News / National
Disgraced Australian journalist arrested in Zimbabwe
20 Apr 2019 at 10:43hrs | Views
Television news producer Stephen Rice has been arrested while working in Zimbabwe - three years after he was jailed on assignment in Lebanon.
The Australian journalist, Rice, flew into Zimbabwe to film a money spinning documentary on baby parentage, all based on probative DNA suggestions.
Full report about the arrest Dailytelegraph.com
The Australian journalist, is well known for making money from creating fake drama and has been fired before following a "baby kidnap" scandal.
The latest development explains how and why there was a total media blackout against Zimbabwean journalists who for several months could broadcast Abigail Prangs' own living room since 2018, but now at the point of meeting Abi's "parents," Australian journalists suddenly perform everything under the cover of darkness- They fly into Zimbabwe and even the national broadcaster, ZBC is not allowed near them. Why, and what is so secretive about a story publicly known in Harare since 1983? Why should foreigners be the ones to report on what they only read?
The man, Stephen Rice intended to make money out of the Abigail Prangs story, the Zimbabwean baby found dumped in 1983 documentary which StarFM and ZimEye have worked on since last year.
The development comes after Abigail had skipped vital stages of the DNA tests. She had even avoided the local Zimbabwean DNA centre fully equipped and which was still in the way to report back on their findings.
Global DNA's Mr Tinashe Mugabe always insisted on further tests despite an initial sibling test (with an alleged sister, Lorraine Kamonere) yielding a passive 90,8% probability.
This was as Mr Mugabe said at this stage, the supposed parents, remained just alleged parents up until conclusive paternal and maternal tests had been conducted. As at the time when Stephen Rice and his filming crew were flying to Zimbabwe, there were none of these tests, the only one done being a mere half-sibling one.
There was a disturbing twist when Abigail rushed to declare she was now interested in a commercial contract offered for a money spinning documentary by Mr Rice. She reported to ZimEye that she had signed a contract with the disgraced Australian TV producer, Stephen Rice. Abigail even got to the point of ordering that all news articles produced since 1983 be deleted from the public domain and a new story would be published by the Australian TV producer.
The sudden rush to distort evidence was to the point of even ditching the services of the local DNA centre. Correspondence seen by ZimEye.com shows Mr Rice ordering that Mr Mugabe's services be terminated and a different DNA centre be utilised. In a program on Tuesday, Abi was questioned by ZimEye why she had suddenly disconnected with the Global DNA. She reported back by briefly saying, "I have a lot of respect for Tinashe," still without revealing any reasons why.
The flight from Australia to Zimbabwe came in the face of serious concerns raised by Mr. Mugabe in an earlier StarFM program when while with Tilda Moyo, he revealed that there was no excitement at all on the supposed parent's faces when they heard news that Abi is their daughter.
Mr Mugabe said "there was no excitement" which would be expected in such a breakthrough situation. More drama however, emerged when the supposed father was found suspiciously and repeatedly skipping away everytime when the Global DNA staff members descended onto their home. For several months since December last year, Global DNA thrice visited the home in Chitungwiza seeking to complete the investigation.
Now, the 90,8% probability was to suggest that there was a likeliwood of the 2 tested individuals sharing a common parent. It was a half sibling test. However without further tests the sibling one would-be insufficient.
Scientists call the 90,8% as seen in the graph, mere "probative evidence." It is probative, not conclusive evidence.
An elated Abi who reportedly booked into a local hotel soon after arriving in Zimbabwe was pictured in Unit M in Chitungwiza with her supposed relatives two days after her arrival before she disappeared to an unknown location.
She shunned local reporters as she preferred her Australian based journalists despite that the local media houses had publicised her plight ahead of Rice. There was a publicly declared contractual arrangement with Zim media, but she chose to go "for money."
On Friday morning Abigail posted a status update revealing she was sad and disappointed. A day before she had publicly wielded a picture with her supposed mother.
That picture with her so called mum has since been removed.
Sources close to her revealed that the latest DNA tests show that she is not at all Edna Kamonere's daughter. Sources close to her revealed that the results came out with a 0% probability (for maternity.)
Efforts to get a direct comment from Abi were fruitless at the time of writing. A direct comment from Mr Mugabe was difficult to obtain at the time of printing.
Mr Rice was reached for a comment between Wednesday and Friday and he had not replied messages at the time of publishing. His Zimbabwe based freelancer, Mr Tomas Brickhill however confirmed the development to ZimEye promising that Rice would be informed.
The Australian journalist, Rice, flew into Zimbabwe to film a money spinning documentary on baby parentage, all based on probative DNA suggestions.
Full report about the arrest Dailytelegraph.com
The Australian journalist, is well known for making money from creating fake drama and has been fired before following a "baby kidnap" scandal.
The latest development explains how and why there was a total media blackout against Zimbabwean journalists who for several months could broadcast Abigail Prangs' own living room since 2018, but now at the point of meeting Abi's "parents," Australian journalists suddenly perform everything under the cover of darkness- They fly into Zimbabwe and even the national broadcaster, ZBC is not allowed near them. Why, and what is so secretive about a story publicly known in Harare since 1983? Why should foreigners be the ones to report on what they only read?
The man, Stephen Rice intended to make money out of the Abigail Prangs story, the Zimbabwean baby found dumped in 1983 documentary which StarFM and ZimEye have worked on since last year.
The development comes after Abigail had skipped vital stages of the DNA tests. She had even avoided the local Zimbabwean DNA centre fully equipped and which was still in the way to report back on their findings.
Global DNA's Mr Tinashe Mugabe always insisted on further tests despite an initial sibling test (with an alleged sister, Lorraine Kamonere) yielding a passive 90,8% probability.
This was as Mr Mugabe said at this stage, the supposed parents, remained just alleged parents up until conclusive paternal and maternal tests had been conducted. As at the time when Stephen Rice and his filming crew were flying to Zimbabwe, there were none of these tests, the only one done being a mere half-sibling one.
There was a disturbing twist when Abigail rushed to declare she was now interested in a commercial contract offered for a money spinning documentary by Mr Rice. She reported to ZimEye that she had signed a contract with the disgraced Australian TV producer, Stephen Rice. Abigail even got to the point of ordering that all news articles produced since 1983 be deleted from the public domain and a new story would be published by the Australian TV producer.
The sudden rush to distort evidence was to the point of even ditching the services of the local DNA centre. Correspondence seen by ZimEye.com shows Mr Rice ordering that Mr Mugabe's services be terminated and a different DNA centre be utilised. In a program on Tuesday, Abi was questioned by ZimEye why she had suddenly disconnected with the Global DNA. She reported back by briefly saying, "I have a lot of respect for Tinashe," still without revealing any reasons why.
Mr Mugabe said "there was no excitement" which would be expected in such a breakthrough situation. More drama however, emerged when the supposed father was found suspiciously and repeatedly skipping away everytime when the Global DNA staff members descended onto their home. For several months since December last year, Global DNA thrice visited the home in Chitungwiza seeking to complete the investigation.
Now, the 90,8% probability was to suggest that there was a likeliwood of the 2 tested individuals sharing a common parent. It was a half sibling test. However without further tests the sibling one would-be insufficient.
Scientists call the 90,8% as seen in the graph, mere "probative evidence." It is probative, not conclusive evidence.
An elated Abi who reportedly booked into a local hotel soon after arriving in Zimbabwe was pictured in Unit M in Chitungwiza with her supposed relatives two days after her arrival before she disappeared to an unknown location.
She shunned local reporters as she preferred her Australian based journalists despite that the local media houses had publicised her plight ahead of Rice. There was a publicly declared contractual arrangement with Zim media, but she chose to go "for money."
On Friday morning Abigail posted a status update revealing she was sad and disappointed. A day before she had publicly wielded a picture with her supposed mother.
That picture with her so called mum has since been removed.
Sources close to her revealed that the latest DNA tests show that she is not at all Edna Kamonere's daughter. Sources close to her revealed that the results came out with a 0% probability (for maternity.)
Efforts to get a direct comment from Abi were fruitless at the time of writing. A direct comment from Mr Mugabe was difficult to obtain at the time of printing.
Mr Rice was reached for a comment between Wednesday and Friday and he had not replied messages at the time of publishing. His Zimbabwe based freelancer, Mr Tomas Brickhill however confirmed the development to ZimEye promising that Rice would be informed.
Source - onlkine
