LGBT global news 24-7

Home » Content about Magistrate

Content about Magistrate

April 19, 2013
Rio de Janeiro state legalizes gay marriage

A high court judge in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has passed a ruling authorizing gay marriag in the Brazilian state

The General Magistrate of Justice of Rio de Janeiro state, Judge Valmir de Oliveira Silva, published a legal ruling authorizing gay marriage in the state

Rio de Janeiro has become today (April 19) the 11th state of Brazil to institute marriage equality.

The other states being: São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Piauí, Ceará and the Federal District of Brazilia.

January 2, 2013
Uganda drops gay play charges

Charges against David Cecil, producer of a gay play staged in Uganda, have been dropped

A court in Uganda has thrown out a case against UK theatre producer David Cecil, who was charged over a play about the condition of gay people.

Cecil told the BBC the case was dismissed either because of a ‘lack of will or a lack of evidence’ to try him.

November 30, 2012
Trans woman wins custody battle in Australia

Federal Magistrates Court of Australia awards equal, shared responsibility for three daughters to a transsexual woman after a three and a half year legal fight

A trans woman has won three and a half year custody battle against her ex-wife in the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia.

The 49-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the privacy of the children, was awarded equal, shared responsibility in all areas except education and health for the former couple's three daughters aged seven, 12 and 17.

The children will live with their mother, who has remarried, but will be allowed to visit their father who has transitioned to live as a woman.

November 1, 2012
Belgian pleads not guilty to sodomy in Zambia

A hotel manager has pleaded not guilty to charge of  acting ‘against the order of nature’ but is still in custody

A Belgian man pleaded not guilty to acting ‘against the order of nature’ (sodomy) in court in Zambia on Tuesday (30 October).

During the jury trial the man, a hotel manager living in the southern city of Livingstone, was accused of committing sodomy between March 2011 and January 2012 with a local man.

The accused’s lawyer applied for bail saying:

‘My client has been very cooperative from the time the matter was reported and he is able to raise sureties who are resident in Livingstone.’

October 10, 2012
Motorist freed despite running over man who called him gay

Malta Magistrates Court sets local man free after leaving an Australian tourist permanently disabled

A Maltese man is walking free after running over an Australian tourist in his car who ‘provoked’ him by implying he was gay.

Alan Gauci, of Mellieha, was let off the hook by Magistrate Carol Peralta yesterday (9 October), after he admitted to causing permanent disability to Jeremy Lalic in 2004.

Six years ago on 21 March, Gauci deliberately ran his victim over in a car at 4am after being called ‘gay’ by the tourist

Peralta said ‘perhaps in the accused’s psyche and other villagers’, it was not acceptable’ to be called gay.

September 18, 2012
Nigeria gives man three months jail for gay sex

Bestwood Chukwuemeka was sentenced to three months in jail by a Karu Senior Magistrates’ Court, Abuja, Nigeria for having consexual gay sex with another man

Chukwuemeka, a 28 year-old actor, resident of Gidan Mangoro, had pleaded guilty to having engaged in ‘homosexual acts’, yesterday 17 September, 2012.

He was sentenced to a three months jail term.

Premium Times quoted him stating to the court: ‘I am guilty of the charge against me. I was under the influence of alcohol and I want the court to temper justice with mercy.’

September 18, 2012
Nigeria gives man three months jail for gay sex

Bestwood Chukwuemeka was sentenced to three months in jail by a Karu Senior Magistrates’ Court, Abuja, Nigeria for having consexual gay sex with another man

Chukwuemeka, a 28 year-old actor, resident of Gidan Mangoro, had pleaded guilty to having engaged in ‘homosexual acts’, yesterday 17 September, 2012.

He was sentenced to a three months jail term.

Premium Times quoted him stating to the court: ‘I am guilty of the charge against me. I was under the influence of alcohol and I want the court to temper justice with mercy.’

July 27, 2012
Gay dad in custody battle in Brisbane

Man accuses ex-wife’s family of homophobia and racism

A bitter custody battle is raging in Brisbane Federal Magistrate’s court this week, with a gay dad saying his obese ex-wife has a ‘co-dependent relationship’ with their eldest son, ‘even to the point of joint comfort eating’.

The mother of the two boys, aged ten and eight, denies their father’s claims. She wants to take her sons to live with her in her hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand.

But the boys’ father says his ex-wife’s family in Christchurch is ‘homophobic’ and ‘racist’ and he doesn’t want his sons to be influenced by them.

April 27, 2012
Cape Town gay bar murder case postponed

The trial of men accused of murdering Bronx club owner Bruno Bronn postponed until summer

The trial of four men accused of killing a gay club owner in Cape Town, South Africa, has been postponed until 4 June, the City's Magistrate's Court decided on Thursday (26 April).

John Frederick Coetzee, 36, Achmat Toffa, 35, Fareez Allie, 29 and Kurt Erispe, 35 are all charged with the murder of Bruno Bronn.

Allie and Erispe were granted bail last month (March, 2012).

Bronn, 50, was found dead in his home on 7 February.

April 7, 2012
Court throws out first case for St Petersburg gay hate law

Police evidence that two gay activists ‘promoted homosexuality to minors’ was insufficient

The two gay activists arrested in St Petersburg on Thursday (5 April) have been released by a court.

They were the first two people arrested in the Russian city under its new legislation which bans ‘the promotion of homosexuality to minors’ and had faced fines of 5,000 roubles ($172 €125) each and 15 days imprisonment if found guilty.

March 27, 2012
Bronx murder suspect granted bail

One of the men accused of murdering South African club owner Bruno Bronn has been granted bail today

One of the four men accused of murdering gay club owner Bruno Bronn in Cape Town, South Africa, has been released on bail.

Fareez Allie, 29, was released on a bail of R5,000 ($660 €490) by the Cape Town District Court today (27 March).

Kurt Erispe, 35, was granted bail at a previous hearing, while the other two suspects charged with Bronn's murder, 36-year-old John Frederick Coetzee and Achmat Toffa, 35, have abandoned their applications for bail.

February 21, 2012
Murder suspects told 'rot in hell' by anti-bail campaigners

Friends and colleagues of murdered South Africa club owner Bruno Bronn have launched petition, fearing 'repercussions' if suspects granted bail

Friends and ex-colleagues of murdered gay club owner Bruno Bronn have signed a petition, calling for his killers to be denied bail.

John Frederick Coetzee, 36, Fareez Allie, 29, Achmat Toffa, 35, and Kurt Erispe, 32. appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged with the Bronx nightclub owner's murder.

The hearing was postponed until Monday for a bail application.

February 2, 2012
Gay rights victory as lesbian's killers jailed

The killers of a lesbian in Cape Town, South Africa, have each been jailed for 18 years

A group of men have been jailed for stabbing and stoning a lesbian to death in South Africa.

In what activists are calling a landmark case, four men were yesterday sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006 because she was living openly as a lesbian.