The Joys of Diversity & Cultural Enrichment (XIX)

Which Western country is getting the most out of its immigration policy? Today's contenders are Britain, the U.S. and Germany.


1) Germany

On Monday night a police patrol stopped a scooter in Melle Street, Osnabrück, on Monday night because the pillion passenger was not wearing a helmet.

The driver, a 16 year old youth, jumped off the scooter and tried to pretend it's engine did not work, then that he had not been driving. Finally, he admitted he had been driving, but had no valid driving licence.

When the police tried to arrest him he became violent, and a struggle ensued. At this point people, assumed to be the youth's extended family, came running out of a house in the street to intervene.

A 37 year old man aggressively demanded the youth be released, and when this request was denied began punching one of the police officers in the face.

The second officer rushed to back up his colleague and sprayed the attacker with pepper spray. At this point he turned on the second officer, punching and biting him, as more and more family members ran out on to the street to reinforce the criminals.

Finally, the officers received back up, but only after one was badly hurt enough to be hospitalised. Nine people were arrested for breach of the peace, three for assault.

Michael Maßmann, head of the Police Inspectorate of Osnabrück, is outraged regarding the incident:

"For years, there have been continually rising incidents of assaults against police officers observed. Nationwide, the police observed with concern a strong increase in violence against officials.

As the recent case in Melle proves, criminals often operate from a group who are proving to be totally disrespectful against the police and their duties. Police officers are often attacked and suffer health problems. Registered crimes such as dangerous assaults, threats, resisting police officers or breaching the peace are on the increase. We will use all available legal means to proceed against this group. "

The local paper described the family as 'Middle Eastern'.


2) United States

A Kenyan immigrant has been found guilty of strangling an elderly woman in Federal Way.

From the Seattle Times via VfR:

A King County Superior Court jury this morning found a former nursing assistant guilty of second-degree murder in the March 2008 slaying of a woman who was visiting her husband at a Federal Way nursing home.

Joseph Njonge, 25, was working at the Garden Terrace Alzheimer's Center of Excellence in Federal Way when the body of Jane Britt, 75, was found in the trunk of her car in the parking lot of the nursing home. She had been strangled. Britt often visited the nursing home to see her 77-year-old husband, Frank, who lived there.

Njonge's DNA matched evidence found underneath Britt's fingernails. Britt's pocket was found turned inside out and her husband's Costco card was found in Njonge's wallet, according to charging papers.

The jury had been deliberating since Monday.

Here is part of Njonge's testimony at trial:

Nursing assistant Joseph N. Njonge calmly answered his lawyer's questions Thursday, his hands folded on top of the witness stand--the hands prosecutors say he used to strangle the wife of his patient at a Federal Way nursing home.

"Did you kill Jane Britt?" defense attorney Philip Sayles asked.

"No," replied Njonge, shaking his head.

"Did you stuff her body in the trunk of that car?" Sayles followed up.

"No," responded Njonge, shaking his head again.

Njonge said he considered Britt his friend. The East African immigrant said he saw the 75-year-old Federal Way woman almost every day while she was at Garden Terrace nursing home visiting her husband, Frank Britt.

After Njonge professed his innocence, deputy prosecuting attorney Carla Carlstrom went to work challenging his credibility.

Njonge, 25, is charged with first-degree murder, accused of strangling Britt in the Garden Terrace parking lot and putting her body in the trunk of her Mercedes-Benz.

Britt's body was found March 19, 2008. She was last seen at 7 p.m. the day before after visiting her husband.

Njonge was on the stand for about three hours Thursday in a packed King County Superior Court room, during which he admitted taking Frank Britt's Costco card. He also said he took a Thomas Kinkade painting from another resident's room and pawned a diamond ring he found in a shower room at the nursing home.

Carlstrom cited transcripts from police interviews in April 2008, during which police asked Njonge if he took anyone's credit cards or knew about thefts at Garden Terrace. He didn't mention the Costco card or the painting at the time.

Njonge countered he didn't think police were asking about items he'd admitted taking.

He said he took Frank Britt's Costco card when Britt moved rooms and Njonge repacked his belongings. Njonge said he took the card in July or August 2007 to check out prices for flat-screen televisions and forgot to return it.

Njonge said he took several framed paintings from the nursing home to his Kent apartment to duplicate styles of framing.

"I usually took them back," he said.

Carlstrom also questioned Njonge regarding concerns Jane Britt voiced about Frank Britt's shoes not being polished and his teeth not being cared for properly by nursing assistants. Njonge said he wasn't upset by her comments.

3) Britain

Two Zimbabweans were jailed for a £1 million fraud in Leeds last month:

Zimbabwean fraudsters who conned more than £1m from banks with stolen cheques have been jailed for a total of 11 years.

The men intercepted business and personal cheque books and cards in the post and changed payee names and forged sums to be paid in.

Leeds Crown Court heard one fraudster, Effart Diza, of Knowle Terrace, Harehills, was exposed after trying to pay in a £136,000 forged cheque into a bank account set up by the men.

A jury convicted Diza of conspiracy to defraud after a trial. He was jailed for five-and-a-half years. Naison Mubaiwa, 35, of Grange Avenue, Harehills, was jailed for three and a half years after admitting conspiracy to defraud.

Paddington Muzundiwa, 25, of Manchester, was jailed for two years after admitting the same charge. All three men had failed to win asylum in the UK.

Prosecutor Timothy Capstick said total losses to banks and financial institutions including HBOS amounted to over £1m.

Police searched a string of addresses linked to the defendants where they found evidence linking the men to the fraud including cheque books, cards and typewriters and computers used to forge documents.

Jailing the three men, Judge Kerry Macgill said: "This was by anyone's standards a large scale and sophisticated conspiracy. This was fraud on a grand scale."

A fourth man, Charles Kanyimo, 35, of Wakefield, was previously jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud.

The arrests were made as part of an operation that saw warrants executed at 30 addresses in West Yorkshire and around the country.