Middlesex OPP are still investigating the death of a 62-year-old London man who was struck and killed while walking along Hwy. 401 Wednesday morning.
Police said the man was walking along the east lanes after having left his vehicle, which was parked on the south shoulder, when a transport truck struck about 6:30 a.m. near Elgin Rd.
He was pronounced dead the scene.
Police are not releasing his name until his family is notified.
Up to the minute news and information for London Ontario Canada and surrounding regions.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Stepfather jailed for sex abuse.
He said he knew he had to “pay for" his actions.
“I will take whatever you say is right,” the 36-year-old London man told Ontario Court Justice John Skowronski. “There are no excuses for my behaviour.”
The man was being sentenced for sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and sexual interference of a girl who was his stepdaughter. Her identity — and consequently his — is protected by court order.
“I’m truly sorry for my misbehaviour and truly ashamed for what I’ve done,” he said Tuesday.
“I wish I could go back in time and make everything right.”
Skowronski sentenced the man to 18 months in jail for the abuse of the girl from age nine in 2000 until she was 12.
Last May, she disclosed the abuse to her family, leading to the man’s arrest and charges.
Skowronski reviewed the facts.
The girl had told the man she wanted a Nintendo game system. He persuaded her to allow him to touch her over the clothing for it.
The abuse escalated over the years to pushing her on a bed and sexually assaulting her, putting his hands down her pants, rubbing against her and telling her to touch him. He told her he’d ground her if she didn’t comply with what he wanted.
The girl became depressed and suicidal. She tried to slit her wrists. For awhile his behaviour stopped, but he’d traumatize her by walking up to her bedroom door and saying he was about to abuse her again.
The man had no criminal record and had been sexually abused as a child. He emigrated to Canada from Central America.
Assistant Crown attorney Gary Fowler and defence lawyer Lakin Afolabi agreed the sentence should be in the range of 15 to 18 months.
Afolabi told Skowronski his client had written diary entries directed to the girl to say “he let her down as a father figure and asked for forgiveness.”
Skowronski said the request was “at the lower end of the range” and he would have considered a prison sentence, rather than jail, had the submission been for more time.
The judge said it was “a troubling case” and listed the initial grooming, the long duration of abuse and the “very substantial” effect on the girl as aggravating factors.
“She missed out on a lot of her childhood due to the offence,” he said.
While the man was remorseful, Skowronski said he “can’t give back three years of a young girl’s life” and “can’t give back her innocence.”
“I will take whatever you say is right,” the 36-year-old London man told Ontario Court Justice John Skowronski. “There are no excuses for my behaviour.”
The man was being sentenced for sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and sexual interference of a girl who was his stepdaughter. Her identity — and consequently his — is protected by court order.
“I’m truly sorry for my misbehaviour and truly ashamed for what I’ve done,” he said Tuesday.
“I wish I could go back in time and make everything right.”
Skowronski sentenced the man to 18 months in jail for the abuse of the girl from age nine in 2000 until she was 12.
Last May, she disclosed the abuse to her family, leading to the man’s arrest and charges.
Skowronski reviewed the facts.
The girl had told the man she wanted a Nintendo game system. He persuaded her to allow him to touch her over the clothing for it.
The abuse escalated over the years to pushing her on a bed and sexually assaulting her, putting his hands down her pants, rubbing against her and telling her to touch him. He told her he’d ground her if she didn’t comply with what he wanted.
The girl became depressed and suicidal. She tried to slit her wrists. For awhile his behaviour stopped, but he’d traumatize her by walking up to her bedroom door and saying he was about to abuse her again.
The man had no criminal record and had been sexually abused as a child. He emigrated to Canada from Central America.
Assistant Crown attorney Gary Fowler and defence lawyer Lakin Afolabi agreed the sentence should be in the range of 15 to 18 months.
Afolabi told Skowronski his client had written diary entries directed to the girl to say “he let her down as a father figure and asked for forgiveness.”
Skowronski said the request was “at the lower end of the range” and he would have considered a prison sentence, rather than jail, had the submission been for more time.
The judge said it was “a troubling case” and listed the initial grooming, the long duration of abuse and the “very substantial” effect on the girl as aggravating factors.
“She missed out on a lot of her childhood due to the offence,” he said.
While the man was remorseful, Skowronski said he “can’t give back three years of a young girl’s life” and “can’t give back her innocence.”
Sex offenders barred from working with cadets.
It will no longer be possible for pardoned sexual offenders to get jobs or volunteer positions with air cadets in Ontario, organizers said Tuesday.
“What we, the senior leadership, have come to accept, is that there are certain offences that even with a pardon, the adults (who committed them) should not be able to work with our cadets,” said Lt. Col. Morley Armstrong, the regional cadet officer responsible for air, army and sea cadets in Ontario. “We’ll be changing our policies.”
Armstrong was at Wolseley Barracks, along with Don Berrill, chair of the Air Cadet League of Canada, to speak to more than 100 parents who turned out for an emergency meeting called after they learned a volunteer instructor who had been working with their kids is a pardoned sex offender.
Civilian instructor Roger Micks resigned after a London Free Press story stated he had been volunteering with the 27th Air Squadron in London, despite a gross indecency charge from 30 years ago.
But before the meeting, some parents had already agreed to join an association called Make Cadets Safe, formed by Rob Talach, the London lawyer said. Talach has been working with a man named Kevin Acs — a Lt. Col — who says he has been penalized for complaining about Micks.
The meeting was called, “to clear up any misunderstandings and to reassure parents that cadets in this squadron were being properly supervised,” said Armstrong.
The media were banned from inside the parent meeting, and dozens of parents declined comment after. However, from outside the glass doors, Berrill could be heard telling the group The Free Press did not have all the correct information.
“Realistically, we are sitting here tonight, because a person who thinks they know everything decided to go to the paper,” he said.
After the meeting, Armstrong said Acs was never punished for speaking out. “Absolutely not,” Armstrong emphasized.
He and Berrill declined to answer any questions about Micks’ specifically or the offence he had committed.
Though a letter sent out to parents stated 27 squadron was never aware of a staff member with a conviction involving a youth, Armstrong said he was aware of the allegations, but didn’t have enough information to take action against Micks before now.
Talach was at the meeting, but was asked to leave when he stated who he was.
But his goal may have been realized: He said earlier he wants Cadets to change the policy so that pardoned sex offenders would never be hired.
“What we, the senior leadership, have come to accept, is that there are certain offences that even with a pardon, the adults (who committed them) should not be able to work with our cadets,” said Lt. Col. Morley Armstrong, the regional cadet officer responsible for air, army and sea cadets in Ontario. “We’ll be changing our policies.”
Armstrong was at Wolseley Barracks, along with Don Berrill, chair of the Air Cadet League of Canada, to speak to more than 100 parents who turned out for an emergency meeting called after they learned a volunteer instructor who had been working with their kids is a pardoned sex offender.
Civilian instructor Roger Micks resigned after a London Free Press story stated he had been volunteering with the 27th Air Squadron in London, despite a gross indecency charge from 30 years ago.
But before the meeting, some parents had already agreed to join an association called Make Cadets Safe, formed by Rob Talach, the London lawyer said. Talach has been working with a man named Kevin Acs — a Lt. Col — who says he has been penalized for complaining about Micks.
The meeting was called, “to clear up any misunderstandings and to reassure parents that cadets in this squadron were being properly supervised,” said Armstrong.
The media were banned from inside the parent meeting, and dozens of parents declined comment after. However, from outside the glass doors, Berrill could be heard telling the group The Free Press did not have all the correct information.
“Realistically, we are sitting here tonight, because a person who thinks they know everything decided to go to the paper,” he said.
After the meeting, Armstrong said Acs was never punished for speaking out. “Absolutely not,” Armstrong emphasized.
He and Berrill declined to answer any questions about Micks’ specifically or the offence he had committed.
Though a letter sent out to parents stated 27 squadron was never aware of a staff member with a conviction involving a youth, Armstrong said he was aware of the allegations, but didn’t have enough information to take action against Micks before now.
Talach was at the meeting, but was asked to leave when he stated who he was.
But his goal may have been realized: He said earlier he wants Cadets to change the policy so that pardoned sex offenders would never be hired.
Libya update
TRIPOLI - A defiant Muammar Gaddafi said he was ready to die "a martyr" in Libya, vowing to crush a growing revolt which has seen eastern regions break free of his 41-year rule and brought deadly unrest to the capital.
Swathed in brown robes, Gaddafi seethed and banged a podium on Tuesday outside one of his residences that was damaged in a 1986 U.S. air strike aiming to kill him. Next to him stood a monument of a fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to calls from some of his own ministers, soldiers and protesters who braved a fierce crackdown to clamour for him to go.
Protests in Libya's neighbours Egypt and Tunisia toppled entrenched leaders, but Gaddafi said he would not be forced out by the rebellion sweeping through his oil-producing nation of 7 million stretching from the Mediterranean into the Sahara.
"I shall remain here defiant," said Gaddafi, who has ruled the mainly desert country with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council condemned the use of violence and called for those responsible for attacks on civilians to be held to account.
The turmoil in Libya, which pumps nearly 2 percent of world oil output, sent Brent crude prices above $108 a barrel to a 2 1/2 year high and triggered Wall Street's worst day since August as investors dumped stocks.
The White House said global powers must speak with one voice in response to the "appalling violence" in Libya. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would take "appropriate steps" in time.
But Washington has little leverage over Libya, a U.S. adversary for most of Gaddafi's rule until it agreed in 2003 to abandon a weapons-of-mass-destruction programme and moved to settle claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Gaddafi was unrepentant. Protesters were "rats and mercenaries" who deserved the death penalty, he said in the rambling, 75-minute speech. Gaddafi said he would call on people to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless protesters surrendered.
He urged supporters to take to the streets. "All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of them ... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over," he said.
Libya's official news agency quoted him as telling Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that "Libya is fine, its people are ... holding on to its security".
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there were "many indications of the structure of the state collapsing in Libya". Britain and other European nations have said they are trying to evacuate nationals from Libya by plane.
In a sign of his growing isolation, Libyan diplomats at the U.N. and several countries broke ranks and urged foreign nations to help stop the violence.
Swathed in brown robes, Gaddafi seethed and banged a podium on Tuesday outside one of his residences that was damaged in a 1986 U.S. air strike aiming to kill him. Next to him stood a monument of a fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to calls from some of his own ministers, soldiers and protesters who braved a fierce crackdown to clamour for him to go.
Protests in Libya's neighbours Egypt and Tunisia toppled entrenched leaders, but Gaddafi said he would not be forced out by the rebellion sweeping through his oil-producing nation of 7 million stretching from the Mediterranean into the Sahara.
"I shall remain here defiant," said Gaddafi, who has ruled the mainly desert country with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council condemned the use of violence and called for those responsible for attacks on civilians to be held to account.
The turmoil in Libya, which pumps nearly 2 percent of world oil output, sent Brent crude prices above $108 a barrel to a 2 1/2 year high and triggered Wall Street's worst day since August as investors dumped stocks.
The White House said global powers must speak with one voice in response to the "appalling violence" in Libya. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would take "appropriate steps" in time.
But Washington has little leverage over Libya, a U.S. adversary for most of Gaddafi's rule until it agreed in 2003 to abandon a weapons-of-mass-destruction programme and moved to settle claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Gaddafi was unrepentant. Protesters were "rats and mercenaries" who deserved the death penalty, he said in the rambling, 75-minute speech. Gaddafi said he would call on people to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless protesters surrendered.
He urged supporters to take to the streets. "All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of them ... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over," he said.
Libya's official news agency quoted him as telling Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that "Libya is fine, its people are ... holding on to its security".
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there were "many indications of the structure of the state collapsing in Libya". Britain and other European nations have said they are trying to evacuate nationals from Libya by plane.
In a sign of his growing isolation, Libyan diplomats at the U.N. and several countries broke ranks and urged foreign nations to help stop the violence.
Cesarean section rate low in London region
Women giving birth in the London region have significantly fewer C-sections and episiotomies than women in most other parts of the province, a study released Tuesday found.
And that's positive news, according to the lead author of the study by researchers from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
"This is a good news story," said Arlene Bierman, lead author of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences study.
Although no ideal rate has been pinpointed for C-sections, the sense of researchers is too many are performed in Ontario.
"What we do know is, it is better for women not to have one if it is not necessary. The best thing is a healthy vaginal delivery if it is possible from the vantage point of the mom and the baby," Bierman said.
"It is not that interventions are bad. They are good when they are necessary. You want to minimize them when they are not necessary," she said.
One category where interventions are less likely to be necessary is among women who are full term with the baby in the head down presentation.
The caesarean section rate for those births was 17% in the London health region, while the Ontario average was 23% and in some areas 26%.
Other differences the researchers found included:
Overall, the researchers found rates of adverse outcomes - severe maternal morbidity and birth trauma to newborns - were low. That is evidence Ontario is a very safe place for women to give birth and for babies to be born, they concluded.
And that's positive news, according to the lead author of the study by researchers from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
"This is a good news story," said Arlene Bierman, lead author of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences study.
Although no ideal rate has been pinpointed for C-sections, the sense of researchers is too many are performed in Ontario.
"What we do know is, it is better for women not to have one if it is not necessary. The best thing is a healthy vaginal delivery if it is possible from the vantage point of the mom and the baby," Bierman said.
"It is not that interventions are bad. They are good when they are necessary. You want to minimize them when they are not necessary," she said.
One category where interventions are less likely to be necessary is among women who are full term with the baby in the head down presentation.
The caesarean section rate for those births was 17% in the London health region, while the Ontario average was 23% and in some areas 26%.
Other differences the researchers found included:
- Repeat C-section rates were 72% in the London region, compared to 84% for the province
- 2% of vaginal births in the London region were vacuum assisted, compared to 10% in Toronto
- The episiotomy rate was 12% in the London region compared to 20% across the province Multiple factors contribute to the difference between health regions, including the practice styles of physicians and patient preferences, Bierman said.
Overall, the researchers found rates of adverse outcomes - severe maternal morbidity and birth trauma to newborns - were low. That is evidence Ontario is a very safe place for women to give birth and for babies to be born, they concluded.
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