■ South Africa
Gouda betrays murderer
A gap-toothed suspect was convicted on several counts of murder and rape after a cheesy snack at the scene of the crime provided police with crucial dental evidence, the Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. The 27-year-old man, who was initially acquitted because of a lack of evidence, reportedly killed his victims before helping himself to a chunk of Gouda, leaving unique teeth marks which police used as evidence in a retrial.
■ United Kingdom
Man `borrowed' millions
A bank employee who stole huge sums from his employer left a note in a safe admitting he had "borrowed" £7 million (US$12.3 million), a court was told on Tuesday. In fact, the true scale of financial consultant Graham Price's theft and deception totaled nearly £10 million, Swansea magistrates' court in South Wales heard. Price faces 43 separate charges and asked for a further 263 offences to also be considered by the court. Asked whether he admitted the charges, the 58-year-old Price said: "Each and every one." He was found out when an audit was carried out at the branch and three boxes taped together were found in a safe. Inside one of the boxes was an envelope containing the note signed by Price.
■ United States
Couple `enslaved' patients
A Kansas husband and wife who ran a psychotherapy practice were to go on trial on Tuesday on charges that they kept mentally ill people as slaves, forced them to perform sex acts on videotape and then billed Medicare nearly US$1 million for the "therapy." Prosecutors said that Arlan Kaufman, 68, and his wife Linda Kaufman, 62, spent 18 years taking advantage of their patients. The couple ran a residential care facility in Newton, Kansas, where they worked with at least 20 mentally ill individuals from 1980 until last year. The couple allegedly forced residents to engage in hard labor in the nude as well as engage in masturbation, fondling and shaving each other's genitals, much of which was videotaped.
■ United States
Arnie nixes pills for pervs
California taxpayers will no longer help pay the cost of impotency drugs for registered sex offenders under legislation signed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill signed on Tuesday amends current law that requires the state's health insurance program for the poor to help cover the cost of drugs used for treating erectile dysfunction. Federal support for Viagra subsidies was curtailed earlier this year when a New York audit found nearly 200 sex offenders benefiting from the program. Schwarzenegger then asked state agencies to stop prescribing for sex offenders and asked lawmakers to ban the coverage.
RSS