WHAT A COUNTRY ! this is the new record !
Earlier this week, police found the badly decomposed body of Isabella Purves, who would have been 90 this year.
Officers forced their way into the top-floor flat in the tenement building in the Canonmills area of Edinburgh after a neighbour reported water dripping through the ceiling.
They had to fight their way through piles of unopened mail behind her front door.
It is thought her pension was paid directly into a bank account and utility bills were paid by direct debit.
Police are trying to trace her relatives.
Neighbours in Rodney Street have spoken of their horror at the discovery.
Giovanni Cilia, who owns the Fioritalia florist below Ms Purves's traditional tenement flat, said he was shocked at how long it took to find her.
He said: "How did no one notice the smell, or wonder where she was? I heard there was a big pile of letters and bills behind the door. I used to see her walk past the shop maybe four times a week. She would often go across the street and pick up litter to clean the place up."
Mr Cilia, who has run the shop for 20 years, added: "It's shocked everyone here. When I saw her she looked quite fit and healthy for her age. She used to wear boots and would often carry a rucksack like she enjoyed going for walks."
Michael Singh Kille, who works in a newsagent's three doors along, said he saw a stretcher taken from the building.
He said: "The police came and knocked down the door, then a private ambulance came after that. They took a stretcher up and when it came down it didn't look as though it had anything on it, just a very slight shape."
David Crystal, an optometrist who has run his business near the flat for 22 years, said Ms Purves had been a client.
He said: "I haven't seen her for 12 years. I last saw her in 1997 and we've sent her five reminders. For someone who doesn't have any family in this automated society, you can understand how it can happen.
"Before, they would go to the post office to collect a pension. I just assumed she'd been moved into a care home. We wouldn't normally follow up a non-attending person to see why they hadn't come back."
The last reminder was sent out in 2004.
His wife, Dorothy, who co-owns the business, said the discovery was "an indictment" of society.
She said: "Nobody cares any more, that's pretty sad. It's down to basic neighbourly behaviour. I would hope people would be looking out for others."
Read more…
A Nigerian man, Edward Nwajagu, shot in United States four years ago, because he is black, lay on life support with a bullet in his skull Friday as the shooter was sentenced to 107 years to life in prison.
Nwajagu’s wife and brother in Nigeria want to visit him but have been unable to enter the United States, said cousin Clement Onwuka, who spoke weekend.
“His life had been shattered, his ability to make a living, his ability to enjoy life, ended the day he was shot,” Onwuka told the court softly at the sentencing Friday.
Onwuka, who lives in Oklahoma, visited his cousin in the hospital there Wednesday.
“The whole family depended on Edward,” he said.
Nwajagu immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. In August 2005, he came to Southern California for a conference about helping underprivileged Nigerians and organizing a medical mission, said Charles Onunkwo, who organized the event
“He’s barely clinging to life,” Onunkwo said. “He’s no longer coming back to be a useful member of society.”
A group from the conference came to Riverside to visit a friend and stopped for gas at the Chevron station at University and Victoria avenues.
The car pulled out of the gas station and was hit by bullets.
Nwajagu opened the back door to check the damage and was hit in the head.
As the driver pulled away, Nwajagu fell out of the car. Lying on University Avenue in a white embroidered caftan, blood ran out of his ears and mouth.
He has been on life support since. The family paid to have him moved from a Riverside hospital to one near his home in Oklahoma City, believing it would be more familiar for him, Onwuka said.
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco used the crime as a reason for requesting an injunction to crack down on the East Side Rivas in 2007. The predominantly Latino gang has a history of attacking black people and referring to it as “snail hunting” in Riverside’s Eastside neighborhood, according to court documents.
A Riverside County jury convicted David Anthony Rodriguez, 23, in March of attempted murder to promote a gang and cause a hate crime, as well as related felonies.
Charles Onunkwo, who had organized the event that brought Edward Nwajagu to Southern California, wiped tears from his eyes as he narrated the story.
The driver, Jose Enrique Martinez, 31, pleaded guilty to being an accessory and was sentenced in April to time served of one year and four months.
On Friday, before Rodriguez was sentenced, his aunt Margo Alvarez cried as she told Judge Jean Pfeiffer Leonard that her nephew was innocent.
“He’s a good man, a good nephew and a good father,” she said.
Rodriguez’s attorney, Samuel Long, requested that his client be allowed to hug his 4-year-old daughter who has known her father only through glass booths while visiting him in jail. Leonard left the decision to deputies, who did not allow the hug.
“I love you, Daddy,” the little girl said as she was carried out.
He blew her a kiss.
Read more…
Imagine for one second what 9gerians and other Illegal immigrants go through because of the "fear of Immigration is the beginning of Wisdom mentality"
Worried Daulat Irani kept her mum’s body hidden in a freezer for 20 years because she was scared of an immigration inquiry.
Neighbour believe Mrs Irani, now 83, feared the authorities would discover her elderly mum had been living here illegally if she made her death public.
So instead of having a funeral, the body was wrapped up in a black bin bag and then put in a chest freezer in the garage.
Alex Bennett, 24, yesterday said he had been a neighbour of Mrs Irani’s ever since he was a baby – and had never seen her mother. Trainee chef Alex added: “She’s a lovely old lady and always sends a Christmas card to us.
“She used to look after a white-haired gentleman known as ‘the doctor’ when he became poorly. But I think he passed away a couple of years ago. I’ve lived here all my life and I never saw her mum.”
Another neighbour added: “She’s a very private person. I normally see her taking out her rubbish or going shopping by minicab.
“She’s very clean and tidy and keeps her garden in good condition. Obviously it was shocking when the police came and told me what had happened.
“They said they believed the body had been in the freezer for more than 20 years. I think it was an immigration thing because her mum was illegal and they didn’t want anyone to know.
“You just wouldn’t expect it on such a quiet suburban road.” Ray Dyson, 77, a retired warehouse worker who also lives near Mrs Irani in Sidcup, South East London, said: “She’s a nice old lady who goes about her own business quietly. We always
nod and say hello. This has all come as a bit of a shock.
Your 9jabook Advertisement Here - article continues below »
“The first we knew was when two police cars and an officer in a full forensic bodysuit turned up.
“They taped-off the garage and have now put a padlock on it. It was obviously more serious than a burglary so I asked if she was OK and the police said she was fine.”
It is believed that Mrs Irani confided her secret to a horrified friend, who then alerted police.
A neighbour said: “I think she just needed to tell someone and whoever she spoke to passed it on to the police.
“I saw her after the police visited and she told me they questioned her for hours. I told her it wasn’t surprising considering what they’d found. She
said the police were going to contact her again soon.”
Officers questioned Mrs Irani under caution but yesterday said they are not treating the death as suspicious.
A source said: “She said the body had been in the freezer for at least 20 years. We are awaiting the postmortem results for confirmation of this.”
Mrs Irani answered the door of her smart semi last night but refused to comment. Her green garage door was secured with a police padlock.
A Metropolitan police spokeswoman said: “We can confirm we went to a residential address in Sidcup.
“Officers found the body of a woman. We believe we know the identity but await formal identification. The death is being treated as unexplained. An 83-year-old woman has been interviewed under caution but there have been no arrests.”
Read more…
By Emeka MadunaguPublished: Saturday, 4 Apr 2009A United States federal court in Brooklyn, New York has sentenced three Nigerians to varying jail terms totaling about 17 years for defrauding American victims of over $1.2 million (N177m) in an advance-fee fraud scam.An email statement sent to our correspondent by the US Department of Justice on Friday quoted Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and US Attorney Benton J. Campbell of the Eastern District of New York as saying that the Nigerians, Nnamdi Chizuba Anisiobi, Anthony Friday Ehis and Kesandu Egwuonwu, pleaded guilty in January 2008 to one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.The statement said the suspects were extradited to the US from Holland on February 21, 2006 after they had been arrested for defrauding their victims of various amounts. They had sent spam mails to their victims, claiming that they controlled millions of dollars. Also, the joint investigation by the US Postal Service and Dutch authorities found that they used various aliases, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.In one instance, they sent e-mails purporting to be from an individual suffering from terminal throat cancer who needed assistance distributing approximately $55m to charity. In exchange for a victim‘s help, the defendants offered to give a 20 per cent commission to the victim or a charity of his or her choice but the American victims ended up with substantial losses.The statement said that in delivering judgment on Thursday, US District Judge Dora L. Irizarry sentenced Anisiobi to 87 months in prison, while Ehis and Egwuonwu received 57 months apiece.
Read more…
