Australia cardinal apologises over clergy child sex abuse, I took blame, ritual murder accused says, Court orders release of additional priest files

- I took blame, ritual murder accused says
- Ritual killing application fails
- Sixth Circuit - Dissent Criticizes Limited Restitution Options (child pornography restitution decision)
- Australia cardinal apologises over clergy child sex abuse 
- Court orders release of additional priest files

I took blame, ritual murder accused says
2013-05-20
Johannesburg - Murder-accused Harvey Isha had to take the blame for an apparent satanic ritual in which teenager Kirsty Theologo died, a Johannesburg court heard on Monday.

Isha told the South Gauteng High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court he had been fingered by Theologo's mother.

"Kirsty's mom had already mentioned that 'Harvey and his friends did this to Kirsty' and so Jeremy [King] said, from what I understood, that because my name was mentioned by Kirsty's mom, I had to take the blame."

Isha, 24, is on trial with Robin Harwood, Lindon Wagner, and Courtney Daniels for the murder of Theologo, the attempted murder of her 14-year-old friend, and for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

They have all pleaded not guilty.

Two other accused, Jeremy King and Lester Moody, confessed to the crime and were each sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment, five of them suspended.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/I-took-blame-ritual-murder-accused-says-20130520

Ritual killing application fails 2013-05-20
Johannesburg - Moves to have charges dropped against two of the people accused of killing Kirsty Theologo in an apparent satanic ritual, were dismissed on Monday.

Their lawyers argued in the South Gauteng High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court, that the quality of evidence against their clients was suspect.

Judge Geraldine Borchers ruled that the credibility of witnesses was not an issue at this stage of the trial.

"At least 90% of what the witnesses said in court is in their respective statements," she said.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Ritual-killing-application-fails-20130520


Sixth Circuit - Dissent Criticizes Limited Restitution Options
By James R. Marsh on May 24, 2013
In a forceful dissent, a judge in the latest child pornography restitution decision proclaimed that "to accomplish the difficult task of assigning financial responsibility to possessors of child pornography for the harm caused by their conduct, district judges should have all the tools provided by law at their disposal and should be permitted broad discretion to fashion an appropriate remedy."

The case before the Sixth Circuit, United States v. Hargrove, was decided under controlling Circuit precedent which requires "proximate cause" before a district court can award restitution to a victim of child pornography possession.
http://www.childlaw.us/2013/05/sixth-circuit---dissent-critic.html


Australia cardinal apologises over clergy child sex abuse  27 May 2013

Australia's most senior Catholic official has apologised for decades of child sex abuse by priests. During questioning at a state parliamentary inquiry, Cardinal George Pell said a culture of silence within the church was partly responsible.

The Catholic church in Victoria state confirmed more than 600 cases of child abuse by its clergy since the 1930s. The hearings in Victoria are running alongside a national inquiry into abuse in state and religious institutions.

"I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry," Cardinal Pell said during the final day of the hearings, which lasted for several hours. He denied being personally involved in the cover-up of paedophile priests, but acknowledged it happened.

"I don't think many of any persons in the leadership of the Catholic church knew what a horrendous widespread  mess we were sitting on," he said. He has been accused of wilful blindness and what one parent called a sociopathic lack of empathy towards the victims and their families.

Maximum compensation
He added that church leaders have previously been reluctant to share information about accused priests.
But he said the number of child abuse cases have significantly dropped since the church started taking stronger action, like better background checks.

He acknowledged, however, that his predecessor as Melbourne archbishop, Frank Little - who died in 2008 - "did cover up" child sex abuse cases. "Archbishop Little did cover up but he inherited a situation where there were no protocols, no procedures. And for some strange reason he never spoke to anybody about it," he said....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22679770

Court orders release of additional priest files
Sharon McNary | May 28th, 2013'

A Superior Court judge on Tuesday set September 10 as the deadline for Catholic religious orders to release confidential personnel files of members who were accused of sexually abusing children.  The files are related to lawsuits that have already been settled.  Attorney Raymond Boucher said the deadline affects more than 50 religious orders that operate independently from the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which has already  made public thousands of pages of files.

The order is part of litigation against the Los Angeles Archdiocese that resulted in a $660 million settlement.  The archdiocese released personnel files about its priests within the past year, but files of the independent orders that report to the Vatican through a different authority structure had not been released.

The religious orders were defendants in the original lawsuits that alleged victims brought against the archdiocese in 2002 and 2003. The orders agreed to the same 2007 settlement that required the files to be released, but the logistics of the document release were litigated first with the archdiocese,  said Raymond Boucher, attorney for the plaintiffs.

With Tuesday's order, the new files for as many as 100 priests and brothers will be made public as they are provided to the court, but no later than the Sept. 10 deadline, Boucher said....
http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/05/28/37454/court-orders-release-of-additional-priest-files/