Pilots run out of fuel, pray, land near Jesus sign

Wed May 21, 7:50 PM ET

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It seemed like an almost literal answer to their prayers. When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field — coming to rest right next to a sign reading, "Jesus is Lord."

Grant Stubbs and Owen Wilson, both from the town of Blenheim on the country's South Island, were flying up the sloping valley of Pelorus Sound when the engine spluttered, coughed and died.

"My friend and I are both Christians so our immediate reaction in a life-threatening situation was to ask for God's help," Stubbs told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

He said he prayed during the ill-fated flight Sunday that the tiny craft would get over the top of a ridge and that they would find a landing site that was not too steep — or in the nearby sea.

Wilson said that the pair would have been in deep trouble if the fuel had run out five minutes earlier.

"If it had to run out, that was the place to be," he said. "There was an instantaneous answer to prayer as we crossed the ridge and there was an airfield — I didn't know it existed till then."

After Wilson glided the powerless craft to a landing on the grassy strip, the pair noticed they were beside a 20-foot-tall sign that read, "Jesus is Lord — The Bible."

"When we saw that, we started laughing," Stubbs said.

Nearby residents provided them with gas to fly the home-built plane back to base.

Victims of juvenile crime cannot claim damages

By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
Published: May 23, 2008, 00:19

Dubai: A court has issued a landmark ruling which bars victims of juvenile crime from claiming civil compensation before a juvenile court.

The Dubai Court of Appeal which issued the landmark ruling said a juvenile court is a special court which prosecutes juveniles and not their custodians. The Dubai Court of Appeal recently turned down a civil compensation claim filed by the custodians of a 16-year-old French boy who was kidnapped and forced to have sex by two Emirati adults and a teenager.

Threatened

The two adults and 17-year-old teenager, E.D., drove to a desert area where they threatened and assaulted the French schoolboy before having sex with him against his will. The Dubai Court of Cassation confirmed a 15-year prison term against the adult offenders. Meanwhile E.D. is serving a three-year prison term.

The French boy's custodian lodged a civil lawsuit against E.D. claiming Dh20,200 in temporary compensation before the Dubai Juvenile Court which dismissed the lawsuit.

The Appeal Court issued its landmark ruling in which it rejected the victim's claim for civil compensation.

The landmark ruling said that any victim who sustains damage caused by a juvenile does not have the right to lodge a civil lawsuit and claim compensation from the minor's custodian in a juvenile court.

"According to Federal Law no 9 of 1976, the Juvenile Court was formed to look into cases of juvenile delinquency in secret hearings and no one is allowed to attend the proceedings without the judge's permission.

"The juvenile court looks into the youngsters' benefits and interests and supplies them with all precautionary methods which develop them socially and helps them integrate into society. The above law made it precise that the juvenile court handles teenage cases... A victim has the right to claim civil compensation for any accrued damages but not against juveniles who are being prosecuted in juvenile courts," said the landmark ruling.

Speeding driver gets jail term for schoolgirls' deaths

By Nasouh Nazzal, Staff Reporter
Published: May 23, 2008, 00:19

Ras Al Khaimah: An Emirati who knocked down and killed two Indian schoolgirls while speeding has been jailed for six months.

He was also ordered by the Traffic Court to pay Dh100,000 in blood money to each of the victims' families and fined Dh5,000.

Five-year-old Sasinas Jayadas and 14-year-old schoolgirl, Joji Mathew Kuruvilla sustained serious injuries when they were hit by A.A.'s speeding car on February 14 on Shamal Al Rams Street.

The older schoolgirl had been helping the five-year-old cross the road when the accident happened.

The two girls were taken to Saqr Hospital, they were admitted to intensive care but later died of their injuries.

Helping hand

Their bodies were flown to the Indian state of Kerala for burial.

Sasinas, a kindergarten student at the Indian School, was on her way back home in the school bus.

The bus stopped opposite her house and the bus's caretaker asked one of the students aboard to help the little girl across Shamal Al Rams Street.

Fourteen-year-old Joji (a Grade IX student) volunteered.

Sasinas's mother was waiting for her daughter on the opposite side of the street and was unable to cross the road since she was carrying her 11-month-old baby girl in her arms.

Sasinas went a little bit ahead of Joji to cross the street from in front of the bus.

The little girl did not see A.A.'s speeding car, but Joji did and rushed to pull the little girl out of the way, but not in time and the car hit both girls.

Sasinas's mother, Minijayadas, who witnessed the accident, fainted. Since then she has been so distraught that she has been unable to look after her infant.

Husband charged with threatening to publish wife's nude pictures

By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
Published: May 19, 2008, 18:49

Dubai: A husband who dishonoured his wife by e-mailing nude pictures of her to her family - and threatened to upload them on a dedicated pornographic website failed to appear in court on Monday.

Records said the 35-year-old Jordanian husband maligned and belittled his 27-year-old Gulf national wife when he e-mailed her father and sister saying that ‘I kissed and committed adultery with her before we married'.

He also forwarded his father-in-law and sister-in-law two pictures of his wife in a nightgown and swimsuit and threatened to distribute her naked pictures among her relatives and friends and do the same thing among her father's, who is an academic, his friends and workmates.


A judge at the Dubai Court of First Instance will give the verdict next week after the suspect, a manger, failed to attend Monday's hearing although his lawyer submitted a written apology for his client's absence.

The Public Prosecution charged the suspect with degrading his wife and threatening to scandalise her over the internet by sending two e-mails to her father and sister including in them the nude pictures which he threatened to distribute.

"He sent my father and sister e-mails in which he threatened to publish nude pictures of me in a sex magazine… he also threatened to publish them among friends and relatives.

The suspect also sent text messages to my father's and sister's mobile phones saying that he will promote the naked pictures if I didn't stop calling his family," alleged the claimant in her statement.

The girl's father confirmed his daughter's statement and testified: "He threatened to design a special pornographic website on which to upload my daughter's pictures."

The sister claimed that the suspect said he would use his computer skills to publish the claimant's photos.

A verdict will be heard soon.

Two women charged with indecent behaviour at public beach

By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter

Published: May 20, 2008, 18:21

Dubai: Two women on Tuesday stood trial for kissing and cuddling at a public beach.

The women, a 30-year-old Lebanese visitor and 36-year-old Bulgarian employee, pleaded not guilty to kissing, cuddling and sleeping ‘like married couples' before the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors.

The Public Prosecution charged the women with kissing, groping each other and indecently gesturing in public.

The women, who are currently on bail, denied the charges during Tuesday's hearing.

Initial interrogations revealed that the women were spotted being intimate together on a public beach between Sharjah and Dubai. Witnesses claimed that they saw the Lebanese woman sleeping over the Bulgarian and the two were cuddling.

The suspects were arrested by Sharjah police who later referred them to Dubai's Public Prosecution because the incident fell beyond its jurisdiction.

The judge adjourned the case for a ruling.

A judicial source confirmed to Gulf News that this is believed to be the first case of its kind in the country.