Turkey: Father & Uncle Allegedly Kill Gay Teen In Honour Killing

Hurriyet Daily News reports:

A gay teenager was allegedly killed last month by his father and uncle in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır in a murder that the boy’s rich and powerful tribal family subsequently sought to cover up, according to local members of the LGBT community.

R.A., 17, had allegedly been exposed to violence by his family because of his sexual orientation before seeking refuge at a friend’s house, daily Cumhuriyet reported.

R.A.’s uncle, however, forcibly removed the teenager from his friend’s house; later, the boy reportedly had an argument with his father, after which the latter allegedly shot his son 14 times before he and his brother deposited the body by the side of the road, Cumhuriyet reported.

R.A.’s father and uncle were subsequently arrested for their alleged role in the murder.

A member of the local LGBT community said the family had sought to cover the incident up.

“The family wanted to cover up the murder which happened one month ago because they were a rich and powerful tribal family. They wanted the police to hide the incident,” the person said. “We are subjected to violence, but there is no place where we can make a complaint or search for our rights. Police insult and swear at us, doctors make fun of us.”

NEW YORK CITY: Murderer Pleads Insanity In Grisly 2011 Killing Of His Boyfriend

Joe.My.God. reports:

In January 2011 New York City’s tabloids published daily grisly updates in the case of Portuguese model Renato Seabra, who stabbed to death and then castrated his wealthy and renowned fashion photographer boyfriend with a wine corkscrew in a midtown hotel. Seabra told the NYPD at the time that he had murdered Carlos Castro in order to free him of his “homosexual demons” and that he himself was “not gay anymore.” Yesterday Seabra’s lawyer pleaded an insanity defense. A 2011 court filing from the defense advised the court that Seabra believed that he was acting on direct orders from God. Via Gay City News reporter Duncan Osborne:

“Mr. Seabra developed a manic episode and became fulminantly psychotic,” David Touger, the attorney for Renato Seabra, wrote in a court filing last year. “He acted on his delusional ideas when he attacked and killed Mr. Castro. He did not appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions, as he was acting as a conduit for God.” This mental disease or defect defense, or insanity defense as it is more commonly known, asserts that because the now 22-year-old Seabra could not tell right from wrong when he killed Castro, he cannot be held criminally liable. If a jury agrees, Seabra will be institutionalized until doctors decide he is no longer a threat. His trial may start as soon as September. At a June 18 hearing, Touger and Maxine Rosenthal, the assistant district attorney who is prosecuting the case, said they wanted to go to trial soon. While some earlier press reports have noted that Seabra would use an insanity defense, none has noted that he claimed to be acting on God’s behalf. Seabra faces one second-degree murder count that alleges he intended to kill Castro. The maximum penalty for second-degree murder is 25-years-to-life.

According to a psychologist hired by the defense, Seabra suffered from “Bipolar I Disorder, Single Manic Episode, Severe with Psychotic features.” Seabra first came to national fame in Portugal after appearing on a male model reality show.

Canada: Prominent Gay Activist Raymond Taavel Beaten To Death Outside Gay Bar In Halifax, NS

The National Post reports:

Police are investigating after a prominent gay rights activist was beaten to death outside a popular gay bar in Halifax early Tuesday morning.
Officers were called to the 2000-block of Gottingen Street at about 2:40 a.m. where they found a 49-year-old man bleeding. He later died in the street.
Police have made an arrest over the death, but Const. Brian Palmeter of the Halifax Regional Police said it was too early to speculate on whether the homicide was a hate crime.
“A witness … saw another man fleeing the area on foot,” Const. Palmeter told theNational Post.
Police dogs were able to track down the 32-year-old man, who was hiding in a nearby alley. Police expect to lay charges against him in the next 24 hours, Const. Palmeter said.
Police have not named the victim but friends and co-workers have identified him as Raymond Taavel, an activist and the former editor of Wayves, a gay and lesbian magazine.
The assault, according to the Chronicle-Herald newspaper, happened outside the Menz & Mollyz Bar, a gay bar.
News of Mr. Taavel’s death circulated quickly on Twitter, as many those who knew the man mourned the loss of an “inspiring” and “vibrant” person.
An autopsy on the victim was to be performed on Tuesday morning.
Investigators from the Halifax police and the RCMP are asking anyone with information about the incident to call 902-490-5016. Anonymous tips can also be sent to Crime Stoppers at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca.
A vigil for Mr. Taavel has been planned for Tuesday night at Menz Bar from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

RELATED: CBS News reports that it was indeed a gay-bashing:

Two witnesses have told police the attacker used homophobic slurs during the beating and one eyewitness told CBC News that he repeatedly slammed Taavel’s head into the street where the victim was found by police and later pronounced dead by paramedics. A witness, who only wants to be identified as James, told CBC News that he saw a large man attack two smaller men, who appeared to be friends. One victim fled and the attacker then slammed the other man’s head into the street.

Colombia: Authorities Claim Gay Priests Hired Own Killers In Bizarre Suicide Pact

Joe.My.God. reports:

The bereaved and devoted parishioners of Father Richard Piffano, 37, and Father Rafael Reatiga, 35, say the men were killed by street robbers in all too common Colombian scenario. The police have another theory.

Two Colombian priests who were found shot dead in the capital Bogota a year ago themselves hired the assassins who killed them, prosecutors say. They said the priests had agreed a suicide pact after one of them was diagnosed with AIDS, but contracted hitmen because they could not bring themselves to carry it out. Prosecutors allege they paid the suspected hitmen around $8,500 (£5,440) to kill them and make it look like a robbery attempt. The two priests had been friends since their training and often celebrated Mass and other religious services together, Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper reported. In his final church service, Father Reatiga asked parishioners to pray to Santa Marta, the patron saint of lost causes, the paper reported, while Father Piffano asked his to “pray for me”.

Relatives of the priests deny they were gay.

Scotland: Gay Teen On Trial In Killing Of Schoolmate 

BBC News reports:

The Jack Frew murder trial has been told that the schoolboy’s body had a number of stab wounds to his chest and back and his windpipe had been cut.
Det Sgt James Munro was giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, where Craig Roy is charged with murdering the teenager in East Kilbride in May 2010.
Mr Roy, 19, admits stabbing 16-year-old Jack Frew but denies murdering him.
The jury also heard a taped police interview with the accused in which he said he just wanted to scare Mr Frew.
At the time of the killing, both Jack Frew and Craig Roy were pupils at the same school in East Kilbride.
Det Sgt Munro told the court Mr Frew’s clothing was “heavily bloodstained” and his T-shirt had holes in it.
The court heard that Mr Munro served as a police officer for 34 years before retiring.
He said that he attended the crime scene - in a wooded area off a cycle path - at about 21:00 on 6 May 2010.
The former detective said Mr Frew was lying on his side under a small bush.
Mr Munro was asked by advocate depute Jennifer Bain, prosecuting, what he noticed about Mr Frew’s body and he replied: “I noticed that his throat had been cut.

Det Sgt James Munro described the wounds to Jack Frew’s body
“When I moved the body later on I saw the windpipe had been cut.”
The jury was told that Mr Frew had been wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a nylon jacket and one shoe was missing. They were shown photographs of his body.
The detective said he pulled up the T-shirt to see if there were any injuries to Mr Frew’s body.
He told Ms Bain: “I saw several at the front and back.”
The court also heard that Mr Frew had injuries to his hands.
One of his hands was clenched, but had nothing in it other than moss and greenery from the surrounding area.
Fingertip search
Mr Munro said he searched Mr Frew’s pockets, but could find no trace of his mobile phone.
A team of police officers was brought in for a fingertip search of the area and the phone was found 3ft to 4ft in front of his body hidden in undergrowth.
The missing shoe was discovered 3ft to 4ft behind his body next to a tree stump.
Earlier the jury was told that Mr Frew had sent a sexually explicit text to Mr Roy just hours before he was stabbed to death.

“I can’t remember how it went. It just happened very, very fast”
Craig Roy
The jury was read all 82 texts messages sent between Mr Roy and Mr Frew from December 2009 to 6 May 2010.
Many of them related to schoolwork and four were in schoolboy French.
Later the accused sat in the dock with his head bowed as a taped interview given by him to police three days after Jack Frew’s death was played to the court.
In it he told Det Con James Waddell that Mr Frew was a “sex pest”.
Mr Roy was asked: “What made Jack Frew a sex pest?” and he replied: “He would never stop just pressurising trying to get what he wanted from anyone at anytime.”
The 19-year-old told police that he had given oral sex to Mr Frew in Duncanrigg High School, where both boys were pupils, some months before.
Mr Roy claimed Mr Frew had threatened to tell his partner Christopher Hannah what had happened.
He said he loved Mr Hannah and felt guilty about what had happened.
Small knife
The accused described Mr Frew as “over-confident and seemed kind of false”.
He said that the schoolboy had told him to meet him at the parish church in East Kilbride on the evening of 6 May 2010.
Det Con Waddell asked Mr Roy: “Did Jack ever say he was going to tell Chris about what happened?” and he replied: “Yes he said he would tell.”
Mr Roy told police he took a small knife from home because he wanted to scare Mr Frew off.
He said: “I can’t remember how it went. It just happened very, very fast.
“It was only afterwards I realised what I had done.”
He was asked if he could you remember what he saw when you looked at Mr Frew and he said: “I remember his neck, it was cut open.”
The 19-year-old was then asked what else he remembered seeing and said: “Just blood. On me, on him.”
He claimed he tried to talk to Mr Frew and check his pulse, but by that time he was dead.
The trial before Lord Doherty continues.

It’s believed Stuart Walker, 28, was beaten and burned alive before he was left in the early hours of Saturday morning.
His charred remains were found by a member of the public at 5am on Saturday in Ayrshire, Scotland.
Detectives launched a murder inquiry on Sunday following the grim discovery, with streets in a nearby industrial estate sealed off as part of the ongoing investigation.
Strathclyde Police confirmed the body had scorch marks and the victim had suffered horrific injuries.
A spokesperson for the force said relatives of Mr Walker, the former assistant manager at the Royal Hotel in Cumnock, Ayrshire, have been informed of his death.
Strathclyde Police would not rule out Mr Walker had been murdered because of his sexuality and were now closely examining all aspects of the victim’s life.
Detective Inspector John Hogg, Ayr CID, said: ”Stuart had been out with friends in the Cumnock area earlier during the night and was last seen alive by a family friend near to the fire station in Glaisnock Street around 2.30am hours on Saturday morning - nearly two and a half hours before he was found.
”It is imperative that we find out where he was between 2.30am and 4.50am hours, who he was with and why this happened to him.
”From our enquiries so far, we understand that there may have been a number of house parties in the nearby Netherthird housing estate in the early hours of the morning - between 2am and 3am hours.
”At this time we do not know if these parties are linked to our investigation or not, so again, any information on that is important.
”Officers are checking CCTV and carrying out door to door in the area and we would encourage anyone with information to approach them or to call Ayr Police Office.”
Kazza Sutherland used to work with Mr Walker at the Royal Hotel.
She said: “Can’t believe this is happened to such a great guy. I hope they catch those who did this to him. Hopefully justice will be served and I hope those who did this go to hell.”
The popular former Cumnock Academy pupil was the subject of countless heartfelt tributes on a Facebook page set up in his honour.
Many friends have paid tribute to the popular man, including Amanda Lindsay, who said: “Poor Stuart can’t believe ur life ended in such a horrific way xx a young man who always had a smile on his face & put a smile on everybody elses face too xx I’m sure ur’s will be the brightest star in the sky xx R.I.P ma lovely.”

United Kingdom: Three Women Die Due To Evangelical Fake HIV Healings In London

Joe.My.God. reports:

Three women in London have died of AIDS after their pastors convinced them that prayers did away with their need for HIV medication.

• HIV prevention charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN) says a growing number of London churches have been telling people the power of prayer will “cure” their infections. “This is happening through a number of churches. We’re hearing about more cases of this,” AHPN chief Francis Kaikumba said. AHPN said it believed the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), which has UK headquarters in Southwark, south London, may be one of those involved in such practices. The church is headed by Pastor T B Joshua, Nigeria’s third richest clergyman, according to a recent Forbes richlist. When approached by BBC London, leaders of the church described themselves as Evangelical Christian pastors. The church’s website, which was set up in Lagos, Nigeria, shows photos of people the church claims have been “cured” of HIV through prayer.

Local News Covers Lawrence King Killing Mistrial

The Mean Girl Panic Defense

Dan Savage comments:

Imagine there’s this 15-year-old mean girl who goes to a middle school in California. She dresses like a slut and likes to tease the boys. There’s this one boy at her school, age 14, that she singles out and picks on. The mean girl flirts with the boy even though it makes him uncomfortable. She goes out of her way to make lewd remarks to him, she seems to relish the boy’s discomfort, and she regularly humiliates him in front of their classmates. One day the boy tells a friend that he’s going to bring a gun to school the next day and kill the mean girl. And the next day the boy walks up behind the mean girl in a computer lab, removes a gun from his backback, and points the gun at the back of the mean girl’s head. The mean girl doesn’t even know the boy is standing behind her. The boy fires two bullets into the mean girl’s head.
The sexually-charged teasing is easy to imagine—that sort of shit goes on in middle and high schools all the time (most of it directed at girls)—and so, sadly, is the shooting. What’s impossible to imagine is what happens at the boy’s trial: the jury deadlocks over manslaughter charges. Not charges of premeditated murder, which this clearly was, but manslaughter. A mistrial is declared. Prosecutors refuse to say whether they intend to retry the boy—again for manslaughter, not premeditated murder.
That’s essentially what happened in California yesterday when a jury deadlocked over manslaughter charges brought against Brandon McInerney in the slaying of gay classmate. Larry King—if you accept the arguments made by McInerney’s defense team—dressed provocatively and made lewd remarks to McInerney. McInerney responded by killing King in cold blood, a murder that was clearly premeditated. But that little faggot was hitting on boys and wearing provocative clothes, McInerney’s lawyers argued, and so he had it coming. The gay panic defense that didn’t work for the men who murdered Matthew Shepard in 1998 worked for the boy who murdered of Larry King in 2011.
It’s impossible to imagine a jury failing to convict a boy who murdered a female classmate for sexually harassing him, or a jury failing to convict a girl who murdered a male classmate for sexually harassing her, I guess that means that only gay kids can be killed for making unwanted advances and crude remarks to classmates. In California. In 2011.

Headline News: Judy Shepard, Neal Broverman, Lisa Bloom & Chris Jacobs On Lawrence Kind’s Murder

James Kraig Allegedly Murdered His Family Following Wife’s Lesbian Affair

The Huffington Post reports:

James Kraig Kahler of Missouri, on trial for allegedly murdering his estranged wife, two daughters and mother-in-law, appeared in court Monday, contending that his slain wife had left him for another woman.The former Columbia city official is facing the death penalty. His lawyers say that he had been mentally ill for months leading up to the incident, according to the Daily Mail.Prosecutors claim Kahlers’ marriage fell apart after James tried to introduce another woman, Sunny Reese, into the bedroom for a “threesome,” the paper reports.Kansas Bureau of Investigation special agent William Halvorsen interviewed the accused murderer after his arrest. According to the Topeka Capital-Journal the Former KBI agent relayed the story James had told him to the jury:

• Kahler told Halvorsen that he had a “great marriage” and a “perfect family” while the family lived in Weatherford, Texas, Halvorsen testified. Kahler also told the agent his wife had been thinking for several years about starting a lesbian relationship. Kahler said he told his wife to go ahead and try it, but he hoped he wouldn’t lose her, Halvorsen said.

“I was trying to be nice about it,” Halvorsen quoted Kahler as saying.Kahler’s 12-year-old son, Sean, who managed to escape the killing spree, which took place in Kansas, testified on Monday to seeing his father shoot his mother, according to Fox News.James Kahler had also been removed from his job about four months prior to the shooting,according to Fox News.
Defense lawyers say in the months after his dismissal his mental health worsened.
Despite the evidence and testimony against Kahler, the .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle believed to be the murder weapon, has not yet been found. However, the Topeka Capital-Journal has reported that Kahler told Halvorsen during interrogations that the weapon would not be easily found, and assured him that it was safe from children.a

Families Clash at Trial for Slain Teen

The Advocate reports:

Four weeks into the trial concerning the death of Oxnard, Calif. teenager Lawrence King, the families involved cannot help but show their emotions. 

Onlookers were touched Thursday when a photo was displayed of King happily wearing a strapless formal gown, given to him by his English teacher, Dawn Boldrin, the Los Angeles Times reports.Boldrin was on the witness stand when the photo was displayed.
The mother of Brandon McInerney, the teen on trial for shooting King in a classroom in 2008, began sobbing, as did Boldrin’s 13-year-old daughter.

The scene angered Greg King, Lawrence’s father, causing him to storm out of the courtroom. When he returned, he gathered the King family to leave for the day. As the group walked past Boldrin’s daughter and another family member, Lawrence’s mother Dawn reportedly whispered an expletive to them.

The following day, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell ejected Dawn King from the courtroom for the rest of the trial due to the whispering. Soon after, Greg King shared his anger with reporters regarding the judge’s ruling, and the tears shed in the courtroom the previous day. 

“My son is dead and they’re crying?” King said. “That’s the woman who gave him a dress after complaining that he shouldn’t be coming to school in makeup and boots!”

King was shot in the classroom at E.O. Greene Junior High School by McInerney in front of several classmates in February 2008. McInerney’s attorneys are arguing that King sexually harassed McInerney. Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox has argued that McInerney was motivated to kill King because of a white supremacist background. McInerney is being tried as an adult. He faces 53 years to life if convicted. 

Some teachers who knew King and McInerney said they were worried that King would be harassed by classmates for wearing makeup, and high-heeled boots.

CNN: On The 4 Year Old Killed For “Acting Gay”

Hasidic Brooklyn Boy’s Remains Found; Suspect In Custody

The search for a missing 8-year-old Brooklyn boy ended early on Wednesday when investigators discovered what they believed to be his dismembered remains in a third-floor attic refrigerator of a Brooklyn man and in a trash bin on a street, the police said. The man, who made incriminating statements, was being questioned and was expected to be charged, the police said.NYPD, via Associated PressLeiby KletzkyThe grim discovery capped two days of intense searching for the boy, Leiby Kletzky, who had disappeared Monday while on what was supposed to be a short walk between a Borough Park school and a meeting place with his parents. Police detectives searched his neighborhood and used helicopters to find the boy, who was part of the Hasidic Jewish community. They recovered video from Monday that showed him alive.In the end, the inquiry led to 466 East Second Street, in Kensington, Brooklyn, the home of the suspect, Levi Aron, 35, who was taken into custody at 2:40 a.m., Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.Mr. Kelly said that the boy was lost and apparently trying to find his way when he encountered Mr. Aron; investigators said that after a conversation, the boy entered Mr. Aron’s vehicle, a 1990 Honda Accord.Mr. Aron told investigators that he had panicked and killed the boy once he realized the extent to which the Hasidic community and the police had mobilized to find the child, Mr. Kelly said. The commissioner said that the police had no evidence that the child had been sexually abused, but that detectives were still investigating.“He panicked, and that is why he killed the boy,” Mr. Kelly said.

Cult Leader Kills Woman & 4-Year-Old “Gay” Boy In North Carolina

Channel 6 News reports:

A North Carolina religious leader killed a 4-year-old boy because he showed he thought he was gay and another 28-year-old woman, prosecutors said Friday.
Peter Lucas Moses, 27, of Durham, North Carolina and leader of a religious cult group, shot and killed Jadon Higganbothan, 4, because he believed he was homosexual, and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, 28, because she was unable to have children and was looking to exit the group, WRAL reported.
Moses’ group consisted of five women and nine children, according to an unnamed woman who spoke with police in February. Besides McKoy, Higganbothan, and the woman, the three other women included the 4-year-old’s mother Vania Rae Sisk, 25, Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40, and Larhonda Renee Smith, also 40. Moses fathered all of the children, with the exception of Higganbothan.
The women were considered Moses’ wives or “common-law wives,” Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline explained, adding that the women would periodically occupy the master suite with him.
According to prosecutors, Moses believed Higganbothan was gay because his father had abandoned Sisk, his mother. In addition, he had hit one of the other children’s bottom sometime in October 2010, triggering Moses’ to walk around angrily throughout the house with a gun in his hand.
Moses had previously told Sisk to “get rid of” Higganbothan, and during the incident, he ordered two of the women to set up loud speakers in the garage where the Lord’s Prayer was played in Hebrew at a high volume. After taking Higganbothan into the garage and shutting the door, a gun shot was heard.
The unnamed witness said the group of women then helped clean up Higganbothan body, who was shot in the head. The body was placed in a suit case, which was later removed from the house because it started to smell.

                              
In late December 2010, McKoy escaped the home and asked to use the neighbor’s cell phone to call her mother in Washington, D.C., but Moses physically dragged her back to the home, as the other women stepped outside as well to witness the struggle. According to the witness, neighbors believed McKoy was mentally ill and living at a group home so they did not call the police.
During the rest of the day, Moses beat McKoy, and each of the women joined in at least once, trying to choke her to death with a telephone cord. As McKoy begged for her life, she was dragged into the bathroom where loud speakers again played the Lord’s Prayer in Hebrew. Moses took the same gun used to kill Higganbothan and fatally shot McKoy several times.
Both bodies were later found buried in the house’s backyard in June, and police found several .22-caliber shell casings, a projectile, and blood in the garage and master bedroom. The .22-caliber weapon was later found on the roof of a Colorado townhouse where the group had moved in February.
Moses faces first-degree murder charges, and prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty against him.
Sisk, Lavada Harris and Smith face first-degree murder charges in McKoy’s death and as accessories in Jadon’s death. Police said two of the women are pregnant.