A man wearing a ski mask opened fire with an AK-47 inside a University of Texas library yesterday morning, then fatally shot himself, police said.
Colton Tooley, a 19-year-old maths sophomore wearing a ski mask and a dark suit, began shooting near a fountain in front of the UT Tower.
The site is infamous for being the site of one of America's deadliest shooting rampages more than four decades ago, when a gunman ascended the clock tower and fired down on dozens of people.
He then turned the gun on himself. No one else was killed or injured - despite there being many people around.
The nearly 50,000-student campus was put on lockdown while officers with bomb-sniffing dogs carried out a building-by-building manhunt for a possible second suspect.
Troops get into position after the shooting. Police said the gunman opened fire then fatally shot himself, but police were searching for a possible second suspect
Austin PD officers stand at the intersection of 21st and Speedway, in front of the Perry-Castaneda Library, where shots were fired Tuesday morning
A recent wave of violence at schools has caused widespread fears over the safety of students in China
A policeman shows teachers how to apprehend an attacker at a school in Beijing
More than 10 men armed with knives burst into two dormitories at a vocational college early on Wednesday and slashed nine students, two of them seriously, sparking new fears in a country already on edge following a series of horrific assaults.
Four students had been wounded in an earlier confrontation between the two groups, bringing the total number of injured to 13, according to local authorities.
The latest attack comes after a knife-wielding man attacked chiildren in Leizhou No.1 Primary School on Wednesday in Leizhou, Guangdong province of China. Here, an injured student is taken to hospital after the attack
Experts say Wednesday's attack was a copycat rampage of two other episodes at Chinese schools in the past month
The latest attack comes after a knife-wielding man attacked chiildren in Leizhou No.1 Primary School on Wednesday in Leizhou, Guangdong province of China. Here, an injured student is taken to hospital after the attack
After the spate of copycat rampages, many schools are said to be concerned they will be targeted next
Following the attack yesterday, Chinese policemen have travelled to schools to show teachers and school workers how to defend themselves if they are targeted
Concern: Worried parents gather outside the gate of the kindergarten where a class of 4-year-olds were attacked
A farmer attacked and injured five primary school children with a hammer in eastern China today before burning himself to death.
The sickening attack is the latest in a string of horrific assaults on young students over the last month, state media reported.
The attacker used a motorcycle to break down a gate of the school in Shandong province's Weifang city, struck a teacher who tried to block him and then used the hammer to attack the children, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The assailant then grabbed two children before pouring petrol over his body and setting himself on fire.
Xinhua said teachers at the Shangzhuang primary school were able to pull the children away to safety, and none of the injured children had life-threatening injuries.
Xinhua identified the attacker as Wang Yonglai, a local farmer, but had no further details.
A student is seen recovering at a hospital following an attack the day before by a knifeman at his primary school
The primary school in Leizhou, Guangdong province, where a man stabbed several young students
A security guard stands at the entrance to a Beijing school
A farmer attacked children with a hammer at a primary school in eastern China on Friday before setting himself on fire in the latest in a series of apparently copy-cat attacks, state media said.
The rampage in Shandong province left five children and a teacher hurt but in stable condition, Xinhua news agency said, and came as schools across China stepped up security over fears of further attacks.
Before the incident, China had seen three stabbing frenzies at schools in the past month, including two this week alone, by mentally disturbed adults that left eight children dead and nearly 50 injured.
The attacks underscore how China -- which has enjoyed lower violent crime rates than the West -- faces a growing public safety threat from disgruntled individuals amid rising mental illness rates and looser social controls.
Miss Kemp was left sobbing in the aisle after she was hit on the head with a telescopic baton during a robbery
Deb Kemp's hand is visible as she is attacked with a telescopic baton
She had dared to stand up to the thugs who raided her shop. They returned to take a violent revenge.
Shocking CCTV images of the robbery capture one of the masked gang beating 43-year-old Deb Kemp with a metal baton after shoving her behind the counter.
... The unfortunate victim is shoved head first into a seat.One of the hooligans squares up to a victim as terrified passengers look on
One of the innocent Leeds United fans is grabbed by the thugs
Another chaotic scene from the train as the hooligans rival fans who were returning from a stag trip to the races
One of the assailants prepares to throw a punch during the melee
The hooligans corner a victim during the horrifying attack, which lasted for 10 minutes
The gang maraud through a carriage, terrifying passengers, before fleeing the train
Horrified parents were forced to shield their children as they fled a train while a mob of football hooligans punched, kicked and stamped on a group of rival fans on board.
The yobs were savagely attacking rival football fans in what a judge called the worst case of mob violence he's seen have been jailed.
The drunken group of Sheffield Wednesday supporters were caught on CCTV attacking a peaceful group of Leeds United fans returning from a day at the races, causing pandemonium on the York to Manchester TransPennine Service.
Horrified passengers had to scramble over seats to safety.
One marauding yob even pushed aside a staff member who tried to block his path with a food trolley.
The conductor locked the train doors to contain the shocking violence, which lasted for 10 minutes, but the men used emergency levers to force them open and they escaped close to Garforth station, West Yorks.
But they were all soon caught - three were nicked after being identified on CCTV as known football troublemakers.
Jailing them for a total of more than 27 years at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Paul Hoffman said: 'You acted like a pack with a shared intention to beat up the other side. You collectively had a dislike, if not hatred, of Leeds United supporters and they were your intended victims.
'This is quite the worst and ugliest incident of mob violence on a train that I've personally ever had to deal with. I find it hard to imagine a more violent disorder on a train in terms of ferocity and persistence of violence.'
Prosecuting, Charlotte Worlsey said: 'The victims had been at a stag party at York racecourse and were in good humour when they had the misfortune to sit near the group's ringleader Shaun Jones and say they were Leeds United fans.
'His group had been drinking in York during the day and been ejected from some bars for their behaviour.
'After he told them about the "Leeds lads" the group followed him back to them and the defendant Dominic Mullan sparked the violence by punching one of them.'
All 12 men admitted violent disorder on July 11 last year. Jones, of Barnsley, who has previous convictions for violent offences, and Mullan, of Sheffield, were sentenced to four years in prison.
The other ten, all from Sheffield, were also jailed. Sam Atkinson, 21, was given a three-year term.
Lee Ardon, 23, Gavin Hodgson, 22, and Gavin Garton, 19, will serve two-and-a-half years. Stephen Hogan, 23, and Daniel Hewitt, 20, were jailed for two years.
Robert Wharam, Jack Culyer, Thomas Wilkinson, all 20, and 19-year-old Jordan Wasden, were handed 18-month terms.
Outside the court British Transport Police Det Sgt Granville Sellers said. 'This was an appalling unprovoked attack on a group of young men who were simply returning from an enjoyable day at the races.
'It was also a terrifying ordeal for the large number of passengers and staff who were travelling on this train and who genuinely feared for their safety.'
Police were in front of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School in Bridgewater today where a student was charged with making a "Columbine" like threat.
Police were in front of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School in Bridgewater Saturday where a student was charged with making a "Columbine" like threat.
Police are on hand as students return to a New Jersey high school that prosecutors say was the target of a "Columbine-like" plot, which was uncovered when authorities found a cache of weapons in one teen's home.
Officials say the police presence is to reassure students and parents that Bridgewater-Raritan High School is safe.
Principal James Riccobono will offer words of encouragement during an address to all 2,900 students before classes begin Monday.
Counselors also are on hand.
Authorities say a 16-year-old junior was arrested Thursday after a police resource officer at the school was told the teen was planning an attack.
Authorities say they found shotgun shells, bullets, black powder and explosive devices in the teen's home.
Officials also arrested a 17-year-old Immaculata High School senior, who is a competitive target shooter.
The investigation continues into an alleged plan by two high school students to launch a "Columbine-style" attack at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, but no further arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest said Sunday.
Two students are already facing charges related to alleged plans for an attack, including a junior at Bridgewater-Raritan who was arrested Thursday night, and the second a senior at Immaculata High School in Somerville arrested following a search of his home on Friday, authorities said. Both students live in the township, Forrest said.
Meanwhile, the high school principal, James Riccobono, was due to address students the first thing on Monday morning, School Superintendent Michael Schilder said in news release posted on the district Web site, www.brrsd.k12.nj.us. Guidance counselors and child study team members would be ready to handle any emotional issues experienced by students, Schilder said in an announcement posted on Sunday.
The high school had been closed last Friday after the school administration reportedly received a tip-off from another student on Thursday afternoon about a threat of violence, according to the school district Web site. A student suspect was taken into custody, but a search of that student's locker revealed nothing, the Web site said.
Later that night, however, a search of the 16-year-old student's home allegedly turned up various shotgun shells, bullets, black powder and explosive devices, materials that could act as explosive device components and illustrations on assembling explosive devices and other materials and tools, according to a press release from the prosecutor's office.
On Friday night, township police searched the home of the suspect's friend, a 17-year-old township resident, and allegedly found rifles, shotguns and shotgun shells matching shotgun shells that reportedly had been seized from the 16-year-old juvenile's home, according to a press release from the prosecutor. The release added that the 17-year-old is a competitive rifle shooter, and the firearms reportedly located in his home were registered to his father.
Board member Evan Lerner said on Sunday that other residents had told him they were relieved by the way the incident was handled.
School administrators were to meet with the faculty at the end of the day on Monday to debrief the staff, according to Schilder's Web posting.
A closeup of the skull. The hole is far too small for the 7.65 mm caliber bullet Hitler used to commit suicide, one German expert has said.The bone of contention. American researchers believe it comes from a young female because the bone is relatively thin. And the exit wound of the bullet is in the wrong place, they claim.
Russian secret service officials insist the skull fragments belong to Adolf Hitler, and have dismissed American reports which suggest they belong to a woman
Hitler's bunker in December 1947. In May 1945, days afer Hitler and his wife Eva Braun had committed suicide, Soviet officials exhumed the bodies.
An X-ray photograph of Hitler's head dated 1944. The skull shown in Moscow is that of a woman, researchers believe.
April 1945: Adolf Hitler inspects damage to his Reich Chancellery. This is one of the last photographs of the Nazi leader who committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945. Russian authorities in 2000 presented a skull fragment they said belonged to him. But a recent DNA test by an American scientist found that it belonged to a woman. Russia's FSB intelligence service has now insisted that the skull fragment is Hitler's.
Eva Braun. It's not sure whether Hitler's wife shot herself. So it's unclear if the disputed skull fragment is hers.
The traditional story is that Hitler committed suicide with his lover Eva Braun as the Russians bombarded Berlin in 1945
War correspondents in 1945 are shown the grave where Adolf Hitler's charred body is alleged to have been buried, behind the Chancellery in Berlin
Russian secret service officials claim they have genuine fragments of the skull of Adolf Hitler and have dismissed American reports which suggest it belongs to a woman.
Vassili Khristoforov, head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), said: ‘The FSB archives hold the jaw of Hitler and the state archives a fragment of Hitler’s skull.
‘With the exception of these remains, seized on May 5, 1945, there exist no other bits from the body of Hitler.’
In September academics from the University of Connecticut, in the US, said their DNA analysis showed the skull fragment to be that of a woman, aged between 20 and 40.
But they did not test the jawbone, and that, say the Russians, is positively male.
The researchers had not approached the FSB archives about testing the jawbone, said Khristoforov.
‘And even if they had the DNA of our fragments, with what could they then have compared it?’ he asked.
Deep in the Lubyanka, headquarters of Russia’s secret police, a fragment of Hitler’s jaw is preserved as a trophy of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. A fragment of skull with a bullet hole lies in the State Archive.
So when American academics claimed that DNA tests showed the skull to be that of a woman, they challenged a long-cherished tale of the hunt for Hitler’s remains. Yesterday the chief archivist of the Federal Security Service (FSB) insisted that the bones were genuine and told of how the KGB destroyed almost all traces of the dictator’s corpse.
Lieutenant-General Vasily Khristoforov said that the remains had been incinerated in 1970 and the ashes thrown into a river in East Germany.
Agents under orders from the head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, had dug up a grave containing Hitler, his wife Eva Braun and the family of his henchman Joseph Goebbels. The officers had removed the remains from a burial ground in a Soviet base at Magdeburg, Andropov having written to Soviet party chiefs recommending that the bodies be destroyed after it was decided to pass the base to East Germany.
In April 1970, Andropov compiled a report declaring that “the remains were burnt on a vacant area outside Schönebeck, 11 kilometres from Magdeburg, ground into ashes, gathered and thrown into the Biederitz river” — either the Ehle river near Biederitz suburb or the Biederitzer See.
General Khristoforov told the Interfax news agency that Hitler’s remains had been destroyed out of concern that his grave could become a Nazi shrine. “It was not worth leaving any grounds for the rise of a cult of worship . . . there are people who profess the fascist ideology, regrettably even in Russia.”
Hitler’s remains arrived in Magdeburg in early 1946 after a peripatetic eight months. The bodies of Hitler and Braun had been crudely cremated on April 30, 1945, at the site of his bunker in Berlin. He had bitten a cyanide pellet then shot himself.
When the Red Army reached the bunker they found the two charred corpses alongside the bodies of Goebbels and his wife. At first there was some doubt as to whether it was really Hitler. It was transported for examination to a field hospital near Berlin.
Hitler’s dental records were located and glass splinters found in his jawbone, suggesting that he had bitten a poison capsule. The early report made no mention of a gunshot wound, perhaps because Soviet officers did not want to anger Stalin by suggesting that Hitler had died a “hero’s death”. But in the meantime, witnesses from the bunker were telling their interrogators that Hitler had indeed shot himself.
The mixed signals must have unsettled Stalin. As long as uncertainty remained, the counterintelligence organisation Smersh and NKVD units wanted to hang on to Hitler’s remains. Every time the Smersh unit moved, Hitler went with it — buried in a wood on the fringes of Berlin, then in Rathenow, and then again when an investigation committee was set up and he was taken to Magdeburg.
Hitler’s jawbone and a fragment of his skull had been sent to the Kremlin. The rest of the remains were kept at the Soviet compound in Magdeburg until it was decided to hand the barracks to the East German military.
General Khristoforov insisted that the FSB had no reason to question the authenticity of the skull fragments in its possession. In September professors at the University of Connecticut had claimed that DNA samples showed the skull to have come from a woman aged up to 40.
General Khristoforov said: “Hitler’s jaw is at the FSB archives, the fragment of skull at the State Archive. These materials are the only documentary evidence of Hitler’s death.” He did not offer DNA proof. The jaw has never been seen in public.
‘These remains are unique, there is nothing comparable. We are talking about the only evidence of this kind of the death of Hitler, and that is why the FSB had kept it in its archives.’
The American report in October inflamed speculation that Hitler may have escaped from the blazing ruins of Berlin in 1945 instead of taking his own life in the bunker.
The piece of skull - complete with bullet hole - had been taken from outside the Fuhrer’s bunker by the Russian Army and preserved by Soviet intelligence.
The traditional story is that Hitler committed suicide with his lover Eva Braun as the Russians bombarded Berlin.
Although some historians doubted he shot himself and suggested it was Nazi propaganda to make him a hero, the hole in the skull fragment seemed to settle the argument when it was put on display in Moscow in 2000.
According to witnesses, the bodies of Hitler and Braun were wrapped in blankets and carried to the garden just outside the bunker, placed in a bomb crater, doused with petrol and set ablaze.
In May 1945 a Russian forensics team dug up what was presumed to be the dictator’s body. Part of the skull was missing, apparently the result of the suicide shot. The remaining piece of jaw matched his dental records, according to his captured dental assistants. And there was only one testicle.
A year later the missing skull fragment was found on the orders of Stalin, who remained suspicious about Hitler’s fate.
Just how and when he died is now shrouded in mystery.
Although Nick Bellantoni, an archaeologist with the University of Connecticut, insists the skull fragment does not belong to Hitler, he says it is unlikely to have belonged to Braun either, who was 33.
'There is no report of Eva Braun having shot herself or having been shot afterwards,' he said. 'Many people died near the bunker.'
Unknown to the world, the corpse then believed to be Hitler's was interred in Magdeburg, East Germany.
There it remained long after Stalin’s death in 1953.
Finally, in 1970, the KGB dug up the corpse, cremated it and secretly scattered the ashes in a river.
Only the jawbone (which remains away from public view), the skull fragment and the bloodstained sofa segments were preserved in the deep archives of Soviet intelligence.
Mr Bellantoni studied the remains after flying to Moscow to inspect the gruesome Hitler trophies at the State Archive.
He was allowed only one hour with the Hitler trove, during which time he applied cotton swabs and took DNA samples.
Youth crime: First-time offenders can receive a referral order rather than a prison sentence
A teenager who subjected an 11-year-old girl to a horrific sexual attack has escaped a prison sentence in a ruling branded 'pathetic' by the victim's family.
The 15-year-old boy sexually assaulted the youngster as she was playing near her home.
He attempted to rape the schoolgirl - leaving the victim frightened and deeply traumatised.
However, after admitting his crime, the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 12-month referral order - meaning his punishment includes reporting to a panel of local volunteers to 'address his offending behaviour'.
It could mean that he has to meet his victim and her family to apologise for the attack.
The maximum sentence for attempted rape of a child is life imprisonment.
The girl's mother, who also cannot be identified, said she was 'disgusted' the teenager had not received a harsher punishment.
'This whole thing has ripped our family apart - when I found out what he'd got, I felt sick,' she said.
'The trauma has been unbearable. My daughter is a different girl now and will have to live with this forever. All he has to do is attend some meetings.
'We are not happy. The whole family are devastated. We've been through a horrible thing.'
More...
* Married RE teacher jailed for having sex with 15-year-old schoolboy * Thug spits in pensioner's face and beats her after she bumps into him on moving bus
The girl was attacked near her home in Chorley, Lancashire, on May 19 by the teenager, who lives nearby.
At Preston youth court earlier this month he pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault.
District Judge Peter Ward imposed the referral order and ordered the teenager to pay £85 court costs.
Sentencing guidelines state the orders should be considered when a youth is in court for the first time and admits their offence.
He will now have to attend meetings of a youth offender panel consisting of two local volunteers and an expert in young offenders.
It will draw up a contract aimed at repairing the harm caused by his offence - possibly meeting the girl or her family if they are willing - and preventing him committing more offences, for example, ensuring he attends school.
Such a conviction is considered 'spent' once the contract has been successfully completed, meaning it would not ordinarily be disclosed to any future employer.
Critics of referral orders say they can be a soft option, but supporters say keeping first-time offenders out of the criminal justice system helps prevent them being sucked into a cycle of reoffending.
Last night the girl's family's MP, Labour's Lindsay Hoyle, said: 'People will be absolutely appalled with this sentence and the way it has been dealt with.
'The punishment certainly doesn't seem to fit the crime and it should be referred back to the courts to be re-looked at.
'The courts have taken a softly, softly approach and people will rightfully be disgusted.'
Claude Knights, director of child protection charity Kidscape, said: 'This must have been a very frightening ordeal for the girl, and imposing such a lenient sentence sends out completely the wrong message.
'The teenager ought to be held in some sort of secure environment to make sure he really understands what a serious crime it was and prevent him from committing more crimes.'
Earlier this year a 16-year-old boy who raped a seven-year-old boy was freed by a court in Manchester and given a community order, only to abduct and rape a boy of five just days later.
He has now been locked up indefinitely. -------------------- RELATED POSTS:-
McKenzie Dunkley is one of the youngest children in Britain to have been expelled
The school claims the youngster lashed out at a teacher
The youngster was expelled from Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Preston
A BOY aged FOUR was expelled from school after being accused of attacking his teachers.
Little McKenzie Dunkley was permanently excluded for an alleged catalogue of anti-social behaviour.
He had been sent home four times in his first two months in class and was banned altogether after being blamed for assaulting two teachers.
Staff at Sacred Heart Primary in Preston, Lancs, said he could not concentrate, did not do as he was told and was disruptive. He was said to have lashed out at one teacher after being made to stop switching a light on and off and another in a row over a jigsaw.
His mum Shelley, 27, branded his expulsion "a disgrace", saying: "If he did lash out there's no way he meant it. He's a good little boy, but the school have treated him like a teenage thug. They said he was immature - but he isn't even five."
Head Carol Seagraves insisted the school was right, saying: "Behaviour that leads to exclusion needs to be investigated and dealt with by specialists."
Officials are looking for an alternative place for McKenzie.
With that infectious grin, four-year-old McKenzie Dunkley looks like any cheeky four-year-old.
But it's the skull and crossbones on his top that teachers might claim gives a bigger clue as to his character.
McKenzie has just become one of the youngest children in Britain to be expelled from school, thrown out weeks after starting for constantly disrupting classes and attacking teachers.
In one incident he is said to have lashed out at a teacher after he was dragged away from light switches he was repeatedly flicking on and off.
Another claims McKenzie kicked her after he got into an argument with a pupil over a jigsaw.
Up to a dozen five-year-olds have been given their marching orders from schools but McKenzie is one of the first four-year-olds to be expelled.
He was sent home from his reception class on four separate occasions by the head at the Sacred Heart Primary School in Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire, before finally being thrown out a week ago.
His parents had refused to agree to a special action plan to deal with his behaviour.
They say he is a lively and lovable little boy who never caused any problems before starting school in September.
Now they are worried he will find it difficult to settle in a new school.
His mother, Shelley Dunkley, 27, said: 'They are making him out to be a thug and I think they are treating him far too old.
'They are saying he won't listen, is disruptive and is just doing what he wants but he's still only four and getting used to school and they just don't know how to be with him.
'There is absolutely nothing wrong with McKenzie and he knows the difference between right and wrong.
'At home he is quiet and if he does get a bit boisterous then he gets told off and told to behave himself.'
Mrs Dunkley, who is married to Mark, 33, a civil engineer, added: 'He was one of the youngest in the class and it is down to the teachers to help him settle and I don't think that has been done.
'They are saying he's very violent and all the other kids are scared of him. I've never heard such nonsense.'
Under education guidelines, children who behave badly can be sent home from school by the head for a fixed period or permanently.
But Mrs Dunkley, a caterer, said she was 'shocked' when she was called out of work to collect her son from the school.
'They said he is being disruptive and he is very immature, but he is only four years old for goodness sake,' she added. McKenzie was kicked out after what teachers described as a catalogue of problems.
Head Carol Seagraves said: 'It is only on very rare occasions that a school would consider permanently excluding a child as young as four.
'At such a young age, behaviour of the kind that could lead to exclusion needs to be investigated and dealt with quickly by the appropriate specialists.
'In order to do this, we do, of course, need the full co-operation of the family so that we can put the right support in place.
'Our aim is not to punish but to carry out an assessment and successfully reintegrate the child into mainstream school as quickly as possible.'
She added: 'When children are excluded permanently, if parents disagree with the decision, the usual course is for them to appeal to the school governors and then to an independent panel. Both have the power to overturn the decision.' A spokesman for the National Association of Headteachers said: 'Fixed-term exclusions for a four-year-old are highly unusual but they demonstrate the seriousness of the problems with this child.'
The youngest pupil to be expelled from a British school was a girl of three who was thrown out for violent behaviour.
The unnamed child was sent home for assaulting a fellow student at a primary school in Caerphilly in Wales last year. ---------- RELATED POSTS:-
Accused: Pinkney is said to have marched his son Jamar to waste ground, made him strip and kneel before he shot him in the head
Yolanda Cherry, aunt of Jamar Pinkney Jr., speaks with the media following the court hearing
A furious U.S. father executed his teenage son after he admitted sexually abusing his three-year-old half sister.
Jamar Pinkney allegedly beat up 15-year-old Jamar Jr then marched him to wasteland, where he forced him to strip and kneel.
The teenager's mother, Lazette Cherry, told how he begged, 'No, Daddy! No' before Jamar Sr shot his son once in the head.
Cherry told reporters that Pinkney turned up at her home in Highland Park, Michigan, with a gun after she told him of his son's confession.
'I called and told his father this isn't something you sweep under the rug,' Cherry said.
'He started beating him right here,' Cherry added. 'I said, "No, please stop!"
But the father marched Jamar, a pupil at King High School, outside.
'He got on his knees and begged, ‘No, Daddy! No!’ and he pulled the trigger,' Cherry said. 'There wasn’t nothing that my son wouldn’t do for his father.
'He loved his father so much.'
Pinkney has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, three counts of felonious assault and one count of felony firearm.
He stood stoically in a Highland Park courtroom as Judge Brigette Officer ordered him back to jail without bail.
Pinkney, a postman, didn't flinch as his son's great-aunt wailed and had to be led from the courtroom.
'This is the most horrible thing that's ever happened to him,' Pinkney's lawyer, Corbett O'Meara, said after the hearing.
'He's calm,' O'Meara added. 'He appears to understand what's going on.
If something were to happen that would cause a reasonable person to lose control of himself, that is something the prosecution would have to take into account.'
Highland Park police investigators said Pinkney had reacted with rage when he attacked his son.
Cherry said the three-year-old's mother took the girl to a hospital to be examined. She said her son claimed that he didn't rape the little girl and kept his clothes on.
The exam showed no physical evidence of sexual trauma, Cherry said.
'He told because he knew it wasn't right,' she said.
Detroit police spokesman John Roach said Wednesday that the department does not have any record of the family or local facilities reporting a sexual assault involving a little girl at Pinkney's home in Newport, Michigan.
Friends of Jamar described the boy as a 'teddy bear' who was 'always smiling'.
Headteacher Deborah Jenkins said pupils were 'shaken badly' by his death.
'He was articulate. He passed his courses with A's, B's and C's. Everyone knew him to be a nice, quiet boy,' she added.
Grace Akallo, 29, left, a former child soldier in Uganda, actress and ambassador for UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency Lucy Liu, center, and Ann Veneman, UNICEF's executive director, pose after a news conference in New York, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. UNICEF issued a special edition of its annual report on The State of the World's Children on the eve of Friday's 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to spotlight the treaty's achievements and challenges.
Actress Lucy Liu, left, an ambassador for UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, listens to Grace Akallo, 29, a former child soldier in Uganda, speak during a news conference in New York, Thursday Nov. 19, 2009. UNICEF issued a special edition of its annual report on The State of the World's Children on the eve of Friday's 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to spotlight the treaty's achievements and challenges.
UNICEF urged the world to help the 1 billion children still deprived of food, shelter, clean water or health care — and the hundreds of millions more threatened by violence — two decades after the U.N. adopted a treaty guaranteeing children's rights.
On the eve of the anniversary, the U.N. children's agency issued a report Thursday on the challenges ahead and the accomplishments since the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman called a sharp decline in child deaths a "remarkable achievement," and lauded the increasing number of children attending primary school.
More than 70 countries have used the treaty to incorporate children's rights in their national laws, she said, noting a new focus on safeguarding youngsters "from violence, abuse, discrimination and exploitation."
Only two nations, the United States and Somalia, have not ratified it.
Still, much remains to be done. Veneman said it was unacceptable that more than 24,000 children under the age of 5 die every day from preventable causes like pneumonia, malaria, measles and malnutrition. Nearly 200 million youngsters are chronically malnourished, more than 140 million are forced to work, and millions of girls and boys of all ages are subjected to sexual violence.
"As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the convention stands at a pivotal moment," Veneman told a news conference launching the report.
"Its relevance remains timeless. The challenge for the next 20 years is to build on the progress achieved, working together to reach those children who are still being denied their rights to survival, development, protection and participation."
The convention has the widest support of any human rights treaty — 193 countries — though Veneman said not all are implementing its requirements.
The Clinton administration signed the convention but never submitted it to the Senate for ratification because of opposition from groups that argued it infringed on the rights of parents and was inconsistent with state and local laws.
Veneman called the U.S. failure to ratify the treaty frustrating, but noted that President Barack Obama and U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice "have expressed a strong desire to move the U.S. in the direction of approving the convention."
The convention ensures children of the right to a name, a nationality, an education, the highest possible standards of health, protection from abuse and exploitation, and the right to have their views heard.
On the plus side, the number of deaths of children under 5 decreased from around 12.5 million in 1990 to an estimated 8.8 million in 2008 — a 28 percent decline.
The number of children not attending primary school also dropped, from 115 million in 2002 to 101 million in 2007, the report said. However, while the gender gap has narrowed, girls are still losing out.
As a striking example of how much remains to be done, UNICEF said 1 billion children are deprived of food, shelter, education, health care, clothing, clean water or sanitation.
Children in Africa and Asia suffer the worst, Veneman said. "More than nine out of 10 children who are not attending school, who are malnourished, and who die before the age of 5 live in these two continents," she said.
Violence against children also remains rampant.
According to the report, between 500 million and 1.5 billion children are estimated to experience violence annually.
One of those victims, Grace Akallo, who was kidnapped by the notorious Uganda-led Lord's Resistance Army in 1996 when she was 15 years old and became a child soldier and sex slave, urged greater global efforts to rescue children caught in wars or subject to violence.
"Exploitation of children is not simply a breach of an international treaty," she said at the U.N. "It's pain. It's suffering and confusion and damage. It's hope lost and hope betrayed."
Akallo, now 29 and a graduate student at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said that when she appeared before the U.N. Security Council in April, members promised to help the millions of suffering children in war zones. "That gave me hope that one day there will be peace, that children all over the world will be able to sing a new song, a song of peace, safety and love," she said.
UNICEF urged countries to put the rights of all children, especially the needy and the suffering, at the center of their policies and budgets because children are the future.
UN urges global action to save children
The UN children's agency says one billion children around the world are still deprived of food, shelter, clean water and healthcare 20 years after the adoption of a treaty guaranteeing children's rights.
Hundreds of millions more children are constantly threatened by violence, Unicef said in a report released on Thursday assessing the situation two decades after the UN adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child on November 20 1989.
The treaty has since been ratified by all countries except the US and Somalia, and more than 70 countries have used the treaty to incorporate children's rights into their national laws.
While saying Unicef had chalked up a "remarkable achievement" in recording a sharp decline in child deaths and getting an increasing number of children to attend primary school, Ann Veneman, the agency's executive director, urged the world to do more.
"As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the convention stands at a pivotal moment," she told a news conference launching the report at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.
"Its relevance remains timeless. The challenge for the next 20 years is to build on the progress achieved, working together to reach those children who are still being denied their rights to survival, development, protection and participation."
Veneman said it was unacceptable that more than 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes such as pneumonia, malaria, measles and malnutrition.
About 200 million children are chronically malnourished, more than 140 million are forced to work, and millions of girls and boys of all ages are subjected to sexual violence, the report says.
Violence
It also estimates that up to 1.5 billion children experience violence annually.
Veneman said there was a new focus on safeguarding the young "from violence, abuse, discrimination and exploitation", adding that children in Africa and Asia suffered the most.
"More than nine out of 10 children who are not attending school, who are malnourished, and who die before the age of five live in these two continents," she said.
"Exploitation of children is not simply a breach of an international treaty," she said.
"It's pain. It's suffering and confusion and damage. It's hope lost and hope betrayed."
Bradley Lockhart, father of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, speaks during a news conference as his sister Carey Lockhart-Davis, right, begins to cry, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, outside his home in Fayetteville, N.C. Shaniya Davis, who was reported missing by her mother Nov. 10, body was found off a rural North Carolina road Monday.
People pray during a candle light vigil for 5-year-old Shaniya Nicole Davis whose body was found near Sanford, N.C., Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. For a week, authorities feverishly searched for a 5-year-old girl across central North Carolina, only to find her body Monday off a rural road following accusations the girl's mother offered her for sex.
Antoinette Davis, right, listens to her charges on Monday near Sanford, North Carolina
Mario McNeill, 29, was charged with first-degree kidnapping
Antoinette Davis, right, listens to her charges on Monday near Sanford, North Carolina
Shaniya Davis, five, was discovered dead at the side of a road
O'Neil carries the little girl towards a lift in a hotel
A missing five-year-old girl allegedly sold into prostitution by her mother has been found dead, it was revealed this morning.
Shaniya Davis had been missing since November 10 after she was last seen being carried into a hotel room by a man.
FBI agents and U.S. Marshalls joined the nationwide search for the toddler amid fears she had been sold to a paedophile ring.
Police have charged the girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, with human trafficking and prostitution offences.
An arrest warrant issued for the 25-year-old said she allowed her daughter to be taken 'with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude.'
Davis, who is pregnant, first reported her daughter missing last Tuesday.
Police were suspicious of her story after reviewing a timeline of the events leading up to her disappearance from a trailer park in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
They later found CCTV footage from a hotel 40 miles from Fayetteville showing the five year old girl being carried into a hotel room by Mario McNeill.
She had not been seen since and her mother has refused to cooperate with police.
The girl had only been living with Davis for three weeks, according to her father Bradley Lockhart.
He had primary custody of the girl, but had agreed to let her stay with her mother after she found a place to live and held a job for six months.
Lockhart broke down in tears at a press conference last night when he sobbed: 'Everybody makes it a point not to ignore, to look past a situation where a person, a child, or anybody might be in danger ... so that we don't have another tragedy like Shaniya.’
He said authorities have given him limited information, but he was to meet with them later.
‘It's not the result I wanted, it's not the result any father or family would want for their children,’ he said.
‘But God has a greater calling for all of us.’
Police have not charged anyone with molesting Shaniya, but said the investigation is ongoing.
The man accused of taking her, Mario Andrette McNeill, turned himself in on Friday. Police said he admitted to kidnapping the child and has been charged.
CCTV footage shows Shaniya in the company of McNeill near a hotel on the day she was kidnapped.
According to arrest documents, Davis 'knowingly provided Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude' and she 'permitted an act of prostitution’.
Shaniya's half-sister, Cheyenne Lockhart, spoke on the U.S. talkshow Nancy Grace on Monday.
She said that she found it difficult to believe Davis had treated her daughter so poorly.
‘She seemed like the sweetest woman. She didn't come from much, but ... she had the sweetest voice, she had the sweetest personality, and especially toward me,’ said Ms Lockhart, who shared a father with Shaniya.
‘I would never think that she would do anything like that.’
Their father said Shaniya went to her mother's home on October 9.
