SAN DIEGO – A homeless amputee was beaten to death with his own crutch Monday night on a downtown sidewalk.

Several witnesses reported that the 41-year-old victim had gotten into an argument with another man on F Street near Eighth Avenue in the Core-Columbia neighborhood just before midnight, homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney said.

During the fight the man picked up the victim’s crutch and hit him with it, said Rooney.

Paramedics tried to revive him but he died about a hour later at a trauma center.

The attacker was described as Latino and in his 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 170 pounds with a mustache and a sparse beard, Rooney said.

He was last seen near Seventh Avenue and G Street.

Police said they don’t know why the men were arguing, if they knew each other or the motive for the attack.
The dead man’s name has not yet been released. Rooney said he had an amputated leg and used a wheelchair but also was able to stand. He was standing when he was hit with the crutch, he said.

The man was known to stay in an alcove in front of the building where the fight took place.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

[Homeless Beating via Perez Hilton]

A Yemeni court ordered the marriage of an eight-year-old girl terminated on Tuesday because she had not reached puberty.

The court also ordered the child’s family to pay about $250 in compensation to the 30-year-old ex-husband.

The girl’s lawyer and human rights activist Shatha Nasser said the minor had filed a suit in April asking for divorce and told the court that her husband had been physically abusing her and forcing her to have "sex with him after hitting her."

One of the people attending the trial volunteered to pay the compensation, the lawyer said, but did not explain the reason why the court ordered the compensation.

The ruling terminated the marriage instead of granting a divorce to prevent the husband from seeking to reinstate the marriage, according to the lawyer.

Many minor girls in Arab countries that observe tribal traditions are married to older husbands but not before puberty. Such marriages are also driven by poverty in countries like Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa.

[Young Divorce via Reuters]