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Texas sets execution date for man accused in shaken baby case

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Lawyers for Robert Robertson say the science used to sentence him to death is questionable and that prior health issues could explain the death of his 2-year-old daughter in 2003. A Texas court on Monday set an execution date for Robert Roberson, who was sentenced to death in 2003 for killing his 2-year-old daughter but has consistently challenged the conviction on the claim that it was based on questionable science.

Singapore | Japanese man given 17-year jail term, 20 cane strokes for rape

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"Singapore is Disneyland with the death penalty" — William Gibson

SINGAPORE - A Singapore court has sentenced a Japanese man to 17.5 years in prison and 20 strokes of the cane for raping and sexually assaulting a woman in 2019, a court document showed, marking the first case of a Japanese national receiving physical punishment in the city-state.

The Singapore High Court on Monday handed down the sentence to Ikko Kita, a 38-year-old hair stylist, for assaulting a then 20-year-old female Singaporean university student who was in a state of intoxication in the early hours of Dec. 30, 2019.

Kita took the woman, whom he did not know, to his apartment by taxi and engaged in non-consensual sexual acts with her while filming the encounter, according to the court document.

He was apprehended by police later that day and released on bail the following day. He was charged in a lower court in May last year and has been remanded since then.

Presiding Judge Aedit Abdullah said the assaults were "brutal and cruel" in the ruling, adding the sentence should be heavy given the circumstance of the offenses committed against the victim, who was drunk and vulnerable.

Kita had pleaded guilty to the charges.

The Japanese Embassy in Singapore confirmed that Kita is the first Japanese national who will receive strokes of the cane.

Under a Singapore law, a court can impose caning for serious offenses such as rape, armed robbery and vandalism.

Singapore is among Southeast Asian countries that use caning as a punishment.

Source: Japan Today, Staff, July 4, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Singapore
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