Paedophile child psychiatrist revelations - Amnesty demands investigation by UK child abuse inquiry
“It’s too late to save the children abused by Fraser. It’s not too late for the truth to come out.” – Patrick Corrigan
Amnesty International has called again for allegations of involvement by UK security services in child abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home in Northern Ireland to be investigated by the Westminster child abuse inquiry.
The latest Amnesty call comes as a new report reveals that Dr Morris Fraser, a child psychiatrist who has been linked to Kincora, and who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child while working for a Belfast hospital in 1972, was allowed to remain on the British medical register for 24 more years during which he was convicted on abuse charges on two further occasions.
Report author Dr Niall Meehan cites a number of sources linking Dr Fraser to abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home. Allegations have persisted for decades that a paedophile ring at Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast was linked to the British intelligence services....
Three senior staff at Kincora – William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains – were jailed in 1981 for child abuse, but there have been suggestions of a mass cover-up by MI5, which was rumoured to be protecting high-ranking paedophiles in the military, Civil Service and politics.
One of the child sex abuse victims from Kincora is challenging the home's exclusion from the inquiry in a judicial review being considered in Belfast High Court. Gary Hoy, who was abused by two of the men who were subsequently convicted, is taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses and the security services to hand over documents.
The judicial review case has heard allegations that MI5 was involved in covering up the sexual abuse of children in order to protect an intelligence-gathering operation it ran in the 1970s. A decision in the judicial review case is due to be delivered on April 8th.
Government papers disclosed last year revealed that the Belfast boys’ home was at the heart of correspondence involving the security services.
The papers also named former government figures alleged to have been involved in paedophile rings. These include the late Sir William van Straubenzee, who was a government minister in Northern Ireland between 1972-74 when the allegations of a paedophile ring at Kincora were first made; and Sir Peter Hayman, former deputy director of MI6.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/paedophile-child-psychiatrist-revelations-amnesty-demands-investigation-uk-child
Massachusetts priest defrocked for sexually abusing minor: archdiocese
BOSTON By Scott Malone Thu Mar 31, 2016
A suburban Boston priest has been defrocked by the Vatican after an investigation by the Roman Catholic church found him guilty of child sexual abuse, the Boston Archdiocese said on Thursday.
The priest, Thomas H. Maguire, was serving as pastor of Saint Helen Mother of the Emperor Constantine church in Norwell, Massachusetts, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Boston, when he was accused in 2012 of inappropriate sexual activity with minors. Maguire was suspended from priestly duties at that time.
Police investigated that allegation but did not find evidence of a crime.
However, following the news of Maguire's suspension, other people came forward to accuse him of sexual abuse dating to the mid-1990s and earlier, the Boston Archdiocese said in a statement.
A probe by church officials into those earlier allegations concluded that Maguire was guilty of abuse of a minor, the archdiocese said.
It was unclear if there was one or more victims, and the earlier incidents were too old to be criminally prosecuted....
The 2015 film "Spotlight," which chronicled the Globe's reporting of the clergy sex abuse scandal, earlier this year won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The Vatican unveiled in 2014 that it had defrocked more than 800 priests since the start of the crisis.
Insurance experts told a Vatican conference in 2012 that as many as 100,000 U.S. children may have been the victims of clerical sex abuse. Some 12 U.S. dioceses have filed for bankruptcy since the scandal broke, in part due to more than $3 billion in settlements paid to victims.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-massachusetts-priest-idUSKCN0WX2GS
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Yeshiva University High School students whose sexual abuse was covered up by administration want changes to statute of limitations law
Yeshiva University High School students whose sexual abuse was covered up by administration want changes to statute of limitations law
by Michael O’keeffe NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, March 30, 2016
They got an apology, but they never got justice.
Thirty-four former students at the prestigious Yeshiva University High School claimed in a bombshell $680 million lawsuit that administrators had covered up abuse for decades.....
A federal judge tossed the lawsuit in 2014 — not because the plaintiffs’ claims against the school in Washington Heights were without merit, but because of a persistent obstacle to justice for child victims of sexual abuse in New York State. The statute of limitations had expired.
“We lost for one reason, and one reason only,” said Barry Singer, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “(The school) disputed none of our allegations and we still lost. The only thing to do now is to change the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations protects institutions; it does not protect children.”
New York’s statute of limitations bars child victims from pursuing criminal charges or civil litigation after their 23rd birthday.
Some of the accusers said administrator Rabbi George Finkelstein targeted them because they were children of Holocaust survivors. He begged the victims not to add to their parents’ suffering by reporting his abuse of students.
In a shocking December 2012 story by The Forward reporter Paul Berger, former Yeshiva University President Norman Lamm acknowledged he failed to notify authorities after students told him they had been sexually abused at the school. School officials quickly offered what they called a “profound apology.”.... http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/abused-yeshiva-university-h-s-students-change-law-article-1.2583374
by Michael O’keeffe NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, March 30, 2016
They got an apology, but they never got justice.
Thirty-four former students at the prestigious Yeshiva University High School claimed in a bombshell $680 million lawsuit that administrators had covered up abuse for decades.....
A federal judge tossed the lawsuit in 2014 — not because the plaintiffs’ claims against the school in Washington Heights were without merit, but because of a persistent obstacle to justice for child victims of sexual abuse in New York State. The statute of limitations had expired.
“We lost for one reason, and one reason only,” said Barry Singer, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “(The school) disputed none of our allegations and we still lost. The only thing to do now is to change the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations protects institutions; it does not protect children.”
New York’s statute of limitations bars child victims from pursuing criminal charges or civil litigation after their 23rd birthday.
Some of the accusers said administrator Rabbi George Finkelstein targeted them because they were children of Holocaust survivors. He begged the victims not to add to their parents’ suffering by reporting his abuse of students.
In a shocking December 2012 story by The Forward reporter Paul Berger, former Yeshiva University President Norman Lamm acknowledged he failed to notify authorities after students told him they had been sexually abused at the school. School officials quickly offered what they called a “profound apology.”.... http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/abused-yeshiva-university-h-s-students-change-law-article-1.2583374
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Boston Archdiocese settles with 7 alleged victims of clergy abuse, Globe’s Spotlight team on clergy sex abuse, “Kots Kaal Pato” ritual of animal murdering is banned
Boston Archdiocese settles with 7 alleged victims of clergy abuse
By Brian MacQuarrie Globe Staff March 28, 2016
The Archdiocese of Boston has agreed to settlements involving cash and counseling with seven people who say they were sexually abused by priests, including one case that stretches back to the 1930s, according to the attorney for the alleged victims.
Two other settlements with religious orders have been reached in cases involving priests who allegedly abused victims while they worked in the archdiocese, according to the attorney, Mitchell Garabedian.
Another, separate settlement with the Carmelite Order involved a brother who had been accused of abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles before being assigned to a chapel at the Northshore Mall in Peabody.
In all, the 10 settlements paid $778,500 and involved allegations of sexual abuse in every decade from the 1930s through the 1980s, Garabedian said. The attorney said he also reached agreements in six other cases across the country, including four in New Jersey.
The agreements carried no admission of liability.
Recent priest abuse settlements
The settlements are the latest reminders of the breadth of the crisis that rocked the archdiocese after the Globe reported in 2002 that abuse had occurred over decades, and that church officials transferred abusive priests to other parishes and routinely hid cases from the public and parishioners.
The Globe’s investigation into the abuse was chronicled in the movie “Spotlight” and earned the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/28/boston-archdiocese-settles-with-victims-clergy-abuse-attorney-says/wlGixSXHESrNKuznIEwHkI/story.html
Key reports from Globe’s Spotlight team on clergy sex abuse
March 11, 2016
The Boston Globe’s 2001-2002 investigation into sexual abuses by clergy in the Catholic Church resulted in more than 600 stories, with eight Globe reporters playing key roles. The first history-changing report was the work of Spotlight editor Walter V. Robinson, and reporters Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes, and Matt Carroll. As the scope of the story widened, four other reporters joined the effort: Stephen Kurkjian, Thomas Farragher, Michael Paulson, and Kevin Cullen.
Here is a sampling of their work:
1. This Globe column by Eileen McNamara got the investigation rolling when new Globe editor Martin Baron read it in July 2001 and asked the Spotlight Team to pursue a wider look at abusive priests and what the church leadership knew.
2. The story that changed everything: The Spotlight Team’s first major report, published Jan. 6, 2002.
3. A few weeks later, the Spotlight Team widened the horrifying picture to include scores of priests.
2002: Church allowed abuse by priest for years
Why did it take a succession of three cardinals and many bishops 34 years to place children out of John J. Geoghan’s reach?
2002: Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases
More on the story behind the ‘Spotlight’ movie
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/11/key-reports-from-globe-spotlight-team-clergy-sex-abuse/s7qc7M3W2nmLs5ULN8ILHJ/story.html
“Kots Kaal Pato” ritual of animal murdering is finally banned
By Yucatan Times
Wed, Mar 23rd, 2016
Almost one year after the online magazine Vice published an article about an unknown tradition practiced in a small town in Yucatan: “Kots Kaal Pato”, this barbaric practice has been finally prohibited by the local and state authorities.
This ritual that takes place in the town of Citilcum involved filling up piñatas with small animals, like iguanas, birds, kittens and possums, and beating them to dead....
Local animal shelters and pro animal defense groups took notice immediately and began to collect signatures through the Change.org website in order to ban this barbaric tradition. The online petition reached more than 750,000 signatures from around the world and even Mexican celebrities, like Eugenio Derbez and Sasha Sokol, helped gathered signatures through twitter. However, the government kept silent and it seemed there was no finding a solution.
Finally, with the help of the Humane Society International (HSI), local church members, pro animal defense groups, animal shelters, and the Municipality of Izamal, Kots Kaal Pato will be officially banned on April 23, almost a year after the article was published in Vice (May, 2015). As part of the agreement with HIS, authorities will only promote the organization of traditions in which no animals will be injured or killed....
http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2016/03/kots-kaal-pato-ritual-of-animal-murdering-is-finally-banned/
By Brian MacQuarrie Globe Staff March 28, 2016
The Archdiocese of Boston has agreed to settlements involving cash and counseling with seven people who say they were sexually abused by priests, including one case that stretches back to the 1930s, according to the attorney for the alleged victims.
Two other settlements with religious orders have been reached in cases involving priests who allegedly abused victims while they worked in the archdiocese, according to the attorney, Mitchell Garabedian.
Another, separate settlement with the Carmelite Order involved a brother who had been accused of abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles before being assigned to a chapel at the Northshore Mall in Peabody.
In all, the 10 settlements paid $778,500 and involved allegations of sexual abuse in every decade from the 1930s through the 1980s, Garabedian said. The attorney said he also reached agreements in six other cases across the country, including four in New Jersey.
The agreements carried no admission of liability.
Recent priest abuse settlements
The settlements are the latest reminders of the breadth of the crisis that rocked the archdiocese after the Globe reported in 2002 that abuse had occurred over decades, and that church officials transferred abusive priests to other parishes and routinely hid cases from the public and parishioners.
The Globe’s investigation into the abuse was chronicled in the movie “Spotlight” and earned the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/28/boston-archdiocese-settles-with-victims-clergy-abuse-attorney-says/wlGixSXHESrNKuznIEwHkI/story.html
Key reports from Globe’s Spotlight team on clergy sex abuse
March 11, 2016
The Boston Globe’s 2001-2002 investigation into sexual abuses by clergy in the Catholic Church resulted in more than 600 stories, with eight Globe reporters playing key roles. The first history-changing report was the work of Spotlight editor Walter V. Robinson, and reporters Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes, and Matt Carroll. As the scope of the story widened, four other reporters joined the effort: Stephen Kurkjian, Thomas Farragher, Michael Paulson, and Kevin Cullen.
Here is a sampling of their work:
1. This Globe column by Eileen McNamara got the investigation rolling when new Globe editor Martin Baron read it in July 2001 and asked the Spotlight Team to pursue a wider look at abusive priests and what the church leadership knew.
2. The story that changed everything: The Spotlight Team’s first major report, published Jan. 6, 2002.
3. A few weeks later, the Spotlight Team widened the horrifying picture to include scores of priests.
2002: Church allowed abuse by priest for years
Why did it take a succession of three cardinals and many bishops 34 years to place children out of John J. Geoghan’s reach?
2002: Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases
More on the story behind the ‘Spotlight’ movie
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/11/key-reports-from-globe-spotlight-team-clergy-sex-abuse/s7qc7M3W2nmLs5ULN8ILHJ/story.html
“Kots Kaal Pato” ritual of animal murdering is finally banned
By Yucatan Times
Wed, Mar 23rd, 2016
Almost one year after the online magazine Vice published an article about an unknown tradition practiced in a small town in Yucatan: “Kots Kaal Pato”, this barbaric practice has been finally prohibited by the local and state authorities.
This ritual that takes place in the town of Citilcum involved filling up piñatas with small animals, like iguanas, birds, kittens and possums, and beating them to dead....
Local animal shelters and pro animal defense groups took notice immediately and began to collect signatures through the Change.org website in order to ban this barbaric tradition. The online petition reached more than 750,000 signatures from around the world and even Mexican celebrities, like Eugenio Derbez and Sasha Sokol, helped gathered signatures through twitter. However, the government kept silent and it seemed there was no finding a solution.
Finally, with the help of the Humane Society International (HSI), local church members, pro animal defense groups, animal shelters, and the Municipality of Izamal, Kots Kaal Pato will be officially banned on April 23, almost a year after the article was published in Vice (May, 2015). As part of the agreement with HIS, authorities will only promote the organization of traditions in which no animals will be injured or killed....
http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2016/03/kots-kaal-pato-ritual-of-animal-murdering-is-finally-banned/
Monday, March 28, 2016
British girls as young as 10 face harm from breast ironing with stones heated on hot coals in ritual imported from west Africa
British girls as young as 10 face harm from breast ironing with stones heated on hot coals in ritual imported from west Africa
The process uses stones, a hammer or a spatula heated over hot coals to mutilate the breast tissue and make the adolescent look less 'womanly'
Belief is it discourages unwanted male attention and premarital pregnancy
Breast ironing originated in Cameroon, where one in four are affected
Tory MP Jake Berry said he was shocked to learn girls in west African communities in Birmingham and London were victims as well
By Thomas Burrows for MailOnline
26 March 2016
Around 1,000 British girls face harm from the 'abhorrent' practice of breast ironing, ministers have warned.
In the brutal procedure, hot objects [stones, a hammer or a spatula] are used to pound and beat girls' breasts to stop them growing in the belief it makes them less desirable and discourages premarital pregnancy.
Breast ironing originated in Cameroon, where it affects as many as one in four.
It also takes place in Nigeria, Benin and Chad. This week Jake Berry, the Conservative MP for Rossendale & Darwen, said he was shocked to learn girls in west African communities in Birmingham and London were victims too.
It is very difficult to spot as most of the perpetrators were the victims' own mothers. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3510492/British-girls-young-10-face-harm-breast-ironing-stones-heated-hot-coals-ritual-imported-west-Africa.html
The process uses stones, a hammer or a spatula heated over hot coals to mutilate the breast tissue and make the adolescent look less 'womanly'
Belief is it discourages unwanted male attention and premarital pregnancy
Breast ironing originated in Cameroon, where one in four are affected
Tory MP Jake Berry said he was shocked to learn girls in west African communities in Birmingham and London were victims as well
By Thomas Burrows for MailOnline
26 March 2016
Around 1,000 British girls face harm from the 'abhorrent' practice of breast ironing, ministers have warned.
In the brutal procedure, hot objects [stones, a hammer or a spatula] are used to pound and beat girls' breasts to stop them growing in the belief it makes them less desirable and discourages premarital pregnancy.
Breast ironing originated in Cameroon, where it affects as many as one in four.
It also takes place in Nigeria, Benin and Chad. This week Jake Berry, the Conservative MP for Rossendale & Darwen, said he was shocked to learn girls in west African communities in Birmingham and London were victims too.
It is very difficult to spot as most of the perpetrators were the victims' own mothers. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3510492/British-girls-young-10-face-harm-breast-ironing-stones-heated-hot-coals-ritual-imported-west-Africa.html
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Rotherham Child Sexual Exploitation, Operation Midland Inquiry Ends, Australia Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence Against Women with Disabilities
-Police chief to step down after force's handling of child abuse cases criticised
"at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013"
- Operation Midland: Child abuse inquiry ends with no charges brought
- Australia’s most shocking statistic: Sexual abuse and domestic violence against women with disabilities
"90 per cent of intellectually disabled women in Australia have been sexually abused"
- Committee Inquiry into Violence, Abuse and Neglect against People with Disability in Institutional and Residential Settings
Police chief to step down after force's handling of child abuse cases criticised 24/03/2016
The chief constable of South Yorkshire has announced plans to step down just hours after another report criticised his force's past failures to tackle child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham.
David Crompton, 52, will leave his post in November, according to a one-line statement on the force website and on Twitter.
Mr Crompton's four year tenure as chief constable has been plagued by a series of high profile problems, many of which began well before he joined the force in 2012.
As well as the Rotherham scandal, he has also had to deal with renewed controversy over the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report in 2012, which led to new inquests.
And he has also faced a fresh campaign for an inquiry into police actions at the "Battle of Orgreave" during the 1984 Miner's Strike.
But, as well as these historical matters, Mr Crompton also found himself in the headlines when Sir Cliff Richard's home was searched in connection with an inquiry into alleged child abuse....
The inquiry led by Professor John Drew repeated many of the criticisms levelled at South Yorkshire Police in the 2014 report by Professor Alexis Jay, which sparked a national scandal when it said at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
The Jay Report outlined how police and social workers knew what was happening but failed to act.
Prof Drew found that, by today's standards, the scale of response to child sexual exploitation 15 years ago was inadequate across the whole of South Yorkshire, with mistakes and missed opportunities until 2011 due to the low priority given to the crime.
But t he professor said the force had made "determined progress" since 2013 and that the police response to safeguarding children and young people from CSE was now adequate and, in some cases, of high quality.
Last month, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced it was now looking at more than 194 allegations about the conduct of police relating to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham....
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/police-chief-to-step-down-after-forces-handling-of-child-abuse-cases-criticised-34568628.html
Operation Midland: Child abuse inquiry ends with no charges brought
21 March 2016 UK
A Met Police inquiry into claims a VIP Westminster paedophile ring abused children in the 1970s and 1980s has closed without charges being brought, Scotland Yard has announced.
The controversial Operation Midland ended as ex-MP Harvey Proctor was told he faces no further action over claims against him of child abuse and murder.
He called on four Met chiefs to resign, but the force said it had been right to look into the single source claims....
The investigation, which began in November 2014, was triggered by allegations made by a man in his 40s known as "Nick", who claimed he was abused for nine years from 1975, when he was seven, to 1984.
More people came forward to provide information but there was not enough evidence to charge anyone - although there was nothing to prove police had been knowingly misled by a complainant, the Met said in a detailed statement....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35863580
Australia’s most shocking statistic: Sexual abuse and domestic violence against women with disabilities
March 20, 2016
Jane Rosengrave, 53, is a proud indigenous women who grew up in institutional care and suffered years of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Ginger Gorman
Jane has an intellectual disability, and over her lifetime she’s suffered unrelenting sexual and physical abuse by six different male perpetrators.
She is far from alone. On the contrary, 90 per cent of intellectually disabled women in Australia have been sexually abused....
It’s a shocking statistic made worse by the fact that most of the abuse happens when the victims are children.
For Jane, the sexual abuse started when she was just six years old. At the time, Jane was a ward of the state living at Pleasant Creek Training Centre in the Victorian town of Stawell. The facility operated from 1937 until 1999 and housed children and young adults with intellectual disabilities....
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/australias-most-shocking-statistic-sexual-abuse-and-domestic-violence-against-women-with-disabilities/news-story/21246ae889850b1d958088fd80b880ae
AUSTRALIAN CROSS DISABILITY ALLIANCE
Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Violence, Abuse and Neglect against People with Disability in Institutional and Residential Settings August 2015
http://wwda.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ACDA_Sub_Sen_Inquiry_Violence_Institutions.pdf
"at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013"
- Operation Midland: Child abuse inquiry ends with no charges brought
- Australia’s most shocking statistic: Sexual abuse and domestic violence against women with disabilities
"90 per cent of intellectually disabled women in Australia have been sexually abused"
- Committee Inquiry into Violence, Abuse and Neglect against People with Disability in Institutional and Residential Settings
Police chief to step down after force's handling of child abuse cases criticised 24/03/2016
The chief constable of South Yorkshire has announced plans to step down just hours after another report criticised his force's past failures to tackle child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham.
David Crompton, 52, will leave his post in November, according to a one-line statement on the force website and on Twitter.
Mr Crompton's four year tenure as chief constable has been plagued by a series of high profile problems, many of which began well before he joined the force in 2012.
As well as the Rotherham scandal, he has also had to deal with renewed controversy over the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report in 2012, which led to new inquests.
And he has also faced a fresh campaign for an inquiry into police actions at the "Battle of Orgreave" during the 1984 Miner's Strike.
But, as well as these historical matters, Mr Crompton also found himself in the headlines when Sir Cliff Richard's home was searched in connection with an inquiry into alleged child abuse....
The inquiry led by Professor John Drew repeated many of the criticisms levelled at South Yorkshire Police in the 2014 report by Professor Alexis Jay, which sparked a national scandal when it said at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
The Jay Report outlined how police and social workers knew what was happening but failed to act.
Prof Drew found that, by today's standards, the scale of response to child sexual exploitation 15 years ago was inadequate across the whole of South Yorkshire, with mistakes and missed opportunities until 2011 due to the low priority given to the crime.
But t he professor said the force had made "determined progress" since 2013 and that the police response to safeguarding children and young people from CSE was now adequate and, in some cases, of high quality.
Last month, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced it was now looking at more than 194 allegations about the conduct of police relating to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham....
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/police-chief-to-step-down-after-forces-handling-of-child-abuse-cases-criticised-34568628.html
Operation Midland: Child abuse inquiry ends with no charges brought
21 March 2016 UK
A Met Police inquiry into claims a VIP Westminster paedophile ring abused children in the 1970s and 1980s has closed without charges being brought, Scotland Yard has announced.
The controversial Operation Midland ended as ex-MP Harvey Proctor was told he faces no further action over claims against him of child abuse and murder.
He called on four Met chiefs to resign, but the force said it had been right to look into the single source claims....
The investigation, which began in November 2014, was triggered by allegations made by a man in his 40s known as "Nick", who claimed he was abused for nine years from 1975, when he was seven, to 1984.
More people came forward to provide information but there was not enough evidence to charge anyone - although there was nothing to prove police had been knowingly misled by a complainant, the Met said in a detailed statement....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35863580
Australia’s most shocking statistic: Sexual abuse and domestic violence against women with disabilities
March 20, 2016
Jane Rosengrave, 53, is a proud indigenous women who grew up in institutional care and suffered years of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Ginger Gorman
Jane has an intellectual disability, and over her lifetime she’s suffered unrelenting sexual and physical abuse by six different male perpetrators.
She is far from alone. On the contrary, 90 per cent of intellectually disabled women in Australia have been sexually abused....
It’s a shocking statistic made worse by the fact that most of the abuse happens when the victims are children.
For Jane, the sexual abuse started when she was just six years old. At the time, Jane was a ward of the state living at Pleasant Creek Training Centre in the Victorian town of Stawell. The facility operated from 1937 until 1999 and housed children and young adults with intellectual disabilities....
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/australias-most-shocking-statistic-sexual-abuse-and-domestic-violence-against-women-with-disabilities/news-story/21246ae889850b1d958088fd80b880ae
AUSTRALIAN CROSS DISABILITY ALLIANCE
Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Violence, Abuse and Neglect against People with Disability in Institutional and Residential Settings August 2015
http://wwda.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ACDA_Sub_Sen_Inquiry_Violence_Institutions.pdf
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Newsweek Article on Alleged Hasidic Child Abuse Sparks Brooklyn Yeshiva Protest
Newsweek Article on Alleged Hasidic Child Abuse Sparks Brooklyn Yeshiva Protest
By Lucy Westcott On 3/18/16
About 40 protesters holding signs and chanting gathered outside the Ohlei Torah yeshiva in Brooklyn on a snowy Sunday evening in response to a Newsweek exposé on the alleged sexual and physical abuse of students by rabbis at the school.
Chaim Levin, the protest organizer whose story of abuse at Oholei Torah was chronicled in the Newsweek article, on Sunday spoke about the physical and sexual abuse he says he and other students at Ohlei were forced to suffer, saying: "It's unfathomable to me that the people who did this kind of violence are teaching."....
A statement on the Facebook page for the protest read: “For too long, teachers and principals in this school have ignored children being abused physically and sexually. There is evidence to suggest that in most of these cases the school knew about these crimes and chose not to act."
“Furthermore, three of the people mentioned in the Newsweek article, people who either abused children themselves or oversaw it, are still employed by the school,” the statement said.
The protesters were demaing an end to child abuse, the replacement of abusive staff and apologies to victims of childhood sexual abuse. Organizers also want victims to be paid compensation “for the damage caused by abuse,” they said in a press release....
http://www.newsweek.com/yeshiva-child-abuse-newsweek-protest-438482
By Lucy Westcott On 3/18/16
About 40 protesters holding signs and chanting gathered outside the Ohlei Torah yeshiva in Brooklyn on a snowy Sunday evening in response to a Newsweek exposé on the alleged sexual and physical abuse of students by rabbis at the school.
Chaim Levin, the protest organizer whose story of abuse at Oholei Torah was chronicled in the Newsweek article, on Sunday spoke about the physical and sexual abuse he says he and other students at Ohlei were forced to suffer, saying: "It's unfathomable to me that the people who did this kind of violence are teaching."....
A statement on the Facebook page for the protest read: “For too long, teachers and principals in this school have ignored children being abused physically and sexually. There is evidence to suggest that in most of these cases the school knew about these crimes and chose not to act."
“Furthermore, three of the people mentioned in the Newsweek article, people who either abused children themselves or oversaw it, are still employed by the school,” the statement said.
The protesters were demaing an end to child abuse, the replacement of abusive staff and apologies to victims of childhood sexual abuse. Organizers also want victims to be paid compensation “for the damage caused by abuse,” they said in a press release....
http://www.newsweek.com/yeshiva-child-abuse-newsweek-protest-438482
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Commission: US Lacks Strategies to Lower Child Abuse Deaths
Commission: US Lacks Strategies to Lower Child Abuse Deaths
By David Crary, AP National Writer NEW YORK Mar 17, 2016
The United States lacks coherent, effective strategies for reducing the stubbornly high number of children who die each year from abuse and neglect, a commission created by Congress reported Thursday after two years of sometimes divisive deliberations.
According to federal data, the number of such deaths has hovered at around 1,500 to 1,600 annually in recent years. But citing gaps in how this data is compiled, the report suggests the actual number may be as high as 3,000 a year.
Commission chairman David Sanders said a goal of zero maltreatment deaths was realistic.
"We looked at the airline industry — no one accepts a plane crash anymore. We can get that way with child fatalities," said Sanders, executive vice president of Casey Family Programs.
The report made dozens of recommendations, including expanding safe-haven programs for abandoned infants and enlisting a broader range of community organizations to help often-overburdened child protection service workers.
"We need a system that does not rely on CPS agencies alone to keep all children safe," the report said. "Other systems become key partners, including the courts, law enforcement, the medical community, mental health, public health, and education. Even neighbors who come into regular contact with young children and families are part of a public health approach."....
At the state level, the report decried high caseloads and stressful working conditions for child protection workers.
"Shortages of workers, funds and training may mean that inexperienced workers are tasked with making life-or-death decisions with insufficient preparation or support," said the report....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/commission-us-lacks-strategies-lower-child-abuse-deaths-37714322
By David Crary, AP National Writer NEW YORK Mar 17, 2016
The United States lacks coherent, effective strategies for reducing the stubbornly high number of children who die each year from abuse and neglect, a commission created by Congress reported Thursday after two years of sometimes divisive deliberations.
According to federal data, the number of such deaths has hovered at around 1,500 to 1,600 annually in recent years. But citing gaps in how this data is compiled, the report suggests the actual number may be as high as 3,000 a year.
Commission chairman David Sanders said a goal of zero maltreatment deaths was realistic.
"We looked at the airline industry — no one accepts a plane crash anymore. We can get that way with child fatalities," said Sanders, executive vice president of Casey Family Programs.
The report made dozens of recommendations, including expanding safe-haven programs for abandoned infants and enlisting a broader range of community organizations to help often-overburdened child protection service workers.
"We need a system that does not rely on CPS agencies alone to keep all children safe," the report said. "Other systems become key partners, including the courts, law enforcement, the medical community, mental health, public health, and education. Even neighbors who come into regular contact with young children and families are part of a public health approach."....
At the state level, the report decried high caseloads and stressful working conditions for child protection workers.
"Shortages of workers, funds and training may mean that inexperienced workers are tasked with making life-or-death decisions with insufficient preparation or support," said the report....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/commission-us-lacks-strategies-lower-child-abuse-deaths-37714322
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Child abuse scandal casts ‘spotlight’ on France’s top Catholic, French education minister says 27 school staff fired for child sex abuse
Child abuse scandal casts ‘spotlight’ on France’s top Catholic
2016-03-16
Allegations of a cover-up in the highest reaches of French Catholicism have revived the spectre of clerical child sex abuse and cast a pall over France’s most prominent cardinal
....the allegations have the potential to profoundly rattle the Church in a country where half the population continues to consider itself Catholic. In particular, they threaten to derail the career of France’s most prominent clergyman, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, a man long touted as a possible candidate for the papacy.
The 65-year-old prelate has fiercely denied charges that he covered up paedophilia crimes by failing to remove a priest in his diocese known to have abused boy scouts decades before he took up his post in 2002. Barbarin is also accused of failing to act against another Lyon priest when it emerged in 2009 he had abused a boy in the past.
"I have never, never, never covered up acts of paedophilia," Barbarin said at a press conference on Tuesday, noting that the cases had passed the legal statute of limitations when they were reported. He added an unfortunate "thank God" – and later apologised for his choice of words.
The cardinal spoke just hours after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls urged him to “take his responsibility and act” upon the allegations of cover-up – a rare step for France, which has a strict separation of church and state.
Pandora’s box
Barbarin is among six church officials targeted in a preliminary judicial investigation that grew out of allegations that a priest had molested boy scouts in the 1980s. Barbarin wasn't a cardinal at the time and says he was convinced the priest had been reformed by the time he found out about the abuse in 2007.
The priest, Bernard Preynat, was charged on January 27 of this year with sexual aggression and rape of a minor by a person in authority. The charges are based on complaints filed by members of an association of alleged victims of the priest, known as Parole libérée (Freed word).
Several of the alleged victims have spoken to Euronews journalist Valérie Gauriat about the abuse....
The association says it has received dozens of testimonies from alleged victims, who had previously kept quiet about their story, or were simply not listened to. “Since our establishment, barely two months ago, we have been submerged by messages from victims seeking psychological support or advice,” says Dominique Murillot, the wife of a former child abuse victim and a psychologist at Parole libérée....
Adding to Barbarin’s woes, Le Parisien reported that the Lyon cardinal had in 2013 promoted a convicted sex offender, whose suspended jail term in 2007 was well known to the archdiocese....
France was shocked last year by the disclosure that a school headmaster who had been appointed despite a previous conviction for possessing child pornography was charged with aggravated rape of several pupils.
On Wednesday, the Education Ministry said it had struck off twenty-seven members of staff in French schools and high schools in 2015 because of paedophilia-related offenses, adding that it would tighten cooperation with the justice ministry to scrutinize the criminal records of all teachers it employs....
http://www.france24.com/en/20160316-child-abuse-spotlight-france-catholic-cardinal-barbarin-paedophilia
French education minister says 27 school staff fired for child sex abuse
016-03-16
Twenty-seven members of staff in French schools and high schools were struck off in 2015 because of pedophilia-related offenses, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Wednesday.
Vallaud-Belkacem said most of those fired where male staffers. She did not say whether they were teachers or administrative personnel, nor when the offenses happened.
France was shocked last year by the disclosure that a school headmaster who had been appointed despite a previous conviction for possessing child pornography was charged with aggravated rape of several pupils. Earlier this year, a high school teacher who had been convicted in Britain 10 years ago was given preliminary charges of sexual assault after police found pornographic images and video in his mobile phone.
According to a report aiming at improving communication between the ministries of education and justice published Wednesday, 19 members of staff in schools and high schools were fired in 2014 in cases related to child pornography or pedophilia. There were 26 staff at French schools laid off in 2013 for the same reason, and 15 in 2012.
"We believe that a teacher, or an adult, or an administrative agent in contact with children can't work with children as soon as he has been sentenced for offenses as serious as pedophilia or child pornography," Vallaud-Belkacem told RTL radio....
http://www.france24.com/en/20160316-france-27-school-staff-fired-child-sex-abuse-paedophilia
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Valls appeals to French cardinal over child abuse allegations, FORCEPS Poems About The Birth of The Self Wendy Hoffman
Valls appeals to French cardinal over child abuse allegations
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says Cardinal Philippe Barbarin must "take responsibility" over an alleged pedophilia cover up. He is one of six people implicated in an investigation into a 70-year-old priest.
Valls told BFM TV on Tuesday that without wanting to overrule the Church or judges investigating the case, Barbarin "must take responsibility, speak and act."
He stopped short of calling for Barbarin's resignation but said "action, as well as words" were required.
Barbarin hit back at a press conference later, insisting for a second time: "I have never covered up pedophilia," although he admitted he had made mistakes.
The scandal relates to an investigation into an elderly priest, Bernard Preynat, who was charged in January with historic child sex abuse.
Several victims have come forward making claims dating back to the 1980s. One of them, who was allegedly abused while in the Scouts, filed a complaint after he realized that the priest was still in service in 2015.
Church hush-up?
Prosecutors say Preynat has admitted the charges and was finally removed from service in May last year. But when the claims were initially investigated, he was just briefly suspended and then moved to another parish. Other victims have since come forward claiming to have been abused between 1986 and 1991.
Complaints have been filed against several senior officials in the Lyon diocese in eastern France, including Lyon archbishop Barbarin, accusing them of being aware of the abuse but failing to report the priest.
Barbarin has argued he was not Archbishop when the first complaints emerged against Preynat.
The Cardinal said he learned of Preynat's "behaviors" in 2007 or 2008, and met with him "to ask if, since 1991, anything had happened; he assured me there had been absolutely nothing."
French prosecutors are investigating whether charges of failure to denounce a crime and endangering the lives of others could be made in the context of the pedophilia investigation....
http://www.dw.com/en/valls-appeals-to-french-cardinal-over-child-abuse-allegations/a-19118938
FORCEPS
Poems About The Birth of The Self
The search for my true past came in distinct waves. This collection of poems includes some from the long period when I knew something was drastically wrong but didn’t consciously know what that was and some from the breakthrough when I discovered my never-bloomed self. The poems cover the outskirts of my awakening, my plowing through and arrival in the middle of awareness. When dissociated memories and emotions exploded inside, eventually they filtered into a poem. The horror transmuted itself. These poems are that record. I have regained a real, not imposed, self.
Karnac Books March 2016 ISBN 13 : 9781782204107 ISBN 10 : 1782204105
https://us.karnacbooks.com/product/forceps-poems-about-the-birth-of-the-self/38047/
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says Cardinal Philippe Barbarin must "take responsibility" over an alleged pedophilia cover up. He is one of six people implicated in an investigation into a 70-year-old priest.
Valls told BFM TV on Tuesday that without wanting to overrule the Church or judges investigating the case, Barbarin "must take responsibility, speak and act."
He stopped short of calling for Barbarin's resignation but said "action, as well as words" were required.
Barbarin hit back at a press conference later, insisting for a second time: "I have never covered up pedophilia," although he admitted he had made mistakes.
The scandal relates to an investigation into an elderly priest, Bernard Preynat, who was charged in January with historic child sex abuse.
Several victims have come forward making claims dating back to the 1980s. One of them, who was allegedly abused while in the Scouts, filed a complaint after he realized that the priest was still in service in 2015.
Church hush-up?
Prosecutors say Preynat has admitted the charges and was finally removed from service in May last year. But when the claims were initially investigated, he was just briefly suspended and then moved to another parish. Other victims have since come forward claiming to have been abused between 1986 and 1991.
Complaints have been filed against several senior officials in the Lyon diocese in eastern France, including Lyon archbishop Barbarin, accusing them of being aware of the abuse but failing to report the priest.
Barbarin has argued he was not Archbishop when the first complaints emerged against Preynat.
The Cardinal said he learned of Preynat's "behaviors" in 2007 or 2008, and met with him "to ask if, since 1991, anything had happened; he assured me there had been absolutely nothing."
French prosecutors are investigating whether charges of failure to denounce a crime and endangering the lives of others could be made in the context of the pedophilia investigation....
http://www.dw.com/en/valls-appeals-to-french-cardinal-over-child-abuse-allegations/a-19118938
FORCEPS
Poems About The Birth of The Self
The search for my true past came in distinct waves. This collection of poems includes some from the long period when I knew something was drastically wrong but didn’t consciously know what that was and some from the breakthrough when I discovered my never-bloomed self. The poems cover the outskirts of my awakening, my plowing through and arrival in the middle of awareness. When dissociated memories and emotions exploded inside, eventually they filtered into a poem. The horror transmuted itself. These poems are that record. I have regained a real, not imposed, self.
Karnac Books March 2016 ISBN 13 : 9781782204107 ISBN 10 : 1782204105
https://us.karnacbooks.com/product/forceps-poems-about-the-birth-of-the-self/38047/
Monday, March 14, 2016
Officials probe ‘Satanic’ animal sacrifices on Long Island, Kenneth Clarke 'failed to act' over Lord Janner and Cyril Smith child abuse tip-offs
Officials probe ‘Satanic’ animal sacrifices on Long Island
By Dean Balsamini March 13, 2016
The Suffolk County SPCA is probing whether a satanic cult has been beheading goats and chickens on Long Island for the past two years.
Officials also believe the recent torture of a 7-month-old pit bull found hanging from a tree last month may be part of a gang initiation rite.
“Animal abuse is widespread. We’ve found them in all areas of the county,” Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross told The Post.
Suffolk County SPCA Capt. Paul Llobel said several incidents “may be tied to religious and satanic ritual. There’s a lot going on here right now....
The Suffolk SPCA held a training class on ritualistic animal sacrifice and the occult at the county Police Academy last August.
Representatives from Long Island law enforcement heard guest speaker Marcos Quinones, author of “The Goddess of Death: La Santa Muerte and Satan: An Intelligence Report” and a recognized cult expert with the FBI.
In July, the SPCA put out a call for “humane investigators” in the wake of the animal sacrifices....
http://nypost.com/2016/03/13/officials-probe-satanic-animal-sacrifices-on-long-island/
Kenneth Clarke 'failed to act' over Lord Janner and Cyril Smith child abuse tip-offs
Government's sex abuse inquiry - which has first preliminary hearing on Wednesday - will hear claims that former home secretary was warned of abuse in the early 90s
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 8 Mar 2016
Kenneth Clarke failed to act on warnings that Greville Janner and Cyril Smith had been accused of child sex abuse by several alleged victims, the Government’s official inquiry will be told.
As Justice Lowell Goddard holds her first preliminary hearing, a victims’ campaigner will claim that Mr Clarke, who was home secretary from 1992 to 1993, was sent details of a series of sex assaults by the MPs.
The allegations by Nigel O’Mara, a leading figure in the sex abuse survivors organisation WhiteFlowers, will add further weight to claims that information was overlooked by the authorities.
Lawyers for Mr O’Mara said they would challenge a decision by Justice Goddard not to award their client special “core participant” status in the inquiry, which grants the right to examine evidence and be represented in the hearings.
In a statement released ahead of the hearing, Mr O’Mara said: “In 1992 I co-founded Survivors UK, a helpline for survivors of male rape and sexual abuse.
“We received a series of calls from young men alleging that they had been sexually abused, while they were children in care, by Greville Janner MP and Cyril Smith MP.
“In 1992/93 I wrote, on behalf of Survivors UK, to the home secretary, Kenneth Clarke, informing him of the multiple allegations of sexual assault on children by Greville Janner MP and Cyril Smith MP.”
The allegations were made in calls to telephone counsellors at a hotline run by the charity by young men who said they had been abused while living in children’s homes.
“I asked the home secretary to investigate these allegations of sexual abuse of children by these powerful men. No response was received,” said Mr O’Mara.
“A key issue with Greville Janner and Cyril Smith is how they were able to go unchallenged and unprosecuted for so many years....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/child-protection/12188024/Kenneth-Clarke-failed-to-act-over-Lord-Janner-and-Cyril-Smith-child-abuse-tip-offs.html
By Dean Balsamini March 13, 2016
The Suffolk County SPCA is probing whether a satanic cult has been beheading goats and chickens on Long Island for the past two years.
Officials also believe the recent torture of a 7-month-old pit bull found hanging from a tree last month may be part of a gang initiation rite.
“Animal abuse is widespread. We’ve found them in all areas of the county,” Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross told The Post.
Suffolk County SPCA Capt. Paul Llobel said several incidents “may be tied to religious and satanic ritual. There’s a lot going on here right now....
The Suffolk SPCA held a training class on ritualistic animal sacrifice and the occult at the county Police Academy last August.
Representatives from Long Island law enforcement heard guest speaker Marcos Quinones, author of “The Goddess of Death: La Santa Muerte and Satan: An Intelligence Report” and a recognized cult expert with the FBI.
In July, the SPCA put out a call for “humane investigators” in the wake of the animal sacrifices....
http://nypost.com/2016/03/13/officials-probe-satanic-animal-sacrifices-on-long-island/
Kenneth Clarke 'failed to act' over Lord Janner and Cyril Smith child abuse tip-offs
Government's sex abuse inquiry - which has first preliminary hearing on Wednesday - will hear claims that former home secretary was warned of abuse in the early 90s
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 8 Mar 2016
Kenneth Clarke failed to act on warnings that Greville Janner and Cyril Smith had been accused of child sex abuse by several alleged victims, the Government’s official inquiry will be told.
As Justice Lowell Goddard holds her first preliminary hearing, a victims’ campaigner will claim that Mr Clarke, who was home secretary from 1992 to 1993, was sent details of a series of sex assaults by the MPs.
The allegations by Nigel O’Mara, a leading figure in the sex abuse survivors organisation WhiteFlowers, will add further weight to claims that information was overlooked by the authorities.
Lawyers for Mr O’Mara said they would challenge a decision by Justice Goddard not to award their client special “core participant” status in the inquiry, which grants the right to examine evidence and be represented in the hearings.
In a statement released ahead of the hearing, Mr O’Mara said: “In 1992 I co-founded Survivors UK, a helpline for survivors of male rape and sexual abuse.
“We received a series of calls from young men alleging that they had been sexually abused, while they were children in care, by Greville Janner MP and Cyril Smith MP.
“In 1992/93 I wrote, on behalf of Survivors UK, to the home secretary, Kenneth Clarke, informing him of the multiple allegations of sexual assault on children by Greville Janner MP and Cyril Smith MP.”
The allegations were made in calls to telephone counsellors at a hotline run by the charity by young men who said they had been abused while living in children’s homes.
“I asked the home secretary to investigate these allegations of sexual abuse of children by these powerful men. No response was received,” said Mr O’Mara.
“A key issue with Greville Janner and Cyril Smith is how they were able to go unchallenged and unprosecuted for so many years....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/child-protection/12188024/Kenneth-Clarke-failed-to-act-over-Lord-Janner-and-Cyril-Smith-child-abuse-tip-offs.html
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Recorded child sex abuse cases increase by more than 30%, Child Abuse Victim Kept in a Cage Tells Her Story of Survival
Recorded child sex abuse cases increase by more than 30%
Police believe that while it is true more victims are coming forwards there is also an increase in abuse driven by technology – and 80% of the abuse is of girls
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Tuesday 8 March 2016
Cases of recorded child sexual abuse increased by more than 30% last year, figures suggest. Police chiefs fear the rise is being driven by predators searching online for victims.
A total of 45,456 child sexual offences were recorded across the United Kingdom last year, an average of 124 a day.
Nearly 11,000 victims were under 10 years old and 2,409 were aged five or under, according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which surveyed every UK police force using Freedom of Information laws.
Chief constable Simon Bailey, who is in charge of combating child sexual abuse in England and Wales, told the Guardian that the increase was caused by an increase in attacks, not just because victims were more willing to trust the police and report them....
Campaigners and police estimate only one in eight sexual attacks on a child is reported.
The NSPCC’s figures indicate that there were 32,675 sexual attacks or assaults on girls, compared with 8,387 on boys, meaning young females were four times more likely to be victims.
Alan Wardle, head of policy at the NSPCC, said: “Child sexual abuse is about abuse of power. Victims are cowed into silence. They are told they will not be believed, that it was their fault. The internet has given predators the opportunity to find and abuse children in a new way....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/09/recorded-child-sex-abuse-cases-increase-by-more-than-30
describes violence
Child Abuse Victim Kept in a Cage Tells Her Story of Survival
Tracy Lehr, KEYT - KCOY - KKFX Reporter Mar 08, 2016
CAMARILLO, Calif. -
A child abuse survivor who was kept in a cage said she doesn't dwell on the past.
Cynthia Vasquez said she has gotten positive feedback since her story first aired.
Vasquez, 19, works at Casa Pacifica in Camarillo, the same center that helped her after she was abused and neglected by a foster parent who adopted her and her little sister.
Casa Pacifica CEO Steve Elson said she was one of the worst cases they've seen. "It was horrendous what she and her sister went through," Elson said.
Vicki Murphy, Casa Pacifica's Chief Advancement Officer said, "This is a little girl that came to us from a cage, she had lived in an animal cage."
Her foster mother Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez was a social worker and daycare provider who avoided scrutiny for years. Cynthia said Vasquez changed their names, but she is in no rush to have it legally changed back.
During her Santa Barbara trial in 2007, Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez blamed parenting books. Vasquez spent less than a year in jail.
After a decade of therapy Cynthia said, "I have a job, a car, I'm going to college, I graduated high school having missed four grades. I've worked hard to get to where I am and I'm happy."....
http://www.keyt.com/news/child-abuse-survivor-doesnt-dwell-on-the-past/38395826
Police believe that while it is true more victims are coming forwards there is also an increase in abuse driven by technology – and 80% of the abuse is of girls
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Tuesday 8 March 2016
Cases of recorded child sexual abuse increased by more than 30% last year, figures suggest. Police chiefs fear the rise is being driven by predators searching online for victims.
A total of 45,456 child sexual offences were recorded across the United Kingdom last year, an average of 124 a day.
Nearly 11,000 victims were under 10 years old and 2,409 were aged five or under, according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which surveyed every UK police force using Freedom of Information laws.
Chief constable Simon Bailey, who is in charge of combating child sexual abuse in England and Wales, told the Guardian that the increase was caused by an increase in attacks, not just because victims were more willing to trust the police and report them....
Campaigners and police estimate only one in eight sexual attacks on a child is reported.
The NSPCC’s figures indicate that there were 32,675 sexual attacks or assaults on girls, compared with 8,387 on boys, meaning young females were four times more likely to be victims.
Alan Wardle, head of policy at the NSPCC, said: “Child sexual abuse is about abuse of power. Victims are cowed into silence. They are told they will not be believed, that it was their fault. The internet has given predators the opportunity to find and abuse children in a new way....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/09/recorded-child-sex-abuse-cases-increase-by-more-than-30
describes violence
Child Abuse Victim Kept in a Cage Tells Her Story of Survival
Tracy Lehr, KEYT - KCOY - KKFX Reporter Mar 08, 2016
CAMARILLO, Calif. -
A child abuse survivor who was kept in a cage said she doesn't dwell on the past.
Cynthia Vasquez said she has gotten positive feedback since her story first aired.
Vasquez, 19, works at Casa Pacifica in Camarillo, the same center that helped her after she was abused and neglected by a foster parent who adopted her and her little sister.
Casa Pacifica CEO Steve Elson said she was one of the worst cases they've seen. "It was horrendous what she and her sister went through," Elson said.
Vicki Murphy, Casa Pacifica's Chief Advancement Officer said, "This is a little girl that came to us from a cage, she had lived in an animal cage."
Her foster mother Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez was a social worker and daycare provider who avoided scrutiny for years. Cynthia said Vasquez changed their names, but she is in no rush to have it legally changed back.
During her Santa Barbara trial in 2007, Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez blamed parenting books. Vasquez spent less than a year in jail.
After a decade of therapy Cynthia said, "I have a job, a car, I'm going to college, I graduated high school having missed four grades. I've worked hard to get to where I am and I'm happy."....
http://www.keyt.com/news/child-abuse-survivor-doesnt-dwell-on-the-past/38395826
Monday, March 7, 2016
Former Pitcairn mayor found guilty over child abuse images, Kenya child abuse: US ex-missionary gets 40yrs'
Former Pitcairn mayor found guilty over child abuse images
Michael Warren, who downloaded more than 1000 images of child abuse while working in child protection, will serve his sentence on the tiny Pacific island
Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin Monday 7 March 2016
The former mayor of Pitcairn Island has been sentenced to 20-months in prison after he was convicted of possessing more than 1000 images and videos depicting child pornography.
The tiny British territory in the South Pacific, which has a population of around 50 people, gained international notoriety in 2004 when seven of the island’s 12 men were accused of a total of 55 sex crimes, some dating back 40 years.
According to crown prosecutor Kieran Raferty, former mayor Michael Warren - who served as the island’s mayor from 2008 to 2013 - began downloading images of child abuse in 2004.
During the years Warren downloaded the images he was working in child protection on the island - and travelling to New Zealand and the United Kingdom in an official capacity for further training in child protection.
Raferty said Warren’s initial defence was that he had downloaded the images because he wanted to understand child pornography after the 2004 sex abuse cases.
Warren has also been found guilty of engaging in an internet “sex chat” with a person purporting to be a 15-year-schoolgirl, and of possessing a video that showed a bound and gagged naked woman....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/former-pitcairn-mayor-found-guilty-over-child-pornography
Kenya child abuse: US ex-missionary gets 40yrs'
2016-03-07
Oklahoma City - A former missionary convicted of sexually abusing children at an orphanage in Kenya was sentenced on Monday to 40 years in a US prison.
Matthew Lane Durham, 21, had faced up to 30 years on each of four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. He was ordered to pay restitution of $15 863.
Durham asked the court for mercy. "All I wanted was to follow God's plan for me," he told the judge.
Defence attorney Stephen Jones has said Durham plans to appeal. He has described Durham, who was 19 when he was charged, as "an emotionally vulnerable teenager" who was struggling with sexual identity while being a devout Christian.
Prosecutors alleged Durham targeted orphans while volunteering at the Upendo Children's Home in Nairobi between April and June 2014. Durham had served as a volunteer since 2012 at the orphanage, which specialises in caring for neglected children.
Orphanage officials and five of the children travelled from Kenya to testify at the trial.
Prosecutors asked that Durham be placed under supervision for the rest of his life in the event he is ever released from prison.
"He raped or sexually molested by force or threat four children ranging in ages from 5 years to 14 years - some multiple times - in a span of just 33 days," prosecutors wrote....
http://www.news24.com/World/News/kenya-child-abuse-us-ex-missionary-gets-40yrs-20160307
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Child Abuse Allegations Plague the Hasidic Community
Child Abuse Allegations Plague the Hasidic Community
By Elijah Wolfson On 3/3/16
....It’s widely accepted by child abuse experts and advocates that some kids are particularly vulnerable. Usually, they are disadvantaged in some way—family problems, rejection by their peer group—that perpetrators can exploit, particularly if they are teachers who also happen to be religious authorities.
....It was widely known that if you ratted out someone in the community for abuse, the community would turn its back on you. Gena Diacomanolis is the senior director of Safe Horizon’s Jane Barker Brooklyn Child Advocacy Center, where, over the past decade, she says, they have made tremendous strides in the Haredi communities. But the biggest barrier remains the pressure the community puts on individuals who want to come forward with stories of abuse.
“I can tell you tons of stories where they were so fearful of going forward,” she says. “I had one dad who said his son was sexually abused at school.” He decided not to press charges, Diacomanolis recalls. “He said, ‘I don't want you to think I don't love my child, but if I go forward, I won't find a marriage for my daughter.’”
Diacomanolis also says families are often harassed when they come forward. One client who charged her husband with abusing their child “left her house, and the whole block was papered with things saying terrible things about her.”
One mother who found out her son had been sexually abused by a teacher at United Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway (another Hasidic school in Brooklyn) says when she complained to the yeshiva’s principal, she was shunned. “I got thrown out of the community,” she says. “You can’t imagine what was said to me. The phone calls I got. I was an outcast. I was threatened.”
....Protecting the Predators
Chabad has a global network of synagogues, schools and other facilities that is often used to shelter abusers on the run. When rumors of abuse begin to bubble up, teachers are shuttled from school to school, city to city—like Reizes, shipped from Brooklyn to Miami and then back. In March 2008, eight students accused Malka Leifer, principal of the Adass Israel school for girls in Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, of sexual abuse. Just days later, she hopped on a plane and fled to Israel. In September 2015, Australia’s Supreme Court awarded over $1 million in compensation to a 28-year-old abused by Leifer from 2003 to 2006.
According to court documents, it was discovered during the course of the trial that there was a concerted effort by the community to protect Leifer: The school’s president at the time, Yitzhok Benedikt, and board member Mark Ernst played key roles in arranging her escape to Israel. The two men are facing criminal charges; Leifer was arrested in Israel last year and is now fighting extradition to Australia.
In recent years, Australia has emerged as the country most willing to confront child abuse in the Hasidic world. In 2013, the government formed the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and in early 2015 it began a large investigation into the Hasidic community. Weeks of hearings led to a report detailing alleged abuses—and how yeshivas and rabbinical leadership cover up that abuse and systematically ostracize survivors and their families.
....In New York, survivors of most cases of child molestation have five years after they turn 18 to get the district attorney to prosecute. (In cases of sexual misconduct, legal proceedings must begin within two years after the offense was committed, regardless of the child’s age at the time of the alleged crime.) Many child abuse experts say that window is not nearly big enough for young men just starting to understand what happened to them. It’s no surprise that most of the abuse Newsweek uncovered happened long ago—no 10-year-old has the wherewithal to talk to the press about his abusive teacher. It takes a 25-year-old who has finally received a proper education to understand what was done to him 15 years ago.
For almost a decade, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, from Queens, has been trying to pass a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on both criminal and civil cases of sex crimes against children. But she has faced fierce opposition from two political powerhouses: the New York State Catholic Conference and Agudath Israel of America.
The Hasidic world is starting to take allegations of abuse more seriously, and many of the individuals who talked on the record with Newsweek for this story say they finally feel comfortable speaking publicly about their personal histories with abuse because of the community support that has emerged in recent years.
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/03/11/child-abuse-allegations-hasidic-ultraorthodox-jewish-community-brooklyn-432688.html
By Elijah Wolfson On 3/3/16
....It’s widely accepted by child abuse experts and advocates that some kids are particularly vulnerable. Usually, they are disadvantaged in some way—family problems, rejection by their peer group—that perpetrators can exploit, particularly if they are teachers who also happen to be religious authorities.
....It was widely known that if you ratted out someone in the community for abuse, the community would turn its back on you. Gena Diacomanolis is the senior director of Safe Horizon’s Jane Barker Brooklyn Child Advocacy Center, where, over the past decade, she says, they have made tremendous strides in the Haredi communities. But the biggest barrier remains the pressure the community puts on individuals who want to come forward with stories of abuse.
“I can tell you tons of stories where they were so fearful of going forward,” she says. “I had one dad who said his son was sexually abused at school.” He decided not to press charges, Diacomanolis recalls. “He said, ‘I don't want you to think I don't love my child, but if I go forward, I won't find a marriage for my daughter.’”
Diacomanolis also says families are often harassed when they come forward. One client who charged her husband with abusing their child “left her house, and the whole block was papered with things saying terrible things about her.”
One mother who found out her son had been sexually abused by a teacher at United Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway (another Hasidic school in Brooklyn) says when she complained to the yeshiva’s principal, she was shunned. “I got thrown out of the community,” she says. “You can’t imagine what was said to me. The phone calls I got. I was an outcast. I was threatened.”
....Protecting the Predators
Chabad has a global network of synagogues, schools and other facilities that is often used to shelter abusers on the run. When rumors of abuse begin to bubble up, teachers are shuttled from school to school, city to city—like Reizes, shipped from Brooklyn to Miami and then back. In March 2008, eight students accused Malka Leifer, principal of the Adass Israel school for girls in Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, of sexual abuse. Just days later, she hopped on a plane and fled to Israel. In September 2015, Australia’s Supreme Court awarded over $1 million in compensation to a 28-year-old abused by Leifer from 2003 to 2006.
According to court documents, it was discovered during the course of the trial that there was a concerted effort by the community to protect Leifer: The school’s president at the time, Yitzhok Benedikt, and board member Mark Ernst played key roles in arranging her escape to Israel. The two men are facing criminal charges; Leifer was arrested in Israel last year and is now fighting extradition to Australia.
In recent years, Australia has emerged as the country most willing to confront child abuse in the Hasidic world. In 2013, the government formed the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and in early 2015 it began a large investigation into the Hasidic community. Weeks of hearings led to a report detailing alleged abuses—and how yeshivas and rabbinical leadership cover up that abuse and systematically ostracize survivors and their families.
....In New York, survivors of most cases of child molestation have five years after they turn 18 to get the district attorney to prosecute. (In cases of sexual misconduct, legal proceedings must begin within two years after the offense was committed, regardless of the child’s age at the time of the alleged crime.) Many child abuse experts say that window is not nearly big enough for young men just starting to understand what happened to them. It’s no surprise that most of the abuse Newsweek uncovered happened long ago—no 10-year-old has the wherewithal to talk to the press about his abusive teacher. It takes a 25-year-old who has finally received a proper education to understand what was done to him 15 years ago.
For almost a decade, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, from Queens, has been trying to pass a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on both criminal and civil cases of sex crimes against children. But she has faced fierce opposition from two political powerhouses: the New York State Catholic Conference and Agudath Israel of America.
The Hasidic world is starting to take allegations of abuse more seriously, and many of the individuals who talked on the record with Newsweek for this story say they finally feel comfortable speaking publicly about their personal histories with abuse because of the community support that has emerged in recent years.
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/03/11/child-abuse-allegations-hasidic-ultraorthodox-jewish-community-brooklyn-432688.html
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Cardinal Pell admits he did not act on abuse claim
Cardinal Pell admits he did not act on abuse claim
March 2, 2016 Australia
Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell has admitted he did not act after a boy told him about a paedophile priest.
The cardinal told an Australian Royal Commission into child abuse that a student at St Patrick's College in Ballarat said Brother Edward Dowlan was "misbehaving with boys" in 1974.
He said it was "casually mentioned" and the boy did not ask him to act.
Dowlan, who has since changed his name to Ted Bales, was jailed last year for abusing boys in the 1970s and '80s.
Cardinal Pell is giving evidence from Rome to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse....
Pell said it was a "disastrous coincidence" that five paedophiles came to be at the same school and parish in Ballarat in the 1970s....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35713384
Ritual Abuse Evidence
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Child Abuse Wiki - Ritual Abuse http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse
March 2, 2016 Australia
Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell has admitted he did not act after a boy told him about a paedophile priest.
The cardinal told an Australian Royal Commission into child abuse that a student at St Patrick's College in Ballarat said Brother Edward Dowlan was "misbehaving with boys" in 1974.
He said it was "casually mentioned" and the boy did not ask him to act.
Dowlan, who has since changed his name to Ted Bales, was jailed last year for abusing boys in the 1970s and '80s.
Cardinal Pell is giving evidence from Rome to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse....
Pell said it was a "disastrous coincidence" that five paedophiles came to be at the same school and parish in Ballarat in the 1970s....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35713384
Ritual Abuse Evidence
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Child Abuse Wiki - Ritual Abuse http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Pennsylvania Catholic diocese covered up decades worth of child abuse, grand jury says, Pell blames bishop for Australia child abuse cover-up
has graphic descriptions of abuse
Pennsylvania Catholic diocese covered up decades worth of child abuse, grand jury says
A new grand jury report claims two Roman Catholic bishops in a central Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by over 50 priests or religious leaders over a 40-year period.
by Steve Esack and Laurie Mason Schroeder
March 1, 2016
From Boston to Philadelphia to the United Nations, the Catholic Church has been accused of covering up and protecting priests and other religious leaders who sexually abused children.
Now add a slice of western Pennsylvania to the list.
A grand jury report released Tuesday accuses two bishops who ran the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown of allowing at least 50 priests and other religious leaders to sexually abuse hundreds of children for decades.
“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims … where they should have felt most safe,” state Attorney General Kathleen Kane said.
The report says the late Bishop James Hogan and former Bishop Joseph Adamec kept filing cabinets with 115,042 secret documents detailing victims’ abuse claims. It tells how church officials ordered priests to undergo treatment while transferring them to other parishes, or intervened when local and state police made inquiries starting in the mid-1960s.
The report also outlines a diocesan “payout chart” of $10,000 for victims fondled over their clothes, and up to $175,000 for victims of forced sodomy or intercourse.
The grand jury report uses those documents to explain in extraordinary detail how one priest “hypnotized” children by rubbing his genitals on their feet, another priest choked boys if they refused his advances at his cabin in the woods, and another priest plied a child with alcohol and then raped him until he bled....
After his own 2002 investigation, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli was critical of the way the church handled abuse claims before Cullen was installed as bishop in 1998.
Before that, he said, the diocese was focused more on the priest than on the alleged victims.
“Even when priests admitted sexual abuse with minors, they were often sent to treatment centers and continued to function as priests,” Morganelli said in a 2002 report. “A number of the priests had multiple incidents involving more than one victim.”
Like Martin, Morganelli found no basis for criminal charges against church officials who oversaw priests. Also like Martin, he noted the diocese has created a policy requiring the immediate review of allegations against priests and the instant removal of those priests if the allegations are deemed credible....
Every Catholic community — including the Allentown Diocese — has its hidden information.
Such secrets go back centuries to the mid-1600s or early 1700s, when the Vatican created Canon Law 489. It is a legal mechanism that allows Catholic religious orders to keep from public view a trove of documents, including personnel and financial files, that only the local bishop and his trusted few could access, according to testimony from sex-abuse prosecutions and lawsuits that rocked the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2013.
In 2014, the United Nations accused the Vatican of “systematically” protecting predator priests from being brought to justice for the sexual “torture” of tens of thousands of children around the globe.
In 2012, some of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s secrets came to light when a 1994 memo was uncovered that showed the archdiocese’s top clergy — including Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and Bishop Edward Cullen, who later headed the Allentown Diocese — ordered the shredding of a list of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children....
http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-catholic-priest-abuse-johnstown-altoona-20160301-story.html
Pell blames bishop for Australia child abuse cover-up
1 March 2016
Cardinal George Pell says he was deceived by a senior clergyman over the activities of a paedophile priest.
Australia's most senior Catholic is presenting evidence from Rome via video link over several days to an Australian Royal Commission into child sex abuse.
On Tuesday Cardinal Pell was questioned about paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, a priest who was repeatedly moved between parishes in the 1970s and 80s.
He accepted no responsibility for the failure to report Ridsdale's abuse....
Cardinal Pell repeatedly criticised Ronald Mulkearns, who was bishop of Ballarat between 1971 and 1997, for withholding information about Ridsdale.
Cardinal Pell was one of the consultors who gave advice to Bishop Mulkearns from 1977 to 1984.
Particular attention was paid to a meeting of the consultors that Cardinal Pell attended in 1982, where a decision was taken to move Ridsdale for a sixth time.
Counsel assisting the commissioner, Gail Furness, said it was "implausible" that Cardinal Pell and other priests at the meeting did not know the reason for Ridsdale's relocation.
Cardinal Pell responded: "That is complete nonsense."....
He said that responsibility for Ridsdale's relocation lay "overwhelmingly with the bishop", who used "gentle and euphemistic language" to disguise the truth of Risdale's actions.
"I can't nominate another bishop whose actions are so grave and inexplicable … His repeated refusal to act is, I think, absolutely extraordinary," Cardinal Pell said.
The cardinal provoked gasps from survivors earlier in testimony when he said the news of Ridsdale's abuse was "a sad story and it wasn't of much interest to me".
"The suffering, of course, was real and I very much regret that but I had no reason to turn my mind to the extent of the evils that Ridsdale had perpetrated," he said....
Cardinal Pell, who is not accused of sexual abuse, denied knowing about paedophile priests who were active in the Ballarat diocese during his time there as a priest in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse is holding its second round of inquiries into child sex abuse that occurred in the city of Ballarat in Victoria state.
Cardinal Pell was a priest in Ballarat and lived in a seminary with a notorious paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, in the early 1970s.
Ridsdale committed more than 130 offences against young boys while working as a chaplain at Ballarat's St Alipius school between the 1960s and the 1980s....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35692810
Pennsylvania Catholic diocese covered up decades worth of child abuse, grand jury says
A new grand jury report claims two Roman Catholic bishops in a central Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by over 50 priests or religious leaders over a 40-year period.
by Steve Esack and Laurie Mason Schroeder
March 1, 2016
From Boston to Philadelphia to the United Nations, the Catholic Church has been accused of covering up and protecting priests and other religious leaders who sexually abused children.
Now add a slice of western Pennsylvania to the list.
A grand jury report released Tuesday accuses two bishops who ran the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown of allowing at least 50 priests and other religious leaders to sexually abuse hundreds of children for decades.
“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims … where they should have felt most safe,” state Attorney General Kathleen Kane said.
The report says the late Bishop James Hogan and former Bishop Joseph Adamec kept filing cabinets with 115,042 secret documents detailing victims’ abuse claims. It tells how church officials ordered priests to undergo treatment while transferring them to other parishes, or intervened when local and state police made inquiries starting in the mid-1960s.
The report also outlines a diocesan “payout chart” of $10,000 for victims fondled over their clothes, and up to $175,000 for victims of forced sodomy or intercourse.
The grand jury report uses those documents to explain in extraordinary detail how one priest “hypnotized” children by rubbing his genitals on their feet, another priest choked boys if they refused his advances at his cabin in the woods, and another priest plied a child with alcohol and then raped him until he bled....
After his own 2002 investigation, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli was critical of the way the church handled abuse claims before Cullen was installed as bishop in 1998.
Before that, he said, the diocese was focused more on the priest than on the alleged victims.
“Even when priests admitted sexual abuse with minors, they were often sent to treatment centers and continued to function as priests,” Morganelli said in a 2002 report. “A number of the priests had multiple incidents involving more than one victim.”
Like Martin, Morganelli found no basis for criminal charges against church officials who oversaw priests. Also like Martin, he noted the diocese has created a policy requiring the immediate review of allegations against priests and the instant removal of those priests if the allegations are deemed credible....
Every Catholic community — including the Allentown Diocese — has its hidden information.
Such secrets go back centuries to the mid-1600s or early 1700s, when the Vatican created Canon Law 489. It is a legal mechanism that allows Catholic religious orders to keep from public view a trove of documents, including personnel and financial files, that only the local bishop and his trusted few could access, according to testimony from sex-abuse prosecutions and lawsuits that rocked the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2013.
In 2014, the United Nations accused the Vatican of “systematically” protecting predator priests from being brought to justice for the sexual “torture” of tens of thousands of children around the globe.
In 2012, some of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s secrets came to light when a 1994 memo was uncovered that showed the archdiocese’s top clergy — including Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and Bishop Edward Cullen, who later headed the Allentown Diocese — ordered the shredding of a list of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children....
http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-catholic-priest-abuse-johnstown-altoona-20160301-story.html
Pell blames bishop for Australia child abuse cover-up
1 March 2016
Cardinal George Pell says he was deceived by a senior clergyman over the activities of a paedophile priest.
Australia's most senior Catholic is presenting evidence from Rome via video link over several days to an Australian Royal Commission into child sex abuse.
On Tuesday Cardinal Pell was questioned about paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, a priest who was repeatedly moved between parishes in the 1970s and 80s.
He accepted no responsibility for the failure to report Ridsdale's abuse....
Cardinal Pell repeatedly criticised Ronald Mulkearns, who was bishop of Ballarat between 1971 and 1997, for withholding information about Ridsdale.
Cardinal Pell was one of the consultors who gave advice to Bishop Mulkearns from 1977 to 1984.
Particular attention was paid to a meeting of the consultors that Cardinal Pell attended in 1982, where a decision was taken to move Ridsdale for a sixth time.
Counsel assisting the commissioner, Gail Furness, said it was "implausible" that Cardinal Pell and other priests at the meeting did not know the reason for Ridsdale's relocation.
Cardinal Pell responded: "That is complete nonsense."....
He said that responsibility for Ridsdale's relocation lay "overwhelmingly with the bishop", who used "gentle and euphemistic language" to disguise the truth of Risdale's actions.
"I can't nominate another bishop whose actions are so grave and inexplicable … His repeated refusal to act is, I think, absolutely extraordinary," Cardinal Pell said.
The cardinal provoked gasps from survivors earlier in testimony when he said the news of Ridsdale's abuse was "a sad story and it wasn't of much interest to me".
"The suffering, of course, was real and I very much regret that but I had no reason to turn my mind to the extent of the evils that Ridsdale had perpetrated," he said....
Cardinal Pell, who is not accused of sexual abuse, denied knowing about paedophile priests who were active in the Ballarat diocese during his time there as a priest in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse is holding its second round of inquiries into child sex abuse that occurred in the city of Ballarat in Victoria state.
Cardinal Pell was a priest in Ballarat and lived in a seminary with a notorious paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, in the early 1970s.
Ridsdale committed more than 130 offences against young boys while working as a chaplain at Ballarat's St Alipius school between the 1960s and the 1980s....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35692810
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