Indian Students In Australia -- Not All Good News...

The idea that Indian students in Australia are always the victims of senseless crimes is one that does not always hold true. This is a case in point.

Two Indian citizens who are in Australia on student visas, Sukhjinder Singh and Amarjit Singh, have been charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl who was asleep on a train travelling from Melbourne to Sydney. This is a train I have travelled on frequently in my youth when I went to Hurlstone Agricultural High School as a boarder.

The girl awoke to find the two Indians attempting to restrain her. They apparently restrained her long enough to sexually assault her. Sometime during the assault the girl managed to break free and notify train staff of the assault. The train staff radioed ahead to police and police met the train at Goulburn railway station and arrested the two men.

Neither of the accused entered a plea at their hearing and both were remanded in custody until the matter is to be heard again on 16 September 2009. At this hearing both are expected to make applications for bail. It is likely that bail will be granted with strict conditions. I would be guessing those strict conditions would include surrendering travel documents and reporting to police at least several times a week.

The moral of this story, if there is one, is that visitors to this fine land are not always victims of racial taunts and other types of vilification, but are in fact perpetrators of crimes against citizens of this fine land. Simply, those that take advantage of and abuse visitors to Australia, irrespective of what those visitors are doing here must be punished. Similarly, visitors who come to this fine land must understand that they too will be punished in accordance to the law.

Just ask Schapelle Corby what that means.

Affairs and Krazy Glue...

Affairs of the heart, mind, and body can be sticky propositions. There is always the risk of getting caught, and getting caught is where things can become interesting. Some might say that this is also the point where passions and emotions can lead things to go very wrong.

Although, this particular series of events unfolded in Wisconsin in the USA, it is hardly an only in America kind of event. One can imagine this or other equally bizarre, perhaps nasty things, happening anywhere in the world.

However, the most interesting part of the story, or crime, to date is that all of the women who had affairs with the man conspired along with the man's wife to commit this assault.

One of the women, Therese Ziemann lured the man to a motel. The man, obviously thinking he was on a winner with this one, came freely to the motel. He then agreed to be tied up, and this was presumably because there was a sexy massage on offer. Instead, Ziemann SMS-ed her co-conspirators and the man's wife.

Once all the women were on the scene it would have been worth being a fly on the wall as the man was interrogated about his adulterous ways. In the end, it is alleged that Ziemann punched the fella in the face and then proceeded to glue, with Krazy Glue, his adulterous equipment to his stomach (I am sure that some of my readers, particularly the male ones, are thinking "well if it had been me she would have been Krazy Glue-ing it to my chest").

The women then left the motel when the fella started to scream. The man was finally discovered when his screams caught the attention of passers by.

I guess it is better than having the appendage cut off. However, I wonder how one goes about unsticking a Krazy Glue-d penis to one's stomach. What's your reaction if you are the attending paramedic or the doctor in the receiving hospital. I would imagine this would be something that you certainly do not get to see everyday.

The women have all been released on USD 200 bail.

The moral of this story is, "think before you take the plunge as affairs always end in the stickiest of situations" or is it "think with your head or you might find it stuck to your stomach"?

Update on Garuda Pilot

Well, it seems that Garuda in a show of solidarity with the pilot allegedly responsible for the crash that killed 21 people in Yogyakarta last March (2007), it has offered the gentlemen the option of resigning or being fired. He, Captain Marwoto Komar, opted to resign.

Apparently, the final report suggests the the pilot was so 'fixated' with landing that he ignored 15 warnings lamps and alarms.

The unfortunate pilot is being charged with negligence for his actions leading up to the crash. He is currently out on bail.