Famous people stabbed to death
September 20, 2010
LAHORE: Stabbings have been common throughout human history, and were the means used to assassinate a number of distinguished historical figures, such as the famous Roman General Julius Caesar on March 15 of 44 BC.
On this date, Caesar was due to appear in the Roman Senate when a man called Casca pulled out a dagger and struck the first blow at the dictator’s neck. The legendary Brutus was the next to join the assassin party, which continued to stab Caeser, who did try to flee but tripped and fell at the mercy of his ruthless killers.
History reveals that apart from the Roman General Julius Caesar, one former prime minister, four kings, one queen and two renowned American actors are among the most eminent personalities who were stabbed to death.
Former Iranian Premier Shapur Bakhtiar was assassinated in Paris in 1991 by suspected Iranian intelligence agents. Bakhtiar was murdered along with his secretary by three assassins in his home. The inquest found that he was stabbed by a knife matching a nearby blood stained bread knife.
While two of the assassins had managed to escape to Iran, the third, Ali Vakili Rad, was apprehended in Switzerland, along with an alleged accomplice named Zeyal Sarhadi. The alleged accomplice was a great-nephew of former Iranian President Hashmi Rafsanjani.
Both were extradited to France for trial where Vakili Rad was sentenced to life in prison in 1994, but Sarhadi was acquitted. Vakili Rad was released from jail in France on May 19, 2010, after serving 18 years of sentence.
Among the Kings who were stabbed to death, the Danish King Eric V was the first one to meet this fate in 1286. His enemies had paid a King’s companion to know about his movement and activities. The assassins, dressed as monks, stabbed the Royalty 56 times in his sleep.
King James I, also known as the King of Scots, was yet another monarch, who was struck by fatal knife blows. James was murdered in 1437 in a failed coup by his kinsman and a former ally.
King Henry III was another monarch, who was killed in the same fashion. In 1589, while Henry III was preparing to attack Paris, a young man was granted access to deliver important documents to the King.
The man pleaded that he had a secret message to deliver to the King, who then asked his attendants to step back for privacy. The young assassin, pretending to whisper in King’s ear, pulled out a knife and stabbed the Royalty in his abdomen.
Henry III was also the first monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Henry IV, the King of France, was assassinated in Paris in1610 by a Catholic fanatic called FranÁois Ravaillac.
The king was subjected to lethal knife blows while his convoy was stuck in a traffic muddle. Elisabeth of Bavaria was the Empress of Austria, Queen of Croatia and Queen of Hungary. On September 10, 1898, the Queen was stabbed in the heart by a young anarchist in Switzerland.
When attacked, the 60-year old Queen was walking along Lake Geneva to board a steamship. She died on the spot from excessive bleeding.
Renowned Actor David Huffman was murdered by a thief in California. He was stabbed twice with a screwdriver. The murderer was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 1986. David had starred in numerous Hollywood classics such as Last Plane Out (1983), Firefox (1982), St. Helens (1981), Blood Beach (1980), The Onion Field (1979) and the Wolf Lake (1978) etc.
Noted US actress Sharon Tate was hailed as one of Hollywood’s most promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in movie Valley of the Dolls (1967). In 1969, a pregnant, Tate was stabbed to death along with three other family friends by members of a criminal gang called the Charles Manson’s Family. Tate had been stabbed 16 times. The killers were sentenced to death in 1971.
Actress Sharon Tate had starred in movies such Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962), he Beverly Hillbillies (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Eye of the Devil (1966), Don’t Make Waves and Valley of the Dolls (1967) etc.
In England, where the Youth Justice board has found one in every three children carrying a knife or gun, knife crime has plunged by 4.7 percent in the April-August 2010 period compared to the same corresponding period of the preceding year.
The UK Youth Justice Board has also found out that a crime is committed by a child in this country every two minutes. On December 29, 2008, the Conservative Party had released knife crime statistics, according to which, not fewer than 277 deaths were recorded from stabbings in England & Wales alone - which meant that knives accounted for the killing of five people averagely every week in this country.
As reported in media then, the Conservative Party statistics were based on information apparently obtained from the police under the Freedom of Information Act. The Conservatives had then estimated that fatal stabbings in England and Wales had risen to their highest level in three decades.
It must be borne in mind that former British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had launched the Tackling Knives Action Programme two years ago, but despite having an incurred an expenditure of £12 million, desired results are yet to be reaped.
In an era where most criminologists believe that unlike gunfire, stabbing is a purposeful action in most cases, London continues to lead the table among the developed Western capitals where knife crime continues to haunt both public and the law enforcement authorities.
Criminologists assert that accidental injury caused due to the penetration of pointed object like a knife is rarely fatal.However, the recent crime figures released by the London Police on its website reveal that during the April-August 2010 period, 2,260 few offences have been reported in this city as compared to the April-August 2009 period.
According to the data, while incidents of gun crime have fallen by 12.5 percent during this period under review, the knife crime has come down by 4.7 percent.According to the British criminologists, while the probability of serious injury is four and a half times greater when a knife is used to assist a crime, the risk of serious injury is more than twice as great for knife-enabled crimes as for gun-enabled crimes. Among the common sharp-edged stabbing objects, knives and daggers are the most widely used because they are cheap, easy to conceal and readily available anywhere.
On this date, Caesar was due to appear in the Roman Senate when a man called Casca pulled out a dagger and struck the first blow at the dictator’s neck. The legendary Brutus was the next to join the assassin party, which continued to stab Caeser, who did try to flee but tripped and fell at the mercy of his ruthless killers.
History reveals that apart from the Roman General Julius Caesar, one former prime minister, four kings, one queen and two renowned American actors are among the most eminent personalities who were stabbed to death.
Former Iranian Premier Shapur Bakhtiar was assassinated in Paris in 1991 by suspected Iranian intelligence agents. Bakhtiar was murdered along with his secretary by three assassins in his home. The inquest found that he was stabbed by a knife matching a nearby blood stained bread knife.
While two of the assassins had managed to escape to Iran, the third, Ali Vakili Rad, was apprehended in Switzerland, along with an alleged accomplice named Zeyal Sarhadi. The alleged accomplice was a great-nephew of former Iranian President Hashmi Rafsanjani.
Both were extradited to France for trial where Vakili Rad was sentenced to life in prison in 1994, but Sarhadi was acquitted. Vakili Rad was released from jail in France on May 19, 2010, after serving 18 years of sentence.
Among the Kings who were stabbed to death, the Danish King Eric V was the first one to meet this fate in 1286. His enemies had paid a King’s companion to know about his movement and activities. The assassins, dressed as monks, stabbed the Royalty 56 times in his sleep.
King James I, also known as the King of Scots, was yet another monarch, who was struck by fatal knife blows. James was murdered in 1437 in a failed coup by his kinsman and a former ally.
King Henry III was another monarch, who was killed in the same fashion. In 1589, while Henry III was preparing to attack Paris, a young man was granted access to deliver important documents to the King.
The man pleaded that he had a secret message to deliver to the King, who then asked his attendants to step back for privacy. The young assassin, pretending to whisper in King’s ear, pulled out a knife and stabbed the Royalty in his abdomen.
Henry III was also the first monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Henry IV, the King of France, was assassinated in Paris in1610 by a Catholic fanatic called FranÁois Ravaillac.
The king was subjected to lethal knife blows while his convoy was stuck in a traffic muddle. Elisabeth of Bavaria was the Empress of Austria, Queen of Croatia and Queen of Hungary. On September 10, 1898, the Queen was stabbed in the heart by a young anarchist in Switzerland.
When attacked, the 60-year old Queen was walking along Lake Geneva to board a steamship. She died on the spot from excessive bleeding.
Renowned Actor David Huffman was murdered by a thief in California. He was stabbed twice with a screwdriver. The murderer was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 1986. David had starred in numerous Hollywood classics such as Last Plane Out (1983), Firefox (1982), St. Helens (1981), Blood Beach (1980), The Onion Field (1979) and the Wolf Lake (1978) etc.
Noted US actress Sharon Tate was hailed as one of Hollywood’s most promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in movie Valley of the Dolls (1967). In 1969, a pregnant, Tate was stabbed to death along with three other family friends by members of a criminal gang called the Charles Manson’s Family. Tate had been stabbed 16 times. The killers were sentenced to death in 1971.
Actress Sharon Tate had starred in movies such Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962), he Beverly Hillbillies (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Eye of the Devil (1966), Don’t Make Waves and Valley of the Dolls (1967) etc.
In England, where the Youth Justice board has found one in every three children carrying a knife or gun, knife crime has plunged by 4.7 percent in the April-August 2010 period compared to the same corresponding period of the preceding year.
The UK Youth Justice Board has also found out that a crime is committed by a child in this country every two minutes. On December 29, 2008, the Conservative Party had released knife crime statistics, according to which, not fewer than 277 deaths were recorded from stabbings in England & Wales alone - which meant that knives accounted for the killing of five people averagely every week in this country.
As reported in media then, the Conservative Party statistics were based on information apparently obtained from the police under the Freedom of Information Act. The Conservatives had then estimated that fatal stabbings in England and Wales had risen to their highest level in three decades.
It must be borne in mind that former British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had launched the Tackling Knives Action Programme two years ago, but despite having an incurred an expenditure of £12 million, desired results are yet to be reaped.
In an era where most criminologists believe that unlike gunfire, stabbing is a purposeful action in most cases, London continues to lead the table among the developed Western capitals where knife crime continues to haunt both public and the law enforcement authorities.
Criminologists assert that accidental injury caused due to the penetration of pointed object like a knife is rarely fatal.However, the recent crime figures released by the London Police on its website reveal that during the April-August 2010 period, 2,260 few offences have been reported in this city as compared to the April-August 2009 period.
According to the data, while incidents of gun crime have fallen by 12.5 percent during this period under review, the knife crime has come down by 4.7 percent.According to the British criminologists, while the probability of serious injury is four and a half times greater when a knife is used to assist a crime, the risk of serious injury is more than twice as great for knife-enabled crimes as for gun-enabled crimes. Among the common sharp-edged stabbing objects, knives and daggers are the most widely used because they are cheap, easy to conceal and readily available anywhere.
