Thursday, May 28, 2015

Ex-trooper: Duggars hid full extent of abuse, Up to 14 priests sexually abused children in Ballarat, commission hears, Paedophile Gerald Ridsdale admits another priest 'may have seen abuse'

- Ex-trooper: Duggars hid full extent of abuse
- Up to 14 priests sexually abused children in Ballarat, commission hears
- Paedophile Gerald Ridsdale admits another priest 'may have seen abuse'

Ex-trooper: Duggars hid full extent of abuse
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY May 28, 2015

A former Arkansas state trooper claims the Duggar family concealed the extent of their son's alleged fondling of underage girls when the patriarch of the family turned to him for help disciplining the teenager more than a decade ago, In Touch reports.

The trooper, Hutchens, is currently serving 56 years in an Arkansas prison on child pornography charges. He spoke with In Touch on Wednesday through a local law firm, the publication says....

According to the police report, Jim Bob Duggar, the family patriarch, told police that he brought his son to then-State Trooper Joseph Hutchens, a personal friend, for a "stern talk" after Josh purportedly had gone through a Christian counseling program in 2003.

The report states that Hutchens said there was nothing more to do about the allegations, given that Josh Duggar had gone through a counseling program.

Michelle Duggar, Josh's mother, later told police that her son did not go through such a program but instead had stayed at a Little Rock home that a family friend was remodeling.

In Touch says that Hutchens' failure to report the abuse caused the police to halt their 2006 investigation because the statute of limitations had run out....

Hutchens disputes Duggar's account of the incident, saying Jim Bob Duggar only told him about a single incident of abuse.

He maintains that Jim Bob and Josh Duggar told him Josh had inappropriately touched one girl through her clothing while she slept. They said "it only happened one time," the former state trooper told In Touch.

Hutchens told In Touch that the Duggars' original account of the incident played a part in his decision not to report the alleged abuse....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/05/28/jim-bob-duggar-state-trooper-josh-duggar-fondling-sex-abuse/28058841/


Up to 14 priests sexually abused children in Ballarat, commission hears
Child sex abuse royal commission told there have been at least 130 claims and substantiated complaints of child sexual abuse against the diocese since 1980
Australian Associated Press Thursday 28 May 2015

As many as 14 priests have been found to have sexually abused children in Victoria’s Ballarat diocese, the child sexual abuse royal commission has heard.

Data before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse shows there have been at least 130 claims and substantiated complaints of child sexual abuse against the Ballarat diocese since 1980.

Senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness said that number included seven claims jointly held against the Christian Brothers.
She said at least 14 priests of the Ballarat diocese have been the subject of one or more claim or substantiated complaint of child sex abuse. Ballarat bishop Paul Bird said he was not certain that all 14 had been substantiated and he thought it was a lower number, maybe 10 or 12....
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/29/up-to-14-priests-sexually-abused-children-in-ballarat-commission-hears


Paedophile Gerald Ridsdale admits another priest 'may have seen abuse'
Disgraced priest also accepts that he shared a house with George Pell in the 1970s and reveals details of the treatment arranged for him by the church   Oliver Milman Thursday 28 May 2015

....Pell, who is now a senior cleric at the Vatican, was an assistant priest in Ballarat from 1973 to 1983.
Paedophile Gerald Ridsdale says he did not tell George Pell about his child abuse

Ridsdale was a Catholic priest who lived in the St Alipius presbytery in Ballarat, a building that had two bedrooms on the top floor. Ridsdale was convicted of committing more than 140 sexual assaults against children as young as four over three decades until the 1980s.

The extent of the Catholic church’s desire to move Ridsdale to other parishes rather than report him to the police was further detailed in the Thursday hearing.

Despite three senior clerics being made aware of Ridsdale’s offending in Mortlake in the 1970s, he was moved to an administrative position in Sydney. Ridsdale told the hearing over a video link from prison that a boy from a prayer group stayed with him during this time.

Ridsdale was then moved to Horsham in Victoria, where he was an assistant priest from 1986 to 1988 and where he committed further offences....
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/28/paedophile-gerald-ridsdale-admits-another-priest-may-have-seen-abuse


Fran’s Day Care
May 20, 2015 case update:
State’s highest criminal court throws out 1992 convictions of sexual assault at Austin day care.
Court declines, however, to find Dan and Fran Keller innocent in case involving claims of satanic abuse.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/

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