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Cross-dressing Canadian killer sentenced to life in prison

Life sentence: Russell Williams looks down as he leaves the court in Belleville, Ontario yesterday


A top Canadian military commander whose obsession with stealing women's underwear escalated into two horrific sex murders was jailed for life on today.


Colonel Russell Williams, who was in charge of Canada's largest air force base and who once flew Queen Elizabeth's plane, had pleaded guilty to killing two women in separate attacks.


Police said it was likely he would serve his life sentence in solitary confinement. He is not eligible for parole for 25 years.


In a case that appalled Canada, the court heard Williams had videotaped himself raping the women, capturing their pleas for mercy, and then filmed them as they died.


'I stand before you indescribably ashamed... I deeply regret what I have done and the harm I know I have caused to many. I committed despicable crimes,' he told the judge tearfully before being sentenced.


Justice Robert Scott said he believes Williams is sincere in his regrets, but nonetheless declared him a 'sick and dangerous' man.


'Russell Williams will forever be remembered as a sadosexual serial killer,' Scott told the court.


'The depths of the depravity shown by Russell Williams have no equal.'


A prosecution lawyer described the 47-year-old as 'one of the worst offenders in Canadian history'.


The videos, which were not shown in court, will be destroyed when Williams dies.



Justice: Roxanne Lloyd, mother of murder victim Jessica Lloyd, arrives at Belleville Court for the sentencing of her daughter's killer today




Tragedy: The Crown and police speak to media outside court after the sentencing today. The case has shocked Canada and shaken the military to its core



The court heard that Williams started off by breaking into homes in eastern Ontario and stealing underwear. He sometimes took photos of himself wearing bras and panties.


Last November he entered the house of Marie-France Comeau, 38, and sexually assaulted her for hours before putting duct tape over her mouth and nose.


Comeau, a corporal at the Trenton air base where Williams was commander, suffocated to death.


In January this year he abducted 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd, drove her to his house and then repeatedly raped her. He strangled her to death with a rope and later dumped the body by a rural road.



Victims: Jessica Lloyd, left, was 27 when she died. Corporal Marie-France Comeau was 38. Williams recorded video of her pleading for her life



Williams was arrested in February after a police roadside check discovered the distinctive tire marks outside Lloyd's house had been made by his SUV.


Williams was a rising star in the military before he was charged earlier this year. The charges have shocked Canadians and shaken the military to its core.


Lieutenant-General Andre Deschamps, Chief of Air Staff, said said they can now fire Williams and remove his medals.
'We don't understand why,' Deschamps said.


'This individual was a man of tremendous capacities. He was professional. I still can't reconcile the two people we've seen.'




Double life: Left, Williams poses in lingerie during a break-in. Right, in uniform as the commander of a top Canadian military base (file photos)


Prime Minister Stephen Harper called it a 'horrific series of events'.


He said his thoughts are with the victims and their families as well as the Canadian military.


'Our thoughts go out to all members of the Canadian Forces ... who have been very badly wounded and betrayed by all of this,' he said.


Andy Lloyd, one of the victim's brothers, said he has been waiting for this day for a long time and that he's glad the military has moved to strip of Williams of his rank.


'My father served in the forces for 25 years and would never believe that a man of his stature could have done what monstrous things he did,' said Lloyd outside the courthouse.


'As long as he dies in jail, I'm happy.'

In his latest exclusive interview with Eurosport, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger discusses how important it was for Manchester United to keep hold of Wayne Rooney, and what would have been at stake for the club if he had left.

Were you surprised that Wayne Rooney is staying at Manchester United after the media talk?

It is a bit surprising because when you say publicly that your player is likely to leave, it means you have accepted the idea that he will do so.

A message to say: 'Come around the table, we are ready to sell the player.' So it is a bit surprising that they changed their mind..

It seems that United became aware of the consequences for the fans and the atmosphere inside the club if he did leave - especially considering the rise of Manchester City. It would have given them the reputation of being a declining club in comparison to the upwardly-mobile Citizens.

Afterwards, they had to take into account the impact signing Rooney to a new contract would have upon them, because it is going to be a big financial change. It means they have let Rooney have what he wants - and they are also going to be in trouble when it comes to renewing the contracts of the other players.

So the club's reputation was at stake?

When you let everybody know that you allowed your best player to leave at 25 years of age, rather than 30, it means that somehow there are clubs stronger than yours.

When you sell a player, you must consider what you are losing; the player himself, of course, but in addition all the consequences for people who follow the club. By that I mean the media, fans, the club's reputation and the indirect effect upon the other top players at the club, who may think: 'If the best players are leaving, what we are going to do now?'. So everyone at the club could start worrying.

Could the deal have been done in order to sell him for more money next June?

That is a really good question. However, if they sign him to a new contract for five years then sell him in June, it will be worse than if they had let him go now.

Were you convinced he was going to leave?

Yes, because when the club said they would talk about a transfer, I assumed they were ready to sell him.

If he had left, do you think it would only have been for another English club?

No, I think he might have moved anywhere in the world. Surely they would have been more open to a foreign club coming in for him than an English one - because the only domestic rival who could afford to buy him was their neighbour.

Do you think that he had to leave, considering the public opinion about his problems outside of football?

No, because people are focused on what happens on the field. What happens in a player's private life only feeds the scandal pages of the newspapers.

If you are 12 years of age, you only look at his performances on the pitch. You like him because he is able to do things you cannot do - and you want to copy him. You don't care about how he is living off the pitch.

Can he change the opinion of United fans?

Trust me: in this job, the only thing which changes everything is your performance on the pitch.

You could be the nicest, most elegant and polite guy in the world off the pitch - but if you are bad on it, everybody is going to hate you.

You can be unpleasant off the pitch, but if you are an extraordinary player, people will forgive you anything. It may not be fair, but it is the reality. People pay to see special things, and if you manage to give it to them, they enjoy it.

Would you have liked to sign him for Arsenal?

We never thought about it because we have enough people able to play up front. Moreover, if Manchester United are not able to pay his contract, Arsenal cannot even think about it.

So it means that he will keep scoring against you as he did in the past?

No, it doesn't mean he will keep annoying us - it just means that he will keep trying to annoy us. We will try to prevent him.

He likes to score against Arsenal.

Yes. He is world class player.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace has reportedly been having a secret affair with central bank governor, Gideon Gono.

South African Sunday Times newspaper reports that Grace Mugabe- who is 41 years younger than Zimbabwe’s 86-year-old president,
has allegedly spent the last five years cuckolding him with Gideon Gono, her husband’s financial adviser and key politically ally.

The report says that Mugabe’s sister Sabina warned her brother before she died that he was being betrayed by two of the most important people in his personal and political life: his wife and his personal banker, a pivotal member of his regime.Photo:Mugsy & Gono

The couple would meet as often as three times a month either at Grace’s dairy farm or in expensive hotels in South Africa as well as on foreign trips to Asia.

Mugabe is said to have learnt the shocking news as he sat by his dying sister’s bed in July. He is said to have left the meeting “devastated” although initially refusing to believe the allegations.

The president later consulted his most trusted bodyguard, Cain Chademana, who had sat in on the meeting with Sabina.

The bodyguard reportedly said, like other members of the secret service, he had also heard the rumours.

Particularly infuriating for Mugabe however, was the fact that he had encouraged the friendship thinking the pair was discussing mutual business interests.

Chademana – who is said to be the source of the story by intelligence officers quoted by the newspaper – has since lost his life amid suspicions that he was poisoned.

His body, according to The South African Sunday Times, was handed to his family for burial at the end of August. The Sunday Times alleges no autopsy was carried out.

The newspaper claims officials had hoped the secret affair would be buried with Chademana but renegade officers in the intelligence services, unhappy with conditions of service, have started talking.

Still, it is not the first time Grace has been linked to affairs behind her ageing husband’s back.

One former lover, Peter Pamire, died in a mysterious car accident. Another, James Makamba, fled the country.

But never before has Grace been romantically involved with a politician in Mugabe’s inner circle. And never before has a man so close to the president risked allowing it to happen, the South African Sunday Times says.

Gono has known Mrs Mugabe, who married the president in 1996, for at least 15 years and they are partners in a number of business enterprises.

He is a pillar of the Zanu PF party that has held on to power in Zimbabwe since its 1980 independence from Britain.

As one of Mugabe’s most trusted friends, he has served since 2003 as head of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe – a period that saw the country’s currency suffer hyperinflation of more than a billion per cent a year.

While many of Zimbabwe’s desperately poor people struggle to find enough food to eat, Gono lives in a 47-bedroom mansion with swimming pool, gym and its own mini theatre.

Yesterday a source close to the banker confirmed that he and the first lady were lovers and claimed they had planned a life together after Mugabe’s death.

The senior official in Gono’s office told South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper: ‘Mugabe trusted Gono. He even thought our boss was taking care of the first lady, keeping a protective eye on her so that she could not again be adulterous.’

Mugabe’s relationship with Grace, his former secretary, is itself founded on infidelity.

Two of their three children were born when Mugabe was still married to his popular first wife, Sally, who was battling a kidney disease from which she died in 1992.

Charley Boy and Derenle

Area Fada, Charley Boy, has been associated with a lot of negative – and positive – things, but never before has he been called a homosexual. That is up until now.

A romantic picture of Charley Boy kissing Denrele has been circulating on the Internet for a while, and it has made many believe that both of them are involved in a sexual relationship.

But Denrele told Life and Beat that he didn‘t owe anybody any explanation.

“If not that I know you, I would have told you I don’t owe you any explanation. I just think that some people are out to tarnish my image. Call it Photoshop, call it publicity stunt or whatever the picture is, people just want to tarnish my image.”

But to those who he feels are out to tarnish his image, Denrele said, “I’m not bothered in anyway. They are just making me popular. The story is not affecting me in anyway. I have been receiving calls from all over the world about this same picture. I’m not gay, but I don‘t think I owe anybody any explanation.”

Charley Boy’s phone was unreachable when Life and Beat tried to contact him.

• Arsenal overwhelmed 10-man Manchester City 3-0 in the Premier League yesterday while Manchester United secured a 2-1 win at Stoke City with two goals from Wayne Rooney's stand-in Javier Hernandez.

City were left chasing shadows from the fifth minute at Eastlands after defender Dedryck Boyata saw red for a last-man foul on Marouane Chamakh and Arsenal won with goals by Samir Nasri, Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner.

Chelsea, who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 on Saturday, lead the Premier League standings with 22 points.

Arsenal and City are both now on 17 points, alongside Manchester United after Hernandez struck four minutes from time to seal his side's first away league win of the season.

In Sunday's other match Liverpool claimed only their second win of the season when they beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Anfield, with Fernando Torres among the scorers.

Arsenal had Cesc Fabregas back pulling the strings in a league game for the first time in five weeks and he made a huge difference with a display full of promptings and probings.

Arsenal had a scare in the first minute when Lukasz Fabianski saved well from David Silva's clever flick but before five minutes were up the hosts were reduced to 10 men when Fabregas slid a perfect pass into the path of Chamakh and Boyata dived in needlessly to bring him down just outside the box...

Arsenal soon made their numbers pay when Nasri played a nice one-two with Andrei Arshavin before scoring from a tight angle in the 21st minute.

Fabregas's nimble feet proved too much for Vincent Kompany five minutes before the break, earning a penalty for a trip, only for Joe Hart to make an excellent diving save from the Spaniard's spot kick.

Fabianski was called into action to foil Silva again as City started the second half brightly but the fluttering flame was extinguished when another Fabregas pass caused chaos and allowed Song to poke in the killer second goal after 66 minutes.

Bendtner came off the bench for his second appearance of the season to complete the scoring two minutes from time.

"We played some outstanding football at times and it's very difficult to stop a team playing at that tempo," Fabregas told Sky Sports "Even if they had 15 (players) and we had 11 we would still go and win." Rooney replacement

After Rooney had hogged the headlines all week it was his stand-in Hernandez who was the toast of Manchester United fans after his double overcame battling Stoke.

He opened the scoring with a dextrous back-header after 27 minutes but as United eventually stat back to defend their lead they looked to be heading for another draw when substitute Tuncay Sanli curled in a lovely equaliser after 81 minutes.

Mexico striker Hernandez, however, topped an impressive all-round display by seizing on a loose ball to prod in the winner four minutes from time.

"Drawing so many away games hasn't been good enough this season, so today there was a lot of relief at the end," said defender Gary Neville after his 600th United appearance.

Liverpool remain in the bottom three on nine points but there was a real feeling of relief around Anfield as they not only chalked up a rare win but played some enterprising soccer.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos put them ahead early in the second half with a header and after a Jamie Carragher own goal in the 52nd minute, Fernando Torres grabbed the winner a minute later with only his second goal of the season.

Ninety passengers on board an Aerocontractors Airlines’ plane coming from Port Harcourt escaped death on Sunday as the pilot made an emergency landing at
the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport , Lagos.

Shortly after touching down on the runway 18R-36L, the aircraft, a Boeing 737-500 series, was totally engulfed by a thick smoke as it taxied towards the
tarmac, according to airport officials.

The pilot quickly opened all the six doors, and passengers used the emergency slides to disembark from the aircraft, according to airport officials who
witnessed the incident.

Fire fighters from the Federal Airports of Nigeria were quickly mobilised to rescue the passengers being evacuated from the aircraft.

An official disclosed that a fire, discovered inside the cockpit of the Boeing plane, spread into the cabin deck and threw the entire cabin into
pandemonium as passengers scampered for safety mid air.

Rescue officials told our correspondent that six passengers and an infant that sustained injuries were rushed to the hospital.

Aero confirmed the incident. .

A statement by the airline read in part, ”An incident occured this evening on flight AJ 320 from Port Harcourt to Lagos when a smoke was detected in the
cabin. Aero was able to succesfully evacuate all 84 passengers, an infant and
five crew members as the B737-500 aircraft landed at the Murtala Mohammed
International airport, Lagos at 6.15 pm local time.”

The airline said its officials had been invited by officials of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities for an investigation into the cause of the incident.

It was learnt that the fire might have been caused by an electrical spark from the electronics system of the aircraft.

An aircraft conveying President Goodluck Jonathan’s aides, landed in a primary school last Wednesday amidst pandemonium. TOYOSI OGUNSEYE writes that over 12 students were injured in the stampede

It looked like a scene from a movie. Initially, pupils of Apostolic Church Secondary School, Ketu, Lagos, saw the aircraft hovering in the air and this was enough to distract those sitting close to the windows from their early morning classes.

The teachers in different classes that morning were curious about what their pupils were looking at, so they also looked out of the window and saw that the plane was descending closer to the roof of the building.

No one needed to tell them to run. Once the teachers took to their heels, perhaps thinking it was air mishap, the students followed en masse. With loud screams, everyone ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Some of the students on the second floor of the school building attempted to jump down in a bid to save their lives. One of them was an eight-year-old JSS1 student who landed on her buttocks and could no longer stand. Eleven other students were severely injured.

While this pandemonium was going on, the airforce plane with number NAV541 landed on the school premises. Heavily armed soldiers alighted from the aircraft and surveyed the area without saying a word.

When the fleeing students and members of staff saw that the aircraft had successfully landed, they surrounded it, with curiosity written all over their faces. The scene further attracted passers-by and people in the neighbourhood who trooped to the school. The armed soldiers ignored the crowd, went back into the plane and, after a few minutes, took off.

The injured students were then taken to the school‘s official clinic, Delta Crown Hospital, Ketu, where some of them were given first-aid treatment and discharged. Two of the students were still in the hospital as at last Thursday, including the young girl who fell from one of the two-storey buildings in the school. An X-ray showed that the girl had no broken bones but she had a severe tear in her private part, which had to be stitched.

The mothers of one of the children who were admitted in the hospital pleaded anonymity and said, “I have five children in that school. I thank God that my daughter is alive and I‘m not crying. I am not ready to make a case of this or even talk to the media because God has given me a reason to rejoice and not cry.”

One of the people in the area who witnessed the incident identified himself as Yemi. According to him, he was about to have his bath when he felt the building shaking. He said, ”I live just two houses away from the school. I had an appointment that morning and was about to have my bath when I heard a very loud noise outside; my room was also vibrating. So, I looked out of the window and saw a plane moving towards the ground. I ran out of my house in my boxers.”

Yemi added that he joined the crowd when the plane landed. ”When some of the soldiers alighted from the plane, they left the door slightly ajar. I saw some soldiers inside, but some people whispered that the President was inside the plane.”

It was gathered that the pilot and some of the crew muttered that the plane had ‘a problem.‘

The school authorities declined to make any comment about the incident. It was however gathered that Ketu Police Division, and the Lagos State ministries of health and education visited the school and the hospital a day after Jonathan‘s visit.

The Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Frank Mba, could not confirm SUNDAY PUNCH‘s findings. He said, he was not aware of the incident.

The President was on a visit to the flooded areas in Ajegunle, Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area on October 20 when the plane made an emergency landing in the school.

The Director, Public Relations and Information of the Airforce, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas said, “It was a flight to survey the area where the president was visiting. It was not an emergency flight. The presidential aides were in it. We were not aware that 12 children were injured.”

Efforts to speak to the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Ima Niboro, proved abortive. When our correspondent called his mobile line on Friday night, he did not pick it. Neither did he respond to the text message sent to him.

It could be recalled that a Cessna Model T9B training aircraft belonging to the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State, crash-landed at a village just outside Kano on May 2, 2010. It plunged into a farmland at Katoge Village, directly behind the Science Secondary School at Dawakin Tofa, about 20 kilometres from Kano City.

Three occupants of the light training plane escaped unhurt and the aircraft was not badly damaged. Those on board the plane included the college instructor, Mr. Ozogwu as well as Akerele Ojo Olu and Jafar Suleman, who are trainees.

source punchng

http://bit.ly/abDtav

Ejiro Henry, a 19-year old cocaine trafficker, currently standing trial for his involvement in the illicit trade, has been arrested again for peddling hard drugs.

Mr Henry, who was apprehended the second time on his way to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2, was found with 167 wraps of powdery material that the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) confirmed as cocaine, weighing 2.45kg. “The suspect was first arrested on May 25, for allegedly ingesting 73 wraps of substances that tested positive to cocaine weighing 1.285kg during screening of Alitalia passengers to Italy,” said Mitchell Ofoyeju, spokesperson for the agency. He also added that the suspect was subsequently charged to court and granted bail on September 6. According to him, the agency confiscated the international passport of the smuggler at the time and documented his Italian resident permit for safe keeping.

Premeditated action

Mr Ofoyeju explained that the cocaine was found in a polythene bag inside the suspect’s luggage, adding that he was equally in possession of a valid Air France ticket, with which he intends to “immediately” travel to Italy the same day. “Also in his possession was another international passport, as well as an Italian resident permit, as the travel document recovered from him in May is still in the custody of the agency,” he said.

The suspect, in a statement from the anti-narcotics agency, blamed his involvement in illicit trade this time on the devil, as he explained that his first attempt was as a result of his financial difficulties. “I actually needed money to settle my bills when I was first arrested but I cannot explain this one; I think it is the devil,” he said..

Blame the courts

Ahmadu Giade, the Chief Executive of NDLEA, said that the granting of bail to accused persons allow smugglers to go back into the criminal trade. According to him, the next bail trial date for the first charge against the suspect is to come up on November 4, 2010. “Bail encourages long adjournment, thereby prolonging litigation period,” he said. “It also provides a leeway for accused persons to go back into the illegal trade. When they are in detained in prison custody, cases are decided within a short time because they are usually agitated for their cases to be fast tracked.”

Hamza Umar, the Lagos airport commander for the agency, however, commended officials of Federal Airport Authority for detecting the drug and reporting it to the NDLEA, describing the collaboration as healthy for effective security and safety in the country. According to Mr Ofoyeju, preliminary investigations revealed that the accused was adequately prepared for the crime, as the current passport found with him was issued in March before his first arrest. “The new resident permit also suggests that the accused has established contacts in Italy and he will soon be charged to court in connection with the latest arrest while he will be appearing from NDLEA custody in the on-going trial,” he said.

Mr. John Davou, the 75-year-old grandfather, who is seeking a refund of N63,655 from Miss Hope Joseph, his estranged 20-year-old lover, has agreed to collect N53,655, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Davou told the Hwolshe Area Court in Jos, Plateau State, at the resumed hearing of the case he filed last week that Joseph’s relations had “begged him” to reduce the amount to N53,655.

“Because of their plea, I have agreed to reduce N10,000 from the amount,’’ he told the court and added that Joseph’s relations were asking for an out-of-court settlement..

Davou, however, said that he would rather collect the money through the court and stressed that he would only accept full payment and not “piecemeal” payment.

The respondent, who had vowed not to refund the money at the first mention of the case on October 13, however, changed her stance on Wednesday as she promised to pay.

She, however, pleaded with her former lover to reduce the money to enable her to pay and also pleaded with the court to allow her to pay N5,000 monthly through the court over 10 months.

Eighteen months after he lost his wife, the superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has found love again.

The wedding, which happened outside the spotlight, was reported to have taken place in the UK, last Wednesday. However, the bride, who sources identified as Esther, is said to be a member of his church. But not much else is known about her, or about their courtship. Details of the wedding ceremony, including venue and attendance, officiating priests, protocols, were closely guarded.

Responding to a question whether he would remarry after his late wife, Biodun, passed away, the man of God told reporters that it was too early to think of a replacement. It was a highly emotional moment for him, as the bad news came to him while he was delivering a sermon during the church’s Easter retreat last year.

Mrs. Kumuyi who died at 57 in the early hours of Saturday, April 11, 2009 at her residence in the International Bible Training Centre, Ayobo, Ipaja, Lagos, following a brief illness, was the National Woman Co-ordinator of the church. She was also International Co-ordinator of the women ministry in Africa and other continents where the church has branches, and was Editor-in-Chief of the well-circulated Women Mirror magazine published by the church.

Pastor Kumuyi, 71, was introduced to the Apostolic Faith Church, and became born again on Sunday, April 5, 1964. He started the Deeper Life Bible Church, which now has over one million members in more than sixty countries around the world, as a 15-member Bible Study group in Kumuyi’s official quarters (Flat 2) at the University of Lagos in August, 1973. Kumuyi was at the time a Mathematics lecturer in the university..

Kumuyi is the latest entrant to the fold of pastors who have new wives: Pastor Taiwo Odukoya of the Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Chris Okotie of the Household of God, and Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of the Trinity House. Only Odukoya, like Kumuyi, remarried after losing his wife, Bimbo.

A family of seven travelling in a Mitsubishi car which was damagedbeyond recognition were among the over 25 persons who died in a ghastly motor accident that occurred at Onyeama hills on the outskirts of Enugu on Wednesday .

Although the identities were yet to be ascertained as at the time of this report, sources confirmed that the seven occupants of the red Mitsubishi car with Enugu registration No. BD 371 UWN, were members of a family amongst them a man, his wife and five persons believed to be their children.

The accident, which involved multiple vehicles including two trailers also claimed the lives of all the occupants of an 18-seater commuter bus.

Eye witness account reported that the accident was caused by a trailer being towed by another lorry and which lost control when the rope with which the trailer was tied to the towing vehicle cut.

The trailer, which hit other vehicles in the process ended up in a valley while the other vehicles involved ended up in a valley. The Onyeama hills, which is near the Onyeama Mines has become a nightmare for drivers and travellers as it has recorded accidents in which lives were lost.

As at Thursday morning when our reporter visited the scene of the accident ,bodies of some victims that were trapped were still being removed. While sympathizers wept uncontrollably at the scene of the accident ,so many lamented the government’s insensitivity to the condition of roads in the South -east, expressing fears of similar incidents during the christmas period .

Eleven people have been injured jumping out of a second-floor flat window after apparently thinking they had seen the devil.

Police are investigating the incident which took place in the early hours in the small town of La Verriere, west of Paris.

Officers said some of the injured were children including a four-month-old baby, who is in a serious condition in a children's hospital in the French capital.

"Thirteen people were in an apartment on the second floor when, at around 3am, one of the occupants heard his child crying," said Odile Faivre, the deputy prosecutor in Versailles.

"The man in question, of African origin, who was completely naked, got up to feed his child, at which point the other occupants took him for the devil.

"He was seriously wounded in the hand after being stabbed with a knife before he was thrown out of the apartment, via the door."

The 30-year-old man then tried to force his way back into the room.

"That's when the other occupants tried to escape by jumping out of the window, panicked by a fear of the devil," said Ms Faivre.

Police are questioning the naked man as well as another man who jumped from the window with a two-year-old girl in his arms.

Seven of those injured - who were African, possibly from Angola - were taken to hospital for emergency treatment.

Detectives are trying to find out if the group jumped voluntarily or were forced to jump.

By Godfrey Olukya (CP)–1 day ago

KAMPALA, Uganda — A disease whose progression and symptoms seem straight out of a horror movie but which can be treated has killed atleast 20 Ugandans and sickened more than 20,000 in just two months.

Jiggers, small insects which look like fleas, are the culprits in the epidemicwhich causes parts of the body to rot. They often enter through thefeet. Once inside a person's body, they suck the blood, grow and breed,multiplying by the hundreds. Affected body parts — buttocks, lips, eveneyelids — rot away.

James Kakooza, Uganda's minister of state for primary health care, said jiggers can easily kill young children bysucking their blood and can cause early deaths in grown-ups who haveother diseases. Most of those infected, especially the elderly, cannotwalk or work.

"It is an epidemic which we are fighting against and I am sure over time we will eradicate the jiggers," Kakooza said.

The insects breed in dirty, dusty places. The medical name for theparasitic disease is tungiasis, which is caused by the female sand flyburrowing into the skin. It exists in parts of Latin America and theCaribbean, besides sub-Saharan Africa.

Kakooza said health workers are telling residents of the 12 affected districts in Ugandathat jiggers thrive amid poor hygienic conditions.

"We are also telling them to use medicated soap. They can apply petrol and paraffinin places infested by jiggers and they die," Kakooza said.

The most affected part of Uganda is the Busoga region in the east, 150kilometres (90 miles) from Kampala, Uganda's capital. Some cases havebeen reported in the central region, less that 70 kilometres (43 miles)from the city, which has led to fears the whole country might beaffected.

Some think jiggers — whose scientific name is Tunga penetrans — were brought to Uganda and other east African countries bymigrants from India who constructed the railway from Mombasa, theKenyan seaport, to Kampala in the 19th century. Others say they came toAfrica aboard a British ship that sailed from Brazil.

Over time locals were affected. One observer near the turn of the century calledjiggers "the most fearful calamity that has ever afflicted the EastAfrican peoples" after seeing affected people on the slopes of MountKilimanjaro crawling around on all fours and groaning with pain.Colonial governments brought it under control but jiggers have sincere-emerged where hygiene is poor.

Some affected people in rural Uganda, like Dakaba Kaala, think they are bewitched and simply wait todie instead of trying to remove the insects.

"For the last three years I have been suffering from jiggers," the 60-year-old said. "Ilost two children killed by jiggers.They were sent to me by myneighbour who wants to grab my piece of land."

"It is common to find graves of whole families wiped away by jiggers," said SimonWanjala, a ministry of health official in eastern Uganda,

Uganda's government has allocated 1 million US dollars to fight the epidemic.Treatment involves removal of the insect or topical medication.

A study a few years ago in Nigeria concluded that raising pigs, havingsand or clay floors inside the home and having a resting place outsidethe house increased the risk of getting jiggers. Wearing closed shoesand using insecticides indoors helps prevent infestations.

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

In this photo of Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010, a woman called Mega Nakale, aresident of Kamuli district in eastern Uganda, displays her foot,infested by jiggers, . A disease whose progression and symptoms seemstraight out of a horror movie but which can be easily treated haskilled at least 20 Ugandans and sickened more than 20,000 in just twomonths. Jiggers, small insects which look like fleas, are the culpritsin the epidemic which causes parts of the body to rot. They often enterbodies through the feet. Once inside, they suck blood, grow and breed,multiplying by the thousands and making infested body parts, buttocks,lips, even eye lids rot away. (AP Photo/Godfrey Olukya)