Headline

Mum Of Three Die After Being r@ped Repeatedly On Park Bench

Published

1 year ago

October 4, 2024

Editor

A woman died after she was r@ped ‘again and again’ by a stranger on a park bench, a court has heard.

Natalie Shotter, 37, who is a mum of three was high on a night out before she was allegedly attacked by Mohamed Iidow, 35.

She was found dead by a passer-by hours later in Southall Park, London on July 17, 2021.

Prosecutor, Alison Morgan KC said Natalie was a ‘a vulnerable woman out enjoying herself who was then taken advantage of by this defendant’.

‘Natalie Shotter does not appear to have been conscious at the time that she was raped, let alone consenting to the defendant. He could never have believed that she was consenting.” the prosecutor said.

‘It was the process of r@ping Natalie repeatedly that caused her death.’

Ms Morgan told jurors that it had taken time to understand what happened to Ms Shotter that night and how she d!ed.

‘She had not been st@bbed or b£aten to d£ath, there were no obvious signs of significant injury to her body and there was nobody else with her,’ the prosecutor continued.

Crucially a CCTV camera at some distance away from the bench on which she was found, would reveal what had happened to her that night.

Although it is grainy and at a distance, the prosecution alleges that the CCTV footage shows the defendant engaging in acts of oral penetration.

Mum of three d!e after being r@ped repeatedly by stranger on park bench

The CCTV allegedly showed Iidow ‘positioning’ himself and Natalie in ways to ‘insert his p£nis into her mouth’, she said.

Earlier that night, the mother of three was recorded dancing outside a shop with other people.

Jurors were told the victim was little more than 5ft tall and weighed just 43kg (6st 11lb).

Speaking after her d£ath, Ms Shotter’s mum Dr Cas Shotter Weetman described her as a ‘wonderful woman with a heart as big as a lion’, saying she was ‘loved by all that knew her’.

She said: ‘We no longer have the person we treasured. The emotions around that are total and devastating grief.

‘I think about Natalie continuously through the day. And for her kids, the loss of a mother is indescribable and is forever.’

Her son and Natalie’s brother Harry said she ‘was just a really lovely person’, adding: ‘Her kids adored her, which is why it’s going to be so difficult.

‘It was a very close family unit at home and they always looked after each other at home. It’s absolutely tragic, for all of us.’

Lidow denies the charges against him and the trial continues on Friday, October 4.

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP