Expert on Ritual Murders About the Triple Homicide in the Florida Panhandle, Santeria priest claims sexual assault was part of healing ritual, Child abuse scandal in Pakistan

- We Asked an Expert on Ritual Murders About the Triple Homicide in the Florida
- Santeria priest claims sexual assault was part of healing ritual, police say
- Child abuse scandal shocks Pakistan, families angry at police

We Asked an Expert on Ritual Murders About the Triple Homicide in the Florida Panhandle   August 6, 2015 By Allie Conti  Staff Writer

This week, people across the country have been freaking out about a crime story that sounds like it came straight out of the good season of True Detective. A sheriff in Florida's Panhandle, which is also known as the Redneck Riviera and characterized by conservatism and religiosity, announced at a press conference that a ritualistic triple-murder took place in Pensacola last week....

But is it possible that we should be taking the allegedly ritualistic part of this tragedy more seriously? Dawn Perlmutter, an expert on ritual killings and former director of the Institute for the Research of Organized and Ritual Violence, says her phone has been blowing up since the news of the murders broke. (I managed to catch her 20 minutes before she took the stage at the International Association for Identification Crime Scene Conference, where she was giving a lecture on—you guessed it—ritual murders.) Apparently, these kinds of crimes are more prevalent than people might think. "I've worked on cases in Ohio, and Florida, and New York," Perlmutter said. "They're international, and not specific to either rural places or cities. They can happen everywhere."....

VICE: Hey Dawn. First off, what makes something a ritual murder?
Dawn Perlmutter: What distinguishes a ritualistic killing from a standard homicide is that it goes beyond what's necessary just to kill someone. There's overkill or mutilation. But even more than that, it's usually some kind of symbolic evidence. For example, symbols carved into the body, there can be symbols painted on the floor, it can be the positioning of the body, the staging. These are your pretty standard signs. They tend to be multiple homicides also. And then you get into other types of things, like significance of dates, or significance of holidays specific to different ideologies....

People seem very riled up by this—understandably. But how common is ritual murder?
I've worked on dozens of ritual murders and testified on them. In terms of statistics, I don't think they're as common as bank robberies, but they're certainly more common than serial killing. They occur. They definitely occur. A lot of people don't believe that they happen, but I just testified in two cases in LA, one last month, that was a ritual killing by a couple. And one was by a young Satanist in LA who murdered his mother. In both of those cases, there was severe mutilation and positioning of the bodies, so there was no doubt they were ritual murders.

What's the most interesting case you've worked on?
I don't know if interesting is the right term. One of the cases that was very disturbing to me was one in Toledo, Ohio, that involved a priest who ritually killed a nun in the sacristy of the chapel on Easter Saturday. It was a 25-year-old cold case, so it was nice that we could still solve it, and he was convicted. But that was disturbing because so many victims came out saying that had been done, and it was actually horrifying in a number of ways that it had gone on for so long....

http://www.vice.com/read/we-asked-an-expert-in-ritual-murders-about-the-triple-homicide-in-the-florida-panhandle-806 


Santeria priest claims sexual assault was part of healing ritual, police say
By Veronica Rocha  August 6, 2015

A Santeria priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a girl during what he claimed were healing rituals, Montebello police said Thursday.

Police are trying to find Pablo Pinto Mata, 46 — known as a “Santero,” or priest — who often performed healing rituals at his business, Los Angeles Import, in the 2400 block of Whittier Boulevard in Montebello, police said.

But police said his so-called healing rituals were a ploy used to assault a teenager....

In 2013, Mata performed three healing rituals on a 16-year-old girl, police said. During those incidents, the girl had to disrobe. The third time, Mata forced the girl to disrobe and he sexually assaulted her, police said.

Mata told her the assault was part of a ritual common in Santeria, a faith of the Caribbean.

Police think there may be other victims who were sexually assaulted....
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santeria-sex-assault-20150806-story.html



Priest of Caribbean Santeria religion 'used HEALING ritual as cover to sexually abuse 16-year-old girl'
    Pablo Pinto Mata, 46, is accused of sex attack against girl in 2013
    Allegedly used three-part ritual to dupe her into undressing for attack
    Mata has business linked to Santeria in Montebello, California
    The faith has roots in Africa and incorporates elements of Catholicism
By Kieran Corcoran For Dailymail.com  7 August 2015
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3189944/Priest-Caribbean-Santeria-religion-used-HEALING-ritual-cover-sexually-abuse-16-year-old-girl.html

describes abuse
Child abuse scandal shocks Pakistan, families angry at police
HUSAIN KHAN WALA, Pakistan By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Mubasher Bukhari Mon Aug 10, 2015

Parents at the center of a growing child abuse scandal in Pakistan accused police on Monday of failing to do enough to break up a pedophile ring in Punjab province, the prime minister's political heartland.

Villagers in the central Punjabi village of Husain Khan Wala told Reuters that a prominent family there has for years forced children to perform sex acts on video. The footage was sold or used to blackmail their impoverished families.

Rubina Bibi says her 13-year-old son was a victim, but when she tried to file a report at the Ganda Singh Wala police station a month and a half ago, "the police station clerk told me to get lost and I was thrown out".

"My son is in the videos, he is a victim," she said. "Our children were forced into this. They were humiliated. But the police are treating them like criminals."

Another mother, Shakila Bibi, said: "I went to the police station to file a complaint, but instead of registering a (report), they took my son into custody."

Her 15-year-old son is still in jail, she said....

Lawyer Latif Sra, representing some of the victims, said: "I have personally met hundreds of parents who have not yet come forward to file official complaints, either out of fear or shame."

Police have arrested seven suspects, but downplayed the scale of the abuse, suggesting a land dispute may have sparked accusations.

"It's a very murky situation," said Babar. He added that seven cases involving 11 children had been registered.

Activist Mobeen Ghaznavi said he had 130 video clips containing abuse.

"People are afraid. They are being threatened and intimidated," he said.

Suraiya Bibi said the abusers threatened her family when she complained to police....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/us-pakistan-child-abuse-idUSKCN0QF0K120150810