make, drawing on his 20 years of public service to the city. He thanked his supporters and his critics and promised: “I will work harder than I have ever worked before to make sure Portland meets our challenges.”
Although the Mayor has his supporters calls for him to resign have come from a number of organizations and individuals. The Oregonian of Portland in an editorial has called for the mayor to resign as have other smaller Portland newspapers and the police union.
The gay-oriented publicationJust Out, is also calling for his resignation. Its publisher, Marty Davis says: “I feel at this point, his character has a deep flaw” :
“By his own admission, by committing the act of lying to the citizens of Portland, Adams has failed to show the principled character that this publication feels is a basic requirement for an elected official,” the editorial said.
Nobody — not even the mayor — knows if his sense of right and wrong will fail him again, but he is asking us to give him another chance. In his Tuesday news conference Adams responded to one question this way: “If it’s no longer in the city’s best interest for me to stay on, I will resign.”
He’s already said he doesn’t plan to quit, but we submit that it is not in the city’s interest to have a mayor who cannot vouch for his own character under fire.
He should resign.
Adams was elected easily last year, 2008, making Portland the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. He was sworn in Jan. 1.
Rumors of the relationship had surfaced when the then-city commissioner was getting ready to run for mayor in 2007, but he and the teen, Beau Breedlove, both denied it at the time. Adams said he lied then because the rumors claimed the teen was underage. He said the relationship did not begin until after the teen turned 18 in June 2005. That is the legal age of consent in Oregon. He admitted he asked the teen initially to deny the relationship. “I am deeply sorry that I asked him to lie for me,” he said.
Beau Breedlove also gave an interview to the Oregonian to explain in his own words what really happened between himself and the Mayor. While agreeing with the Mayor that the two of them did not have sex until two weeks after his 18th birthday in June 2005, Breedlove said that the Mayor had kissed him twice “on the lips” when he was still 17 years old. He also says he welcomed Adams’ kisses and romantic interest, even though he was underage.
Beau Breedlove, now 21, told The Oregonian that Adams kissed him on the lips on two occasions before he turned 18 — once in Adams’ car and the other in the second-floor men’s room in City Hall after a party that Adams, then a city commissioner, had in his office.
“I do not see any relationship that I ever had with Sam as me being taken advantage of,” Breedlove said. “I do not feel like I was ever a victim. I may have been 17, but I was an adult, and I knew what I was doing.”
Adams said he didn’t recall kissing Breedlove. But Adams said that even if he did, his earlier denials stand.
“I said that there was no sexual contact before he was 18,” Adams said. Asked again whether he kissed Breedlove, Adams replied: “I don’t remember, but if I did, it was not sexual contact.”
Sam Adams’ attorney, Robert Weaver, said that even if Adams kissed a 17-year-old Breedlove, Adams broke no laws.
“There is nothing that (Breedlove) has said that is inconsistent with what the mayor has said,” Weaver said. “The mayor has said there was no sexual activity. Kissing is not sexual activity.”
Oregon State law says third-degree sexual abuse, which is a misdemeanor, can occur when someone subjects another person to “sexual contact” when the person either does not consent to the advance or is younger than 18. The law defines sexual contact as “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person … for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either party.”
Sam Adams is under criminal investigation by the Oregon attorney general’s office.
Shaun Dykes, 17, from Kilburn, Derbyshire in Britain was a troubled, gay teen who had just recently broken up with his boyfriend, 18-year-old David Challands with whom he was living. His life ended on Saturday, 27 September 2008. He commited suicide by jumping 60 ft to his death from the top of a multi-story car park at the Westfield Shopping Center in Derby city. See a TV report of the incident here.
Police negotiators, who spent over two hours trying to dissuade 17-year-old Shaun Dykes from jumping from the roof said their work was made much more difficult by heckling from the crowd which had gathered on London Road below. According to witnesses, as the negotiators were trying to convince Shaun to come away from the edge of the roof, people in the crowd below were taunting the teen with shouts of: “How far can you bounce?”, “Go on, jump”, “Get on with it” , “Stop wasting time” and “You’re wasting tax-payers’ money.”
At the inquest, on Thursday, January 15, 2009, Louise Pinder, deputy assistant coroner for Derby Coroner’s Court, said she thought it was a “great shame” the people goading Shaun had not been identified and brought to justice.
“I find it incomprehensible that while two police negotiators were talking with such sensitivity and taking such care with Shaun that those members of the public below were acting so insensitively and with no apparent concern for a fellow human being.”
She returned a verdict that Shaun Dykes, of Elm Tree Avenue, took his own life, saying it was “abundantly clear” there were a number of factors leading to his death. The coroner said: “Those individuals who taunted Shaun are responsible, at least in part, for his death.”
Inspector Barry Thacker, one of the negotiators gave this account of what was happening just moments before Shaun jumped to his death:
“Hand on heart, I felt we made some progress towards the end. He asked us to stop talking because we were giving him too many options, and I could see in his eyes that he was weighing up the positive things in his life. I took that as a positive sign.
“But when he heard the shouts he would disengage from us, look at the people on London Road, close his eyes and start counting down from 10 – obviously a sign he was preparing to jump. That happened on three or four occasions, but we managed to get him back.”
Seconds before he died he reached for Insp Thacker’s hand to help him down, but was distracted by shouts of: “You’re wasting tax-payers’ money.” The inspector said he then turned again, closed his eyes and jumped.
After Shaun Dykes jumped to his death, in what can only be described as gruesome and sickening, some of the spectators in the crowd who had been goading the disturbed young man to jump, broke through the police cordon to take pictures of the dead teen, using their cellphones.
Commenting on the behavior of the crowd, Superintendent Andy Hough, of Derbyshire police, said he was disturbed and disappointed by what had happened:
People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump,’ Superintendent Hough said. ‘I find it a disturbing and shocking reflection on society when people feel inclined to do that. Negotiators were working with the man threatening to jump and it was their job to talk to him in the hope of changing his mind. We really need the public to work with us, not against us. It was a very disappointing situation.’
Just days before his suicide, Shaun had broken up with his boyfriend, David Challands, 18, of Avis Avenue, Marlpool. Shaun was suffering from depression and had twice before tried to take his own life. David said of his former boyfriend:
“I knew he was unstable half-way through our relationship. He would tell me about feeling depressed, he thought nobody cared about him. Daily, I had to reassure him that everyone was there for him. He said if I left him he would kill himself, and I knew that he would, so I felt like I had to stay with him.” He added that he ended the relationship as he “really just couldn’t do it anymore”.
Shaun was a student at Heanor Gate Science College in Heanor, Derbyshire. Earlier Shaun’s mother Tina told the inquest her son felt under pressure because his GCSEs were approaching. His headteacher Rob Howard said: “One or two students were standing near people goading him to jump.
“One student told me he could not believe people place such little value on life. It’s almost like they are in a television show. The sad thing is that a couple of the students, if they could have got close enough, felt that they could have made a difference.”
Lindsey Reid, 17, Shaun’s best friend since he was four, said: “He was the joker, always smiling. He’s not the sort of person you’d expect to do this.”
A Senior at Ponce de Leon High School in Florida went to her principal with a problem. She was a lesbian and was being harassed by other students. She naturally expected the principal, David Davis, to take care of the situation so that she could return to classes free from the ridicule and intimidation of other students.
Instead of being sympathetic towards the student’s predicament, principal Davis went on the attack. He told her that homosexuality was wrong. He said she should not tell people she was gay and he informed her parents of their conversation. He even ordered the student not to talk with other “middle school” girls.
After learning about how this student was treated by the principal, some of her friends began a protest on her behalf. They wore gay pride T-shirts and dressed in rainbow colors. The principal was livid and proceeded with his own campaign of intimidation. He questioned the students about their own sexuality and their association with other gay students. Some of them were suspended from from school.
“Davis embarked on what can only be characterized as a ‘witch hunt’ to identify students who were homosexual and their supporters, further adding fuel to the fire,” U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak recounted in his ruling. “He went so far as to lift the shirts of female students to insure the letters ‘GP’ or the words ‘Gay Pride’ were not written on their bodies.”
One of the protesting students, Heather Gillman, an 11th-grader, who was suspended from school complained to her mother, Ardena Gillman, who got in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Ardena, who wanted to support her daughter, understood that tolerance needed to be taught in school. Ardena also knew that her actions might cause problems in the small “Bible Belt” town.
Ponce de Leon is part of Holmes County, Florida, very close to the Georgia line. It has about 20,000 residents. There is some agriculture, but most people are employed either by prisons or schools; some commute to the Gulf Coast to work in tourism. Ponce de Leon, with fewer than 500 residents, has a cafe, a post office and an antique store.
“What happens when these kids get out in the real world after they leave Ponce de Leon and they have a black, homosexual supervisor at their job?” she said.
The ACLU took the case on behalf of Heather Gillman. They contacted the lawyers representing the school trying to clarify the school’s position on wearing rainbow clothing, the initials “G.P.” (for gay pride), and whether students could wear T-shirts that say “I support my gay friends.” See a copy of the letter here.
The school lawyers replied saying that they would not tolerate any gay-themed expressions in the school and referred to any such symbols as support for an illegal organization or secret society. The school said that it would not allow any expressions of support for gay rights at all because such speech would “likely be disruptive.”See the letter here.
After receiving this response from the school, the ACLU began court proceeding against the school and its principal, David Davis. They claimed that the school violated the students civil rights. See the complaint here.
The case went before Judge Richard Smoak of the United States District Court, Northern District of Florida, Panama City Division. Principal David Davis admitted under oath that he had banned students from wearing any clothing or symbols supporting equal rights for gay people.
Davis also testified that he believed rainbows were “sexually suggestive” and would make students unable to study because they’d be picturing gay sex acts in their mind.
After a two day trial the judge ruled against the school district which was ordered to pay $325,000 in ACLU attorney fees. See his comments here.
Principal David Davis was demoted by Steve Griffin, Holmes County’s school superintendent, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training. However much of the community find it hard to understand what Davis did wrong.
“We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong,” said Steve Griffin who keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls. “I don’t think we are that different from a lot of districts, at least in the Panhandle, that have beliefs that maybe are different from societal changes.”
Many in the community support Davis and feel outsiders are forcing their beliefs on them. Griffin, who kicked Davis out of the principal’s office but allowed him to continue teaching at the school, said high schoolers here aren’t exposed to the same things as kids in Atlanta or Chicago.
“David Davis is a fine man and good principal, and we are a gentle, peaceful, Christian, family-oriented community,” said Bill Griffin, 73 and a lifelong Ponce de Leon resident who is no relation to the district superintendent. “We aren’t out to tar and feather anyone.”
The lawsuit could reflect a division between the high school students who have grown up in an era of gay tolerance and the community’s elders, said Gary Scott, a school board member. The judge’s scathing rebuke left Scott questioning how his community’s beliefs could be so different from the judge’s opinion
Maybe Scott like many in the community did not fully understand what the judge was saying when he ruled against the school and ex-principal David Davis:
“I emphasize that Davis’s personal and religious views about homosexuality are not issues in this case. Indeed, Davis’s opinions and views are consistent with the beliefs of many in Holmes County, in Florida, and in the country,” Smoak wrote in an opinion released last month. “Where Davis went wrong was when he endeavored to silence the opinions of his dissenters.”
Lawrence King, 15, an eighth-grader at E.O. Green School, was pronounced brain-dead at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard about 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14th, after two examinations by neurosurgeons, said Craig Stevens, a Ventura County senior deputy medical examiner. The killer has been identified as 14-year-old Brandon David McInerney.Prosecutors filed a charge of murder with hate-crime and firearm-use enhancements against Brandon David McInerney, who will be tried as an adult.
If convicted on all three chargesMcInerney could be sentenced to more than 50 years in jail. He made his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon, but his hearing was continued until March 21. He was ordered held on $770,000 bail.
At around 8:30am on Tuesday, Feb. 12th, McInerney shot Lawrence King twice in the head, in front of about two dozen students who had just settled down in a computer lab to work on their English assignments. After the shooting McInerney dropped the gun at the scene and fled the school. He was picked up minutes later by a police officer not far from the school and arrested. For video clips of the scene immediately after the shooting click here and here.
Oxnard police said the shooting apparently stemmed from a personal dispute between King and the suspect. Police spokesman David Keith said investigators interviewed more than 100 people, but he declined to reveal further information on a possible motive.
Some students have said King was openly gay.Nicholas Cortez, 14, said King would come to school “wearing makeup and high heels”. Another eighth-grader, Michael Sweeney, said King’s appearance was “freaking the guys out”:
“He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails — the whole thing,” Sweeney said.
13-year-old Mariah Thompson, one of King’s friends who emerged from the school with her mother, after talking to detectives was very distraught:
“He didn’t deserve it,” she said, crying. She said she was one of the wounded boy’s few friends, a confidant he trusted with stories about others making life at school miserable for him. “I would always tell him, ‘Don’t let them get to you,’ ” she said.
School administrators expressed shock as word of the shooting spread. Jerry Dannenberg, superintendent of the Hueneme School District since 2002, said he had not heard of any guns showing up in the district’s schools before Tuesday. Without commenting on a possible motive, Dannenberg stressed the importance of tolerance. “We have to be accepting of others, and when there are differences, people need to resolve them without resorting to violence,” he said.
Principal Joel Lovstedt said he was not aware of any previous fight between the victim and suspect. “If there had been a fight, it wasn’t to the level that it reached my office,” he said. Lovstedt said he had heard reports of teasing, and he had spoken to the victim about the problem. “I’ve talked to the victim myself, and I said if anyone teases you, let me know,” he said.
“This is a horrific act. If we had any inkling that something like this would have happened, we would have stopped it,” he said.
Lawrence King was living in foster care, at Casa Pacifica, a residential center for troubled and abused youths. He would take the bus to school every day. “It’s just overwhelming, unbelievable,” said Steven Elson, the facility’s administrator, of the shooting. “Our staff and kids are really trying to cope with this. We have not had a child die in a violent manner like this” Elson said, adding that Casa Pacifica plans to hold a memorial service next week.
“We’re are all stunned and it’s just an unspeakable tragedy,” Elson said. “This is a very big traumatic experience for all of us.”
Members of King’s family (they called him Larry) decided together to donate his organs. “I think that that’s what he would have wanted,” his father, Greg King said, adding that his son was headstrong, confident and sweet. He loved to sing songs by folk rock trio Crosby, Stills and Nash, and was studying the Star Spangled Banner in hopes of singing it at his brother’s baseball games. His father said he had a very gifted singing voice.
He was so good in fact, that one of Greg King’s friends — who was unaware of the family’s tragedy — called on Wednesday to say King should try to get his son to try out for American Idol.
Larry’s mother, Dawn King, said Larry would often remind her to take her medicines to control her diabetes. Larry also had an affinity for animals. He loved butterflies and built a special connection with a stray dog he named Jasmine, his father said. “She’d fetch for Larry, but anyone else that tried to come near her she’d run.” He also enjoyed using licorice sticks to catch crawdads at Bubbling Springs Park in Port Hueneme, where his family would go for baseball games.
What makes someone straight, gay or even bisexual? Is someone born homosexual or is it a learned behavior? Can sexual orientation be changed or is it hardwired in the brain? Homosexuality has been documented in almost 500 species of animals, signaling that sexual preference is predetermined. However, these questions have been pondered by scientists, moralists, theologists and many others for centuries. It is still an open question – at least for humans anyway.
In the case of the fruit fly the answer is simple.It is a gene – and it can be manipulated. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago led by David Featherstone said they discovered what they call a “gender blind gene,” or GB. GB transports the neurotransmitter glutamate to brain cells. By altering this gene the researchers have shown that they can cause male fruit flies to court other male fruit flies.
“We put the males together, and they did to each other what they do when they’re interested in a female: They approach her, sing her a song, lick her … and mount her,” researcher David Featherstone told ABCNEWS.com.
The researchers then went one step further and put the male flies with the altered gene together with both male and female flies in the same chamber. They found that the altered males were attracted to both sexes with equal frequency. In other words, it did not matter if their partner was male or female. They were bisexual. This same experiment was conducted on female fruit flies with the same results. Females pursued females or males equally.
David Featherstone and his team reasoned that GB mutants might show homosexual behavior “because their glutamatergic synapses were altered in some way”. To test this, they genetically altered synapse strength, independent of GB. They also gave flies drugs to alter synapse strength. As predicted, they were able to turn fly homosexuality on and off, within hours.
“It was amazing. I never thought we’d be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired,” Featherstone said. “This fundamentally changes how we think about this behavior.”
In much of the animal kingdom, smells affect sexual behavior. These smells come in the form of chemicals called pheromones. The team figured fly brains maintain two sensory circuits: one to trigger heterosexual behavior and one for homosexual. When GB suppresses glutamatergic synapses, the homosexual circuit is blocked. So they did more tests. As expected, without GB to suppress synapse strength, the flies no longer interpreted smells the same way.
“Pheromones are powerful sexual stimuli,” Featherstone said. “As it turns out, the GB mutant flies were perceiving pheromones differently. Specifically, the GB mutant males were no longer recognizing male pheromones as a repulsive stimulus.”
Does this have any implications for human sexuality? In an experiment it was shown that gays and heterosexuals respond differently to pheromones. There is also some discussion among scientists as to whether a “gay gene” exists in humans. Humans are vastly more complex than the fruit fly but we may have more in common than previously thought.
Guilty! – was the verdict that a Dubai court handed down in the rape case of Alexandre Robert, a 15-year-old French citizen. Two Emirati men, identified only by their initials (18-year-old I.M. and 35-year-old A.K.), were each sentenced to 15 years in prison by Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir of the Dubai Court of First Instance, on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. They were found guilty of forcefully undressing the 15-year old, threatening him with a knife, before having sex with him against his will. The judge also referred the victim’s compensation claim of Dh15 million to a civil court. The other person involved in the rape, 17-year-old I.S., has been charged as a juvenile and his case will be decided later this month. Click here for the background on this story.
After the verdicts were handed down, Dubai Government spokesperson, Dr Habib al Mulla said “This judgement proves the position that we have continuously been making which is that we should leave the system to take its course.” and added:
“We hope that this judgement brings an end to this ordeal and proves to everyone that our judicial system is fair, efficient and works in protecting the interests of all UAE residents.”
Veronique Robert, Alex’s mother,was not happy with the verdict. She was visibly upset after the sentence was read and promised to appeal. She said Wednesday’s sentence was too lenient for a crime that she believes is tantamount to attempted murder because one of her son’s attackers was knowingly HIV-positive at the time of the rape. She refrained from asking the death penalty for her son’s attackers, but said she hoped the sentence would be much longer.
“(My son) is going to be really disappointed believe me because he wants a big justice,” Robert said, adding that he had not been informed yet about the trial’s outcome.
“We will be very lucky if turns out he does not have AIDS… but we will appeal regardless of the medical results,” she said.
“We are content that they are declared guilty, but 15 years for (the man with HIV) is nothing,” mother Veronique Robert, a Swiss national, told Reuters after the trial.
“I will fight, even for the rest of my life, to ensure (he) gets what he deserves… he should never get out of jail, at least to ensure the safety of other boys and girls.”
Veronique Roberts has also filed a number of civil suits in courts in Paris and Geneva seeking compensation from Sheikh Khalifa, president of the United Arab Emirates, and the prime minister and vice president of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum. She is also suing others, including the Dubai police chief.
“We are here because I just would like first justice for my son; and second for every girl and boy who was raped and even had no chance to speak.”
Robert said she will drop all her pending cases if the government sets up rape clinics, recognizes the status of rape victims, and takes precautions after rape against sexually-transmitted diseases. In the wake of Wednesday’s verdict, Robert said a Dubai government official told her the emirate plans to open its first rape clinic, which she said was a small victory.
The ABC news program 20/20 will be doing a piece on the Alexandre Robert case, click on the promo below:
Véronique Robert has set up a website boycottdubai.com for those who wish to express support for her son.
Alexandre Robert, 15, a French citizen was raped by three men in Dubai. One of the rapists has AIDS and Hepatitis. So far Alex has not shown signs of either. Two of the men are already on trial, the third, a 17-year-old juvenile will be tried separately.
For a complete account of what happen to Alex click here.
For an account of the start of the trial click here.
Veronique Robert, Alexandre’s mother, had to be restrained and thrown out of court. Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir ordered policewomen to take out the woman who jumped from her seat and walked towards lawyer Rukoz Hobeika and shouted at him. The mother had stormed to the middle of the courtroom and screamed ‘shame on you!’ to Hobeika.
Hobeika said: “This case has been a media war. The Public Prosecution should have conducted more serious investigations especially concerning the kidnap, threat and assault charges.”
The defense lawyers Rukoz Hobeika and Saeed al Ghailani began by casting doubt on both Alex’s testimony and his character and accused him of being a sex addict. They also accused the prosecution of fabricating evidence against the two men.
“Where are the stick and the knife with which the victim claims to have been threatened? I.S. and A.R. had an intimate friendship. He had a particular agreement with A.R.
“According to a forensic medical report, A.R.’s symptoms prove that he suffers from a disease (Al Ubna in Arabic) which makes him ask others to have sex with him but not otherwise. He has become an addict to submissive sex.Therefore, he couldn’t have been forced to have sex with the suspects.”
“A.R. told the public prosecutors that he trusted his close friend, I.S., and that’s why they rode his car. The doctor, who examined A.R. less than 24 hours following the incident, reported that the victim’s body had no bruises, though he claimed he was beaten with a stick and assaulted.”
NOTE: In the preceding comments only the initials of the suspects were used: A.K. is the 35-year-old AIDS and Hepatitis suspect. I.M. is the 18-year-old suspect. I.S. is the 17-year-old juvenile. A.R. is Alexandre Robert the victim.
The Public Prosecution charged A.K., his 18-year-old compatriot, I.M., and a 17-year-old teenager (being prosecuted at Juveniles Court) I.S., with deception and kidnapping the 15-year-old student, A.R., and his 16-year-old compatriot, F.K., by offering to drive them home. The three suspects were also charged with having a homosexual affair against A.R.’s will after threatening him with a knife and a stick.
Besides having denied his charge during his first court appearance, A.K. told the presiding judge: “I was drunk at the time of the incident.” The other two suspects also denied their charges.
According to Alex’s lawyer Hussain Al Jaziri, the 35-year-old A.K. should have been charged with attempted murder.
“The suspect knew he has Aids and Hepatitis which are fatal diseases. When he reportedly had forceful sex with my 15-year-old victim, he was aware that those diseases are sexually transmitted. This is a murder attempt. The suspect continued to have sex with my client against his will though he was aware that he could kill my client [if the diseases got transmitted]”
“For two and a half months the police couldn’t control A.K. to get a blood sample, so how would it be possible for A.R. to escape being sexually abused! My client cries day and night. He wishes he dies normally instead of dying of Aids,” said Al Jaziri who is also seeking Dh20,500 in temporary compensation.
The trial continues and a verdict is expected December 12.
Véronique Robert has set up a website boycottdubai.com for those who wish to express support for her son.
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