Tag: Nigeria

A 30-year-old Kenyan woman accused of beating and issuing death threats to her mother has been charged with threatening to kill contrary to section 223 (1) of the Penal Code.

 

Ann Wambui is accused of threatening to kill her mother, Jane Muthoni, at her house in Ruai, Nairobi, on September 14, 2023.

 

The accused person, is alleged to have uttered words “nakwambianga nitakuua na huskiangi, nitakuua saa hii”, to her mother Ms Jane Muthoni.

 

Police and the state prosecution office believe these words, which are translated in English to mean; (I have been warning you that I will kill you and you have never taken me seriously. I can kill you right now) amounted to threats to the complainants life.

 

Ms Muthoni was inside her house when she discovered that one of the items she uses in her business was missing and she went to her daughter’s (Wambui’s) bedroom to ask if she knew where it was.

 

However, the suspect is said to have woken up and issued the death threats to her mother who fled the room as she pursued her.

 

The suspect is alleged to have followed her mother to the sitting room where she wrestled her to the ground and pulled her hair as she screamed for help. 

 

A neighbor intervened and rescued the complainant from her daughter and escorted the complainant out of the house.

 

Ms Muthoni reported the incident to the police and officers visited the complainant’s home where they recovered a hammer beneath a pillow and panga beside the suspect’s bed.

 

The items have been kept as exhibits in the case against Ms Wambui.

 

The suspect denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Irene Gichobi of the Makadara Law Courts.

 

She was released on a cash bail of Sh30, 000. The case will be mentioned on November 11, 2023, before hearing starts on February 26, 2024.

 

Ms Muthoni has fled her home and sought accommodation elsewhere fearing for her life.

 

Her neighbor who rescued her is listed as a witness in the case alongside two police officers. 

EU Commissioner Thierry Breton has warned the billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter) against allowing the platform to be used for disinformation amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The letter dated October 10, 2023, and addressed to Musk reads, “Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU.

“Let me remind you that the Digital Services Act sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation.

“First, you need to be very transparent and clear on what content is permitted under your terms and consistently and diligently enforce your own policies.

“This is particularly relevant when it comes to violent and terrorist content that appears to circulate on your platform. Your latest changes in public interest policies that occurred overnight left many European users uncertain.

“Second, when you receive notices of illegal content in the EU, you must be timely, diligent and objective in taking action and removing the relevant content when warranted. We have, from qualified sources, reports about potentially illegal content circulating on your service despite flags from relevant authorities.

“Third, you need have in place proportionate and effective mitigation measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse stemming from disinformation.

“Public media and civil society organisations widely report instances of fake and manipulated images and facts circulating on your platform in the EU, such as repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflicts or military footage that actually originated from video games. This appears to be manifestly false or misleading information.

“I therefore invite you to urgently ensure that your systems are effective, and report on the crisis measures taken to my team.

“Given the urgency, I also expect you to be in contact with the relevant law enforcement authorities and Europol, and ensure that you respond promptly to their requests.

“Moreover, on a number of other issues of DSA compliance that deserve immediate attention, my team will follow up shortly with a specific request.

“I urge you to ensure a prompt, accurate and complete response to this request within the next 24 hours. We will include your answer in our assessment file on your compliance with the DSA. I remind you that following the opening of a potential investigation and a finding of non-compliance, penalties can be imposed.”

 

An elderly couple are suing an art dealer who bought an African face mask from them for £129 and sold it for £3.6million.

 

 

The unnamed pair, aged 81 and 88, from Nimes in France, were clearing out their home in 2021 and decided to sell the ‘Ngil’ mask. In September of that year, they sold it to a dealer, known as Mr Z.

 

 

After paying a small price for it, he sold it at an auction in Montpellier a few months later for an impressive £3.6million.

 

 

The artwork is a traditional Fang mask from Gabon, used in rituals such as weddings and funerals.

 

 

The mask was brought to France by the husband’s grandfather, who was a colonial governor in Africa, according to ARTnews.

 

 

The French couple did not know of the colossal value of the item until they read about the sale in a newspaper.

 

 

They are now suing Mr Z because they believe that he cheated them.

 

 

The lawsuit is ongoing but, as of June 28, the court of appeals in Nimes ruled that the couple’s case ‘appears to be well-founded in principle’. It ordered the proceeds of the sale to be frozen until the end of the case, ARTnews reported.

 

 

The couple have put forward the case that the dealer withheld his suspicions over the value of the artifact.

 

 

Instead of displaying the mask in his shop, he got in touch with three auction houses in France for an estimate of its worth.

 

The last of these was an African artifacts specialist, who had the mask professionally analysed.

 

 

The mask was listed for sale by the auction with an estimate of between £259,416 and £345,888 but it sold in March last year for considerably more. 

 

 

The dealer first offered the couple £259,416 when faced with legal action, but the offer was rejected due to it being opposed by their children, according to court documents reviewed by Artnet News. 

 

 The Fang masks, carved from wood are made by the Fang people who occupy regions in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. 

 

 

 

The one sold at the auction features decorative elements on the lower half that resemble a long beard. 

 

 

Tests dated the mask to the 19th century and an ethnologist expert said it was used by the Ngil, a secret male society that formed part of the Fang people, who oversaw judicial matters.

 

 

Court documents seen by Artnet News read: ‘This piece of kaolin-coated cheesewood is therefore exceptional in terms of its rarity, as only a dozen or so other reference specimens are known to exist worldwide, in Western museums and collection.’