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1News
a day ago
- 1News
Mama Hooch rapists appeal convictions, victims attend hearing
The Mama Hooch rapists' High Court appeal has been heard in Christchurch, almost two years after they were jailed. At the one-day hearing yesterday, their defence team called for a retrial, claiming the way their six-week judge-alone trial was conducted led to a miscarriage of justice. The Jaz brothers were convicted on 68 of the combined 113 charges they faced, for stupefying and subjecting 17 young women to sex attacks. Danny Jaz was sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison while his brother, Roberto, was jailed for 17 years. The brothers are both appealing their convictions and sentences for heinous sex crimes the trial judge described as predatory and prolific. They didn't appear in court as their appeal was heard. However, in court for the appeal were several survivors of the pair's crimes. Sophie Brown spoke outside court, saying: "These are dangerous men. They have little remorse for what they've done." ADVERTISEMENT During the hearing, defence counsel Ron Mansfield KC told Justice Cameron Mander: 'The appellants did not get a fair hearing in the lower court, and there was a significant miscarriage of justice. In effect, the judge simplistically ran roughshod over the defence cases in relation to each grouping of charges.' He argued, at the conclusion of their six-week judge-alone trial, that Judge Mabey didn't permit Crown or defence closing arguments to save time, ahead of a second trial of a fourth defendant. Summary: The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including death of a The Cosby Show actor, vape product recalled, and how working less makes us feel better. (Source: Breakfast) 'This was literally weeks into a very long fixture and in and of itself establishes both a predetermination and bias in favour of the crown's case against the defendants before he's even had an opportunity to hear all of the crowns evidence let alone that defendants have the opportunity of making an election and calling evidence for him to consider," Mansfield said. He added: 'The only answer to it, given its magnitude, is setting aside the verdicts and returning the matter to the District Court for a further trial," Mansfield said. The Crown, which gave a two-day opening at the start of the trial, agreed it would have been preferable to have closing arguments, but pointed out the defence accepted it at the time. Crown prosecutor Charlotte Brook stated in her submission: 'Despite the absence of closing addresses, with the combination of his questioning, his discussions with counsel and the 147 arguments that took place, he was indeed well aware of the defence to be run on all of the charges.' ADVERTISEMENT Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield. (Source: Pool ) Several victims sat in the back of the court with support people to listen to the appeal, while others watched online. Survivor Sophie Brown was among them and said outside court they had a lot of anxious energy leading up to the hearing, but felt it was important to be there to show they care deeply about keeping the men behind bars. "These are dangerous men. They have little remorse for what they've done. They're appealing, which shows they think they shouldn't have had the sentences they got, and they should be out,' Brown said. Sophie Brown (GEORGE HEARD/POOL) (Source: 1News) Brown said of the possibility of a retrial: 'While it's a small chance, it is still quite anxiety-inducing, and the reason for that is it took six years for this to go to court. "I don't know if all the survivors would go through that again'. Justice Mander has reserved his decision.
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Teaching assistant mistook tragic schoolboy's allergic reaction for stomach bug because he was 'sick quite often'
A teaching assistant who mistook a highly intelligent schoolboy's allergic reaction for a stomach bug didn't know he was dying as he was 'sick quite often'. Benedict Blythe, 5, vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in Stamford, Lincolnshire, on December 1, 2021. The 'kind-souled' child, who joined the high-IQ society Mensa when he was aged just four, was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts and had asthma, an inquest was told. A jury at Peterborough Town Hall heard Benedict was kept home from school because of illness the day before the tragic incident. The five-year-old died in hospital and his cause of death was later found to be food-induced anaphylaxis, the inquest heard. He had been kept off school the previous day because he was feeling unwell overnight and vomited, but woke up 'in good health' on the day of his death and was excited to open his advent calendar which had been filled with dairy-free chocolate by his parents, the court heard. Sophie Brown, who was a teaching assistant at the school, said from her memory Benedict was 'sick quite often' and she asked him questions after he vomited the first time that day to check if it was an allergic reaction. She told the inquest: 'When I said "are you feeling OK?" he said "good". He said "no" to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.' Ms Brown, who was trained in first aid and was aware of the boy's allergies, said Benedict changed his clothes before he vomited a second time 10 minutes later. Speaking about the minutes between Benedict vomiting the first and second time, she told the jury: 'He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.' Ms Brown told the inquest: 'He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.' The teaching assistant added she did not know at the time why he had been kept home from school the previous day. The court heard milk for the pupils was kept in two separate fridges - one for dairy milk and one for dairy-free milk - in a staff room at the school, and that Benedict had his own bottle at the school to drink from. Ms Brown said she does not recall who gave Benedict his oat milk that morning, which he refused to drink, but said it was not her. The teaching assistant told the jury she could not remember whether Benedict had asked for his inhaler after he had vomited. The inquest previously heard, from Benedict's mother Helen Blythe, that vomiting was 'always' the first symptom of his allergic reactions and the school was provided with a management plan with his usual symptoms. The court heard that after Benedict collapsed, his adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered twice but he became unresponsive and was transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died. Speaking about her son at a previous hearing, Ms Blythe had said: 'Quick-minded, and kind-souled, Benedict's love of 'playing numbers' was one hint to why he joined Mensa when he was four. 'He collected numbers like other children collect toy cars and would bubble over with excitement when he could work out something new.' The inquest has been adjourned until Wednesday morning.
Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Teaching assistant thought boy's fatal allergic reaction was sickness bug
A teaching assistant thought a five-year-old boy who was having a fatal allergic reaction had a stomach bug when he vomited at school, an inquest has heard. A jury at Peterborough town hall heard Benedict Blythe was kept home from school because of illness the day before he vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School, in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where he was a reception pupil, on Dec 1 2021. The schoolboy, who joined Mensa when he was aged four, had asthma and was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts, the inquest was told. He died in hospital that day and his cause of death was later found to be food-induced anaphylaxis, the inquest heard. He had been kept off school the day before he died because he was feeling unwell overnight and vomited, but woke up 'in good health' on the day of his death, the court heard. Sophie Brown, who was a teaching assistant at the school, said from her memory Benedict was 'sick quite often', and she asked him questions after he vomited the first time that day to check if it was an allergic reaction. She told the inquest: 'When I said 'are you feeling OK?' he said 'good'. He said 'no' to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.' Ms Brown, who was trained in first aid and was aware of the boy's allergies, said Benedict changed his clothes before he vomited a second time, 10 minutes later. Speaking about the minutes between Benedict vomiting the first and second time, she told the jury: 'He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.' Ms Brown told the inquest: 'He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.' She told the inquest she did not know at the time why he had been kept home from school the previous day. The court heard milk for the pupils was kept in two separate fridges – one for dairy milk and one for dairy-free milk – in a staff room at the school, and that Benedict had his own bottle at the school to drink from. Ms Brown said she does not recall who gave Benedict his oat milk that morning, which he refused to drink, but said it was not her. The teaching assistant told the jury she could not remember whether Benedict had asked for his inhaler after he had vomited. Helen Blythe, Benedict's mother, previously told the inquest vomiting was 'always' the first symptom of his allergic reactions, and that the school was provided with a management plan with his usual symptoms. The court heard that after Benedict collapsed, his adrenaline auto-injector was administered twice, but he became unresponsive and was transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died. The inquest continues.
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Teaching assistant thought allergic boy had sickness bug, inquest hears
A teaching assistant thought a five-year-old boy who was having a fatal allergic reaction had a stomach bug when he vomited at school, an inquest has heard. A jury at Peterborough Town Hall heard that Benedict Blythe was kept home from school because of illness the day before he vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School, in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where he was a reception pupil, on December 1 2021. The schoolboy, who joined Mensa when he was aged four, was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts and had asthma, the inquest was told. He died in hospital that day and his cause of death was later found to be food-induced anaphylaxis, the inquest heard. He had been kept off school the day before he died because he was feeling unwell overnight and vomited, but woke up 'in good health' on the day of his death and was excited to open his advent calendar which had been filled with dairy-free chocolate by his parents, the court heard. Sophie Brown, who was a teaching assistant at the school, said from her memory Benedict was 'sick quite often' and she asked him questions after he vomited the first time that day to check if it was an allergic reaction. She told the inquest: 'When I said 'are you feeling OK?' he said 'good'. He said 'no' to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.' Ms Brown, who was trained in first aid and was aware of the boy's allergies, said Benedict changed his clothes before he vomited a second time 10 minutes later. Speaking about the minutes between Benedict vomiting the first and second time, she told the jury: 'He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.' Ms Brown told the inquest: 'He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.' She told the inquest she did not know at the time why he had been kept home from school the previous day. The court heard milk for the pupils was kept in two separate fridges – one for dairy milk and one for dairy-free milk – in a staff room at the school, and that Benedict had his own bottle at the school to drink from. Ms Brown said she does not recall who gave Benedict his oat milk that morning, which he refused to drink, but said it was not her. The teaching assistant told the jury she cannot remember whether Benedict had asked for his inhaler after he had vomited. The inquest previously heard, from Benedict's mother Helen Blythe, that vomiting was 'always' the first symptom of his allergic reactions and the school was provided with a management plan with his usual symptoms. The court heard that after Benedict collapsed, his adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered twice but he became unresponsive and was transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died. The inquest has been adjourned until Wednesday morning.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
School staff in tears over Stamford boy's allergy death
Teaching assistants fought back tears as they gave evidence at an inquest into how a five-year-old boy died after suffering an allergic reaction at Blythe, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, was administered with an adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) and given CPR after he had been sick two times and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in December assistant Sophie Brown told the inquest Benedict was off school the day before "so I assumed it was a bug" rather than an allergic Back, who was a 16-year-old apprentice teaching assistant on the day of Benedict's death, cried as, supported by her grandmother, she told she was aware of his allergies. Benedict had asthma and a number of allergies, including milk and eggs. He died due to food-induced two of the two-week inquest into Benedict's death was held at Peterborough City Hall on Tuesday. Ms Back said she was aware of Benedict's allergies and knew where to find the medical bag in the classroom."I knew if I needed that I would find it", she told the inquest, as she cried with her grandmother sitting alongside her as she gave Emelia Wawrzkowicz, a consultant paediatrician at Peterborough City Hospital who worked with Benedict on his allergies, told the inquest on Monday "he always needed to have access to adrenaline".Dr Wawrzkowicz said the advice would always be to "if in doubt" administer the AAI if it was suspected someone may be experiencing an allergic reaction, which is the same advice given by Anaphylaxis Brown told the inquest this advice was not conveyed to her as "part of my training".Area coroner Elizabeth Gray told the hearing Benedict had been kept off school on 30 November due to being sick twice the night went back to school on 1 December after Mrs Blythe said he "was fine and didn't appear to be unwell". The inquest heard that, while he was outside with other children during the morning break on 1 December, Benedict had a gingerbread biscuit he had taken with him from Back told the inquest she remembered unwrapping Benedict's biscuit for him and saw him eat it after he had gone to sit with another then returned to the classroom where he was offered oat milk but was said to have refused was sick shortly after that, and his parents were asked to collect him from school at about 10:30 Brown cleaned him up and read a book with him, and said he showed no signs of being sick and was "happy and giggling" before he was sick again. He was taken outside to get some fresh air while his parents were contacted again before he collapsed and was carried back to a adrenaline auto-injector was administered twice by Ms Brown and CPR was started, the inquest Blythe said Benedict's father Peter was there by about 10:40 and she arrived at 10: services attended and carried out further CPR before Benedict was taken to Peterborough City Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:57. 'Exceptionally bright' Mrs Blythe said Benedict was "well aware of his allergies" and a document had been given to the school which contained information on his allergies, his asthma and the reactions he had said vomiting was the "first sign" of an allergic reaction, and "how it played [out] after that varied".Before he started at Barnack Primary, Mrs Blythe said she had gone on two tours of the school and was "reassured by the level of care offered" and "satisfied the school would be able to cope with his allergies".A statement read out on behalf of Benedict's father, 44-year-old Peter Blythe, described Benedict as an "exceptionally bright child" who "spent hours building figure train tracks"."Ben absolutely loved school. He was thriving in the three months he was there."I miss him every day," the statement inquest continues. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
