metro
Police identify woman set on fire in deadly New York City attack
Police identify woman set on fire in deadly New York City attack
Police in New York City have named a woman who was set on fire and burned to death last week on a subway train in Brooklyn.
Debrina Kawam, 57, of New Jersey, has been identified as the victim of the seemingly random 22 December attack that burned her body beyond recognition.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of starting the blaze with a lighter while Ms Kawam was asleep. He allegedly fanned the flames with a shirt and then watched the fire grow from a bench outside the subway car.
Last week, a grand jury indicted Mr Zapeta, who claims to have no memory of the incident, on four counts of murder and one count of arson.
Julie Bolcer, a spokesperson for New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, said the death was ruled a homicide and caused by “thermal and inhalational injuries”. She made the identification public on Tuesday.
“The identity was confirmed by the medical examiner yesterday through fingerprint analysis, following a multi-agency effort with our partners in law enforcement,” she said.
It took authorities more than a week to identify Ms Kawam’s body.
At a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that Ms Kawam had recently spent time at a city homeless shelter.
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“It really reinforces what I’ve been saying, people should not be living on our subway system, they should be in a place of care. And no matter where she lived, that should not have happened,” he said.
Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said at a press conference early in the investigation that authorities had worked to collect DNA evidence and fingerprints from Ms Kawam’s remains.
“It’s a priority for me, for my office, for the police department to identify this woman, so we can notify her family,” Mr Gonzalez said.
False and unverified information about her, including a fake AI-generated picture, had circulated online in the aftermath of the attack.
There was also an outpouring of support, including a vigil held for the then-unidentified victim last week.
Police say that Ms Kawam was motionless, apparently asleep, on a stationary subway train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn early on 22 December when Mr Zapeta allegedly approached her with a lighter.
The pair never interacted, and police believe they did not know each other.
Jessica Tisch, New York’s police commissioner, said that the smell of smoke drew police officers and Metropolitan Transit Authority personnel to the fire and they extinguished the flames.
“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Ms Tisch said.
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Authorities declared Ms Kawam dead at the scene.
Ms Tisch described the incident as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being”.
In a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, prosecutor Ari Rottenberg said Mr Zapeta told investigators that he had been drinking and did not remember the incident, but did identify himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit.
The suspect, who is originally from Guatemala, was deported from the US in 2018 and later re-entered the country illegally, immigration authorities said.
He is due back in court on 7 January, prosecutors said.
Despite a decline in crime rates on New York City’s subway, the incident is one of a string of attacks that has raised concerns for riders on America’s largest mass transit system.
The subway safety issue arose again on Tuesday afternoon when someone was pushed on to the tracks in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood in front of an oncoming subway, according to New York City police.
The unidentified male victim was admitted to hospital with a head injury, authorities said. Police later detained a suspect, according to local media.
Police identify woman set on fire in deadly New York City attack
metro
Bandits demand N10m ransom to release abducted Kogi varsity lecturer
Bandits demand N10m ransom to release abducted Kogi varsity lecturer
Gunmen have reportedly abducted Professor John Ebeh, a senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU), Anyigba, Kogi State.
The assailants are said to be demanding a N10 million ransom for his release.
An eyewitness said the hoodlums in their numbers invaded the Prof Ebeh’s house in Agbeji, a suburb of Anyigba in Dekina Local Government Area, around 7pm on Thursday.
They reportedly whisked him away, after sporadic shootings to scare people in his vicinity.
A neighbour who identified himself as Akpai explained what happened. “The hoodlums operated in a commando manner. It was swift. We noticed a car trailing him furiously; we took it as one of his friends or colleagues, not until we heard gunshots around his gate.
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A family source said the don was negotiating towards the gate of his house at Agbeji, a settlement along Anyigba-Ochadamu-Itobe road when a vehicle suddenly pulled up and blocked his car.
“Professor Ebeh was almost at the gate of his house at Agbeji, on his way from the town when the incident happened.
“He had even given out a signal to his people to open the gate of his house when some people emerged suddenly from their hideout, and started shooting sporadically.
“Amidst the confusion, someone drove in furiously and blocked his car. Some masked people alighted from the vehicle and whisked him away at gunpoint. His abductors called the family on Friday night, demanding N10m,” the source said.
Though the university authorities have yet to issue a statement on the incident, one of the victim’s colleagues said, “The kidnapping (of the professor) came to us as a shock. I have just visited his family to sympathise with them.”
Bandits demand N10m ransom to release abducted Kogi varsity lecturer
metro
Many killed, houses, vehicles destroyed in Delta petrol tanker explosion
Many killed, houses, vehicles destroyed in Delta petrol tanker explosion
Many people were feared dead as a petrol tanker exploded Sunday afternoon on a highway in Delta State.
The accident occurring on Asaba-Lagos Road in the Agbor Ika South Local Government Area caused huge damage to houses and vehicles trapped in the inferno.
The explosion was reported to have happened when the petrol tanker was navigating a turn near First Bank in Agbor and overturned.
Firemen from both Delta state and federal authorities were mobilised to the scene, according to the director of the state fire service, Eugene Oziwele.
Oziwele also confirmed that the casualties were high, adding firemen from Asaba joined those in Agbor with others from the Federal Fire Service to put out the raging fire.
metro
Farmer-herder crisis: Cooperative to establish ranches in 774 LGs
Farmer-herder crisis: Cooperative to establish ranches in 774 LGs
The National Agricultural Mechanisation Cooperative of Nigeria (NAMCON) has disclosed plans to establish cattle ranches in the 774 local governments across Nigeria.
According to the National President of the cooperative, NAMCON, Dr Aliyu Waziri, the move is part of sustained efforts to modernise livestock production in the country, bolster value-addition and address the persistent clashes between farmers and herders.
He spoke with journalists in Kaduna adding that the ranches would be provided with adequate animal feeds, mega dams and an array of features of world-class equipment, thereby ensuring herders and their livestock have no cause to migrate in search of water and food.
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He said the ranches would be adequately equipped with clinics, western and Islamic schools and other necessary infrastructure.
Waziri said, “These ranches will be fully equipped for both rainy and dry season farming activities for the sustained production of food as this is very crucial to boosting food security, jobs creation, poverty eradication and jerking off Nigeria’s foreign reserves.”
The ranches, he said, would also have plantations of various economic trees like mango, guava and cashew.
He said, “The gesture will also greatly help in combating the recurring herder-farmer clashes in the country.”
Waziri maintained that the goal of the cooperative was to transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector through mechanization and empowerment programs.
He recalled that in November 2021, NAMCON empowered 15 million farmers, especially women and young people, on farm mechanisation.
He then urged the government to explore the agricultural sector’s hidden potential to address unemployment and food security.
Farmer-herder crisis: Cooperative to establish ranches in 774 LGs
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