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Firing squad demanded for teen in Bali

Prosecutors are calling for a 19-year-old woman to be executed by firing squad after she was arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs into Bali. The Brazilian teenager, Manuela Vitoria de Araujo Farias, has been in custody since her initial arrest in January 2023, after allegedly being sprung with 3kg of cocaine in her luggage. According to global press agency Newsflash, prosecutors demanded the maximum penalty. If she is convicted of trafficking drugs into Indonesia, she could face execution by firing squad or a lifetime prison sentence. Authorities allege she was involved with a drug gang, but according to her lawyer, Davi Lira da Silva, the teen sold lingerie and perfume for a living and was tricked by people she trusted. Mr da Silva claimed the 19-year-old was tricked into cooperating after the gang who hired her told her about temples in Bali where they pray for the ill. Her mother had recently suffered a stroke and her lawyers claimed she was going to seek Buddhist prayers for a cure. They also alleged that the gang had promised to pay for surf lessons for Ms Farias following her arrival to the country. Her arrest made international headlines after the case was confirmed to local media by Bali Police Chief Inspector Gen Putu Jayan Danu Putra in Denpasar on January 27, 2023. The Bali Sun reported that Ms Farias had arrived at Bali Airport around 3 am on January 1 on a Qatar Airways flight, travelling from Brazil to Bali via Qatar. “The drug smuggling attempt was thwarted by the Bali airport customs. We really appreciate what customs have done,” Chief Inspector Putra said at a press conference on January 27, according to the outlet. Ms Farias’ case has been adjourned with the sentences to be announced on a later date in April. Image credit: Twitter

Travel Trouble

Ghislaine Maxwell conviction in jeopardy over juror's admission

After a highly publicised trial that saw Ghislaine Maxwell convicted for sex-trafficking, the guilty verdict is now in jeopardy. After the trial ended, a juror made comments to the media about how discussing their own experience with sexual abuse with the other jurors helped them reach a guilty verdict, and ultimately affected the jury's deliberations. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys raised concerns over this revelation, as experts told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jurors-could-face-charges-if-lied-under-oath-2022-1" target="_blank">Insider</a> that it's possible Maxwell's conviction could be thrown out as a result of the juror's comments to the media. It is also possible that the juror in question could face legal consequences such as perjury charges, if US District Judge Alison Nathan determines he was untruthful during the pre-trial procedure. The voir dire is the procedure that happens before a trial commences to determine if each prospective juror is suitable to serve objectively. The juror told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/some-ghislaine-maxwell-jurors-initially-doubted-accusers-juror-says-2022-01-05/" target="_blank">Reuters</a> that they "flew through" the pre-trial questionnaire and didn't recall being asked about any previous experience with sexual assault, as they said they would've answered the question honestly. However, court records show that the questionnaire asked all prospective Maxwell jurors, "Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse or sexual assault?" Following this revelation, a second juror from the Maxwell trial came forward and said they also shared their experiences of sexual assault in the jury deliberations, and potentially swaying the guilty verdict. In the hours after the news of the jurors' own experiences came to light, Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers have called for a retrial on her case. Maxwell was found guilty on five out of six sex-trafficking and conspiracy counts, and is facing up to 65 years in jail. Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 after her involvement with disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein came to light. Image credits: Getty Images

Legal

White mum accused of trafficking biracial daughter

A US woman has accused Southwest Airlines of racial profiling, claiming she was accused of trafficking her biracial daughter while they travelled together. Data journalist Mary MacCarthy told CNN that she and her daughter Moira were flying from Los Angeles to Denver after receiving news that Ms MacCarthy’s brother had passed away. After making a short stop in San Jose, Ms MacCarthy said the pair discovered they weren’t sitting together on their second flight. “I asked flight attendants if we could be seated together but they told us we’d each have to take a middle seat,” Ms MacCarthy <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/southwest-airlines-mum-says-airline-thought-she-was-trafficking-her-biracial-daughter/b68a09d8-0b95-4a1c-97a9-35abd681b290" target="_blank">explained</a>. “So with their permission I asked other passengers if they would kindly move so we could be together, especially as my daughter was grieving, and they did. People are nice.” But when they arrived in Denver, Ms MacCarthy said they were greeted on the runway by two police officers. “I got quite a shock; having lost my brother the night before, I thought that someone else in my family had died and that police had been sent to deliver the news,” she wrote in an email to the airline’s media team, which was included in the police report. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> We talk an awful lot about a divided nation, but when even conservative media like Newsmax and Fox News come to me with surprise & sympathy about what my daughter was subject to by <a href="https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SouthwestAir</a>, it makes me feel a little better about... well... human beings in general! <a href="https://t.co/jLPUhD89aM">https://t.co/jLPUhD89aM</a> — Mary MacCarthy (@MaryMacCarthy) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMacCarthy/status/1458112584377241606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2021</a></blockquote> “As for my daughter, she was terribly frightened; she was already experiencing the trauma of her uncle’s death, and she is scared of police due to constant headlines about how police treat black people (she is black). She began to sob and was inconsolable,” her email said. Ms MacCarthy said the police assured her that nothing was wrong, and that they wanted to question her and her daughter. “They said they were here because my daughter and I were reported for suspicious behaviour, acting suspiciously before boarding and while boarding,” she said. “I took out my phone and immediately started recording. I told (the officer) who we were and that my daughter was crying because she had lost a family member.” According to a report from the Denver police, the pair were cleared of any suspicion. The report also included a note that officers were responding to a “possible Human Trafficking” reported by a Southwest flight attendant. However, Ms MacCarthy said she was unaware that she was suspected of human trafficking until two weeks after the incident. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> So remember my Tweet about being met by armed officers at <a href="https://twitter.com/DENAirport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DENAirport</a> getting off a <a href="https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SouthwestAir</a> flight, traveling w/ my Black daughter? Today <a href="https://twitter.com/DenverPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DenverPolice</a> called me on suspicion of human trafficking. Have they never encountered a mixed-race family? How is this ok? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BLM</a> — Mary MacCarthy (@MaryMacCarthy) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMacCarthy/status/1455390564031942659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2021</a></blockquote> “I got a call from Denver Police human trafficking unit letting me know they were following up on the incident,” she told CNN. She has since accused the airline of racial profiling, has retained an attorney and wants the airline to be held “fully accountable”. “I gave the airline plenty of time to contact me and apologise - over two weeks later, I’ve yet to receive anything more than two brief automated responses. The time for apology is long past,” she said. In the email to Southwest’s media team, Ms MacCarthy asked for a written apology, an immediate reimbursement of their plane tickets, and “additional compensation to account for the trauma imposed on an innocent family, and especially on a grieving ten-year-old black girl.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Had to cancel upcoming flights, my girl is not yet ready to travel after the <a href="https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SouthwestAir</a> trauma. Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/Expedia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Expedia</a> for your exceptional, kind customer service to accommodate us and provide full credit for price of tix! That's the definition of rockstar <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/customerservice?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#customerservice</a> — Mary MacCarthy (@MaryMacCarthy) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMacCarthy/status/1458178973888704512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2021</a></blockquote> Dan Landson, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, told CNN in a statement that the company planned to reach out to Ms MacCarthy and conduct “a review of the situation internally”. “Our Employees undergo robust training on Human Trafficking. Above all, Southwest Airlines prides itself on providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for the millions of Customers who travel with us each year,” Mr Landson said. David Lane, Ms MacCarthy’s attorney, echoed her claims that it was a racially charged incident. “Had this been a white child, there would not have been a raised eyebrow,” he said. Image: @MaryMacCarthy (Twitter)

Travel Trouble

UK drug trafficking grandmother dies in prison

A 72-year-old British woman who had been sentenced to eight years in a Portuguese prison for smuggling drugs has died behind bars. Susan Clarke was arrested alongside husband Roger, 73, as their cruise ship sailed into Lisbon in December 2018. Police were acting on a tip-off, and found 9kg of cocaine in the linings of four of the couple’s suitcases on board the luxury Marco Polo cruise liner. The couple claimed they thought they were smuggling exotic fruit after Roger picked up the suitcases while the ship was docked in St Lucia. However, they had previously been caught smuggling 240kg of cannabis into Norway in 2004, but skipped bail and changed their names from Button to Clarke. Eventually, they were extradited and served time in a Norwegian prison. It is believed the couple had carried out multiple smuggling trips before a sniffer dog detected drugs in their old Nissan in Oslo. The couple are from the southeastern English town of Chatham, in Kent, and tried to reinvent themselves as British expats living in Spain. But it is believed they worked for a drug gang, regularly smuggling cocaine into Europe on up to six cruises a year. Susan found a lump in her breast last year and was subsequently diagnosed with cancer, but was due to be transferred to a British prison to serve out the rest of her sentence. A source told The Mirror that doctors had decided there was nothing they could do for her, so they ceased all treatments. A month ago, she had one last visit with Roger, seeing him through a Perspex window. The source told The Mirror, “She was in so much pain. Roger seems to think they had won a battle to come back to the UK too, so he’s devastated that she wasn’t well enough to make the move.” She died on Sunday, after spending two years sharing a 3m x 3m rat-infested cell with three other women at the maximum security Portuguese prison, EP Tires in Sao Domingo de Rana, west of Lisbon. Image: Facebook

Legal

“I just wish her well” Trump’s bizarre show of support for accused child sex trafficker

When US President Donald Trump held his first media briefing on the coronavirus in almost three months, it briefly went off topic after a reporter asked him about accused child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, who was allegedly Jeffrey Epstein’s right hand woman, helped find and sexually abuse underage girls and is currently behind bars in New York. She has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. Towards the end of Trump’s briefing, which until that point solely focused on the pandemic, he was asked whether Maxwell would expose the powerful men involved in the sex ring for a deal from prosecutors. “Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison, and a lot of people want to know if she’s going to turn in powerful people. I know you’ve talked in the past about Prince Andrew, and you’ve criticised Bill Clinton’s behaviour. I’m wondering, do you feel that she’s going to turn in powerful men? How do you see that working out?” the reporter asked. “I don’t know, I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly,” Mr Trump replied. “I have met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach. And I guess they (Maxwell and Epstein) lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is. “I don’t know the situation with Prince Andrew. I’m just not aware of it.” Many who were watching were shocked after hearing the President wishing an accused child sex trafficker well. Maxwell was arrested and charged earlier this month. She was accused of “conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse minors”, alleging she both “facilitated” and “participated in” his crimes. “Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, and then delivered them into the trap that she and Jeffrey Epstein had set,” said the Acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Audrey Strauss. “She pretended to be a woman they could trust. All the while, she was setting them up to be abused sexually by Epstein and, in some cases, Maxwell herself.” “The heinous crimes these charges allege are, and always will be abhorrent for the lasting trauma they inflict on victims,” added New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

News

“I was trafficked to Prince Andrew”: Jeffrey Epstein’s victim comes out with explosive claims

The extent of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s international sex-trafficking ring has been exposed in a 60 Minutes investigation, after intense allegations came out against some of the world’s most rich and powerful people – extending all the way to the British Royal family. In the exclusive episode, those who managed to escape Epstein’s dark and insidious world exposed the entire plot that they fell victim to – and named the elite abusers they want brought to justice. At just 17-years-old, Virginia Roberts Giuffre was lured into Epstein’s sex trafficking ring and came face-to-face with her abuser: Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. Prince Andrew has denied all allegations and said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s activities and was not involved in his sex ring. But Virginia stands by her claims and says that she has undeniable evidence to prove that the sexual encounter occurred – a disturbing photo taken only moments before she was first trafficked to Andrew. The photograph in question was taken in 2001 and shows the Prince with his arms around the then 17-year-old Virginia in London. But despite Virginia insisting the photo is real, Prince Andrew has claimed that it’s fake. “That is Andrew, this is a real photo,” Virginia told 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown. “[The] photo has been verified as an original and it’s been given to the FBI, and they’ve never contested that it’s a fake. I know it’s real.” According to Virginia, she was trafficked to Prince Andrew three times – first at a party in London, again in Jeffrey’s New York mansion and finally on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, where she spoke about the eight other women who were stuck in the same situation as her. “There were a lot of younger girls with us,” she told Brown. “You’re not even acknowledged as being alive or there, or important or cared for, or worried about in any way. None of those human emotions were attached to me when I was trafficked to Prince Andrew.” Epstein would lure young, impressionable women with the promise of a better life, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In a perverted pyramid scheme, where he and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell would recruit girls as young as 12 and abuse them, the victims would be forced to have sex with Epstein’s wealthy associates. “I was trafficked to other billionaires, I was trafficked to politicians, professors even royalty,” she told 60 Minutes. “It was the elite of the world. It was the people who run the world. It was the most powerful people in the world.” Now she’s working alongside lawyer David Boeis to hold Prince Andrew and the other alleged perpetrators accountable for their actions.

Relationships

Terrified mum issues harrowing warning about taking children to IKEA

A mother in the US has issued a terrifying warning after narrowly escaping child traffickers during a recent trip to her local IKEA store. Diandra Toyos was visiting the furniture retailer with her mother and three children when her instincts kicked in and she got the feeling something was wrong. “After a few minutes, I noticed a well-dressed, middle aged man circling the area, getting closer to me and the kids,” she wrote in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diandra.toyos/posts/1399781156755663" target="_blank">a post to Facebook</a>. “My mum noticed as well and mentioned that we need to keep an eye on him.” Diandra, who had her 7-week-old bub strapped to her front, kept her 1- and 4-year-old close by, but noticed the man (later joined by a second) stalking the family. “At one point he came right up to me and the boys, and instinctively I put myself between he and my mobile son,” she said. “These men weren't shopping.” In an effort to shake the two men, Diandra and her mother decided to sit in one of the display rooms – where they remained for almost half an hour. But it wasn’t enough. “They sat too. They sat down on one of the couches on the display floor that faced us.” This back-and-forth around the store lasted for close to an hour, until Diandra’s mother decided she’d had enough and put her foot down. “She made eye contact, very clearly letting them know that we saw them,” Diandra explained. They managed to get rid of the men and quickly alerted IKEA security to the situation. After the terrifying experience, the mum-of-three reflected on the trip and came to a startling conclusion. “I am almost sure that we were the targets of human trafficking.” In the post, which has since gone viral, Diandra warns other parents, grandparents and guardians to keep a close eye on children at all times. “When you're in a public place with your kids, please be aware and present so that you don't become a victim,” she wrote. “This is not meant to scare you […] Live your life. Take your kids places. But be aware. And be attentive.”

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Firing squad demanded for teen in Bali

Ghislaine Maxwell conviction in jeopardy over juror's admission

White mum accused of trafficking biracial daughter

UK drug trafficking grandmother dies in prison

“I just wish her well” Trump’s bizarre show of support for accused child sex trafficker

“I was trafficked to Prince Andrew”: Jeffrey Epstein’s victim comes out with explosive claims

Terrified mum issues harrowing warning about taking children to IKEA