SIDELINES...

LUCKY CHUCKY

When police raided the hideout of a gang of car thieves in Lima, Peru, they found them praying at an altar with a Chucky doll from the Child’s Play horror film franchise sitting on it. The doll had bullets in his shoes and was surrounded by toy cars, lighted candles and alcohol. The gang, who called themselves the “Brotherhood of Chuckys”, were apparently inspired in their devotions by the fast-growing Venuzuelan cult of “Holy Thugs” who worship deceased criminals (see FT317:5354). Metro, 21 Feb 2022.

GIRL BEARLY ESCAPES

An unnamed woman faces 15 years for attempted murder in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, after she allegedly threw her three-year-old daughter off a 16ft (5m) high viewing platform into the Tashkent Zoo’s bear habitat. The child suffered concussion, cuts and bruises, but the resident bear, named Zuzu, merely sniffed her and wandered off. Staff were able to lure him into a closed-off section and rescue the girl before she came to any further harm. Sun 30 Jan 2022.

HARPOON RETRIBUTION

Chanita Kuedrum, 43, came home from a day working as a sugarcane collector in Buriram in Thailand and found her husband Boonchuey Mooseeton had decided to go drinking with friends instead of cooking her dinner. She waited for his return then shot him in the crotch with a fishing harpoon. He was so drunk he didn’t seek medical attention until the next day, when he was found to need 17 stitches in his penis. Unsurprisingly, he decided to stay away from home for a time while he recovered. malaymail.com, 7 Mar 2022.