Harvard expert shares why thinking about mortality rates mid-pandemic is ‘distracting’
Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, explains how the COVID-19 mortality rate amid a pandemic is difficult to calculate.
South Africa on Saturday surpassed 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, representing more than 50% of all reported coronavirus infections in Africa’s 54 countries.
Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced 10,107 new cases Saturday night, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 503,290, including 8,153 deaths.
South Africa, with a population of about 58 million, has the fifth-highest number of cases in the world, behind the U.S., Brazil, Russia and India, all countries with significantly higher populations, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll of the pandemic worldwide is much higher than confirmed cases, due to limited testing and other reasons.
“Half a million is a significant milestone, because it shows we’ve entered a stage of rapid increases. We may reach 1 million cases very quickly,” said Denis Chopera, a virologist based in Durban. “What we know for sure is that the figures are an underestimate and that this virus will be with us for a long time to come.”
South Africa’s Gauteng province — which includes Johannesburg, the country’s largest city and Pretoria, the capital — is the country’s epicenter with more than 35% of its confirmed cases. Local hospitals have been struggling to cope, and health experts say the country could reach the peak of its outbreak in late August or early September.
Cape Town, a city beloved by international tourists at the country’s southern tip, was the first epicenter and reached its peak last month, according to health experts.
South Africa will have multiple peaks across the country, each challenging its different provincial health care systems, said Chopera, executive manager of the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence.
“The Western Cape had the first peak and did relatively well. Gauteng is the epicenter now and appears to be coping so far,” he said. “Other provinces, like the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, do not have reputations for well-organized health care systems. They may have serious problems.”
South Africa imposed a strict lockdown in April and May that succeeded in slowing the spread of the virus but caused such economic damage that the country began a gradual reopening in June.
South Africa was already in recession before the coronavirus hit and its unemployment stands at 30%. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has extended grants to the country’s poorest, increased supplies to hospitals and recently accepted a $4.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Corruption in the country’s pandemic response is a growing problem. On Thursday the top health official in Gauteng province was forced to step down over corruption allegations related to government contracts for COVID-19 personal protective equipment.
Ramaphosa has warned that now, more than ever, South Africa’s persistent problem with widespread graft is endangering people’s lives.
At least seven females were found dead in a salon in the Rijau Local Government Area of Niger State.
The incident occurred on Thursday night when the victims; two married women and five ladies went to the salon in the evening to make their hair in preparation for Sallah.
The cause of the incident couldn’t be ascertained as of the time of filing this report. But a source in the community said that the victims might have been killed by generator fumes.
It was gathered that due to the downpour of that evening and the perceived eagerness by the women to make their hair for Sallah, the salon owner allegedly put the generator inside the salon, closed the door and continued with her work.
It was in the process that five of the victims were said to have suffocated to death after inhaling smoke from the generator. It was gathered that the two others struggled to survive until the next day when they were discovered.
However, attempts by the people to rush the two surviving victims to a nearby hospital at Tungan Magajia were delayed following resistance by a top politician in the area who insisted that the chairman of the council, Bello Bako, must see the incident before the bodies could be taken away.
It was also gathered that after protests by eyewitnesses for the two victims to be taken to the hospital, and the intervention by Sarkin Rijau, Mohammed Gidiya, they were eventually rushed to the hospital but died few minutes later.
The bodies of the deceased were said to have been released to their relations, and they have since been buried according to Islamic rites.
The development, according to a source, threw the entire Rijau into mourning on Sallah with people gathered in groups discussing the incident.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, when contacted, confirmed the incident but didn’t give the names of the victims. Abiodun stated that investigation was ongoing to unravel what led to the deaths.
Nigeria has recorded a massive drop in Coronavirus infections as the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, recorded a spike again for the third day.
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, released 386 new infections on Saturday, with Abuja, ramping up 130 fresh cases, while Lagos has continued to record drop in cases.
For third consecutive day, Abuja has kept Lagos in second position.
On Thursday, the FCT ramps up 96 cases to beat Lagos which had 89 cases; on Friday, Abuja raked in 93 cases, with Lagos recording 78 cases, but on Saturday, Abuja recorded a spike of 130 new cases, with Lagos recording 65 new cases.
Also, Nigeria’s 386 new cases on Saturday represents a serious drop in infections since the last three weeks.
Last Thursday, the nation recorded 481 cases, which dropped to 462 on Friday and further dropped to 386 on Saturday.
“On the 1st of August 2020, 386 new confirmed cases and 4 deaths were recorded in Nigeria. Till date, 43,537 cases have been confirmed, 20,087 cases have been discharged and 883 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The 386 new cases are reported from 18 states- FCT (130), Lagos (65), Ondo (37), Osun (29), Plateau (23), Rivers (15), Enugu (14), Nasarawa (12), Bayelsa (11), Ebonyi (11), Ekiti (9), Oyo (8), Edo (8), Abia (6), Ogun (3), Katsina (3), Imo (1), Adamawa (1),” the NCDC said.
OMG! Toni Braxton revealed she uses a vibrator as part of her skincare routine.
During a beauty tutorial for Vogue, the 52-year-old songstress shared her go to to skincare products, including one tool that she calls a “face tingler,” but is in fact an actual vibrator.
“This thing right here, okay, it is…I’m gonna be honest, it is a vibrator. It is, it is a vibrator, but I call it a face tingler, it just tingles the muscles in my face to get them activated and working,” she said. “I haven’t used it on anything else other than my face, okay, just FYI.”
She further explained how it works as she rubbed the top end around the contours of her face, like her cheekbones and eyes. “This has got the little ball here, which is perfect. Sometimes I put it in the freezer…this is really cold, I just kinda rub it, and it just activates all those muscles, get ‘em together. We are working today. We are gonna be cute today.”
Though the most interesting, this wasn’t the only key part of her routine to achieve a glowing, youthful complexion. In fact, she said her absolute favorite product of all is the Lancer Skincare Intensive Night Treatment.
Toni BraxtonNINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“Everyone always asks, What do I use, what’s my moisturizer? It is Dr. Lancer, my favorite, favorite product,” she said. “Put it on my face and my neck and it just soothes all those lines, you know?”
However, when it comes to face wash, the “He Wasn’t Man Enough” singer likes to keep things pretty basic, explaining that she likes to be able to shop for it at her local drugstore. So she opts for Aveeno Clear Complexion Foaming Cleanser. “It’s really great, it works for me.”
On Friday, Napoli officially announced the signing of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen from Ligue 1 side Lille on a five-year deal worth €81 million plus add-ons.
Aside the mega-money move making Osimhen the most expensive African footballer ever, the forward, according to close sources, will earn a whopping €4.5m annually – the highest ever by a Nigerian footballer – as salary at the Italian giants.
The 21-year-old, now regarded as one of the hottest youngsters in global football – after a phenomenal rise in two seasons at modest Belgian side Charleroi and Lille – never had the best of beginnings while growing up.
Living in one of the many makeshift houses around the Olusosun dumpsite in Lagos, Osimhen and his family had a hellish time trying to cope with the environmental and health hazards posed by the dumpsite, noted for its emission of thick smokes, foul smell and routine fire outbreaks.
The 100-acre Olusosun landfill, which receives up to 10,000 tons of rubbish each day, is regarded as one of the largest dumpsites in the world. And it’s also a hideout for criminals, who hide dangerous weapons and hard drugs inside the massive dumpsite.
Living under these terrible conditions posed enough headache for the footballer’s family, but at just six, Osimhen, last child among seven siblings, lost his mother, while his father lost his job, leaving him and his siblings in the dark world of uncertainty.
Insecurity, poverty and the perennial fear of eviction by the Lagos State Government stared his family in the face.
The setback, however, didn’t deter the teenager, who made lemonade from the lemons life threw at him: he opted to hawk water, popularly known as ‘pure water,’ on the streets of Lagos.
“I come from a place where so many dreams have died but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t give up irrespective of my situation. So, I was forced to go out and get myself a life,” Osimhen said.
“In Lagos, they sell water (bottle or sachet) which is the easiest, but the hardest because you have to run and give somebody the water and collect money.”
Running on the ever-busy Lagos roads chasing passengers was the perfect training for Osimhen, who turns 22 in December, on the way to stardom. And he combined this with street football.
But while hawking put food on the family’s table, street football didn’t, then.
The skinny up-and-coming footballer eventually caught the attention of the country’s U-17 coaches and scouts, who selected him for the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile, but not without a story.
“Getting into camp was a different life, a different story,” Osimhen told Elegbete TV.
“When we got to the FIFA Goal Project pitch in Abuja (where the U-17 officials were screening players), there was a huge crowd, it was like two million players. I thought, ‘how can this man (coach Emmanuel Amuneke) see me when some players had been there for several days?’
“The screening was just for 15 minutes. Amuneke said if you’re talented, you don’t need one hour to show it. ‘In 10 minutes, if you show what you’ve got, you can be in the team,’ he said. And I said, ‘no problem, let’s go.’ In a space of 15 minutes, I scored two goals. But the coach was so tired and said, ‘just go.’ He chased everyone out. I told the person who brought me, ‘I came to Abuja to do my bit but I wasn’t picked, I think we should go back to Lagos.’
“But the team doctor told Amuneke, ‘I think you should try the guy on green.’ That’s me they didn’t know my name. When he (Amuneke) called me, he said, ‘don’t you eat? Why are you like this?’
“He told me to sit down and I was happy. Then I played against the main team in camp and I was fighting really hard, giving them problems.
“After screening, the coach told some players to go but asked me to come back the following day. And he fell in love with me. The final day I was picked, the U-15 players at the Goal Project were very happy for me.”
Osimhen would go on to lead the Golden Eaglets to a record fifth U-17 World Cup triumph, scoring 10 goals, the highest ever at the tournament, and scooping the Golden Boot and Silver Ball in the process.
However, street hawking also counted for something in his burgeoning career.
His pace and strength, qualities you must possess in the highly competitive Lagos hawking business, gives opposing defenders nightmarish moments.
“It wasn’t easy, but I had to do it and that set my path in which I will never give up in life no matter the situation or where I am and that gave me the zeal and momentum no matter what life throws at me,” Osimhen said.
He added, “Growing up in a family when it was hard to get three square meals in a day, I can say that I have seen it all in life; the hardest part was when I was at Wolfsburg. It was really a tough period for me and at some point, I started doubting my abilities.
“I had thought that everything was going to be smooth after my days with the Golden Eaglets but I thank God for the experience I went through at Wolfsburg and it made me realise that life is not that easy as it seems.”
After his Wolfsburg experience, where he was plagued by a series of injuries, making just 12 Bundesliga appearances and scoring no goal, Osimhen’s career seemed set for a decline after Belgian clubs Zulte Waregem and Club Brugge, who had shown interest in the striker, both turned him down under inexplicable circumstances.
But an amazing career revival at Belgian side Sporting Charleroi, where he scored 20 goals in 36 games in the penultimate season, soon set him on the path to the top.
Last summer, the Nigerian joined Lille for €12m and scored 18 goals with six assists in 38 games across all competitions. He was voted the club’s Player of The Year and also scooped the Marc-Vivien Foe prize for the best African player in Ligue 1, before Italian giants Napoli grabbed him from the French club on Friday, after protracted talks, following the player’s change of agents.
He will wear the respected No.9 jersey at the two-time Italian champions next season.
“We are very happy at Osimhen’s arrival,” Aurelio De Laurentiis, Napoli president, said on Radio Kiss Kiss.
“The young man has been enchanted by Partenope. He will wear the No.9 jersey.
“(Gennaro) Gattuso (Napoli manager) really wanted to sign Osimhen. (Director of sport Cristiano) Giuntoli did a great job because the lad changed his agents during the negotiations.
“Lille will receive circa €80m, while the player over the years will get between €4m and €4.5m per season.”
“We don’t have to expect everything and immediately, even if he doesn’t score 25 or 30 goals, but he should express himself well in this extraordinary team and also make the other Azzurri score.”
The player himself is hoping to deliver the goods in the highly technical and demanding Serie A as he charts a new career course as Africa’s most expensive footballer ever.
“The next chapter @Napoli is a very exciting one and I can’t wait to get on the pitch with the team. I want to thank the fans for the past few weeks. I will definitely give my all on the pitch for the common good of the club,” Osimhen tweeted on Friday.
Playing alongside experienced professionals like captain Lorenzo Insigne, José Callejón, Fernando Llorente, Hirving Lozano, Dries Mertens, David Ospina, Kalidou Koulibaly and Arkadiusz Milik will surely come handy in helping Osimhen develop into one of football’s best strikers, as he hopes to leave the dreaded Serie A defenders in his wake, on a regular basis. (Saturday PUNCH)
Now that the two leading political parties in Ondo State, the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have produced candidates that would slug it out on October 10, 2020 for the governorship seat, the real journey and battle seem to have begun.
The candidate of the APC is the incumbent governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu while that of the PDP is Mr Eyitayo Jegede. The two had also emerged during the last governorship election in 2016 where they slugged it out at that election, but Akeredolu won.
Jegede, who was the state Attorney General and commissioner for Justice under the immediate past governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, was favoured and picked by Dr Mimiko at the time to be his successor.
Unfortunately, many who were not comfortable with Governor Mimiko presenting Jegede as his successor, especially the original PDP members who had been in the party before Dr Mimiko and his supporters crossed from the Labour Party to join them in PDP, did not really support Jegede.
Also, those who were clamouring for a change also did not support Jegede, they believed having him at the seat of power would indirectly mean having a continuation of Mimiko’s government.
During the 2016 campaign, Dr Mimiko was at the forefront. But after the election, Dr Mimiko and some of his supporters left PDP and went to Zenith Labour Party, a party said to belong to Mimiko. Jegede in turn remained in PDP and has remained loyal to the party.
Another factor that also worked against Jegede at the time was that he comes from Akure, Ondo Central senatorial district where Dr Mimiko also comes from. The northern senatorial district believed it was their turn and this worked in favour of the present governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
Now that the two SANs are back on the battle field, it may not be that easy for each camp.
For Governor Akeredolu, who is seeking a second term in office, he has the support and backing of the ‘cabal’ and some state governors.
Before the primary election that produced Akeredolu for the second term, some members of the Unity Forum, an opposition group within the APC, had warned Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna and some APC state governors to steer clear of Ondo State, alleging that they would influence the election in favour of Akeredolu against the rest eleven candidates of the APC.
It was also alleged that Governor Akeredolu had the backing of the presidency. This, some analyst said formed why the indirect mode of primary was used for the election, even as the rest eleven clamoured for direct. Also, the choice of Governor Yahaya Bello, who was perceived to be a friend of Akeredolu was said to be another factor that assisted the governor.
As the election draws near, the two candidates are striving hard to make sure they win the October 10 election.
To start with, the two are already reaching out to other aspirants who lost to them at the primaries.
Immediate after the APC primary election, Governor Akeredolu had gone to visit Hon Isaac Kekemeke and Chief Olusola Oke in a bid to reconcile with them and ensure they do not leave the party as advised by the APC leadership. Three of the aspirants had stepped down for him before the election.
One of those who stepped down for him is Engr Ife Oyedele. Governor Akeredolu on Thursday appointed him as one of the directors for the Sunshine food processing concept run by the state.
But as at the time of filling this report, some of the opposition and aggrieved members who lost out in the primary election were still watching. “We may pitch out tent with Jegede just to ensure Aketi (Akeredolu) leaves,” one of them said.
There is also trouble in the PDP camp. Like Governor Akeredolu, Jegede too had reached out to the deputy governor, Hon Agboola Ajayi, Dr Eddy Oyefeso and some aspirants who contested against him.
But the deputy governor was said to be making moves, talking to former Governor Mimiko on how to use his platform – Zenith Labour Party, to contest for governorship.
It is difficult at the moment to predict the effect the movement of Ajayi to ZLP may have on PDP.
Both Governor Akeredolu and Jegede in the past one week have said they will definitely win the election. Jegede had told Akeredolu that he should start packing his load from the Alagbaka State House, while Akeredolu has retorted by saying he will surely get a second term. Events of the coming weeks will help in no small measures to determine where the pendulum would swing.
Andrew Ogbeche, a former worker of the slain former Commissioner for Youths and Sports in Edo State Mr Egbe Ediagbonya, has owned up on the role he played in the kidnap of his boss.
Ogbeche, who worked as a labourer on Ediagbonya’s palm tree farm at Utese village, Okada area of the state, explained that he got N100,000 out of the N1m ransom paid for the victim’s release.
The ex-commissioner was reportedly kidnapped on May 16 and his decomposing body found 19 days after at a bush close to his farm.
Following his murder, men of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team launched a manhunt for the perpetrators, leading to Ogbeche’s arrest early July.
City Round learnt that Ogbeche conspired with one Paul and other accomplices at large to perpetrate the crime.
Police investigation revealed that the kidnappers had on May 3, sent a threat message to the deceased, announcing their intention to abduct him and daring him to involve security agencies.
They made good their threat 13 days after when they ambushed him on his farm and demanded a ransom. After collecting N1m, they were said to have informed his family to pick up his corpse at a location.
“The kidnappers used the deceased’s mobile to demand a ransom and collected N1m. They later sent a text message to the family, asking them to pick his corpse somewhere. It took the family few days to locate the corpse in the bush.
“Through intelligence-led investigation, Andrew Ogbeche, was arrested. He is the deceased’s former worker on his palm tree farm at Utese. The phone he used in sending threat messages to the deceased was recovered from him. Investigation is ongoing to arrest other suspects involved in the kidnapping and murder,” a police source said.
Thirty five year old Ogbeche, who hails from Bewarre village in the Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State, told City Round during the week that he was aware of his ex-boss’ kidnap but did not know about his murder.
He stated that after the news of Ediagbonya’s death broke in the community, he tried to reach Paul on the phone to no avail.
Andrew said, “Since I graduated from university, I have been having financial constraints. I used to work with the commissioner as a labourer on his palm tree farm and he paid me N10,000 per month.
“I used to clear the bush and help to pluck palm fruits. I worked with him for two months but he paid me only for one month. He promised to pay me later. While I was working for him, I had no plan to kidnap him. It was my friend, Paul, who visited me on the farm that brought the idea of kidnapping him.
“He told me my boss had a lot of money. I warned him not to try it. He kept visiting and threatened to kill me if I expose his secret. While he was visiting me on the farm, Paul had told my boss that he wanted to work with him. He became close to him and he trusted him.”
Ogbeche, who claimed to be the only child of his mother, said he consented to the crime for fear of throwing his mum into mourning.
He added, “The day they kidnapped the man, Paul told me and I was scared. He gave me N100,000 but that time, I never knew they had killed him. It was later I saw one of my friends who told me that my boss is dead. I was devastated. I felt bad and I regret collecting the money.”
Adamawa North lawmaker, Senator Elisha Abbo, has won the case of assault instituted against him before a Magistrate Court in Zuba, Abuja by the Nigeria Police Force.
This is despite a viral video showing Abbo assaulting a woman, Osimibibra Warmate; and a televised press conference in which the lawmaker apologised to the victim.
According to a copy of the judgment obtained by The PUNCH, the Magistrate, Abdullahi Ilelah, who upheld a no-case submission filed by Abbo, said the police failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the lawmaker assaulted Warmate on May 11, 2019.
The case with suit number CR/010/2019 spanned from July 8, 2019, till June 18, 2020.
The two witnesses that testified against Abbo were Warmate – who was the nominal complainant – and a police officer, ASP Mary Daniel, who investigated the matter.
In her testimony, Warmate said she had gone to visit a friend, Kemi, at Pleasure Chest Sex Toy Shop, Banex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja on May 11, 2019 when the lawmaker walked in with three women.
She said suddenly, one of the women that accompanied Abbo started vomiting and later fainted.
Warmate said when she left the shop, she received a frantic call from Kemi asking her to come to her aid as the lawmaker had accused her of putting something in the shop’s air conditioner system that caused one of his female companions to vomit and was threatening to get her arrested.
The victim said when she returned to the shop and was cleaning up the vomit, two men, one of whom was a policeman in uniform, barged into the shop.
She said Abbo told them to arrest Kemi for insulting him but Kemi began pleading and then picked up her phone to tell her father that she was being arrested.
Warmate added, “As one of the men moved to take the phone, I begged him and said it was her father that she was talking to. Then the defendant (Abbo) pounced on me, punched me on my face and in the eye. He slapped me several times and asked me why I interfered.
“He said he would make me a scapegoat for interfering and asked the two men to arrest me. The defendant (Abbo) pulled me by the hair and pushed me downstairs and to a car. I called my mother and I was being arrested.
“While in the car, the people on the premises told the defendant (Abbo) that he needed to report to the police on the premises before he could leave but the defendant (Abbo) refused and the security guards in the plaza had to lock the gate.”
Warmate said her mother was able to intervene and after much pleading, she was let go by Abbo.
The victim said she began to feel severe pains in her body due to the beating and she went to a private hospital, Mega Eyesight, and also reported the matter to the police.
Under cross-examination, Warmate admitted that she was not a nursing mother at the time of the incident as widely reported.
She also stated that she was not the one who recorded the video of the incident but obtained it from the owner of the shop where the incident occurred.
Warmate also stated that the video presented as evidence was an abridged version of everything that transpired on the day of the incident.
The second witness, who is a police officer, told the court that she took statements from the victim, the senator and two others who witnessed the incident including Alaba Udeme, the mother of the victim.
The policewoman said because the shop where the incident took place remained close, she could not access the CCTV and had to rely on a disc given to her by the victim.
The video of the incident, a separate video of Abbo’s public apology and a report signed by one Dr. Amobrose Ibegbule, who treated the victim, were tendered as evidence.
However, when the prosecution rested its case, Abbo did not open his defence but filed a no-case submission, asking the court to dismiss the charges preferred against him.
In his ruling, the magistrate Ilelah said, “The evidence and exhibits tendered do not disclose a prima facie case of the alleged crime of criminal force and assault against the defendant (Abbo).
“The prosecution’s case centred on the oral evidence of PW1 (Warmate) and the two discs contained a CCTV footage of the incident and alleged video clip of an apology from the defendant (Abbo).”
He said the medical report of Mega Sight Eye Clinic did not disclose in detail what happened to the victim and Dr. Ambrose Ibegbule who wrote the report was not called as a witness.
The court said the video of the press conference showing Senator Abbo apologising was not tantamount to an admission of guilt as it wasn’t a confessional statement.
Ilelah said the testimony of the victim was “so weak because the allegation has not been substantiated in any material particular.”
The court said the police did not do a proper investigation as it relied solely on the statement of the victim.
The magistrate stated, “The IPO (Investigating Police Officer) did not investigate this case at all or she just charged the defendant to court via the F.I.R (First Information Report) without due care and attention. In fact, she has succeeded in creating a doubt in the mind of this court during cross-examination and the Supreme Court held that where there is a doubt in a criminal trial, such doubt should be resolved in favour of the defendant.”
He said the court would rely on the law and not logic or media reports because he who alleges must prove.
“The defendant is hereby discharged under Section 303(3)(c) and (d) of the ACJA 2015,” the magistrate said.
British-Ghanaian rapper, Solo 45, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for repeatedly raping and assaulting four women.
The 33-year-old was convicted of 21 rapes and five counts of false imprisonment, two counts of assault by penetration and two of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a court.
He was declared guilty at Bristol Crown Court of 30 charges relating to a two-year period.
The offences were committed between February 2015 and March 2017.
Police began investigating Anokye in 2017 after one of his victims reported to friends and police that she had been raped.
After his arrest, officers discovered harrowing footage filmed by Anokye on his mobile phone, and this led police to three other women.
It was learnt that the rapper met these victims at his gigs and started relationships with them before assaulting them.
One of his, Anokye’s victims, who testified in court, told the Guardian: “He kept me on the bed and put a flannel over my face and poured a bottle of water over it, which made me feel like I was drowning.”
Another victim narrated that she was stabbed in the thigh and held at knifepoint.
However, Anokye told the court that all the acts were consensual role played by the victims in a game called “catch me, rape me”.
According to prosecutors, he forced one of his victims to lie in a bath of freezing cold water, and also made another woman sit with a bottle of water tied to her finger with a shoelace.
Giving evidence, Anokye told the court he had dacryphilia – sexual arousal from tears.
Passing judgement, Judge William Hart directed that Anokye will serve 24 years in prison and five on licence.
The judge also ordered him to compulsorily sign the sex offenders register for life.
“You have no sexual boundaries or empathy for those concerned, you became addicted to the ‘perverted pleasure’ from abusing the women in the case.
“You have a background that includes gang associations and criminal violence.
“I’m entirely satisfied that your career as a music artist was flourishing at the time of this offending and that you would have gone to great heights.
“You were part of a well-known collective – Boy Better Know. The fellow artists from that collective have achieved great success,” the judge held.
The judge added that his convictions have deprived him of his music career but the fault is entirely his alone.
