STORY TO BE TOLD

Malaysian student gang-raped in London
By JOSHUA FOONG
joshuafoong@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: An 18-year-old Malaysian student in London was allegedly gang-raped by several Russian men, including an intelligence officer who has been charged with the offence.

The Sun tabloid of London (pic), which broke the story on Thursday, reported that the girl had attended a party at the prestigious Bellerbys College in Greenwich, South London, where she is studying.

The report, quoting sources, claimed that the girl was allegedly drugged and then filmed while being assaulted by seven Russian men, including the intelligence officer identified as Oleg Vladimirvich Ivanov, 23.

The attack is said to have happened early last Sunday during the party attended by English language students of the college.

The report stated that police retrieved iPhones with harrowing footage of the victim being gang-raped.

Ivanov was charged with three others identified as Gregory Andreev Melnikov, 22, Norayr Davtyan, 25, and Arnen Simonay, 26, with the offence at the Woolwich Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and Wednesday.

All four claimed trial and have been remanded.

They will appear at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday.

Two other suspects were released on bail while another was released without any charge.

The Sun report stated that the seven men had claimed to be students, but it quoted well-informed sources as saying that Ivanov worked in the Intelligence Section of the Moscow Police.

It stated that Ivanov had only been in Britain for a week before the alleged gang-rape.

The victim was said to have raised the alarm after staggering into a friend’s room.

“She is distraught. She is very young and it is believed she was given a drug before being defiled,” the report quoted a source as saying.

Two students at the college, contacted by The Star last night, were tight-lipped about the incident.

“What we know so far is what everyone has read in the newspaper (The Sun). We refuse to talk about the case as we are not allowed to. Please contact our college officials if you want a comment,’’ said one of them.

The college officials could not be reached for comment.

In this Friday, Jan 28, 2011 photo, Julie Powers Schenecker is led away from the Tampa Police Department in Tampa, Florida. -- PHOTO: AP


TAMPA (Florida) - THE army officer's wife who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy did not appear in court Saturday because she's being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition.

Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was taken to Tampa General Hospital early Saturday, shortly after midnight, to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail. Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies - who oversee jail inmates - said they could not reveal Schenecker's medical condition, citing health care privacy laws.

An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son twice in the head in the family car 'for talking back' as she drove him to soccer practice. The report said Schenecker then drove to their upscale home and shot her daughter in the face inside the home.

Schenecker's mother called police on Friday morning, and told them she was concerned after her daughter had sent an e-mail saying she was depressed. Officers found Schenecker drenched in blood on her back porch - and once they saw the teens, the scene was so troubling that a stress team was called to counsel the responding officers, a police spokesman said.

Calyx, the girl, was 16 and a cross country running star at her high school. The 13-year-old son, Beau, was in eighth grade.

Investigators believe the teens 'never saw it coming,' said police spokesman Laura McElroy. Both were killed with a .38-calibre pistol. The arrest affidavit said the weapon was purchased five days earlier. -- AP

Source: The Straits Times