Frances Andrade death: Charity calls for review in child abuse trials, IIreland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds

Frances Andrade death: Charity calls for review in child abuse trials
Frances Andrade Violin teacher Frances Andrade was found dead after giving evidence
9 February 2013

A charity for adults who were abused in childhood has said the way prosecutions are brought must change after a victim took her own life during a trial.
Frances Andrade was found dead less than a week after she faced Michael Brewer at Manchester Crown Court.
Following Brewer's conviction for indecently assaulting her, her family said "the court system let her down".
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood's Pete Saunders said the "legal system has to change".
He said a conclusion such as the one in Mrs Andrade's case was "not as uncommon as it should be".

'Ashamed of themselves'
"She is another victim not only of the people who abused her, but the British legal system too," he said.
"The people who put her through the trauma of the court case should be ashamed of themselves.
"Child abuse is a unique crime and it should be dealt with very sensitively. Instead, it is dealt with as if it were any other sort of crime."....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21395749 



Ireland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

Ireland’s government was directly involved in sending girls and women to work for nothing in laundries run by Catholic orders, a landmark report published Tuesday concluded.
The report by Irish Senator Martin McAleese found that orphans and abused, neglected or unruly children were among more than 10,000 sent to the Magdalen Laundries from 1922 to 1996.
Some had committed minor crimes, others were simply homeless or poor. Women with mental or physical disabilities and some people with psychiatric illness also found themselves in the laundries.
Their average age, the report found, was 23, but the youngest child was just nine and the oldest known entrant was 89.
Activists called on the government to issue a formal apology and pay compensation, with one group saying those affected had been "treated like slaves."
Their plight came to greater public attention when it was the subject of a 2002 film called The Magdalene Sisters, which used a different spelling.
And in June 2011, the United Nations’ Committee on Torture highlighted allegations of "physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment" and said it was "gravely concerned" at Ireland’s failure to "protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined."....
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds