Utah murder trial ends with guilty verdict for Burmese Muslim refugee

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It was a trial that riveted readers of The Salt Lake Tribune for the last couple of weeks, but barely made news outside of Utah.  Esar Met, a Burmese Muslim man, was arrested in 2008 for the brutal sexual assault and murder of a 7-year-old Burmese girl in their Salt Lake City apartment building.   A jury found him guilty yesterday.

Met had only been in the US one month and had been assigned to live in a building filled with fellow Burmese, but they were all Christians and roommates described the tension that created among them.  They had lived in separate parts of the camp in Thailand.

Hser Ner Moo’s father Cartoon Wah (right) said after the verdict: “My only daughter is still no more.”
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22985680

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

He lured the child with games and treats. He made her laugh, helped her feel safe and welcome in the depths of his basement home.

But on March 31, 2008, a jury ruled Friday, kindness turned to violence as Esar Met sexually assaulted, beat and killed 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo.

Jurors entered the courtroom Friday after more than five hours of deliberation looking haggard and spent. They had sat through nine days of testimony, 41 witnesses and more than two hours of closing arguments that morning.

Two female jurors held tissues at the ready. Their eyes looked as if they had already been crying.

In the gallery, packed with friends and family of the young victim, a tense silence filled the air, punctuated only by the quiet sobs of Pearlly Wa — the mother who lost her only daughter nearly six years ago.

Met was convicted of child kidnapping and aggravated murder, both first-degree felonies that could land the 27-year-old Burmese refugee in prison for the rest of his life.

[….]

He had been in the country just one month, and would spend the next six years behind bars awaiting trial.

He could get 20 years to life when he is sentenced in May.  Scary thought that he could ever be released.  And, too bad for Utah taxpayers, maybe they should appeal to Congress for an extra stipend to pay for his trial and for the next 20 years of his life since it was the federal government—the US State Department and its contractors (Catholic Charities?)—that dumped him in Utah.

By the way, over the years The Salt Lake Tribune has acted like a real investigative news outlet, even sending a reporter to Thailand back in 2008.  One thing reporter Julia Lyon learned is that Met was considered “not right” in the camp, so who decided he would be a good citizen of America?

For new readers, all of our previous coverage of the case, going back years, may be found by clicking here.

Australia apologizes for breaching Indonesian waters to push back migrants, but….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….we are going to continue to turn boats away from our shores, said Immigration Minister Morrison!

I wasn’t planning on writing a second post on Australia today (see first one here), but when I saw this photo, I wanted you to see it!

What the heck is this—a strategy session with a white ‘community organizer’ where Somali men, at a hotel in Indonesia, plan their next attempt to break into Australia!

If they want asylum, ask for it in Indonesia, a safe Muslim country!  International law requires legitimate asylum seekers to ask for asylum in the first safe country they reach!

This is the caption published with the photo: “Somali immigrants gather at a hotel where Indonesian authorities have billeted asylum seekers hoping to reach Australia. (AFP/JEMS)”

Here is the story that accompanies the photo, from Reuters:

SYDNEY — Australia’s government on Friday acknowledged its navy breached Indonesian territorial sovereignty several times as part of its controversial operations to stop boats carrying would-be asylum seekers from entering Australian waters.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said he had been informed earlier this week about the “inadvertent breaches” and immediately informed the Indonesian navy.

Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, the officer in charge of “Operation Sovereign Borders,” said the breaches occurred on multiple days but declined to provide further details.

“We deeply regret these events and have offered an apology,” Morrison told reporters. “However the Australian government remains committed to continuing to implement the policies to stop the boats.”

Most of those they are pushing back are from:  Afghanistan, Darfur, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria.

There is more.

Australia continues plans to keep illegal migrants off-shore amid the usual complaints

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The complaints, of course, mostly come from the humanitarian industrial complex and its henchmen at the UN.

Boat people attempting to get into Australia hit record high numbers in 2012.
http://www.mole.my/content/boat-people-coming-australia-hits-record

We haven’t written much about Australia lately, but most Australians were so angered by those migrants arriving on boats and demanding asylum that they voted for a get-tough policy represented by Tony Abbott in the elections last year.

Here is some recent news, from the Irish Independent (that obviously leans left on immigration):

Australia will shut four mainland immigration detention centres, the government said on today, as it pushes ahead with controversial policies to turn back refugee boats and detain asylum seekers in remote centres offshore.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement the decision to shutter the facilities, which are run by British outsourcing company Serco Group Plc, would save at least A$88.8 million ($80.41 million) a year.

“These sites are remote, relatively small and expensive,” Morrison’s statement said. “These facilities were never envisaged as being permanent and due to the rationalisation of the immigration detention network they are no longer required.”

Australia’s conservative government routinely does not answer questions about its immigration policy, which was a central plank of its election victory last year, saying it does not comment on “operational matters”.

The number of would-be refugees reaching Australia pales in comparison with other countries but it remains a polarising political issue that also stokes tensions with neighbour Indonesia over border policies criticised by the United Nations.

Tuesday’s announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s asylum seeker policies.   [Of course opinion lines like this are in here to bias the reader!—ed]

The government has refused to confirm widespread reports that the Australian Navy has started implementing a controversial policy of returning intercepted vessels carrying asylum seekers to Indonesia.

Guess where most of the illegal migrants are coming from?

Most of those held in offshore centres have fled conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Darfur, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria.

I’ll betcha even those coming from Darfur are Muslims!

Thanks to our visitors from Australia which consistently number second or third behind the US in visitor stats.  This is our 121st post in our Australia category.

Defense rests without calling a witness in Utah refugee murder trial

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Final arguments will be today.

US State Department brings diversity to Utah. Esar Met at trial in Salt Lake City.
http://www.capitalbay.com/news/454208-hser-ner-moo-burmese-girl-7-killed-in-utah-died-a-painful-death.html

For new readers, see our previous posts on the trial of Burmese Muslim, Esar Met, who is accused of murdering a 7-year-old Burmese Karen Christian girl in the apartment building where both were resettled by the US State Department and its Utah contractors.

Apparently, the defense could find no one to testify on Met’s behalf.  Gee, no one from the State Department could come and attest to his character and say how they had chosen a sane and decent man to give a new life to in America?

From the The Salt Lake Tribune:

Only one man knows where Esar Met was when a 7-year-old girl took her last breath.

Was he standing over her, as prosecutors have alleged, having brutally assaulted and slain Hser Ner Moo in the basement of his South Salt Lake home?

Or was he somewhere else, as defense attorneys have said? Gone to a bus, perhaps, attempting to navigate unfamiliar routes to the home of his aunt and uncle in Cottonwood Heights.

Only Met can answer these questions.

But on the eighth day of his trial, Met declined to testify in his own defense.

Speaking through a Burmese interpreter Thursday, Met invoked his right to remain silent, telling an 11-person jury he would not take the stand to answer to the charges against him: first-degree felony child kidnapping and aggravated murder.

Defense attorneys rested their case before 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton without calling a single witness.

If found guilty, there is no death penalty for Met because he couldn’t understand English, he would likely spend the rest of his life being cared for by the taxpayers of “welcoming” Utah.  A lesson in diversity for prison guards? Halal food?  Special prayer times?

Yonkers, NY: food stamp fraud heist in 3 convenience stores nets $1.2 million

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, besides the one Hispanic—Gloria Garcia—those charged include Ahmed, Shoiab, Yousif, and Mufid!

EBT Nation! My go-to graphic when I can’t find a photo of the food stamp crooks

From Lohud.com:

The owners of three Yonkers groceries and two of their employees have been charged in a scheme to exchange more than $1.2 million in food stamps for cash.

Prosecutors, who began investigating some of the people as early as 2011, said the scheme has persisted for years at the three stores. Employees at the stores — two of which are in downtrodden sections of the city — would overcharge customers’ electronic benefit cards and then give the customers the cash while pocketing some of the money for themselves.

At 42 Post Deli Grocery on Post Street, prosecutors said, this meant the store owner and employee would keep about 50 percent of the cash; other stores kept smaller amounts.

These crooks are not always the brightest bulbs so one wonders how these young Middle Eastern or African men have been able to acquire small stores throughout America—who is helping them?

Why do I say they aren’t that bright, the feds only need to look at how much food stamp redemption goes on in comparable stores and that is what they did here.

At Sam Deli on Palisade Avenue investigators calculated that the store authorized $292,819 in benefits redemptions from March 2012 to February 2013, while similar stores redeemed as little as $8,433. Prosecutors said Gloria Garcia, 51, the owner of a third grocery, exchanged more than $800,000 in federal benefits for cash.

So where do these perps come from? Like most of these food stamp fraud cases, immigration status is not mentioned.

Four of those charged, including Garcia, were taken into custody Tuesday and arraigned in U.S. District Court in White Plains. The other three were identified as Ahmed Alsamet, 35, the owner of Sam Deli, and Shoiab Ahmed, 22, an employee there, who are accused of exchanging upwards of $250,000 in food stamps for cash; as well as Yousif Kassim, 30, the owner of 42 Post.

Kassim is charged along with Mufid Kassem, 36, an employee at 42 Post. Both are accused of exchanging food stamps for more than $200,000 in cash. Kassem remains at large.

Food stamp fraud reporting is a side interest here at RRW, click here for probably a hundred similar stories going back to 2008.  So far, the mainstream media has refused to make any connection between these scams and ‘immigrant (hah!) entrepreneurs.’

Go here for information on how to report suspected food stamp fraud where you live.