Russians who gang-raped M'sian student filmed attack on their phones

LONDON: Four wealthy Russians who used an iPhone to film themselves gang-raping a Malaysian student at an exclusive private college in London are facing jail terms.

The group had been in Britain for just two weeks when they carried out the horrific two-and-a-half hour attack on the Malaysian teenager at the £30,000-per-year (RM146,000) college.

The Daily Mail reported that the Russians, aged between 19 and 23, gave a sickening running commentary - and even filmed themselves boasting about what they were going to do to the victim the day before the attack.
 The prosecution fear that she may have had her drinks spiked as she was too drunk to consent.

Oleg Ivanov, 23, Norayr Davtyan, 22, Armen Simonyan, 19, and 23-year-old Gregory Melnikov all denied rape but were unanimously convicted by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday.

Davtyan described the girl as a "machine" and in the witness box referred to her as a "sl**".
The court heard that Ivanov expressed "pity" for the victim when they noticed she was crying but was talked out of it by his friend Davtyan.

Prosecutor Peter Clement said the four watched and encouraged each other during the attack, and gave a running commentary as to what they had done and what they were going to do to their fellow student.
They referred to her merely in the abstract as "her" or "she" and in the course of the incident one of the four even had to ask another, "What's her name?''

International water polo player Davtyan was holding a party at his dorm at the exclusive college in South London on Jan 21 this year which the girl attended. She had a shot of whisky at the party before going to a disco at the school.

Although there is no concrete evidence her drink was spiked, she felt "funny, dizzy and peculiar" and was clearly intoxicated before going back to the party and vomiting, then falling asleep. The next time she awoke, a man was having sex with her but she was unable to move, the jury heard.

She told police: "I just wanted him to stop, I couldn't wake up, I couldn't stand up, I felt really, really, really tired, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move my hand...
"I just wanted to close my eyes, I just wanted to die, I did not consent to it."

The four men were all unanimously found guilty of rape at Woolwich Crown Court.
They sat emotionless in the dock as the verdicts against them were read out but a cry was heard from the family members in the public gallery.

Davtyan was convicted on two counts of rape, Melnikov was guilty of rape and attempted rape while Ivanov and Simonyan were both convicted of one count of rape.

They were remanded in custody until they are sentenced.

Dad raped daughter over seven years

What her father did to her made her feel like "an animal".
They were horrible, disgusting acts that fathers would not contemplate happening to their daughters, let alone inflict on them.

She was just 10 when her father showed his true colours as the worst kind of sexual predator - one who preys on his own flesh and blood.

It was the first of many rapes over the next seven years, and she lived in dread of being left alone with her monster dad. In time, any love she had for him turned to hate as she suffered his attacks in silence. It was only in March last year that his heinous acts finally came to light, ironically after the girl's mother had scolded her for behaving like a prostitute with some male schoolmates.

The girl was so upset by this that she wrote a note to her mother that led to the unravelling of her father's crimes.

Yesterday, the father, 44, was jailed for 24 years and given the maximum 24 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to his rape and sodomy offences. The electrical repairman showed no emotion as he fiddled with an inhaler in his hands when the sentence was read out to him.

He cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, who's now 18.

Strauss-Kahn free from house arrest; charges stand

Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn walked out of court free on bail Friday after prosecutors said an extensive background investigation of the hotel housekeeper accusing him of sexual assault gave them pause.

Strauss-Kahn had been under pricey house arrest for weeks in a ritzy Manhattan loft on $6 million in cash and bond. The charges, which include attempted rape, have not been reduced, but the move signals that prosecutors do not believe the accusations are as ironclad as they once seemed.

The 32-year-old hotel maid accused Strauss-Kahn of chasing her through his luxury suite in May, trying to pull down her pantyhose and forcing her to perform oral sex.

"It is a great relief," said Strauss-Kahn's attorney, William Taylor, adding that the case underscores "how easy it is for people to be charged with serious crimes and for there to be a rush to judgment."
"It is so important in this country that people, especially the media, refrain from judgment until the facts are all in," he said.

The accuser's attorney did not back down on the seriousness of the charges.
"From Day One she has described a violent sexual assault that Dominique Strauss-Kahn committed against her," attorney Ken Thompson said.
"She has described that sexual assault many times, to prosecutors and to me, and she has never once changed a single thing about that encounter," he said.

He referred to media reports that his client was involved with a drug dealer, calling them lies.
Strauss-Kahn arrived at the courthouse Friday morning in a Lexus SUV and strode confidently up the granite steps with his wife, French journalist Anne Sinclair, at his side. He wore a dark gray suit, and she a white jacket.

After the hearing, he walked slowly out of the courthouse with his arm on her shoulder, smiling slightly at the throng gathered outside.
His passport remained surrendered, and he will not yet be allowed to leave the country. His other attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said Strauss-Kahn would be free to travel within the United States.