Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At 9 20200221 : comparemela

BBCNEWS BBC News At 9 February 21, 2020

Of coal and fresh logs, for burning on open fires and stoves in an attempt to reduce air pollution. And the winner is, a movie from south korea. What the hail was that all about . Donald trump has a dig at the oscars for awarding best picture to parasite, a dark south korean comedy about class struggle and wealth inequality. And in sport theres no stopping wolves in their european adventure as they look to be heading into the last 16 in the europa league. Good morning and welcome to the bbc news at 9 the man convicted of killing the british backpacker Grace Millane in new zealand has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 17 years. Before the sentencing, graces mother gillian gave an emotional victim impact statement via video link, saying her daughter died terrified and alone. Our correspondent Shaima Khalil reports. On the eve of her 22nd birthday, Grace Millane spent a night out with this man but shortly after these pictures were captured, he murdered her. The killer has been jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years without parole. A suppression court order means we still cannot reveal his identity. Graces mother gillian said her daughter would always be her sunshine. She addressed the killer direct via video link, saying hed ripped a hole in her heart. You walked into our lives and destroyed grace in the pursuit of your own sexual gratification. She died terrified and alone in a room with you. I will miss my darling grace until the last breath in my body leaves me. The chief Police Investigator criticised the defence for arguing graces death was a case of rough sex gone wrong. Strangling someone for 5 10 minutes until they die is not rough sex. If people are going to use that type of defence, all it actually does is repeatedly victimises the victim. And the victims family. Graces mother said no sentence the killer got would match a life without her daughter but the case that has gripped the nation and destroyed a family has finally come to an end. Shaima khalil, bbc news. Our correspondent, Shaimaa Khalil was in court in auckland. Earlier she described the mood inside the courtroom. You inside the courtroom. Could feel the high emotions that you could feel the high emotions in that courtroom when the sentence was passed. It was quite noticeable how many young women attended the sentencing today, it was a packed Public Gallery and ive been told many women have identified with Grace Millane s case, many told media here that what happened to her could have happened to them, to anybody and that they wanted to be there for the final day in court. G rays there for the final day in court. Grays s brother declan was quite emotional and delivered a very strong and heartfelt message as well. At one point he was in tears and he told the killer that he did not only take her life but you took a part of mine as well and he said he felt helpless because he could not protect his little sister and that he struggled with his Mental Health afterwards. It was really a very, very emotive day to day in court. As thejudge passed very, very emotive day to day in court. As the judge passed the sentence and of course ended that case. It has gripped this nation, many people followed it day in and out until the final day to day of the sentencing. Well as weve been hearing, the defence maintained throughout the case that graces death occurred as a result of so called rough sex, something that was rejected by the jury. The campaign group, we cant consent to this has collated dozens of example of women killed by men claiming a sex game had gone wrong. Theyre demanding for the rough sex defence to be outlawed. Joining me from salford is louise perry who works for we cant consent to this louise, tell us more about that research, first of all. We run a campaign that documents cases where uk women have been killed and their killers had claimed in court that they died as the result of consensual violence as part of rough sex so consensual violence as part of rough sex so the case of Grace Millane is the 60th weve documented so far. What weve been seeing an increasing frequency with which this is being used by defendants, theyve been meeting with increasing success so in the last five years for instance we documented 18 cases where defendants have used the rough sex defence and in just under half of those cases they had met with some success those cases they had met with some success using it so instead of being found guilty of murder theyve been found guilty of murder theyve been found guilty of manslaughter or had their sentence reduced or in a couple of cases happened been found guilty of any crime at all so we are really concerned about the success defendants have been using this. Im sure youve been listening very carefully to the comments around the Grace Millane case, we heard a Police Official said the attempt to use this defence was repeatedly revitalising grace but yet the judge said this defence should not have been criticised for pursuing a defence where they said grace had died during what they called consensual sex. We absolutely acknowledge defendants have a right to give their side of the story but they dont have a right to be believed and thats what we are so concerned about, we are finding courts and the media and right the way through the criminaljustice system, theres a sort of credulous nurse when it comes to this defence being used, superficially it might look like maybe this was just an accident, actually once you look into these cases and start seeing patterns, it becomes clear that actually this is a cynical use of this defence to try and evade justice. In many of the cases weve looked at, defendants often have a history of really Serious Violence against women, thejury might not be aware of, we know of at least three cases where killers have used this defence and have gone on to kill again so we need to see this within again so we need to see this within a wider pattern of Sexual Violence against women and girls and notjust be naive and think that accidents do happen. Particularly when thinking about Something Like strangulation which was how grace was killed, we know actually theres this widespread misperception that its very easy to accidentally kill someone very easy to accidentally kill someone through strangulation, its something that can be done carelessly, possibly people get this idea from film and tv where its often a very short clip that shows someone often a very short clip that shows someone being strangled to death but we know it takes a lot of time, and force as the new zealand detective was saying, this is 5 10 minutes of really forceful strangling to lead to someones death and thats not something that someone can do carelessly, it is a deliberate effort to really harm someone quite possibly lead to their death as well. What changes do you think should be brought in to the law here in the uk in cases like this . It is already the case in case law in england and wales that is not possible to use consent as a defence when youre talking about really Serious Violence and certainly when youre talking about the death of someone youre talking about the death of someone but unfortunately, weve been seeing something of a gap between what the law says on the books and what is actually being enacted by courts which seems to be to do with increasing sympathy among jury to do with increasing sympathy among jury members and the general public towards killers to make this defence which is all to do with the normalisation of really extreme violence against women as part of sex so we are violence against women as part of sex so we are backing amendments to the Domestic Abuse bill but have been built by and brought by Harriet Harman and mark garnier, making it Crystal Clear consent is not a defence absolutely in these cases and we are looking into similar legal firms in scotland and we are also hoping that the government will start monitoring the use of this defence more closely, just in cases where women have died but in nonfatal cases, we found over 100 cases so nonfatal cases, we found over 100 cases so far nonfatal cases, we found over 100 cases so far women nonfatal cases, we found over 100 cases so far women who have been victims of really Serious Violence and grievous bodily harm and their cases have made this defence in court and it striking in all of those cases, when women survive this really Serious Violence and they are able to come to court and give their side of the story, and every single one of those cases they reject the narrative that their attacker gives, they reject the narrative they consented to this. When women survive, we want this to be acknowledged. Thank you for talking to us. Tens of thousands of people across germany have attended vigils to remember the nine victims of a shooting in the town of hanau near frankfurt. The gunman a far right extremist opened fire on two shisha bars. Wednesday evenings attack is being treated by investigators as an act of terrorism. Translation we stand together, we stick together. We want to live together and we show it again and again that this is the strongest remedy against hatred. Thank you very much. Damien mcguinness joins us from berlin bring us up to date with any developments in this investigation overnight. Yes, really, we are getting more and more information about the alleged perpetrator, the motivation certainly seems to have been far right, xenophobic ideology. We are waiting for more concrete information about whether he might have had any links to other groups, federal prosecutors are going to get more information throughout the day today because that is the big question. We seem to know why he did that, it was partly because he seemed to be a disturbed individual but also with some pretty extreme xenophobic, racist abuse, that became clear from a manifesto, as xenophobic, racist abuse, that became clearfrom a manifesto, as he put it, which he published and a video he had published online on youtube, some days before the attack in which he called for ethnic minorities to be wiped out. But what is not yet clear, if he had any links or influences from other groups. It seems at the moment he was acting on his own and that is what most people seem to be assuming at the moment but the big debate right now in germany has moved to a wider political story, really, because its about the responsibility of the far right alternative for germany party, the afd, that party has also condemned the attack but said its simply the act of one individual with psychological problems. Whereas all other parties in germany are saying, the difficulty is, broader one, its the difficulty is, broader one, its the afd is creating an environment by using racist rhetoric which then encourages people who are disturbed anyway, to go out and target people of ethnic minorities. So thats the debate thats just started in germany and its leading to some quite ferocious words from both sides because the afd has become quite a strong party in regional parliaments and also the national parliament. And opposition politicians and politicians from other parties are calling for for the afd to be investigated, looked into by secret services which would bea into by secret services which would be a major constitutional step, difficult to do in germany but i think what we are seeing is the rest of germany really stigmatising the afd and saying the words or to a certain extent carrying some responsibility towards what has happened and how now. Thank you. Lets get some of the other main stories on the bbc news at nine. Police are continuing to question a man on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing inside a mosque. The victim, in his 70s, was injured in an attack at London Central mosque, near regents park. Hes being treated in hospital where his condition is described as non life threatening. Police are not treating the attack as terror related. The irish taoiseach, leo varadkar, has formally offered his resignation, following the inconclusive general election earlier this month. He will remain in post in a caretaker capacity until mps can agree on his successor. The first attempt to do so yesterday saw the sinn fein leader, mary lou mcdonald, receive more votes than her rivals, but not an overall majority president trumps former adviser roger stone has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison for obstructing an investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. Hes maintained the case against him was politically motivated. Mr trump accused the jurys foreperson of being tainted, and has hinted he may pardon his ally. An evacuation flight for britons trapped on a coronavirus hit cruise ship injapan has been delayed by a day. About 70 uk nationals who have spent 16 days in quarantine on the liner had expected to fly home today. But the flight is logistically complicated and they will now arrive in the uk tomorrow, according to the british embassy. Only those showing no signs of illness will be able to travel, and they will be put in isolation on their return. Our correspondent laura bicker is in yokohama where the diamond princess is docked it has been for some time. Laura, pretty confusing picture for us outside, let alone the people on board. Bring us up to date with what we know about the logistics of getting them off the ship and back to the uk. You are right, theyve been locked in their cabins for 1h days, only allowed out for 1 2 minutes each day. Theyve been waiting to hear from the British Government to find out when their flight government to find out when their flight home will be. To date theyve watched hundreds of other passengers leave, the japanese government has said everyone will be off the ship has tested negative for the virus by the end of today and yet, around 70 britons are still waiting to find out when there disembarkation time will be. We understand five or six hours time they will be allowed off the ship, then they go through their last medical tests, they will have a temperature check, they will go through a one to one interview, screening through a one to one interview, screening process through a one to one interview, screening process to figure out if theyve got any symptoms of coronavirus. After that they will eventually get onto a bus here and make their way to the airport. The flight make their way to the airport. The flight doesnt leave, you can see its dark here injapan, the flight does not leave until the very early hours of the morning here injapan so hours of the morning here injapan so it will not arrive in the uk until tomorrow. Then the ordeal is not over. They have to go into quarantine once again and there has been a facility set up in the world. 0k, been a facility set up in the world. Ok, laura, thank you for that update. Lets get an understanding of what awaits the cruise passengers when they return to the uk. Jeff siddle is a former arrowe park patient who spent time in quarantine and joins me now via webcam from newcastle. Its very good to talk to you today. On the other side of quarantine. First of all, whats your advice for these people coming from yokohama when they eventually get back to the ukfor when they eventually get back to the uk for life when they eventually get back to the ukfor life in when they eventually get back to the uk for life in the facility, this next period of quarantine they have to go through . Hello, actually, what they are going through the ship, i think the world quarantine is a far bigger improvement on that. You are not allowed to leave the complex but in terms of the facilities, the staff are really excellent are trying to make the best of the situation youre in. What can they expect when they get there in terms of daily routine, facilities available to them and so on . Well, there is two blocks, there is a common room, there is a small common room area with games, pool tables, that sort of thing and an area you can get your meals are served stop obviously, if its families, they will be trying to give you an apartment with bedrooms and a kitchen to yourself, for individuals there apartments with four bedrooms and a shared kitchen diner so you can come out for your meals but obviously the staff kind of encourage you to still not mingle in large groups, just in case of the risk of the virus. There is a smaller outdoor area, there is a high fenced ring round the whole complex to prevent you from leaving but there is a small outdoor area, you can get some fresh air, walk around, so you can, at least, get outside, compared to the people on the ship, they didnt even have a balcony window, compared to that, i think they will find it a lot better than what theyve been through so far. Unlike you who was coming from wuhan to the uk and going into this one block of quarantine, this latest group of people they are going from quarantine to another quarantine and you know, in theory, that is what is ahead of you but what the reality like, emotionally, psychologically, leaving aside the practicalities of it, how difficult is it to get through that period of knowing that you cannot actually have the freedom to get up and walk out and go for everyone . Yes, it does become, the days, one day after the other, you just seem to watch daytime tv and almost hooked on the news 24 hour channels but that feeling of you cant go out and go for a walk, you cant go out and go for a walk, you can see over the fence, this lovely wooded area and walkways and that feeling of being trapped, you cant do what you want to do. How did you cope with that . Difficult. My wife andi cope with that . Difficult. My wife and i come up with our nine year old daughter, we had the extra complication of a little one wanting to go out and play and it was difficult to understand for her why she could not go out so we tried to keep her busy with board games, there was a lot of people donated things from around the world, toys, games, we had an xbox, things like that, just to try and break the monotony of it and we were trying to go with a Facebook Group and chat with people there and get some support from groups around that, there was lots to try and help you. The World Council set up of friends and family centre, family could send parcels and then they were brought into us later so family had sent books and games and my daughter s school send birthday cards, she had her birthday inside the quarantine area which is tough but the school sent birthday c

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