Latest news with #SmashingPumpkins
The Journal
11-06-2025
- The Journal
Security guard jailed for sexual assault of woman travelling to concert on Luas
A SECURITY GUARD has been jailed for eight months for the broad daylight sexual assault of a woman aboard a crowded Luas last year. Abdiweli Ali, 24, was handed the sentence in Dublin District Court today. The court heard that the assault happened as the woman and her friend travelled in broad daylight to the 3Arena for a Smashing Pumpkins concert on 10 June 2024. Describing it as an 'appalling offence', Judge Gráinne Malone stated she had to ensure women could travel safely on public transport without being violated in this way, and there had to be a deterrent. Ali, from Somalia, came to Ireland in 2020, claiming he fled from terrorist groups. He denied the allegation for a year and changed his plea shortly before his trial was due to start. Garda Colm Maguire played CCTV footage of the assault in court, and described how Ali and the victim, in her late twenties, boarded the tram at the Bus Aras Luas stop at 7.20pm. It was busy, and Ali stood behind her for the eight-minute trip. 'At one point during the journey, the injured party felt something wet on the back of her leg but didn't have enough room to check what it actually was while on the Luas,' Maguire said. 'On arrival at The Point Luas stop with her friend, she check her skirt and found what she suspected to be semen on her skirt.' Ali also got off the luas, and ran to a taxi to take him to work. She reported it to gardaí in the area, and her skirt was later sent for forensic examination, confirming her suspicion. A large amount of CCTV was gathered during the investigation, and the accused was the only male identified as a suspect. Maguire spotted Ali on 27 June at O'Connell Street and recognised him from the video footage, wearing the same clothes. He was arrested and questioned but made no admissions, insisting it was not him on the CCTV of the Luas. However, a DNA sample from Ali matched the sample from the skirt. Maguire said it was 'a thousand million times more likely that it came from the accused than any other person'. Pictures of the stained skirt were handed into court. The garda agreed with defence counsel Rory Mulvaney that it was an isolated incident. The court heard Ali had no prior convictions, but had been given a strike-out for obstruction of a garda after donating money to charity last year. Advertisement Prosecutor Derek Mangan outlined how the State had been ready to bring 10 witnesses to testify after Ali maintained his denials for a year. He also said the victim wished to address the court. In a powerful impact statement, she said, 'My life has changed completely since that day. I feel disgusted and utterly violated.' She recalled how he was heading to the concert with her friend. 'We were not talking to men or wearing anything provocative. I was just going on the Luas with my friend, as I have on many different occasions. 'I thought I had no reason to doubt my safety as I was in a public space on a busy Luas in broad daylight. Now, I can't make any plans without having to consider the safety of every part of the plan.' 'Any sense of safety I had has been taken away,' she said, adding that she has been attending counselling costing €80 per session. She opened up about how preparing for the trial and the possibility of giving evidence left her 're-traumatised again and again over the last year, replaying the assault and preparing to be questioned.' 'As a woman, I have always been wary of drunk men, rowdy men and creepy men. Now I am wary of every man and even every person. Any sense of safety I had has been taken away. Every part of my life is different now.' All her decisions are now influenced by her encounter on the Luas, which led her to change her habits. 'I can't stand at a traffic light with someone waiting behind me without having to move because it makes me feel so anxious.' 'When I'm in a crowded room, I need to have my back to the wall if I'm standing, and if I'm sitting down, I feel the need to have my chair facing the room so that no one can pass behind me.' It also significantly affected her professional and personal life. The court heard she had taken numerous weeks off work due to anxiety and stress. She avoids public transport, does not walk to work anymore, relies on taxis or lifts, and often questions her clothing choices, terrified she might attract 'unwanted attention.' 'I have been forever changed by this assault,' she stated, but concluded her statement by expressing hope that someday she could go about her daily life without overwhelming anxiety. Mulvany told the judge that his client, who did not address the court and could not explain his actions, was ashamed and recognised the distress caused. Ali offered an 'unreserved apology' through the barrister. The court heard Ali claimed he came to Ireland five years ago to avoid 'various terrorist gangs trying to recruit young people into their organisations.' He was allowed to stay, trained and obtained a security guard's license. Ali worked in that role for two years and was posted at an IPAS centre until this allegation came to light. Sentencing, Judge Malone said jurisdiction had been accepted earlier by another judge for the case to remain in the District Court, which could impose a maximum of one year's imprisonment. Taking into account the guilty plea, she suspended the final two months on condition Ali did not reoffend for two years. She praised the victim for coming forward, which will protect others from Ali, and she commended the garda investigation.
Irish Times
11-06-2025
- Irish Times
Woman felt ‘utterly violated' after sexual assault on Luas on way to concert
'My life has changed completely since that day. I feel disgusted and utterly violated,' were the words of a woman traumatised after a man stood behind her on a crowded Luas tram and soiled her dress with his semen. Security guard Abdiweli Ali (24) was jailed for eight months for the broad-daylight sexual assault on June 10th last year. Dublin District Court heard it happened as the woman and her friend travelled to the Three Arena for a Smashing Pumpkins concert. Describing it as an 'appalling offence', Judge Gráinne Malone stated she had to ensure women could travel safely on public transport without being violated in this way, and there had to be a deterrent. READ MORE Ali, from Somalia, came to Ireland in 2020, claiming he had fled from terrorist groups. He denied the sexual assault allegation for a year and changed his plea shortly before his trial was due to start. Garda Colm Maguire played CCTV footage and described how Ali and the victim, in her late 20s, boarded the tram at the Busáras Luas stop at 7.20pm. It was jam-packed, and Ali stood behind her for the eight-minute trip. 'At one point during the journey, the injured party felt something wet on the back of her leg but didn't have enough room to check what it actually was while on the Luas.' On arrival at The Point Luas stop with her friend, she checked her skirt and found what she suspected to be semen on her skirt. Ali also got off and ran to a taxi to take him to work. She reported it to gardaí on the beat in the area, and her skirt was later sent for forensic examination, confirming her suspicion. A large amount of CCTV was gathered during the investigation, and the accused was the only male identified as a suspect. Garda Maguire spotted Ali on June 27th at O'Connell Street and recognised him. He was arrested and questioned but made no admissions. However, a DNA sample from Ali matched the sample from the skirt. The court heard Ali had no prior convictions. In a powerful impact statement the victim recalled how she was heading to the concert with her friend. 'We were not talking to men or wearing anything provocative. I was just going on the Luas with my friend, as I have on many different occasions. 'I thought I had no reason to doubt my safety as I was in a public space on a busy Luas in broad daylight. 'As a woman, I have always been wary of drunk men, rowdy men and creepy men. Now I am wary of every man and even every person.' Mr Mulvany told the judge that his client, who did not address the court and could not explain his actions, was ashamed and recognised the distress caused. Ali offered an 'unreserved apology' through the barrister. The court heard Ali claimed he came to Ireland five years ago to avoid 'various terrorist gangs trying to recruit young people into their organisations'. He was allowed to stay, trained and obtained a security guard's license. Ali worked in that role for two years and was posted at an International Protection Accommodation Services centre until this allegation came to light.
Sunday World
11-06-2025
- Sunday World
Security guard stood behind woman on packed Luas and ‘soiled her dress with his semen'
'At one point during the journey, the injured party felt something wet on the back of her leg but didn't have enough room to check what it actually was' "My life has changed completely since that day. I feel disgusted and utterly violated," were the words of a woman traumatised after a man stood behind her on a crowded Luas tram and soiled her dress with his semen. Security guard Abdiweli Ali, 24, was jailed for eight months for the broad daylight sexual assault on June 10 last year. Dublin District Court heard it happened as the woman and her friend travelled in broad daylight to the Three Arena for a Smashing Pumpkins concert. Describing it as an "appalling offence", Judge Grainne Malone stated she had to ensure women could travel safely on public transport without being violated in this way, and there had to be a deterrent. Ali, from Somalia, came to Ireland in 2020, claiming he fled from terrorist groups. He denied the allegation for a year and changed his plea shortly before his trial was due to start. Garda Colm Maguire played CCTV footage and described how Ali and the victim, in her late twenties, boarded the tram at the Bus Aras Luas stop at 7.20 pm. It was jam-packed, and Ali stood behind her for the eight-minute trip. Abdiweli Ali. News in 90 Seconds - June 11th "At one point during the journey, the injured party felt something wet on the back of her leg but didn't have enough room to check what it actually was while on the Luas." "On arrival at The Point Luas stop with her friend, she check her skirt and found what she suspected to be semen on her skirt." Ali also got off and ran to a taxi to take him to work. She reported it to gardai on beat in the area, and her skirt was later sent for forensic examination, confirming her suspicion. A large amount of CCTV was gathered during the investigation, and the accused was the only male identified as a suspect. Garda Maguire spotted Ali on June 27 at O'Connell Street and recognised him from the video footage, wearing the same clothes. He was arrested and questioned but made no admissions, insisting it was not him on the CCTV of the Luas. However, a DNA sample from Ali matched the sample from the skirt. Garda Maguire said it was "a thousand million times more likely that it came from the accused than any other person". The Luas in Dublin. Photo: Getty Pictures of the stained skirt were handed into court. The garda agreed with defence counsel Rory Mulvaney that it was an isolated incident. The court heard Ali had no prior convictions but had been given a strike-out for obstruction of a garda after donating money to charity last year. Prosecutor Derek Mangan outlined how the State had been ready to bring 10 witnesses to testify after Ali maintained his denials for a year. He also said the victim wished to address the court. In a powerful impact statement, she said, "My life has changed completely since that day. I feel disgusted and utterly violated." She recalled how he was heading to the concert with her friend. "We were not talking to men or wearing anything provocative. I was just going on the Luas with my friend, as I have on many different occasions. "I thought I had no reason to doubt my safety as I was in a public space on a busy Luas in broad daylight. Now, I can't make any plans without having to consider the safety of every part of the plan." "Any sense of safety I had has been taken away," she said, adding that she has been attending counselling costing €80 per session. She opened up about how preparing for the trial and the possibility of giving evidence left her "re-traumatised again and again over the last year, replaying the assault and preparing to be questioned." "As a woman, I have always been wary of drunk men, rowdy men and creepy men. Now I am wary of every man and even every person. Any sense of safety I had has been taken away. Every part of my life is different now." All her decisions are now influenced by her encounter on the Luas, which led her to change her habits. "I can't stand at a traffic light with someone waiting behind me without having to move because it makes me feel so anxious." "When I'm in a crowded room, I need to have my back to the wall if I'm standing, and if I'm sitting down, I feel the need to have my chair facing the room so that no one can pass behind me." It also significantly affected her professional and personal life. The court heard she had taken numerous weeks off work due to anxiety and stress. She avoids public transport, does not walk to work anymore, relies on taxis or lifts, and often questions her clothing choices, terrified she might attract "unwanted attention." "I have been forever changed by this assault," she stated but concluded her statement by expressing hope that someday she could go about her daily life without overwhelming anxiety. Mr Mulvany told the judge that his client, who did not address the court and could not explain his actions, was ashamed and recognised the distress caused. Ali offered an "unreserved apology" through the barrister. The court heard Ali claimed he came to Ireland five years ago to avoid "various terrorist gangs trying to recruit young people into their organisations." He was allowed to stay, trained and obtained a security guard's license. Ali worked in that role for two years and was posted at an IPAS centre until this allegation came to light. Sentencing, Judge Malone said jurisdiction had been accepted earlier by another judge for the case to remain in the District Court, which could impose a maximum of one year's imprisonment. Taking into account the guilty plea, she suspended the final two months on condition Ali did not reoffend for two years. She praised the victim for coming forward, which will protect others from Ali, and she commended the Garda investigation.
USA Today
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Billy Corgan talks Machines of God tour, Smashing Pumpkins reissues and Howard Stern
Billy Corgan talks Machines of God tour, Smashing Pumpkins reissues and Howard Stern Show Caption Hide Caption Live from Cleveland: It's 'Saturday Night' at the Rock Hall "SNL: Ladies & Gentlemen...50 Years of Music," a new exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum looks at the NBC show's influence on music. Onstage, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan cuts an imposing figure. His towering, bald-headed frame shrouded in floor-length coats and a distinctive voice that meshes a bellow with a whine are forever linked with the alt-grunge-goth-rock that thundered through the '90s. In conversation, Corban is soft-spoken and thoughtful as he chats from his historic 1920's home just north of his native Chicago. He's readying his new solo project, Billy Corgan and The Machines of God, which also includes recently recruited Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Kiki Wong, drummer Jake Hayden and bassist Kid Tigrrr (aka Jenna Fournie). The quartet will hit the road June 7 in Baltimore for the monthlong A Return to Zero tour, where they will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Pumpkins' seminal 'Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness' album. Along with the many hits spawned from the diamond-certified release ('1979,' 'Tonight, Tonight' and 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings' among them), The Machines of God will also tackle songs from the double album 'Machina/The Machines of God' and 'Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music' – both being remixed and rereleased this summer – as well as 2024's 'Aghori Mhori Mei.' Along with prepping for the 16-date tour, which will hit cities including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Minneapolis, Corgan has stayed busy with his Madame Zuzu's tea shop in Highland Park, Illinois and his popular "The Magnificent Others" podcast. He's also energized about the Nov. 21-30 pairing with Chicago's Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus for 'A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness.' Take a deep breath and he'll tell us more about all. Question: Last summer you were playing to 50,000 people with Green Day on a stadium tour and now you're heading to small theaters. Where are you more comfortable? Answer: I'm fine with a stadium full of people. There's the economy of, more people equals more money and more T-shirts, but honestly it's the economy of time. It's hard to communicate in such a complicated digital world. When we would play a small show in the '90s, even in early days of internet, it felt like you were doing this secret club thing and people would find out about it and tell the world. Now, if you don't operate at scale, it's like it never happened. I laughingly call it the digital tree that falls in the forest that no one hears. And obviously this won't be stadium-style staging. Any small tour you have to make a series of choices and mine is supreme sonic quality and production. I made the joke that you'll see me with a swinging light bulb behind me because I can't afford to bring a full Pumpkins light package. But my sense from the fans I've talked to is they're excited to see these songs in this context, so the set list is really what they're interested in. Why did you want to go on the road with this band configuration? For years I've pushed my bandmates to take a different approach to touring that would require a different mindset, which is, there is value in us playing deeper shows past our expected greatest hits reign. Unfortunately, we're not in agreement on that and we've had a gentleman's agreement since James (Iha) came back (to Smashing Pumpkins) that we wouldn't do anything unless everyone was on the same wavelength. But they're totally cool with what I'm doing. So James and (drummer) Jimmy (Chamberlin) were asked to be part of this project? Oh, yeah. But to be fair, I've been pushing for this conceptually for more than five years so I reached a point – I'm 58 years old – of, like, OK if you're not into it I'm just gonna do it because I'm a proof of concept guy. It's something I want to do and there's a host of reasons for why it will matter once you do it. One thing I found with operating the tea house is there is a way to make small, big. Speaking of the tea house, how involved are you in its operation? Every day. My wife runs it, but I hear about it every day. We have the huge archival 'Machina' box set version with 80 songs coming that you can only get from the tea house (or its website). It's also the 30th anniversary of 'Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness.' What do you most remember from that period? I think the good news is 30 years is enough time to let it all work itself through – the good, the bad, the heartache, the regrets. I think within the group we look at the period very fondly as far as, wow we achieved something magical forever. If there is any regret it's that we weren't able to put Humpty Dumpty back together in the same way. (Success) creates such a force that you're swept on a river that you never know where it goes. Maybe we were in sort of a spell and like a lot of beautiful dreams, once the spell was broken, you then you get down to the business of how to get out of Oz. Let's talk about the podcast, but I also want to talk about how great you are every time you're on Howard Stern's (SiriusXM) show. Howard is one of my great inspirations for the how I do the podcast. The greatest people I've been interviewed by are Charlie Rose and Howard Stern. It feels very conversational and that's something I've tried to emulate. Howard has been one of the biggest supporters of me, one of the biggest to mock the fact that we're not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and one of the biggest defenders of me as an artist. I have a lot of loyalty to Howard You've had a really eclectic lineup of musicians on the podcast – Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, (Missing Persons frontwoman) Dale Bozzio, Carnie Wilson, Gene Simmons. What are you looking for when you're booking? My number one goal is I want to talk to people who I think have tremendous value and their value in the culture is not properly understood. Dale is one of the most influential artists of the last 40 years, and yet most people would not know her band or her unique story, like that Frank Zappa saw something in her and that's a direct line to Lady Gaga and the pop stars of today. A lot of artists with long careers struggle with being overlooked or underappreciated. It's not a crusade, but a way to tell the world, do you know you've overlooked a true treasure here? I think it's criminal there is a wide open space of stories to be told and nowhere to tell them.
Boston Globe
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Billy Corgan on playing Smashing Pumpkins songs solo, and Pope Leo XIV being a White Sox fan
'I think that's the great hubris of a creator,' Corgan said on a Zoom call from his home in Chicago. 'You feel these are your sculptures and your paintings, and you have the ability to once more reframe and re-illuminate why they're attractive to you.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up His 'A Return to Zero' solo tour begins this weekend in Baltimore, then heads to the Paradise Rock Club on Advertisement Altogether, Corgan will draw from a pool of over 100 songs for the tour, although he won't necessarily cull enough material for a grandiose three-hour performance, as he's done in the past with the Smashing Pumpkins. Advertisement 'I'm 58 now, so I do have to temper myself,' he said with a laugh. To Corgan, enmeshing the different eras in one setlist felt like 'coming home,' and 'more resonantly consistent' with the band's first era, before their — in his words — 'quote-unquote breakup' in 2000 and quasi-reformation around 2007. Following a rotation of lineup changes over the years, the band currently performs with three of the four founding members. Guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin are back in the saddle with Corgan, while original bassist D'Arcy Wretzky has not rejoined. From an outside perspective, Corgan's claim to the Smashing Pumpkins' two album anniversaries might look like a catalyst for another fallout within the band. But the frontman said he's been chatting with his bandmates 'for years' about how to honor anniversaries in a way that was personal, rather than an opportunistic cash grab. 'One thing we've done successfully, I think, in this decade of our knowing each other, is if there's not an even consensus, we don't persist,' he said. 'That was some of the problems in the '90s — not taking into account, let's call it, a balanced view of everybody's take.' So when the band had unspecified 'differing views' on the two upcoming anniversaries, Corgan took the reins with his new solo group, which includes the Smashing Pumpkins' touring guitarist, Kiki Wong. Advertisement 'The fact that these significant anniversaries were going to go by with no particular unified voice of how to present them, I said, 'Well, I'm just gonna do it myself,'' Corgan said. Add that to the list of sizable projects that Corgan has taken on in recent years. Directly prior to this interview, Corgan described himself as occupying a '12-year-old brain space' while working on his memoir. (Per his wife Chloé Mendel Corgan, he said, he's tried to write it on four separate occasions since they met, and 'as far as I'm concerned, this [time] is the last.') Corgan has also owned the National Wrestling League since 2017, and this year launched a podcast called 'The Magnificent Others,' in which he interviews fellow cultural bigwigs like Gene Simmons and Sharon Osbourne. Corgan's extracurriculars involve his local community, too. Alongside his wife, he runs a plant-based tea shop and cafe called With a daily routine that typically involves 12 to 14 hours of work across his various projects — fueled by an average of six hours of sleep — Corgan has continued to expand his identity as an artist and cultural figure. But that complexity sometimes gets muddled within the public's narrower perception of Corgan and his role in the Smashing Pumpkins. Advertisement 'One has to deal with the complication of, I'm so closely identified with the band that most people don't really understand who I am without the band,' he explained. 'The band's history after 2001 is rife with incredible external pressures on who the band needed to be in, let's call it, this second era: a greatest hits band, an artistic band, a mixture of both,' he added. 'Not that you'd want to, but you could find a voluminous treasure trove of material of people criticizing me for not being the band that people want me to be in. And me saying, over and over again, 'The band you think I was in, I was never in. So why would I be in that band now?'' To Corgan, the name under which he performs is 'sort of inconsequential.' But in this case, performing with the Machines of God — especially to revisit some of his older work within the Smashing Pumpkins — casts off many of those notions about how he and the band should operate. The freedom is the ultimate trade-off for any nitpicks the public might have about him striking out on his own. 'It's very attractive to me to present this material without dilution — meaning, I don't really care in this setting for that pressure,' he said. 'If you don't embrace the freedom, then you're kinda wasting, let's call it, 'the upside of the downside,'' he concluded. BILLY CORGAN AND THE MACHINES OF GOD With Return to Dust. At the Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, June 9, 7 p.m. Tickets available on the secondary market. Advertisement
