MISSING WOMAN CAPTIVATES NATION : United States
The case of a missing woman – and the man suspected in her disappearance – has taken over the intrigue of the nation.
First, around mid-August, according to a witness, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito was hit by then-fiancé Brian Laundrie in Moab, Utah. The couple was on a trip visiting several national parks during the incident. While officers did meet up with the two, they found nothing at the time to indicate that Petito was in danger. Two weeks later, Petito’s last known message was posted to her Instagram account at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
While this was going on, officials in Florida tried to speak with Laundrie regarding Petito’s disappearance. However, neither he nor his family were cooperative after he was named as a person of interest on Sept. 15. Three days later, Laundrie’s family reported him as missing, right as investigators obtained a search warrant for his house and the van that he and Petito had traveled in.
On Sept. 21, officials from the FBI confirmed that remains found at Teton National were that of Petito. She was only 22 years old. Laundrie still has not been located as of press time.
While many people have been legitimately concerned about Petito’s wellbeing, some people have complained that it is just another case of “missing white woman syndrome,” a term coined by late journalist Gwen Ifill that refers to media speculation being far too skewed when a Caucasian woman is missing as opposed to the fate of a minority in the same situation
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM ON THE BRINK: AFGHANISTAN
On Sept. 22, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Afghanistan’s health system is on the brink of collapse.
The development came as the United Nations’ top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, announced the release of $45 million from an emergency fund to support Afghanistan’s crumbling healthcare system.
“Allowing Afghanistan’s healthcare delivery system to fall apart would be disastrous,” said Mr. Griffiths. “People across the country would be denied access to primary healthcare such as emergency caesarean sections and trauma care.”
Echoing that message from the Afghan capital, Kabul, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that international funding cuts had forced health providers to decide “who to save and who to let die.”
After meeting senior Taliban figures, medical professionals and patients, Tedros explained that a lack of financial support for the country’s largest health project, Sehetmandi, had left thousands of facilities unable to buy medical supplies and pay salaries.
Fewer than one in five of the country’s Sehetmandi facilities remained open, the WHO chief explained, although he said that access to all communities was “no longer impeded.”
The WHO chief also noted that nine of 37 COVID-19 hospitals have already closed, and that “all aspects” of the country’s COVID-19 response have dropped off, from surveillance to testing and vaccination.
Amid concerns over women’s rights in the country following the appointment of an exclusively male Taliban interim cabinet earlier this month, Tedros insisted that women needed access to education, health care, and to the health workforce.
“With fewer health facilities operational and less female health workers reporting to work, female patients are hesitant to seek care,” he said. “We are committed to working with partners to invest in the health education of girls and women, as well as continue training female health workers.”
Among its operations in Afghanistan, WHO supports an extensive trauma program that includes training, the provision of supplies and equipment for 130 hospitals and 67 blood banks.
NEW HOMEGROWN RAPID TESTS : EUROPE
The first UK-manufactured rapid tests – otherwise known as lateral flow devices or LFDs – are being rolled out to universities across England.
As the government continues to back companies and technologies working to help break chains of COVID-19 transmission, these new tests will bolster efforts to detect asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, and support more than 370 jobs in the Midlands.
Produced by Derby manufacturer, SureScreen Diagnostics, this LFD generates a result in under 15 minutes and is officially the first British test to be validated in a laboratory by Public Health England (PHE).
The rollout of the rapid assisted tests began in universities in August, and is set to help protect thousands of students as the new term approaches. In preparation for their launch, SureScreen tests have been used in certain wider public sector supervised settings in recent months, including prisons and daily contact testing settings.
The company currently has the capacity to manufacture approximately 7 million tests per week, with plans to increase this to 14 million per week by the end of December, strengthening the government’s procurement strategy while supporting British innovation.
SureScreen tests, which have been partly assembled by Omega Diagnostics in Alva in Scotland, will form an essential part of the government’s rapid testing program which has made free LFDs available to everyone in the UK. The government confirmed the extension of free testing as part of the Winter Plan outlined by the Prime Minister last week.
Around one in three people with COVID-19 do not experience any symptoms and may be spreading the virus unwittingly. Rapid testing detects cases quickly, meaning positive cases can isolate immediately. A negative LFD taken within the previous 48 hours can be used as certification for the NHS COVID Pass app, along with full vaccination or a negative PCR test.
The partnerships struck by government with companies such as SureScreen also supports the wider resilience of the UK’s diagnostics industry which, from a standing start at the beginning of the pandemic, is now at its largest size in UK history.
INDIAN MAN INDICTED ON KIDNAPPING: INDIA
A naturalized United States citizen living in India who was arrested in England made his initial court appearance and was arraigned on Sept. 10 following his extradition to face charges that he obstructed the parental rights of his child’s mother by kidnapping the child and failing to return him to the United States when ordered to do so, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Amitkumar Kanubhai Patel, 38, of Vadodara, India, formerly of Edison, New Jersey, was charged in an indictment that was unsealed with one count of international parental kidnapping. A federal grand jury sitting in Camden returned the indictment on July 22, 2020. On Sept. 9, 2021, Patel was extradited from England.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: The child’s mother, a resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Patel were in a relationship and resided together in New Jersey from August 2015 through July 2017. They never married. In November 2016, they had a child.
According to the mother, Patel wanted to take the child to India to introduce him to Patel’s parents and obtain DNA testing. Patel claimed DNA testing was necessary for the child to claim property that Patel’s family owned in India. Patel attempted to obtain an Indian visa for the child when the child was approximately four months old. The visa application was denied because Patel did not have documentation of his custodial rights to the child.
Patel told the child’s mother that in order to obtain an Indian visa for the child, he would need to secure sole custody of their son, which required them to go to court. Patel instructed the child’s mother to tell the court that they had a “mutual understanding” regarding the custody of their child. He instructed the mother to state that she did not have a work permit, and since she was unemployed, and could not care for her child.
On May 1, 2017, Patel went to New Jersey Superior Court, Chancery Division Family Court, to obtain sole custody of the child. According to the child’s mother, the majority of the hearing was conducted in English with no translator. At the time of the hearing, the child’s mother spoke limited English. The mother answered the court’s questions as she had been instructed by Patel. She was not represented by an attorney during the hearing.
On May 2, 2017, the court entered an order granting Patel sole legal custody of the minor child and allowing the mother to file for joint legal custody in the future. Upon receiving the court order, Patel obtained visas to India for himself and the child through Quick Travel Inc. Patel told the child’s mother the trip to India would be for two weeks. On July 26, 2017, Patel and the child traveled to India.
According to the child’s mother, she sent multiple messages to Patel requesting confirmation that the two arrived safely in India and got no response for several days. Patel eventually called the mother and said he was never bringing the child back to the United States. The child’s mother obtained legal counsel, returned to the New Jersey Superior Court, and on Oct. 16, 2018, the court ordered Patel to immediately return the child to the United States. Records show Patel and the child have not returned to the United States since July 2017.
On Oct. 2, 2020, Patel and the child flew from India to the United Kingdom, where Patel was arrested.
The international parental kidnapping count carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Bradley S. Benavides in Philadelphia, with the investigation leading to the indictment. Acting U.S. Attorney Honig also thanked members of the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police for their assistance in the extradition.
The government is represented by Deputy U.S. Attorney Andrew Carey and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Richardson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
