Man jailed for life over frenzied murder of wife after church

Brazilian national Jaici Alfenas Rocha, 37, attacked Karina Guimaraes Batista, 40, with such ferocity at their home in Bristol he nearly severed her spinal cord.

Bristol Crown Court heard the attack happened at their rented flat in the early hours of February 13 last year after Rocha became convinced his wife was having an affair with her sister’s husband.

 

Mrs Batista suffered 27 separate stab wounds, with Rocha attacking her with such ferocity he stabbed her in the eye and heart, slashed her throat and nearly severed her spinal cord.

He had bought the kitchen knife and taken it to their flat where he intended to scare his wife into confessing to the affair.

After they returned from church together, Rocha, who had been suffering from mental health problems, killed his Brazilian-born wife.

Rocha, of Kensington Park, Easton, Bristol had denied her murder but was convicted by a jury.

Anna Vigars QC, defending, said: “Mr Rocha’s position has not changed. There is nothing from him that I seek to put before the court.”

Mr Justice Dingemans imposed a mandatory life sentence and told the defendant he would serve a minimum of 20 years imprisonment.

“Karina Batista was murdered on the night of February 12 or the early hours of February 13 2017,” the judge said.

“She had been stabbed in the face, head and heart with a kitchen knife. The attack was a frenzied and requiring very…

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California High School Students Plan Pro-life Walkout

California High School Students Plan Pro-life Walkout



A California high school is planning a pro-life walkout and spreading the word about the protest using the hashtag #life.


“To honor all the lives of aborted babies pretty much. All the millions of aborted babies every year,” said organizer Brandon Gillespie.


Students around the country have already staged walkouts in demand for stricter gun laws after the Parkland shooting.


The pro-life walkout comes after history teacher, Julianne Benzel asked her students if they thought administration would allow students to walk out for another cause, such as abortion.


“I would like a conversation about when is too much? And are we going allow this on the other side?” Benzel said.


“That’s when I first questioned if one national movement is supported, would another get the same support?  Is this politically driven? There can’t be a double standard,” she said.


Benzel was placed on paid administrative leave and reinstated back to work two days later.


“Paid administrative leave is not a disciplinary action,” the Rocklin Unified School District said in a statement. “It can be used by a school district or other public employer while an investigation takes place. The teacher was not penalized or placed on leave based on her viewpoints.”


Meanwhile, a group of students say they will meet with the Rocklin High School principal to discuss the pro-life walkout. A date has not…

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Open Heavens 23 March 2018 Friday Daily Devotional by Pastor Adeboye — The Temple Of God

Topic: The Temple Of God [Open Heavens 23 March 2018, Friday Daily Devotional] Memorise: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are…

The post Open Heavens 23 March 2018 Friday Daily Devotional by Pastor Adeboye — The Temple Of God appeared first on Flatimes.

Christian charity sends message to elderly

Age UK’s study also revealed 22 per cent of men and nearly one in three women of retirement age suffer with depression.

Louise Morse from Christian charity Pilgrims’ Friends Society told Premier why elderly people shouldn’t feel downcast.

 

“It’s to know that they have a purpose in old age. God designed old age on purpose – it isn’t a mistake,” she explained.

“Christians should know this because Ephesians 2:10 makes it clear that we’re all individually equipped for the good works that God will bring to us.

There are 1.2m chronically lonely older people in the UK, so Age UK said it’s likely we all know or care about someone who feels lonely.

However, the charity said it’s not always easy to spot the signs.

Morse told Premier people’s age shouldn’t make them feel worthless.

“He created aging and older people are as important to God and his purposes for them, as anyone at any age,” she added.

“Most people have absorbed ageism unconsciously.”

If you need someone to talk to, a listening ear or prayer, then call Premier Lifeline’s confidential telephone helpline on 0300 111 0101.

Listen to Louise Morse from Christian charity Pilgrims’ Friends Society speaking with Premier’s John Pantry and Rosie Wright:

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

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Poll Finds Democrats and Republicans Disagree on Importance of Morality for Political Candidates

Poll Finds Democrats and Republicans Disagree on Importance of Morality for Political Candidates



Nine in 10 Democrats and Republicans say extramarital affairs are morally wrong, according to the latest poll from Economist/YouGov.


The poll also said that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to look past the immoral acts of presidential candidates.


The new poll falls in line with an October 1998 CBS News poll, albeit this time, with Democrats being willing to give a pass to their candidates. The 1998 poll showed that while three in four Republicans wanted President Bill Clinton to be punished for his sexual behavior while in office, some 56 percent of Democrats said the issue should be dropped.


Today, Republicans seem to be extending the same tolerance to President Donald Trump, who has been divorced twice. Recently, adult film actress Stormy Daniels claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his wife Melania.


In the latest poll, half of Republicans said it is okay to vote for someone who has done immoral acts and more than half reported that doing so was not hypocritical.


Republicans also said the affair allegation were of “very little importance.”


Where Republicans and Democrats also seem to differ is what exactly is an immoral act.


Majorities in both parties seem to agree that gambling, alcohol use and interracial marriage are morally acceptable.


But parties disagree on other hot…

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Ed Sheeran’s chapel plans could be thwarted by newts

The 27-year-old Thinking Out Loud singer recently submitted a planning application to Suffolk Coastal District Council to have a Saxon style chapel constructed.

However, some neighbours are concerned the construction work could negatively impact the area’s great crested newt population, which are protected species, The Sun reported.

 

Commenting on the church, one neighbour said in a submission opposing the latest application: “It would appear that the applicant in his desire to satisfy the needs of the spiritual world continues to overlook his obligations to the living world, particularly that of protected species”.

Another wrote: “Any damage to such habitats or the killing of such protected creatures can also lead to criminal or civil prosecutions.”

Wikimedia Commons

 

Opposers to the songwriter’s plans have said they intended to involve Natural England – the government body in charge of protecting Britain’s wildlife.

Documents show the chapel, which will be made with a round tower, would be large enough to hold a congregation of around 24 with some overspill space in the gallery.

The application states there is a need for the chapel as “it is every person’s right to be able to have a place of retreat for contemplation and prayer, for religious observance, celebration of key life and family milestones, marriages, christenings and so…

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Turkey: Date Set for Trial of US Pastor Andrew Brunson

Turkey: Date Set for Trial of US Pastor Andrew Brunson



Imprisoned US pastor Andrew Brunson is set to stand trial before a Turkish criminal court on 16 April on espionage- and terrorism-related charges that could jail him for up to 35 years.


Seventeen months after the pastor’s arrest in the port city of Izmir, a formal indictment accepted by the Izmir 2nd Criminal Court has been released to Brunson and his lawyer – but only after the 62-page document was leaked illegally to the Turkish media.


According to Brunson’s lawyer, Ismail Cem Halavurt, “the leaking of the indictment before the parties have seen it amounts to a violation of confidentiality”.


Halavurt now has less than a month, before the trial hearings open, to examine the prosecution’s legal file of its investigations. As alleged evidence supporting the indictment’s claims against his client, the entire set of documents has been kept sealed until now.


The Turkish indictment accuses Brunson of links with both of Turkey’s most prominent terrorist organisations: the FETO network of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, accused of orchestrating the July 2016 attempted coup; and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), leading a 35-year armed separatist struggle against the Turkish state.


The accusations against the pastor rest heavily on the testimony of several “secret” witnesses interrogated by the prosecution. One witness claimed Brunson had met frequently…

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Mark Zuckerberg apologizes for Facebook data breach

“I started this when I was so young and inexperienced. I made technical errors and business errors. I hired the wrong people. I trusted the wrong people.” This was part of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement to CNN last night in apologizing for the data breach that has made headlines this week.

A few days ago, news broke that data firm Cambridge Analytica reportedly accessed information from about fifty million Facebook users without their knowledge. The controversy cost Facebook’s stock price to fall nearly $50 billion this week.

Earlier in the day, Zuckerberg pledged in a Facebook post to take steps to protect data and fix what he called a “breach of trust” between the social network and its users. “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you.”

In other news, scientists say there is a small chance that an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building will collide with the Earth. Thursday, September 22, 2135 is the date when the object could strike us.

NASA says it could send up a nearly nine-ton “bulk impactor” to push the asteroid out of Earth’s orbit. Or it could use a nuclear device for the same purpose. The scheme is called the Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response. The acronym is less subtle: HAMMER.

The good news is that the odds of the asteroid hitting us are about one in twenty-seven hundred. The bad news is that, according to NASA’s experts, there are ten thousand extraterrestrial objects headed toward Earth that could be unaccounted for.

The peril of unknown asteroids may seem ominous, but technological breaches are much more dangerous to the typical American. Just because we don’t see a threat makes it no less threatening.

We cannot anticipate or prevent suffering in this fallen world. But we can prepare for it.

One reason Christians suffer

Psalm 80 begins, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a…

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Gay priest to learn outcome of legal challenge over discrimination claim

Three leading judges are expected to deliver a ruling on Thursday in the case of Canon Jeremy Pemberton, who had his permission to officiate revoked after he married Laurence Cunnington in April 2014.

Canon Jeremy Pemberton, a Church of England (C of E) priest for more than 30 years, was also denied a licence to officiate in the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham – which left him unable to take up a job offer at the King’s Mill Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

 

He lost an employment tribunal against the Rt Rev Richard Inwood, former acting Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, and his claims of discrimination and harassment were also rejected by the employment appeal tribunal.

But he renewed his fight at London’s Court of Appeal, where his lawyers argued the earlier rulings should be overturned.

During a two-day hearing in January, his legal team said the bishop’s decisions were wrong, because the C of E has no fixed rule on same-sex marriage among members of the clergy.

His barrister Sean Jones QC also said C of E clergy members in civil partnerships were allowed to officiate and that those were “effectively indistinguishable” from same-sex marriages.

 

He added: “There isn’t a doctrine that says if you have entered into a same-sex civil marriage, then you cannot officiate.”

Lawyers for the former bishop said it was accepted…

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