Mane attraction: Getting (a little too) up close and personal with the kings of the jungle

By Sara Nelson

Last updated at 11:27 AM on 06th November 2009

As an enormous lion lumbers onto the bonnet of the jeep and begins tearing up a piece of raw meat, you would expect to see fear etched on the faces of these tourists.

But rather than showing any signs of terror, the group are smiling broadly – safe from the big cat behind a Perspex windshield.

Lunch time: The astonished tourists are just inches away from the lion's jaws at the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Victoria, Australia

Don't mind me: The lion tucks into his food as the bemused tourists look on

This incredible Lions on the Edge exhibit, which puts you just inches from a lion’s jaws is one of the biggest attractions at Werribee Open Range Zoo, in Victoria, Australia.

Kings of the jungle Tombo and Tonyi are joined by two lionesses in the exhibit. Though it has been open since 2006, the male lions were added just last month - leading to some startling photo opportunities.

Robyn and Davin Price, both 34, and their children Ariel, five, Eden, three, and newborn Evie visited the zoo on Friday.

Robyn said: 'It was absolutely amazing. You can't even see the glass is there. It's really frightening at first, but then when the lions get up close, you can't help but be taken away by their beauty.' 

A pause between courses: The lion polishes off his meal, and waits hungrily for the next

Come a little closer: The jungle king seems unperturbed by the toddler immediately behind him

Davin added: 'The children were trying to reach out to touch the lions. It's a brilliant idea.  

'I've never been so close to such incredible animals before.

'And we got some great photos - I'm sure the lions thought our children were their desserts!' 

Heather Sargeant, who was also at the zoo on Friday, said: 'You don't realise just how big they are until they are staring you in the face like that.

Behind the looking glass: Another view of the exhibit from the zoo's website

'I did ask a staff member a few questions about how strong the glass was before I felt able to sit down.

'It's both frightening, exciting and exhilarating all at the same time.'

This unique opportunity to get up close to the fearsome cats has won the 25-year-old zoo an award and promises to be a mane attraction for years to come.

Brotherly love: Tombo and Tonyi cuddle together unaware that they are being watched in this photograph taken by a camera hidden beneath a log in their enclosure

SKorean Woman Passes Driver's Exam On 950th Try

 SKorean Woman Passes Driver's License Test On 950th Attempt Over 4 Years And $4,200

(AP)  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time.

The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the drivers' license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Seoul.

Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local media said she took the test 950 times.

Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said.

Repeated calls to Cha seeking comment went unanswered. She told the Korea Times newspaper she needed the license for her vegetable-selling business.

Girl 'cried rape after living out fantasy of having sex with two strangers'

By Luke Salkeld

Last updated at 12:55 AM on 06th November 2009

Chole Dolton, 22, is accused of making a false rape claim

A young woman cried rape after 'fulfilling a fantasy' of having sex with two strangers, a court heard yesterday.

Chloe Dolton, 22, was 'bored' with her life and willingly engaged in the threesome after an argument with her boyfriend, it was alleged.

A jury heard she had previously expressed her sexual fantasies in a diary, in which she wrote: 'I am in crisis. I am so bored of my life and need a miracle.

'I try to be nice and decent but I always end up one way or another trying to **** someone, a girl or a boy.'

The entry on a computer diary entitled The Life of Chloe Dolton continued: 'I should be out having fun with every boy I meet, having sex with whoever I like.

'I am such a hateful girl, such a selfish girl.'

The prosecution said she fulfilled her fantasy at the end of an evening spent drinking alcohol, and later accused the two men of rape because she was ashamed of what she had done.

Dolton told police that Robert Joborski and Gregor Bukowski grabbed her as she walked home alone from a late-night party where she had played drinking games.

She said they then raped her in a stone shelter built into the side of a cliff in the North Devon resort of Ilfracombe.

The two men were later arrested but never charged. They said the sex had been consensual and that Dolton had approached them late at night in a 'chatty and friendly' manner.

Mr Bukowski said after they met he had put his arm around her and they started kissing before Dolton asked if he had a condom.

He then had sex with her although the prosecutor said the 'sex came to a premature end' when Dolton received a phone call from her live-in boyfriend.

Afterwards it is said she had sex with Mr Bukowski again and invited Mr Joborski to join them, and performed a sex act on him. She then returned home where she told her boyfriend she had been raped by the two Polish men.

Dolton's boyfriend went to the scene of the alleged crime where he found two condoms which were handed over to

police. But officers who investigated the rape allegations in June 2007 noticed there were 'strikingly different' versions from Dolton and the two Poles who were arrested and interviewed separately.

Prosecutor Jo Martin told Exeter Crown Court: 'It is not unusual for rapists to claim that sex was consensual.'

But she said CCTV evidence and other inconsistencies in mobile phone records of calls and texts would show that Dolton had met the two Poles before the 'alleged attack' and that the men had not grabbed and assaulted her.

The jury heard that on her way home to her flat after the sex, Dolton also bumped into a friend but failed to tell him that she had been raped.

The two Poles gave evidence in court and said Dolton, from Braunton, North Devon, laughed with them and appeared happy after their encounter and that was the last they saw of her.

Dolton denies perverting the course of justice by making the false rape claims.

Miss Martin said of the defendant: 'She deliberately lied to her boyfriend, her family and friends and to the police.

'She clearly lied because probably of her shame and regret. She had in fact had consensual sex with two complete strangers.'

The trial continues.

The rescue of Deputy Moon: Hero inmates save lone guard as he's choked by prisoner in violent attack

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 11:40 AM on 06th November 2009

Four prisoners were being hailed as heroes in America last night after they rushed to the rescue of a lone guard who was being held in a potentially fatal choke hold by another inmate.

CCTV surveillance video shows Deputy Ken Moon, 64, sitting alone at his desk at the Orient Road Jail in Florida when he is suddenly and violently set upon by inmate Douglas Emanuel Burden, 24. 

Burden, who is facing charges of drunk driving and drug trafficking, quickly overpowered the older man.

Attack: CCTV shows Douglas Burden grabbing Deputy Ken Moon in a potentially fatal martial arts choke hold

But as Burden overpowers the older man, help comes from an unexpected quarter: Inmates Jerry Dieguez, centre with his arm raised to punch Burden, and David Schofield, running from the left

The inmates are quickly joined by Hoang Vu and Terrell Carswell as Schofield leans over the desk with the radio to call for help

He then grabbed him in what sheriffs later said was a 'rear naked choke', a martial arts choke hold that can potentially kill a person by cutting off the blood flow to their brain.

But as the deputy struggled for his life, rescue came from an unexpected quarter.

The first inmate to rush to Deputy Moon's defence was Jerry Dieguez Jr, jailed on charges of armed home invasion. Dieguez punched Burden in an attempt to make him let the deputy go, knocking the pair to the floor.

  e  

Good guy, bad guy: Deputy Ken Moon, left, recovers in hospital after the attack by Douglas Burden, right

He was quickly joined by David Schofield, facing charges of aggravated assault and battery, who can be seen grabbing Deputy Moon's radio from his pocket and calling for help.

Back-up assistance came from Hoang Vu, facing attempted murder charges, and Terrell Carswell, who faces robbery, failure to register as a sex offender, cocaine trafficking, and marijuana possession. 

By the time more inmates and deputies had rushed to join the fray, Burden had been overpowered.

He has been placed in solitary confinement and is now facing charges of attacking an officer in addition to his other charges, Sherriff’s Col. Jim Previtera.

Terry Dieguez, left, arrived first on the scene, while David Schofield, right, arrived second and grabbed Deputy Moon's radio to call for help

 arge  

Assistance: Terrell Carswell, left, and Hoang Vu, right, provided backup

Previtera, the commander of Hillsborough County's Department of Detention Services, said the inmates had 'saved the deputy's life'.

'The response of the inmates in this case, I think, speaks volumes as to the fact that we treat these men and women... in our facilities with a lot of respect,' he added.

Letters of thanks were sent to the attorneys of the four inmates who came to Deputy Moon's rescue, to be delivered to a judge on their behalf.

Deputy Moon himself was admitted to the hospital for his injuries but quickly released.

When asked why they had bothered to help him, the inmates' answer was simple: He was a good guy and they liked him.

'You Hit A What?' SUV Nearly Slams Into Elephant

'You Hit A What?' Oklahoma Couple Nearly Slams Into Wayward Elephant On Way Home From Church

AP)  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - It's not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma's rural highways. But an elephant?

A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday.

"Didn't have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road," driver Bill Carpenter said Thursday. "At the very last second I said 'elephant!'"

Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles north of Oklahoma City.

"So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us," he said. "We'd have been history."

The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren't injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.

"I thought this can't be happening. Out here you could hit a deer or a cow, but this can't be happening. The good Lord was with us," Carpenter said. The elephant's tusk punched through the side of the SUV, tearing up sheet metal.

After sideswiping the elephant, his wife, Deena, flagged some people down and used their cell phone to call police.

"The dispatcher didn't believe her: 'You hit a what?'" he said. "I told my wife, I don't know whether to cry or laugh."

Enid veterinarian Dr. Dwight Olson said the elephant was hiding in some bushes just off the highway when he arrived shortly after the accident. Handlers from the circus were able to calm it down, and Olson cleaned the leg wound and gave it some pain killer.

The elephant was taken Thursday to the veterinary school at Oklahoma State University for a follow-up exam.

"I don't believe there's a broken bone, but I don't have an X-ray room big enough to examine it," Olson said.

The elephant had escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds earlier Wednesday after something spooked it while it was being loaded into a truck with another elephant, Olson said.

David Sacks, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said late Thursday the elephant is owned by the same license holder of two elephants that escaped after getting spooked by a tornado in WaKeeney, Kan., last year. The license holder is Doug Terranova, Sacks said.

A booking agent for the circus, Rachael Bellman, said she was unaware of the incident, and a telephone message left with circus officials wasn't immediately returned.

Carpenter joked about being involved in such a bizarre accident on what is usually a peaceful church night.

"I don't know what was in the wine, but it must have been pretty strong," he said.

Texas Executes Killer in Beating, Shooting Death

Thursday, November 05, 2009

HUNTSVILLE, Texas  —  A man convicted of fatally beating and shooting a man during a burglary almost 12 years ago was executed Thursday, in a case that gained notoriety because jurors may have consulted a Bible to justify his death sentence.

Khristian Oliver, 32, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 6:18 p.m.

He told his victim's children, who watched through a window a few feet (meters) away, that he wished them the best. After telling his parents, watching through an adjacent window, that he loved them, he started reciting the 23rd Psalm, getting through several verses before the drugs took effect.

Oliver was condemned for the March 1998 slaying of 64-year-old Joe Collins who interrupted the break-in at his rural home outside Nacogdoches, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) southeast of Dallas.

A witness to the attack on Collins, in which the then-20-year-old Oliver beat and shot him with a rifle, compared it to someone getting bashed with an ax or a golf club. Oliver's lawyers argued that jurors who improperly brought Bibles with them into deliberations without the knowledge of the trial judge in Nacogdoches County likened the rifle to a biblical iron object. In Chapter 35 of Numbers, a murderer who uses an iron object to kill "shall surely be put to death."

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said evidence was contradictory on whether jurors consulted the Bible before or after deliberations and that several jurors testified that the Bible "was not a focus of their discussions."

Oliver's death by lethal injection was the 20th this year in Texas.

Parole killer 'raped mother- of-five to re-enact murder he committed 22 years ago'

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 6:49 PM on 05th November 2009

A convicted murderer out on parole kidnapped and raped a mother-of-five in a gruesome three-hour ordeal - in a bid to re-enact his first killing 22 years earlier, a court has heard.

Mark Shirley, 39, was jailed for life in 1987 for the ritualistic murder of 67-year-old Mary Wainwright.

The pensioner was maimed with knives and choked on her own blood after a brutal battering.

Shirley left an ornamental knife and a 2p coin 'as gifts' on her abdomen.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Mark Shirley raped and sexually assaulted his victim, re-enacting elements of a murder he committed 22 years ago

He was released from prison after serving 16 years but allegedly tried to re-enact the first murder while out on licence.

Shirley is charged with sexually assaulting a 40-year-old woman with knives and repeatedly raping her in her own home.

Today the woman told Bristol Crown Court how Shirley calmly discussed how to he was going mutilate her with knives.

The attack only stopped when the woman's son returned home - but Shirley fled.

His victim was so terrified of reprisals she did not report the attack for days, the jury heard.

She told the court: 'He was saying to himself that he wanted to design which way he should cut me to make me smell as sweet as Mary.

'He was trying to work out which way my head would roll in the kitchen and how much blood he would have to play in.'

Rosaleen Collins, prosecuting, said: 'It is the Crown's case that what the defendant was referring to was his murder of Mary Wainwright.

'It is difficult to imagine a more chilling ordeal than that which took place for three hours in March this year.

The scene of the murder of 67-year-old widow Mary Wainwright in 1987

'It is as if he was reliving or re-enacting that which had taken place 20 years before.

'It was as if he really believed he was talking to Mary.'  

The court heard how neighbours found Mary Wainwright's body on the floor of her flat in Cardiff, south Wales, in January 1987.

She was severely disfigured, covered in blood and had a pillow over her face.

Ms Collins told the court: 'There were ritualistic elements to the killing. A two-pence coin and an ornamental knife were placed on her body.

'The blood had gone down her throat and she had choked on her own blood.

'There were marks on the body and severe facial injuries that suggested that kicking had occurred.'

Shirley, then 17, denied murder but was convicted at Cardiff Crown Court in November 1987 and jailed for life.

He was released on licence in December 2003 and got involved in a relationship with a friend of his alleged second victim.

But she ended the relationship in May 2008 while Shirley was back in prison after being recalled for breaking the terms of his parole.

Shirley blamed the 40-year-old for the breakdown of his relationship and confronted her in her home in Bristol on March 20, 2009.

The married mother-of-five had been cleaning upstairs when she came down to find Shirley had broken in and was sitting at her kitchen table.

He produced a rucksack full of knives and ordered the woman to sit on a chair before he made a bizarre howling noise and removed her top, it was said.

She told the court: 'He said that he once knew a lady, a sweet lady, her name was Mary.

'He said that she was a likeable lady, a trustable lady, a lady that he had been watching for a long time. He said I was sweet like her.

'He said he had fun with Mary's blood and that he lied across her for a while. He said he stamped around in her blood.

'That's when he told me that he had defaced her. He seemed to be laughing to himself.

'He took my black top and that was when he flicked the knife open. I did think to myself, "Oh my God, I am not going to get out of here".'

The defendant described how Shirley allegedly became angry as he subjected her to a horrific attack.

She added: 'He lost his temper because I couldn't control my head because I was very very scared. I could not control it. I was shaking quite badly. I just could not control it.

'He said that Fridays and Saturdays were good drinking and killing days.'

The woman claims Shirley raped her at least four times. Her ordeal lasted for around three-and-a-half hours and finally came to an end when her eldest son came to visit her.

Inside the house, Shirley sat down at the kitchen table and calmly drank a coffee while talking to the complainant about the breakdown of his relationship.

He ordered the woman to get dressed and greet her son as if nothing was wrong.

Miss Collins said: 'She was told to sit down and act as if nothing had happened. Her son went to watch television but noticed that his mother was quiet and unresponsive and said she had a headache.'  

Shirley, who is originally from Cardiff but lived in Bristol at the time of the attack, denies one count of false imprisonment, one count of committing an offence with sexual intent, one count of rape and three counts of assault by penetration - one of which involved a knife.

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