Dartmoor ewe slaughtered in 'Satanic ritual'
Farmer says it the latest in a line of night attacks by devil worshippers across Devon and Cornwall
By Agency 25 Jun 2015
A rare-breed sheep has been slaughtered on Dartmoor in a Satanic ritual to mark the midsummer solstice....
The farmer says it the latest in a line of attacks by devil worshippers across Devon and Cornwall - mostly carried out on lonely moors at night....
"It was on Sunday - the summer solstice - and we found the ewe around 10.30am....
Police have recorded it as a case of "inflicting unnecessary suffering on an animal" but wouldn't speculate on whether it was a Satanic ritual killing.
In 2013 a farming family on the edge of Dartmoor said members of a Satanic cult were slaughtering their animals including horses.
Maxine Beesley, whose livestock were killed in a series of horrendous attacks, said the secret cult was torturing them for warped sacrifices....
Locals feared the two thoroughbreds were attacked to mark the summer solstice - a key date in the Satanic calender.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/agriculture/farming/11698022/Dartmoor-ewe-slaughtered-in-Satanic-ritual.html
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Historic abuse charity sees nine people a day in Dundee, Record Australian payout for abused British child migrants, Janner charged with historic child abuse
Historic abuse charity sees nine people a day in Dundee
By Lindsey Hamilton 26 Jun 2015
Nine Dundonians a day are coming forward with their own personal horror stories of historic abuse.
That figure adds up to 45 Dundee residents a week, or 2,250 people a year, who have experienced sexual, physical or mental abuse — according to a city charity.
And now Izzy’s Promise has revealed the extent of the problem in a bid to break down barriers and encourage others to speak out.
Joseph Lumbasi, manager of the charity that works to support victims of ritual and organised abuse, said that the figures were shocking and were getting worse.
He said: “There are major taboos that prevent people talking about abuse, but thanks to national cases, people are being encouraged to talk about what they have suffered.”
Izzy’s Promise recently took part in the Scottish Government’s statutory inquiry into historical child abuse in care.
Mr Lumbasi said: “We compiled our results and have forwarded them.
“What we are seeing in Dundee is frightening.” Mr Lumbasi says that three support workers at the charity’s premises on Victoria Road speak to around three people each every day who have turned to them for help.
He said: “We are seeing people from the age of 18 upwards who have horrific stories to tell of abuse as a child. This includes, mental, sexual and physical abuse.
“We are also aware of organised and ritual abuse taking place in Dundee....
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2015/06/26/historic-abuse-charity-sees-nine-people-a-day-in-dundee/
Record Australian payout for abused British child migrants
AFP 6/29/15
Former British migrants who were physically and sexually assaulted at a notorious school in Australia on Monday won the largest compensation payment for survivors of mass child abuse in the country's legal history.
A class action lawsuit was brought by almost 150 former residents of Fairbridge Farm School, which housed British child migrants, against the Australian and New South Wales state governments after they were abused between 1938 and 1974.
Slater and Gordon lawyer Roop Sandhu said the Aus$24 million (US$18.3 million) payout marked a major milestone in the acknowledgement of institutional child abuse.
"Our clients have suffered a lifetime of serious physical and psychiatric injuries as a result of their time at Fairbridge," Sandhu said, adding that it was the largest settlement for survivors of mass child abuse ever in Australia.
"They were all vulnerable children in need of care and protection, but instead they were subjected to horrific physical and sexual abuse, which in many cases has scarred them for life."
The case was one of the first class actions against an Australian government connected with child migration -- a practice under which thousands of underprivileged British children were sent to Australia without their parents last century in the hope of giving them a better life.
It alleged the Fairbridge Foundation, the New South Wales government and the Australian government allowed a system of institutional abuse to develop and persist at the school over decades....
http://news.yahoo.com/record-australian-payout-abused-british-child-migrants-071635487.html
Janner charged with historic child abuse
AFP 6/29/15
London (AFP) - Prosecutors on Monday brought 22 charges of abuse against an elderly politician accused of using his position to have sex with young boys.
The prosecution against Lord Greville Janner, a former MP and a member of the House of Lords, represents a victory for campaigners who have demanded tougher action on child abuse.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had initially declined to bring charges against the 86-year-old because he is suffering from Alzheimer's and was considered too ill to stand trial.
But after intense criticism, director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders announced he has now been charged with offences against nine victims, all but one of them aged 16 or under at the time, relating to alleged incidents between 1963 and 1988.
Janner's family strongly denies claims that he used his power as Labour MP for Leicester, a town that he represented between 1970 and 1997, to abuse vulnerable boys at a local children's home.
Prosecutors said Janner would still likely be declared unfit and any trial would therefore not result in any conviction, but said bringing charges was a chance for the alleged victims to be heard in court....
Claims against Janner have fuelled speculation about an alleged paedophile ring at Westminster, which is being examined in a wide-ranging public inquiry into child abuse set up by Prime Minister David Cameron last year....
http://news.yahoo.com/janner-charged-historic-child-abuse-115230882.html
By Lindsey Hamilton 26 Jun 2015
Nine Dundonians a day are coming forward with their own personal horror stories of historic abuse.
That figure adds up to 45 Dundee residents a week, or 2,250 people a year, who have experienced sexual, physical or mental abuse — according to a city charity.
And now Izzy’s Promise has revealed the extent of the problem in a bid to break down barriers and encourage others to speak out.
Joseph Lumbasi, manager of the charity that works to support victims of ritual and organised abuse, said that the figures were shocking and were getting worse.
He said: “There are major taboos that prevent people talking about abuse, but thanks to national cases, people are being encouraged to talk about what they have suffered.”
Izzy’s Promise recently took part in the Scottish Government’s statutory inquiry into historical child abuse in care.
Mr Lumbasi said: “We compiled our results and have forwarded them.
“What we are seeing in Dundee is frightening.” Mr Lumbasi says that three support workers at the charity’s premises on Victoria Road speak to around three people each every day who have turned to them for help.
He said: “We are seeing people from the age of 18 upwards who have horrific stories to tell of abuse as a child. This includes, mental, sexual and physical abuse.
“We are also aware of organised and ritual abuse taking place in Dundee....
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2015/06/26/historic-abuse-charity-sees-nine-people-a-day-in-dundee/
Record Australian payout for abused British child migrants
AFP 6/29/15
Former British migrants who were physically and sexually assaulted at a notorious school in Australia on Monday won the largest compensation payment for survivors of mass child abuse in the country's legal history.
A class action lawsuit was brought by almost 150 former residents of Fairbridge Farm School, which housed British child migrants, against the Australian and New South Wales state governments after they were abused between 1938 and 1974.
Slater and Gordon lawyer Roop Sandhu said the Aus$24 million (US$18.3 million) payout marked a major milestone in the acknowledgement of institutional child abuse.
"Our clients have suffered a lifetime of serious physical and psychiatric injuries as a result of their time at Fairbridge," Sandhu said, adding that it was the largest settlement for survivors of mass child abuse ever in Australia.
"They were all vulnerable children in need of care and protection, but instead they were subjected to horrific physical and sexual abuse, which in many cases has scarred them for life."
The case was one of the first class actions against an Australian government connected with child migration -- a practice under which thousands of underprivileged British children were sent to Australia without their parents last century in the hope of giving them a better life.
It alleged the Fairbridge Foundation, the New South Wales government and the Australian government allowed a system of institutional abuse to develop and persist at the school over decades....
http://news.yahoo.com/record-australian-payout-abused-british-child-migrants-071635487.html
Janner charged with historic child abuse
AFP 6/29/15
London (AFP) - Prosecutors on Monday brought 22 charges of abuse against an elderly politician accused of using his position to have sex with young boys.
The prosecution against Lord Greville Janner, a former MP and a member of the House of Lords, represents a victory for campaigners who have demanded tougher action on child abuse.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had initially declined to bring charges against the 86-year-old because he is suffering from Alzheimer's and was considered too ill to stand trial.
But after intense criticism, director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders announced he has now been charged with offences against nine victims, all but one of them aged 16 or under at the time, relating to alleged incidents between 1963 and 1988.
Janner's family strongly denies claims that he used his power as Labour MP for Leicester, a town that he represented between 1970 and 1997, to abuse vulnerable boys at a local children's home.
Prosecutors said Janner would still likely be declared unfit and any trial would therefore not result in any conviction, but said bringing charges was a chance for the alleged victims to be heard in court....
Claims against Janner have fuelled speculation about an alleged paedophile ring at Westminster, which is being examined in a wide-ranging public inquiry into child abuse set up by Prime Minister David Cameron last year....
http://news.yahoo.com/janner-charged-historic-child-abuse-115230882.html
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Rotherham Child Sex Abuse Investigation Uncovers Several Hundred Suspects And Several Thousand Leads
Rotherham Child Sex Abuse Investigation Uncovers Several Hundred Suspects And Several Thousand Leads
The Huffington Post UK By Steven Hopkins 24/06/2015
Hundreds of potential suspects have been identified in an investigation into child sex abuse in Rotherham, along with several thousand new lines of enquiry, police have said.
The National Crime Agency began an investigation in December last year following the Alexis Jay report that revealed there were 1400 victims of abuse in the town between 1997 and 2013. Police and other authorities knew about the abuse, but failed to act.
Police said Wednesday that "stage one" of their investigation had uncovered "a significant number of potential offenders. The current figure is in the low hundreds"....
Steve Baldwin, who is a Senior Investigating Officer involved in the operation, said police now had more than 3,300 lines of enquiry.
He said the abuse was "horrific" and the evidence police had gathered "details some very disturbing events".
Police believe the 1,400 victims identified in the Alexis Jay report remains a "very good assessment" of the numbers of children abused during the time period....
Last month two new reports revealed that authorities in Rotherham had been warned about child sexual exploitation in 2003 - and given a list of the suspected main offenders - and told three years later that the problem was established and very serious, but had failed to investigate.
Dr Angie Heal provided a list of potential abusers as part of a report on the links between grooming and drug dealing in 2003 to police and council officials. That report and another from 2006 were released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Sheffield Star....
Last year, an inquiry found 1,400 children were abused by gangs of men, mainly of Pakistani origin, in South Yorkshire between 1997 and 2013.
The inquiry concluded: "It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered."....
Prof Jay said: "They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated."....
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/06/24/rotherham-child-sex-inquiry-hundreds-of-suspects_n_7652706.html
The Huffington Post UK By Steven Hopkins 24/06/2015
Hundreds of potential suspects have been identified in an investigation into child sex abuse in Rotherham, along with several thousand new lines of enquiry, police have said.
The National Crime Agency began an investigation in December last year following the Alexis Jay report that revealed there were 1400 victims of abuse in the town between 1997 and 2013. Police and other authorities knew about the abuse, but failed to act.
Police said Wednesday that "stage one" of their investigation had uncovered "a significant number of potential offenders. The current figure is in the low hundreds"....
Steve Baldwin, who is a Senior Investigating Officer involved in the operation, said police now had more than 3,300 lines of enquiry.
He said the abuse was "horrific" and the evidence police had gathered "details some very disturbing events".
Police believe the 1,400 victims identified in the Alexis Jay report remains a "very good assessment" of the numbers of children abused during the time period....
Last month two new reports revealed that authorities in Rotherham had been warned about child sexual exploitation in 2003 - and given a list of the suspected main offenders - and told three years later that the problem was established and very serious, but had failed to investigate.
Dr Angie Heal provided a list of potential abusers as part of a report on the links between grooming and drug dealing in 2003 to police and council officials. That report and another from 2006 were released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Sheffield Star....
Last year, an inquiry found 1,400 children were abused by gangs of men, mainly of Pakistani origin, in South Yorkshire between 1997 and 2013.
The inquiry concluded: "It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered."....
Prof Jay said: "They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated."....
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/06/24/rotherham-child-sex-inquiry-hundreds-of-suspects_n_7652706.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Allegations fly at heated Westminster child abuse conference
Allegations fly at heated Westminster child abuse conference
By Felicity Capon 6/24/15
....Rumours have swirled in recent years about a cover-up in the British establishment involving senior politicians and police that has seen prominent figures engaging in child abuse and murder. Police have described evidence from one survivor relating to abuse at the Dolphin Square estate in London and at least three murders "credible and true".
....Yesterday's event, arranged by the WhiteFlowers group, was designed to keep up the pressure on home secretary Theresa May regarding the government-led inquiry, as well as stressing the need for solidarity among campaigners. The group is demanding full and equal legal representation for survivors, the amendment of the Official Secrets Act to ensure it does not cover historical allegations of child sex abuse, and greater measures to protect and support whistleblowers, as well as the prompt prosecution of Lord Greville Janner - the former Labour MP accused of being a serial abuser who the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders said was not fit to stand trial due to his suffering from dementia - and other high-profile figures suspected of paedophile activities or cover-ups.
The group has recently been vocal in challenging May's decision to exclude representatives of victims' groups from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which has been dogged by controversy after both Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf were forced to resign from chairing it due to their links to establishment figures.
....John Mann MP also spoke, demanding that the Official Secrets Act be lifted. "We will uncover, unmask and embarrass those who knew in detail about the abuse, who made calculated decisions that the state would cover up this abuse," he said.
....One survivor who was placed in care in homes in Rotherham, Warrington, North Wales and Rochdale, told the audience in an earlier meeting that abuse had taken place in each home. "How was that possible?" he asked. "I would have had to have been the unluckiest kid on the planet for every place they put me in for abuse to happen. That could only have come about with planning."
Richard Scorer, Head of the Abuse Team at Slater & Gordon law firm which represents a number of victims making allegations against Lord Janner, called for a change in the law which would enforce a legal duty on those working with children to report any knowledge or suspicion of child abuse. He also called for an overhaul of how the criminal justice system treats survivors, explaining that one of the firm's clients, a victim of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring which came to light in 2008, was cross-examined for 42 days, often just a few feet away from the men who raped her.
The law firm will find out next week whether their request for a review of the decision of the director of public prosecutions not to charge Lord Janner has been successful. A decision not to prosecute the peer would "be a serious miscarriage of justice", according to Scorer.
"For 25 years Janner was able to rely on networks of support to protect himself, some of which may have been operating from out of this building," he said.
http://europe.newsweek.com/allegations-fly-heated-westminster-child-abuse-conference-329209
By Felicity Capon 6/24/15
....Rumours have swirled in recent years about a cover-up in the British establishment involving senior politicians and police that has seen prominent figures engaging in child abuse and murder. Police have described evidence from one survivor relating to abuse at the Dolphin Square estate in London and at least three murders "credible and true".
....Yesterday's event, arranged by the WhiteFlowers group, was designed to keep up the pressure on home secretary Theresa May regarding the government-led inquiry, as well as stressing the need for solidarity among campaigners. The group is demanding full and equal legal representation for survivors, the amendment of the Official Secrets Act to ensure it does not cover historical allegations of child sex abuse, and greater measures to protect and support whistleblowers, as well as the prompt prosecution of Lord Greville Janner - the former Labour MP accused of being a serial abuser who the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders said was not fit to stand trial due to his suffering from dementia - and other high-profile figures suspected of paedophile activities or cover-ups.
The group has recently been vocal in challenging May's decision to exclude representatives of victims' groups from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which has been dogged by controversy after both Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf were forced to resign from chairing it due to their links to establishment figures.
....John Mann MP also spoke, demanding that the Official Secrets Act be lifted. "We will uncover, unmask and embarrass those who knew in detail about the abuse, who made calculated decisions that the state would cover up this abuse," he said.
....One survivor who was placed in care in homes in Rotherham, Warrington, North Wales and Rochdale, told the audience in an earlier meeting that abuse had taken place in each home. "How was that possible?" he asked. "I would have had to have been the unluckiest kid on the planet for every place they put me in for abuse to happen. That could only have come about with planning."
Richard Scorer, Head of the Abuse Team at Slater & Gordon law firm which represents a number of victims making allegations against Lord Janner, called for a change in the law which would enforce a legal duty on those working with children to report any knowledge or suspicion of child abuse. He also called for an overhaul of how the criminal justice system treats survivors, explaining that one of the firm's clients, a victim of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring which came to light in 2008, was cross-examined for 42 days, often just a few feet away from the men who raped her.
The law firm will find out next week whether their request for a review of the decision of the director of public prosecutions not to charge Lord Janner has been successful. A decision not to prosecute the peer would "be a serious miscarriage of justice", according to Scorer.
"For 25 years Janner was able to rely on networks of support to protect himself, some of which may have been operating from out of this building," he said.
http://europe.newsweek.com/allegations-fly-heated-westminster-child-abuse-conference-329209
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Satanic ritual details emerge in gruesome murder of Texas teen
Satanic ritual details emerge in gruesome murder of Texas teen
Published June 17, 2015
describes graphic crimes
A ghastly, demonic twist was added to one of the most grisly murder cases the Houston area has witnessed in recent memory.
Harris County prosecutors said earlier this week that the 2014 murder of Corriann Cervantes was being investigated as a satanic ritual killing after an upside cross was found carved on her abdomen. Other Satanic symbols were discovered scrawled on the wall of the vacant apartment where she was killed, they said.
The new details were released as part of the ongoing capital murder trial of Victor Alas, who allegedly helped stab, beat and strangle Cervantes because he was afraid she would testify against him in his pending criminal cases....
During Reyes' trial, the prosecution read letters to the court that Reyes wrote while imprisoned in which he said the Devil was watching him and directing him to act during the brutal murder.
"He was standing there, watching me and Victor," the teen wrote in a letter read to jurors in that case. "It's all good. It's what the Devil asked for."....
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/06/17/satanic-ritual-details-emerge-in-gruesome-murder-texas-teen/
Published June 17, 2015
describes graphic crimes
A ghastly, demonic twist was added to one of the most grisly murder cases the Houston area has witnessed in recent memory.
Harris County prosecutors said earlier this week that the 2014 murder of Corriann Cervantes was being investigated as a satanic ritual killing after an upside cross was found carved on her abdomen. Other Satanic symbols were discovered scrawled on the wall of the vacant apartment where she was killed, they said.
The new details were released as part of the ongoing capital murder trial of Victor Alas, who allegedly helped stab, beat and strangle Cervantes because he was afraid she would testify against him in his pending criminal cases....
During Reyes' trial, the prosecution read letters to the court that Reyes wrote while imprisoned in which he said the Devil was watching him and directing him to act during the brutal murder.
"He was standing there, watching me and Victor," the teen wrote in a letter read to jurors in that case. "It's all good. It's what the Devil asked for."....
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/06/17/satanic-ritual-details-emerge-in-gruesome-murder-texas-teen/
Saturday, June 20, 2015
2nd Houston-area teen convicted in occult killing, Ex-MP Harvey Proctor questioned in child abuse inquiry, Jehovah's Witnesses to compensate woman over sex abuse
- 2nd Houston-area teen convicted in occult killing
" A Harris County jury has convicted a second Houston-area teenager of murder in the death of a girl who prosecutors say was killed as part of a satanic ritual."
- Ex-MP Harvey Proctor questioned in child abuse inquiry
"The alleged victim has told the BBC he was abused by senior political, military and "law enforcement" figures, and has also said children were abused at Army facilities in southern England.
- Jehovah's Witnesses to compensate woman over sex abuse
"A woman who claimed Jehovah's Witness elders failed to protect her from sex abuse carried out by a paedophile has won a £275,000 payout."
2nd Houston-area teen convicted in occult killing
Friday, June 19, 2015
HOUSTON (AP) — A Harris County jury has convicted a second Houston-area teenager of murder in the death of a girl who prosecutors say was killed as part of a satanic ritual.
Jurors on Friday found 17-year-old Victor Alas guilty in the February 2014 death of 15-year-old Corriann Cervantes at a vacant apartment southeast of Houston. The conviction carries an automatic life sentence.
Authorities investigated the case as a satanic ritual killing because a cross was carved into Cervantes' abdomen and because of objects found at the scene.
Alas' attorneys say they couldn't overcome a videotaped confession he gave to police.
Jose Reyes, then 17, also was convicted and received a life sentence last December. Authorities have said the pair hoped to make a deal with the devil by killing Cervantes.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/nd-houston-area-teen-convicted-in-occult-killing/article_54f01523-9305-5ed4-8510-e37a9499fb13.html
Ex-MP Harvey Proctor questioned in child abuse inquiry
19 June 2015
A former MP has been questioned by police investigating historical allegations of child abuse and murder.
Harvey Proctor, Conservative MP for Billericay until 1987, was interviewed under caution but was not arrested.
Police are investigating claims that a group of prominent men in public life sexually and physically abused children in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Mr Proctor, who has denied any part in abuse, said the interview on Thursday took place at his request....
The investigation began after a man in his 40s made a series of allegations last year.
The alleged victim has told the BBC he was abused by senior political, military and "law enforcement" figures, and has also said children were abused at Army facilities in southern England.
It is claimed that three children were murdered at different London locations.
In March, Mr Proctor denied any involvement in child abuse - some of which is alleged to have taken place at the Dolphin Square apartment complex in Pimlico, London.
He said: "I have never attended sex parties at Dolphin Square or anywhere else.
"I have not been part of any rent boy ring with cabinet ministers, other members of Parliament or generals or the military....
Harvey Proctor was born in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, and served as a Conservative MP from 1979 to 1987, representing the Essex constituencies of Basildon and then Billericay.
In 1987, he was fined after pleading guilty to gross indecency over sexual activity with men under the age of 21 - then the legal age of consent for gay men.
He said he believed the men were above the age of consent. The men were above the current age of consent, which is 16....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33201175
Jehovah's Witnesses to compensate woman over sex abuse
19 June 2015
A woman who claimed Jehovah's Witness elders failed to protect her from sex abuse carried out by a paedophile has won a £275,000 payout.
The woman, now in her 20s, alleges she was abused as a child in Loughborough by ministerial servant Peter Stewart.
She had argued at London's High Court that he used his role to abuse her.
A judge ruled the organisation was liable for the abuse because it failed to take "safeguarding steps" after Stewart admitted abusing another child.
Mr Justice Globe said he was "satisfied" the defendants should be "held responsible" for the abuse, which took place between 1989 and 1994.
It is the first civil case in the UK of historical sexual abuse brought against the Christian-based religious movement.
The organisation - which accepted that Stewart, who died before facing justice, sexually abused the claimant - said it was "disappointed" with the decision and would appeal....
The woman, known only as C during the case, says she was abused by Stewart between the ages of four and nine.
At the time he was a trusted ministerial servant, whose role was to assist elders with religious and administrative duties.
Shortly after C's abuse began, Stewart was found to have abused another child in the Jehovah's Witness community.
He was removed as a ministerial servant in 1990 but because he told elders he had repented, he was allowed to continue with many of the activities he had performed in that role.
C alleges he continued to abuse her for another four years....
In 1995, Stewart was convicted of separate child sex offences, including rape and indecent assault, and jailed for five years.
He died, aged 72, in 2001, shortly before police arrived at his home to arrest him for sexually abusing C.
The court had heard C had "suffered hugely" as a result of the abuse, which had affected her education, career and relationships....
The damages and an interim payment of £455,000 towards C's legal costs will be met by the society's trustees. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33201010
" A Harris County jury has convicted a second Houston-area teenager of murder in the death of a girl who prosecutors say was killed as part of a satanic ritual."
- Ex-MP Harvey Proctor questioned in child abuse inquiry
"The alleged victim has told the BBC he was abused by senior political, military and "law enforcement" figures, and has also said children were abused at Army facilities in southern England.
- Jehovah's Witnesses to compensate woman over sex abuse
"A woman who claimed Jehovah's Witness elders failed to protect her from sex abuse carried out by a paedophile has won a £275,000 payout."
2nd Houston-area teen convicted in occult killing
Friday, June 19, 2015
HOUSTON (AP) — A Harris County jury has convicted a second Houston-area teenager of murder in the death of a girl who prosecutors say was killed as part of a satanic ritual.
Jurors on Friday found 17-year-old Victor Alas guilty in the February 2014 death of 15-year-old Corriann Cervantes at a vacant apartment southeast of Houston. The conviction carries an automatic life sentence.
Authorities investigated the case as a satanic ritual killing because a cross was carved into Cervantes' abdomen and because of objects found at the scene.
Alas' attorneys say they couldn't overcome a videotaped confession he gave to police.
Jose Reyes, then 17, also was convicted and received a life sentence last December. Authorities have said the pair hoped to make a deal with the devil by killing Cervantes.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/nd-houston-area-teen-convicted-in-occult-killing/article_54f01523-9305-5ed4-8510-e37a9499fb13.html
Ex-MP Harvey Proctor questioned in child abuse inquiry
19 June 2015
A former MP has been questioned by police investigating historical allegations of child abuse and murder.
Harvey Proctor, Conservative MP for Billericay until 1987, was interviewed under caution but was not arrested.
Police are investigating claims that a group of prominent men in public life sexually and physically abused children in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Mr Proctor, who has denied any part in abuse, said the interview on Thursday took place at his request....
The investigation began after a man in his 40s made a series of allegations last year.
The alleged victim has told the BBC he was abused by senior political, military and "law enforcement" figures, and has also said children were abused at Army facilities in southern England.
It is claimed that three children were murdered at different London locations.
In March, Mr Proctor denied any involvement in child abuse - some of which is alleged to have taken place at the Dolphin Square apartment complex in Pimlico, London.
He said: "I have never attended sex parties at Dolphin Square or anywhere else.
"I have not been part of any rent boy ring with cabinet ministers, other members of Parliament or generals or the military....
Harvey Proctor was born in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, and served as a Conservative MP from 1979 to 1987, representing the Essex constituencies of Basildon and then Billericay.
In 1987, he was fined after pleading guilty to gross indecency over sexual activity with men under the age of 21 - then the legal age of consent for gay men.
He said he believed the men were above the age of consent. The men were above the current age of consent, which is 16....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33201175
Jehovah's Witnesses to compensate woman over sex abuse
19 June 2015
A woman who claimed Jehovah's Witness elders failed to protect her from sex abuse carried out by a paedophile has won a £275,000 payout.
The woman, now in her 20s, alleges she was abused as a child in Loughborough by ministerial servant Peter Stewart.
She had argued at London's High Court that he used his role to abuse her.
A judge ruled the organisation was liable for the abuse because it failed to take "safeguarding steps" after Stewart admitted abusing another child.
Mr Justice Globe said he was "satisfied" the defendants should be "held responsible" for the abuse, which took place between 1989 and 1994.
It is the first civil case in the UK of historical sexual abuse brought against the Christian-based religious movement.
The organisation - which accepted that Stewart, who died before facing justice, sexually abused the claimant - said it was "disappointed" with the decision and would appeal....
The woman, known only as C during the case, says she was abused by Stewart between the ages of four and nine.
At the time he was a trusted ministerial servant, whose role was to assist elders with religious and administrative duties.
Shortly after C's abuse began, Stewart was found to have abused another child in the Jehovah's Witness community.
He was removed as a ministerial servant in 1990 but because he told elders he had repented, he was allowed to continue with many of the activities he had performed in that role.
C alleges he continued to abuse her for another four years....
In 1995, Stewart was convicted of separate child sex offences, including rape and indecent assault, and jailed for five years.
He died, aged 72, in 2001, shortly before police arrived at his home to arrest him for sexually abusing C.
The court had heard C had "suffered hugely" as a result of the abuse, which had affected her education, career and relationships....
The damages and an interim payment of £455,000 towards C's legal costs will be met by the society's trustees. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33201010
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Supreme Court allows children's indirect testimony in child abuse cases, Unofficial Secrets – Child Sexual Abuse: the Cleveland Case
Unofficial Secrets – Child Sexual Abuse: the Cleveland Case
"Just as there was a determined not-knowing in 1987, there was equal resistance to any attempt to follow up those 121 children, and reluctance to co-ordinate referrals. Some children did return to the attention of the statutory services. Some children did go on enduring abuse by adults who – having been acquitted by the public debate – had permission to carry on."
Supreme Court allows children's indirect testimony in child abuse cases
Richard Wolf and Brad Heath, USA TODAY June 18, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that teachers' reports of child abuse based on conversations with young children can be admitted as testimony, despite a defendant's constitutional right to confront his accuser.
The unanimous judgment came in the case of a 3½-year-old Ohio boy whose wounds were visible to teachers at his day care center. Upon questioning, he said his mother's boyfriend was to blame.
Although the boy was too young to testify reliably in court, the teachers' reports were admitted at trial, resulting in Darius Clark's conviction and 28-year prison sentence....
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court's majority, said that the teachers' "primary purpose" in asking about the abuse was not to help the prosecution, so allowing their testimony did not violate Clark's constitutional rights.
When police take children's statements out of court and present it as testimony at trial, it can violate the confrontation clause. But in this case, Alito said, the child spoke to teachers immediately after his wounds were discovered, in an emergency setting on school grounds -- not in preparing courtroom testimony....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/18/supreme-court-child-abuse/27726965/
For a Day in July 2014…
FOR A DAY in July 2014, the advocates of children in care institutions who have been sexually abused by adults — including suspects shielded from scrutiny by the Establishment — tasted triumph: their campaign for an inquiry into historic abuse and cover-up had finally been rewarded, there was to be a public inquiry....
A new e-edition of my book, Unofficial Secrets – Child Sexual Abuse: the Cleveland Case, is forthcoming.
Meanwhile, here is an extract from the 1997 edition:
....The Cleveland case challenged our world view about sex. It also became a crisis of knowing, of what is known and how it may become knowable. As the months and then the years went by, we were not allowed to know what had happened in Cleveland.
Just as there was a determined not-knowing in 1987, there was equal resistance to any attempt to follow up those 121 children, and reluctance to co-ordinate referrals. Some children did return to the attention of the statutory services. Some children did go on enduring abuse by adults who – having been acquitted by the public debate – had permission to carry on.
....For example, the first edition of this book contains an interview with a man and a woman whose children all showed worrying symptoms. The father was already a convicted sex offender. He was candid: yes, he had ‘previous’; yes, he’d confessed and then retracted. His explanation for anal and vaginal medical signs? He didn’t have one. I didn’t believe his protestations, but I faithfully reported his story. And I didn’t ask why his career as a sex offender and his absurd alibis weren’t relevant.
If this case was deemed controversial, it was not because a convicted sex offender was given custody of his children. It was because Dr. Marietta Higgs’ diagnosis had ignited an investigation. If this case was controversial, it was not because the convicted sex offender made a confession — like his previous record, that didn’t matter.
....That the signs scrolled on the bodies of children suggested serious sexual abuse. They also knew that, if the children had indeed been abused, then the signs were telling us something more – that the children were so marooned in their abusers’ needs and pressure and point of view that silence was itself a survival strategy. A tactic of accommodation was revealed by the signs: the architecture of the body suggested the anatomy of adaptation, of small bodies adapting to overwhelming intrusion, orifices scarred and altered by incoming objects, orifices speaking into the silence of their young subjects.
Not all the children were silent. Some spoke loudly and clearly. Some spoke obliquely and hesitantly. But the adult community chose to interpret the silence — rather than the signs — as the relief of suspicion, rather than as a clue to the difficulty of disclosure. Instead of interpreting the matrix of signs and silence as a dynamic, as a drama of physical suffering and survival shrouded by secrecy, it chose an interpretation of this eerie scenario that reinstated the ideologies and institutions that were so stiffly challenged by these children.
http://www.beatrixcampbell.co.uk/day-july-2014/
"Just as there was a determined not-knowing in 1987, there was equal resistance to any attempt to follow up those 121 children, and reluctance to co-ordinate referrals. Some children did return to the attention of the statutory services. Some children did go on enduring abuse by adults who – having been acquitted by the public debate – had permission to carry on."
Supreme Court allows children's indirect testimony in child abuse cases
Richard Wolf and Brad Heath, USA TODAY June 18, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that teachers' reports of child abuse based on conversations with young children can be admitted as testimony, despite a defendant's constitutional right to confront his accuser.
The unanimous judgment came in the case of a 3½-year-old Ohio boy whose wounds were visible to teachers at his day care center. Upon questioning, he said his mother's boyfriend was to blame.
Although the boy was too young to testify reliably in court, the teachers' reports were admitted at trial, resulting in Darius Clark's conviction and 28-year prison sentence....
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court's majority, said that the teachers' "primary purpose" in asking about the abuse was not to help the prosecution, so allowing their testimony did not violate Clark's constitutional rights.
When police take children's statements out of court and present it as testimony at trial, it can violate the confrontation clause. But in this case, Alito said, the child spoke to teachers immediately after his wounds were discovered, in an emergency setting on school grounds -- not in preparing courtroom testimony....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/18/supreme-court-child-abuse/27726965/
For a Day in July 2014…
FOR A DAY in July 2014, the advocates of children in care institutions who have been sexually abused by adults — including suspects shielded from scrutiny by the Establishment — tasted triumph: their campaign for an inquiry into historic abuse and cover-up had finally been rewarded, there was to be a public inquiry....
A new e-edition of my book, Unofficial Secrets – Child Sexual Abuse: the Cleveland Case, is forthcoming.
Meanwhile, here is an extract from the 1997 edition:
....The Cleveland case challenged our world view about sex. It also became a crisis of knowing, of what is known and how it may become knowable. As the months and then the years went by, we were not allowed to know what had happened in Cleveland.
Just as there was a determined not-knowing in 1987, there was equal resistance to any attempt to follow up those 121 children, and reluctance to co-ordinate referrals. Some children did return to the attention of the statutory services. Some children did go on enduring abuse by adults who – having been acquitted by the public debate – had permission to carry on.
....For example, the first edition of this book contains an interview with a man and a woman whose children all showed worrying symptoms. The father was already a convicted sex offender. He was candid: yes, he had ‘previous’; yes, he’d confessed and then retracted. His explanation for anal and vaginal medical signs? He didn’t have one. I didn’t believe his protestations, but I faithfully reported his story. And I didn’t ask why his career as a sex offender and his absurd alibis weren’t relevant.
If this case was deemed controversial, it was not because a convicted sex offender was given custody of his children. It was because Dr. Marietta Higgs’ diagnosis had ignited an investigation. If this case was controversial, it was not because the convicted sex offender made a confession — like his previous record, that didn’t matter.
....That the signs scrolled on the bodies of children suggested serious sexual abuse. They also knew that, if the children had indeed been abused, then the signs were telling us something more – that the children were so marooned in their abusers’ needs and pressure and point of view that silence was itself a survival strategy. A tactic of accommodation was revealed by the signs: the architecture of the body suggested the anatomy of adaptation, of small bodies adapting to overwhelming intrusion, orifices scarred and altered by incoming objects, orifices speaking into the silence of their young subjects.
Not all the children were silent. Some spoke loudly and clearly. Some spoke obliquely and hesitantly. But the adult community chose to interpret the silence — rather than the signs — as the relief of suspicion, rather than as a clue to the difficulty of disclosure. Instead of interpreting the matrix of signs and silence as a dynamic, as a drama of physical suffering and survival shrouded by secrecy, it chose an interpretation of this eerie scenario that reinstated the ideologies and institutions that were so stiffly challenged by these children.
http://www.beatrixcampbell.co.uk/day-july-2014/
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Analysing Aaronovitch: has the scourge of ‘conspiracists’ become one himself?, The Rochdale and Nottingham cases have revealed widespread sexual abuse of children based on satanic practices. Yet the children are still not believed.
- Seen But Not Heard
The Rochdale and Nottingham cases have revealed widespread sexual abuse of children based on satanic practices. Yet the children are still not believed.
- Analysing Aaronovitch: has the scourge of ‘conspiracists’ become one himself?
"There was indeed a cultural revolution during the 1980s: it was not triggered by trans-Atlantic folly but the bodies of children. For a dozen years, Britain had been scalded by about 30 deaths of children due to abuse, and by the evidence of official inquiries. Unnoticed in life, in death they became household names. The pivotal cases for social work in the 1980s were Tyra Henry, Kimberley Carlisle and Jasmine Beckford. These children’s fate alerted health and welfare professionals to what became known as ‘child abuse’. "
"The mid-80s, then, was the time when British institutions were forced to pay attention to the oppression of children in a new way. Priests and pagans, teachers, pop stars politicians and parents were sexually abusing children then as now, and weren’t properly investigated."
- Analysing Aaronovitch: a sceptical narrative
"I made a documentary about the Nottingham case in 1990. This is the Nottingham timeline: in 1987 children were received into care from an extended family with a long history of inter-generational sexual abuse, including criminal convictions."
Analysing Aaronovitch: a sceptical narrative
Beatrix Campbell 17 June 2015
Prosecution and conviction rates for sexual crime are lamentably low in the UK. If David Aaronovitch cares about 'genuine abuse', why isn't this what worries him more? Part Two.
The first tests of the new era were in the northern county of Cleveland, (my book on this case, Unofficial Secrets, is being updated for electronic publication this year), and in Nottingham. They combusted over medical signs in Cleveland, and children’s stories of abuse in Nottingham. Actually, these crises were triggered by police resistance to the medical signs and stories, and their reluctance to investigate them....
I made a documentary about the Nottingham case in 1990. This is the Nottingham timeline: in 1987 children were received into care from an extended family with a long history of inter-generational sexual abuse, including criminal convictions. Once safe, these children began talking to their new foster carers about their lives, their parents’ sexual abuse, witch parties and their worries about other children. Their evidence, and the testimony of foster parents and social workers was heard in wardship court proceedings in 1988.
Mrs Justice Booth, in her judgement, described the culture of the abuse as 'satanic' - her word. In July 1988 three Appeal Court judges endorsed that conclusion and Sir Stephen Brown, in an unusual public judgement, reported in the press on 19 July 1988, said that children 'had been subjected to gross sexual abuse at the hands of adults, sometimes at parties, where full intercourse had taken place in the presence of a number of adults and other children'....
In 1989 ten adults were convicted on the basis of evidence that children were being ‘sadistically abused and tortured and being forced to watch other children suffering in a similar way.’ They were forced to eat excrement and drink urine, watch other children forced into sexual intercourse ‘over a prolonged period and in an organised manner’. These words are taken from the Director of Social Services report on the case - and the controversy - to Nottinghamshire County Council on 7 November 1990.
It wasn’t social workers or foster carers who decided that there was ‘satanic’ abuse, it was the judges in 1988....
The Director’s report followed my Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on the Nottingham case in October 1990; it scrutinised the JET report and interviewed the academic John Newson who gave JET its line on fantasy, confabulation, and staff brainwashing children. However, when I asked whether he had actually talked to the foster carers or social workers, he admitted that he had not. Unlike Aaronovitch, Waterhouse or Nathan, my documentary interviewed social workers, and foster carers. I also interviewed adults in the family who had been convicted and who corroborated the children’s evidence.
The 7 November 1990 report by the Director of Social Services was the last official word: it rejected the JET report and explained the social workers view of the abuse the children had endured: ’we cannot say’ whether ritual events were ‘true’ or whether children ‘were deliberately misled into believing they had happened’. The Director agreed with the workers directly involved that ‘the significance of ritual overtones is not necessarily linked to a belief system but that it provided a mechanism for manipulating vulnerable children.’ His report accepted the social workers’ definition of ritual abuse as activities and symbols ‘used to frighten, intimidate and confuse the children.'....
There are corroborated cases. More recently clinicians, most famously Bessel van der Kolk in the US, have studied the neurology of trauma and amnesia among survivors of sexual abuse. The eminent Harvard therapist Judith Lewis Herman writes, ‘On the one hand, traumatised people remember too much; on the other hand, they remember too little.’ For Herman, ‘The conflict between knowing and not knowing, speech and silence, remembering and forgetting, is the central dialectic of psychological trauma’....
https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/beatrix-campbell/analysing-aaronovitch
Analysing Aaronovitch: has the scourge of ‘conspiracists’ become one himself?
Beatrix Campbell 17 June 2015
David Aaronovitch claims ‘unbelievable’ notions about child abuse that ‘bewitched’ professionals decades ago are echoed in the VIP historic abuse cases. Where is his evidence? Part One.
....So let’s consider his argument:
Ritual abuse
At the end of the 1980s ‘unbelievable’ theories that had been accorded respectability within professional and clinical circles wafted across the Atlantic, ‘the occult flame was kept alight beyond the shores of America,’ he told listeners; then professionals (doing what they do) read books and went to conferences. Ideas were planted in ‘surprisingly fertile soil,’ in that ‘hothouse for new intellectual plants’ none other than ‘the professional conference.’
They were possessed. They saw the movie Sybil, they read ‘Michelle Remembers’. Who knows, like millions of others, they might have seen Rosemary’s Baby or The Exorcist.
We don’t know which, if any professionals were possessed by these texts: Nor does Aaronovitch. But that doesn’t matter. I know many practitioners, from police officers to foster carers, doctors and social workers involved in many of the celebrated and contested child abuse cases of the past quarter century, including those singled out by Aaronovitch, and I’m not aware that any had any of this stuff in their heads. I’ve consulted other journalists, and they’re not either.
Isn’t reading books and going to conferences part of what professionals and experts do? Learn? Share ideas? Aaronovitch traduces normal and necessary activities as sinister. One of Aaronovitch’s witnesses, the journalist Rosie Waterhouse, mapped ‘the progress of an idea’: UK and US professionals, especially Californians, were crossing the Atlantic and conferring; her nugget: ’the conference circuit.’
After a conference at Reading in 1989, she said, the witch hunt broke out in Britain. Waterhouse is wrong.
There was indeed a cultural revolution during the 1980s: it was not triggered by trans-Atlantic folly but the bodies of children. For a dozen years, Britain had been scalded by about 30 deaths of children due to abuse, and by the evidence of official inquiries. Unnoticed in life, in death they became household names. The pivotal cases for social work in the 1980s were Tyra Henry, Kimberley Carlisle and Jasmine Beckford. These children’s fate alerted health and welfare professionals to what became known as ‘child abuse’. There was public and professional outrage, workers were castigated for a perceived failure to intervene and - most specifically with Jasmine Beckford in 1985 - to heed the child and what she might have to say about her family life. In the mid-80s sexual abuse emerged as a category of concern.
In the second half of the decade, local authority staff had an unequivocal statutory duty to investigate when they had ‘reasonable suspicion’ that a child was being abused. The law states - then and now - not that they ‘may’ but that they ‘shall’ intervene. It was and is their statutory duty.
That, not Californian phantoms, was the context in which professionals were mandated to act....
The mid-80s, then, was the time when British institutions were forced to pay attention to the oppression of children in a new way. Priests and pagans, teachers, pop stars politicians and parents were sexually abusing children then as now, and weren’t properly investigated.
However, what provoked controversy and crisis then was not only what we were learning about childhood adversity, but whether the professions, particularly the police, and our political culture could stand it, respond appropriately, and withstand the inevitable reaction.
There was no great wave of state piracy, social workers kidnapping kids; and despite the new knowledge and the legal duties of professionals, there was resistance to evidence that became entrenched. The implications were woeful. According to Susan Creighton, an expert on recorded abuse, statistics on the numbers of children registered as being at risk of harm (including sexual abuse) rose most significantly between 1985 and 1986, reaching a peak of 0.65 children per 1000 in 1987, and declining thereafter.
Though changes in registration criteria after 1990 make direct comparisons difficult, sexual abuse registrations fell dramatically up to 2002, and settled at a relatively low level between 2002 and 2014. There was no panic or hysteria, no wave of children being removed either rightly or wrongly from their parents.
https://opendemocracy.net/5050/beatrix-campbell/analysing-aaronovitch-has-scourge-of-%E2%80%98conspiracists%E2%80%99-become-one-himself
Seen But Not Heard
The Rochdale and Nottingham cases have revealed widespread sexual abuse of children based on satanic practices. Yet the children are still not believed. Beatrix Campbell, presenter of the recent Dispatches programme on the Nottingham case, explains why
http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/pdf/90_11_20.pdf
30% rise in first-time callers to Rape Crisis Centre
Wednesday 17 June 2015
There was a 30% increase in the number of first time callers to the Rape Crisis Centre's National 24-Hour Helpline last year.
The Centre's annual report for 2014 also shows an increase of 14% in calls relating to adult rape.
Almost half of all calls related to childhood sexual abuse, including ritual abuse and suspected abuse....
http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0617/708675-rape-crisis-centre/
Monday, June 15, 2015
2 Bishops Resign in Minnesota Over Sexual Abuse Scandal, Vatican ex-envoy Wesolowski faces child sex abuse trial
2 Bishops Resign in Minnesota Over Sexual Abuse Scandal
By MITCH SMITH and LAURIE GOODSTEIN JUNE 15, 2015
CHICAGO — Two bishops in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis resigned their posts Monday, the second time this spring that American church leaders have stepped aside after complaints over their handling of sexual abuse claims involving priests.
In Minnesota, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and an auxiliary bishop, Lee A. Piché, announced their departures less than two weeks after prosecutors in St. Paul accused the archdiocese of willfully ignoring warning signs of a pedophile priest. Their resignations followed the April exit of Bishop Robert W. Finn from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, who had been convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to report a priest who took pornographic pictures of girls....
John J. Choi, the prosecutor in Ramsey County, Minn., said the resignations would not affect his office’s criminal and civil cases against the archdiocese, which accused church leaders of failing to intervene against a priest despite repeated complaints of misconduct. That priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, has since been defrocked and imprisoned on sexual abuse charges involving boys in his parish.
“While today’s resignation will be viewed as a positive development by many in our community, the pending criminal action and civil petition and the ongoing investigation will continue,” Mr. Choi said in a statement. “As we have said, the goals of our actions are to hold the Archdiocese accountable, seek justice for the victims and our community, and to take appropriate steps to ensure that what we have alleged and intend to prove about the past conduct of church officials will never be repeated.”....
The Minnesota and Missouri church leaders are hardly the first bishops to resign under scrutiny or accusations that they failed abuse victims. Since the papacy of John Paul II — now St. John Paul — began in 1978, 16 other bishops have resigned or been forced from office under a cloud of accusations that they mishandled abuse cases, according to research by BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group in Waltham, Mass. Archbishop Nienstedt is the 17th, by that group’s count.
Archbishop Nienstedt had become one of the most embattled figures in the American Catholic hierarchy, under fire in the courts, in the pews and on newspaper editorial pages. He had refused to resign about a year ago after coming under sharp criticism from his own former chancellor for canonical affairs, Jennifer M. Haselberger, who charged that the church used a chaotic system of record keeping that helped conceal the backgrounds of guilty priests who remained on assignment....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/us/archbishop-nienstedt-and-aide-resign-in-minnesota-over-sex-abuse-scandal.html
Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest
By MITCH SMITH JUNE 5, 2015
CHICAGO — Prosecutors in Minnesota filed criminal charges on Friday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accusing church leaders of mishandling repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest and failing to follow through on pledges to protect children and root out pedophile clergymen.
The charges and accompanying civil petition, announced by the Ramsey County prosecutor, John J. Choi, stem from accusations by three male victims who say that from 2008 to 2010, when they were under age, a local priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, gave them alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting them.
The criminal case amounts to a sweeping condemnation of the archdiocese and how its leaders have handled the abuse allegations — even after reforms were put in place by church leaders to increase accountability — and the charges are among the most severe actions taken by American authorities against a Catholic diocese....
Mr. Wehmeyer, 50, who was dismissed as a priest in March, was sentenced to five years in a Minnesota prison in 2013 for criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography. He also has been charged with sex crimes in Wisconsin.
The six criminal charges filed Friday, misdemeanors with a maximum fine of $3,000 each, accused the archdiocese of failing to protect children. Mr. Choi also filed a civil petition against the archdiocese that he said was intended to provide legal remedies to prevent similar inaction from happening again.
The 44-page criminal complaint states that concerns about Mr. Wehmeyer date to the 1990s, when he was in seminary and supervisors suggested that his past sexual promiscuity and alcohol abuse made him a poor candidate for the priesthood....
The charging documents also say that archdiocese officials knew that Mr. Wehmeyer used a boys’ bathroom at a parish elementary school instead of the staff restroom; tried to give an elementary-age boy a tour of the rectory in violation of policy; and took camping trips with boys where some of the sexual abuse was said to have occurred.
The archdiocese placed Mr. Wehmeyer in a monitoring program for priests facing complaints of abuse or other problems, but prosecutors said in court documents that the supervision and follow-through was “lax or nonexistent.”....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/us/catholic-archdiocese-in-minnesota-charged-over-sex-abuse-by-priest.html
Vatican ex-envoy Wesolowski faces child sex abuse trial
15 June 2015
The Vatican is to put its former envoy to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, on trial on child sex abuse and child pornography charges.
Pope Francis has also accepted the resignations of a US archbishop and his deputy, accused in Minnesota of having ignored a priest's child abuse.
Jozef Wesolowski is accused of sexually abusing children in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2013. He is under house arrest in the Vatican.
The trial is to begin on 11 July.
Wesolowski, 66, is also charged with possession of child pornography, dating from his return to Rome in 2013....
Wesolowski, who is originally from Poland, was recalled from the Dominican Republic in 2013, after allegations surfaced accusing him of abusing Dominican boys.
He had spent five years in the Caribbean country as the papal envoy.
He was defrocked in June last year after he was found guilty by a Church tribunal - he is the highest-ranking church official to be defrocked for such abuse.
He will now be tried by a Vatican criminal court....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33136393
Thursday, June 11, 2015
New child abuse scandal hits Mike Huckabee: Republican White House hopeful's co-author molested girl, 11, and escaped charges because of statute of limitations
New child abuse scandal hits Mike Huckabee: Republican White House hopeful's co-author molested girl, 11, and escaped charges because of statute of limitations
John Perry co-authored Huckabee's 2008 campaign memoirs and is now revealed to have molested girl between ages of 11 and 14
Police concluded abuse had taken place but they were alerted to it after statute of limitations had kicked in
Perry tells Daily Mail Online 'the parties involved were reconciled and restored years ago' and abuse emerged because of vendetta
No suggestion Huckabee knew Perry was an abuser but comes after Duggar family revealed to have covered up son Josh's molestation of sisters
By Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com
11 June 2015
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is facing fresh controversy over links to a child abuser today.
The evangelical Christian politician's co-author was revealed to have been found by police to have molested a girl when she was just 11, and continued the abuse for three years.
John Perry, a prolific author who helped co-write hit movie The Vow, was not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed by the time police became involved,Buzzfeed News reported as it revealed the abuse.
Perry is the second associate of Huckabee to have been revealed as an abuser, after Josh Duggar's abuse of his sisters was disclosed.
Perry today told Daily Mail Online that 'the parties involved were reconciled and restored years ago' and that the investigation had been prompted by an individual who had a 'vendetta' against his former church.....
Minutes of meetings from Covenant Presbyterian Church - part of the national Presbyterian church - given to Buzzfeed by a parishioner show that Perry resigned from its deaconate in 2008.
At a separate meeting in 2010, Perry was reportedly excommunicated after 'he confessed to committing heinous and repetitive sin […] and has not shown evidence of repentance'.
Those same minutes were used as evidence in a 2012 lawsuit brought against the church by Mrs. Davis and her husband Austin Davis, who are no longer parishioners there.
The Nashville Police department told Buzzfeed, 'The alleged sexual battery was reported to have occurred when the victim was between the ages of 11 and 14.'
As a result of its 2012 investigation, 'the allegations of sexual battery were sustained, but it was determined that the statute of limitations had tolled, barring prosecution,' spokesman Don Aaron told Buzzfeed.
'The victim was age 18 when she first disclosed the allegations to non-law enforcement and said at that time she did not want the matter reported to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services or the police.'
Perry's divorce proceedings are not a matter of public record. But Buzzfeed reports that, according to documents filed, Perry's ex-wife claims he 'admitted sexual abuse' of child.
His response to her claim, based on the documents, was that 'there was never any testimony or other evidence of any kind presented' nor were there 'any orders or findings of fact […] regarding any alleged sexual abuse of any minor child relative to the parties’ divorce or any other legal proceeding.'....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120240/New-child-abuse-scandal-hits-Mike-Huckabee-Republican-White-House-hopeful-s-author-molested-girl-11-escaped-charges-statute-limitations.html
John Perry co-authored Huckabee's 2008 campaign memoirs and is now revealed to have molested girl between ages of 11 and 14
Police concluded abuse had taken place but they were alerted to it after statute of limitations had kicked in
Perry tells Daily Mail Online 'the parties involved were reconciled and restored years ago' and abuse emerged because of vendetta
No suggestion Huckabee knew Perry was an abuser but comes after Duggar family revealed to have covered up son Josh's molestation of sisters
By Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com
11 June 2015
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is facing fresh controversy over links to a child abuser today.
The evangelical Christian politician's co-author was revealed to have been found by police to have molested a girl when she was just 11, and continued the abuse for three years.
John Perry, a prolific author who helped co-write hit movie The Vow, was not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed by the time police became involved,Buzzfeed News reported as it revealed the abuse.
Perry is the second associate of Huckabee to have been revealed as an abuser, after Josh Duggar's abuse of his sisters was disclosed.
Perry today told Daily Mail Online that 'the parties involved were reconciled and restored years ago' and that the investigation had been prompted by an individual who had a 'vendetta' against his former church.....
Minutes of meetings from Covenant Presbyterian Church - part of the national Presbyterian church - given to Buzzfeed by a parishioner show that Perry resigned from its deaconate in 2008.
At a separate meeting in 2010, Perry was reportedly excommunicated after 'he confessed to committing heinous and repetitive sin […] and has not shown evidence of repentance'.
Those same minutes were used as evidence in a 2012 lawsuit brought against the church by Mrs. Davis and her husband Austin Davis, who are no longer parishioners there.
The Nashville Police department told Buzzfeed, 'The alleged sexual battery was reported to have occurred when the victim was between the ages of 11 and 14.'
As a result of its 2012 investigation, 'the allegations of sexual battery were sustained, but it was determined that the statute of limitations had tolled, barring prosecution,' spokesman Don Aaron told Buzzfeed.
'The victim was age 18 when she first disclosed the allegations to non-law enforcement and said at that time she did not want the matter reported to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services or the police.'
Perry's divorce proceedings are not a matter of public record. But Buzzfeed reports that, according to documents filed, Perry's ex-wife claims he 'admitted sexual abuse' of child.
His response to her claim, based on the documents, was that 'there was never any testimony or other evidence of any kind presented' nor were there 'any orders or findings of fact […] regarding any alleged sexual abuse of any minor child relative to the parties’ divorce or any other legal proceeding.'....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120240/New-child-abuse-scandal-hits-Mike-Huckabee-Republican-White-House-hopeful-s-author-molested-girl-11-escaped-charges-statute-limitations.html
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Duggar family under investigation, refuses to let official check on child, Nova Scotia woman tortured for years by family, Central-Colombia shaman arrested for ‘drugging and raping at least 50 women’
- Duggar family under investigation, refuses to let official check on child: 911 call
- Duggars were investigated by DHS in May and 911 was called, new report claims
- Women's issues, 'Up For Debate' campaign gets Nova Scotian support
- Nova Scotia woman 'tortured' for years by family speaks out
- Central-Colombia shaman arrested for ‘drugging and raping at least 50 women’
Duggar family under investigation, refuses to let official check on child: 911 call
BY Meg Wagner NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Arkansas' Department of Human Services is investigating the Duggar family, according to a worker who called 911 when the family refused to let him check in on a child.
Arkansas officials are again investigating the Duggars — but the ultraconservative family isn't cooperating.
A Department of Human Services worker called 911 last month after the Duggars — entangled in oldest son Josh's molestation scandal — refused to let him check in on a child inside the house, according records newly obtained by In Touch Weekly.
The caller told the dispatcher he visited the home as part of a DHS investigation into the "19 Kids & Counting" family....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/duggars-not-cooperating-new-investigation-official-article-1.2253195
Duggars were investigated by DHS in May and 911 was called, new report claims
Published June 10, 2015
A new report by In Touch claims the Duggar family was being investigated as recently as May 27, and a 911 call regarding the Duggars was placed on that date by a Washington County Department of Human Services (DHS) worker because the DHS was allegedly being denied access to a minor in the family.
The call was supposedly just days after a May 19 report by In Touch revealed Josh Duggar had sexually abused five females – including four sisters -- when he was 14 or 15 back in 2002 and 2003. Josh Duggar, his parents, and two of his sisters—Jessa Seewald and Jill Dillard—have since spoken openly about the abuse.
After the revelations about the Duggars hit the web, the Arkansas Department of Human Services reportedly launched a new investigation into the family made famous by the TV show “19 Kids and Counting.”
The latest issue of In Touch magazine contains a transcript of the 911 call that was allegedly made regarding the Duggar family. In supposed printed transcript of the call, the caller identifies the home they are calling about by saying “Address is the Duggar family home.”....
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/06/10/duggars-were-investigated-by-dhs-in-may-and-11-was-called-new-report-claims/
Women's issues, 'Up For Debate' campaign gets Nova Scotian support
'Up for Debate' campaign wants federal party leaders to agree to a national debate on women's issues
CBC News Posted: Jun 10, 2015
Two Nova Scotian women are getting behind a national push towards a federal election debate that focuses entirely on women's issues.
Linda MacDonald and Jeanne Sarson are vocal in their support of Up For Debate, an alliance of organizations united in raising awareness about women's rights until the next election. They are calling for party leaders to be answer questions about the many national issues that concern the physical and mental health of women....
Both women are members of an organization called Persons Against Non-state Torture. Their mandate is to work with people who've experienced forms of domestic torture, including ritual abuse in private settings.
Their organization joins over 170 others in Canada in supporting the campaign....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/women-s-issues-up-for-debate-campaign-gets-nova-scotian-support-1.3108546
Nova Scotia woman 'tortured' for years by family speaks out
WARNING: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers
By Angela MacIvor, Susan Allen, CBC News Posted: May 28, 2014
Two Nova Scotia registered nurses who run a human rights advocacy group are speaking out about domestic "torture" cases with the help of a woman victim who first sparked the issue for them more than 20 years ago.
"We tried to find people to help her and no one really wanted to. About three sessions into her work, we realized she was a torture survivor because her story went way beyond abuse, so we stayed with her and we helped her heal," said Linda MacDonald.
MacDonald and fellow registered nurse Jeanne Sarson are the founders of Persons Against NST (Non-State Torture).
They say their first foray into looking at domestic torture began in 1993 when Sarson took a call from a woman in her late 20s who goes by the name Sara....
Sara, who is now 50 years old and uses a pseudonym to protect her identity, alleges she was starved, drugged, confined, beaten and raped by her own parents from the time she was a young child....
Over the years, Sarson and MacDonald say they've helped more than 3,000 victims of NST around the globe, including about a dozen or so cases in Nova Scotia.
MacDonald says counselling can continue for two to three years. In some cases, they work with victims for over a decade....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-woman-tortured-for-years-by-family-speaks-out-1.2655876
Central-Colombia shaman arrested for ‘drugging and raping at least 50 women’
Posted by Torkan Omari on Jun 5, 2015
A shaman from central Colombia was arrested on Thursday on charges he drugged and raped at least 50 women between 2008 and 2012.
Edgar Orlando Gaitan, known as “El Taita”, is accused of using his position as a shaman to sexually abuse women who came to him to perform spiritual rituals in which the native “Yage” or “Ayahuasca” drug was used.
During the ritual, the participants visiting him in La Vega, Cundinamarca drank the brew made out of various plants.
However, according to prosecutors, Gaitan mixed the traditional drug with a substance that made women fall asleep after which he sexually abused his victims....
The suspect has denied the charges.
http://colombiareports.com/central-colombia-shaman-arrested-for-drugging-and-raping-at-least-50-women/
Fran's Day Care - Keller case
State's highest criminal court throws out 1992 convictions of sexual assault at Austin day care. Court declines, however, to find innocent in case involving claims of satanic abuse.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/
- Duggars were investigated by DHS in May and 911 was called, new report claims
- Women's issues, 'Up For Debate' campaign gets Nova Scotian support
- Nova Scotia woman 'tortured' for years by family speaks out
- Central-Colombia shaman arrested for ‘drugging and raping at least 50 women’
Duggar family under investigation, refuses to let official check on child: 911 call
BY Meg Wagner NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Arkansas' Department of Human Services is investigating the Duggar family, according to a worker who called 911 when the family refused to let him check in on a child.
Arkansas officials are again investigating the Duggars — but the ultraconservative family isn't cooperating.
A Department of Human Services worker called 911 last month after the Duggars — entangled in oldest son Josh's molestation scandal — refused to let him check in on a child inside the house, according records newly obtained by In Touch Weekly.
The caller told the dispatcher he visited the home as part of a DHS investigation into the "19 Kids & Counting" family....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/duggars-not-cooperating-new-investigation-official-article-1.2253195
Duggars were investigated by DHS in May and 911 was called, new report claims
Published June 10, 2015
A new report by In Touch claims the Duggar family was being investigated as recently as May 27, and a 911 call regarding the Duggars was placed on that date by a Washington County Department of Human Services (DHS) worker because the DHS was allegedly being denied access to a minor in the family.
The call was supposedly just days after a May 19 report by In Touch revealed Josh Duggar had sexually abused five females – including four sisters -- when he was 14 or 15 back in 2002 and 2003. Josh Duggar, his parents, and two of his sisters—Jessa Seewald and Jill Dillard—have since spoken openly about the abuse.
After the revelations about the Duggars hit the web, the Arkansas Department of Human Services reportedly launched a new investigation into the family made famous by the TV show “19 Kids and Counting.”
The latest issue of In Touch magazine contains a transcript of the 911 call that was allegedly made regarding the Duggar family. In supposed printed transcript of the call, the caller identifies the home they are calling about by saying “Address is the Duggar family home.”....
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/06/10/duggars-were-investigated-by-dhs-in-may-and-11-was-called-new-report-claims/
Women's issues, 'Up For Debate' campaign gets Nova Scotian support
'Up for Debate' campaign wants federal party leaders to agree to a national debate on women's issues
CBC News Posted: Jun 10, 2015
Two Nova Scotian women are getting behind a national push towards a federal election debate that focuses entirely on women's issues.
Linda MacDonald and Jeanne Sarson are vocal in their support of Up For Debate, an alliance of organizations united in raising awareness about women's rights until the next election. They are calling for party leaders to be answer questions about the many national issues that concern the physical and mental health of women....
Both women are members of an organization called Persons Against Non-state Torture. Their mandate is to work with people who've experienced forms of domestic torture, including ritual abuse in private settings.
Their organization joins over 170 others in Canada in supporting the campaign....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/women-s-issues-up-for-debate-campaign-gets-nova-scotian-support-1.3108546
Nova Scotia woman 'tortured' for years by family speaks out
WARNING: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers
By Angela MacIvor, Susan Allen, CBC News Posted: May 28, 2014
Two Nova Scotia registered nurses who run a human rights advocacy group are speaking out about domestic "torture" cases with the help of a woman victim who first sparked the issue for them more than 20 years ago.
"We tried to find people to help her and no one really wanted to. About three sessions into her work, we realized she was a torture survivor because her story went way beyond abuse, so we stayed with her and we helped her heal," said Linda MacDonald.
MacDonald and fellow registered nurse Jeanne Sarson are the founders of Persons Against NST (Non-State Torture).
They say their first foray into looking at domestic torture began in 1993 when Sarson took a call from a woman in her late 20s who goes by the name Sara....
Sara, who is now 50 years old and uses a pseudonym to protect her identity, alleges she was starved, drugged, confined, beaten and raped by her own parents from the time she was a young child....
Over the years, Sarson and MacDonald say they've helped more than 3,000 victims of NST around the globe, including about a dozen or so cases in Nova Scotia.
MacDonald says counselling can continue for two to three years. In some cases, they work with victims for over a decade....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-woman-tortured-for-years-by-family-speaks-out-1.2655876
Central-Colombia shaman arrested for ‘drugging and raping at least 50 women’
Posted by Torkan Omari on Jun 5, 2015
A shaman from central Colombia was arrested on Thursday on charges he drugged and raped at least 50 women between 2008 and 2012.
Edgar Orlando Gaitan, known as “El Taita”, is accused of using his position as a shaman to sexually abuse women who came to him to perform spiritual rituals in which the native “Yage” or “Ayahuasca” drug was used.
During the ritual, the participants visiting him in La Vega, Cundinamarca drank the brew made out of various plants.
However, according to prosecutors, Gaitan mixed the traditional drug with a substance that made women fall asleep after which he sexually abused his victims....
The suspect has denied the charges.
http://colombiareports.com/central-colombia-shaman-arrested-for-drugging-and-raping-at-least-50-women/
Fran's Day Care - Keller case
State's highest criminal court throws out 1992 convictions of sexual assault at Austin day care. Court declines, however, to find innocent in case involving claims of satanic abuse.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Dennis Hastert pleads not guilty on all counts, Facebook Frat Whistleblower: Penn State Did Nothing for Months After I Told Them About Abuse
Dennis Hastert pleads not guilty on all counts
By Chris Frates, Bill Kirkos and Tom LoBianco, CNN June 9, 2015
Washington (CNN)Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has pleaded not guilty to all charges related to lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject to "cover up past misconduct."
Hastert was arraigned in court in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon, amid reports he allegedly sexually abused former students.
The former House speaker has hired high-profile white collar crime lawyer Thomas Green to defend him in court. Green has defended clients involved in Watergate, Iran Contra and Whitewater.
Judge Thomas Durkin is allowing Hastert to be released on a pretrial release. Hastert had to sign and appearance bond of $4,500 which he forfeits if he fails to appear.
He was also barred from carrying firearms, had to surrender his passport and cooperate in giving a sample of DNA.
Hastert faces charges of lying to federal investigators and hiding bank transactions as part of a plan to pay $3.5 million in hush money to one of his victims, identified only as "Individual A". Law enforcement sources confirmed a second alleged victim was interviewed by them and the sister of a third alleged victim told ABC that her brother had been molested by Hastert....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/politics/dennis-hastert-arraignment-appearing-in-court/
Facebook Frat Whistleblower: Penn State Did Nothing for Months After I Told Them About Abuse
James Vivenzio filed a lawsuit against Penn State today in Philadelphia court. The school “strongly disputes” his allegations.
By Holly Otterbein June 8, 2015
Did Penn State learn anything in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal?
Not if you believe a lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of James Vivenzio, the 21-year-old whistleblower who told authorities this January that the fraternity Kappa Delta Rho was running a secret Facebook page where members allegedly posted images of nude, unconscious women, drug sales and hazing.
At a Monday press conference about his lawsuit, Vivenzio, a former KDR brother, and his lawyer Aaron Freiwald made a number of stunning allegations about the frat and Penn State. Perhaps the most shocking among them is that Vivenzio said he told university officials about KDR's alleged Facebook page months before he went to the police, but they did nothing.
Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said in a statement that the university "strongly disputes the allegations in this complaint."....
Vivenzio said that he initially told university officials about KDR's alleged hazing by calling Penn State's anonymous hazing hotline. Freiwald said that "was very quickly leaked, he found out, to all the members of the fraternity, and an effort was then made within the fraternity house to figure out who the 'rat' was."
Then, in April 2014 — about eight months before Vivenzio went to the police — he said he met with Danny Shaha, a senior investigator in Penn State's Office of Student Conduct, to discuss his experience at KDR. He said he told Shaha about the alleged hazing, drug sales and Facebook pages, and showed him reams of evidence, including text messages and screen shots. Since then, no one from Penn State has met with Vivenzio to discuss his allegations or to collect the evidence to this day, according to the lawsuit. Freiwald said the first time the university took action to address Vivenzio's concerns, as far as he knows, was last month, when it announced it was shutting down the the KDR chapter for three years. PSU vehemently denied this.
Spokeswoman Powers said the school "offered [Vivenzio] extraordinary assistance on numerous occasions," but "neither he nor his family were willing to file a complaint, provide documentation, speak with State College police or participate in pursuing the formal disciplinary process available to them, despite repeated encouragement from university staff." She also said Vivenzio did not tell university officials about the alleged Facebook page.
Finally, Vivenzio decided to tell the police about his concerns in January of this year. His allegations prompted an investigation into KDR, which is ongoing. Still, according to Freiwald, police only contacted him for a follow-up meeting as recently as a couple weeks ago. Due to scheduling conflicts, he said, they still have not met.
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/06/08/penn-state-kappa-delta-rho-facebook-frat/
By Chris Frates, Bill Kirkos and Tom LoBianco, CNN June 9, 2015
Washington (CNN)Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has pleaded not guilty to all charges related to lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject to "cover up past misconduct."
Hastert was arraigned in court in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon, amid reports he allegedly sexually abused former students.
The former House speaker has hired high-profile white collar crime lawyer Thomas Green to defend him in court. Green has defended clients involved in Watergate, Iran Contra and Whitewater.
Judge Thomas Durkin is allowing Hastert to be released on a pretrial release. Hastert had to sign and appearance bond of $4,500 which he forfeits if he fails to appear.
He was also barred from carrying firearms, had to surrender his passport and cooperate in giving a sample of DNA.
Hastert faces charges of lying to federal investigators and hiding bank transactions as part of a plan to pay $3.5 million in hush money to one of his victims, identified only as "Individual A". Law enforcement sources confirmed a second alleged victim was interviewed by them and the sister of a third alleged victim told ABC that her brother had been molested by Hastert....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/politics/dennis-hastert-arraignment-appearing-in-court/
Facebook Frat Whistleblower: Penn State Did Nothing for Months After I Told Them About Abuse
James Vivenzio filed a lawsuit against Penn State today in Philadelphia court. The school “strongly disputes” his allegations.
By Holly Otterbein June 8, 2015
Did Penn State learn anything in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal?
Not if you believe a lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of James Vivenzio, the 21-year-old whistleblower who told authorities this January that the fraternity Kappa Delta Rho was running a secret Facebook page where members allegedly posted images of nude, unconscious women, drug sales and hazing.
At a Monday press conference about his lawsuit, Vivenzio, a former KDR brother, and his lawyer Aaron Freiwald made a number of stunning allegations about the frat and Penn State. Perhaps the most shocking among them is that Vivenzio said he told university officials about KDR's alleged Facebook page months before he went to the police, but they did nothing.
Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said in a statement that the university "strongly disputes the allegations in this complaint."....
Vivenzio said that he initially told university officials about KDR's alleged hazing by calling Penn State's anonymous hazing hotline. Freiwald said that "was very quickly leaked, he found out, to all the members of the fraternity, and an effort was then made within the fraternity house to figure out who the 'rat' was."
Then, in April 2014 — about eight months before Vivenzio went to the police — he said he met with Danny Shaha, a senior investigator in Penn State's Office of Student Conduct, to discuss his experience at KDR. He said he told Shaha about the alleged hazing, drug sales and Facebook pages, and showed him reams of evidence, including text messages and screen shots. Since then, no one from Penn State has met with Vivenzio to discuss his allegations or to collect the evidence to this day, according to the lawsuit. Freiwald said the first time the university took action to address Vivenzio's concerns, as far as he knows, was last month, when it announced it was shutting down the the KDR chapter for three years. PSU vehemently denied this.
Spokeswoman Powers said the school "offered [Vivenzio] extraordinary assistance on numerous occasions," but "neither he nor his family were willing to file a complaint, provide documentation, speak with State College police or participate in pursuing the formal disciplinary process available to them, despite repeated encouragement from university staff." She also said Vivenzio did not tell university officials about the alleged Facebook page.
Finally, Vivenzio decided to tell the police about his concerns in January of this year. His allegations prompted an investigation into KDR, which is ongoing. Still, according to Freiwald, police only contacted him for a follow-up meeting as recently as a couple weeks ago. Due to scheduling conflicts, he said, they still have not met.
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/06/08/penn-state-kappa-delta-rho-facebook-frat/
Monday, June 8, 2015
Woman Says Dennis Hastert Abused Her Brother, Paying to Hide ‘Misconduct’, Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest, Ex-PSU student sues school over fraternity allegations
- Woman Says Dennis Hastert Abused Her Brother in High School
- Hastert Case Is Said to Be Linked to Decades-Old Sexual Abuse
- U.S. Accuses Ex-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Paying to Hide ‘Misconduct’
- Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest
- Ex-PSU student sues school over fraternity allegations
Woman Says Dennis Hastert Abused Her Brother in High School
By JULIE BOSMAN and DAVE PHILIPPS JUNE 5, 2015
YORKVILLE, Ill. — As an enthusiastic young teacher and wrestling coach at the high school here, former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert reliably had one student at his side, former classmates say. Stephen Reinboldt, a smart, slender, likable student who rose to become class president, was the wrestling team’s equipment manager. For four years, he arrived at practice early and stayed late, traveled with Mr. Hastert to overnight tournaments, even when only one wrestler was competing, and went for long rides in the coach’s sports car, sometimes driving it.
On Friday, Mr. Reinboldt’s younger sister, Jolene Burdge, said her brother, who died in 1995, was also sexually abused by Mr. Hastert, but hid the fact for years because he thought no one would believe him.
“Mr. Hastert had plenty of opportunities to be alone with Steve because he was there before the meets,” Ms. Burdge said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He was there after everything because he did the laundry, the uniforms.”
The allegation comes a week after Mr. Hastert, who served for eight years as House speaker, was indicted on charges of making cash withdrawals, totaling $1.7 million, to evade detection by the authorities and lying to investigators.
Two people briefed on the F.B.I. investigation told The New York Times that Mr. Hastert was using the money to pay a former student hundreds of thousands of dollars to hide the fact that Mr. Hastert sexually abused him decades ago....
Ms. Burdge said she tried for years to get news organizations, including ABC News, and advocacy groups to pursue the story. She began in 2006 after it was revealed that Mr. Hastert had covered up claims that Representative Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, had sent sexually explicit emails to congressional pages.
She said she had given up on exposing Mr. Hastert. Then, two weeks ago, just before Mr. Hastert was indicted, she was contacted by the F.B.I....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/us/sister-says-her-brother-was-a-victim-of-ex-speaker-hastert.html
Hastert Case Is Said to Be Linked to Decades-Old Sexual Abuse
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT MAY 29, 2015
WASHINGTON — J. Dennis Hastert, who served for eight years as speaker of the House of Representatives, was paying a former student hundreds of thousands of dollars to not say publicly that Mr. Hastert had sexually abused him decades ago, according to two people briefed on the evidence uncovered in an F.B.I. investigation.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced the indictment of Mr. Hastert, 73, on allegations that he made cash withdrawals, totaling $1.7 million, to evade detection by banks. The federal authorities also charged him with lying to them about the purpose of the withdrawals.
The former student — who was not identified in court papers — told the F.B.I. that he had been inappropriately touched by Mr. Hastert when the former speaker was a high school teacher and wrestling coach, the two people said Friday. The people briefed on the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a federal investigation.
It was not clear when the suspected behavior, which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times, occurred. Mr. Hastert was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville, Ill., from 1965 to 1981, and the indictment said the recipient of the payments was from Yorkville and had known Mr. Hastert for decades....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/us/politics/hastert-indictment.html
U.S. Accuses Ex-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Paying to Hide ‘Misconduct’
By MONICA DAVEY MAY 28, 2015
CHICAGO — J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has been charged with lying to the F.B.I. and making cash withdrawals from banks in a way that was designed to hide that he was paying $3.5 million to someone for his “misconduct” from years ago, a federal indictment released on Thursday said.
Mr. Hastert, 73, the longest-serving Republican speaker, had worked as a lobbyist since leaving office. The indictment, announced by the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Mr. Hastert, who was once a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill., had so far paid $1.7 million to the person, who had lived in Yorkville and had known Mr. Hastert for most of his or her life. Mr. Hastert worked in Yorkville from 1965 to 1981.
In 2010, during meetings between Mr. Hastert and the unnamed individual, the two discussed “past misconduct” by Mr. Hastert against the person, according to the indictment....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/us/ex-house-speaker-j-dennis-hastert-indicted-on-federal-charges.html
Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest
By MITCH SMITH JUNE 5, 2015
CHICAGO — Prosecutors in Minnesota filed criminal charges on Friday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accusing church leaders of mishandling repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest and failing to follow through on pledges to protect children and root out pedophile clergymen.
The charges and accompanying civil petition, announced by the Ramsey County prosecutor, John J. Choi, stem from accusations by three male victims who say that from 2008 to 2010, when they were under age, a local priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, gave them alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting them.
The criminal case amounts to a sweeping condemnation of the archdiocese and how its leaders have handled the abuse allegations — even after reforms were put in place by church leaders to increase accountability — and the charges are among the most severe actions taken by American authorities against a Catholic diocese.
“Today, we are alleging a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior committed by the highest levels of leadership of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over the course of decades,” Mr. Choi said in a statement....
The charging documents also say that archdiocese officials knew that Mr. Wehmeyer used a boys’ bathroom at a parish elementary school instead of the staff restroom; tried to give an elementary-age boy a tour of the rectory in violation of policy; and took camping trips with boys where some of the sexual abuse was said to have occurred.
The archdiocese placed Mr. Wehmeyer in a monitoring program for priests facing complaints of abuse or other problems, but prosecutors said in court documents that the supervision and follow-through was “lax or nonexistent.”....
An Ohio judge in 2003 convicted the Archdiocese of Cincinnati of failing to report sexually abusive priests in the 1970s and ’80s. The judge fined the archdiocese $10,000, the maximum allowed, after the archbishop entered a no-contest plea....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/us/catholic-archdiocese-in-minnesota-charged-over-sex-abuse-by-priest.html
describes graphic situations
Ex-PSU student sues school over fraternity allegations
Susan Snyder, Inquirer Staff Writer Monday, June 8, 2015
James Vivenzio says he thought pledging a fraternity at Pennsylvania State University would mean brotherhood and honor.
Instead, the 21-year-old from Great Falls, Va., says, he was force-fed buckets of liquor mixed with urine, vomit, and hot sauce; made to guzzle hard alcohol until he vomited; burned on the chest with a cigarette; and once was beaten by a member of Kappa Delta Rho after he failed to participate in a ritual.
And the university, he contends in a lawsuit filed Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, failed to act after he reported the abuse more than a year ago, including his telling the school about the existence of private Facebook pages fraternity members allegedly used to post revealing photos of females who may have been aware they were being photographed.
"It is not an understatement to say that I was afraid somebody could die unless the abuse, the Facebook . . . and all that was going on, were shut down permanently," Vivenzio said Monday, reading from a statement at a news conference in his lawyer's office in Center City. "I'm no hero and I'm certainly no martyr."
The filing came the same day that Kappa Delta Rho's national office announced it had expelled 38 of the 100 or so members of its Penn State chapter and put the rest on alumni status. Penn State last month suspended the chapter for three years after a university investigation found evidence of hazing, underage drinking, and sexual harassment.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and names the university, the fraternity, and the fraternity's national office as defendants....
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150609_Frat_whistle-blower_sues_Penn_State.html
- Hastert Case Is Said to Be Linked to Decades-Old Sexual Abuse
- U.S. Accuses Ex-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Paying to Hide ‘Misconduct’
- Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest
- Ex-PSU student sues school over fraternity allegations
Woman Says Dennis Hastert Abused Her Brother in High School
By JULIE BOSMAN and DAVE PHILIPPS JUNE 5, 2015
YORKVILLE, Ill. — As an enthusiastic young teacher and wrestling coach at the high school here, former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert reliably had one student at his side, former classmates say. Stephen Reinboldt, a smart, slender, likable student who rose to become class president, was the wrestling team’s equipment manager. For four years, he arrived at practice early and stayed late, traveled with Mr. Hastert to overnight tournaments, even when only one wrestler was competing, and went for long rides in the coach’s sports car, sometimes driving it.
On Friday, Mr. Reinboldt’s younger sister, Jolene Burdge, said her brother, who died in 1995, was also sexually abused by Mr. Hastert, but hid the fact for years because he thought no one would believe him.
“Mr. Hastert had plenty of opportunities to be alone with Steve because he was there before the meets,” Ms. Burdge said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He was there after everything because he did the laundry, the uniforms.”
The allegation comes a week after Mr. Hastert, who served for eight years as House speaker, was indicted on charges of making cash withdrawals, totaling $1.7 million, to evade detection by the authorities and lying to investigators.
Two people briefed on the F.B.I. investigation told The New York Times that Mr. Hastert was using the money to pay a former student hundreds of thousands of dollars to hide the fact that Mr. Hastert sexually abused him decades ago....
Ms. Burdge said she tried for years to get news organizations, including ABC News, and advocacy groups to pursue the story. She began in 2006 after it was revealed that Mr. Hastert had covered up claims that Representative Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, had sent sexually explicit emails to congressional pages.
She said she had given up on exposing Mr. Hastert. Then, two weeks ago, just before Mr. Hastert was indicted, she was contacted by the F.B.I....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/us/sister-says-her-brother-was-a-victim-of-ex-speaker-hastert.html
Hastert Case Is Said to Be Linked to Decades-Old Sexual Abuse
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT MAY 29, 2015
WASHINGTON — J. Dennis Hastert, who served for eight years as speaker of the House of Representatives, was paying a former student hundreds of thousands of dollars to not say publicly that Mr. Hastert had sexually abused him decades ago, according to two people briefed on the evidence uncovered in an F.B.I. investigation.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced the indictment of Mr. Hastert, 73, on allegations that he made cash withdrawals, totaling $1.7 million, to evade detection by banks. The federal authorities also charged him with lying to them about the purpose of the withdrawals.
The former student — who was not identified in court papers — told the F.B.I. that he had been inappropriately touched by Mr. Hastert when the former speaker was a high school teacher and wrestling coach, the two people said Friday. The people briefed on the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a federal investigation.
It was not clear when the suspected behavior, which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times, occurred. Mr. Hastert was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville, Ill., from 1965 to 1981, and the indictment said the recipient of the payments was from Yorkville and had known Mr. Hastert for decades....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/us/politics/hastert-indictment.html
U.S. Accuses Ex-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Paying to Hide ‘Misconduct’
By MONICA DAVEY MAY 28, 2015
CHICAGO — J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has been charged with lying to the F.B.I. and making cash withdrawals from banks in a way that was designed to hide that he was paying $3.5 million to someone for his “misconduct” from years ago, a federal indictment released on Thursday said.
Mr. Hastert, 73, the longest-serving Republican speaker, had worked as a lobbyist since leaving office. The indictment, announced by the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Mr. Hastert, who was once a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill., had so far paid $1.7 million to the person, who had lived in Yorkville and had known Mr. Hastert for most of his or her life. Mr. Hastert worked in Yorkville from 1965 to 1981.
In 2010, during meetings between Mr. Hastert and the unnamed individual, the two discussed “past misconduct” by Mr. Hastert against the person, according to the indictment....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/us/ex-house-speaker-j-dennis-hastert-indicted-on-federal-charges.html
Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest
By MITCH SMITH JUNE 5, 2015
CHICAGO — Prosecutors in Minnesota filed criminal charges on Friday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accusing church leaders of mishandling repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest and failing to follow through on pledges to protect children and root out pedophile clergymen.
The charges and accompanying civil petition, announced by the Ramsey County prosecutor, John J. Choi, stem from accusations by three male victims who say that from 2008 to 2010, when they were under age, a local priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, gave them alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting them.
The criminal case amounts to a sweeping condemnation of the archdiocese and how its leaders have handled the abuse allegations — even after reforms were put in place by church leaders to increase accountability — and the charges are among the most severe actions taken by American authorities against a Catholic diocese.
“Today, we are alleging a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior committed by the highest levels of leadership of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over the course of decades,” Mr. Choi said in a statement....
The charging documents also say that archdiocese officials knew that Mr. Wehmeyer used a boys’ bathroom at a parish elementary school instead of the staff restroom; tried to give an elementary-age boy a tour of the rectory in violation of policy; and took camping trips with boys where some of the sexual abuse was said to have occurred.
The archdiocese placed Mr. Wehmeyer in a monitoring program for priests facing complaints of abuse or other problems, but prosecutors said in court documents that the supervision and follow-through was “lax or nonexistent.”....
An Ohio judge in 2003 convicted the Archdiocese of Cincinnati of failing to report sexually abusive priests in the 1970s and ’80s. The judge fined the archdiocese $10,000, the maximum allowed, after the archbishop entered a no-contest plea....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/us/catholic-archdiocese-in-minnesota-charged-over-sex-abuse-by-priest.html
describes graphic situations
Ex-PSU student sues school over fraternity allegations
Susan Snyder, Inquirer Staff Writer Monday, June 8, 2015
James Vivenzio says he thought pledging a fraternity at Pennsylvania State University would mean brotherhood and honor.
Instead, the 21-year-old from Great Falls, Va., says, he was force-fed buckets of liquor mixed with urine, vomit, and hot sauce; made to guzzle hard alcohol until he vomited; burned on the chest with a cigarette; and once was beaten by a member of Kappa Delta Rho after he failed to participate in a ritual.
And the university, he contends in a lawsuit filed Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, failed to act after he reported the abuse more than a year ago, including his telling the school about the existence of private Facebook pages fraternity members allegedly used to post revealing photos of females who may have been aware they were being photographed.
"It is not an understatement to say that I was afraid somebody could die unless the abuse, the Facebook . . . and all that was going on, were shut down permanently," Vivenzio said Monday, reading from a statement at a news conference in his lawyer's office in Center City. "I'm no hero and I'm certainly no martyr."
The filing came the same day that Kappa Delta Rho's national office announced it had expelled 38 of the 100 or so members of its Penn State chapter and put the rest on alumni status. Penn State last month suspended the chapter for three years after a university investigation found evidence of hazing, underage drinking, and sexual harassment.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and names the university, the fraternity, and the fraternity's national office as defendants....
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150609_Frat_whistle-blower_sues_Penn_State.html
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Police set to question celebrities, politicians and sports stars in investigation into child abuse on island of Jersey, Top Vatican Cardinal Pell trailed by old child abuse scandal from Australia
Top Vatican cardinal trailed by old child abuse scandal from Australia
"a notorious pedophilia ring just down the road from where Pell once served as parish priest"
"abuse victims and fellow priests have given testimony under oath that Pell knew about the dozens of children who were mistreated there"
"Other priests gave testimony that Pell was probably part of high-level meetings about Ridsdale’s offenses by 1977, an allegation Pell has denied"
Police set to question thirteen 'celebrities, politicians and sports stars' in investigation into historic child abuse on island of Jersey
States of Jersey Police say they are to imminently quiz 13 famous figures
They are among the 45 suspects identified as part of Operation Whistle
The investigation is looking into allegations of child sex abuse on Jersey
By Jennifer Newton for MailOnline 4 June 2015
Police investigating child abuse claims on the island of Jersey say they are set to question 13 celebrities, politicians and sports stars.
Detectives have revealed that the prominent figures, who are 'well known' will be quizzed 'imminently' into allegations of institutionalised sex offences on the Channel island.
Their identities have not been revealed but police have said that 13 of the 45 suspects are public figures, including media personalities, politicians and sports people and they will be questioned as part of Operation Whistle.
The alleged abuse is said to have occurred between the late 1930s until the mid 2000s across four institutions, including the Haut de la Garenne children's home.
The other institutions, which have not been named, are no longer functioning....
An investigation was launched into allegations of historic child abuse in Jersey in 2007 with former children's home Haut de la Garenne becoming the focus.
By February 2008, the investigating team had received some claims about possible murders at Haut de la Garenne, a children's home for 86 years until it closed in 1986....
the investigation did show numerous instances of abuse against past residents, with one former staff member being convicted of abuse.
Gordon Wateridge, was found guilty of eight indecent assaults on teenage girls and jailed for two years in August.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3111224/Police-set-question-thirteen-celebrities-politicians-sports-stars-investigation-historic-child-abuse-island-Jersey.html
Top Vatican cardinal trailed by old child abuse scandal from Australia
By Sarah Kaplan June 3
Cardinal George Pell left Sydney two years ago to great fanfare. The longtime archbishop of Sydney and lauded “defender of the faith down under” had just been appointed chief of the Vatican’s finances — sometimes described as the second most powerful position in Rome. It is the highest an Australian has ever ascended in the church.
But Pell couldn’t leave behind the child sex abuse scandal that had rocked his hometown or the hushed accusations that he had a part in it. Those accusations have grown louder and much more public since last month, when an Australian commission began hearings into a notorious pedophilia ring just down the road from where Pell once served as parish priest.
Amid fervent coverage in the Australian news media, an accusation that his handling of the issue was “sociopathic” and testimony that Pell ignored warnings about his abusive colleagues and attempted to bribe one victim to stop him from speaking out, Pell has now hired lawyers to fight off attacks from the decades-old scandal he can’t quite shake....
Ten thousand miles from Rome, in Pell’s hometown of Ballarat, abuse victims and fellow priests have given testimony under oath that Pell knew about the dozens of children who were mistreated there....
Pell was ordained in Rome in 1966 and moved to Oxford for his PhD. But when he returned to Australia in 1971, he moved back to his home state of Victoria, and two years after that he was back in Ballarat. There he served as a parish priest and vicar. Just down the road, St. Alipius Primary School had become the site of one of Australia’s most notorious pedophilia rings....
One of the worst abusers was Gerald Ridsdale, a now-defrocked priest convicted of sexual offenses against more than 50 children. Ridsdale lived with Pell in Ballarat for two years.
Ridsdale, who told his family he had “hundreds” of victims, according to the Australian newspaper the Age, was moved to nine different parishes over the course of his career — something the church is often accused of doing when faced with allegations of abuse.
Pell said he knew nothing about his colleague’s treatment of children until the 1990s, when Ridsdale was arrested and charged with dozens of counts of sexual assault over the course of two decades.
When Ridsdale appeared in a Melbourne court in 1993, Pell stood alongside him, dressed in a priest’s garb....
In 1994, Ridsdale pleaded guilty to 46 counts of sexual abuse and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was sentenced to an additional four years in 2006 after pleading guilty to 35 more charges, and eight more years in 2013, after additional offenses came to light during the Australian inquiry into the Church’s handling of abuse allegations. All told, he is convicted of abusing 54 children. The youngest was 4 years old....
Meanwhile, Pell’s star continued to rise. He was named archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and then Archbishop of Sydney in 2001. A 2003 article on his appointment as cardinal called his ascent to the upper echelons of the Church “inexorable,” noting Pell’s moral fervor and reputation as a “staunch and public upholder of Catholic purity.”....
Last August, when Pell appeared before the commission for a broader inquiry on the Church’s handling of abuse cases, he said that the Church should not be held legally responsible for the actions of its priests, comparing it to a hypothetical trucking company that hired a driver who molested women....
Other priests gave testimony that Pell was probably part of high-level meetings about Ridsdale’s offenses by 1977, an allegation Pell has denied....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/03/top-vatican-cardinal-trailed-by-old-child-abuse-scandal-from-australia/
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
UN chief orders review of handling of claims of child abuse by French soldiers
UN chief orders review of handling of claims of child abuse by French soldiers
Ban Ki-moon steps in to announce external review
‘There are systems that failed here,’ UN chief’s spokesman tells reporters
Sandra Laville and Ben Quinn Wednesday 3 June 2015
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has made a dramatic intervention in the scandal of French peacekeepers allegedly abusing children in Africa by announcing an independent external review of how his organisation handled the affair.
The move is the first public intervention by the secretary general into what has become a growing controversy for the UN. Pressure is growing on the organisation and on the French authorities to explain when and how they reacted to revelations by children in Central African Republic last year that they were being sexually exploited by French soldiers at a camp for internally displaced people.
In April the Guardian revealed that a senior UN official, Anders Kompass, had been suspended for disclosing an internal report on the alleged abuse to French prosecutors. Documents released last week, including a statement from Kompass, stated his position that he had passed the report to the French because he was concerned the UN would do nothing to stop the abuse. He has been reinstated but is still under internal investigation and could be dismissed....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/03/united-nations-child-abuse-french-soldiers
Ban Ki-moon steps in to announce external review
‘There are systems that failed here,’ UN chief’s spokesman tells reporters
Sandra Laville and Ben Quinn Wednesday 3 June 2015
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has made a dramatic intervention in the scandal of French peacekeepers allegedly abusing children in Africa by announcing an independent external review of how his organisation handled the affair.
The move is the first public intervention by the secretary general into what has become a growing controversy for the UN. Pressure is growing on the organisation and on the French authorities to explain when and how they reacted to revelations by children in Central African Republic last year that they were being sexually exploited by French soldiers at a camp for internally displaced people.
In April the Guardian revealed that a senior UN official, Anders Kompass, had been suspended for disclosing an internal report on the alleged abuse to French prosecutors. Documents released last week, including a statement from Kompass, stated his position that he had passed the report to the French because he was concerned the UN would do nothing to stop the abuse. He has been reinstated but is still under internal investigation and could be dismissed....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/03/united-nations-child-abuse-french-soldiers
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Vatican defends Cardinal George Pell in child sex abuse scandal
Vatican defends Cardinal George Pell in child sex abuse scandal
June 02, 2015
THE Vatican has defended its finance chief, Australian Cardinal George Pell, after he was accused by one of Pope Francis’ commissioners for child protection of being almost sociopathic.
Spokesman Federico Lombardi says Peter Saunders, who called for Pell to be dismissed over allegations he covered up abuse and denigrated victims, was expressing his personal views and not speaking on behalf of the commission.
Lombardi told journalists Pell, formerly the top Catholic cleric in Australia, has replied to all questions posed by the authorities and his defence must be considered reliable and worthy of attention and respect.
Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday requested Pell give evidence when the inquiry next meets at a date to be determined.
Pell says he will be present at the hearing.
Mr Saunders, an abuse survivor, made headlines earlier this week when he called on the Pope to sack Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s financial chief over allegations he helped cover up paedophile activity in Australia.
Now Mr Saunders has revealed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors may not be able to do its job properly due to a lack of resources.
“George Pell is in the Pope’s cabinet, the inner sanctum, and is in charge of Vatican finances,” he said....
Cardinal Pell, who denies the cover-up allegations, said he was consulting his legal advisers after Mr Saunders said the Australian’s lack of care for victims was “almost sociopathic”.
Mr Saunders responded by stating the threat of legal action wasn’t surprising and he wouldn’t shut up for anyone. http://www.news.com.au/national/vatican-defends-cardinal-george-pell-in-child-sex-abuse-scandal/story-fncynjr2-1227378918090
June 02, 2015
THE Vatican has defended its finance chief, Australian Cardinal George Pell, after he was accused by one of Pope Francis’ commissioners for child protection of being almost sociopathic.
Spokesman Federico Lombardi says Peter Saunders, who called for Pell to be dismissed over allegations he covered up abuse and denigrated victims, was expressing his personal views and not speaking on behalf of the commission.
Lombardi told journalists Pell, formerly the top Catholic cleric in Australia, has replied to all questions posed by the authorities and his defence must be considered reliable and worthy of attention and respect.
Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday requested Pell give evidence when the inquiry next meets at a date to be determined.
Pell says he will be present at the hearing.
Mr Saunders, an abuse survivor, made headlines earlier this week when he called on the Pope to sack Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s financial chief over allegations he helped cover up paedophile activity in Australia.
Now Mr Saunders has revealed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors may not be able to do its job properly due to a lack of resources.
“George Pell is in the Pope’s cabinet, the inner sanctum, and is in charge of Vatican finances,” he said....
Cardinal Pell, who denies the cover-up allegations, said he was consulting his legal advisers after Mr Saunders said the Australian’s lack of care for victims was “almost sociopathic”.
Mr Saunders responded by stating the threat of legal action wasn’t surprising and he wouldn’t shut up for anyone. http://www.news.com.au/national/vatican-defends-cardinal-george-pell-in-child-sex-abuse-scandal/story-fncynjr2-1227378918090
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