http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7360871.stm
A man posing as Darth Vader attacked a Star Wars fan who had founded a Jedi Church, a court has heard.
Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. They suffered minor injuries.
Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!"
Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: "I hope the force will soon be with him."
In the event, Hughes turned up and the case at Holyhead Magistrates' Court resumed.
The court heard that he had jumped over a garden wall wearing the bin bag before the attack.
Prosecutor Nia Lloyd said Barney Jones had recently started the Jedi Church in Holyhead, in honour of the good knights from Star Wars.
It had about 30 members locally and "thousands worldwide," she said.
The cousins had been filming themselves playing with light sabres in the garden before the attack.
Hughes admitted two charges of common assault.
The court was told he had a "chronic alcohol problem" and had drunk the best part of a 10-litre box of wine.
Mrs Lloyd said: "He was wearing a black bin bag and a cape and had a metal crutch in his hand."
Hughes hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch, leaving him with a headache, before laughing and hitting Michael Jones in the thigh, causing bruising.
The court heard that Hughes could not remember the incident
Both men were left upset by the incident and they believed it was pre-planned.
She added that the pair believed "very strongly in the church and their religion".
Hughes could not remember the incident and only realised what had happened when he read about it in local newspapers, the court was told.
Defending, Frances Jones, said alcohol was "ruining his life" and he had no idea where he got the crutch from.
The court heard that Hughes had previous convictions, including affray, assault and disorderly behaviour.
The judge warned Hughes that jail remained a possibility, before adjourning for pre-sentence reports until 13 May.
edited to add commentary:
I had posted this and didn't leave any comments but honestly the more I thought about it the more I really wanted to point out a few things that change this from simply an amusing news story to one of the better stories I've read in recent times.
The first thing to point out is just how wonderful it was that the two members of the Church of the Jedi were out in the yard with a friend of theirs video-taping their lightsaber battle. Wow. I mean, this is how they spend their afternoons.
Second thing is that the Drunken Darth Vader was actually drunk on boxed wine! Out of all the beverages this Sith Lord of the Soccor Thugs could be drunk on the only one funnier than boxed wine would have been Zima.
Finally, I enjoy the Jedi's assertion that the attack was pre-planned. Persecution complex much?
Something tells me it actually went down like this:
Step one: Darth gets drunk on boxed wine
Step two: Stumble across two guys playing lightsabre in the yard while their buddy video-tapes
Step three: Wouldn't it be funny to dress up like Darth Vader and pound the Jedis asses?
Step four (an easy step): Find a garbage bag for a cape
Step five (this step is tougher): Find an appropriate light sabre. Hmm, this random crutch should do the trick
Step six: Initiate the attack
Now I could be wrong and perhaps Darth spent months analyzing the complex perimeter defenses of the Jedi Temple looking for the week spot. A team of imperial spies eventually cracked the defenses when they discovered the garden fence was short enough to allow Darth (using his force powers, no doubt) to leap over it and instigate his decimation.
Of course right now the Jedis may feel safe, but really this is just like the final moment in the original Star Wars when Darth's Tie Fighter goes into a spiral. He is out of this battle but not defeated. Darth will never be defeated!!
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Brain Bong
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080509/od_nm/skull1_dc;_ylt=AtyFAq.hqGMFi4gTF0wDQd.s0NUE
Men charged after skull dug up, used as bong Fri May 9, 1:27 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Authorities in Texas have filed corpse-abuse charges against two men who allegedly removed a skull from a grave and used it as a bong.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office confirmed on Thursday that misdemeanor abuse of corpse charges have been filed in the case.
One of the men allegedly told police they dug up a grave in an abandoned cemetery in the woods, removed a head from a body and smoked marijuana using the skull as a bong.
Police found the cemetery and a grave that had been disturbed but are still investigating the rest of the story, officials said.
Men charged after skull dug up, used as bong Fri May 9, 1:27 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Authorities in Texas have filed corpse-abuse charges against two men who allegedly removed a skull from a grave and used it as a bong.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office confirmed on Thursday that misdemeanor abuse of corpse charges have been filed in the case.
One of the men allegedly told police they dug up a grave in an abandoned cemetery in the woods, removed a head from a body and smoked marijuana using the skull as a bong.
Police found the cemetery and a grave that had been disturbed but are still investigating the rest of the story, officials said.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Daniel Corogeanu
This is like a modern day re-telling of Ken Russel's "The Devil's" movie and the exorcist himself looks like a Dungeons and Dragons character.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- A former priest began a seven-year jail term Wednesday for murdering a young nun during an exorcism ritual when she was bound, chained to a cross and denied food and water for days.
Former priest Daniel Corogeanu, center, listens to a court ruling as he is sentenced.
Irina Cornici, 23, died from dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation during an ordeal that stunned Romania and prompted the Orthodox Church to promise reforms and psychological tests to screen potential clergy.
The former priest, Daniel Corogeanu, and four nuns were all convicted and sentenced in September but Corogeanu was freed pending an appeal, which he lost Tuesday. He was picked up by police in the remote northeast Wednesday and sent to jail.
Cornici, who had previously been treated for schizophrenia, had believed she heard the devil talking to her. Corogeanu and the four nuns decided to try an exorcism ritual in June 2005 using techniques that the Romanian Orthodox Church condemned as "abominable".
The church, which has benefited from a religious revival in recent years, defrocked Corogeanu and excommunicated the four nuns, who in September were handed five- and six-year jail terms.
When arrested Wednesday, Corogeanu said he would serve his term if that was God's will, the national news agency Rompres reported.
Corogeanu, a Romanian, dropped out halfway through training for the priesthood, but still served as a priest for the secluded Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania because of a shortage of suitable candidates for convents and monasteries.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- A former priest began a seven-year jail term Wednesday for murdering a young nun during an exorcism ritual when she was bound, chained to a cross and denied food and water for days.
Former priest Daniel Corogeanu, center, listens to a court ruling as he is sentenced.
Irina Cornici, 23, died from dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation during an ordeal that stunned Romania and prompted the Orthodox Church to promise reforms and psychological tests to screen potential clergy.
The former priest, Daniel Corogeanu, and four nuns were all convicted and sentenced in September but Corogeanu was freed pending an appeal, which he lost Tuesday. He was picked up by police in the remote northeast Wednesday and sent to jail.
Cornici, who had previously been treated for schizophrenia, had believed she heard the devil talking to her. Corogeanu and the four nuns decided to try an exorcism ritual in June 2005 using techniques that the Romanian Orthodox Church condemned as "abominable".
The church, which has benefited from a religious revival in recent years, defrocked Corogeanu and excommunicated the four nuns, who in September were handed five- and six-year jail terms.
When arrested Wednesday, Corogeanu said he would serve his term if that was God's will, the national news agency Rompres reported.
Corogeanu, a Romanian, dropped out halfway through training for the priesthood, but still served as a priest for the secluded Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania because of a shortage of suitable candidates for convents and monasteries.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Corpse Wheeled to Check-Cashing Store Leads to 2 Arrests
It's an amazing thing when an article can have a headline that juicy, that over the top and the actual story itself eclipses the header. Brilliant stuff. That it's all over a $355 check is even better!
DND
from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/nyregion/09dead.html?em&ex=1200114000&en=5cb64a5542894788&ei=5087%0A
Corpse Wheeled to Check-Cashing Store Leads to 2 Arrests
By BRUCE LAMBERT and CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: January 9, 2008
Even for the once-notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, it may have been a first: Two men were arrested on Tuesday after pushing a corpse, seated in an office chair, along the sidewalk to a check-cashing store to cash the dead man’s Social Security check, the police said.
When Virgilio Cintron, 66, died at his apartment at 436 West 52nd Street recently, his roommate and a friend saw an opportunity to cash his $355 check, the police said.
They did not go about it the easy way, the police said, choosing a ruse that resembled the plot of “Weekend at Bernie’s,” a film about two young men who prop up their dead employer to pretend that he is alive.
“Hell’s Kitchen has a rich history,” said Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman, “but this is one for the books.”
There was no sign of foul play in Mr. Cintron’s death, he added.
The roommate, James P. O’Hare, and his friend, David J. Dalaia, both 65 and unemployed, placed Mr. Cintron’s body in the chair and wheeled it around the corner, south along Ninth Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, the police said. The men parked the chair with the corpse in front of Pay-O-Matic at 763 Ninth Avenue, a check-cashing business that Mr. Cintron had patronized.
They went inside to present the check, but a clerk said Mr. Cintron would have to cash it himself, and asked where he was, the police said.
“He is outside,” Mr. O’Hare said, indicating the body in the chair, according to Mr. Browne.
The two men started to bring the chair inside, but it was too late.
Their sidewalk procession had already attracted the stares of passers-by who were startled by the sight of the body flopping from side to side as the two men tried to prop it up, the police said. The late Mr. Cintron was dressed in a faded black T-shirt and blue-and-white sneakers. His pants were pulled up part of the way, and his midsection was covered by a jacket, the police said. While the two men were inside the check-cashing office, a small crowd had gathered around the chair. A detective, Travis Rapp, eating a late lunch at a nearby Empanada Mama saw the crowd and notified the Midtown North station house.
Police officers and an ambulance arrived as the two men were trying to maneuver the corpse and chair into the check-cashing office.
The two men were taken into custody and questioned. The police said they were considering charging them with check-cashing fraud.
Mr. Cintron’s body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner’s office said its preliminary assessment was that he had died of natural causes within the past 24 hours.
DND
from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/nyregion/09dead.html?em&ex=1200114000&en=5cb64a5542894788&ei=5087%0A
Corpse Wheeled to Check-Cashing Store Leads to 2 Arrests
By BRUCE LAMBERT and CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: January 9, 2008
Even for the once-notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, it may have been a first: Two men were arrested on Tuesday after pushing a corpse, seated in an office chair, along the sidewalk to a check-cashing store to cash the dead man’s Social Security check, the police said.
When Virgilio Cintron, 66, died at his apartment at 436 West 52nd Street recently, his roommate and a friend saw an opportunity to cash his $355 check, the police said.
They did not go about it the easy way, the police said, choosing a ruse that resembled the plot of “Weekend at Bernie’s,” a film about two young men who prop up their dead employer to pretend that he is alive.
“Hell’s Kitchen has a rich history,” said Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman, “but this is one for the books.”
There was no sign of foul play in Mr. Cintron’s death, he added.
The roommate, James P. O’Hare, and his friend, David J. Dalaia, both 65 and unemployed, placed Mr. Cintron’s body in the chair and wheeled it around the corner, south along Ninth Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, the police said. The men parked the chair with the corpse in front of Pay-O-Matic at 763 Ninth Avenue, a check-cashing business that Mr. Cintron had patronized.
They went inside to present the check, but a clerk said Mr. Cintron would have to cash it himself, and asked where he was, the police said.
“He is outside,” Mr. O’Hare said, indicating the body in the chair, according to Mr. Browne.
The two men started to bring the chair inside, but it was too late.
Their sidewalk procession had already attracted the stares of passers-by who were startled by the sight of the body flopping from side to side as the two men tried to prop it up, the police said. The late Mr. Cintron was dressed in a faded black T-shirt and blue-and-white sneakers. His pants were pulled up part of the way, and his midsection was covered by a jacket, the police said. While the two men were inside the check-cashing office, a small crowd had gathered around the chair. A detective, Travis Rapp, eating a late lunch at a nearby Empanada Mama saw the crowd and notified the Midtown North station house.
Police officers and an ambulance arrived as the two men were trying to maneuver the corpse and chair into the check-cashing office.
The two men were taken into custody and questioned. The police said they were considering charging them with check-cashing fraud.
Mr. Cintron’s body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner’s office said its preliminary assessment was that he had died of natural causes within the past 24 hours.
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