Sunday, February 6, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Brit nurse unfairly dismissed over saucy joke rules Appeal Court

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A British nurse, who was fired for making a saucy joke as she helped to restrain a patient having an epileptic fit, has been found to have been unfairly dismissed by the Appeal Court.

Laura Bowater, 34, had been sitting on the ankles of the 31-year-old patient, whose pants had been removed so doctors could inject his buttock, to control his flailing legs.

The man, who was "extremely strong", managed to flip on to his back, exposing himself and kicking Bowater forward so that she ended up astride him.

Finding herself straddling his naked body, as doctors tried to give him an injection, she said, "It's been a few months since I have been in this position with a man underneath me".

A complaint was made six weeks later even though no one suggested the unconscious patient could have heard what Bowater said.

She was fired from her 25,000-pounds-a-year post for gross misconduct over the quip despite four years' unblemished service.

A panel at Watford Employment Tribunal upheld her unfair dismissal claim but North West London Hospitals NHS Trust successfully challenged it at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Appeal Court judge Lord Justice Burnton has now overturned that decision but ruled that the nurse "contributed" 25 percent to her own dismissal.

The case will return to the original employment tribunal for Bowater's unfair dismissal payment to be decided.

"This is insane. Why has she lost her job? She made a joke as her way of having to deal with a stressful situation," the Daily Mail quoted Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries, a former nurse, as saying.

"She perhaps could have been given some kind of warning. There are ways of dealing with it and sacking her was not the correct way.

"It's difficult enough trying to recruit and retain nurses at the moment," she added.

Queen's guide exposed as a paedophile

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An official tour guide at Windsor Castle who has shown thousands of parents and kids around the Queen's official Berkshire home has been exposed as a paedophile.

Ross Thomas, 76, groomed an 11-year-old boy and carried out a string of sex attacks on him 25 years ago, a court heard yesterday.

His sick secret was finally revealed when he and a pal admitted putting the lad "through hell" over a six-month period.

The court heard that Thomas and Leonard Bennett, 76, befriended the boy at a gun club and lured him into meeting them on a nearby beach in Gosport, Hants.

They would take the boy into public toilets and sexually abuse him.

Married father-of-one Thomas, of Slough, Berks, admitted gross indecency with a child and indecent assault. Bennett, of Gosport, admitted two charges of gross indecency with a child and one of indecent assault.

Both were sentenced to 12 months in jail suspended for two years and put on the sex offenders register for ten years at Portsmouth Crown Court.

They were each ordered to pay 1,000 pounds to their victim and banned from working with kids.

Thomas will now have to quit his voluntary part-time role at Windsor.

Victim Darryl Sheppard, 37 and a dad of two, bravely waived his right to anonymity to talk to The Sun of the damage the pair had done to his life.

"They are both scum of the earth and when I saw them in court I couldn't even look them in the eye. To prey on a young boy like that is the lowest of the low. They were predators," the Sun quoted the musician, from Gosport, as saying.

"It's disgusting that Thomas was allowed to work at Windsor. The thought he was taking kids round the Castle made me sick," he added.

UK court bans man with low IQ from having sex

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A High Court judge has banned a 41 year-old man in UK from having sex due to his low IQ.

Alan had been in a relationship with a man whom he lived with and told officials "it would make me feel happy" for it to continue.

But his local council decided his "vigorous sex drive" was inappropriate and that with an IQ of 48 and a "moderate" learning disability, he did not understand what he was doing.

A psychiatrist involved in the case even tried to prevent the man being given sex education, on the grounds that it would leave him "confused".

Justice Mostyn said the case was "legally, intellectually and morally" complex as sex is "one of the most basic human functions" and the court must "tread especially carefully" when the state tries to curtail it.

But he agreed that Alan, should not be allowed to have sex with anyone on the grounds that he did not have the mental capacity to understand the health risks associated with his actions.

Under the judge's order, the man is now subject to "close supervision" by the local authority that provides his accommodation, in order to ensure he does not break the highly unusual order.

"I therefore make a declaration that at the present time Alan does not have the capacity to consent to and engage in sexual relations," the Telegraph quoted the judge as saying.

"In such circumstances it is agreed that the present r �gime for Alan's supervision and for the prevention of future sexual activity is in his best interests," Judge concluded.

US teen busted for DUI while dressed as breathalyser given 90-day jail term

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A teenager is US, who was caught drunk driving while dressed as a breathalyser, has been sentenced to 90 days jail.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Matthew Nieveen, 19, will begin his sentence in Nebraska's Lancaster County Jail on February 7, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A judge has also revoked his driver's license for three years and ordered him to pay 1,300 dollars in fines.

Nieveen had been pulled over in Lincoln three months ago after leaving a Halloween party, and the officer, who stopped him, reported that the teen's eyes were watery and his speech was slurred.

There was a bottle of vodka, a bottle of Mountain Dew mixed with vodka, and several cans and bottles of beer inside his car.

Nieveen's blood alcohol level when tested was twice the legal limit of 0.08 for non-minors, or individuals over 21. At the age of 19, the legal limit is zero.

Bangladeshi family demands justice for 'whipped to death' raped daughter

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The plight of a 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl, who was whipped to death by a village body for allegedly having an illicit relationship with her married cousin, has outraged her family who are now demanding strict action against the executers of the barbaric act.

Hena Akhter was whipped after the shalish, a village body consisting of local elders, had ordered that she should receive 101 lashes last week for allegedly having an illicit relationship with her cousin and neighbour, Mahbub, The Guardian reports.

The case took shape when Hena had gone out to use the bathroom when she accidentally met Mahbub, who put something on her mouth to stop her from crying out before raping her in Shariyatpur on January 31.

The assault had left her almost unconscious, unable to walk or talk. When her family complained to the shalish, they raised doubts on her character.

After Mahbub''s wife, Shilpi, complained that he had been secretly meeting Hena, village elders found both cousins guilty and ordered that Hena be given 101 lashes, and Mahbub 201.

After the punishment was carried out, Hena was taken to hospital, and six days later, she was pronounced dead.

Her shocked uneducated father Darbesh, who is lamenting over what has happened, now only wants justice for his departed daughter.

"I hardly wish I was alive. I didn''t think my daughter would die before me. I can''t think; my life is ruined. I told the police everything they want to know. I want a proper investigation, and I want justice. What happened in Mahbub''s home - what sort of justice is this?" Darbesh said.

"My daughter was just a young girl, and these people said she had to be whipped, and there was nobody stopping them. I''m not educated. I don''t know what the court laws are. But I know that if I don''t listen to the elders, we would be outcast. None of my daughters could marry, no one would even look at us. If I had known that it would be them who would be punished, not me, then I would have tried to stop it," he added.

Hena was buried in her family graveyard on Wednesday.

Royal love story with speech bubbles

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Royalty is used to spending time in the public eye, but even Prince William and bride-to-be Kate Middleton wouldn't have expected that they would star in a comic book some day.

Click here to view slideshow

Complete with speech bubbles and deliciously dry British humour, the 60-page comic book, Kate And William - A Very Public Love Story, uses the princess-in-waiting's fictional diary to link the couple's romance.

Illustrated by comic-strip artists Mike Collins and Gary Erskine, who have characters like Spider-Man and Warheads for Marvel Comics to their credit, and scripted by Rich Johnston, it goes on sale on April 2.


Posted by Harshad at 7:34 AM

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