World Vignettes

`Prom mom’ guilty

WASHINGTON: A New Jersey judge on Thursday sentenced a young woman, dubbed the “prom mom”, to 15 years in prison for the murder of her infant at a high schooldance. Melissa Drexler, 20, cried when the sentence was announced and said: “I’m very sorry for what I’ve done.” She could be freed in less than three years if she is given time off for good behavior. Drexler pleaded guilty to the murder in August, admitting that she knew her child was alive after she gave birth to him while alone in a toilet at the beginning of her high school prom in June 1997. She was 18 years old at the time and had hidden her pregnancy. After delivering the baby, she put the child into a plastic bag and threw him in a garbage can before returning briefly to the dance and then complaining that she did not feel well.

Un-canine knack

OSHKOSH: Some dogs chase cats. Samson saves them. Samson, a 45-kg Rottweiler-Saint Bernard mix, saved a one-year-old cat named Baby from a hawk that tried to scoop up the tiny animal with its talons. The five-year-old dog has been friends with Baby since she was adopted by his owner Jerry Krueger. He took preventative measures when he saw the hawkeying Baby from afar. “How he knew that hawk was there, I don’t know,” Krueger said. Neighbour Roger Hanneman said he witnessed the incident, watching the hawk dive for the cat. His hackles raised, Samson barked and ran to Baby, knocking her off her feet with his nose. The big dog then placed his body over the cat to protect her.

Gruesome find

LOS ANGELES: A hungry man searching for food at the house of his estranged girlfriend got a nasty surprise when he opened the freezer in her garage. It was full of frozen dogs, police said. Police in the southern Californian city of Glendale said yesterday that the 55-year-old man found 28 dogs in the deep freeze, 14 of them puppies. According to a statement, the owner of the freezer had been a dog breeder but had her licence revoked for alleged cruelty to animals.