Tag Archives: Murder

Jury Final Finds Man Guilty Of Brutal Shooting And Sexual Assault Of Teen Lesbian Couple, Four Years Ago.

A jury in Texas has found David Strickland guilty in the execution-style shooting and sexual assault of a teenaged lesbian couple, four years ago.

Strickland was convicted of capital murder and aggravated sexual assault in an attack against Mollie Olgin – who sadly died at the scene – and her girlfriend Kristene Chapa, who survived.

He received an automatic life sentence since prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

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Chapa said she ‘wanted to just burst out into tears’ when the verdict was announced.

She told KRIS-TV,

I was very shocked at first. I didn’t know what to expect exactly . I was hoping that they (the jury) would see all the evidence that we had and they would go our way. (It was) very emotional.”

Strickland was arrested in the Portland, Texas, in June 2014 – two years after the shootings.

Prosecutors told the jury that Strickland forced Olgin and Chapa down an incline in a park. He bound them and shot both in the head.

They were discovered the next morning. Olgin was pronounced dead at the scene, while Chapa’s injuries left her unable to sit or stand. She continues to undergo physical rehabilitation.

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During the trial, Chapa stayed incredible strong, telling reporters she wasn’t bothered to be in the same courtroom as Strickland

He’s a coward. David Strickland put his head down and wouldn’t look at me, so what does that mean to you? Did you see him in the courtroom? He didn’t do anything.’

Chapa continues to undergo costly physical therapy to regain full use of her body. A medical fund has been established to help her cover her considerable medical costs.

This Needs To Stop: South African Woman Killed For Being A Lesbian

A young gay woman – who was only 20 years old – has been brutally murdered in South Africa over the Christmas holidays shortly after graduating high school.

Motshidisi Pascalina mutilated body was found in an open field near her home in Evaton township, Gauteng province. She was last seen on 16 December.

Cedric Davids, a member of the Young Communists’ League working committee in Gauteng, told eNCA news.

Her body was discovered in a veld two days later. We suspect she was raped. Her body was burnt. Her eyes were taken out and her private parts were mutilated.
Most of her body had sustained burn injuries. Her parents identified her by her tattoo on her leg, it was the only thing visible.”

The police’s Tsekiso Mofokeng added,

The paramedics were on scene where the woman was abused. We are investigating a case of murder. At the moment we do not know the motive for the incident and no suspect has been arrested.”

Police her sexuality is the reason for the crime. Four men have been reportedly arrested in connection to the murder.

Yesterday, a march was organised in protest against hate crimes, and the hashtag #MotshidisiPascalina is currently trending on Twitter with people expressing their shock and anger at the murder.

https://twitter.com/Msomifaya/status/686856062704697344

Woman Kills Lesbian Lover For Wearing Sweatpants on a Date Night

A former Virginia Tech student – Jessica Michelle Ewing – was sentenced to 45 years in prison this week, for murdering her lover after she wore sweatpants on a date night.

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In court, Ewing gave a detailed testimony about the ‘date night’ that lead to the murder of 21-year-old biology student Samanata Shrestha.

Ewing said she who spent hours getting ready, but was disappointed when she turned up at Shrestha’s apartment, wearing a dress and carrying a bottle of wine and whipped cream, to find Shrestha in sweatpants and a T-shirt.

Shrestha eventually changed into a dress and they tried to lighten the mood by building a fort and having a whipped-cream fight.

They downed the bottle of wine and had sex, after which Ewing made a ‘poor teasing comment’ and called Shrestha a ‘spoiled bitch.’

Shrestha shot back that they were just ‘experimenting’ and she was ‘toying’ with Ewing.

I loved Sam — I couldn’t believe she would say that I was some experiment to her,’ Ewing said. ‘It hit me where I was most hurt.”

Ewing then ‘reached her arm around her neck and held it there,’ strangling Shrestha in a chokehold.

Ewing then tried to cover up the murder, but Shrestha’s body was discovered stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back seat of her abandoned Mercedes on 10 February 2014.

In February this year, Ewing entered an Alford plea to the first-degree murder of Shrestha. An Alford plea is where a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the prosecution has enough evidence for a conviction.

Ewing was sentenced to 80 years for first-degree murder and five years for transporting and concealing a body. She must serve out 45 years of the sentence before the remainder is suspended.

A Young Women is Axed to Death For Being Gay

A woman has been axed to death in Swaziland for being gay.

Kaylo Glover, a young lesbian from Nhlangano, Swaziland, was at a bar with her friends on March 15th.

She was killed by an enraged man who did not want to be in the presence of lesbians.

He left the bar, fetched an axe from his car, returned and killed Kaylo.

Kaylo was rushed to hospital by her friends, and her killer followed, chasing her friends with an axe.

As Kaylo’s friend ran, she heard the guys shout “let’s finish off these dogs”.

Neither the nurses nor the doctors could reach Kaylo in time, she bled to death. She was just 26.

She was born and raised in Nhlangano, Glover was proudly out to both friends and family, and was popular in her community. She was also in seven-month relationship.

On the night that Kaylo went out to the night club in her town, she felt safe. Harassment did happen in Nhlangano, but Kaylo often just shrugged it off.

Speaking to Iranti-org, Glover’s mom said:

“I always walk with Kaylo, the guys always say horrible things and I tell her to ignore them. They killed her because she was a lesbian. She has never harmed anyone, or fought with anyone.’

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This is the second murder of an LGBTI person in Nhlangano this year alone. A month ago, a gay man known as Themba was also killed.

Also: South African Judge Makes a Stand, as Man Gets 30 Years For Murdering Lesbian in Hate Crime

Sane Mshengu, the director of Rock of Hope, said:

“We don’t know what to make of these murders, it is so disturbing and scary. Swaziland comprises mainly of traditional family structures, with extended families marked by a set of strong traditions and norms. Speaking about being lesbian, gay, or transgender is very difficult and is often suppressed.”

It seems Kaylo’s death has broken the silence around hate crimes in Swaziland. It is bringing attention to the poor human-rights situation in this country, where the monarch is so incredibly rich and its citizens are poor and where LGBTI persons live hidden, framed as “the other”. Under Swaziland law, female homosexuality is legal while male homosexuality can be punishable with the death penalty.

However, as Kaylo’s family gather to try and make sense of this unnecessary act of hate that took her away, they believe that her identity as a lesbian must be remembered.

Black Community, Does My Black Trans Life Matter?

As we read about yet another young Black transwoman being killed in the united states, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi decided to respond and posted the following powerful and heartfelt article in queerofgender.com, asking the Black community – Does My Black Trans Life Matter?

This article hits home, so please read.

Does My Black Trans Life Matter? An Open Letter to The Black Community: Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

Dear Black Community,

It is with great sorrow that I write to you. Sorrow for my fallen brethren who you too now hold as martyrs in our war against the system of oppression called racism; sorrow for those unnamed cis sisters who never seem blessed enough to warrant your mobilized outrage over their murders; and sorrow for my trans sisters who never seem to warrant even a mention in some of your hashtag tweets.

For the past two weeks as we, the black community, have come together to march in outrage, riot in pain and protest in clarity, one trans woman for each week has been murdered. Killed with barely a mention and mourned only by their families and we sisters of the trans community. I have watched as we have come to our black community time and time again asking for justice for our sisters. I have been there as we have gnashed our teeth and pulled at our hair wondering why we don’t seem to warrant our black leaders standing in solidarity with us and proclaiming “There is a war on trans women of color’s lives”. We have been stunned as some demand we march and mobilize and stand in solidarity with the black movement while the black movement, telling us to “wait our turn”, continues to ignore our existence.

I get it: slavery has done a number on us. We have internalized the fear of extinction for our black men and so whenever one falls, we honor their godhood as if they were our only means of salvation. I know our collective trauma calls us to regard black manhood like a sacred jewel needing to be protected at all cost and fought for without cease. I see how countless black women train their daughters to worship their husbands and brothers without question while demanding they work, even if it meant their deaths, to feed and clothe said men. I have seen countless queens who bow to kings even when they were unworthy of such devotion and I have watched the coping mechanisms of slavery now become the broken chords leading us into fractions of self-hatred, following leaders whose thirst for money and fame causes them to lead us back into chains.

But I say the system wants us all dead; and the solution in beating the system does not lie in the silent compliance of my sisters and I within the movements that mainstream activist cyphers demand I should be a part of. No. Defeating the system lies in our continued fight for justice for all, which includes tearing down these white-washed walls of erasure. Many of these movements call for the solidarity of all black lives, while those within the movement ignore and sometimes promote the extinction of a part of said population: trans women.

I understand that my letter to some may seem as bringing separation when we need solidarity. But I say we cannot have solidarity unless all the pieces of the puzzle are honored equally. I get it: when the colonists came with their white baby jesus, whips, chains and brutality, they enslaved our ancestors, telling them if they forsake us then they will be one step closer to freedom. Some believed to survive they must throw trans-identified folks into the pit of erasure. I know that trans-attracted men are hated for loving us and thus they equip that hatred like a sword and attempt, like the historical white man, to extinguish the heart by extinguishing us. But know this: my understanding is not compliance, and my understanding is not a pass, and my understanding is not going to stop me from having, as my Sister Goddess Lourdes Ashley Hunter says, a Courageous Conversation.

Trans women are not killed by trans women, we are killed by cisgender men. Often cisgender black men. Is this why our black community is so afraid of having this conversation? Trans folk are the greatest embodied form of revolution against colonization. Our very existence spits in the face of all that colonization wishes our black community to hold true: is this why our black community is so afraid to have these conversations? Is it that the poison of colonization has seeped so deeply into the  veins of  the black movement that it is easier to ignore black trans folk and use them as place holders then to honor our existence? We must begin to honor not just our fallen  cis brothers but our fallen trans siblings and cis sisters. We must fight against the notion that we black women must ignore our brutalizers, although many of us are forced to co-exist with them. We demand our black men cultivate spaces that truly honor The Goddess that is black woman, not simply seeing her divinity as a lesser expression of his own and respect the spaces we have created whether they be our bodies, minds, souls or homes. We must face the hyper-masculinity that so many of our black men were forced to adopt and so many of us were forced to mistake as unapologetic expressions of manhood. It is time to look at our brothers and fathers and say solidarity is not a male privilege, but a form of action we should all be honored to receive.

So I leave you with this: It is not enough to weep, wail, protest, riot for and honor the lives of our black men; your women are here, we have bled, we have been beaten, we have been abused and we have been forgotten. Your trans sisters are here and it is not enough to keep us in the closet of your desires and in the misplaced notions of your pleasure. We too deserve love, honor, and remembrance and not just on TDOR. Stop killing us whether it is by erasure, allowance of violence against us,or actually tying the lynching noose around our necks and hanging us. Our spirits require outrage, mobilized movements and black support; for we are all black and if you say black lives matter and it doesn’t include us, then you too are simply doing the slave master’s work.

Written in Love, Clarity, and Oya’s Grace,

Dane 

You can read more at queerofgender.com

Trans Woman of Colour Murder in L.A Signals Third Death in 6 Months

According to statistics, the acceptance of LGB people across the United States is on the rise. Sadly, the same cannot be said about trans* acceptance which appears to be on the decline.

Even as famous trans women of colour such as Laverne Cox (who plays trans inmate Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black) and outspoken advocate Janet Mock gain popularity, the benefits of positive reputation aren’t being reaped by everybody in the trans* community. Instead, recently the US has seen a notable uptick in trans* hate crimes including verbal abuse, violence and sometimes even murder.

It’s murder that another trans woman of colour has again been faced with, with the Los Angeles Police Department (the LAPD) reporting that her death took place on Wednesday the 3rd of December. It signals the third murder of a trans woman of colour in just six months.

According to the LAPD, the victim, Deshawnda Sanchez, was fleeing after being robbed. Sanchez called 911 at 4am before running to a cul-de-sac, banging on the door of a Compton home in an attempt to find safety. Unfortunately, by the time the occupant of the house was able to let her in, gunshots were fired and the person who was chasing Sanchez had left her for dead and had driven away from the scene of the crime in a “light coloured compact car”.

Officially, the police are classing the tragic events as a robbery and homicide, however, as Sanchez was a trans woman of colour Los Angeles police Det. Christopher Barling has said that they are considering that it may have been a hate crime. Barling told Buzzfeed News that he is “very open to the fact that may be the case”.

It’s especially important that they look into that line of inquiry given that the murders of trans women of colour are on the rise at an alarming rate. Sanchez’ death signals the third in just a matter of months with Aniya Knee Parker and trans activist Zoraida “Ale” Reyes also having been killed in Los Angeles earlier this year.

Furthermore, a report published by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations notes that 19 trans* people were targeted in violent hate crimes in 2013, making that a 46% increased on the year before (there were 13 attacks in 2012). With shocking statistics like these it’s all the more important that the LAPD finds the perpetrator and brings them to justice, marking a small step in preventing more crimes like these from happening.

South African Judge Makes a Stand, as Man Gets 30 Years For Murdering Lesbian in Hate Crime

A man accused of killing a lesbian in South Africa, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Lekgoa Motleleng pleaded guilty to the murder and rape of out lesbian, Duduzile Zozo, from in Ekurhuleni, which has a history of violence against lesbians.

Violence against openly gay lesbians is literally a matter of life and death in South Africa and something has to done about it if the country wants to continue to move forward.

Motleleng was sentenced in the South Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge. Judge Tshifiwa Maumela stated that he wanted to make a difference to all vulnerable groups of society.

“No one has been given the right to correct alcoholics. No one has been given the right to correct those who take too much salt or sugar. No one has been given the right to correct others when it comes to the right to love their own gender… You can’t interfere with how someone chooses to live.” 

Judge Tshifiwa Maumela

The paper quoted the judge saying a harsh sentence for Motleleng would serve as a warning to those who threatened the vulnerable. He told the 23-year-old to change his attitude towards homosexual people.

“Lead your life and let gays and lesbians be.”

Judge Tshifiwa Maumela

Same-sex marriage is legal in South Africa, making it one of the most progressive countries on the matter, especially on the continent of Africa.

Unfortunately cultural attitudes have been slow to change. Some 30+ brutal acts against lesbians have been documented in South Africa, mostly in townships, and some suggest the number is higher because some women refuse to come forward.

Men who attack lesbian women, often in the form of rape – referred to as ‘corrective rape,’ falsely believe that male penetration will change them.