NEWSQUIRKS

Curses, foiled again When two men kicked in the front door of an apartment in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and demanded cash, the resident told the intruders he had no money but would go to a bank machine and get some while they waited in the apartment. They agreed, but once out the door, the victim called the police, who arrested John Reddick, 51, and Dennis States, 53. Police said that Enrique Vega Jr., 29, used a screwdriver to rob a Mexican restaurant in Fresno, Calif., then made his getaway on a bicycle. He crashed, however, impaling himself on the screwdriver, which severed an artery in his thigh, and bleeding to death.

Behind closed doors An appeals court ruled that police violated a Wisconsin man’s constitutional rights by secretly videotaping him having sex with his wife while she was in a coma in a nursing home. The 4th District Court of Appeals said that David W. Johnson, 59, had an expectation of privacy because he closed the door to his wife’s room before commencing intercourse.

Instant replay India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime after relying on evidence from a brain scanner that produces images of the human mind in action and is said to reveal signs that a suspect remembers details of the crime in question.

The New York Times reported that the case in Maharashtra state involved accused murderer Aditi Sharma, 24, who had 32 electrodes placed on her head and was asked a series of questions relating to the crime. The woman said nothing for an hour, but the parts of her brain where memories are thought to be stored reacted when the crime was recounted, according to state forensic investigator Sunny Joseph.

The judge endorsed Joseph’s assertion that the results proved “experiential knowledge” of having committed the murder and sentenced Sharma to life in prison.

Hair apparent A British doctor was found guilty of giving patients breast massages to cure their hair loss. The Daily Mail reported that Praminder Mankoo told his victims they needed massages to relieve the stress that was causing hair loss. He instructed them to strip to their underwear to avoid getting massage oil on their clothes, then he would rub their scalp, neck and shoulders before reaching around to touch their breasts. One woman testified in the Oxford Crown Court that Mankoo stripped naked after groping her breasts and “pushed my face into his genitals.” After a violent struggle, he finally let her go but then asked for payment and said she needed to schedule another appointment.

Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Submit items, citing date and source, to P.O. Box 8130, Alexandria VA 22306.