Your typical bouncer?

Probably far from it - this guy seems to be one really mean and depraved individual.

According to guardian.co.uk, the 39-year-old is on trial, accused of murdering two women (19 and 22 years old). Both reportedly died after being struck with a blunt instrument. The man is also on trial for two attempted murders and one count of kidnap and false imprisonment.

According to the paper he has previous court appearances dating back to when he was 13. He had admitted offences ranging from vehicle theft, having an offensive weapon to assaulting a police officer.

He was jailed for a total of 13 months in 1991 for hitting a constable in the face, common assault on a special constable and failing to surrender.

In February 2005, he was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for seven years for dangerous driving after being stopped on a motorway hard shoulder at 70mph.

And this guy was working as a bouncer (doorman)...

Now, you may all say that most bouncers are not like this person here, and fortunately you're right. However, and this is my point, there are too many in that line of work who pose a real danger to those around them.

How do I know - I used to work the doors myself. It used to be worse, but there are still too many young guys out there with far too much testosterone, short fuses, little or no empathy, steroids, drug abuse, criminal connections and what have you not.

Norwegian psychologist Per Isdal describes in his book "Meningen Med Volden" ("The Purpose of Violence" - unfortunately available in Norwegian only as far as I know) amongst other things how one bouncer used his work to set people up for violence. A scary read; even more so if you knew that there are more guys like this out there.

One small piece of advice: Do not talk back at bouncers - it really does you no good at all. What it potentially can do is get you and others hurt.

And by all means - let us not forget that most of these folks are nice, hard working, under-paid and under a lot of stress. Be nice, boys and girls :-)

What a dork!

How's this for "service"? Guess nothing really can surprise me anymore.

Story:
Florida -- A woman walked into a Cape Coral gas station around 1:45 a.m. Thursday and told the clerk she had been kidnapped and asked him to call police.

The clerk, an employee of BP, refused. "He told her if she wanted to call 911, she would have to do so herself and handed her the phone," a police officer reported. "She refused to call, stating her boyfriend was watching her. She told the clerk that she and her boyfriend were fighting."

The clerk still refused, but the woman was able to convince her 23-year-old boyfriend, of Pickerington, Ohio, to make a stop at another gas station nearby.

The clerk at that station, Mobil on the Run, agreed to call police.

Source

There were red flags

Oregon -- On May 24, 2004, just before allegedly kidnapping, raping and killing a 19-year-old college student, the 40-year-old suspected killer stalked and then approached two other women near Oregon State University. He then tried to lure them into his van, prosecutors say. He intended to rape and kill them, too, a Benton County District Attorney said.

The man tried to coax the women, both OSU students at the time, close to the van. But the women, who were alone, sensed trouble.

"There were red flags," the District Attorney said. "He tried to engage them with conversation and conduct that clearly establishes that he is trying to lure them into the van, but he just can't get within striking distance."

The victim was last seen about 10 a.m. May 24, 2004, cleaning lampposts in the parking lot of apartments managed by her brother-in-law near the Corvallis campus. Police and thousands of friends and strangers searched unsuccessfully for her for two weeks. Her body has not been found.

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False reports

In New South Wales, Australia, about 30 people faked their own kidnappings in the past year.

Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures show that NSW has the highest recorded kidnapping rate in the country, with 6.9 abductions per 100,000 people.

However, the bureau's report found that of the 238 cases of alleged abduction reviewed by researchers, only 57 per cent involved an actual abduction.

About one-third of victims experienced an attempted abduction and 4 per cent of cases did not fall into the legal description of abduction. In 7 per cent of cases, either no abduction took place or a false report was given to police.

There were 422 recorded abductions between October 2005 and September 2006. That would suggest about 30 people falsified kidnappings last year.

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A kid will remember

It could be wise to reflect on this story, next time an adult wonders if a child simply makes up a story. We may begin to wonder since a child seemingly remembers so many details.
Yes, a few kids make up a story to get attention, or cover up something else. Most however, do not.

Story:
On a Monday night in January, Mitchell Hults received a phone call from his friend's dad. "He called me and asked if I'd seen Ben or if Ben had been on the bus," says Mitchell, 15, of Beaufort, Mo.

Mitchell had seen Ben Ownby on the school bus. He also saw something unusual when Ben got off the bus -- a strange white pickup truck.

"I know pretty much all the cars that come down here," Mitchell says of the rural area in which he lives.

Mitchell told Ben's dad, and then the police, about the white pickup. He remembered it was a Nissan, and even knew the places where the truck had dents and rust. He also remembered what his friend was wearing when he disappeared.

Ben, 13, had been kidnapped, but was found by police four days after his abduction, along with Shawn Hornbeck, 15, who vanished four years ago. Michael Devlin was arrested for kidnapping Ben and Shawn, and is in jail awaiting trial. Mitchell's description was a huge help, and two officers recalled it when they saw Devlin's truck.

It may seem surprising that a kid could remember so many details. But safety instructor Tom Patire wasn't surprised. "Adults have so much going through their minds, they get mixed up in the description," Patire says, whereas a kid will remember.

Source

A coincidence?

Just a coincidence that this woman believed she was being followed, then notices she's got a flat tire, and then just out of nowhere the man shows up to "help her fix" the tyre ...?

Story:
New Jersey -- A 31-year-old Easton man was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and then tried to sexually assault her.

Authorities said the 26-year-old Hillsborough Township woman believed the man was following her Tuesday as she drove into Franklin Township and then noticed she had a flat tire.

The victim pulled into a motel and asked the manager to call 911 if he noticed anyone following her. She then drove away and pulled into a nearby service station.

Authorities said that's when the suspect pulled up and offered to fix the flat tire as the woman tried to make other arrangements to get home.

The suspect allegedly shoved her into his car and locked the doors before driving away with her. At some point he tried to sexually assault her. The woman escaped from the car at a red light and called 911, authorities said.

Source

Mexican femicide?

Here's a report you definitely should read. It's by Ellen Snortland, the author of "Beauty Bites Beast"

Story:
According to a report issued by Amnesty International in November, more than 400 women have been kidnapped and murdered over the past 14 years, many of them raped, mutilated and tortured first. One man couldn't possibly slaughter so many. It's gender terrorism.

Is this a horror film tease? Tragically, no. The unsolved murders in Ciudad Juárez and the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, of mostly young and indigenous working-class women, are very real.

In Juárez, females of all backgrounds breathe terror, night and day.

Is that man who just whispered “Mamacita” dangerous and sizing them up for abduction, or is he merely a nonlethal creep? Globally, the mysterious killings in Juárez have stumped and horrified us in the international women's rights community. Who is responsible? How can we resist femicide? What can be done?

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Dig this

A Colorado woman foiled a pair of alleged kidnappers by deliberately steering her car into a snow bank, police said.

The two men ordered her to dig the car out, the Rocky Mountain News reported. But a Larimer County deputy drove by and stopped to help her. When her back was turned to the alleged abductors, she silently asked for help.

The woman said the two men came to her house in Fort Collins, forced their way in and said her daughter owed them money. They later ordered her into her car and made her drive them to look for her daughter.

Source

Gun-nut

This "nutty" incident occurred in Wichita, Kansas, after a dispute that reportedly involved stereo speakers (apparently very nice speakers).

Three men, aged 23, 20 and 18, confronted a teenager on Monday afternoon. The eldest would-be kidnapper pulled out a gun and fired at the teen, but missed. He then shoved the gun back into the waistband of his trousers. That's when it went off, shooting him in the left testicle.

This event caused the man to "wince" and unfortunately for him, the motion of wincing caused the gun to go off again. Luckily for him, it didn't take out the other testicle. It just shot him in the left calf instead.

Source

The secret seconds

Here's another great article about how kidnappers/sexual predators operate. Recommended reading!

Story:
Jacksonville, Florida -- "Right here, here, are scars from the handcuffs. There is a scar there and a scar right there." It's been four years and Heather Kangas still bears the scars of being kidnapped from her bus stop. "I know he lived not even 10 miles down the road from where I was standing. I believed it was like one of those perfect times. There was nobody on the roads, nobody could see."

Police say Timothy Oberlander grabbed Heather handcuffed her and drove off. In audio tapes never released to the public until now. We hear Oberlander admit to a jail house informant why he chose Heather.

Source

Bottled up

Kansas -- A 21-year-old woman fought to escape a kidnapper who also tried to steal her car.

About 10:30 a.m. Saturday the woman was putting air in her car's tires at a convenience store in Kansas City when a man hit her over the head, forced her into the vehicle and began driving.

The woman beat her assailant with a bottle until he crashed the vehicle into a tree. He ran away. The woman suffered minor injuries.

Source

Clever

South Carolina -- Police have arrested the 37-year-old man they believe is responsible for kidnapping a 14-year-old girl who sent a text message to her mother that led to her rescue from a booby-trapped bunker.

The girl was found by sheriff's deputies about a kilometre from her home in a plywood-covered 4.5-metre-deep hole in the side of a hill. The bunker had a hand-dug toilet with paper, a camp stove and shelves made of cut branches and canvas.

The sheriff said the text message the girl sent to her mother came from the man's mobile phone. Investigators used telecommunications towers to determine the general location of the phone used to send the message.

He said the girl cried out as searchers approached the bunker where she was found.

Source

Presence of mind

India -- It was presence of mind that saved cardiologist K.R.K.S. Raju of Yousufguda from falling a prey to an extortion gang. The suspects, who were arrested on Thursday on the charge of kidnapping a real estate agent from Banjara Hills, tried to abduct Dr. Raju too. A few days ago, a member of the gang called up the doctor on his mobile phone claiming to be a police officer.

Dr. Raju was about to go to the hospital then. Saying he was an Assistant Commissioner of Police with the Intelligence wing, the caller requested him to come to his place to treat a patient. "Soon after I hung up the phone explaining that I cannot come, six persons posing as policemen drove in two vehicles to my house," the doctor explained.

As the doctor sat in his car to go to his hospital, one of them approached him saying their ACP had called up and gave a mobile phone. The caller said he was ACP Krishna Prasad and requested him to come in the car sent with the 'constables.'

"This is a security precaution doctor," the caller said.

But Dr. Raju grew suspicious since none of them wore police uniform. What strengthened his suspicion was the Tata Indica car in which the six persons came. "Police don't use Indica cars. I also found colour sprinkled over its number plate making it difficult to recognise the number," he said. Then, he made it clear that he cannot go with them and the gang members left.

Source

False reports

This is such a cruel, egotistical, terrible thing to do.
First of all it shows a monumental lack of respect towards all those that are actual victims of sexual crimes.
Then it gives unneeded ammunition to those (few, but very vocal) who argue that "a large number of rape reports are false."
It also stir up fear, uncertainty and anger amongst other residents in the area of the bogus alert. Finally, it puts unnecessary loads of work on the police.

And for what? Because her boyfriend had forgotten their anniversary... I'm at loss for words.

I can understand that a young girl or a teen can make up a story to achieve something, like gaining sympathy, or covering up the fact that she's been out late. But from what I understand this is an adult. Again, I don't know what to say.

Story:
A woman who told police she was grabbed and dragged into the woods while walking in Lake Oswego Tuesday evening, sparking a widespread manhunt, actually made the whole story up, according to police who said she confessed Friday.

Her story changed after ongoing questioning from police who became suspicious when she refused to cooperate with investigators.

The woman allegedly filed a report of kidnapping and attempted rape because her boyfriend had forgotten their anniversary, police said.

source

Assaulted in church

Is nothing sacred these days?
A 12-year-old knife-wielding boy, attempting to rape a girl in a church...

Story:
A 12-year-old boy has been charged with attempted rape and kidnapping following an assault on a teenage girl Sunday in a church restroom.

The attack occurred while a 14-year-old girl was changing in the restroom of the church’s main building. The girl reported looking in the mirror and seeing the reflection of someone in a stall behind her just before the attacker ran up behind her carrying a knife.

Source