Month: January 2023

Two men charged with the Boxing Day murder of footballer Cody Fisher have been remanded in custody after appearing at Birmingham Crown Court today. 

Suspects Kami Carpenter, 21, and Remy Gordon, 22, spoke only to confirm their personal details and enter not guilty pleas to a linked charge of affray.

The pair were not asked to enter a plea to a charge of murdering Cody Fisher – who was stabbed to death at the Crane nightclub in Digbeth. 

Following a four-minute hearing before two magistrates, Carpenter and Gordon were ordered to reappear before a judge at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday – a further hearing was set for January 30.

The case and several others was listed at Birmingham Crown Court because the nearby magistrates’ court was closed.

West Midlands Police said Mr Fisher was fatally stabbed on the dancefloor of the nightclub, which had its licence suspended for 28 days on Friday.

This followed accusations from the force that there had been ‘serious management failings’ at the venue on the night he died.

In a review meeting on Friday, Birmingham city councillors said they will consider whether to close the club permanently in a full review hearing in the future.

The police’s application for the review said Mr Fisher died during ‘a fight on the dancefloor’ and officers who attended ‘described a scene of chaos and evidence of drug use within the premises’.

Officers recovered a knife from the crime scene, and a post-mortem examination has confirmed that Mr Fisher died of a stab wound. (…) Daily Mail

The Club will hold a minute silence ahead of kick-off this evening in loving memory of Cody Fisher.

Players, officials and staff members will also wear black armbands as a mark of respect. 💙 pic.twitter.com/OpdqZyqHIo

— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) December 30, 2022

pic.twitter.com/hd2C6zO4EP

— Stratford Town FC (@StratfordTownFC) December 27, 2022

https://www.fdesouche.com/2023/01/03/birmingham-g-b-cody-fisher-un-footballeur-de-23-ans-poignarde-a-mort-dans-une-boite-de-nuit-deux-suspects-inculpes/

Six men have been charged in connection with an incident on New Year’s Day at an Irish hotel housing asylum seekers that saw four people hospitalized with stab wounds.

All individuals, aged in their 20s and 30s, are residents of the Hotel Killarney in County Kerry, which is currently being used as a Direct Provision center accommodating asylum seekers.

According to police, a fight broke out at the location shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, which the Irish Times reports was “between two groups of men from Eastern Europe and North Africa.”

Four men were hospitalized with stab wounds, which are understood to be non-life threatening, and a large police presence was required to restore order at the facility.

A spokesperson for Garda, the national police service of Ireland, confirmed two men were arrested at the time of the incident, and a further four were apprehended by authorities on Monday.

The fight was described by police as a “public order incident”; those involved were detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

“A Garda forensic examination has taken place of the scene. The investigation is ongoing,” the spokesperson added.

Footage circulating on social media showed a large police presence at the facility in the aftermath of the incident.

Commenting on the incident, the leader of the Irish Freedom Party, Hermann Kelly, wrote: “Multiple stabbings at former hotel in Killarney now used by migrants. How much violence and murders do we have to witness before we say ‘Enough is enough?’”

The hotel at the heart of the incident is acting as a temporary facility for housing asylum seekers, a policy that has been adopted by both Irish and British governments to cope with rising levels of immigrants, and has brought with it much social unrest and civil disorder.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ, Mayor of Killarney Niall Kelleher called on Minister Roderic O’Gorman and the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) to revisit its policy, which has seen hundreds of new arrivals, predominantly adult males of many different nationalities, occupy the hotel, causing tensions among themselves and the wider public.

“There was a lot of concern raised by people here openly, and by the elected representatives, regarding the volume and concentration of people in one center,” Kelleher explained.

“That hasn’t changed, and I’m calling on IPAS and the minister for a full review of the incident that has happened, as well as the Garda investigation,” he added.

https://rmx.news/ireland/six-men-charged-for-new-years-day-stabbings-at-irish-hotel-currently-housing-asylum-seekers/

A German doctor was sentenced late Monday to two years and nine months in prison for illegally issuing more than 4,000 people with exemptions from wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

A regional court in the southwestern town of Weinheim confirmed Tuesday that the doctor was convicted of “issuing incorrect health certificates” to people from across Germany, most of whom she had never met or examined. During the trial the defendant had argued that wearing masks was harmful to people’s health.

In addition to the prison sentence she was handed a three-year work ban and ordered to pay $29,550, the sum she had received for issuing the medical certificates. Her office assistant was fined 2,700 euros.

Dozens of supporters gathered outside the court in Weinheim, north of Heidelberg, to protest against the verdict and Germany’s pandemic restrictions.

Germany ended requirements to wear masks in many indoor settings last year, though they are still compulsory on long-distance trains, in doctors’ practices, hospitals, nursing homes and on some regional public transport.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/german-doctor-sentenced-over-2-years-prison-illegally-issuing-mask-exemptions-during-pandemic

Sweden failed last year in its fight against gang crime, the country’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said after a wave of violence over the festive period saw the 63rd fatal shooting across the country in 2022.

“The citizens have a legitimate expectation that the results will be significantly much better,” Strömmer said in a video published by Swedish broadcaster SVT.

The Moderate party justice minister, who has served in the cabinet of Ulf Kristersson since October last year, called for regional law enforcement agencies to pool their resources and “make a powerful mobilization” in order to “break this gross and serious crime.”

The Christmas weekend sparked a spate of violent incidents which continued into the new year, with Swedish media reporting the fatal shooting of a 27-year-old man with connections to an organized crime gang on Christmas morning in the Rinkeby district of Stockholm.

Two days later, an explosion was reported in Enskededalen, southern Stockholm, in a stairwell at the residence of a man linked to gang crime and associated with the murdered man in Rinkeby.

On Dec. 28, two shootings were reported in Gubbängen, southern Stockholm for which two minors, aged 14 and 15 respectively, were arrested.

On the same night, an explosion took place in the residential neighborhood of Farsta in the Swedish capital. The incident occurred at an address registered to a man in his 20s with links to organized crime.

New Year’s Eve saw a spate of incidents across Stockholm, as an explosion device was detonated in Rågsved, and three people were injured in a shooting in Vällingby, in the west of the capital. Police later confirmed that one person died from their injuries.

Additionally, on Jan. 2, two explosions in apartment buildings in Stockholm saw five people arrested. The first took place shortly after 3 a.m. in Grimsta, western Stockholm, with a second occurring at 4.30 a.m. in Bagarmossen in the capital’s south-east.

Strömmer told the Swedish broadcaster that there was no quick fix to the rise of gang crime in the country, and warned it would take time for the new government to get a handle on the situation.

He claimed, however, the Moderate-led administration has already made strides to address the issue by increasing the financial resources available for police forces and focusing on prevention in schools and social services to dissuade vulnerable minors from falling into the hands of crime gangs.

“I think that everyone understands that this is a development that takes time to reverse, but we will use the time as well as possible,” Strömmer told SVT.

“When it comes to working methods, methodology and organization, I do not rule out at all that there may be a need to do other things, however, I cannot give information about that today,” the justice minister added.

https://rmx.news/crime/festive-shootings-and-explosions-rock-sweden-as-justice-minister-says-country-is-losing-fight-against-gang-crime/

A failure to integrate the large influx of immigrants into Germany in recent years is to blame for the riots that took place in multiple cities across the country on New Year’s Eve, deputy leader of the CDU parliamentary group, Jens Spahn, has claimed.

This site has already reported on the migrant-fueled incidents on Saturday evening, as German celebrations to see in the new year in style descended into chaos. Numerous videos circulating on social media show the extent of the violence and damage done, particularly in the German capital and the port city of Hamburg.

According to Germany’s largest tabloid, Bild, police and firefighters responded to 3,943 incidents in Berlin alone, and initial reports revealed 15 firefighters and 18 police officers were injured as vandals hurled fireworks at police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, and vehicles were burned on the streets of the German capital.

However, a police spokesperson cited by German newspaper Die Welt on Monday claimed 41 emergency responders in Berlin alone were injured in the mayhem.

A total of 159 arrests were made by authorities, the spokesperson added.

Speaking to the t-online news outlet on Monday, Spahn claimed the attacks on rescue workers were a damning indictment of political weakness by Germany’s federal government over a number of years, stating the country’s failed integration policy for newcomers is primarily to blame.

“It’s more about unregulated migration, failed integration, and a lack of respect for the state instead of fireworks,” said Spahn.

“The attacks on emergency services are unspeakable,” the parliamentary group leader added, pointing the finger at the weaknesses of the traffic light coalition in Germany which has not just overseen a significant level of mass migration in recent years, but have actively encouraged it.

Opposition parties have been quick to criticize the liberal coalition comprising Germany’s federal government for creating an environment in which such attacks have become commonplace.

In a statement following the New Year’s Eve chaos, the conservative AfD party described the majority of the rioters as “young, violent men with a southern appearance who hardly speak German.

“Not only can they immigrate unhindered, they also get paid for a nice life by the traffic-light government with tax money,” the party added.

A spokesperson for Nancy Faesar’s Interior Ministry revealed on Monday there was “still no overview of suspects,” but revealed that 84 percent of those arrested are male and claimed 70 percent hold German citizenship, although did not elaborate as to how many hold dual-nationality.

https://rmx.news/crime/unregulated-migration-and-failed-integration-to-blame-for-new-years-eve-riots-claims-prominent-german-opposition-mp/