The staggering cost of silence: child abuse victims and stolen innocence By Jerome Elam, Michael Reagan April 29, 2014
....The CDC estimates that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
Worldwide 550 million children are survivors of child abuse according to the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that there are currently 617,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and typically 100,000 of those are unaccounted for. Other pedophiles are not on records or in databases. Pedophiles like Jerry Sandusky walk silently among us, and Sandusky showed us just how well they disguise themselves.
April is National Child Abuse Awareness month and it is an important time for everyone to reacquaint himself or herself with the information that is necessary to recognize the signs of child abuse and stop predators before another child suffers.
Research has shown that an average victim of child sex abuse has to tell at least seven adults before being believed.
According to the Journal for the American Medical Association only 1 in 20 cases of child abuse are reported.
It is critically important that every parent and adult responsible for the care of a child educate and empower themselves with the knowledge to stop predators.
If we work together we can stop the stolen innocence of our children and that of others by spending a few hours educating ourselves....
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/04/29/staggering-cost-silence-child-abuse-victims-and-stolen-innocence/
Child sex abuse is a taboo topic for some parents
By Kelly Wallace, CNN Wed April 30, 2014
....Jill Starishevsky, a New York City assistant district attorney in the child abuse and sex crimes bureau and author of the book "My Body Belongs to Me," shared a story about an upper-middle-class New York family, a story that still gives me chills two years after I first heard it.
A mom goes shopping, leaving her 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son home. The daughter is miserable and moping around the house so much that her brother asks her, "What's your problem? Why are you so sad all the time?" said Starishevsky. He then says something like, "It's not like Grandpa ... is boinking you."
At that moment, the 11-year-old realizes that her grandfather, her mother's father, is doing to her brother what he has been doing to her for the past three years. The children decide they need to tell their mother when she gets home.
....Many of us aren't talking to our children about sexual abuse, even when the statistics make it crystal clear why we should be: As many as one in four girls and one in six boys is sexually abused before their 18th birthday, according to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
....So, in between prosecuting sex crimes and mothering her three children, Starishevsky wrote a straightforward book targeting 3- to 8-year-olds with rhymes and simple illustrations. Getting a publisher turned out to be easier than expected, but there was one problem.
In the book, Starishevsky doesn't just allude to the abuse. She includes it.
"My uncle's friend came over and sat down next to me, and touched me in that place that no one else can see," she writes, with illustrations of a fully clothed child sitting near the uncle's friend, who is also fully clothed. You don't see the abuse but it's clear it just happened.
The publisher wanted that line to come out, according to Starishevsky. "They said, 'Well we don't think parents would like the book with the line in. You have to take it out. Allude to it but you can't actually say it.' "
Starishevsky refused and the publisher backed out, so she self-published the book in 2009, and eventually got the attention of Oprah Winfrey's television producers. She appeared in a segment on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2011....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/29/living/sexual-abuse-talking-to-kids-parents/
NEW LAWS IN TURKEY AGAINST CHILD ABUSE
by AA 30.04.2014
ANKARA — A series of draft laws covering child and sexual abuse are set to be made public, Turkey's family and social policies minister has said....
The bill will increase the punishment for sexual crimes committed against adults as well as children. Forced marriages penalized Under the proposed laws, those who commit abuse would undergo psychiatric or chemical treatment to "set the perpetrator to normal mode," Minister Islam said.
The bills will also ensure that any perpetrator who has committed a sexual crime against children is forced to stay away from them for the rest of their lives. Another draft law will also penalize forced marriages. Islam said that children under the compulsory 4+4+4 education system (four years of primary education at a first level, four at second and four at secondary education) would not be allowed to enter a forced marriage. A 12-year-old child will be obliged to go to school until she is 18 and the education system will help prevent forced marriages, she added.
http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/04/30/new-laws-in-turkey-against-child-abuse
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
Minister in Tony Blair’s government suspected of abusing children at home, Max Clifford Found Guilty Of Sex Charges The celebrity publicist
Minister in Tony Blair’s government among group of men suspected of abusing children at home run by paedophile
Apr 27, 2014 By Tom Pettifor
A probe was halted soon after an ex-social services boss told police of his alleged evening visits in the early 1980s
One of Tony Blair’s ministers was among a group of men suspected of sexually abusing children at a home run by a convicted paedophile.
But the probe was halted soon after an ex-social services boss told police of his alleged evening visits in the early 1980s.
Official documents seen by the Daily Mirror during a 16-month investigation reveal former residents told detectives that a group of paedophiles attacked children in a private flat in the home.
But two former Lambeth social services employees involved in the case suspect a cover-up because experienced detective Clive Driscoll was removed from the investigation and given other duties.
One, a former manager who alerted police in 1998, said: “One wonders why Scotland Yard would be so desperate to stop it being investigated.
"I believe it was stopped because somebody in power was trying to prevent any further investigation into the politician.”
And Dr Nigel Goldie, a council boss in charge of child protection in 1998, said: “There were some allegations that children were being abused by one or two prominent persons.She said she told top Lambeth officials at the time she suspected Carroll was at the centre of a paedophile ring at the home.
Bosses learned in 1986 that he was convicted of sexually assaulting a boy of 12 in the Wirral in 1966.
But the pervert was allowed to continue running the home until 1991.
Carroll was finally arrested in the summer of 1998 and convicted of a string of child sex attacks dating back three decades including assaults on youngsters in Angell Road.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tony-blair-minister-former-pms-3468050
Max Clifford Found Guilty Of Sex Charges
The celebrity publicist walks in silence from court and refuses to comment as he is found guilty of eight indecent assaults.
Monday 28 April 2014
PR guru Max Clifford has been found guilty of a string of sex attacks on teenage girls.
The 71-year-old became the first person to be convicted under the high profile Operation Yewtree sex crime investigation at Southwark Crown Court.
He was found guilty of eight indecent assaults, cleared of two and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on one other.
The guilty verdicts relate to four women, aged between 15 and 19 at the time of the offences, between 1978 and 1984....
Clifford was released on bail until his sentencing on Friday, but Judge Anthony Leonard QC warned him this was no reflection on the sentence that will be passed.
He said: "You must realise that the fact I have given you bail is no indication of what the final sentence will be."
Clifford repeatedly denied the claims, calling his arrest and prosecution "a nightmare" and protesting his innocence....
http://news.sky.com/story/1250859/max-clifford-found-guilty-of-sex-charges
Apr 27, 2014 By Tom Pettifor
A probe was halted soon after an ex-social services boss told police of his alleged evening visits in the early 1980s
One of Tony Blair’s ministers was among a group of men suspected of sexually abusing children at a home run by a convicted paedophile.
But the probe was halted soon after an ex-social services boss told police of his alleged evening visits in the early 1980s.
Official documents seen by the Daily Mirror during a 16-month investigation reveal former residents told detectives that a group of paedophiles attacked children in a private flat in the home.
But two former Lambeth social services employees involved in the case suspect a cover-up because experienced detective Clive Driscoll was removed from the investigation and given other duties.
One, a former manager who alerted police in 1998, said: “One wonders why Scotland Yard would be so desperate to stop it being investigated.
"I believe it was stopped because somebody in power was trying to prevent any further investigation into the politician.”
And Dr Nigel Goldie, a council boss in charge of child protection in 1998, said: “There were some allegations that children were being abused by one or two prominent persons.She said she told top Lambeth officials at the time she suspected Carroll was at the centre of a paedophile ring at the home.
Bosses learned in 1986 that he was convicted of sexually assaulting a boy of 12 in the Wirral in 1966.
But the pervert was allowed to continue running the home until 1991.
Carroll was finally arrested in the summer of 1998 and convicted of a string of child sex attacks dating back three decades including assaults on youngsters in Angell Road.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tony-blair-minister-former-pms-3468050
Max Clifford Found Guilty Of Sex Charges
The celebrity publicist walks in silence from court and refuses to comment as he is found guilty of eight indecent assaults.
Monday 28 April 2014
PR guru Max Clifford has been found guilty of a string of sex attacks on teenage girls.
The 71-year-old became the first person to be convicted under the high profile Operation Yewtree sex crime investigation at Southwark Crown Court.
He was found guilty of eight indecent assaults, cleared of two and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on one other.
The guilty verdicts relate to four women, aged between 15 and 19 at the time of the offences, between 1978 and 1984....
Clifford was released on bail until his sentencing on Friday, but Judge Anthony Leonard QC warned him this was no reflection on the sentence that will be passed.
He said: "You must realise that the fact I have given you bail is no indication of what the final sentence will be."
Clifford repeatedly denied the claims, calling his arrest and prosecution "a nightmare" and protesting his innocence....
http://news.sky.com/story/1250859/max-clifford-found-guilty-of-sex-charges
Exclusive: Craigslist Killer Miranda Barbour Tells How and Why She Killed
Exclusive: Craigslist Killer Miranda Barbour Tells How and Why She Killed
By Matthew Lysiak April 28, 2014
But she has no regrets about Troy LaFerrara, whom she confessed to murdering, or about the 22 other people in at least four other states she claims to have killed. “I felt no regret. None,” she says. “I didn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”
Barbour is charged with criminal homicide for the murder of LaFerrara. Last week her attorney filed a motion asking a judge to rule that she did not torture LaFerrara before killing him, in an effort to take the death penalty off the table. She is due back in court on May 30.
She became an international headline after she told a local reporter on Valentine’s Day that she was a serial killer. Since then, the teen mom from North Pole, Alaska, has been a constant source of media speculation. Police don’t seem to take her seriously as a mass murderer, but she has been fielding requests from CNN and other news outlets....
Miranda believes her “darkness” was created by her Uncle Rick, who abused her as a child. “I think he created a monster inside of me. It’s always there.” She doesn’t want to go into details, but the brutalities inflicted on her by her uncle are a matter of public record, crimes described by the trial judge as the most physically extreme case of abuse he had ever seen....
A few months later, Miranda began to complain that her anus and “pee-pee” hurt, but her parents did nothing.
The abuse continued for almost a year, until Ashley told her mother about the “secrets” of Uncle Rick. In 1998, Fernandez was sentenced to 19 years in jail, but was let out after serving nine years and four months. In July 2011, he was charged with possession of child pornography after investigators found hundreds of images on his computer, and sentenced to a 40-year prison term. He is scheduled for release in 2035....
She says she joined a satanic cult at the age of 12: “I kind of slid into it. But they weren’t just into Satan, there were into hating minorities too.” She insists Satanism has been a positive influence in her life and helped her harness that darkness inside of her—most of the time. “I worship a dark entity,” she explains, “but just because it is dark doesn’t mean that it is bad.”
She claims to have committed her first murder when she was 13. It was a man who owed money to her cult’s leader, whom she identifies only as Forest. She says she lured the man into a dark alley with the promise of sex, and Forest jumped out of the shadows and shot him. “Forest shot him in the chest, but he was still alive,” she says. “He put the gun in my hand. He put his finger over my finger and pulled the trigger.”
Miranda claims she became pregnant by a member of the cult that same year. The other cult members did not want her to have the baby, she says, so they tied her to a bed, gave her drugs and performed a gruesome in-house abortion. Before moving from Alaska, she says, she had to endure a brutal gang rape as the “exit fee” for leaving the cult. “There were only two ways out—by death or gang rape. I was pretty beat up.”
She says her killing spree began in Alaska, and it continued in California, Texas and North Carolina. “There is something inside me. It goes off like a switch. I call it Super Miranda. It’s dark. It’s violent. It’s like another person.” Almost all of her victims were men, but there was a woman in Alaska who Miranda heard was prostituting her children. “We drugged her and took her out into the forest,” she says. “We tortured her. We cut her. We burned her a little bit. She denied it all at first—you know, people will say anything when you torture them—but she finally admitted it and promised she wouldn’t do it again. I knew she was lying. These people always lie. We cut her and threw her in a hole in the ice.” ....
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/09/exclusive-craigslist-killer-miranda-barbour-tells-how-and-why-she-killed-248670.html
Miranda Barbour's Sister: My Mom Is to Blame for Her Troubles
By Nicole Weisensee 04/28/2014
There is only one person to blame for accused Craigslist killer – and wannabe serial killer – Miranda Barbour's lies and violent behavior, her sister told Dr. Phil McGraw in an episode of his show that aired Monday.
"My mom made Miranda the way she is," Ashley Dean said as their mother, Elizabeth Dean, dissolved into tears. "My mom has been a bad mom."
Ashley went on to say that their mother was inattentive, had numerous men over that she just met after divorcing their father and even left her to babysit Miranda when she was 6 and Miranda was 3 years old.
"I just want to make it clear that it's not my sister's fault," she said. "She's not this monster on her own. It's come from someone else."
Elizabeth said she took Miranda to many therapists over the years to get her the help she needed.
"I love Miranda," she said. "I will never turn my back on her. She's my daughter."
Barbour, 19, and her husband, Elytte, have been charged with the Nov. 11 murder of Troy LeFerrara, 42, whom they allegedly met via a Craigslist ad and lured to his death. They have both pleaded not guilty.
In February, Miranda told a Pennsylvania newspaper reporter she killed at least 21 other people. While Ashley and their mother believe Miranda killed LeFerrara, they do not believe she killed anyone else....
http://www.people.com/article/miranda-barbour-sister-mother-appear-dr-phil-show
By Matthew Lysiak April 28, 2014
But she has no regrets about Troy LaFerrara, whom she confessed to murdering, or about the 22 other people in at least four other states she claims to have killed. “I felt no regret. None,” she says. “I didn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”
Barbour is charged with criminal homicide for the murder of LaFerrara. Last week her attorney filed a motion asking a judge to rule that she did not torture LaFerrara before killing him, in an effort to take the death penalty off the table. She is due back in court on May 30.
She became an international headline after she told a local reporter on Valentine’s Day that she was a serial killer. Since then, the teen mom from North Pole, Alaska, has been a constant source of media speculation. Police don’t seem to take her seriously as a mass murderer, but she has been fielding requests from CNN and other news outlets....
Miranda believes her “darkness” was created by her Uncle Rick, who abused her as a child. “I think he created a monster inside of me. It’s always there.” She doesn’t want to go into details, but the brutalities inflicted on her by her uncle are a matter of public record, crimes described by the trial judge as the most physically extreme case of abuse he had ever seen....
A few months later, Miranda began to complain that her anus and “pee-pee” hurt, but her parents did nothing.
The abuse continued for almost a year, until Ashley told her mother about the “secrets” of Uncle Rick. In 1998, Fernandez was sentenced to 19 years in jail, but was let out after serving nine years and four months. In July 2011, he was charged with possession of child pornography after investigators found hundreds of images on his computer, and sentenced to a 40-year prison term. He is scheduled for release in 2035....
She says she joined a satanic cult at the age of 12: “I kind of slid into it. But they weren’t just into Satan, there were into hating minorities too.” She insists Satanism has been a positive influence in her life and helped her harness that darkness inside of her—most of the time. “I worship a dark entity,” she explains, “but just because it is dark doesn’t mean that it is bad.”
She claims to have committed her first murder when she was 13. It was a man who owed money to her cult’s leader, whom she identifies only as Forest. She says she lured the man into a dark alley with the promise of sex, and Forest jumped out of the shadows and shot him. “Forest shot him in the chest, but he was still alive,” she says. “He put the gun in my hand. He put his finger over my finger and pulled the trigger.”
Miranda claims she became pregnant by a member of the cult that same year. The other cult members did not want her to have the baby, she says, so they tied her to a bed, gave her drugs and performed a gruesome in-house abortion. Before moving from Alaska, she says, she had to endure a brutal gang rape as the “exit fee” for leaving the cult. “There were only two ways out—by death or gang rape. I was pretty beat up.”
She says her killing spree began in Alaska, and it continued in California, Texas and North Carolina. “There is something inside me. It goes off like a switch. I call it Super Miranda. It’s dark. It’s violent. It’s like another person.” Almost all of her victims were men, but there was a woman in Alaska who Miranda heard was prostituting her children. “We drugged her and took her out into the forest,” she says. “We tortured her. We cut her. We burned her a little bit. She denied it all at first—you know, people will say anything when you torture them—but she finally admitted it and promised she wouldn’t do it again. I knew she was lying. These people always lie. We cut her and threw her in a hole in the ice.” ....
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/09/exclusive-craigslist-killer-miranda-barbour-tells-how-and-why-she-killed-248670.html
Miranda Barbour's Sister: My Mom Is to Blame for Her Troubles
By Nicole Weisensee 04/28/2014
There is only one person to blame for accused Craigslist killer – and wannabe serial killer – Miranda Barbour's lies and violent behavior, her sister told Dr. Phil McGraw in an episode of his show that aired Monday.
"My mom made Miranda the way she is," Ashley Dean said as their mother, Elizabeth Dean, dissolved into tears. "My mom has been a bad mom."
Ashley went on to say that their mother was inattentive, had numerous men over that she just met after divorcing their father and even left her to babysit Miranda when she was 6 and Miranda was 3 years old.
"I just want to make it clear that it's not my sister's fault," she said. "She's not this monster on her own. It's come from someone else."
Elizabeth said she took Miranda to many therapists over the years to get her the help she needed.
"I love Miranda," she said. "I will never turn my back on her. She's my daughter."
Barbour, 19, and her husband, Elytte, have been charged with the Nov. 11 murder of Troy LeFerrara, 42, whom they allegedly met via a Craigslist ad and lured to his death. They have both pleaded not guilty.
In February, Miranda told a Pennsylvania newspaper reporter she killed at least 21 other people. While Ashley and their mother believe Miranda killed LeFerrara, they do not believe she killed anyone else....
http://www.people.com/article/miranda-barbour-sister-mother-appear-dr-phil-show
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sir Cyril Smith abuse 'cover-up' claims probed by police, Downloading child abuse 'manuals' to be made illegal
Sir Cyril Smith abuse 'cover-up' claims probed by police
27 April 2014
Police are examining whether there is evidence of a criminal cover-up over claims of sexual abuse at a Rochdale school linked to the late Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith.
Officers are already investigating claims of abuse at Knowl View school but are reviewing whether any evidence points to a cover-up by the council.
Rochdale Council is also set to widen its own inquiry into the allegations.
Sir Cyril's family has said he always denied such accusations.
The development comes after police launched an investigation into allegations Sir Cyril, who died in 2010 aged 82, sexually abused boys at Knowl View residential school, in Rochdale.
The school closed in 1992.
Officers are also looking into claims he abused boys at the privately run Cambridge House children's care home, which closed in 1965....
Allegations about Sir Cyril's conduct were first published in 1979 and also been made in a new book by the current Labour MP for Rochdale, Mr Danczuk.
He claimed Sir Cyril used his position of power to sexually abuse young boys and then escape prosecution.
Mr Danczuk previously said he asked police to re-examine the case after "a number of victims came to see me and raised concerns".
An independent review into the way Knowl View was run is due to report to Rochdale Council next month.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27183369
Downloading child abuse 'manuals' to be made illegal
27 April 2014
Downloading manuals containing guidance about how to groom children for sexual abuse is to become a criminal offence, the government has said.
It is unclear how many documents meant to assist paedophiles exist online or how often they are downloaded.
But the National Crime Agency has found examples during its investigations, which have included advice on grooming victims and evading capture....
Prime Minister David Cameron told the Sunday Times: "It's completely unacceptable that there is a loophole in the law which allows paedophiles to write and distribute these disgusting documents.
"I want to ensure we do everything we can to protect children - and that's why I am making them illegal."
The move came as it emerged that a paedophile teacher drugged and abused up to 60 boys as young as 10 at a private school in London.
US national William Vahey, 64, who taught history and geography at Southbank International School between 2009 and 2013, committed suicide last month as FBI agents closed in.... http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27177040
27 April 2014
Police are examining whether there is evidence of a criminal cover-up over claims of sexual abuse at a Rochdale school linked to the late Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith.
Officers are already investigating claims of abuse at Knowl View school but are reviewing whether any evidence points to a cover-up by the council.
Rochdale Council is also set to widen its own inquiry into the allegations.
Sir Cyril's family has said he always denied such accusations.
The development comes after police launched an investigation into allegations Sir Cyril, who died in 2010 aged 82, sexually abused boys at Knowl View residential school, in Rochdale.
The school closed in 1992.
Officers are also looking into claims he abused boys at the privately run Cambridge House children's care home, which closed in 1965....
Allegations about Sir Cyril's conduct were first published in 1979 and also been made in a new book by the current Labour MP for Rochdale, Mr Danczuk.
He claimed Sir Cyril used his position of power to sexually abuse young boys and then escape prosecution.
Mr Danczuk previously said he asked police to re-examine the case after "a number of victims came to see me and raised concerns".
An independent review into the way Knowl View was run is due to report to Rochdale Council next month.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27183369
Downloading child abuse 'manuals' to be made illegal
27 April 2014
Downloading manuals containing guidance about how to groom children for sexual abuse is to become a criminal offence, the government has said.
It is unclear how many documents meant to assist paedophiles exist online or how often they are downloaded.
But the National Crime Agency has found examples during its investigations, which have included advice on grooming victims and evading capture....
Prime Minister David Cameron told the Sunday Times: "It's completely unacceptable that there is a loophole in the law which allows paedophiles to write and distribute these disgusting documents.
"I want to ensure we do everything we can to protect children - and that's why I am making them illegal."
The move came as it emerged that a paedophile teacher drugged and abused up to 60 boys as young as 10 at a private school in London.
US national William Vahey, 64, who taught history and geography at Southbank International School between 2009 and 2013, committed suicide last month as FBI agents closed in.... http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27177040
Friday, April 25, 2014
U.S. Supreme Court decided Paroline v. US, concerning the limits of restitution victims of child p_rnography, Almost one-third of Canadian adults have experienced child abuse
Another 5-4 decision, but not another left-right split
By Jonathan H. Adler April 23, 2014
Today the U.S. Supreme Court decided Paroline v. United States, concerning the limits of restitution victims of child pornography may seek under 18 U.S.C. section 2259. Splitting 5-4, the Court held that restitution is proper (indeed, mandatory) to the extent that the defendant’s own conduct was responsible for harms to the victim....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/23/another-5-4-decision-but-not-another-left-right-split/
The decision is available here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-8561_7758.pdf
The crime victim’s reaction to today’s Supreme Court decision
By Paul Cassell April 23, 2014
The Supreme Court has just released its decision in the Paroline case earlier this morning.....the Supreme Court’s split-the-difference ruling promises her that she will receive full restitution “someday.” I just wonder how far in the future that someday will be. The battle for full restitution will now shift to Congress, which will have the last word on how restitution in these cases should be awarded.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/23/the-crime-victims-reaction-to-todays-supreme-court-decision/
Almost one-third of Canadian adults have experienced child abuse
Psychology & Psychiatry April 22, 2014
Almost one-third of adults in Canada have experienced child abuse—physical abuse, sexual abuse or exposure to intimate partner (parents, step-parents or guardians) violence in their home. As well, child abuse is linked to mental disorders and suicidal ideation (thoughts) or suicide attempts, found an article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Researchers looked at data from 23 395 people from across Canada who participated in the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health. The participants were 18 years or older and were representative of people living in the 10 provinces....
According to the study, 32% of adult Canadians experienced child abuse, with physical abuse the most common (26%), followed by sexual abuse (10%) and exposure to intimate partner violence (8%). Men were more likely to have been physically abused (31% v. 21% in women) and had a higher rate of any abuse (34% v. 30%). Sexual abuse was more common in women (14% v. 6% in men) as was exposure to intimate partner violence (9% v. 7%) as children. People between 35 and 64 years of age were more likely than those aged 18 to 34 years to report having been abused as a child.
"All 3 types of child abuse were associated with all types of interview-diagnosed mental disorders, self-reported mental conditions, suicide ideation [thoughts of suicide] and suicide attempts in models adjusting for sociodemographic variables," write the authors.
Drug abuse or dependence, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts remained associated with all types of child abuse even in the most adjusted models. The least severe type of physical abuse (being slapped on the face, head or ears or hit or spanked with something hard) showed a strong association with all mental conditions in models adjusting for sociodemographic variables. Exposure to more than one type of abuse increased the odds of having a mental condition.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-one-third-canadian-adults-experienced-child.html
Child abuse and mental disorders in Canada
CMAJ April 22, 2014 doi: 10.1503/cmaj.131792
Tracie O. Afifi, Harriet L. MacMillan, Michael Boyle, Tamara Taillieu, Kristene Cheung, Jitender Sareen
....Results: The prevalence of any child abuse was 32% (individual types ranged from 8% to 26%). All types of child abuse were associated with all mental conditions, including suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, after adjustment for sociodemographic variables (adjusted odds ratios ranged from 1.4 to 7.9). We found a dose-response relation, with increasing number of abuse types experienced corresponding with greater odds of mental conditions. Associations between child abuse and attention deficit disorder, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts showed stronger effects for women than men.
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2014/04/22/cmaj.131792
By Jonathan H. Adler April 23, 2014
Today the U.S. Supreme Court decided Paroline v. United States, concerning the limits of restitution victims of child pornography may seek under 18 U.S.C. section 2259. Splitting 5-4, the Court held that restitution is proper (indeed, mandatory) to the extent that the defendant’s own conduct was responsible for harms to the victim....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/23/another-5-4-decision-but-not-another-left-right-split/
The decision is available here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-8561_7758.pdf
The crime victim’s reaction to today’s Supreme Court decision
By Paul Cassell April 23, 2014
The Supreme Court has just released its decision in the Paroline case earlier this morning.....the Supreme Court’s split-the-difference ruling promises her that she will receive full restitution “someday.” I just wonder how far in the future that someday will be. The battle for full restitution will now shift to Congress, which will have the last word on how restitution in these cases should be awarded.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/23/the-crime-victims-reaction-to-todays-supreme-court-decision/
Almost one-third of Canadian adults have experienced child abuse
Psychology & Psychiatry April 22, 2014
Almost one-third of adults in Canada have experienced child abuse—physical abuse, sexual abuse or exposure to intimate partner (parents, step-parents or guardians) violence in their home. As well, child abuse is linked to mental disorders and suicidal ideation (thoughts) or suicide attempts, found an article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Researchers looked at data from 23 395 people from across Canada who participated in the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health. The participants were 18 years or older and were representative of people living in the 10 provinces....
According to the study, 32% of adult Canadians experienced child abuse, with physical abuse the most common (26%), followed by sexual abuse (10%) and exposure to intimate partner violence (8%). Men were more likely to have been physically abused (31% v. 21% in women) and had a higher rate of any abuse (34% v. 30%). Sexual abuse was more common in women (14% v. 6% in men) as was exposure to intimate partner violence (9% v. 7%) as children. People between 35 and 64 years of age were more likely than those aged 18 to 34 years to report having been abused as a child.
"All 3 types of child abuse were associated with all types of interview-diagnosed mental disorders, self-reported mental conditions, suicide ideation [thoughts of suicide] and suicide attempts in models adjusting for sociodemographic variables," write the authors.
Drug abuse or dependence, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts remained associated with all types of child abuse even in the most adjusted models. The least severe type of physical abuse (being slapped on the face, head or ears or hit or spanked with something hard) showed a strong association with all mental conditions in models adjusting for sociodemographic variables. Exposure to more than one type of abuse increased the odds of having a mental condition.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-one-third-canadian-adults-experienced-child.html
Child abuse and mental disorders in Canada
CMAJ April 22, 2014 doi: 10.1503/cmaj.131792
Tracie O. Afifi, Harriet L. MacMillan, Michael Boyle, Tamara Taillieu, Kristene Cheung, Jitender Sareen
....Results: The prevalence of any child abuse was 32% (individual types ranged from 8% to 26%). All types of child abuse were associated with all mental conditions, including suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, after adjustment for sociodemographic variables (adjusted odds ratios ranged from 1.4 to 7.9). We found a dose-response relation, with increasing number of abuse types experienced corresponding with greater odds of mental conditions. Associations between child abuse and attention deficit disorder, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts showed stronger effects for women than men.
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2014/04/22/cmaj.131792
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Houston FBI: One of worst child sex abuse cases ever, teacher who abused 90 boys
Houston FBI: One of worst child sex abuse cases ever
Jace Larson, Investigative Reporter Apr 22 2014
HOUSTON - Local FBI agents tell Local 2 Investigates they are working on a recent case of child sexual assaults that is one of the worst they've ever seen, involving more than 90 victims. The FBI says it's likely there are more victims that law enforcement doesn't know about and they want to reach out to offer victims' assistance to those who could now be adults.
"This is one of the most prolific alleged predators we've ever seen," Houston FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap told Local 2 Investigates.
The suspect, William James Vahey, 64, of South Carolina, killed himself after the FBI began an investigation....
The case unfolded after Vahey reported his maid was fired after she allegedly stole personal items from his house last November.
In March of this year, the former maid brought a USB thumb drive to the American Nicaraguan School and admitted she stole it, but said she was coming forward because of the child sexual assault images she saw on the drive. A school employee viewed some of the images and described them to local authorities who contacted the FBI, the federal search warrant says.
"These images depict minor males in various states of undress," court records allege. "The minor males appear to be asleep, unconscious or possibly drugged."....
Vahey was required to register as a sex offender in California after pleading guilty to child molestation in January of 1970. He was a swim instructor at the time in Santa Ana, California, federal court records show.
He was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Court records show he registered only once in 1970 and never renewed his registration....
http://www.click2houston.com/news/houston-fbi-one-of-worst-child-sex-abuse-cases-ever/25598182
FBI investigates London links of teacher who abused 90 boys
William Vahey, who taught at Southbank International School, admitted molesting children while teaching in Caracas
Robert Booth The Guardian, Wednesday 23 April 2014
An elite London school has become embroiled in an FBI-led international child abuse investigation into a highly regarded teacher who is believed to have molested more than 90 boys.
William Vahey, a 64-year old American who taught at the Southbank International School in Westminster between 2009 and 2013, killed himself in Minnesota in March after confessing to drugging and molesting children while on field trips.
He had been found with a memory stick that contained sexually graphic images of at least 90 boys who appeared to have been drugged. They were catalogued with dates and locations that corresponded to his overnight field trips with students beginning in 2008 when he was teaching in the Escuela Campo Alegre in Caracas, Venezuela....
Vahey was working in Nicaragua when he was exposed in March by his employer who discovered the digitised images, the FBI said. When confronted about the images by a school administrator, he confessed he was molested as a child and had preyed on boys his entire life, giving them sleeping pills prior to the molestation. Within days he killed himself....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/23/london-private-school-child-abuse-investigation-teacher-confession
Jace Larson, Investigative Reporter Apr 22 2014
HOUSTON - Local FBI agents tell Local 2 Investigates they are working on a recent case of child sexual assaults that is one of the worst they've ever seen, involving more than 90 victims. The FBI says it's likely there are more victims that law enforcement doesn't know about and they want to reach out to offer victims' assistance to those who could now be adults.
"This is one of the most prolific alleged predators we've ever seen," Houston FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap told Local 2 Investigates.
The suspect, William James Vahey, 64, of South Carolina, killed himself after the FBI began an investigation....
The case unfolded after Vahey reported his maid was fired after she allegedly stole personal items from his house last November.
In March of this year, the former maid brought a USB thumb drive to the American Nicaraguan School and admitted she stole it, but said she was coming forward because of the child sexual assault images she saw on the drive. A school employee viewed some of the images and described them to local authorities who contacted the FBI, the federal search warrant says.
"These images depict minor males in various states of undress," court records allege. "The minor males appear to be asleep, unconscious or possibly drugged."....
Vahey was required to register as a sex offender in California after pleading guilty to child molestation in January of 1970. He was a swim instructor at the time in Santa Ana, California, federal court records show.
He was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Court records show he registered only once in 1970 and never renewed his registration....
http://www.click2houston.com/news/houston-fbi-one-of-worst-child-sex-abuse-cases-ever/25598182
FBI investigates London links of teacher who abused 90 boys
William Vahey, who taught at Southbank International School, admitted molesting children while teaching in Caracas
Robert Booth The Guardian, Wednesday 23 April 2014
An elite London school has become embroiled in an FBI-led international child abuse investigation into a highly regarded teacher who is believed to have molested more than 90 boys.
William Vahey, a 64-year old American who taught at the Southbank International School in Westminster between 2009 and 2013, killed himself in Minnesota in March after confessing to drugging and molesting children while on field trips.
He had been found with a memory stick that contained sexually graphic images of at least 90 boys who appeared to have been drugged. They were catalogued with dates and locations that corresponded to his overnight field trips with students beginning in 2008 when he was teaching in the Escuela Campo Alegre in Caracas, Venezuela....
Vahey was working in Nicaragua when he was exposed in March by his employer who discovered the digitised images, the FBI said. When confronted about the images by a school administrator, he confessed he was molested as a child and had preyed on boys his entire life, giving them sleeping pills prior to the molestation. Within days he killed himself....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/23/london-private-school-child-abuse-investigation-teacher-confession
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
'Magical warlock’ sexually abused girls as young as 3 years old: police, John Paul's legacy stained by sex abuse scandal
'Magical warlock’ sexually abused girls as young as 3 years old: police
James Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, W.Va., told three different girls that performing sex acts would allow him to conduct magical spells. The alleged perv was accused of abuse two decades ago in Texas.
BY Sasha Goldstein NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, April 21, 2014
A sicko calling himself a “magical warlock” allegedly sexually abused several children, authorities in West Virginia said, using his Wiccan religion to trick the youngsters into sexual acts.
James Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, abused children as young as 3, 9 and 13, according to court documents, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reported. He was arraigned on five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of sexual abuse....
The deviant "warlock" allegedly has struck in the past. Authorities in Texas said Irvin was accused of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter in 1994. He fled to West Virginia before facing charges, according to WVVA.... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/magical-warlock-sexually-abused-girls-young-3-police-article-1.1764248
Bluefield man claiming to be magical warlock arrested for sex crimes against children
Bluefield Daily Telegraph April 21, 2014 BLUEFIELD — A Bluefield man claiming to be a “magical warlock” has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse of juveniles.
James “Jim” Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, was arraigned Monday before Mercer County Magistrate Susan Honaker on five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of sexual abuse. The victims in the case were 9, 3 and 13 years of age at the time of the alleged abuse, according to Detective K.L. Adams of the Bluefield Police Department.
Adams said the investigation has revealed that Irwin was a practicing pagan and wiccan, and used his religion to allegedly get close to the children and ultimately sexually abuse them http://www.bdtonline.com/local/x1535574442/Bluefield-man-claiming-to-be-magical-warlock-arrested-for-sex-crimes-against-children
John Paul's legacy stained by sex abuse scandal
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press Apr 21, 2014
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II is rightly credited with having helped bring down communism, of inspiring a new generation of Catholics with a globe-trotting papacy and of explaining church teaching on a range of hot-button issues as Christianity entered its third millennium.
But the sexual abuse scandal that festered under his watch remains a stain on his legacy.
John Paul and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the abuse problem until very late in his 26-year papacy, even though U.S. bishops had been petitioning the Holy See since the late-1980s for a faster way to defrock pedophile priests....
Yet the Legion's 2009 admission about the Rev. Marcial Maciel's double life was by no means news to the Vatican.
Documents from the archives of the Vatican's then-Sacred Congregation for Religious show how a succession of papacies - including that of John XXIII, also to be canonized Sunday - simply turned a blind eye to credible reports that Maciel was a con artist, drug addict, pedophile and religious fraud.
By 1948, seven years after Maciel founded the order, the Holy See had documents from Vatican-appointed envoys and bishops in Mexico and Spain questioning the legitimacy of Maciel's ordination (by his uncle, after Maciel was expelled by a series of seminaries), noting the questionable legal foundation of his order and flagging his "totalitarian" behavior and spiritual violations of his young seminarians.
The documents show the Holy See was well aware of Maciel's drug abuse, sexual abuse and financial improprieties as early as 1956, when it ordered an initial investigation and suspended him for two years to kick a morphine habit.
Yet for decades, Rome looked the other way, thanks to Maciel's ability to keep his own priests quiet, his foresight to place trusted Legion priests in key Vatican offices and his careful cultivation of Vatican cardinals, Mexican bishops and wealthy, powerful lay Catholics. Vatican officials were impressed instead by the orthodoxy of his priests and Maciel's ability to attract new vocations and donations.
John Paul, who in 1994 praised Maciel as an "efficacious guide to youth," wasn't alone in being duped....
(John) Vaca was the Legion's superior in the U.S. from 1971-1976, when he left the order and joined the diocese of Rockville Center, New York. In 1979, a year after John Paul was elected, Vaca's bishop sent the Congregation for Religious a bombshell set of documents in which Vaca and another ex-Legion priest detailed the sexual abuse they and some 19 other priests and seminarians had endured at Maciel's hands.
He later was one of a half-dozen former Legionaries who brought a canonical case against Maciel at the Vatican in 1998. It took eight years - and the death of John Paul - for Pope Benedict XVI to sanction Maciel.... http://www.kiiitv.com/story/25294982/john-pauls-legacy-stained-by-sex-abuse-scandal
James Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, W.Va., told three different girls that performing sex acts would allow him to conduct magical spells. The alleged perv was accused of abuse two decades ago in Texas.
BY Sasha Goldstein NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, April 21, 2014
A sicko calling himself a “magical warlock” allegedly sexually abused several children, authorities in West Virginia said, using his Wiccan religion to trick the youngsters into sexual acts.
James Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, abused children as young as 3, 9 and 13, according to court documents, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reported. He was arraigned on five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of sexual abuse....
The deviant "warlock" allegedly has struck in the past. Authorities in Texas said Irvin was accused of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter in 1994. He fled to West Virginia before facing charges, according to WVVA.... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/magical-warlock-sexually-abused-girls-young-3-police-article-1.1764248
Bluefield man claiming to be magical warlock arrested for sex crimes against children
Bluefield Daily Telegraph April 21, 2014 BLUEFIELD — A Bluefield man claiming to be a “magical warlock” has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse of juveniles.
James “Jim” Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, was arraigned Monday before Mercer County Magistrate Susan Honaker on five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of sexual abuse. The victims in the case were 9, 3 and 13 years of age at the time of the alleged abuse, according to Detective K.L. Adams of the Bluefield Police Department.
Adams said the investigation has revealed that Irwin was a practicing pagan and wiccan, and used his religion to allegedly get close to the children and ultimately sexually abuse them http://www.bdtonline.com/local/x1535574442/Bluefield-man-claiming-to-be-magical-warlock-arrested-for-sex-crimes-against-children
John Paul's legacy stained by sex abuse scandal
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press Apr 21, 2014
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II is rightly credited with having helped bring down communism, of inspiring a new generation of Catholics with a globe-trotting papacy and of explaining church teaching on a range of hot-button issues as Christianity entered its third millennium.
But the sexual abuse scandal that festered under his watch remains a stain on his legacy.
John Paul and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the abuse problem until very late in his 26-year papacy, even though U.S. bishops had been petitioning the Holy See since the late-1980s for a faster way to defrock pedophile priests....
Yet the Legion's 2009 admission about the Rev. Marcial Maciel's double life was by no means news to the Vatican.
Documents from the archives of the Vatican's then-Sacred Congregation for Religious show how a succession of papacies - including that of John XXIII, also to be canonized Sunday - simply turned a blind eye to credible reports that Maciel was a con artist, drug addict, pedophile and religious fraud.
By 1948, seven years after Maciel founded the order, the Holy See had documents from Vatican-appointed envoys and bishops in Mexico and Spain questioning the legitimacy of Maciel's ordination (by his uncle, after Maciel was expelled by a series of seminaries), noting the questionable legal foundation of his order and flagging his "totalitarian" behavior and spiritual violations of his young seminarians.
The documents show the Holy See was well aware of Maciel's drug abuse, sexual abuse and financial improprieties as early as 1956, when it ordered an initial investigation and suspended him for two years to kick a morphine habit.
Yet for decades, Rome looked the other way, thanks to Maciel's ability to keep his own priests quiet, his foresight to place trusted Legion priests in key Vatican offices and his careful cultivation of Vatican cardinals, Mexican bishops and wealthy, powerful lay Catholics. Vatican officials were impressed instead by the orthodoxy of his priests and Maciel's ability to attract new vocations and donations.
John Paul, who in 1994 praised Maciel as an "efficacious guide to youth," wasn't alone in being duped....
(John) Vaca was the Legion's superior in the U.S. from 1971-1976, when he left the order and joined the diocese of Rockville Center, New York. In 1979, a year after John Paul was elected, Vaca's bishop sent the Congregation for Religious a bombshell set of documents in which Vaca and another ex-Legion priest detailed the sexual abuse they and some 19 other priests and seminarians had endured at Maciel's hands.
He later was one of a half-dozen former Legionaries who brought a canonical case against Maciel at the Vatican in 1998. It took eight years - and the death of John Paul - for Pope Benedict XVI to sanction Maciel.... http://www.kiiitv.com/story/25294982/john-pauls-legacy-stained-by-sex-abuse-scandal
Monday, April 21, 2014
Bryan Singer sex abuse accuser names three more Hollywood bigwigs in lawsuits
Bryan Singer sex abuse accuser names three more Hollywood bigwigs in lawsuits
Michael Egan III, 31, claims ex-NBC Entertainment head Garth Ancier forced him to have oral sex and both former Disney exec David Neuman and Broadway producer Gary Goddard also engaged in inappropriate behavior with him as a minor in the '90s.
BY Nancy Dillon NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, April 21, 2014
The Nevada actor who publicly accused “X-Men” director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him when he was 15 named three other Hollywood figures on Monday and said they too preyed on him during his teenage years.
Michael Egan III, 31, filed new federal lawsuits on Monday that accuse Garth R. Ancier, Gary Wayne Goddard and David Alexander Neuman of sexually assaulting him when he was as a minor in the late '90s.
Egan and his lawyer, Jeff Herman, who previously represented victims in the molestation lawsuits against “Sesame Street” puppeteer Kevin Clash, said the three men were allegedly part, along with Singer, of a “sordid sex ring” that preyed on teenage boys seeking stardom in Tinseltown. They allegedly attended “notorious parties” in Los Angeles and Hawaii, where underage boys were “groomed” to be sexually victimized and plied with drugs, alcohol and gifts — and sometimes subjected to violence, according to Egan and his lawyer.
Efforts to reach the three men for comment were not immediately successful....
Egan filed a separate federal lawsuit last week against the “X-Men” director, claiming that Singer repeatedly sexually abused him when he was a vulnerable teen in the late '90s. The accusations include forced sodomy.
Singer has denied the allegations, and his lawyer raising the possibility of a counter suit....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/bryan-singer-sex-abuse-accuser-names-hollywood-bigwigs-lawsuits-article-1.1764009
Bryan Singer Accuser -- Alleged Sex Abuse Victim Accuses 3 More Hollywood Honchos
4/21/2014 BY TMZ STAFF
The man who has sued "X-Men" director Bryan Singer -- claiming he was sexually assaulted when he was 15 -- has just filed lawsuits against 3 other Hollywood big wigs, also claiming sexual assault.
The 3 men named in the new lawsuit are Garth Ancier, David Neuman and Gary Goddard.
Ancier has a slew of hits under his belt, including The Ricki Lake Show, which he created. He headed up the Fox entertainment group and produced 21 Jump Street, Married ... with Children, The Simpsons and In Living Color. He also developed Home Improvement at Disney. And at NBC he put The West Wing on the air.
Neuman is the former president of Disney TV. Goddard produced off-Broadway shows.
According to the new lawsuits, Ancier sexually abused Egan numerous times by sodomizing him, forcing oral sex and fondling him -- when he was 15 at an Encino estate. The suit goes on to allege Ancier sexually abused Egan in Hawaii 2 years later.
The suit against Goddard and Neuman are similar -- alleging they were part of a Hollywood sex ring, giving Egan alcohol and drugs and sexually assaulted him at the Encino estate and in Hawaii....
The state of Hawaii has allowed alleged victims of sexual assault to sue, even if the statute of limitations has long since expired -- but the deadline for filing is Thursday.
http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/21/michael-egan-press-conference-hollywood-sex-ring-lawsuit-bryan-singer
Michael Egan III, 31, claims ex-NBC Entertainment head Garth Ancier forced him to have oral sex and both former Disney exec David Neuman and Broadway producer Gary Goddard also engaged in inappropriate behavior with him as a minor in the '90s.
BY Nancy Dillon NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, April 21, 2014
The Nevada actor who publicly accused “X-Men” director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him when he was 15 named three other Hollywood figures on Monday and said they too preyed on him during his teenage years.
Michael Egan III, 31, filed new federal lawsuits on Monday that accuse Garth R. Ancier, Gary Wayne Goddard and David Alexander Neuman of sexually assaulting him when he was as a minor in the late '90s.
Egan and his lawyer, Jeff Herman, who previously represented victims in the molestation lawsuits against “Sesame Street” puppeteer Kevin Clash, said the three men were allegedly part, along with Singer, of a “sordid sex ring” that preyed on teenage boys seeking stardom in Tinseltown. They allegedly attended “notorious parties” in Los Angeles and Hawaii, where underage boys were “groomed” to be sexually victimized and plied with drugs, alcohol and gifts — and sometimes subjected to violence, according to Egan and his lawyer.
Efforts to reach the three men for comment were not immediately successful....
Egan filed a separate federal lawsuit last week against the “X-Men” director, claiming that Singer repeatedly sexually abused him when he was a vulnerable teen in the late '90s. The accusations include forced sodomy.
Singer has denied the allegations, and his lawyer raising the possibility of a counter suit....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/bryan-singer-sex-abuse-accuser-names-hollywood-bigwigs-lawsuits-article-1.1764009
Bryan Singer Accuser -- Alleged Sex Abuse Victim Accuses 3 More Hollywood Honchos
4/21/2014 BY TMZ STAFF
The man who has sued "X-Men" director Bryan Singer -- claiming he was sexually assaulted when he was 15 -- has just filed lawsuits against 3 other Hollywood big wigs, also claiming sexual assault.
The 3 men named in the new lawsuit are Garth Ancier, David Neuman and Gary Goddard.
Ancier has a slew of hits under his belt, including The Ricki Lake Show, which he created. He headed up the Fox entertainment group and produced 21 Jump Street, Married ... with Children, The Simpsons and In Living Color. He also developed Home Improvement at Disney. And at NBC he put The West Wing on the air.
Neuman is the former president of Disney TV. Goddard produced off-Broadway shows.
According to the new lawsuits, Ancier sexually abused Egan numerous times by sodomizing him, forcing oral sex and fondling him -- when he was 15 at an Encino estate. The suit goes on to allege Ancier sexually abused Egan in Hawaii 2 years later.
The suit against Goddard and Neuman are similar -- alleging they were part of a Hollywood sex ring, giving Egan alcohol and drugs and sexually assaulted him at the Encino estate and in Hawaii....
The state of Hawaii has allowed alleged victims of sexual assault to sue, even if the statute of limitations has long since expired -- but the deadline for filing is Thursday.
http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/21/michael-egan-press-conference-hollywood-sex-ring-lawsuit-bryan-singer
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Nebraska Supreme Court rejects Rulo cult leader's appeal, India’s child maids face slavery, abuse and sometimes rape
Nebraska Supreme Court rejects Rulo cult leader's appeal, but execution still in limbo
By Paul Hammel and Joe Duggan / World-Herald Bureau Saturday, April 19, 2014
LINCOLN — For the fifth time, convicted cult murderer Michael Ryan has lost an appeal to overturn his death sentence....
Ryan, 65, was the leader of a survivalist religious cult that lived on a farm near Rulo, Neb. He would be among the first in line for an execution once the state resolves its death penalty drug issue.
Ryan was sentenced to death for first-degree murder for ordering the 1985 torture and killing of James Thimm, 25, one of his followers. Ryan also pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the killing of 5-year-old Luke Stice, the son of another cult member....
http://www.omaha.com/article/20140419/NEWS/140418218
India’s child maids face slavery, abuse and sometimes rape
By Simon Denyer, Published: January 19, 2013
....Every year, hundreds of thousands of girls are trafficked from rural India to work as domestic servants in middle-class homes in India’s fast-growing urban areas. They are expected to work at least 15 hours a day for food, lodging and salaries well below the legal minimum monthly wage of about $125. Many end up cut off from their families, abused and treated like slaves. Some are sexually assaulted.
....“The trafficking of young children, especially girls, under the garb of placement agencies is the biggest organized crime in India today. And the worst part is, it is right there in the open, in our homes, and yet invisible,” said Bhuwan Ribhu of the child rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan.
....But the law is widely flouted, said Ribhu, who added that on rare occasions police carry out “rescue operations” of underage servants after complaints from parents or activists.
“Almost all of the domestic maids are either minors, or started work as maids before they were 18,” Ribhu said.
There has never been a systematic attempt to determine the scale of the problem. The government says 5 million children are employed in India, but activists say the real number could be 10 times that. A senior official at India’s Home Affairs Ministry, which oversees the police, estimated that as many as 4 million children work in domestic service nationwide and that up to 4,000 placement agencies operate in New Delhi and its suburbs alone.
But the official, who insisted on anonymity to speak candidly, said it was often hard to get his fellow bureaucrats to take the issue seriously because so many of them employ children at home....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-turns-blind-eye-to-trafficking-rape-of-child-maids/2013/01/19/3f7ec544-5e73-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html
By Paul Hammel and Joe Duggan / World-Herald Bureau Saturday, April 19, 2014
LINCOLN — For the fifth time, convicted cult murderer Michael Ryan has lost an appeal to overturn his death sentence....
Ryan, 65, was the leader of a survivalist religious cult that lived on a farm near Rulo, Neb. He would be among the first in line for an execution once the state resolves its death penalty drug issue.
Ryan was sentenced to death for first-degree murder for ordering the 1985 torture and killing of James Thimm, 25, one of his followers. Ryan also pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the killing of 5-year-old Luke Stice, the son of another cult member....
http://www.omaha.com/article/20140419/NEWS/140418218
India’s child maids face slavery, abuse and sometimes rape
By Simon Denyer, Published: January 19, 2013
....Every year, hundreds of thousands of girls are trafficked from rural India to work as domestic servants in middle-class homes in India’s fast-growing urban areas. They are expected to work at least 15 hours a day for food, lodging and salaries well below the legal minimum monthly wage of about $125. Many end up cut off from their families, abused and treated like slaves. Some are sexually assaulted.
....“The trafficking of young children, especially girls, under the garb of placement agencies is the biggest organized crime in India today. And the worst part is, it is right there in the open, in our homes, and yet invisible,” said Bhuwan Ribhu of the child rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan.
....But the law is widely flouted, said Ribhu, who added that on rare occasions police carry out “rescue operations” of underage servants after complaints from parents or activists.
“Almost all of the domestic maids are either minors, or started work as maids before they were 18,” Ribhu said.
There has never been a systematic attempt to determine the scale of the problem. The government says 5 million children are employed in India, but activists say the real number could be 10 times that. A senior official at India’s Home Affairs Ministry, which oversees the police, estimated that as many as 4 million children work in domestic service nationwide and that up to 4,000 placement agencies operate in New Delhi and its suburbs alone.
But the official, who insisted on anonymity to speak candidly, said it was often hard to get his fellow bureaucrats to take the issue seriously because so many of them employ children at home....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-turns-blind-eye-to-trafficking-rape-of-child-maids/2013/01/19/3f7ec544-5e73-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html
Friday, April 18, 2014
Over 100 'Human Trafficking' Victims Rescued, National Statistics on Child Abuse
Over 100 'Human Trafficking' Victims Rescued
Sky News – Thu, Mar 20, 2014
More than 100 people, suspected of being victims of a human trafficking gang, have been rescued from a house in Houston, Texas.
When officers opened the door to the property they found "a large, large group of people, some sitting on top of one another, in very confined spaces".
A spokesman for the Houston Police Department said dozens of the victims were dressed only in underwear and were sitting in filthy conditions surrounded by bin bags full of old clothes.
They had been kept in a number of small rooms with access to just one toilet and no hot water.
Police made the discovery during a search for a 24-year-old woman and her two children who had been reported missing by relatives....
Five men have been arrested in connection with the discovery.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/over-100-human-trafficking-victims-rescued-011448372.html
National Statistics on Child Abuse
In 2012, an estimated 1,640 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States.
In the same year, Children’s Advocacy Centers around the country served over 286,000 child victims of abuse, providing victim advocacy and support to these children and their families. In 2013, this number was over 294,000.
2012 NATIONAL ABUSE STATISTICS
An estimated 686,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect (unique instances).
51 states reported approximately 3.8 million children received preventative services from Child Protective Services agencies in the United States.
Children younger than one year had the highest rate of victimization of 21.9 per 1,000 children in the national population of the same age.
Of the children who experienced maltreatment or abuse, over 75% suffered neglect; more than 15% suffered physical abuse; and just under 10% suffered sexual abuse.
Approximately 80% of reported child fatalities as a result of abuse and neglect were caused by one or more of the child victim’s parents....
http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/NCANationalStatistics
Sky News – Thu, Mar 20, 2014
More than 100 people, suspected of being victims of a human trafficking gang, have been rescued from a house in Houston, Texas.
When officers opened the door to the property they found "a large, large group of people, some sitting on top of one another, in very confined spaces".
A spokesman for the Houston Police Department said dozens of the victims were dressed only in underwear and were sitting in filthy conditions surrounded by bin bags full of old clothes.
They had been kept in a number of small rooms with access to just one toilet and no hot water.
Police made the discovery during a search for a 24-year-old woman and her two children who had been reported missing by relatives....
Five men have been arrested in connection with the discovery.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/over-100-human-trafficking-victims-rescued-011448372.html
National Statistics on Child Abuse
In 2012, an estimated 1,640 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States.
In the same year, Children’s Advocacy Centers around the country served over 286,000 child victims of abuse, providing victim advocacy and support to these children and their families. In 2013, this number was over 294,000.
2012 NATIONAL ABUSE STATISTICS
An estimated 686,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect (unique instances).
51 states reported approximately 3.8 million children received preventative services from Child Protective Services agencies in the United States.
Children younger than one year had the highest rate of victimization of 21.9 per 1,000 children in the national population of the same age.
Of the children who experienced maltreatment or abuse, over 75% suffered neglect; more than 15% suffered physical abuse; and just under 10% suffered sexual abuse.
Approximately 80% of reported child fatalities as a result of abuse and neglect were caused by one or more of the child victim’s parents....
http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/NCANationalStatistics
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Minnesota cult leader charged with 59 counts of sexual abuse said sex was 'God’s word', Killer Luke Mitchell demands Satanic books in jail due to his 'religious beliefs'
- Minnesota cult leader charged with 59 counts of sexual abuse
- Report: Accused child molester said sex was 'God’s word'
- Killer Luke Mitchell demands Satanic books in jail
- Jodi Jones killer Luke Mitchell demands right to study Satanic textbooks in prison due to his 'religious beliefs'
Minnesota cult leader charged with 59 counts of sexual abuse
Fugitive Victor Barnard, head of ‘Maidens of River Road,’ accused of sex acts with minors. Girls as young as 12 were sent to live with the ‘messiah,’ who is accused of sexually abusing them.
BY Deborah Hastings NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, April 16, 2014
A minister who dressed like Jesus and presided over virgins he called the "maidens" faces 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct involving underage girls he allegedly abused for years at a Minnesota religious camp.
Fugitive Victor Arden Barnard, 52, is believed to be somewhere near Seattle or Tacoma, authorities said.
A nationwide warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The self-proclaimed "messiah" ran a compound in Minnesota's northern Pine County, where ministered to a group of women and girls he referred to as "maidens." For several years, he routinely abused two girls sent to live with him at the ages of 12 and 13, according to a criminal complaint filed against him....
They lived in a place called "Shepherd's Camp," where Barnard also resided, apart from this wife and children.
"Barnard repeatedly preached to (B) that he represented Christ in the flesh, that Jesus Christ had Mary Magdalene and other women who followed him, that King Solomon slept with many concubines, that the firstborn child was to be sacrificed to God, and that it was normal for Barnard to have sex with her because it was in God's Word," the complaint states.... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/minnesota-cult-leader-charged-59-sexual-abuse-counts-maidens-article-1.1758703
Report: Accused child molester said sex was 'God’s word'
KREM.com Spokane/Coeur dAlene Videos
SPOKANE, Wash. -- KREM 2 News has been tracking local associates who may be connected to a man wanted for sexually abusing children in Minnesota. Authorities believe Victor Barnard, 52, is hiding out somewhere in Spokane. MORE: Man wanted for sex abuse in Minnesota may be in Spokane Victor Barnard, 52, is charged with 59 counts of sexual misconduct with children. Court documents say he abused two members of his cult-like church where his was a pastor in Pine County, Minnesota. The abuse dates back to the year 2000, according to the investigation. According the Pioneer Press in Minnesota, Barnard likened himself to Jesus and told one of his victims it was in "God's word" for him to have sex with her. Barnard would reportedly call girls to a lodge when he wanted to have sex with them, and would order them to not tell anyone about it.... http://news.yahoo.com/video/report-accused-child-molester-said-134909009.html
Killer Luke Mitchell demands Satanic books in jail 18/04/14 JODI Jones’ killer, Luke Mitchell, has demanded the right to be given Satanic textbooks in prison because of his “religious beliefs”.
Mitchell has reportedly asked for six books, including The Devil’s Notebook and Satan Speaks, after claiming access to occult materials was his human right. Among the texts is The Satanic Bible, which exhorts the creation of a lawless society where human sacrifice and murder is not just tolerated but encouraged.
The 25-year-old is understood to have made the request to the chaplain of Shotts prison, where he is serving life for murdering Jodi in June 2003. Mitchell’s Satanic links as a teenager were highlighted during his trial....
In The Satanic Bible, LaVey discusses how someone could be considered “fit and proper” as a human sacrifice. The book concludes: “The answer is brutally simple. Anyone who has unjustly wronged you.”....
Mitchell was just 15 when he stabbed his 14-year-old girlfriend to death in Easthouses, Midlothian.
Jodi’s mutilated body was found in woods near her home. It emerged Mitchell had scratched 666 into his arm with a compass and drew Satanic symbols and quotes on his schoolbooks.... http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/killer-luke-mitchell-demands-satanic-books-in-jail-1-3375463
Jodi Jones killer Luke Mitchell demands right to study Satanic textbooks in prison due to his 'religious beliefs' Apr 13, 2014 By Dailyrecord.co.uk
MITCHELL, who is serving life in Shotts prison, has requested a copy of The Satanic Bible, which calls for followers to create a lawless world where human sacrifice and murder are not only tolerated but encouraged.
JODI Jones’s killer Luke Mitchell has demanded the right to be given Satanic textbooks in jail because of his “religious beliefs”. Mitchell wants six books including The Devil’s Notebook and Satan Speaks, claiming it’s his human right to have access to the occult materials.
Mitchell, 25, also wants a copy of The Satanic Bible, which calls for followers to create a lawless world where there is no right or wrong and where human sacrifice and murder is not only tolerated but encouraged....
Mitchell’s Satanic links were highlighted during his trial, where he was described as “truly wicked” by judge Lord Nimmo Smith. However, he still protests his innocence. One source said: “Mitchell’s supporters have always downplayed his links to Satanism but it’s clear he has a serious interest in the subject....
Elizabeth Rudman, a criminologist with over 20 years’ experience, said: “This is extreme material and it is very interesting that he has asked for these items halfway through his sentence. I am taken aback that he is asking for these Satanic materials at this point. “My problem is that the rituals involved in these materials are really anti-social and they elicit deeds that are against the law, such as human sacrifice.
“This person was convicted for murder. My first question would be: what is he going to plan now?
“It is possible Mitchell has given up completely. On the other hand, it can also be an indication of guilt.
“He has been in prison for so long, his hope of getting an appeal has been completely quashed, so now he may be showing his true convictions.”.... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/jodi-jones-killer-luke-mitchell-3407242
- Report: Accused child molester said sex was 'God’s word'
- Killer Luke Mitchell demands Satanic books in jail
- Jodi Jones killer Luke Mitchell demands right to study Satanic textbooks in prison due to his 'religious beliefs'
Minnesota cult leader charged with 59 counts of sexual abuse
Fugitive Victor Barnard, head of ‘Maidens of River Road,’ accused of sex acts with minors. Girls as young as 12 were sent to live with the ‘messiah,’ who is accused of sexually abusing them.
BY Deborah Hastings NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, April 16, 2014
A minister who dressed like Jesus and presided over virgins he called the "maidens" faces 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct involving underage girls he allegedly abused for years at a Minnesota religious camp.
Fugitive Victor Arden Barnard, 52, is believed to be somewhere near Seattle or Tacoma, authorities said.
A nationwide warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The self-proclaimed "messiah" ran a compound in Minnesota's northern Pine County, where ministered to a group of women and girls he referred to as "maidens." For several years, he routinely abused two girls sent to live with him at the ages of 12 and 13, according to a criminal complaint filed against him....
They lived in a place called "Shepherd's Camp," where Barnard also resided, apart from this wife and children.
"Barnard repeatedly preached to (B) that he represented Christ in the flesh, that Jesus Christ had Mary Magdalene and other women who followed him, that King Solomon slept with many concubines, that the firstborn child was to be sacrificed to God, and that it was normal for Barnard to have sex with her because it was in God's Word," the complaint states.... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/minnesota-cult-leader-charged-59-sexual-abuse-counts-maidens-article-1.1758703
Report: Accused child molester said sex was 'God’s word'
KREM.com Spokane/Coeur dAlene Videos
SPOKANE, Wash. -- KREM 2 News has been tracking local associates who may be connected to a man wanted for sexually abusing children in Minnesota. Authorities believe Victor Barnard, 52, is hiding out somewhere in Spokane. MORE: Man wanted for sex abuse in Minnesota may be in Spokane Victor Barnard, 52, is charged with 59 counts of sexual misconduct with children. Court documents say he abused two members of his cult-like church where his was a pastor in Pine County, Minnesota. The abuse dates back to the year 2000, according to the investigation. According the Pioneer Press in Minnesota, Barnard likened himself to Jesus and told one of his victims it was in "God's word" for him to have sex with her. Barnard would reportedly call girls to a lodge when he wanted to have sex with them, and would order them to not tell anyone about it.... http://news.yahoo.com/video/report-accused-child-molester-said-134909009.html
Killer Luke Mitchell demands Satanic books in jail 18/04/14 JODI Jones’ killer, Luke Mitchell, has demanded the right to be given Satanic textbooks in prison because of his “religious beliefs”.
Mitchell has reportedly asked for six books, including The Devil’s Notebook and Satan Speaks, after claiming access to occult materials was his human right. Among the texts is The Satanic Bible, which exhorts the creation of a lawless society where human sacrifice and murder is not just tolerated but encouraged.
The 25-year-old is understood to have made the request to the chaplain of Shotts prison, where he is serving life for murdering Jodi in June 2003. Mitchell’s Satanic links as a teenager were highlighted during his trial....
In The Satanic Bible, LaVey discusses how someone could be considered “fit and proper” as a human sacrifice. The book concludes: “The answer is brutally simple. Anyone who has unjustly wronged you.”....
Mitchell was just 15 when he stabbed his 14-year-old girlfriend to death in Easthouses, Midlothian.
Jodi’s mutilated body was found in woods near her home. It emerged Mitchell had scratched 666 into his arm with a compass and drew Satanic symbols and quotes on his schoolbooks.... http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/killer-luke-mitchell-demands-satanic-books-in-jail-1-3375463
Jodi Jones killer Luke Mitchell demands right to study Satanic textbooks in prison due to his 'religious beliefs' Apr 13, 2014 By Dailyrecord.co.uk
MITCHELL, who is serving life in Shotts prison, has requested a copy of The Satanic Bible, which calls for followers to create a lawless world where human sacrifice and murder are not only tolerated but encouraged.
JODI Jones’s killer Luke Mitchell has demanded the right to be given Satanic textbooks in jail because of his “religious beliefs”. Mitchell wants six books including The Devil’s Notebook and Satan Speaks, claiming it’s his human right to have access to the occult materials.
Mitchell, 25, also wants a copy of The Satanic Bible, which calls for followers to create a lawless world where there is no right or wrong and where human sacrifice and murder is not only tolerated but encouraged....
Mitchell’s Satanic links were highlighted during his trial, where he was described as “truly wicked” by judge Lord Nimmo Smith. However, he still protests his innocence. One source said: “Mitchell’s supporters have always downplayed his links to Satanism but it’s clear he has a serious interest in the subject....
Elizabeth Rudman, a criminologist with over 20 years’ experience, said: “This is extreme material and it is very interesting that he has asked for these items halfway through his sentence. I am taken aback that he is asking for these Satanic materials at this point. “My problem is that the rituals involved in these materials are really anti-social and they elicit deeds that are against the law, such as human sacrifice.
“This person was convicted for murder. My first question would be: what is he going to plan now?
“It is possible Mitchell has given up completely. On the other hand, it can also be an indication of guilt.
“He has been in prison for so long, his hope of getting an appeal has been completely quashed, so now he may be showing his true convictions.”.... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/jodi-jones-killer-luke-mitchell-3407242
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Cyril Smith 'protected by a high-level Westminster paedophile ring' claims MP, Police told of 'at least' 11 more suspects, New Pa. laws redefine who must report child abuse
- Cyril Smith 'protected by a high-level Westminster paedophile ring' claims MP
- Children as young as EIGHT were abused at school linked to paedophile MP Cyril Smith
- Cyril Smith sex abuse scandal: Police told of 'at least' 11 more suspects
- New Pa. laws redefine who must report child abuse
Cyril Smith 'protected by a high-level Westminster paedophile ring' claims MP
Apr 16, 2014 By James Lyons
Labour’s Simon Danzcuk - who exposed Smith - claimed the Liberal grandee was part of an “informal” network of perverts who stalked the corridors of power
Child abuser Cyril Smith was protected by a high-level Westminster paedophile ring, the MP who exposed him claimed. Labour’s Simon Danzcuk said the Liberal grandee was part of an “informal” network of perverts who stalked the corridors of power.
He said: “Had he been prosecuted, then the house of cards would have fallen, in terms of that paedophile network, and it could have brought the government down.“Once he became a member of Parliament in 1972, I think he joined an, obviously informal, network of paedophiles that existed in and around Westminster.”
The claims came as fresh doubt was cast in Nick Clegg’s instance that no Liberal Democrats knew about Smith’s activities.Police have said Smith attended Elm Guest House in South West London, where underage rent boys and youngsters from a children’s home were reportedly brought to have sex with adult men.
Other high profile figures are said to have been visitors including senior MPs, a high-ranking policeman and an MI5 officer....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cyril-smith-child-abuse-mp-3421467
Children as young as EIGHT were abused at school linked to paedophile MP Cyril Smith
Apr 14, 2014 By Paul Byrne, Luke Traynor
Martin Digan, ex-head of care at the residential school at the centre of the revelations, said it became 'a sweet shop for abusers'
Children as young as eight were abused at a school linked to paedophile Lib Dem MP Cyril Smith, the Mirror can reveal today. Whistleblower Martin Digan, ex-head of care at the residential school at the centre of the revelations, told the Mirror it was a “sweet shop” for abusers.
Secret files have been found that detail appalling depravity at the Knowl View unit for disturbed youngsters in Rochdale, where Smith was a governor. Police have identified 11 other suspects.
Mr Digan said: “It is about time his sordid past was fully exposed, together with the shocking events that happened at Knowl View. I’m glad it is out but I’m sickened it has taken so long.”
The shocking details have come to light as the Liberal Democrats are threatened with legal action by Smith’s victims. They will seek damages if it can be proved senior party officials knew of his crimes – but failed to stop him....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/children-young-eight-were-abused-3414779
Cyril Smith sex abuse scandal: Police told of 'at least' 11 more suspects
Apr 12, 2014 By Neal Keeling
Police investigating the sexual abuse of children by former MP Cyril Smith have been told of ‘at least’ 11 other suspects, the Manchester Evening News has revealed. Seven alleged victims have given officers the names of men they say were behind the abuse linked to Knowl View School in Rochdale where Smith was chairman of the governors in its final year.
Next month a report is due to be published by barrister, Andrew Warnock QC, who was instructed by Rochdale council in January to ‘independently review all council decision-making’ related to the former special school in Bamford from the late 80s to mid 90s.
At least a dozen boys are said to have been victims of sexual abuse during that time and police are now sifting through 33 boxes of previously undiscovered archive material relating to the school.
Some of the suspects named by the victims may have died, but all had links to Knowl View.Det Insp Caroline Ward said: “Following the publicity surrounding Sir Cyril Smith last year, seven people came forward to report physical and sexual abuse which occurred at Knowl View from the 1970s onwards....
Knowl View was shut in 1994 after a dossier detailing abuse was handed to police. Whistleblower, and former head of care at the school, Martin Digan, said he feared Smith was among those abusing boys and he verbally reported his suspicions to police and the council.
Smith was investigated twice in the 70s and 90s but never prosecuted and it wasn’t until 2012 that police admitted he had abused children....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cyril-smith-sex-abuse-scandal-3403214
New Pa. laws redefine who must report child abuse
By MOLLIE DURKIN 04/16/2014
Pennsylvania has clarified its definition of who is required to report suspected child abuse.
Gov. Tom Corbett Tuesday signed into law four pieces of legislation that, in short, expand the definition of mandatory reporters, streamline the reporting process, increase penalties for mandatory reporters who fail to do so and provide protections from employment discrimination for filing a report in good faith.
The legislation happened to be signed in April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The new law: Effective Dec. 31, the new definition of a mandatory reporter includes anyone who comes in contact, or interacts, with a child or is directly responsible for the care, supervision, guidance or training of a child.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_25581205/new-pa-laws-redefine-who-must-report-child
- Children as young as EIGHT were abused at school linked to paedophile MP Cyril Smith
- Cyril Smith sex abuse scandal: Police told of 'at least' 11 more suspects
- New Pa. laws redefine who must report child abuse
Cyril Smith 'protected by a high-level Westminster paedophile ring' claims MP
Apr 16, 2014 By James Lyons
Labour’s Simon Danzcuk - who exposed Smith - claimed the Liberal grandee was part of an “informal” network of perverts who stalked the corridors of power
Child abuser Cyril Smith was protected by a high-level Westminster paedophile ring, the MP who exposed him claimed. Labour’s Simon Danzcuk said the Liberal grandee was part of an “informal” network of perverts who stalked the corridors of power.
He said: “Had he been prosecuted, then the house of cards would have fallen, in terms of that paedophile network, and it could have brought the government down.“Once he became a member of Parliament in 1972, I think he joined an, obviously informal, network of paedophiles that existed in and around Westminster.”
The claims came as fresh doubt was cast in Nick Clegg’s instance that no Liberal Democrats knew about Smith’s activities.Police have said Smith attended Elm Guest House in South West London, where underage rent boys and youngsters from a children’s home were reportedly brought to have sex with adult men.
Other high profile figures are said to have been visitors including senior MPs, a high-ranking policeman and an MI5 officer....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cyril-smith-child-abuse-mp-3421467
Children as young as EIGHT were abused at school linked to paedophile MP Cyril Smith
Apr 14, 2014 By Paul Byrne, Luke Traynor
Martin Digan, ex-head of care at the residential school at the centre of the revelations, said it became 'a sweet shop for abusers'
Children as young as eight were abused at a school linked to paedophile Lib Dem MP Cyril Smith, the Mirror can reveal today. Whistleblower Martin Digan, ex-head of care at the residential school at the centre of the revelations, told the Mirror it was a “sweet shop” for abusers.
Secret files have been found that detail appalling depravity at the Knowl View unit for disturbed youngsters in Rochdale, where Smith was a governor. Police have identified 11 other suspects.
Mr Digan said: “It is about time his sordid past was fully exposed, together with the shocking events that happened at Knowl View. I’m glad it is out but I’m sickened it has taken so long.”
The shocking details have come to light as the Liberal Democrats are threatened with legal action by Smith’s victims. They will seek damages if it can be proved senior party officials knew of his crimes – but failed to stop him....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/children-young-eight-were-abused-3414779
Cyril Smith sex abuse scandal: Police told of 'at least' 11 more suspects
Apr 12, 2014 By Neal Keeling
Police investigating the sexual abuse of children by former MP Cyril Smith have been told of ‘at least’ 11 other suspects, the Manchester Evening News has revealed. Seven alleged victims have given officers the names of men they say were behind the abuse linked to Knowl View School in Rochdale where Smith was chairman of the governors in its final year.
Next month a report is due to be published by barrister, Andrew Warnock QC, who was instructed by Rochdale council in January to ‘independently review all council decision-making’ related to the former special school in Bamford from the late 80s to mid 90s.
At least a dozen boys are said to have been victims of sexual abuse during that time and police are now sifting through 33 boxes of previously undiscovered archive material relating to the school.
Some of the suspects named by the victims may have died, but all had links to Knowl View.Det Insp Caroline Ward said: “Following the publicity surrounding Sir Cyril Smith last year, seven people came forward to report physical and sexual abuse which occurred at Knowl View from the 1970s onwards....
Knowl View was shut in 1994 after a dossier detailing abuse was handed to police. Whistleblower, and former head of care at the school, Martin Digan, said he feared Smith was among those abusing boys and he verbally reported his suspicions to police and the council.
Smith was investigated twice in the 70s and 90s but never prosecuted and it wasn’t until 2012 that police admitted he had abused children....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cyril-smith-sex-abuse-scandal-3403214
New Pa. laws redefine who must report child abuse
By MOLLIE DURKIN 04/16/2014
Pennsylvania has clarified its definition of who is required to report suspected child abuse.
Gov. Tom Corbett Tuesday signed into law four pieces of legislation that, in short, expand the definition of mandatory reporters, streamline the reporting process, increase penalties for mandatory reporters who fail to do so and provide protections from employment discrimination for filing a report in good faith.
The legislation happened to be signed in April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The new law: Effective Dec. 31, the new definition of a mandatory reporter includes anyone who comes in contact, or interacts, with a child or is directly responsible for the care, supervision, guidance or training of a child.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_25581205/new-pa-laws-redefine-who-must-report-child
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Man claims he witnessed Dana Bradley murder, Disturbing Study Finds Women Actually Think Sexual Violence is Normal, Describing Abusive Behavior as "Young Love"
- Man claims he witnessed Dana Bradley murder
RCMP investigate, inform him no new evidence found
- ‘The guy is the real thing’
Doctor says man’s story of Dana Bradley murder shouldn’t be written off as false memory syndrome
- ‘There’s nothing left I can do,’ says man convinced he witnessed murder
- Disturbing Study Finds Women Actually Think Sexual Violence is Normal
- Normalizing Sexual Violence - Young Women Account for
Harassment and Abuse
- Describing Abusive Behavior as "Young Love"
Man claims he witnessed Dana Bradley murder
Tara Bradbury and Glen Whiffen
Published on March 15, 2014
RCMP investigate, inform him no new evidence found
Dana Bradley’s body was arranged in burial fashion by her killer in an area of alder bushes and trees off an old dirt road, away from the eyes of the city on a cold and quiet December evening many years ago.
One of the killer’s last acts at the scene was to tuck her school books carefully under her arm, as in some bizarre act of kindness when, sometime earlier, the monster in him had raged and he had brutally beat her about the head and robbed her of her life....
He said he saw the savageness in the killer that evening, claims he witnessed the horrific murder and the events following it that night.
As a child, he had known the man well. Suffering from his own type of hell with him, Robert says his memories from that day and night were long repressed, along with many other terrible memories from those years.
More than two-and-a-half years ago, after he decided to part ways with booze and take his chances without it, he says his mind healed and the memories surfaced — first of being sexually abused at the hands of the man, then of the murder....
Robert says the RCMP first met with him on Dec. 14, 2011 — the 30th anniversary of Dana’s murder.
According to an RCMP document, the investigation into Robert’s tip continued for 16 months.
The RCMP subsequently informed Robert that none of the avenues related to his tip provided any new evidence to support criminal charges.
In March 2013, the RCMP asked Robert to meet with Dr. Peter Collins, an expert in the field of forensic psychiatry.
“Subsequent to that meeting, you were advised by Dr. Collins that you were not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and recovered memories, but rather that you were experiencing false memory syndrome,” the document notes.
Robert complained to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP about the way investigators handled his information. He alleged the RCMP relied on false memory syndrome to make the decision to dismiss his complaint. He also pointed out that false memory syndrome is not recognized in the medical community....
At the same time, the RCMP informed Robert the investigation into his complaint about being sexually abused by the man in the early 1980s had concluded without corroborating evidence to support charges....
Looking back, Robert said the man probably wanted him to go along as a cover, in case he was seen, so that he could say he was taking him to his mother and father.
This time, Robert noted, the man didn’t attempt to drive up the dirt road but stopped on the side of Maddox Cove Road and walked up to where the body was.
“He was looking for his jacket — he didn’t have his jacket on — and he had gotten the booster cables,” Robert said. “So while I was left in the car, there was a car that drove by. He told me that if anyone stops, (to say) he left his new chainsaw up in the woods.”
As outlined in previous media reports, a Shea Heights couple driving north on Maddox Cove Road that night — between midnight and 1 a.m. — noticed a car matching the suspect vehicle parked on the side of the road. They said a passenger side door of the car was open and the dome light was illuminated. They also saw a man standing near the woods. They reported he had no jacket, despite the cold....
They then drove back to the man’s house, where Robert held a work light while the man washed the trunk of the car using cleaning supplies.
“He cleaned out the trunk and then he got me in the backseat of the car and had another go (sexual assault) at me,” Robert said. “And then he brought me home.”....
The man Robert describes had been a close friend of his parents in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, he was convicted of sexually abusing children and served time in prison. The time period of those offences is the same time frame Robert alleges he was abused by the man and Dana’s murder occurred.... http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-03-15/article-3650234/Man-claims-he-witnessed-Dana-Bradley-murder/1 http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-03-15/article-3650234/Man-claims-he-witnessed-Dana-Bradley-murder/2
‘The guy is the real thing’
Tara Bradbury and Glen Whiffen
Published on March 17, 2014
Doctor says man’s story of Dana Bradley murder shouldn’t be written off as false memory syndrome
Part 2 in a three-part series
Good memories from childhood are often recalled fondly. Bad memories, not so much. But what if the memories are so terrible, so horrible, it’s unbearable to live with them?....
He says he saw her murderer sexually assault and kill her by hitting her in the head with a tire iron and that he was there, crying, when the killer laid her out in burial fashion among the trees off an old dirt road just outside the city.
Robert’s relates these memories in spine-tingling detail — how he screamed and begged the man, a close friend of his family, not to leave the body in the winter cold overnight, and of being forced to hold a lamp in the dark as the killer later cleaned out the car trunk.
His throat closes and his chest hurts at times when he recalls his own abuse at the hands of the same man — a man who was convicted in the 1990s of sexually abusing other children, and served time in prison.
Robert would have gone to the police long ago if he had remembered any of what he had seen and experienced.
Now a successful businessman, husband and father, Robert describes always looking back on his childhood fondly, though he admits he had always had a hole, a big blank spot, in his memory.
He drank from the time he was 13 until he was 35, when, he says, the booze caught up with him.
After quitting drinking, he was driving home one day in 2011 when he suddenly began drowning in a wave of memories, which rushed in, bubbling and swirling, to fill the hole.
“I was all alone, and the first memory of the sexual abuse came back, and it came back like a punch in the stomach,” Robert said....
The RCMP investigated Robert’s information for 16 months, then informed him none of the avenues related to his tip had turned up any new evidence. As part of their investigation, police had asked Robert to meet with Dr. Peter Collins, an expert in forensic psychiatry.
According to a police document, Collins advised Robert he was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but was experiencing false memory syndrome.
Not a recognized psychiatric disorder, false memory syndrome is used to describe a condition in which a person is affected by memories which aren’t true, but which they strongly believe. The term was developed in the United States by Peter and Pamela Freyd, who also founded the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in 1992....
Dr. Hugh Mirolo is the province’s only neuropsychiatrist and has been declared an expert witness in the courts in the area of neuropsychiatry. The Telegram asked him to meet with Robert, and the doctor believes he is telling the truth, especially since Robert experienced a panic attack and flashback while telling him his story.
“It would be pretty damn difficult for a guy to make that up, and for me to buy it,” said Mirolo, who had Robert’s permission to share his opinions with The Telegram.
“If he is an actor, he is a very, very good actor. He deserves an Oscar.”
Robert’s reaction was consistent with experiences Mirolo has witnessed in the past as a doctor in the United States, working with war veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder can cause flashbacks that bring them right back to the time and place of a memory so they are reliving it instead of simply recalling it, Mirolo said....
There is a tendency for the brain to repress things that are traumatic, the doctor explained, and it’s as basic as the pleasure principle: we go towards things that are pleasurable and avoid things that aren’t.
“When you have PTSD or (have witnessed) gory events, things like that, those things can be blocked,” Mirolo explained.
“The blockage is not foolproof; things can trigger it. The same goes for regular childhood memories. When I go to my office in the summer and they’re mowing the lawn outside, I remember the house in the country where my dad used to mow the lawn. That smell brings me back in time. This is the same sort of thing.”....
Mirolo doesn’t mince words when asked if he feels Robert was dismissed unfairly by the police, when it comes to false memory syndrome.
“Yes. Unfairly and too fast,” he said. “This guy is the real thing. He has been a victim more than once.... http://www.northernpen.ca/News/Local/2014-03-17/article-3651754/%26lsquo%3BThe-guy-is-the-real-thing%26rsquo%3B/1
‘There’s nothing left I can do,’ says man convinced he witnessed murder
Tara Bradbury and Glen Whiffen
Published on March 18, 2014
....Commission interim chair Ian McPhail wrote in the final report that the forensic psychiatrist’s diagnosis of false memory syndrome didn’t play a role in the attention given to the investigation, and wasn’t the basis for the investigators’ dismissal of the tip.
“I emphasize that, given its place in the investigation, the psychiatric assessment was not conducted to determine whether (Robert) was lying about his memories, which would have impacted the investigation, but rather to determine what the appropriate degree of reliance on those memories would and could be. There is no suggestion in the available material that (Robert) was deceitful.”
Robert told The Telegram Monday he is surprised by what he said is a “sudden and unexpected de-emphasizing” by the police of forensic psychiatrist Peter Collins’ diagnosis.
“Dr. Collins applied for a temporary licence to practice in Newfoundland so he could deliver his false memory syndrome message, and the RCMP could close my tip that very same day,” Robert said. “He appeared to be very important to investigators at the time.
“Things could be much further along if only they had given me the benefit of the doubt.”
When asked how he feels about the lack of evidence turned up by the police in their investigation into his memories, Robert is quick to respond.
“I don’t think they looked hard enough,” he said. “I think there were a lot of investigational techniques not used. I think they focused on trying to discredit me, rather than try to find evidence. It was a shallow investigation.”....
According to a police document Collins, an expert in forensic psychiatry, advised Robert he was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but was experiencing false memory syndrome, a term used to describe a condition in which a person is affected by memories that aren’t true, but which they strongly believe.
The Telegram asked local neuropsychiatrist Dr. Hugh Mirolo, an accredited expert in the courts in the area of neuropsychiatry, to meet with Robert and share his opinions. Mirolo believes Robert is genuine, and told The Telegram he believes the RCMP dismissed him too quickly and unfairly.... http://www.northernpen.ca/News/Regional/2014-03-18/article-3653169/%26lsquoThere%26rsquos-nothing-left-I-can-do%2C%26rsquo-says-man-convinced-he-witnessed-murder/1
Disturbing Study Finds Women Actually Think Sexual Violence is Normal
By Viola Knowles , RYOT News April 15, 2014
Apparently women thinking sexual abuse is normal is the new normal.
A study to be published in Gender & Society finds that young women assume being harassed, assaulted and abused is simply something everyone experiences.
Sadly, statistics show us that they’re not exactly wrong.
Love Is Respect reports that one in three teens in the U.S. will experience some form of abuse from a dating partner, and one quarter of high school girls will be victims of sexual abuse.
One in four college girls will be the victims of rape or attempted rape.
This doesn’t include the one in three grown women who will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.
The fact that these are no longer just stats, but a way of thinking for women, shows that the time to take action is now.
Women in leadership are working hard to bring attention to these atrocities, like Angelina Jolie speaking out about sexual violence against women and children in conflict. http://www.ryot.org/women-think-sexual-violence-normal/642849
Normalizing Sexual Violence
Young Women Account for Harassment and Abuse
Heather R. Hlavka
Marquette University, USA
Despite high rates of gendered violence among youth, very few young women report these incidents to authority figures. This study moves the discussion from the question of why young women do not report them toward how violence is produced, maintained, and normalized among youth.... http://gas.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/28/0891243214526468.full
Describing Abusive Behavior as "Young Love"
Proponents of the witch-hunt narrative have a particular kind of blindness to real abuse. That is, they don't see sexual abuse in places where it is obvious to others. The book (The Witch-Hunt Narrative) is full of examples where real abuse is described as a false accusation or false conviction by proponents of the narrative. https://blogs.brown.edu/rcheit/2014/04/09/describing-abusive-behavior-as-young-love/#more
RCMP investigate, inform him no new evidence found
- ‘The guy is the real thing’
Doctor says man’s story of Dana Bradley murder shouldn’t be written off as false memory syndrome
- ‘There’s nothing left I can do,’ says man convinced he witnessed murder
- Disturbing Study Finds Women Actually Think Sexual Violence is Normal
- Normalizing Sexual Violence - Young Women Account for
Harassment and Abuse
- Describing Abusive Behavior as "Young Love"
Man claims he witnessed Dana Bradley murder
Tara Bradbury and Glen Whiffen
Published on March 15, 2014
RCMP investigate, inform him no new evidence found
Dana Bradley’s body was arranged in burial fashion by her killer in an area of alder bushes and trees off an old dirt road, away from the eyes of the city on a cold and quiet December evening many years ago.
One of the killer’s last acts at the scene was to tuck her school books carefully under her arm, as in some bizarre act of kindness when, sometime earlier, the monster in him had raged and he had brutally beat her about the head and robbed her of her life....
He said he saw the savageness in the killer that evening, claims he witnessed the horrific murder and the events following it that night.
As a child, he had known the man well. Suffering from his own type of hell with him, Robert says his memories from that day and night were long repressed, along with many other terrible memories from those years.
More than two-and-a-half years ago, after he decided to part ways with booze and take his chances without it, he says his mind healed and the memories surfaced — first of being sexually abused at the hands of the man, then of the murder....
Robert says the RCMP first met with him on Dec. 14, 2011 — the 30th anniversary of Dana’s murder.
According to an RCMP document, the investigation into Robert’s tip continued for 16 months.
The RCMP subsequently informed Robert that none of the avenues related to his tip provided any new evidence to support criminal charges.
In March 2013, the RCMP asked Robert to meet with Dr. Peter Collins, an expert in the field of forensic psychiatry.
“Subsequent to that meeting, you were advised by Dr. Collins that you were not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and recovered memories, but rather that you were experiencing false memory syndrome,” the document notes.
Robert complained to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP about the way investigators handled his information. He alleged the RCMP relied on false memory syndrome to make the decision to dismiss his complaint. He also pointed out that false memory syndrome is not recognized in the medical community....
At the same time, the RCMP informed Robert the investigation into his complaint about being sexually abused by the man in the early 1980s had concluded without corroborating evidence to support charges....
Looking back, Robert said the man probably wanted him to go along as a cover, in case he was seen, so that he could say he was taking him to his mother and father.
This time, Robert noted, the man didn’t attempt to drive up the dirt road but stopped on the side of Maddox Cove Road and walked up to where the body was.
“He was looking for his jacket — he didn’t have his jacket on — and he had gotten the booster cables,” Robert said. “So while I was left in the car, there was a car that drove by. He told me that if anyone stops, (to say) he left his new chainsaw up in the woods.”
As outlined in previous media reports, a Shea Heights couple driving north on Maddox Cove Road that night — between midnight and 1 a.m. — noticed a car matching the suspect vehicle parked on the side of the road. They said a passenger side door of the car was open and the dome light was illuminated. They also saw a man standing near the woods. They reported he had no jacket, despite the cold....
They then drove back to the man’s house, where Robert held a work light while the man washed the trunk of the car using cleaning supplies.
“He cleaned out the trunk and then he got me in the backseat of the car and had another go (sexual assault) at me,” Robert said. “And then he brought me home.”....
The man Robert describes had been a close friend of his parents in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, he was convicted of sexually abusing children and served time in prison. The time period of those offences is the same time frame Robert alleges he was abused by the man and Dana’s murder occurred.... http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-03-15/article-3650234/Man-claims-he-witnessed-Dana-Bradley-murder/1 http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-03-15/article-3650234/Man-claims-he-witnessed-Dana-Bradley-murder/2
‘The guy is the real thing’
Tara Bradbury and Glen Whiffen
Published on March 17, 2014
Doctor says man’s story of Dana Bradley murder shouldn’t be written off as false memory syndrome
Part 2 in a three-part series
Good memories from childhood are often recalled fondly. Bad memories, not so much. But what if the memories are so terrible, so horrible, it’s unbearable to live with them?....
He says he saw her murderer sexually assault and kill her by hitting her in the head with a tire iron and that he was there, crying, when the killer laid her out in burial fashion among the trees off an old dirt road just outside the city.
Robert’s relates these memories in spine-tingling detail — how he screamed and begged the man, a close friend of his family, not to leave the body in the winter cold overnight, and of being forced to hold a lamp in the dark as the killer later cleaned out the car trunk.
His throat closes and his chest hurts at times when he recalls his own abuse at the hands of the same man — a man who was convicted in the 1990s of sexually abusing other children, and served time in prison.
Robert would have gone to the police long ago if he had remembered any of what he had seen and experienced.
Now a successful businessman, husband and father, Robert describes always looking back on his childhood fondly, though he admits he had always had a hole, a big blank spot, in his memory.
He drank from the time he was 13 until he was 35, when, he says, the booze caught up with him.
After quitting drinking, he was driving home one day in 2011 when he suddenly began drowning in a wave of memories, which rushed in, bubbling and swirling, to fill the hole.
“I was all alone, and the first memory of the sexual abuse came back, and it came back like a punch in the stomach,” Robert said....
The RCMP investigated Robert’s information for 16 months, then informed him none of the avenues related to his tip had turned up any new evidence. As part of their investigation, police had asked Robert to meet with Dr. Peter Collins, an expert in forensic psychiatry.
According to a police document, Collins advised Robert he was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but was experiencing false memory syndrome.
Not a recognized psychiatric disorder, false memory syndrome is used to describe a condition in which a person is affected by memories which aren’t true, but which they strongly believe. The term was developed in the United States by Peter and Pamela Freyd, who also founded the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in 1992....
Dr. Hugh Mirolo is the province’s only neuropsychiatrist and has been declared an expert witness in the courts in the area of neuropsychiatry. The Telegram asked him to meet with Robert, and the doctor believes he is telling the truth, especially since Robert experienced a panic attack and flashback while telling him his story.
“It would be pretty damn difficult for a guy to make that up, and for me to buy it,” said Mirolo, who had Robert’s permission to share his opinions with The Telegram.
“If he is an actor, he is a very, very good actor. He deserves an Oscar.”
Robert’s reaction was consistent with experiences Mirolo has witnessed in the past as a doctor in the United States, working with war veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder can cause flashbacks that bring them right back to the time and place of a memory so they are reliving it instead of simply recalling it, Mirolo said....
There is a tendency for the brain to repress things that are traumatic, the doctor explained, and it’s as basic as the pleasure principle: we go towards things that are pleasurable and avoid things that aren’t.
“When you have PTSD or (have witnessed) gory events, things like that, those things can be blocked,” Mirolo explained.
“The blockage is not foolproof; things can trigger it. The same goes for regular childhood memories. When I go to my office in the summer and they’re mowing the lawn outside, I remember the house in the country where my dad used to mow the lawn. That smell brings me back in time. This is the same sort of thing.”....
Mirolo doesn’t mince words when asked if he feels Robert was dismissed unfairly by the police, when it comes to false memory syndrome.
“Yes. Unfairly and too fast,” he said. “This guy is the real thing. He has been a victim more than once.... http://www.northernpen.ca/News/Local/2014-03-17/article-3651754/%26lsquo%3BThe-guy-is-the-real-thing%26rsquo%3B/1
‘There’s nothing left I can do,’ says man convinced he witnessed murder
Tara Bradbury and Glen Whiffen
Published on March 18, 2014
....Commission interim chair Ian McPhail wrote in the final report that the forensic psychiatrist’s diagnosis of false memory syndrome didn’t play a role in the attention given to the investigation, and wasn’t the basis for the investigators’ dismissal of the tip.
“I emphasize that, given its place in the investigation, the psychiatric assessment was not conducted to determine whether (Robert) was lying about his memories, which would have impacted the investigation, but rather to determine what the appropriate degree of reliance on those memories would and could be. There is no suggestion in the available material that (Robert) was deceitful.”
Robert told The Telegram Monday he is surprised by what he said is a “sudden and unexpected de-emphasizing” by the police of forensic psychiatrist Peter Collins’ diagnosis.
“Dr. Collins applied for a temporary licence to practice in Newfoundland so he could deliver his false memory syndrome message, and the RCMP could close my tip that very same day,” Robert said. “He appeared to be very important to investigators at the time.
“Things could be much further along if only they had given me the benefit of the doubt.”
When asked how he feels about the lack of evidence turned up by the police in their investigation into his memories, Robert is quick to respond.
“I don’t think they looked hard enough,” he said. “I think there were a lot of investigational techniques not used. I think they focused on trying to discredit me, rather than try to find evidence. It was a shallow investigation.”....
According to a police document Collins, an expert in forensic psychiatry, advised Robert he was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but was experiencing false memory syndrome, a term used to describe a condition in which a person is affected by memories that aren’t true, but which they strongly believe.
The Telegram asked local neuropsychiatrist Dr. Hugh Mirolo, an accredited expert in the courts in the area of neuropsychiatry, to meet with Robert and share his opinions. Mirolo believes Robert is genuine, and told The Telegram he believes the RCMP dismissed him too quickly and unfairly.... http://www.northernpen.ca/News/Regional/2014-03-18/article-3653169/%26lsquoThere%26rsquos-nothing-left-I-can-do%2C%26rsquo-says-man-convinced-he-witnessed-murder/1
Disturbing Study Finds Women Actually Think Sexual Violence is Normal
By Viola Knowles , RYOT News April 15, 2014
Apparently women thinking sexual abuse is normal is the new normal.
A study to be published in Gender & Society finds that young women assume being harassed, assaulted and abused is simply something everyone experiences.
Sadly, statistics show us that they’re not exactly wrong.
Love Is Respect reports that one in three teens in the U.S. will experience some form of abuse from a dating partner, and one quarter of high school girls will be victims of sexual abuse.
One in four college girls will be the victims of rape or attempted rape.
This doesn’t include the one in three grown women who will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.
The fact that these are no longer just stats, but a way of thinking for women, shows that the time to take action is now.
Women in leadership are working hard to bring attention to these atrocities, like Angelina Jolie speaking out about sexual violence against women and children in conflict. http://www.ryot.org/women-think-sexual-violence-normal/642849
Normalizing Sexual Violence
Young Women Account for Harassment and Abuse
Heather R. Hlavka
Marquette University, USA
Despite high rates of gendered violence among youth, very few young women report these incidents to authority figures. This study moves the discussion from the question of why young women do not report them toward how violence is produced, maintained, and normalized among youth.... http://gas.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/28/0891243214526468.full
Describing Abusive Behavior as "Young Love"
Proponents of the witch-hunt narrative have a particular kind of blindness to real abuse. That is, they don't see sexual abuse in places where it is obvious to others. The book (The Witch-Hunt Narrative) is full of examples where real abuse is described as a false accusation or false conviction by proponents of the narrative. https://blogs.brown.edu/rcheit/2014/04/09/describing-abusive-behavior-as-young-love/#more
Monday, April 14, 2014
U.N. to question Vatican again on clergy sex abuse
U.N. to question Vatican again on clergy sex abuse
Rachel Zoll April 14, 2014
NEW YORK (AP) — A second U.N. committee plans to question Vatican officials on failures to stop clergy sex abuse.
The hearing scheduled for May 5-6 in Geneva will look at whether the Vatican's record on child protection violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The Holy See ratified the treaty in 2002....
Last January, Vatican officials testified for eight hours before an obscure human rights committee on the scale of clergy sex abuse globally.
The Vatican was compelled to appear as a signatory to the U.N. Convention for the Rights of the Child, which requires governments to take all adequate measures to protect children from harm. The Holy See was one of the first states to ratify the treaty in 1990.
The U.N. committee issued a scathing report, accusing Vatican officials of systematically placing their own interests over those of victims. The Vatican condemned the findings as a reflection of "prejudiced" positions of anti-Catholic advocacy groups.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/14/un-vatican-clergy-sex-abuse/7706461/
Rachel Zoll April 14, 2014
NEW YORK (AP) — A second U.N. committee plans to question Vatican officials on failures to stop clergy sex abuse.
The hearing scheduled for May 5-6 in Geneva will look at whether the Vatican's record on child protection violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The Holy See ratified the treaty in 2002....
Last January, Vatican officials testified for eight hours before an obscure human rights committee on the scale of clergy sex abuse globally.
The Vatican was compelled to appear as a signatory to the U.N. Convention for the Rights of the Child, which requires governments to take all adequate measures to protect children from harm. The Holy See was one of the first states to ratify the treaty in 1990.
The U.N. committee issued a scathing report, accusing Vatican officials of systematically placing their own interests over those of victims. The Vatican condemned the findings as a reflection of "prejudiced" positions of anti-Catholic advocacy groups.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/14/un-vatican-clergy-sex-abuse/7706461/
Friday, April 11, 2014
Former child star discusses sex abuse in Hollywood
Former child star discusses sex abuse in Hollywood
BY JASON NARK, Daily News Staff Writer April 10, 2014
....Adults in the Hollywood system and his own family abused him mentally and sexually, he says, at a time when he was one of the world's biggest child stars. He's only recently figured out how to defeat these real-life terrors.
"It's all about communication," Feldman said in an interview with the Daily News this week. "Victims need to feel they can open up and express themselves in these situations."
Feldman opened up about his own abuse in Coreyography, a memoir published in October that details the California native's quick rise from television commercials to feature films, along with his often-rocky friendship with fellow troubled child actor Corey Haim, who died in 2010, and Michael Jackson, whom he first met on the set of "Goonies."
One reviewer described the book as "unflinchingly bleak."
"I had a very rough childhood," Feldman said. "But when I was on the set and working with my peers, in films like 'Goonies,' I made deep bonds I still carry today. I try to look back on most of it in a good and positive light."....
In Coreyography, Feldman claims he was sexually abused by men in his circles, including his own employees. They would often give him drugs before, during and after, and he developed addictions before he turned 18.
"I was just trying to depress those feelings," he said. "It's fairly common for victims to become addicts."
Feldman didn't identify his alleged abusers because the statute of limitations ran out years ago, but he said at least one is a well-known Hollywood figure.
Victims often recall the abuse decades after it happened, when memories are jarred loose by sobriety or therapy, and Feldman said abusers shouldn't get a pass just because of the calendar....
http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-10/news/49035172_1_corey-feldman-goonies-crime-victims
BY JASON NARK, Daily News Staff Writer April 10, 2014
....Adults in the Hollywood system and his own family abused him mentally and sexually, he says, at a time when he was one of the world's biggest child stars. He's only recently figured out how to defeat these real-life terrors.
"It's all about communication," Feldman said in an interview with the Daily News this week. "Victims need to feel they can open up and express themselves in these situations."
Feldman opened up about his own abuse in Coreyography, a memoir published in October that details the California native's quick rise from television commercials to feature films, along with his often-rocky friendship with fellow troubled child actor Corey Haim, who died in 2010, and Michael Jackson, whom he first met on the set of "Goonies."
One reviewer described the book as "unflinchingly bleak."
"I had a very rough childhood," Feldman said. "But when I was on the set and working with my peers, in films like 'Goonies,' I made deep bonds I still carry today. I try to look back on most of it in a good and positive light."....
In Coreyography, Feldman claims he was sexually abused by men in his circles, including his own employees. They would often give him drugs before, during and after, and he developed addictions before he turned 18.
"I was just trying to depress those feelings," he said. "It's fairly common for victims to become addicts."
Feldman didn't identify his alleged abusers because the statute of limitations ran out years ago, but he said at least one is a well-known Hollywood figure.
Victims often recall the abuse decades after it happened, when memories are jarred loose by sobriety or therapy, and Feldman said abusers shouldn't get a pass just because of the calendar....
http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-10/news/49035172_1_corey-feldman-goonies-crime-victims
Pope Francis asks forgiveness for priests who sexually abused children, Pa. bill expands list of those required to report child abuse
Pope Francis asks forgiveness for priests who sexually abused children
By Daniel Burke and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
Fri April 11, 2014
(CNN) -- Pope Francis made his strongest condemnation yet of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Friday, asking for forgiveness and pledging to impose penalties on "men of the church" who harm children.
"I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests -- quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests -- to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children," the Pope said in remarks quoted by Vatican Radio....
The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said it may be the first time a pope has spoken of sanctioning "complicit bishops."
"But that is all it is: talk," said Barbara Dorris, SNAP's outreach director.
"We beg the world's Catholics: Be impressed by deeds, not words. Until the Pope takes decisive action that protects kids, be skeptical and vigilant."
The Pope's new comments, made Friday to members of a Catholic nongovernmental organization, the International Catholic Child Bureau, represent a shift from his previous statements on sexual abuse....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/11/world/europe/vatican-pope-sex-abuse/
Pa. bill expands list of those required to report child abuse By Oscar Gamble 04/11/14
NORRISTOWN — A bill sponsored by Rep. Todd Stephens to expand the list of professionals required to report suspected child abuse and increase penalties for those who shirk the obligation has unanimously passed the Pennsylvania Legislature and is headed to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk.
House Bill 436, the Child Protection Act, is a companion to Senate Bill 21, sponsored by Sen. Kim Ward, R-39th Dist., which includes Stephens’ language expanding and clarifying the list of professionals required to report abuse....
The bill requires child care providers and school personnel at every educational level, religious leaders, doctors and health care professionals, social and emergency service workers, librarians, law enforcement and the lawyers and independent contractors representing all of these entities to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. It also imposes stiffer penalties for noncompliance.“I think the penalties will get people’s attention,” said Stephens. “In some cases, not reporting (child abuse) will be a felony ... In every case, it’s in the best interest of organizations that care for children to report instances of child abuse”....
http://www.pottsmerc.com/government-and-politics/20140411/pa-bill-expands-list-of-those-required-to-report-child-abuse
By Daniel Burke and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
Fri April 11, 2014
(CNN) -- Pope Francis made his strongest condemnation yet of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Friday, asking for forgiveness and pledging to impose penalties on "men of the church" who harm children.
"I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests -- quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests -- to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children," the Pope said in remarks quoted by Vatican Radio....
The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said it may be the first time a pope has spoken of sanctioning "complicit bishops."
"But that is all it is: talk," said Barbara Dorris, SNAP's outreach director.
"We beg the world's Catholics: Be impressed by deeds, not words. Until the Pope takes decisive action that protects kids, be skeptical and vigilant."
The Pope's new comments, made Friday to members of a Catholic nongovernmental organization, the International Catholic Child Bureau, represent a shift from his previous statements on sexual abuse....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/11/world/europe/vatican-pope-sex-abuse/
Pa. bill expands list of those required to report child abuse By Oscar Gamble 04/11/14
NORRISTOWN — A bill sponsored by Rep. Todd Stephens to expand the list of professionals required to report suspected child abuse and increase penalties for those who shirk the obligation has unanimously passed the Pennsylvania Legislature and is headed to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk.
House Bill 436, the Child Protection Act, is a companion to Senate Bill 21, sponsored by Sen. Kim Ward, R-39th Dist., which includes Stephens’ language expanding and clarifying the list of professionals required to report abuse....
The bill requires child care providers and school personnel at every educational level, religious leaders, doctors and health care professionals, social and emergency service workers, librarians, law enforcement and the lawyers and independent contractors representing all of these entities to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. It also imposes stiffer penalties for noncompliance.“I think the penalties will get people’s attention,” said Stephens. “In some cases, not reporting (child abuse) will be a felony ... In every case, it’s in the best interest of organizations that care for children to report instances of child abuse”....
http://www.pottsmerc.com/government-and-politics/20140411/pa-bill-expands-list-of-those-required-to-report-child-abuse
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Hey Dad! former star Sarah Monahan on her hell at hands of convicted sexual predator Robert Hughes
Hey Dad! former star Sarah Monahan on her hell at hands of convicted sexual predator Robert Hughes
Maria Bervanakis, Holly Byrnes News Corp Australia April 10, 2014
Monahan, the brave whistleblower who consented to being identified as a victim of sexual abuse, spoke about the convicted sex fiend this morning on Sydney’s 2Day FM Breakfast program.
In a moving interview she acknowledged that what Hughes did was “horrific” — and she urged other victims of abusers to stay strong and speak up.
Asked whether she hated Hughes, the 36-year-old said: “Hate is a strong word. I definitely dislike the man.”....
She ended the interview with a powerful message for other victims of abuse that suffer in silence: “Don’t let them continue it. It’s not just you. It takes 60 people before anyone speaks up.”
ACTOR TOLD TO SHUT UP ON HUGHES
Meanwhile, fellow Hey Dad! actor Ben Oxenbould claims he was passed over for TV work after supporting Monahan against Hughes.
Oxenbould told Network Nine’s A Current Affair last night that he had “copped a lot of criticism from people, particularly in the industry’’ after standing by Monahan and endorsing her shocking abuse claims against Hughes when she went public four years ago.
The 45-year-old actor said he’d been called an “idiot” and told “you’ll never work again” in the wake of giving a TV tell-all over his knowledge of Hughes’ inappropriate behaviour on the set of the now defunct Channel 7 sitcom.
In a sit-down hosted by ACA’s Tracy Grimshaw — alongside Monahan and co-stars Simone Buchanan, Julie McGregor and Christopher Truswell — Oxenbould argued going public against Hughes had cost him work....
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/hey-dad-former-star-sarah-monahan-on-her-hell-at-hands-of-convicted-sexual-predator-robert-hughes/story-e6frg6n6-1226879255082
Maria Bervanakis, Holly Byrnes News Corp Australia April 10, 2014
Monahan, the brave whistleblower who consented to being identified as a victim of sexual abuse, spoke about the convicted sex fiend this morning on Sydney’s 2Day FM Breakfast program.
In a moving interview she acknowledged that what Hughes did was “horrific” — and she urged other victims of abusers to stay strong and speak up.
Asked whether she hated Hughes, the 36-year-old said: “Hate is a strong word. I definitely dislike the man.”....
She ended the interview with a powerful message for other victims of abuse that suffer in silence: “Don’t let them continue it. It’s not just you. It takes 60 people before anyone speaks up.”
ACTOR TOLD TO SHUT UP ON HUGHES
Meanwhile, fellow Hey Dad! actor Ben Oxenbould claims he was passed over for TV work after supporting Monahan against Hughes.
Oxenbould told Network Nine’s A Current Affair last night that he had “copped a lot of criticism from people, particularly in the industry’’ after standing by Monahan and endorsing her shocking abuse claims against Hughes when she went public four years ago.
The 45-year-old actor said he’d been called an “idiot” and told “you’ll never work again” in the wake of giving a TV tell-all over his knowledge of Hughes’ inappropriate behaviour on the set of the now defunct Channel 7 sitcom.
In a sit-down hosted by ACA’s Tracy Grimshaw — alongside Monahan and co-stars Simone Buchanan, Julie McGregor and Christopher Truswell — Oxenbould argued going public against Hughes had cost him work....
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/hey-dad-former-star-sarah-monahan-on-her-hell-at-hands-of-convicted-sexual-predator-robert-hughes/story-e6frg6n6-1226879255082
Notorious pedophile priest convicted again, The Shame of the Church
Notorious pedophile priest convicted again 8 Apr 2014
More than half a century after he started sexually abusing the sons and daughters of his parishioners, Australia's worst pedophile priest has learnt he is likely to die in jail.
Gerald Francis Ridsdale, 79, was given an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to 30 new charges against 14 boys and girls between 1961 and 1980, conduct described by the judge as "evil hypocrisy."
But the notorious pedophile, already serving time for a campaign of abuse dating back to 1961 when he was ordained, will not be eligible for parole until April 2019.
The protection of the Catholic church, which moved him from parish to parish throughout his career, meant his offending spanned three decades.
He abused 53 children in that time.
They included children of parishioners, wards of the state, altar servers, twin brothers and a girl as young as four-years-old.
It wasn't until 1993 that he was de-frocked.
Two years later, he was jailed for 18 years....
Ridsdale portrayed himself as the "friendly priest", luring his victims with inducements such as lollies and money to gain their trust.
He befriended victims and set up an after-school boys gathering, which was the setting for crimes against five children.
Many of Ridsdale's victims were extremely vulnerable - some being wards of the state or from broken homes....
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/04/08/notorious-pedophile-priest-convicted-again
The Shame of the Church
By Retro Report March 30th, 2014
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been making headlines for years. Some priests have been punished, but what about the bishops who shielded them?
http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000002794204/the-shame-of-the-church.html
More than half a century after he started sexually abusing the sons and daughters of his parishioners, Australia's worst pedophile priest has learnt he is likely to die in jail.
Gerald Francis Ridsdale, 79, was given an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to 30 new charges against 14 boys and girls between 1961 and 1980, conduct described by the judge as "evil hypocrisy."
But the notorious pedophile, already serving time for a campaign of abuse dating back to 1961 when he was ordained, will not be eligible for parole until April 2019.
The protection of the Catholic church, which moved him from parish to parish throughout his career, meant his offending spanned three decades.
He abused 53 children in that time.
They included children of parishioners, wards of the state, altar servers, twin brothers and a girl as young as four-years-old.
It wasn't until 1993 that he was de-frocked.
Two years later, he was jailed for 18 years....
Ridsdale portrayed himself as the "friendly priest", luring his victims with inducements such as lollies and money to gain their trust.
He befriended victims and set up an after-school boys gathering, which was the setting for crimes against five children.
Many of Ridsdale's victims were extremely vulnerable - some being wards of the state or from broken homes....
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/04/08/notorious-pedophile-priest-convicted-again
The Shame of the Church
By Retro Report March 30th, 2014
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been making headlines for years. Some priests have been punished, but what about the bishops who shielded them?
http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000002794204/the-shame-of-the-church.html
Monday, April 7, 2014
Soweto teens appear for Satanic killings, Hey Dad! TV father Robert Hughes, guilty of sexually assaulting three girls, How the cult of Santa Muerte has infested Mexico’s drug cartels with gruesome consequences, alleged Ontario polygamist cult ring leaders face 31 sex and assault charges
- Soweto teens appear for Satanic killings
- Evil triumphs when society looks away
- Prey Dad: the fiendish sins of TV father Robert Hughes, guilty of sexually assaulting three girls
- The battle for a nation’s soul: How the cult of Santa Muerte has infested Mexico’s drug cartels with gruesome consequences
- Two brothers, alleged Ontario polygamist cult ring leaders, face 31 sex and assault charges
- Women Arise condemns spate of ritual killings, kidnaps and jungle justice
- Cult head charged with illegal detention, faces more raps
Soweto teens appear for Satanic killings
2014-04-07
Johannesburg - Two 16-year-old boys arrested in connection with the murder of two Soweto schoolgirls appeared in the Protea Magistrate's Court on Monday....
The boys were implicated in the murders of Thandeka Moganetsi, 15, and Chwayita Rathazayo, 16.
The girls were found dead in a field in Dobsonville in February....
The murder was believed to have been linked to a satanic ritual.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Soweto-teens-appear-for-Satanic-killings-20140407
Evil triumphs when society looks away
sarrah le marquand The Daily Telegraph April 08, 2014
IT took less than four days for a jury to return from deliberating to find Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes guilty of seven counts of indecent assault on a person under the age of 16. Four days — just imagine how much sooner a guilty verdict might have been delivered if it hadn’t taken two decades for the wheels of justice to turn.
What a shame his victims had to wait over 20 years to finally get their day in court. It need not have been that way....
In response into a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse complaints, the Victorian government will pass legislation making it illegal to fail to report information about suspected child sexual abuse....
If we have learned anything from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, it is surely that abuse is only allowed to flourish when people who should know better opt to look the other way.
Speaking out isn’t always easy — and as Batty rightfully points out, in some instances can be life-threatening — but the purpose of mandatory reporting is to bring about cultural change.
Most people have come to accept that zero tolerance should be extended to perpetrators of child abuse. But if we are serious in coming as close as possible to eradicating sexual abuse from our community then we also need to extend zero tolerance to those are aware of suspected abuse, but fail to report it.
How many people chose to turn the other way when Hughes sexually assaulted numerous girls between 1983 and 1990? Is it really possible that no one during that time suspected something was not right?
Had there been laws in place making it clear any innocent third parties were legally obliged to come forward with their fears, it might not have taken two decades for the law to slowly catch up with Robert Hughes.
As philosopher Edmund Burke famously noted, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing....
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/evil-triumphs-when-society-looks-away/story-fnj45f3d-1226877110472
Prey Dad: the fiendish sins of TV father Robert Hughes, guilty of sexually assaulting three girls
janet fife-yeomans The Daily Telegraph April 08, 2014
HE may have once been Australia’s best-loved TV father on the top-rating sitcom Hey Dad! but off-screen Robert Hughes was a serial sex fiend preying on underage girls.
Those devastating revelations finally hit home yesterday when the 65-year-old actor was convicted of sexually assaulting three girls.
Yesterday a jury, which had listened to six weeks of chilling evidence, convicted Hughes of nine of 11 counts of sexual assault involving the girls, aged about seven, 11 and 15.
The jurors will return today to continue deliberating over charges involving two other girls after being told by Judge Peter Zahra that he would accept majority verdicts....
THE shocked jury looked on yesterday as a furious Robert Hughes walked to the edge of the dock and screamed: “I am innocent!”
The outburst came seconds after the jury found him guilty of nine out of 11 historic child offences....
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/prey-dad-the-fiendish-sins-of-tv-father-robert-hughes-guilty-of-sexually-assaulting-three-girls/story-fni0xqrc-1226877270382
The battle for a nation’s soul: How the cult of Santa Muerte has infested Mexico’s drug cartels with gruesome consequences
March 28, 2014
Saint Death ... the cult of Santa Muerte has millions of followers
....GRUESOME GANG WORSHIP
IN a country racked by a deadly and protracted drugs war, the adoration of Santa Muerte has taken sinister and gruesome forms.
Father Ernesto Caro simply cannot forget the drug gang hitman who came to be exorcised at his Monterrey church. The cartel member confessed to cutting up the bodies of his victims into pieces and burning others alive. He also told how he enjoyed hearing their screams as he did so. The man, believing himself to be possessed by demons, explained he was devoted to the service of Santa Muerte.
And he is not the only disciple among the murderous and brutal gangs and cartels of Mexico.
“Santa Muerte is being used by all our drug dealers and those linked to these brutal murders. We’ve found that most of them, if not all, follow Santa Muerte,” Father Caro told the BBC.
For men and women dealing daily with death and the threat of death, the attraction of an amoral deity is not surprisingly potent.
“For most of the cartels’ foot soldiers and their gang associates, brutal deaths prove almost certain,” Robert J. Bunker, author and visiting professor at the Strategic Studies Institute in the US, writes in an article published on the FBI website. “Such a form of imminent mortality facing adherents makes the worship of Santa Muerte spiritually dark. The death of someone’s enemies, protection from harm (or, at least, hope for a quick and glorious death), cultivation of a dangerous reputation, and ability to enjoy the benefits of fabulous riches, including the company of beautiful women become paramount.”
The implications of such “dark” worship are terrifyingly clear.
“With the stakes so high, the sacrifices and offerings to Santa Muerte have become primeval and barbaric. Rather than plates of food, beer, and tobacco, in some instances, the heads of victims (and presumably their souls) have served as offerings to invoke powerful petitions for divine intervention,” Bunker says....
For example:
* A powerful criminal figure in Tepito is said to have killed virgins and babies once a year and offered them as sacrifices to gain magical protection;
* Gang members have taken rival cartel members to Santa Muerte shrines and executed them as offerings;
* Police discovered a skeleton dressed as a bride at a Santa Muerte altar in a house used to hold kidnap victims; and
* Authorities found 50 victims of a mass murder in the northern state of Sinaloa, all with tattoos and jewellery depicting Santa Muerte.....
http://www.news.com.au/world/the-battle-for-a-nations-soul-how-the-cult-of-santa-muerte-has-infested-mexicos-drug-cartels-with-gruesome-consequences/story-fndir2ev-1226867231755
Two brothers, alleged Ontario polygamist cult ring leaders, face 31 sex and assault charges
Rob Gowan, QMI Agency Monday, April 07, 2014
OWEN SOUND, Ont. — Two brothers whose cloistered Ontario church has been accused of being a polygamist cult by former members, have been charged with 31 sex and assault charges.
The charges come as a result of a 16-month police investigation.
The charges come from the claims of seven alleged victims — all members of the Church of Jesus Christ Restored at the time — and some allegations date back to 1978.
Judson William King has been arrested in Oakville, Ont. He faces charges of assault with a weapon, uttering death threats and four counts of assault, and is to appear in court in Owen Sound, Ont., on May 15....
Fred King has been charged with sexual exploitation, sexual interference, three counts of sexual assault, three counts of assault causing bodily harm, five counts of uttering death threats, two counts of assault with a weapon and 10 counts of assault....
In late 2012, the church was thrust into the spotlight when Carol Christie alleged in media interviews she spent close to 40 years brainwashed, under the control of her husband Stan King, then his son Fred.
She wrote a book about her experience called Property: The True Story of a Polygamous Church Wife.
Christie claims she was one of the many wives of self-proclaimed “prophet” Stan King, living on the church grounds — a sprawling former ski resort just south of Owen Sound.
Fred, Stan's youngest son by his only legal wife, took over the Church of Jesus Christ Restored after his father died in 1986.
She wrote about beatings and rampant sexual abuse. Other former members have recalled similar stories and accused the brothers of using them as slave labour.
Christie said Fred repeatedly told his followers that he would kill anyone who left.
None of the allegations have been proven in court....
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/07/two-brothers-alleged-ontario-polygamist-cult-ring-leaders-face-31-sex-and-assault-charges
Women Arise condemns spate of ritual killings, kidnaps and jungle justice
By Wale Odunsi on April 7, 2014
A non-governmental organiation, Women Arise says it is seriously disturbed at the new direction that inhumanity is taking in the country.
A statement by its President, Dr. Joe Odumakin said “While we are fighting hard, tooth and nail to stop visible financial corruption in official Government quarters, it has become yet another bone cringing development, the unwholesome rise in the rate of kidnaps, ritual killings and accompanying jungle justice particularly in the South-West.”....
“At Soka in Ibadan, the kidnappers’ den of horror was discovered where several people had been held hostage. The victims, who include women, are so emaciated and malnourished. The women victims also have had several children for their captors who raped them in the cells where they were falsely imprisoned. Women Arise recalls that one of the women upon her rescue said that she had been in the den since 2008-six years of captivity and rape!....
“I have visited the scene in Abeokuta and inspected the house. Even though some horrifying exhibits such human parts and other ritual items discovered were said to have been removed by when I visited, I still saw some terrifying things like charms that suggested more than had been removed.”
Odumakin said her group is perturbed over the barbaric ritual premiums which some wicked souls have equated with values of women.
She added that in all three cases of rape, kidnap and ritual hostages mentioned above including the Ejigbo sodomy, it is clear enough that women have become the targets of horror....
http://dailypost.ng/2014/04/07/women-arise-condemns-spate-ritual-killings-kidnaps-jungle-justice/
Cult head charged with illegal detention, faces more raps
By Ador Vincent Mayol Inquirer Visayas Saturday, March 29th, 2014
CEBU CITY—A cult leader is facing a criminal complaint after he was accused of detaining a 33-year-old woman who was allegedly used as his sex slave for five years.
Casiano Apduhan, alias “Tatay Loloy” and known to his followers as “Dios Amahan,” also faces a murder case for the death of a 14-year-old boy whose decomposing body was found in a tunnel underneath his house in Balamban town, about 48 kilometers west of here.
The complaint for serious illegal detention was filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas on Thursday in the provincial prosecutor’s office....
Another complaint for murder and human trafficking, particularly on the provision against forced labor, will also be filed against him, said NBI supervising agent Rey Villordon.
Apduhan is accused of using Angelo Repuela as a human sacrifice, supposedly for the gods to help him find gold. NBI agents found Repuela’s body wrapped in a blanket in the tunnel.
Apduhan, who is detained at the NBI regional stockade, denied the allegations, saying his followers will swear that he is a good man....
“We want to know the extent of the damage [on the woman] after she has been detained for more than five years,” said Largo, also a consultant of the Provincial Women’s Commission.
NBI agents also noticed that Apduhan’s house was designed like a prison, since its lone entrance was barricaded with padlocked steel grills.
“Other doors and windows were heavily barricaded and the grills were locked. There is no way for a member of the household to escape,” Villordon said in an affidavit.
He said the dead boy’s father, Eleuterio, was a member of Apduhan’s cult.
In 2012, Apduhan offered the boy as a sacrifice for a treasure-hunting activity and promised the parents that the boy would be brought back to life in 2013, said Villordon....
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/589952/cult-head-charged-with-illegal-detention-faces-more-raps
- Evil triumphs when society looks away
- Prey Dad: the fiendish sins of TV father Robert Hughes, guilty of sexually assaulting three girls
- The battle for a nation’s soul: How the cult of Santa Muerte has infested Mexico’s drug cartels with gruesome consequences
- Two brothers, alleged Ontario polygamist cult ring leaders, face 31 sex and assault charges
- Women Arise condemns spate of ritual killings, kidnaps and jungle justice
- Cult head charged with illegal detention, faces more raps
Soweto teens appear for Satanic killings
2014-04-07
Johannesburg - Two 16-year-old boys arrested in connection with the murder of two Soweto schoolgirls appeared in the Protea Magistrate's Court on Monday....
The boys were implicated in the murders of Thandeka Moganetsi, 15, and Chwayita Rathazayo, 16.
The girls were found dead in a field in Dobsonville in February....
The murder was believed to have been linked to a satanic ritual.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Soweto-teens-appear-for-Satanic-killings-20140407
Evil triumphs when society looks away
sarrah le marquand The Daily Telegraph April 08, 2014
IT took less than four days for a jury to return from deliberating to find Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes guilty of seven counts of indecent assault on a person under the age of 16. Four days — just imagine how much sooner a guilty verdict might have been delivered if it hadn’t taken two decades for the wheels of justice to turn.
What a shame his victims had to wait over 20 years to finally get their day in court. It need not have been that way....
In response into a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse complaints, the Victorian government will pass legislation making it illegal to fail to report information about suspected child sexual abuse....
If we have learned anything from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, it is surely that abuse is only allowed to flourish when people who should know better opt to look the other way.
Speaking out isn’t always easy — and as Batty rightfully points out, in some instances can be life-threatening — but the purpose of mandatory reporting is to bring about cultural change.
Most people have come to accept that zero tolerance should be extended to perpetrators of child abuse. But if we are serious in coming as close as possible to eradicating sexual abuse from our community then we also need to extend zero tolerance to those are aware of suspected abuse, but fail to report it.
How many people chose to turn the other way when Hughes sexually assaulted numerous girls between 1983 and 1990? Is it really possible that no one during that time suspected something was not right?
Had there been laws in place making it clear any innocent third parties were legally obliged to come forward with their fears, it might not have taken two decades for the law to slowly catch up with Robert Hughes.
As philosopher Edmund Burke famously noted, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing....
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/evil-triumphs-when-society-looks-away/story-fnj45f3d-1226877110472
Prey Dad: the fiendish sins of TV father Robert Hughes, guilty of sexually assaulting three girls
janet fife-yeomans The Daily Telegraph April 08, 2014
HE may have once been Australia’s best-loved TV father on the top-rating sitcom Hey Dad! but off-screen Robert Hughes was a serial sex fiend preying on underage girls.
Those devastating revelations finally hit home yesterday when the 65-year-old actor was convicted of sexually assaulting three girls.
Yesterday a jury, which had listened to six weeks of chilling evidence, convicted Hughes of nine of 11 counts of sexual assault involving the girls, aged about seven, 11 and 15.
The jurors will return today to continue deliberating over charges involving two other girls after being told by Judge Peter Zahra that he would accept majority verdicts....
THE shocked jury looked on yesterday as a furious Robert Hughes walked to the edge of the dock and screamed: “I am innocent!”
The outburst came seconds after the jury found him guilty of nine out of 11 historic child offences....
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/prey-dad-the-fiendish-sins-of-tv-father-robert-hughes-guilty-of-sexually-assaulting-three-girls/story-fni0xqrc-1226877270382
The battle for a nation’s soul: How the cult of Santa Muerte has infested Mexico’s drug cartels with gruesome consequences
March 28, 2014
Saint Death ... the cult of Santa Muerte has millions of followers
....GRUESOME GANG WORSHIP
IN a country racked by a deadly and protracted drugs war, the adoration of Santa Muerte has taken sinister and gruesome forms.
Father Ernesto Caro simply cannot forget the drug gang hitman who came to be exorcised at his Monterrey church. The cartel member confessed to cutting up the bodies of his victims into pieces and burning others alive. He also told how he enjoyed hearing their screams as he did so. The man, believing himself to be possessed by demons, explained he was devoted to the service of Santa Muerte.
And he is not the only disciple among the murderous and brutal gangs and cartels of Mexico.
“Santa Muerte is being used by all our drug dealers and those linked to these brutal murders. We’ve found that most of them, if not all, follow Santa Muerte,” Father Caro told the BBC.
For men and women dealing daily with death and the threat of death, the attraction of an amoral deity is not surprisingly potent.
“For most of the cartels’ foot soldiers and their gang associates, brutal deaths prove almost certain,” Robert J. Bunker, author and visiting professor at the Strategic Studies Institute in the US, writes in an article published on the FBI website. “Such a form of imminent mortality facing adherents makes the worship of Santa Muerte spiritually dark. The death of someone’s enemies, protection from harm (or, at least, hope for a quick and glorious death), cultivation of a dangerous reputation, and ability to enjoy the benefits of fabulous riches, including the company of beautiful women become paramount.”
The implications of such “dark” worship are terrifyingly clear.
“With the stakes so high, the sacrifices and offerings to Santa Muerte have become primeval and barbaric. Rather than plates of food, beer, and tobacco, in some instances, the heads of victims (and presumably their souls) have served as offerings to invoke powerful petitions for divine intervention,” Bunker says....
For example:
* A powerful criminal figure in Tepito is said to have killed virgins and babies once a year and offered them as sacrifices to gain magical protection;
* Gang members have taken rival cartel members to Santa Muerte shrines and executed them as offerings;
* Police discovered a skeleton dressed as a bride at a Santa Muerte altar in a house used to hold kidnap victims; and
* Authorities found 50 victims of a mass murder in the northern state of Sinaloa, all with tattoos and jewellery depicting Santa Muerte.....
http://www.news.com.au/world/the-battle-for-a-nations-soul-how-the-cult-of-santa-muerte-has-infested-mexicos-drug-cartels-with-gruesome-consequences/story-fndir2ev-1226867231755
Two brothers, alleged Ontario polygamist cult ring leaders, face 31 sex and assault charges
Rob Gowan, QMI Agency Monday, April 07, 2014
OWEN SOUND, Ont. — Two brothers whose cloistered Ontario church has been accused of being a polygamist cult by former members, have been charged with 31 sex and assault charges.
The charges come as a result of a 16-month police investigation.
The charges come from the claims of seven alleged victims — all members of the Church of Jesus Christ Restored at the time — and some allegations date back to 1978.
Judson William King has been arrested in Oakville, Ont. He faces charges of assault with a weapon, uttering death threats and four counts of assault, and is to appear in court in Owen Sound, Ont., on May 15....
Fred King has been charged with sexual exploitation, sexual interference, three counts of sexual assault, three counts of assault causing bodily harm, five counts of uttering death threats, two counts of assault with a weapon and 10 counts of assault....
In late 2012, the church was thrust into the spotlight when Carol Christie alleged in media interviews she spent close to 40 years brainwashed, under the control of her husband Stan King, then his son Fred.
She wrote a book about her experience called Property: The True Story of a Polygamous Church Wife.
Christie claims she was one of the many wives of self-proclaimed “prophet” Stan King, living on the church grounds — a sprawling former ski resort just south of Owen Sound.
Fred, Stan's youngest son by his only legal wife, took over the Church of Jesus Christ Restored after his father died in 1986.
She wrote about beatings and rampant sexual abuse. Other former members have recalled similar stories and accused the brothers of using them as slave labour.
Christie said Fred repeatedly told his followers that he would kill anyone who left.
None of the allegations have been proven in court....
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/07/two-brothers-alleged-ontario-polygamist-cult-ring-leaders-face-31-sex-and-assault-charges
Women Arise condemns spate of ritual killings, kidnaps and jungle justice
By Wale Odunsi on April 7, 2014
A non-governmental organiation, Women Arise says it is seriously disturbed at the new direction that inhumanity is taking in the country.
A statement by its President, Dr. Joe Odumakin said “While we are fighting hard, tooth and nail to stop visible financial corruption in official Government quarters, it has become yet another bone cringing development, the unwholesome rise in the rate of kidnaps, ritual killings and accompanying jungle justice particularly in the South-West.”....
“At Soka in Ibadan, the kidnappers’ den of horror was discovered where several people had been held hostage. The victims, who include women, are so emaciated and malnourished. The women victims also have had several children for their captors who raped them in the cells where they were falsely imprisoned. Women Arise recalls that one of the women upon her rescue said that she had been in the den since 2008-six years of captivity and rape!....
“I have visited the scene in Abeokuta and inspected the house. Even though some horrifying exhibits such human parts and other ritual items discovered were said to have been removed by when I visited, I still saw some terrifying things like charms that suggested more than had been removed.”
Odumakin said her group is perturbed over the barbaric ritual premiums which some wicked souls have equated with values of women.
She added that in all three cases of rape, kidnap and ritual hostages mentioned above including the Ejigbo sodomy, it is clear enough that women have become the targets of horror....
http://dailypost.ng/2014/04/07/women-arise-condemns-spate-ritual-killings-kidnaps-jungle-justice/
Cult head charged with illegal detention, faces more raps
By Ador Vincent Mayol Inquirer Visayas Saturday, March 29th, 2014
CEBU CITY—A cult leader is facing a criminal complaint after he was accused of detaining a 33-year-old woman who was allegedly used as his sex slave for five years.
Casiano Apduhan, alias “Tatay Loloy” and known to his followers as “Dios Amahan,” also faces a murder case for the death of a 14-year-old boy whose decomposing body was found in a tunnel underneath his house in Balamban town, about 48 kilometers west of here.
The complaint for serious illegal detention was filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas on Thursday in the provincial prosecutor’s office....
Another complaint for murder and human trafficking, particularly on the provision against forced labor, will also be filed against him, said NBI supervising agent Rey Villordon.
Apduhan is accused of using Angelo Repuela as a human sacrifice, supposedly for the gods to help him find gold. NBI agents found Repuela’s body wrapped in a blanket in the tunnel.
Apduhan, who is detained at the NBI regional stockade, denied the allegations, saying his followers will swear that he is a good man....
“We want to know the extent of the damage [on the woman] after she has been detained for more than five years,” said Largo, also a consultant of the Provincial Women’s Commission.
NBI agents also noticed that Apduhan’s house was designed like a prison, since its lone entrance was barricaded with padlocked steel grills.
“Other doors and windows were heavily barricaded and the grills were locked. There is no way for a member of the household to escape,” Villordon said in an affidavit.
He said the dead boy’s father, Eleuterio, was a member of Apduhan’s cult.
In 2012, Apduhan offered the boy as a sacrifice for a treasure-hunting activity and promised the parents that the boy would be brought back to life in 2013, said Villordon....
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/589952/cult-head-charged-with-illegal-detention-faces-more-raps
Friday, April 4, 2014
Bills would change child abuse reporting requirements in Pa., defining who reports and how
Bills would change child abuse reporting requirements in Pa., defining who reports and how
By Charles Thompson April 04, 2014
....But lawyers and non-lawyers appear to have reached a compromise on what may be the biggest upgrade yet to Pennsylvania’s child protection laws coming out of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Final votes are expected at the Capitol next week on bills that redesign mandatory reporting requirements in cases of suspected child abuse.
Lawmakers have already modernized the definition of abuse, and approved measures that strengthen law enforcement and child welfare response.
But, as some child protection advocates note, the best system in the world doesn’t get activated without a report.
“Without a report (of suspected child abuse)… the cavalry doesn’t come running to ask that child if they’re OK,” explained Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican who played a key role in late-stage negotiations on the bills.
The new requirements delineate 14 categories of mandated reporters, including all school employees, all staff at child care and medical facilities, librarians and even – in a Pennsylvania first – volunteers who work regularly in youth sports or other activities like church groups, Boy Scouts or dance companies....
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/bills_beefing_up_child_abuse_r.html
By Charles Thompson April 04, 2014
....But lawyers and non-lawyers appear to have reached a compromise on what may be the biggest upgrade yet to Pennsylvania’s child protection laws coming out of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Final votes are expected at the Capitol next week on bills that redesign mandatory reporting requirements in cases of suspected child abuse.
Lawmakers have already modernized the definition of abuse, and approved measures that strengthen law enforcement and child welfare response.
But, as some child protection advocates note, the best system in the world doesn’t get activated without a report.
“Without a report (of suspected child abuse)… the cavalry doesn’t come running to ask that child if they’re OK,” explained Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican who played a key role in late-stage negotiations on the bills.
The new requirements delineate 14 categories of mandated reporters, including all school employees, all staff at child care and medical facilities, librarians and even – in a Pennsylvania first – volunteers who work regularly in youth sports or other activities like church groups, Boy Scouts or dance companies....
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/bills_beefing_up_child_abuse_r.html
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