Spotlight Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton Movie HD
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56jw6tasomc
describes crimes
7 life sentences handed to 2 mass murderers in KZN
The pair hacked their family members to death in what appears to have been a witchcraft ritual.
Mia Lindeque October 30, 2015
JOHANNESBURG - Two people have been handed seven life sentences for killing eight family members in KwaZulu-Natal.
Last week, Thulani and Sibonelo Mncwabe killed their family members, including two young children and an elderly man, in a crime believed to involve witchcraft in Mabaleni on the south coast.
The two suspects pleaded guilty to all eight charges and were also given an additional 20 years each.
Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi say the accused, aged 26 and 28, hacked their family members to death in what appears to have been a witchcraft ritual.
He says the sentences will send out a strong message to other criminals practising witchcraft....
http://ewn.co.za/2015/10/29/Two-men-handed-7-life-sentences-for-hacking-KZN-family-to-death
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
'Spotlight' film Boston clergy abuse scandal, I was abused by clergy: Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson tells of abuse, Texas woman used in 'ritual' while being held captive
'Spotlight' film illuminates Boston clergy abuse scandal
Investigation led to Cardinal Law's resignation Oct 27, 2015
BOSTON —It was a scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core: Hundreds of priests molested children for decades and got away with it because church leaders covered it up.
More than a decade later, the story of how The Boston Globe exposed the church's secret is being told in "Spotlight," a movie starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, set for release Nov. 6.
In Boston, where the scandal led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and settlements with hundreds of victims, key figures featured in the film say it captures the shock of the scandal as it unfolded, the pain suffered by the victims and the work done by journalists to bring it to light.
"We obviously stumbled upon something far more extensive and horrifying than we had any right to expect to find," recalled Walter Robinson - played by Michael Keaton - who led the Globe's Spotlight Team, the investigative unit that broke open the scandal with a series of stories in 2002.
The stories detailed how church higher-ups - including Law - knew priests were abusing children but moved them from parish to parish instead of removing them. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003....
For the reporters, the film is a realistic depiction of both the failings and triumphs of journalism. Before the 2002 series, the Globe had written numerous stories about abusive priests but had not delved deeper to report on who within the archdiocese knew what was going on.
Shortly before Marty Baron took the helm as editor in 2001, he saw a reference in a Globe column about sealed court files in the case of John Geoghan, a priest accused of abusing more than 100 children.
His first day on the job, Baron asked Globe staffers if they had tried to get the files unsealed....
The Spotlight Team went to work while the Globe's lawyers went to court. A judge eventually unsealed church documents, including priest personnel files containing extensive details on when the archdiocese received sexual abuse allegations against priests and who in the church hierarchy knew. The Globe's explosive series sparked an upheaval in the Boston archdiocese that snowballed as similar revelations came to light about abusive priests around the world....
http://www.wcvb.com/entertainment/spotlight-film-illuminates-boston-clergy-abuse-scandal/36067318
I was abused by clergy: Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson tells of abuse as 19-year-old
October 26, 2015 Joanne McCarthy
Anglican bishop Greg Thompson has spoken about being groomed by an Anglican bishop and senior clergyman in the 1970s and later sexually abused, after an historic diocese apology on Sunday for the "shameful" treatment of abuse survivors in the past.
The Newcastle bishop said he was an impressionable 19-year-old when the two men singled him out, made him feel special and used his strong faith and their shared religion as the cover to sexually abuse him.
His allegations against the two men, now dead, were revealed to NSW Police and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year.
Bishop Thompson said he did not reveal the information before the diocese synod at the weekend because he wanted the vote on an historic apology to be a genuine response from clergy and senior diocese parishioners, and not a response to him personally.
"I couldn't have spoken about the need for an apology if they'd known I was a survivor," Bishop Thompson said.
"I wouldn't have known if the response was for me or survivors. I didn't want it to be just about me or any one particular survivor."
He felt stronger after the synod supported an apology, without dissent, in which the diocese apologised "for the shameful way we actively worked against and discouraged those who came to us and reported abuse".
"We are ashamed to acknowledge that we only took notice when the survivors of abuse became a threat to us."....
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/i-was-abused-by-clergy-anglican-bishop-greg-thompson-tells-of-abuse-as-19yearold-20151026-gkiz2x.html
describes crimes
Texas woman used in 'blood ritual' while being held captive
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) — Four people kidnapped a woman and held her captive for three days in a San Antonio-area home, forcing her to ingest drugs and at one point conducting a "blood ritual," a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday.
Authorities believe Mercedes Salazar, 32, was the ringleader who orchestrated the woman's captivity, according to James Keith, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Salazar is being held on charges that include aggravated kidnapping, he said.
Keith said Salazar believed the 25-year-old woman played a role in the August killing of her brother. Authorities say there's no indication the victim played any role in the death.
The woman was abducted last month and spent most of her time in captivity tied to a chair. She told investigators she was forced to take drugs, including what she believed was heroin. Her captors also held a ceremony that Keith described as a blood ritual.
"It was a form of witchcraft where they cut her hair and drew blood from her," he said....
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/texas-woman-used-in-blood-ritual-while-being-held-captive/article_a7abe4db-36c9-51de-abf0-3f231be30dd6.html
Investigation led to Cardinal Law's resignation Oct 27, 2015
BOSTON —It was a scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core: Hundreds of priests molested children for decades and got away with it because church leaders covered it up.
More than a decade later, the story of how The Boston Globe exposed the church's secret is being told in "Spotlight," a movie starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, set for release Nov. 6.
In Boston, where the scandal led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and settlements with hundreds of victims, key figures featured in the film say it captures the shock of the scandal as it unfolded, the pain suffered by the victims and the work done by journalists to bring it to light.
"We obviously stumbled upon something far more extensive and horrifying than we had any right to expect to find," recalled Walter Robinson - played by Michael Keaton - who led the Globe's Spotlight Team, the investigative unit that broke open the scandal with a series of stories in 2002.
The stories detailed how church higher-ups - including Law - knew priests were abusing children but moved them from parish to parish instead of removing them. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003....
For the reporters, the film is a realistic depiction of both the failings and triumphs of journalism. Before the 2002 series, the Globe had written numerous stories about abusive priests but had not delved deeper to report on who within the archdiocese knew what was going on.
Shortly before Marty Baron took the helm as editor in 2001, he saw a reference in a Globe column about sealed court files in the case of John Geoghan, a priest accused of abusing more than 100 children.
His first day on the job, Baron asked Globe staffers if they had tried to get the files unsealed....
The Spotlight Team went to work while the Globe's lawyers went to court. A judge eventually unsealed church documents, including priest personnel files containing extensive details on when the archdiocese received sexual abuse allegations against priests and who in the church hierarchy knew. The Globe's explosive series sparked an upheaval in the Boston archdiocese that snowballed as similar revelations came to light about abusive priests around the world....
http://www.wcvb.com/entertainment/spotlight-film-illuminates-boston-clergy-abuse-scandal/36067318
I was abused by clergy: Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson tells of abuse as 19-year-old
October 26, 2015 Joanne McCarthy
Anglican bishop Greg Thompson has spoken about being groomed by an Anglican bishop and senior clergyman in the 1970s and later sexually abused, after an historic diocese apology on Sunday for the "shameful" treatment of abuse survivors in the past.
The Newcastle bishop said he was an impressionable 19-year-old when the two men singled him out, made him feel special and used his strong faith and their shared religion as the cover to sexually abuse him.
His allegations against the two men, now dead, were revealed to NSW Police and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year.
Bishop Thompson said he did not reveal the information before the diocese synod at the weekend because he wanted the vote on an historic apology to be a genuine response from clergy and senior diocese parishioners, and not a response to him personally.
"I couldn't have spoken about the need for an apology if they'd known I was a survivor," Bishop Thompson said.
"I wouldn't have known if the response was for me or survivors. I didn't want it to be just about me or any one particular survivor."
He felt stronger after the synod supported an apology, without dissent, in which the diocese apologised "for the shameful way we actively worked against and discouraged those who came to us and reported abuse".
"We are ashamed to acknowledge that we only took notice when the survivors of abuse became a threat to us."....
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/i-was-abused-by-clergy-anglican-bishop-greg-thompson-tells-of-abuse-as-19yearold-20151026-gkiz2x.html
describes crimes
Texas woman used in 'blood ritual' while being held captive
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) — Four people kidnapped a woman and held her captive for three days in a San Antonio-area home, forcing her to ingest drugs and at one point conducting a "blood ritual," a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday.
Authorities believe Mercedes Salazar, 32, was the ringleader who orchestrated the woman's captivity, according to James Keith, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Salazar is being held on charges that include aggravated kidnapping, he said.
Keith said Salazar believed the 25-year-old woman played a role in the August killing of her brother. Authorities say there's no indication the victim played any role in the death.
The woman was abducted last month and spent most of her time in captivity tied to a chair. She told investigators she was forced to take drugs, including what she believed was heroin. Her captors also held a ceremony that Keith described as a blood ritual.
"It was a form of witchcraft where they cut her hair and drew blood from her," he said....
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/texas-woman-used-in-blood-ritual-while-being-held-captive/article_a7abe4db-36c9-51de-abf0-3f231be30dd6.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Afghan child sex abuse reports leads to IG investigation, Rotherham inquiry police charge seven men with child abuse offences
Afghan child sex abuse reports leads to IG investigation
By Andrew Tilghman, Staff writer October 27, 2015
The U.S. military's response to suspected child sexual abuse in Afghanistan is the subject of a new investigation by the Pentagon's top watchdog.
The Defense Department Inspector General's Office on Tuesday announced a new probe that will look at how U.S. troops handled repeated allegations that Afghan men, particularly Afghan military and police leaders, were sexually abusing boys.
A number of American troops who deployed to Afghanistan have said they saw signs of widespread sexual abuse and believed there was a policy, even if unofficial, encouraging them to ignore the crime rather than create tension between Americans and Afghans.
The sexual abuse of boys is widespread in Afghanistan, often referred to as "Bacha Bazi" — literally, "boy play."
The IG will confine its probe to the period since 2011. Investigators will examine whether the U.S. military maintained any formal or informal rules or policies discouraging American troops from reporting suspected sexual abuse by Afghans....
Several troops have said they were punished or disciplined for intervening or taking action against Afghans whom they believed were sexually assaulting children, in some cases on joint military installations. Several specific examples were reported Sept. 19 by The New York Times....http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/10/27/sex-abuse-ig/74698872/
Rotherham inquiry police charge seven men with child abuse offences
Four Rotherham men charged with rape, two from Goole with indecent assault and one Sheffield man charged with conspiracy offences
Tuesday 27 October 2015
Seven men have been charged with child sexual exploitation offences by police investigating historical crimes in Rotherham.
South Yorkshire police said the offences were alleged to have taken place in the town between January and October 2003 and the charges arose out of Operation Clover, a partnership investigation by the force, Rotherham council and the Crown Prosecution Service.
A spokesman said four of the men had been charged with rape....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/27/rotherham-inquiry-police-charge-seven-men-child-abuse-offences
Monday, October 26, 2015
Horace Mann alum details shocking sexual abuse of students at elite prep school in new book, Polygamist sect limits sex to 'seed bearers,' court document says
Horace Mann alum details shocking sexual abuse of students at elite prep school in new book
- The DA’s report noted there were at least 20 instances of abuse brought to the attention of Horace Mann teachers through the years — and law enforcement was never notified.
- found as many as 64 students were abused by 22 faculty and staff members
Polygamist sect limits sex to 'seed bearers,' court document says
- It's hard to imagine that a convicted child rapist would be allowed to lead a church from prison, but that's exactly what's going on with Warren Jeffs.
- In 2008, authorities raided the church's sprawling Texas ranch. Police removed more than 460 children from the property, including mothers under 18 years old. Authorities seized and shut down the ranch last year.
Horace Mann alum details shocking sexual abuse of students at elite prep school in new book
BY Sherryl Connelly NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, October 24, 2015
Horace Mann, its board populated by international hedge fund managers and real estate titans, settled with abuse victims for between $4 million and $5 million.
Amos Kamil, the Horace Mann alum who first exposed the shocking story of sexually abused students at the elite prep school, knew only about half of what happened.
Three years later, he’s ready to tell the rest of the sordid tale.
Kamil, in “Great is the Truth: Secrecy, Scandal, and the Quest for Justice at the Horace Mann School,” details the long-lingering effects on the victims of predatory staffers.
In the aftermath of the furor ignited by his 2012 article in The New York Times Magazine, many more victims stepped forward.
Only then did the human toll of the abuse become clear — so many lives impaired by the reverberating trauma of drug abuse, aborted careers, suicide.
Kamil, in the book co-written with Sean Elder, charges the Bronx school and its powerful backers adopted a ruthless stance with the sex-abuse survivors.
Protecting Horace Mann’s reputation, and its financial well-being, seemingly took precedence over addressing the victims’ needs, according to Kamil....
The Kamil book says that while the sexual abuse lasted from the 1960s into the 1990s, the school ignored repeated warnings about the sick behavior.
One guidance counselor was said to listen sympathetically before putting his own sexual moves on a student.
Riverdale’s Horace Mann was a small patch of educational paradise in the Bronx, where teachers were expected to fully immerse themselves in their students’ lives.
Boundaries between home and school were intentionally blurred as pupils routinely traveled with their teachers, or spent after-hours and weekends pursuing further enlightenment in their company.
The cult personality was seen as a good thing, demonstrating the powerful influence of a dedicated educator....
The DA’s report noted there were at least 20 instances of abuse brought to the attention of Horace Mann teachers through the years — and law enforcement was never notified.
A recently concluded independent investigation conducted by former Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder — and funded by the alumni association — found that as many as 64 students were abused by 22 faculty and staff members.
The school refused to cooperate in the probe. And when 25 of the survivors repped by media-savvy lawyer Gloria Allred agreed to mediation, Horace Mann’s board played hardball.
New York State’s strict statute of limitations precluded the victims’ getting their day in court, so a financial settlement was the school’s only opportunity to address the wrong.
The settlement arrived at in Brooklyn’s Poly Prep abuse scandal awarded the 12 survivors about $800,000 each. Penn State paid out a total of $59.7 million to the 25 victims in the Jerry Sandusky scandal....
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/horace-mann-alum-reveals-abuse-new-book-article-1.2410248
Polygamist sect limits sex to 'seed bearers,' court document says
By Thom Patterson, CNN Thu October 1, 2015
(CNN) It's hard to imagine that a convicted child rapist would be allowed to lead a church from prison, but that's exactly what's going on with Warren Jeffs.
Jeffs leads a polygamist sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when authorities accused Jeffs of sexual offenses against girls he took as wives. At one point Jeffs disappeared, prompting the FBI to put him on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list until he was captured.
In 2008, authorities raided the church's sprawling Texas ranch. Police removed more than 460 children from the property, including mothers under 18 years old. Authorities seized and shut down the ranch last year.
Eventually, Jeffs was convicted in 2011 of "sexual assault" and "aggravated sexual assault" of two girls ages 12 and 15. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
The FLDS broke away from the mainstream Mormon church more than a century ago because its members refused to renounce polygamy.
The church allegedly exercises control over the adjacent towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah -- an area informally known as Short Creek. Other enclaves exist in Mancos, Colorado; Boise City, Oklahoma; Custer County, South Dakota; and a Canadian community known as Bountiful, British Columbia....
First obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, a child custody petition filed in a St. George, Utah, juvenile court by Lyle Jeffs' estranged wife Charlene Jeffs describes a group of followers called "seed bearers." "A seed bearer is an elect man of a worthy bloodline chosen by the Priesthood to impregnate the FLDS woman," according to Charlene Jeffs' petition. Under a new doctrine, "FLDS men are no longer permitted to have children with their multiple wives. That privilege belongs to the seed bearer alone," the petition said. "It is the husband's responsibility to hold the hands of their wives while the seed bearer 'spreads his seed.' In layman terms, the husband is required to sit in the room while the chosen seed bearer, or a couple of them, rape his wife or wives," according to the document.
Utah juvenile court records are not usually available to the public, so it's unknown if anyone filed documents disputing any details in Charlene Jeffs' petition, or the veracity of the petition's allegations....
Children who were put to work included at least 125 who were younger than 12, at least 50 between ages 12 and 13, and at least 25 between 14 and 15, according to the suit. All performed tasks during school hours such as mowing, pruning and bagging pecans, the suit said....
The number of followers in the secretive church is impossible to know for sure. At its peak many years ago, total FLDS membership may have been as high as 15,000, Brower said, but by his educated guess the number now -- in the wake of Jeffs' imprisonment and the civil lawsuit -- is somewhere near 10,000.
Brower said several thousand have left the church or been expelled within the past few years.
FLDS members did not send their children to public schools, which may explain reports of skyrocketing enrollment in public schools. Enrollments have been rising, as more members are expelled or leave the church....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/polygamist-flds-warren-jeffs-update/
- The DA’s report noted there were at least 20 instances of abuse brought to the attention of Horace Mann teachers through the years — and law enforcement was never notified.
- found as many as 64 students were abused by 22 faculty and staff members
Polygamist sect limits sex to 'seed bearers,' court document says
- It's hard to imagine that a convicted child rapist would be allowed to lead a church from prison, but that's exactly what's going on with Warren Jeffs.
- In 2008, authorities raided the church's sprawling Texas ranch. Police removed more than 460 children from the property, including mothers under 18 years old. Authorities seized and shut down the ranch last year.
Horace Mann alum details shocking sexual abuse of students at elite prep school in new book
BY Sherryl Connelly NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, October 24, 2015
Horace Mann, its board populated by international hedge fund managers and real estate titans, settled with abuse victims for between $4 million and $5 million.
Amos Kamil, the Horace Mann alum who first exposed the shocking story of sexually abused students at the elite prep school, knew only about half of what happened.
Three years later, he’s ready to tell the rest of the sordid tale.
Kamil, in “Great is the Truth: Secrecy, Scandal, and the Quest for Justice at the Horace Mann School,” details the long-lingering effects on the victims of predatory staffers.
In the aftermath of the furor ignited by his 2012 article in The New York Times Magazine, many more victims stepped forward.
Only then did the human toll of the abuse become clear — so many lives impaired by the reverberating trauma of drug abuse, aborted careers, suicide.
Kamil, in the book co-written with Sean Elder, charges the Bronx school and its powerful backers adopted a ruthless stance with the sex-abuse survivors.
Protecting Horace Mann’s reputation, and its financial well-being, seemingly took precedence over addressing the victims’ needs, according to Kamil....
The Kamil book says that while the sexual abuse lasted from the 1960s into the 1990s, the school ignored repeated warnings about the sick behavior.
One guidance counselor was said to listen sympathetically before putting his own sexual moves on a student.
Riverdale’s Horace Mann was a small patch of educational paradise in the Bronx, where teachers were expected to fully immerse themselves in their students’ lives.
Boundaries between home and school were intentionally blurred as pupils routinely traveled with their teachers, or spent after-hours and weekends pursuing further enlightenment in their company.
The cult personality was seen as a good thing, demonstrating the powerful influence of a dedicated educator....
The DA’s report noted there were at least 20 instances of abuse brought to the attention of Horace Mann teachers through the years — and law enforcement was never notified.
A recently concluded independent investigation conducted by former Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder — and funded by the alumni association — found that as many as 64 students were abused by 22 faculty and staff members.
The school refused to cooperate in the probe. And when 25 of the survivors repped by media-savvy lawyer Gloria Allred agreed to mediation, Horace Mann’s board played hardball.
New York State’s strict statute of limitations precluded the victims’ getting their day in court, so a financial settlement was the school’s only opportunity to address the wrong.
The settlement arrived at in Brooklyn’s Poly Prep abuse scandal awarded the 12 survivors about $800,000 each. Penn State paid out a total of $59.7 million to the 25 victims in the Jerry Sandusky scandal....
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/horace-mann-alum-reveals-abuse-new-book-article-1.2410248
Polygamist sect limits sex to 'seed bearers,' court document says
By Thom Patterson, CNN Thu October 1, 2015
(CNN) It's hard to imagine that a convicted child rapist would be allowed to lead a church from prison, but that's exactly what's going on with Warren Jeffs.
Jeffs leads a polygamist sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when authorities accused Jeffs of sexual offenses against girls he took as wives. At one point Jeffs disappeared, prompting the FBI to put him on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list until he was captured.
In 2008, authorities raided the church's sprawling Texas ranch. Police removed more than 460 children from the property, including mothers under 18 years old. Authorities seized and shut down the ranch last year.
Eventually, Jeffs was convicted in 2011 of "sexual assault" and "aggravated sexual assault" of two girls ages 12 and 15. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
The FLDS broke away from the mainstream Mormon church more than a century ago because its members refused to renounce polygamy.
The church allegedly exercises control over the adjacent towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah -- an area informally known as Short Creek. Other enclaves exist in Mancos, Colorado; Boise City, Oklahoma; Custer County, South Dakota; and a Canadian community known as Bountiful, British Columbia....
First obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, a child custody petition filed in a St. George, Utah, juvenile court by Lyle Jeffs' estranged wife Charlene Jeffs describes a group of followers called "seed bearers." "A seed bearer is an elect man of a worthy bloodline chosen by the Priesthood to impregnate the FLDS woman," according to Charlene Jeffs' petition. Under a new doctrine, "FLDS men are no longer permitted to have children with their multiple wives. That privilege belongs to the seed bearer alone," the petition said. "It is the husband's responsibility to hold the hands of their wives while the seed bearer 'spreads his seed.' In layman terms, the husband is required to sit in the room while the chosen seed bearer, or a couple of them, rape his wife or wives," according to the document.
Utah juvenile court records are not usually available to the public, so it's unknown if anyone filed documents disputing any details in Charlene Jeffs' petition, or the veracity of the petition's allegations....
Children who were put to work included at least 125 who were younger than 12, at least 50 between ages 12 and 13, and at least 25 between 14 and 15, according to the suit. All performed tasks during school hours such as mowing, pruning and bagging pecans, the suit said....
The number of followers in the secretive church is impossible to know for sure. At its peak many years ago, total FLDS membership may have been as high as 15,000, Brower said, but by his educated guess the number now -- in the wake of Jeffs' imprisonment and the civil lawsuit -- is somewhere near 10,000.
Brower said several thousand have left the church or been expelled within the past few years.
FLDS members did not send their children to public schools, which may explain reports of skyrocketing enrollment in public schools. Enrollments have been rising, as more members are expelled or leave the church....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/polygamist-flds-warren-jeffs-update/
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Ten of Jared Fogle's child abuse victims paid $1m total prior to sentencing, Attorney: Diocese of Duluth should pay millions to child abuse victim
Ten of Jared Fogle's child abuse victims paid $1m total prior to sentencing
Four other victims expected to receive restitution before former Subway spokesman is sentenced next month – a rare move in child sexual abuse cases
Jared Fogle agreed to plead guilty to receiving child abuse images and having sex with minors.
Associated Press in Indianapolis
Thursday 22 October 2015
Ten victims of former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle have received a total of $1m in restitution since he agreed to plead guilty to receiving child abuse images and sex-crime charges, and his four other victims could receive their checks by the time he is sentenced next month – a move prosecutors said is rare.
The $100,000 checks were hand-delivered to each of the 10 victims or their parents over the last several weeks, with each signing a form saying they had received the money and that it is intended to benefit that particular victim, assistant US attorney Steven DeBrota told the Associated Press on Thursday....
By the time a federal judge sentences Fogle on 19 November to a minimum of five years in prison, DeBrota said prosecutors expect to have either presented checks to Fogle’s four other victims or have plans in place to disburse those funds to them.
That money will pay for mental health counseling, medical care and other needs the 14 victims might have now or in the future to help them recover from the trauma. Three adults and seven minors had received their checks as of Thursday. DeBrota said that money will help them “go on with their lives and put them where they should have been had none of this happened”....
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/22/jared-fogle-child-sexual-abuse-victims-restitution
Attorney: Diocese of Duluth should pay millions to child abuse victim
Madeleine Baran · Oct 21, 2015
Attorney Jeff Anderson asked jurors in Ramsey County Wednesday to award $11.7 million to a man who says he was sexually abused by a priest in the Diocese of Duluth when he was a teenager in the late 1970s.
The case is the first clergy sex abuse lawsuit to be argued in front of a jury in Minnesota since state lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in 2013, according to available court records. The law opened a three-year window for people to file lawsuits for older incidents of abuse.
For decades, most clergy sex abuse cases in Minnesota had been settled privately or were tossed out of court. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis prevented hundreds of cases from going to trial when it filed for bankruptcy....
Anderson told jurors that his 52-year-old client, identified in the lawsuit as Doe 30, had been sexually abused by the Rev. James Vincent Fitzgerald at St. Catherine's parish in Squaw Lake, Minn., in about 1978. As a result of the abuse, Anderson said, the man has been unable to trust people, struggled in school, and has never been in a serious relationship....
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/10/21/sex-abuse-trial
Monday, October 19, 2015
Former school principal jailed for sexually abusing 14 children, Emotional Child Abuse
Former school principal jailed for sexually abusing 14 children
5 Oct 2015
A former school principal in Tasmania has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing 14 children.
The man pleaded guilty earlier this year to 17 counts of indecently assaulting 11 primary school boys during the 1970s and 1980s.
He also pleaded guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with his step daughter, starting when she was aged 10, and with her brother who was 12.
He also indecently assaulted their younger sister....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-05/former-school-principal-who-sexually-abused-14-children-jailed/6829174
Emotional child abuse may be just as bad as physical harm
By Lisa Rapaport Mon Oct 19, 2015
(Reuters Health) - When it comes to psychological and behavioral health, both physical and emotional abuse can be equally damaging to children, a new study suggests.
Even though doctors and parents often believe physical or sexual abuse is more harmful than emotional mistreatment or neglect, the study found children suffered similar problems regardless of the type of maltreatment endured, researchers report in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
“The abused children had all types of problems, from anxiety and depression to rule-breaking and aggression,” lead study author David Vachon, of McGill University in Montreal, said by email.
His team was surprised, he said, that “different types of abuse had similar consequences; physically abused children and emotionally abused children had very similar problems.”....
Overall, children with a history of abuse and neglect had much higher rates of depression, withdrawal, anxiety, and neuroticism than campers who hadn’t been mistreated.
This difference held true for kids who were victims of all types of abuse, including neglect as well as physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment.
The effect was most profound for children who suffered from all four types of abuse, or from the most severe forms of maltreatment.
Results were similar for boys and girls and across racial groups....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/19/us-health-childabuse-emotional-idUSKCN0SD2C720151019
Assessment of the Harmful Psychiatric and Behavioral Effects of Different Forms of Child Maltreatment October 14, 2015 David D. Vachon, PhD; Robert F. Krueger, PhD; Fred A. Rogosch, PhD3; Dante Cicchetti, PhD
JAMA Psychiatry. Published online October 14, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1792
....Taken together with high worldwide prevalence and evidence that emotional and physical pain share a common somatosensory representation in the brain it is clear that emotional abuse is widespread, painful, and destructive.
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2461738
5 Oct 2015
A former school principal in Tasmania has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing 14 children.
The man pleaded guilty earlier this year to 17 counts of indecently assaulting 11 primary school boys during the 1970s and 1980s.
He also pleaded guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with his step daughter, starting when she was aged 10, and with her brother who was 12.
He also indecently assaulted their younger sister....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-05/former-school-principal-who-sexually-abused-14-children-jailed/6829174
Emotional child abuse may be just as bad as physical harm
By Lisa Rapaport Mon Oct 19, 2015
(Reuters Health) - When it comes to psychological and behavioral health, both physical and emotional abuse can be equally damaging to children, a new study suggests.
Even though doctors and parents often believe physical or sexual abuse is more harmful than emotional mistreatment or neglect, the study found children suffered similar problems regardless of the type of maltreatment endured, researchers report in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
“The abused children had all types of problems, from anxiety and depression to rule-breaking and aggression,” lead study author David Vachon, of McGill University in Montreal, said by email.
His team was surprised, he said, that “different types of abuse had similar consequences; physically abused children and emotionally abused children had very similar problems.”....
Overall, children with a history of abuse and neglect had much higher rates of depression, withdrawal, anxiety, and neuroticism than campers who hadn’t been mistreated.
This difference held true for kids who were victims of all types of abuse, including neglect as well as physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment.
The effect was most profound for children who suffered from all four types of abuse, or from the most severe forms of maltreatment.
Results were similar for boys and girls and across racial groups....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/19/us-health-childabuse-emotional-idUSKCN0SD2C720151019
Assessment of the Harmful Psychiatric and Behavioral Effects of Different Forms of Child Maltreatment October 14, 2015 David D. Vachon, PhD; Robert F. Krueger, PhD; Fred A. Rogosch, PhD3; Dante Cicchetti, PhD
JAMA Psychiatry. Published online October 14, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1792
....Taken together with high worldwide prevalence and evidence that emotional and physical pain share a common somatosensory representation in the brain it is clear that emotional abuse is widespread, painful, and destructive.
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2461738
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Florida candidate for U.S. Senate admits to sacrificing goat, drinking its blood
Florida candidate for U.S. Senate admits to sacrificing goat, drinking its
blood
Oct 05, 2015 BY BRENDON FARRINGTON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Two years ago, Augustus Sol Invictus walked from central Florida to the Mojave Desert and spent a week fasting and praying, at times thinking he wouldn't survive. In a pagan ritual to give thanks when he returned home, he killed a goat and drank its blood.
Now that he's a candidate for U.S. Senate, the story is coming back to bite him.
The chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida has resigned to call attention to Invictus' candidacy in hopes that other party leaders will denounce him. Adrian Wyllie, who was the Libertarian candidate for governor last year, says Invictus wants to lead a civil war, is trying to recruit neo-Nazis to the party and brutally and sadistically dismembered a goat....
Invictus, a 32-year-old lawyer who changed his given name — which he declines to reveal — to a Latin phrase that means "majestic unconquered sun," says Wyllie is just running a smear campaign and is twisting his words into lies. No, he says, he's not a white supremacist, pointing out his four children are Hispanic — though he acknowledges that some white supremacists support his campaign. No, he says he isn't trying to start a civil war, but he says the government already is at war with its citizens and that it's certain to escalate....
"I did sacrifice a goat. I know that's probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans," he said. "I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness ... Yes, I drank the goat's blood."....
http://www.wowktv.com/story/30189588/florida-candidate-for-us-senate-admits-to-sacrificing-goat-drinking-its-blood
Oct 05, 2015 BY BRENDON FARRINGTON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Two years ago, Augustus Sol Invictus walked from central Florida to the Mojave Desert and spent a week fasting and praying, at times thinking he wouldn't survive. In a pagan ritual to give thanks when he returned home, he killed a goat and drank its blood.
Now that he's a candidate for U.S. Senate, the story is coming back to bite him.
The chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida has resigned to call attention to Invictus' candidacy in hopes that other party leaders will denounce him. Adrian Wyllie, who was the Libertarian candidate for governor last year, says Invictus wants to lead a civil war, is trying to recruit neo-Nazis to the party and brutally and sadistically dismembered a goat....
Invictus, a 32-year-old lawyer who changed his given name — which he declines to reveal — to a Latin phrase that means "majestic unconquered sun," says Wyllie is just running a smear campaign and is twisting his words into lies. No, he says, he's not a white supremacist, pointing out his four children are Hispanic — though he acknowledges that some white supremacists support his campaign. No, he says he isn't trying to start a civil war, but he says the government already is at war with its citizens and that it's certain to escalate....
"I did sacrifice a goat. I know that's probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans," he said. "I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness ... Yes, I drank the goat's blood."....
http://www.wowktv.com/story/30189588/florida-candidate-for-us-senate-admits-to-sacrificing-goat-drinking-its-blood
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Undercover nationwide sting rescues 149 children from prostitution
149 exploited children recovered in nationwide sex trafficking sting
Oct 14th 2015
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Hundreds of children who were being sexually exploited have been rescued from their "nightmare" as part of a week-long, nationwide operation meant to "end the scourage" of sex trafficking in the U.S., according to the FBI.
More than 150 pimps were arrested in the sting, the agency said. The children -- 149 in all -- were plucked from hotels, casinos and truck stops, among other locations, federal officials said. The youngest was 12 years old.
Investigators said they tracked down some of the culprits by scouring ads posted on Backpage.com then setting up meetings -- recorded by hidden cameras -- between the pimps, children and undercover agents....
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/14/149-exploited-children-recovered-in-nationwide-sex-trafficking-s/21249236/
Undercover nationwide sting rescues 149 children from prostitution: FBI
October 14, 2015, by Samantha Tata and Rick Boone
....After the children were found, crisis intervention specialists were provided for them as well as "resources for basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention," the FBI said.
Executed in 135 cities and involving more than 500 law enforcement officials, the sting has been dubbed Operation Cross Country and is part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative.
This is the ninth operation of its kind, the agency said. The first one was carried out in 2003. To date it has identified and recovered about 4,800 sexually exploited children and led to the convictions of more than 2,000 pimps and others associated with trafficking crimes, according to the FBI.
http://pix11.com/2015/10/14/undercover-nationwide-sting-rescues-149-children-from-prostitution-fbi/
Oct 14th 2015
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Hundreds of children who were being sexually exploited have been rescued from their "nightmare" as part of a week-long, nationwide operation meant to "end the scourage" of sex trafficking in the U.S., according to the FBI.
More than 150 pimps were arrested in the sting, the agency said. The children -- 149 in all -- were plucked from hotels, casinos and truck stops, among other locations, federal officials said. The youngest was 12 years old.
Investigators said they tracked down some of the culprits by scouring ads posted on Backpage.com then setting up meetings -- recorded by hidden cameras -- between the pimps, children and undercover agents....
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/14/149-exploited-children-recovered-in-nationwide-sex-trafficking-s/21249236/
Undercover nationwide sting rescues 149 children from prostitution: FBI
October 14, 2015, by Samantha Tata and Rick Boone
....After the children were found, crisis intervention specialists were provided for them as well as "resources for basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention," the FBI said.
Executed in 135 cities and involving more than 500 law enforcement officials, the sting has been dubbed Operation Cross Country and is part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative.
This is the ninth operation of its kind, the agency said. The first one was carried out in 2003. To date it has identified and recovered about 4,800 sexually exploited children and led to the convictions of more than 2,000 pimps and others associated with trafficking crimes, according to the FBI.
http://pix11.com/2015/10/14/undercover-nationwide-sting-rescues-149-children-from-prostitution-fbi/
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
ACLU sues psychologists over CIA interrogation tactics, Rise in child abuse investigations linked to fears of witchcraft
ACLU sues psychologists over CIA interrogation tactics
The Associated Press ERIC TUCKER Oct 13th 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday sued two former Air Force psychologists who designed a CIA program that used harsh interrogation techniques to elicit intelligence from suspected terrorists, saying the pair endorsed and taught torture tactics under the guise of science.
The lawsuit comes 10 months after the release of a damning Senate report that said the interrogation techniques had inflicted pain on al-Qaida prisoners far beyond the legal limits and did not yield lifesaving intelligence.
The suit accuses the psychologists, James E. Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, of developing an interrogation program that relied on beatings, sleep deprivation, starvation, waterboarding and other methods that caused physical and psychological suffering on prisoners in CIA custody....
The suit was filed in federal court in Washington state on behalf of three former CIA prisoners. One, Gul Rahman, was interrogated in a dungeon-like Afghanistan prison called the Salt Pit, subjected to isolation, darkness and extreme cold water, and was later found dead of hypothermia. The other two men, Suleiman Abdullah Salim and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, are now free.
The lawsuit was brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows noncitizens to sue in U.S. courts over human-rights violations. A 2010 Associated Press report, citing former U.S. officials, said the CIA promised to cover at least $5 million in legal fees for the psychologists if the program ran into trouble.
The suit repeats many of the allegations that surfaced in an exhaustive Senate investigation issued last year. It found sweeping flaws with the CIA's approach to interrogations.
The complaint alleges that the psychologists, despite having no practical interrogation experience or specific background in al-Qaida, devised a program for the CIA that drew from 1960s experiments involving dogs and the theory of "learned helplessness." In making their case to the CIA, the psychologists argued that just as abused dogs will become passive and compliant, humans subject to "uncontrollable pain" would "become helpless and unable to resist an interrogator's demand for information," according to the lawsuit.
The pair, who worked as independent contractors for the CIA, formed a company that was ultimately paid $81 million and which as of April 2007 directly employed 11 of the 13 interrogators used by the agency, the complaint states. The men were also themselves involved in some of the interrogations....
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/13/aclu-sues-psychologists-over-cia-interrogation-tactics/21248565/
Rise in child abuse investigations linked to fears of witchcraft
Ruth Gledhill Christian Today Contributing Editor 12 October 2015
Police are investigating increasing numbers of cases where children are being assaulted because of suspicions about witchcraft.
This year so far, 27 cases of ritual child abuse have or are still being investigated by the Metropolitan Police, including two allegations of rape. This compares to to 24 in 2013, 19 in 2012 and nine in 2011. There have ben 148 referrals to the Met since 2004....
Allegations included a child being swung around and smacked on the head to "drive out the devil" and youngsters being dunked in water, according to an investigation by the BBC.
Deaths linked to ritual child abuse include Kristy Bamu, 15, tortured and drowned by his sister and her boyfriend in 2010 and Victoria Climbie in 2000, whose aunt and boyfriend had believed she was possessed and who were found guilty of murder.
Det Supt Terry Sharpe said ritualistic abuse was a hidden crime.
"Abuse linked to belief is a horrific crime which is condemned by people of all cultures, communities and faiths. A number of high-profile investigations brought the issue of ritual abuse and witchcraft into the headlines, but it is important that professionals are clear about the signs to look for."
Some families genuinely believed the victim had been taken over by the devil or an evil spirit, he said.
"Regardless of the beliefs of the abusers, child abuse is child abuse."....
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/child.abuse.linked.to.witchcraft.on.the.rise/67340.htm
The Associated Press ERIC TUCKER Oct 13th 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday sued two former Air Force psychologists who designed a CIA program that used harsh interrogation techniques to elicit intelligence from suspected terrorists, saying the pair endorsed and taught torture tactics under the guise of science.
The lawsuit comes 10 months after the release of a damning Senate report that said the interrogation techniques had inflicted pain on al-Qaida prisoners far beyond the legal limits and did not yield lifesaving intelligence.
The suit accuses the psychologists, James E. Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, of developing an interrogation program that relied on beatings, sleep deprivation, starvation, waterboarding and other methods that caused physical and psychological suffering on prisoners in CIA custody....
The suit was filed in federal court in Washington state on behalf of three former CIA prisoners. One, Gul Rahman, was interrogated in a dungeon-like Afghanistan prison called the Salt Pit, subjected to isolation, darkness and extreme cold water, and was later found dead of hypothermia. The other two men, Suleiman Abdullah Salim and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, are now free.
The lawsuit was brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows noncitizens to sue in U.S. courts over human-rights violations. A 2010 Associated Press report, citing former U.S. officials, said the CIA promised to cover at least $5 million in legal fees for the psychologists if the program ran into trouble.
The suit repeats many of the allegations that surfaced in an exhaustive Senate investigation issued last year. It found sweeping flaws with the CIA's approach to interrogations.
The complaint alleges that the psychologists, despite having no practical interrogation experience or specific background in al-Qaida, devised a program for the CIA that drew from 1960s experiments involving dogs and the theory of "learned helplessness." In making their case to the CIA, the psychologists argued that just as abused dogs will become passive and compliant, humans subject to "uncontrollable pain" would "become helpless and unable to resist an interrogator's demand for information," according to the lawsuit.
The pair, who worked as independent contractors for the CIA, formed a company that was ultimately paid $81 million and which as of April 2007 directly employed 11 of the 13 interrogators used by the agency, the complaint states. The men were also themselves involved in some of the interrogations....
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/13/aclu-sues-psychologists-over-cia-interrogation-tactics/21248565/
Rise in child abuse investigations linked to fears of witchcraft
Ruth Gledhill Christian Today Contributing Editor 12 October 2015
Police are investigating increasing numbers of cases where children are being assaulted because of suspicions about witchcraft.
This year so far, 27 cases of ritual child abuse have or are still being investigated by the Metropolitan Police, including two allegations of rape. This compares to to 24 in 2013, 19 in 2012 and nine in 2011. There have ben 148 referrals to the Met since 2004....
Allegations included a child being swung around and smacked on the head to "drive out the devil" and youngsters being dunked in water, according to an investigation by the BBC.
Deaths linked to ritual child abuse include Kristy Bamu, 15, tortured and drowned by his sister and her boyfriend in 2010 and Victoria Climbie in 2000, whose aunt and boyfriend had believed she was possessed and who were found guilty of murder.
Det Supt Terry Sharpe said ritualistic abuse was a hidden crime.
"Abuse linked to belief is a horrific crime which is condemned by people of all cultures, communities and faiths. A number of high-profile investigations brought the issue of ritual abuse and witchcraft into the headlines, but it is important that professionals are clear about the signs to look for."
Some families genuinely believed the victim had been taken over by the devil or an evil spirit, he said.
"Regardless of the beliefs of the abusers, child abuse is child abuse."....
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/child.abuse.linked.to.witchcraft.on.the.rise/67340.htm
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Bill Cosby deposed under oath in sexual assault civil lawsuit case, Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby Will Go Forward in Massachusetts
Bill Cosby deposed under oath in sexual assault civil lawsuit case
By Miriam Hernandez Friday, October 09, 2015 LOS ANGELES (KABC)
Comedian Bill Cosby was interviewed under oath Friday in a sexual assault civil lawsuit after a woman claimed the entertainer sexually assaulted her when she was 15 years old....
Under the law, an adult who was victimized as a child has a longer period to file a civil lawsuit, but the statute of limitations has passed for a criminal case.
Cosby's lawyers long denied the claims in court and said they were "absolutely false."
Huth said she and a colleague met Cosby on a movie set and that later at the mansion, he served alcoholic beverages and proceeded to molest her.
But Cosby said that Huth has engaged in extortion. She threatened to take her story to a tabloid and asked for $100,000 to $250,000. His legal team has fought the current complaint all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that there had been a procedural error.
But they lost, which led to Friday's deposition.
"We need to be able to question Mr. Cosby under oath," Allred said. "This is very serious. This is completely unprecedented in my almost 40 years of law practice. I have never seen so many allegations by so many accusers against one man."....
http://abc7.com/entertainment/bill-cosby-deposed-under-oath-in-sexual-assault-civil-lawsuit-case/1025700/
Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby Will Go Forward in Massachusetts
By GRAHAM BOWLEY and SYDNEY EMBER OCT. 9, 2015
A Massachusetts federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit by three women who say Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them and then later defamed them by allowing his representatives to brand their accounts as fiction.
Also on Friday, Mr. Cosby was to answer questions under oath in a separate California civil case brought by a woman, Judy Huth, who says the entertainer forced her to perform a sex act on him when she was 15.
In the Massachusetts defamation case, Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz accuse Mr. Cosby of assaulting them in the 1970s. The women were unable to bring legal charges directly related to the assault accusations because of the statute of limitations.
Instead, they filed a defamation complaint, arguing that Mr. Cosby had depicted them as liars when his representatives denied their accusations.
Mr. Cosby’s lawyers argued that, among other things, his representatives were only speaking in his defense. But the judge in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Mark G. Mastroianni, wrote that Mr. Cosby’s motions to dismiss the case “are denied in their entirety.”
Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the three women, said the ruling meant he could now pursue the case aggressively and would question Mr. Cosby under oath....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/business/defamation-suit-against-cosby-will-go-forward-in-massachusetts.html
By Miriam Hernandez Friday, October 09, 2015 LOS ANGELES (KABC)
Comedian Bill Cosby was interviewed under oath Friday in a sexual assault civil lawsuit after a woman claimed the entertainer sexually assaulted her when she was 15 years old....
Under the law, an adult who was victimized as a child has a longer period to file a civil lawsuit, but the statute of limitations has passed for a criminal case.
Cosby's lawyers long denied the claims in court and said they were "absolutely false."
Huth said she and a colleague met Cosby on a movie set and that later at the mansion, he served alcoholic beverages and proceeded to molest her.
But Cosby said that Huth has engaged in extortion. She threatened to take her story to a tabloid and asked for $100,000 to $250,000. His legal team has fought the current complaint all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that there had been a procedural error.
But they lost, which led to Friday's deposition.
"We need to be able to question Mr. Cosby under oath," Allred said. "This is very serious. This is completely unprecedented in my almost 40 years of law practice. I have never seen so many allegations by so many accusers against one man."....
http://abc7.com/entertainment/bill-cosby-deposed-under-oath-in-sexual-assault-civil-lawsuit-case/1025700/
Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby Will Go Forward in Massachusetts
By GRAHAM BOWLEY and SYDNEY EMBER OCT. 9, 2015
A Massachusetts federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit by three women who say Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them and then later defamed them by allowing his representatives to brand their accounts as fiction.
Also on Friday, Mr. Cosby was to answer questions under oath in a separate California civil case brought by a woman, Judy Huth, who says the entertainer forced her to perform a sex act on him when she was 15.
In the Massachusetts defamation case, Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz accuse Mr. Cosby of assaulting them in the 1970s. The women were unable to bring legal charges directly related to the assault accusations because of the statute of limitations.
Instead, they filed a defamation complaint, arguing that Mr. Cosby had depicted them as liars when his representatives denied their accusations.
Mr. Cosby’s lawyers argued that, among other things, his representatives were only speaking in his defense. But the judge in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Mark G. Mastroianni, wrote that Mr. Cosby’s motions to dismiss the case “are denied in their entirety.”
Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the three women, said the ruling meant he could now pursue the case aggressively and would question Mr. Cosby under oath....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/business/defamation-suit-against-cosby-will-go-forward-in-massachusetts.html
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’, 'Open Secret' Reveals Hollywood child abuse problem,Japan’s child abuse cases to record high
- Watch: Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’
- Calling Protesters in Chile ‘Dumb,’ Pope Francis Sets Off Uproar
- Controversial 'Open Secret' Reveals Hollywood Child Abuse Problem
- Poverty, isolation push Japan’s child abuse cases to record high
Watch: Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’
By Adam Taylor October 8, 2015
Few global figures have enjoyed a more positive public image recently than Pope Francis, the remarkably popular leader of the Catholic Church. But a newly released video that appears to show the pope calling critics of the church's actions in Chile "dumb" has prompted fresh protests in the Latin American country – and could also harm the pontiff's reputation internationally.
The video, aired by a Chilean TV channel last week, was initially filmed at the Vatican in May. According to Catholic news Web site Crux, the video shows Jaime Coiro, a former spokesman for the Chilean Bishops Conference, greeting Francis in St Peter's Square.
In the video, Francis talks about criticism that the Catholic church in Chile was facing at the time. The appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to the Osorno, Chile, diocese had drawn protests throughout the country due to accusations that Barros had helped cover up the sexual abuse of minors by his then-superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, and may have witnessed some of the abuse himself.
The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors in 2011 and sentenced him to a "life of prayer and penitence." While Barros spent more than 30 years working with Karadima, he has denied any cover-up, and the Vatican released a short statement offering a defense of the bishop's appointment in March. The newly released video, however, shows Francis going much further – not only angrily defending Barros's appointment, but seemingly insulting the intelligence of protesters.
In the footage, the pope tells a group of tourists that Osorno’s church has “lost its freedom, allowing politicians to fill people’s heads, judging a bishop without any evidence, a man who’s been a bishop for 20 years." Francis goes on to say: "Think with your heads. Don’t let them lead you by the nose, all these fools who have stirred this thing up."
The pope adds that "the only accusation against this bishop was dismissed by the court," drawing out the syllables for emphasis. "Please, don’t lose your calm. Osorno is suffering, yes, but for being dumb," he says in the video....
Notably, while the pope appears to say that the investigation into an alleged cover-up of Karadima's abuses was closed, the New York Times notes that the investigation is, in fact, still ongoing. The pope's reference to politicians in the video appears to be a reference to Chilean members of parliament who had signed a petition opposing Barros's nomination.
The video of Francis's comments was published online Friday and has sparked outrage against the Chilean Catholic Church, with renewed protests in St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Osorno over the weekend calling on the Vatican to remove Barros from his post....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/08/watch-pope-francis-says-chilean-protests-over-alleged-child-abuse-cover-up-are-dumb/
Calling Protesters in Chile ‘Dumb,’ Pope Francis Sets Off Uproar
By PASCALE BONNEFOY OCT. 7, 2015
....In the video, Pope Francis asserted that the accusations against Bishop Barros were unfounded and that a Chilean court had dismissed such claims. However, a judicial investigation into the presumed negligence and cover-up of church officials regarding Father Karadima’s abuses is still in progress.
Three of Father Karadima’s victims filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Church in 2012, demanding nearly $660,000 in compensation after a criminal investigation into abuses committed from 1980 to 1995 was dismissed in 2011 because the statute of limitations had expired.
One of the victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, contends that Bishop Barros was frequently present in Father Karadima’s bedroom when he and others were abused; threatened seminarians who dared denounce them; and destroyed letters reporting the abuses to the archbishop of Santiago at the time, Juan Francisco Fresno, when Bishop Barros was the archbishop’s personal secretary in the 1980s.
Bishop Barros is one of two dozen witnesses who the plaintiffs have requested be interrogated as part of the lawsuit.
“The pope’s statements are not surprising, but it is sad,” Mr. Cruz said. “The vision of a pope closer to abuse victims has been unmasked.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/world/americas/calling-protesters-in-chile-dumb-pope-francis-sets-off-uproar.html
Controversial 'Open Secret' Reveals Hollywood Child Abuse Problem By David A. Patten Thursday, 08 Oct 2015
When actress Ashley Judd recently revealed that an unnamed studio executive tried to "groom" her for sex by using his powerful position, Gabe Hoffman, a film producer and hedge-fund executive, was hardly surprised.
"The casting couch is almost as old as time," he told Newsmax. But he adds, "I think the casting couch has just about run its course in our society. We don't tolerate that stuff anymore. We shouldn't.''
Hoffman is considered an authority on the subject because his documentary film "An Open Secret" reveals an even darker, unrelated predilection that he says plagues the entertainment industry: Sexual exploitation of child actors.
The film's director, Amy Berg, was nominated for an Oscar for "Deliver Us From Evil," her 2006 examination of sex abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church.
Berg deftly wields all the narrative tools of the storyteller's craft – rising action, suspense, plot twists, interludes, surprise endings – to create a documentary that holds together surprisingly well considering the abject subject matter. She offers a gut-wrenching, un-hyped account of the emotional carnage wreaked on children by industry predators.
The documentary introduces five erstwhile child actors identified only by their first names and last initials. Each story follows a predictable arc, how they were discovered, groomed, and ultimately used....
Many of the film's sordid tales involve Marc Collins-Rector, the co-founder of the now-defunct Digital Entertainment Network, an attempt at online video streaming....
According to the film, Collins-Rector would invite high-profile entertainment mavens to join in sybaritic parties at an Encino, California, mansion. There, aspiring child actors would cavort about the pool and powerful adults – who held the power to realize or destroy their dreams of stardom – enticed them into the hot tub. Some of the children had not yet even reached their teens.
In 2004, Collins-Rector pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse. Among other heinous acts, he admitted to luring five minors across state lines for sex. At sentencing, he was credited with the time he'd spent in a Spanish jail prior to his extradition. He later fled the country after a court awarded a $4.5 million judgment to his accusers....
Sexual abuse involving children is hardly new. In 2011, actor Corey Feldman, who starred in the 1980s films "The Goonies" and "Stand By Me," wrote a memoir, "Coreyography," in which he stated he and his late co-star Corey Haim were sexually abused as children....
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/hollywood-open-secret-documentary/2015/10/08/id/695357/
Poverty, isolation push Japan’s child abuse cases to record high
Kyodo Oct 8, 2015
Child welfare authorities dealt with nearly 90,000 child abuse cases in the fiscal year ending March, a government survey showed Thursday, with experts blaming the record-high figure on increased poverty and the isolation of some families.
Logging the largest-ever increase of 20.5 percent from the previous year’s 73,000, the preliminary survey by the health ministry showed the number of cases handled by 207 child consultation centers across the country in fiscal 2014 reached 88,931, up for the 24th consecutive year since the survey started in 1990.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare attributed the rise to the widened scope of circumstances that can be reported as abuse following an August 2013 notice that instructed the centers to deal with siblings of abused children as they may also be suffering from psychological abuse.
The number of cases reported by police to the centers in which children witnessed abuse of a parent or other family member has also increased, it said....
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/08/national/social-issues/poverty-isolation-push-japans-child-abuse-cases-record-high/
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Bill Cosby sued by model over alleged sexual assault, Judge won't dismiss woman's molestation suit against Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby sued by model over alleged sexual assault
7 October 2015
A 25-year-old model has sued US comedian Bill Cosby, alleging he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008.
Chloe Goins claims Mr Cosby drugged and molested her when she was 17.
The civil lawsuit accuses Mr Cosby of "childhood sexual abuse" and demands damages of at least $75,000 (£49,000). Ms Goins is also seeking a jury trial.
Mr Cosby, 78, is facing a series of sexual assault accusations dating back decades. He has denied the claims.
The star is due to testify on Friday in a separate lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, who accused the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old.
More than 50 women have come forward publicly over the past year with allegations including drugging, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape - all of which Mr Cosby denies.
In most cases, the alleged incidents date back decades, meaning they fall outside the time limit for legal action.
But Ms Goins' allegations do fall within California's statute of limitations, and prosecutors are also now reviewing the evidence for possible criminal charges.
The model told reporters: "Today I recognise that I've taken legal action that many of the other victims of Bill Cosby will never be able to take. This has gone on long enough, it's time Bill Cosby was held accountable for his crimes."....
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34463079
Judge won't dismiss woman's molestation suit against Bill Cosby
AP October 7, 2015
A judge on Wednesday refused to throw out a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses Bill Cosby of molesting her when she was 15, saying the comedian can still receive a fair trial despite procedural errors.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan's ruling came over the objections of Cosby's attorneys, who sought to dismiss Judy Huth's case because her previous attorney violated rules for how older sex-abuse cases should be handled.
Cosby's attorney Martin Singer argued the lawsuit improperly included Cosby's name, which caused the comedian harm and required him to defend himself against numerous other allegations from women who claim he abused them decades ago.
"This was the linchpin that triggered everything going forward," Singer said.
Huth's former attorney admitted Wednesday he erred by naming Cosby in the lawsuit filed in December 2014. Huth, 57, claims Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974....
Karlan said in his ruling that he was troubled by the mistake by Huth's previous lawyer, but despite that he felt Cosby could still get a fair trial. He also noted Cosby's name would have eventually been disclosed in Huth's case and received widespread notoriety.
Huth's former attorney, Marc Strecker, acknowledged he overlooked a portion of the legal code that states claims by adult plaintiffs that they were victims of underage sexual abuse should omit the defendant's real name. "I made a mistake," Strecker said....
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-wont-dismiss-womans-molestation-suit-against-bill-cosby/
7 October 2015
A 25-year-old model has sued US comedian Bill Cosby, alleging he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008.
Chloe Goins claims Mr Cosby drugged and molested her when she was 17.
The civil lawsuit accuses Mr Cosby of "childhood sexual abuse" and demands damages of at least $75,000 (£49,000). Ms Goins is also seeking a jury trial.
Mr Cosby, 78, is facing a series of sexual assault accusations dating back decades. He has denied the claims.
The star is due to testify on Friday in a separate lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, who accused the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old.
More than 50 women have come forward publicly over the past year with allegations including drugging, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape - all of which Mr Cosby denies.
In most cases, the alleged incidents date back decades, meaning they fall outside the time limit for legal action.
But Ms Goins' allegations do fall within California's statute of limitations, and prosecutors are also now reviewing the evidence for possible criminal charges.
The model told reporters: "Today I recognise that I've taken legal action that many of the other victims of Bill Cosby will never be able to take. This has gone on long enough, it's time Bill Cosby was held accountable for his crimes."....
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34463079
Judge won't dismiss woman's molestation suit against Bill Cosby
AP October 7, 2015
A judge on Wednesday refused to throw out a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses Bill Cosby of molesting her when she was 15, saying the comedian can still receive a fair trial despite procedural errors.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan's ruling came over the objections of Cosby's attorneys, who sought to dismiss Judy Huth's case because her previous attorney violated rules for how older sex-abuse cases should be handled.
Cosby's attorney Martin Singer argued the lawsuit improperly included Cosby's name, which caused the comedian harm and required him to defend himself against numerous other allegations from women who claim he abused them decades ago.
"This was the linchpin that triggered everything going forward," Singer said.
Huth's former attorney admitted Wednesday he erred by naming Cosby in the lawsuit filed in December 2014. Huth, 57, claims Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974....
Karlan said in his ruling that he was troubled by the mistake by Huth's previous lawyer, but despite that he felt Cosby could still get a fair trial. He also noted Cosby's name would have eventually been disclosed in Huth's case and received widespread notoriety.
Huth's former attorney, Marc Strecker, acknowledged he overlooked a portion of the legal code that states claims by adult plaintiffs that they were victims of underage sexual abuse should omit the defendant's real name. "I made a mistake," Strecker said....
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-wont-dismiss-womans-molestation-suit-against-bill-cosby/
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
The Child and Ritual Abuse 2016 Conference, Online Presentations from the 2014 and 2015 Ritual Abuse Conferences
The 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
August 12 – 13, 2016 Windsor Locks, CT
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
2015 Online Conference Presentations
Carmen Holiday’s conference transcript from the 2015 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
The Long Voyage Out: The Epic Challenge of Recovery from Organized Abuse.
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2015-conference/the-long-voyage-out-the-epic-challenge-of-recovery-from-organized-abuse/
The essential challenge of healing is to facilitate the natural drive to get back into native equilibrium – to find the banished orphans of extreme experience and bring them back home to conscious awareness. And the good news is, you don’t have to do it alone.
Carmen Holiday is a survivor of human trafficking, ritual abuse-torture and trauma-based mind control. She has been an advocate for other survivors since 2001, developing and facilitating trauma recovery workshops and presenting as a survivor of RA-MC for several organizations.
Neil Brick’s conference transcript from the 2015 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
The Battle to Stop Ritual Abuse
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2015-conference/the-battle-to-stop-ritual-abuse/
For over 25 years, survivors and their advocates have worked to stop ritual abuse by educating the general public about these crimes. Through an intense struggle this research has been made public and survivors have been helped.
A backlash continues, covering up crimes against children and protecting a hierarchical and unjust social structure that exists by propagandizing and mind controlling its members. Exposing the backlash and its true motives and how their work continues to promote social injustice will be discussed in this presentation.
For many years, we have fought to stop ritual abuse crimes and educate people about these crimes. But even today, the backlash continues, misrepresenting the research, hiding important data, harassing anti-child abuse advocates and repeating the same lies about many of the child abuse and day care cases of the past. I have covered these topics in many of my prior speeches and all of this information is available on the Internet at this website.
Today, I will speaking about why we have been so viciously attacked and why there are repeated attempts to misrepresent and cover up our work.
Our work exposes those that attempt to control social thinking patterns. If our realities are seen as accurate by society, then this exposes the lies that our present society is built on.
Mind control and propaganda exist in every part of our society. From how people dress, to how people speak, to how people believe. There are many lies that most in our society believe in. These lies are taught to children at an early age.
2014 Online Conference Presentations
Alison Miller's conference presentation outline from the 2014 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference - Overcoming Mind Control: Keys to Recovery
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2014-conference/overcoming-mind-control-keys-to-recovery/
Alison Miller is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She is the author of 2012's Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control (for therapists) and 2014's Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse (for survivors), both published by Karnac Books. Her topic is: Overcoming Mind Control: Keys to Recovery.
Dr. Randall Noblitt conference powerpoint from the 2014 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference - Cult and Ritual Abuse
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2014-conference/cult-and-ritual-abuse/
After 23 years in private practice specializing in the treatment of survivors of cult and ritual abuse, Dr. Randall Noblitt is currently Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology, and is the principal author of Cult and Ritual Abuse: Narratives, Evidence and Healing Approaches (2014). His topic is: Cult and Ritual Abuse
Neil Brick's conference transcript from the 2014 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference - Doing the right thing and getting stronger at the same time, a survivor’s path to recovery and helping others.
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2014-conference/doing-the-right-thing-and-getting-stronger-at-the-same-time-a-survivors-path-to-recovery-and-helping-others/
Neil Brick is a survivor of child abuse and ritual abuse. He has worked for over twenty years in the child abuse education and prevention field. He has written many articles and spoken at several conferences on the topic of ritual abuse. His articles can be found at http://neilbrick.com and https://ritualabuse.us His topic is: Doing the right thing and getting stronger at the same time, a survivor’s path to recovery and helping others.
Today’s topic could be equally applied to any spiritual path or social endeavor where one wants to make personal and social progress. I will describe how one can do the right thing and also get stronger in their lives. Without doing the right things and persevering to do the right things, one cannot grow and change, nor can one help others or the world. The right thing is determined by one’s personal goals and personal instincts.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Royal Commission into Child Abuse to examine Salvation Army homes, Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse victims 'may never see justice' , may be occult ritual slaying, Ex-priest later admitted he abused at least 14 boys
- Royal Commission into Child Abuse begins hearings in Adelaide to examine Salvation Army homes
"years of abuse they suffered at the hands of Salvation Army members"
- Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse victims 'may never see justice'
"she expected there to be hundreds of "silent" victims within the church in the UK due to the two-witness rule"
- High court refuses appeal from killer in slaying of boy, 12
"may have been an occult ritual slaying"
- Ex-priest jailed in abuse scandal has been set free - Ronald Paquin
"later admitted to medical evaluators that he abused at least 14 boys"
Royal Commission into Child Abuse begins hearings in Adelaide to examine Salvation Army homes
The Advertiser October 06, 2015
CHILD sex abuse victims at Salvation Army homes were physically beaten or further sexually abused if they reported crimes against them, the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse has heard.
Opening the 33rd public hearing of the national commission in Adelaide, counsel assisting Sophie David SC, said the hearing would examine abuse at four Salvation Army homes in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia between 1940 and 1980.
Three former residents of Eden Park Boys’ Home in the Adelaide Hills will tell the commission of years of abuse they suffered at the hands of Salvation Army members including Sergeant William John Keith Ellis.
Ms David said Eden Park employees were reported as far back as 1940, when a staff member was jailed for indecent conduct against three boys.
Despite subsequent allegations in the 1950s and 1960s, Eden Park was allowed to continue to house wards of the state, mainly young boys.
“We expect the survivor evidence and documentary evidence to show that child sexual abuse was widespread, unchecked and flourished over a long period of time at the Salvation Army institutions,” Ms David said....
The royal commission into child sexual abuse in Adelaide has heard over 20 perpetrators have been identified at Salvation Army run homes....
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/royal-commission-into-child-abuse-begins-hearings-in-adelaide-to-examine-salvation-army-homes/story-e6frg6n6-1227558598417
Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse victims 'may never see justice' STV 5 October 2015
Victims of child abuse by the Jehovah's Witnesses may never see the perpetrators brought to justice unless the government closes a loophole allowing criminals to evade justice, campaigners have warned.
The UK Government has been asked to introduce mandatory reporting to police whenever an allegation of child sex abuse is made within the faith group.
Currently, the organisation’s "two-witness rule" means it deals with allegations of abuse internally and only investigates if the claims are corroborated by a second testimony - something lawyers say is unlikely given that many victims are abused in private.
Concern over the number of "hidden" victims has prompted campaigners to hand a letter to Downing Street calling on the government to take action....
The call comes after a landmark case in which a woman abused as a child by a Jehovah's Witness minister won £275,000 damages at the high court.
Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor with London-based AO Advocates, who represented the woman in court, said the Royal Commission investigation into institutional child sexual abuse in Australia revealed thousands of victims and said she expected there to be hundreds of "silent" victims within the church in the UK due to the two-witness rule....
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/1330094-jehovahs-witnesses-child-abuse-victims-may-never-see-justice/
High court refuses appeal from killer in slaying of boy, 12
Monday, October 5, 2015 Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused an appeal from a 38-year-old man on Texas death row for the 1998 fatal beating and robbery of a 12-year-old Rio Grande Valley boy in what authorities said may have been an occult ritual slaying.
The high court on Monday rejected the case of Pablo Vasquez, who was convicted and condemned for the slaying of David Cardenas.
Cardenas went missing after attending a party attended by Vasquez and a 15-year-cousin. When his body was found in a field in Donna, authorities said the boy had been scalped and mutilated.
Evidence at Vasquez's trial showed he acknowledged killing the boy and drinking his blood.
Vasquez's cousin, Andy Chapa, is serving a 35-year prison term for his involvement.
Vasquez doesn't yet have an execution date.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/high-court-refuses-appeal-from-killer-in-slaying-of-boy/article_a3d5143e-9cb4-5653-8a9a-5632514af588.html
Ex-priest jailed in abuse scandal has been set free
By Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement Globe Staff October 02, 2015
A former Catholic priest in Haverhill and Methuen who was a prominent figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal and who psychologists say admitted to molesting at least 14 boys was released Friday from state custody, officials said.
Ronald H. Paquin, 72, was freed after the two medical specialists determined he does not currently meet the legal criteria for sexual dangerousness, despite his history, the officials said....
Paquin pleaded guilty in Essex Superior Court in 2002 to charges that he repeatedly raped a Haverhill altar boy between 1989 and 1992, beginning when the victim was 12. Paquin was defrocked in 2004 and removed from his active ministry years earlier....
Paquin was a key figure in the Boston Globe Spotlight Team investigative series that exposed the clergy sex-abuse scandal. The newspaper reported in 2002 that the Boston Archdiocese moved Paquin from a Methuen parish to a Haverhill church in 1981, apparently after learning about molestation allegations that were made against him.
In 2002, Paquin told the Globe that he “fooled around” with boys, but “never raped anyone and I never felt gratified myself.”
He later admitted to medical evaluators that he abused at least 14 boys and said he was also abused as a child, first by other youths and later by a priest, according to legal filings. He was convicted criminally only in the Haverhill altar boy case....
One Haverhill teenager who was an alleged victim, James M. Francis, was killed in 1981 when he was riding in a car Paquin was driving that rolled over in New Hampshire.
Paquin was accused in a lawsuit of driving impaired during the accident and molesting Francis hours earlier, charges he denied....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/10/02/ronald-paquin-former-catholic-priest-center-abuse-scandal-boston-archdiocese-freed/TOBVQCjIHLHGeFL60Yj26J/story.html
"years of abuse they suffered at the hands of Salvation Army members"
- Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse victims 'may never see justice'
"she expected there to be hundreds of "silent" victims within the church in the UK due to the two-witness rule"
- High court refuses appeal from killer in slaying of boy, 12
"may have been an occult ritual slaying"
- Ex-priest jailed in abuse scandal has been set free - Ronald Paquin
"later admitted to medical evaluators that he abused at least 14 boys"
Royal Commission into Child Abuse begins hearings in Adelaide to examine Salvation Army homes
The Advertiser October 06, 2015
CHILD sex abuse victims at Salvation Army homes were physically beaten or further sexually abused if they reported crimes against them, the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse has heard.
Opening the 33rd public hearing of the national commission in Adelaide, counsel assisting Sophie David SC, said the hearing would examine abuse at four Salvation Army homes in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia between 1940 and 1980.
Three former residents of Eden Park Boys’ Home in the Adelaide Hills will tell the commission of years of abuse they suffered at the hands of Salvation Army members including Sergeant William John Keith Ellis.
Ms David said Eden Park employees were reported as far back as 1940, when a staff member was jailed for indecent conduct against three boys.
Despite subsequent allegations in the 1950s and 1960s, Eden Park was allowed to continue to house wards of the state, mainly young boys.
“We expect the survivor evidence and documentary evidence to show that child sexual abuse was widespread, unchecked and flourished over a long period of time at the Salvation Army institutions,” Ms David said....
The royal commission into child sexual abuse in Adelaide has heard over 20 perpetrators have been identified at Salvation Army run homes....
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/royal-commission-into-child-abuse-begins-hearings-in-adelaide-to-examine-salvation-army-homes/story-e6frg6n6-1227558598417
Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse victims 'may never see justice' STV 5 October 2015
Victims of child abuse by the Jehovah's Witnesses may never see the perpetrators brought to justice unless the government closes a loophole allowing criminals to evade justice, campaigners have warned.
The UK Government has been asked to introduce mandatory reporting to police whenever an allegation of child sex abuse is made within the faith group.
Currently, the organisation’s "two-witness rule" means it deals with allegations of abuse internally and only investigates if the claims are corroborated by a second testimony - something lawyers say is unlikely given that many victims are abused in private.
Concern over the number of "hidden" victims has prompted campaigners to hand a letter to Downing Street calling on the government to take action....
The call comes after a landmark case in which a woman abused as a child by a Jehovah's Witness minister won £275,000 damages at the high court.
Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor with London-based AO Advocates, who represented the woman in court, said the Royal Commission investigation into institutional child sexual abuse in Australia revealed thousands of victims and said she expected there to be hundreds of "silent" victims within the church in the UK due to the two-witness rule....
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/1330094-jehovahs-witnesses-child-abuse-victims-may-never-see-justice/
High court refuses appeal from killer in slaying of boy, 12
Monday, October 5, 2015 Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused an appeal from a 38-year-old man on Texas death row for the 1998 fatal beating and robbery of a 12-year-old Rio Grande Valley boy in what authorities said may have been an occult ritual slaying.
The high court on Monday rejected the case of Pablo Vasquez, who was convicted and condemned for the slaying of David Cardenas.
Cardenas went missing after attending a party attended by Vasquez and a 15-year-cousin. When his body was found in a field in Donna, authorities said the boy had been scalped and mutilated.
Evidence at Vasquez's trial showed he acknowledged killing the boy and drinking his blood.
Vasquez's cousin, Andy Chapa, is serving a 35-year prison term for his involvement.
Vasquez doesn't yet have an execution date.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/high-court-refuses-appeal-from-killer-in-slaying-of-boy/article_a3d5143e-9cb4-5653-8a9a-5632514af588.html
Ex-priest jailed in abuse scandal has been set free
By Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement Globe Staff October 02, 2015
A former Catholic priest in Haverhill and Methuen who was a prominent figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal and who psychologists say admitted to molesting at least 14 boys was released Friday from state custody, officials said.
Ronald H. Paquin, 72, was freed after the two medical specialists determined he does not currently meet the legal criteria for sexual dangerousness, despite his history, the officials said....
Paquin pleaded guilty in Essex Superior Court in 2002 to charges that he repeatedly raped a Haverhill altar boy between 1989 and 1992, beginning when the victim was 12. Paquin was defrocked in 2004 and removed from his active ministry years earlier....
Paquin was a key figure in the Boston Globe Spotlight Team investigative series that exposed the clergy sex-abuse scandal. The newspaper reported in 2002 that the Boston Archdiocese moved Paquin from a Methuen parish to a Haverhill church in 1981, apparently after learning about molestation allegations that were made against him.
In 2002, Paquin told the Globe that he “fooled around” with boys, but “never raped anyone and I never felt gratified myself.”
He later admitted to medical evaluators that he abused at least 14 boys and said he was also abused as a child, first by other youths and later by a priest, according to legal filings. He was convicted criminally only in the Haverhill altar boy case....
One Haverhill teenager who was an alleged victim, James M. Francis, was killed in 1981 when he was riding in a car Paquin was driving that rolled over in New Hampshire.
Paquin was accused in a lawsuit of driving impaired during the accident and molesting Francis hours earlier, charges he denied....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/10/02/ronald-paquin-former-catholic-priest-center-abuse-scandal-boston-archdiocese-freed/TOBVQCjIHLHGeFL60Yj26J/story.html
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century: Kindle Edition, Curfew imposed in northern Liberia after ritual killings spark protests
RITUAL ABUSE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Implications Kindle Edition by Randy Noblitt (Editor), Pamela Perskin (Editor)
Allegations of ritual abuse are universal and mental health professionals, theologians, law enforcers, scholars, victim advocates, and others struggle to comprehend the enormity of the devastation left in the wake of these heinous acts. Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century addresses the concerns that naturally evolve from any discussion of this phenomenon from the perspectives of professionals, advocates, and survivors from around the world. How valid are the survivors’ stories? Is there evidence? What are the consequences of these acts to the individual and society? Why have these allegations been ignored or discredited whenever they have surfaced? The authors of these chapters respond to these and other questions in an effort to illustrate the constellation of psychological, health, legal, criminal, societal, and spiritual ramifications of ritual abuse.
Amazon's Look Inside allows readers to preview the first three chapters:
Chapter 1: Rituals: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Noblitt
Chapter 2: Redefining the Language of Ritual Abuse and the Politics that Dictate It
Noblitt & Perskin-Noblitt
Chapter 3: Exploring Commonalities Reported by Adult Survivors of Extreme Abuse: Preliminary Empirical Findings
Rutz, Becker, Overkamp, & Karriker
http://www.amazon.com/RITUAL-ABUSE-TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY-Psychological-ebook/dp/B01134QYLK/
Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations
Allegations of ritual abuse are universal and mental health professionals, theologians, law enforcers, scholars, victim advocates, and others struggle to comprehend the enormity of the devastation left in the wake of these heinous acts.
Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century addresses the concerns that naturally evolve from any discussion of this phenomenon from the perspectives of professionals, advocates, and survivors from around the world....
The authors of these chapters respond to these and other questions in an effort to illustrate the constellation of psychological, health, legal, criminal, societal, and spiritual ramifications of ritual abuse.
Chapters address current issues including ritually based crime, civil suits involving allegations of ritual abuse, that are universal.
The value of understanding ritual trauma for diagnostic and treatment applications is discussed.
http://rdrpublishers.com/products/ritual-abuse-in-the-twenty-first-century-psychological-forensic-social-and-political-considerations
Curfew imposed in northern Liberia after ritual killings spark protests
Source: Reuters - Thu, 1 Oct 2015
MONROVIA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Authorities imposed a curfew in a town in northern Liberia after violent protests following a wave of suspected ritual killings, authorities said on Wednesday.
Residents of Ganta on the border with Guinea said protests began after the killing of a motorcyclist on Wednesday. That came just a day after the discovery of the body of a 13-year-old girl who had disappeared weeks earlier....
The girl's death was the most recent in what is believed to be a years-long string of ritualistic killings in the area that have been blamed by local residents on politicians and businessmen seeking political power.
Though relatively rare, cases of ritual murders have been recorded in several African countries, with body parts sometimes used in ceremonies believed to confer supernatural powers. Children are particularly sought out as targets.
Residents said violence erupted after two people who were arrested for the girl's murder said a local businessman had hired them to perform it....
http://www.trust.org/item/20150930215054-ekn5g/
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