Police expect 30,000 new child abuse reports from Goddard inquiry
Exclusive: Extent of child sexual abuse in England and Wales begins to become clear as inquiry passes on 100 cases a month
Sandra Laville Thursday 19 May 2016
The scale of child sexual abuse in England and Wales is being exposed by evidence from thousands of victims, with cases being passed to police at a rate of 100 a month by the public inquiry set up following the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Simon Bailey, head of the national coordinating unit Operation Hydrant, said his team was expecting to be given 30,000 reports of new child sexual offences by the end of the Goddard inquiry, and predicted the rate of referrals of allegations of abuse would increase.
Reports of child abuse to forces across the country are continuing to rise, said Bailey, who is the chief constable of Norfolk. He calculated that the continuing increase would mean that by 2020 police across the country would be investigating 200,000 cases of child sexual abuse.
Bailey added:...."We are seeing a significant rise in the number of referrals each month from the Goddard inquiry, and these allegations relate to abuse in a range of institutions from the church, to schools, the scouts and hospitals."
Justice Lowell Goddard is running 13 investigations into institutional abuse, which include inquiries concerning Westminster, the Catholic Church, Church of England, and Lambeth borough, and concerning grooming and sexual exploitation in Rochdale, Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and Rotherham, and at the Medomsley detention centre in Durham....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/19/child-sex-abuse-police-expect-30000-goddard-inquiry-cases
Cult leader's extradition from Brazil to Minn. to face rape charges suddenly called off
Dispute between Brazil and U.S. over sentencing is behind the delay.
By Paul Walsh Star Tribune
May 19, 2016
Minnesota cult leader Victor Barnard was arrested in February 2015 while on the run in Brazil, where he remains imprisoned.
Cult leader Victor Barnard was supposed to have been put on a flight from Brazil under guard of federal agents Thursday and returned to Minnesota to face charges that he raped young followers in his congregation, but an unexpected delay has popped up, a defense attorney said. The extradition is now on an indefinite hold.
Barnard faces 59 counts of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly molesting young girls he called “maidens” in his Pine County congregation.
He fled to Brazil, was captured in February 2015 and has been imprisoned there ever since. Even though that nation’s Supreme Court has approved Barnard’s extradition back to Minnesota, a dispute between Brazilian and U.S. authorities over any potential sentence is delaying his return.
....one condition of the Brazilian court is that any potential sentence for Barnard in the United States not exceed 30 years, which is the maximum he would receive if prosecuted and convicted in that South American country....
http://www.startribune.com/cult-leader-s-extradition-from-brazil-to-minn-to-face-rape-charges-suddenly-called-off/380138201/
Showing posts with label rape charges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rape charges. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
'It was like they were prisoners of war:' Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
- 'It was like they were prisoners of war:' Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
- Horrific ordeal of 'Girl D' who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
- We the People
- Plan to stop child sex tourism
'It was like they were prisoners of war:' Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
The basement where the women were held had chains coming from the wall, and dog leashes attached to the ceiling, according to police sources
Description comes as lawyers for Castro announce that he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges
The women were restrained with them and duct tape in 'stress positions' for long periods that left them with bed sores and other injuries
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were in worse condition than Amanda Berry with the source saying: 'There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda
Abductor would duct tape the women over all parts of their faces, even their eyes, only leaving an opening so they could breathe
Former daughter-in-law Monica Stephens says Castro always gave her 'the heebie-jeebies'
The women, especially DeJesus and Knight, were now exhibiting signs of malnutrition as Ariel Castro used food as a means to torment them
By Reuters Reporter
15 May 2013
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, two of the women imprisoned in a Cleveland house in conditions described as similar to a prisoner of war camp, have suffered from severe malnutrition.
The women will require long-term therapy for injuries such as hearing loss and joint and muscle damage, two sources with direct knowledge said.
The harrowing details come as Castro's attorneys claim he's not the 'monster' depicted in news reports - and he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges....
Castro appeared to treat Berry - his 'favorite' - better than the other two, the sources said.
'There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda,' said one of the sources, referring to the condition of DeJesus and Knight.
Knight told investigators she fell pregnant five times, but lost the baby each time. She said that Castro starved and repeatedly punched her in the stomach to force her to miscarry.
Police sources told the National Enquirer that Castro had no interest in having children with Knight, because she was only 4-foot-7 and believed her to be 'mentally disabled.'
The magazine's source added that he was grooming his 6-year-old daughter with Amanda, Joselyn, as another sex slave because the other captives 'were getting to old for him.'....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324731/It-like-prisoners-war-Cleveland-women-suffer-injuries-severe-malnutrition-including-hearing-loss-muscle-damage.html
Horrific ordeal of 'Girl D' who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
Mohammed Karrar plied girl with drink and drugs and raped her
She then became his ‘property’ and a sex slave
Was loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour
By Arthur Martin 14 May 2013
The ordeal for one of the victims began after she became desperate for love and attention because she was forced to care for her sick parents.
So when Mohammed Karrar entered her life, bought her perfume and treated her like an adult, she believed in him. But the ‘nicey-nicey honeymoon period,’ as she described it, would last barely a year.
After grooming her, Karrar made sure she was ‘out of it’ on drink and drugs before raping her on his sofa.
From that moment she became his ‘property’ and a sex slave loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour.
Over five years she was repeatedly attacked in what she described as ‘torture sex’. Injected with heroin, she was sold to groups of Asian men who violently gang-raped her in bedsits and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere.
The victim identified as Girl D for legal reasons, frequently broke down in tears giving evidence via videolink as she described her horrific ordeal....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324621/Horrific-ordeal-Girl-D-raped-injected-heroin-branded-sold-sex-600-hour.html
We the People James Haven Honorary Senior Advisor on Global Issues at Harvard; Founder, CoreCause Foundation 05/10/2013
....66% percent of adults in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.
80% of young adults who suffered child abuse or neglect, met criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder by age 21, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
42% percent of children who are molested are suicidal by their teens.
Abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult.
Sentencing in crimes against children typically carries 25 percent of the sentencing if the same crime was committed against an adult.
Child abuse and neglect in America is growing at a very high rate. And the most vulnerable is 0-6 in age. Thousands are being exploited and millions are in poverty and living on our streets across the nation.
124 billion is the minimum annual cost to the U.S. directly related to child abuse... Healthcare for mental illnesses and substance abuse... Child welfare and protection... Law enforcement and court systems to handle juvenile and adult criminal cases.
Those are very sobering statistics. But they also prove the most important statistic of all. That as Fredrick Douglas once said, "It is easier to build strong children than it is to fix broken men."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-haven/we-the-people_4_b_3254727.html
Plan to stop child sex tourism
May 15 2013 By BARBARA COLE
Durban - South African hotels are signing up to help protect children from sex tourism and are on the lookout for suspicious guests who try to check in with underage companions.
South Africa has the right combination of factors, such as poverty and violence against women, which put children at risk of exploitation.
In a move to stop South Africa becoming a child-sex tourism or trafficking destination, there were certain factors that created an environment for the exploitation of children, said Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, a non-profit organisation and the local representative of the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct. The code is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Some of these realities are explained as follows: “The inflow of tourists, the ease with which people can cross (the) borders, societal beliefs that tolerate violence against women, high levels of poverty, and growing inequality since 1994 suggest that tens of thousands of children are at risk of sexual and other forms of exploitation.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/plan-to-stop-child-sex-tourism-1.1516301
- Horrific ordeal of 'Girl D' who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
- We the People
- Plan to stop child sex tourism
'It was like they were prisoners of war:' Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
The basement where the women were held had chains coming from the wall, and dog leashes attached to the ceiling, according to police sources
Description comes as lawyers for Castro announce that he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges
The women were restrained with them and duct tape in 'stress positions' for long periods that left them with bed sores and other injuries
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were in worse condition than Amanda Berry with the source saying: 'There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda
Abductor would duct tape the women over all parts of their faces, even their eyes, only leaving an opening so they could breathe
Former daughter-in-law Monica Stephens says Castro always gave her 'the heebie-jeebies'
The women, especially DeJesus and Knight, were now exhibiting signs of malnutrition as Ariel Castro used food as a means to torment them
By Reuters Reporter
15 May 2013
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, two of the women imprisoned in a Cleveland house in conditions described as similar to a prisoner of war camp, have suffered from severe malnutrition.
The women will require long-term therapy for injuries such as hearing loss and joint and muscle damage, two sources with direct knowledge said.
The harrowing details come as Castro's attorneys claim he's not the 'monster' depicted in news reports - and he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges....
Castro appeared to treat Berry - his 'favorite' - better than the other two, the sources said.
'There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda,' said one of the sources, referring to the condition of DeJesus and Knight.
Knight told investigators she fell pregnant five times, but lost the baby each time. She said that Castro starved and repeatedly punched her in the stomach to force her to miscarry.
Police sources told the National Enquirer that Castro had no interest in having children with Knight, because she was only 4-foot-7 and believed her to be 'mentally disabled.'
The magazine's source added that he was grooming his 6-year-old daughter with Amanda, Joselyn, as another sex slave because the other captives 'were getting to old for him.'....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324731/It-like-prisoners-war-Cleveland-women-suffer-injuries-severe-malnutrition-including-hearing-loss-muscle-damage.html
Horrific ordeal of 'Girl D' who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
Mohammed Karrar plied girl with drink and drugs and raped her
She then became his ‘property’ and a sex slave
Was loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour
By Arthur Martin 14 May 2013
The ordeal for one of the victims began after she became desperate for love and attention because she was forced to care for her sick parents.
So when Mohammed Karrar entered her life, bought her perfume and treated her like an adult, she believed in him. But the ‘nicey-nicey honeymoon period,’ as she described it, would last barely a year.
After grooming her, Karrar made sure she was ‘out of it’ on drink and drugs before raping her on his sofa.
From that moment she became his ‘property’ and a sex slave loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour.
Over five years she was repeatedly attacked in what she described as ‘torture sex’. Injected with heroin, she was sold to groups of Asian men who violently gang-raped her in bedsits and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere.
The victim identified as Girl D for legal reasons, frequently broke down in tears giving evidence via videolink as she described her horrific ordeal....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324621/Horrific-ordeal-Girl-D-raped-injected-heroin-branded-sold-sex-600-hour.html
We the People James Haven Honorary Senior Advisor on Global Issues at Harvard; Founder, CoreCause Foundation 05/10/2013
....66% percent of adults in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.
80% of young adults who suffered child abuse or neglect, met criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder by age 21, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
42% percent of children who are molested are suicidal by their teens.
Abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult.
Sentencing in crimes against children typically carries 25 percent of the sentencing if the same crime was committed against an adult.
Child abuse and neglect in America is growing at a very high rate. And the most vulnerable is 0-6 in age. Thousands are being exploited and millions are in poverty and living on our streets across the nation.
124 billion is the minimum annual cost to the U.S. directly related to child abuse... Healthcare for mental illnesses and substance abuse... Child welfare and protection... Law enforcement and court systems to handle juvenile and adult criminal cases.
Those are very sobering statistics. But they also prove the most important statistic of all. That as Fredrick Douglas once said, "It is easier to build strong children than it is to fix broken men."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-haven/we-the-people_4_b_3254727.html
Plan to stop child sex tourism
May 15 2013 By BARBARA COLE
Durban - South African hotels are signing up to help protect children from sex tourism and are on the lookout for suspicious guests who try to check in with underage companions.
South Africa has the right combination of factors, such as poverty and violence against women, which put children at risk of exploitation.
In a move to stop South Africa becoming a child-sex tourism or trafficking destination, there were certain factors that created an environment for the exploitation of children, said Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, a non-profit organisation and the local representative of the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct. The code is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Some of these realities are explained as follows: “The inflow of tourists, the ease with which people can cross (the) borders, societal beliefs that tolerate violence against women, high levels of poverty, and growing inequality since 1994 suggest that tens of thousands of children are at risk of sexual and other forms of exploitation.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/plan-to-stop-child-sex-tourism-1.1516301
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland, Cleveland Suspect Ariel Castro Domestic Abuse, Jimmy Savile
- Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland: An Eyewitness speaks out
- Chains, ropes found in Cleveland house where women were held
- Cleveland suspect Ariel Castro: A troubling portrait emerges
- Conference shines light on plight of battered mothers seeking custody
- Police force admits mistakes that let Jimmy Savile escape justice
Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland: An Eyewitness speaks out (Introduction)
Published on May 8, 2013
During Kevin Annett's visit with us here at Freedom Central, we have been contacted by several people with some very interesting stories.
Meet Toos of the Family Nijenhuis, a very brave woman who came to meet Kevin Annett at the event Freedom Central hosted for him. Following of from the disclosure of some very sad but important facts, we immediately arranged for an interview with Toos....
very graphic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PyrPEu7nk1Q
Chains, ropes found in Cleveland house where women were held
By Alana Semuels and Tina Susman
May 8, 2013
CLEVELAND -- Chains and ropes have been removed from the home where three women were rescued on Monday after being held captive as long as 11 years....
Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, the police chief confirmed reports that the victims -- Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight -- had been physically bound in the Castro home.
“They were released out in the backyard once in a while, I believe,” he told Savannah Guthrie.
That could bolster some neighbors' claims Tuesday that they had seen at least one naked woman in Castro's backyard a couple of years ago. Police have said they have no record of calls reporting such a sighting, but neighbors have said their attempts to alert police were dismissed.
Ariel Castro’s first cousin, 45-year-old Maria Castro Montes, a hospital administrator, expressed shock and disbelief at her cousin’s alleged actions as she stood Wednesday outside his small white house in a downtrodden area about two miles from downtown Cleveland.
“He was a normal man. He was a loving cousin, a loving father a loving grandfather,” she said. “Just like any other member of a family that you think you know.”....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cleveland-kidnapping-20130508,0,743912.story
Cleveland suspect Ariel Castro: A troubling portrait emerges
By Matt Pearce May 9, 2013
When three young women emerged from a Cleveland home Monday evening after being held captive for about a decade, neighbors were thunderstruck. Ariel Castro, 52, who owns the home and who faces kidnapping and rape charges, was known as a sunny face, someone who was good with children.
The neighborhood was shocked. But Fernando Colon wasn’t.
"The first thing I said was, 'I knew it, I knew it,' " Colon told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, adding: "He's a monster. He's the opposite of what people thought he was."
As the case gained worldwide attention, details were trickling out about the dungeon-like conditions in which Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, about 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, were purportedly imprisoned and abused.
A dark portrait of Castro also was emerging. Interviews and court documents detailed long-term, repeated allegations of manipulation and domestic abuse....
According to court records and interviews, allegations of abuse against Ariel Castro began in the early 1990s. Castro had three daughters and a son with Grimilda Figueroa between 1981 and 1990. The pair never married. In 1993, Figueroa would say later, Castro attacked her at their home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland.
Figueroa, who died last year, suffered a broken nose, broken ribs, a blood clot in her brain and two dislocated shoulders, in addition to losing a tooth, according to a court petition she filed against him.
In 1994, a Cuyahoga County grand jury was to hear the abuse allegations, but Figueroa failed to testify. In a sworn statement she gave a decade later – in connection with the child abuse charges against Colon – Figueroa said Castro saw her on the day she was to testify and offered her money and a car if she didn’t tell the grand jury about his beatings.
"He also told me, 'You know what will happen to you if you do testify,' " Figueroa said in the statement. "I knew that he would find me and assault me again. … I was unable to offer my testimony before the grand jury. I did not tell anyone about the threats."
The case against Castro was dropped....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-castro-abuse-history-20130509,0,1600490.story
The Post’s View
Conference shines light on plight of battered mothers seeking custody
By Editorial Board, May 10, 2013
THE BATTLES over child custody that unfold in courtrooms across the United States don’t get much attention. If a celebrity is involved, there might be headlines, but publicity is generally shunned out of the not-unreasonable urge to protect the privacy of children. Unfortunately, though, that has tended to shroud problems in how these critical decisions are made. That’s why a conference focusing attention this week on systemic issues in family court is so important.
The Battered Mothers Custody Conference started Friday at George Washington University Law School and concludes Sunday with a vigil at the White House. It brings together victims of domestic abuse, advocates and experts in an effort to reform a system they say doesn’t do enough to protect children. Too often, said organizers of the event, which is now in its 10th year, custody or access in contested cases where domestic violence has been alleged is given to abusive fathers because of a misguided emphasis on parental rights that discounts or disbelieves the concerns of women who have been battered. Victimized parents, often suffering from trauma caused by the abuse, are bankrupted and punished for fighting for their children.
“Cascading disasters and shattered lives are predictable and inevitable,” said Eileen King, executive director of Child Justice in the District and a speaker at the conference. She pointed to the case of 15-month-old Prince McLeod Rams, allegedly drowned by his father after his mother unsuccessfully tried to block unsupervised visits, and the infamous deaths in 2008 of Amy Castillo’s young children by a father she warned was dangerous....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/conference-shines-light-on-plight-of-battered-mothers-seeking-custody/2013/05/10/8a2830fc-b8f1-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html
Police force admits mistakes that let Jimmy Savile escape justice
Kiran Randhawa 10 May 2013
A police force today denied a cover-up of Jimmy Savile’s five-decade reign of sex crimes but admitted to “mistakes” and missed opportunities which allowed the DJ to escape justice.
According to a new review, the disgraced entertainer was rumoured to be a “pervert” and officers were passed on information about his possible sex offending while he was alive.
One officer even commented on the late DJ getting “so many of these type of complaints”.
Despite this, he was left free to sexually assault 68 victims in his hometown of Leeds, including eight under the age of nine, and one as young as five.
The inquiry, dubbed Operation Newgreen, examined the history of the TV presenter’s relationship with West Yorkshire Police, including how officers attended his well-known Friday Morning Club at his Leeds flat.
But although the force admitted there was an “over-reliance on personal friendships” between the Jim’ll Fix It host and officers who socialised with him, it found he was not shielded or protected from arrest.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/police-force-admits-mistakes-that-let-jimmy-savile-escape-justice-8610304.html
- Chains, ropes found in Cleveland house where women were held
- Cleveland suspect Ariel Castro: A troubling portrait emerges
- Conference shines light on plight of battered mothers seeking custody
- Police force admits mistakes that let Jimmy Savile escape justice
Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland: An Eyewitness speaks out (Introduction)
Published on May 8, 2013
During Kevin Annett's visit with us here at Freedom Central, we have been contacted by several people with some very interesting stories.
Meet Toos of the Family Nijenhuis, a very brave woman who came to meet Kevin Annett at the event Freedom Central hosted for him. Following of from the disclosure of some very sad but important facts, we immediately arranged for an interview with Toos....
very graphic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PyrPEu7nk1Q
Chains, ropes found in Cleveland house where women were held
By Alana Semuels and Tina Susman
May 8, 2013
CLEVELAND -- Chains and ropes have been removed from the home where three women were rescued on Monday after being held captive as long as 11 years....
Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, the police chief confirmed reports that the victims -- Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight -- had been physically bound in the Castro home.
“They were released out in the backyard once in a while, I believe,” he told Savannah Guthrie.
That could bolster some neighbors' claims Tuesday that they had seen at least one naked woman in Castro's backyard a couple of years ago. Police have said they have no record of calls reporting such a sighting, but neighbors have said their attempts to alert police were dismissed.
Ariel Castro’s first cousin, 45-year-old Maria Castro Montes, a hospital administrator, expressed shock and disbelief at her cousin’s alleged actions as she stood Wednesday outside his small white house in a downtrodden area about two miles from downtown Cleveland.
“He was a normal man. He was a loving cousin, a loving father a loving grandfather,” she said. “Just like any other member of a family that you think you know.”....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cleveland-kidnapping-20130508,0,743912.story
Cleveland suspect Ariel Castro: A troubling portrait emerges
By Matt Pearce May 9, 2013
When three young women emerged from a Cleveland home Monday evening after being held captive for about a decade, neighbors were thunderstruck. Ariel Castro, 52, who owns the home and who faces kidnapping and rape charges, was known as a sunny face, someone who was good with children.
The neighborhood was shocked. But Fernando Colon wasn’t.
"The first thing I said was, 'I knew it, I knew it,' " Colon told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, adding: "He's a monster. He's the opposite of what people thought he was."
As the case gained worldwide attention, details were trickling out about the dungeon-like conditions in which Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, about 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, were purportedly imprisoned and abused.
A dark portrait of Castro also was emerging. Interviews and court documents detailed long-term, repeated allegations of manipulation and domestic abuse....
According to court records and interviews, allegations of abuse against Ariel Castro began in the early 1990s. Castro had three daughters and a son with Grimilda Figueroa between 1981 and 1990. The pair never married. In 1993, Figueroa would say later, Castro attacked her at their home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland.
Figueroa, who died last year, suffered a broken nose, broken ribs, a blood clot in her brain and two dislocated shoulders, in addition to losing a tooth, according to a court petition she filed against him.
In 1994, a Cuyahoga County grand jury was to hear the abuse allegations, but Figueroa failed to testify. In a sworn statement she gave a decade later – in connection with the child abuse charges against Colon – Figueroa said Castro saw her on the day she was to testify and offered her money and a car if she didn’t tell the grand jury about his beatings.
"He also told me, 'You know what will happen to you if you do testify,' " Figueroa said in the statement. "I knew that he would find me and assault me again. … I was unable to offer my testimony before the grand jury. I did not tell anyone about the threats."
The case against Castro was dropped....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-castro-abuse-history-20130509,0,1600490.story
The Post’s View
Conference shines light on plight of battered mothers seeking custody
By Editorial Board, May 10, 2013
THE BATTLES over child custody that unfold in courtrooms across the United States don’t get much attention. If a celebrity is involved, there might be headlines, but publicity is generally shunned out of the not-unreasonable urge to protect the privacy of children. Unfortunately, though, that has tended to shroud problems in how these critical decisions are made. That’s why a conference focusing attention this week on systemic issues in family court is so important.
The Battered Mothers Custody Conference started Friday at George Washington University Law School and concludes Sunday with a vigil at the White House. It brings together victims of domestic abuse, advocates and experts in an effort to reform a system they say doesn’t do enough to protect children. Too often, said organizers of the event, which is now in its 10th year, custody or access in contested cases where domestic violence has been alleged is given to abusive fathers because of a misguided emphasis on parental rights that discounts or disbelieves the concerns of women who have been battered. Victimized parents, often suffering from trauma caused by the abuse, are bankrupted and punished for fighting for their children.
“Cascading disasters and shattered lives are predictable and inevitable,” said Eileen King, executive director of Child Justice in the District and a speaker at the conference. She pointed to the case of 15-month-old Prince McLeod Rams, allegedly drowned by his father after his mother unsuccessfully tried to block unsupervised visits, and the infamous deaths in 2008 of Amy Castillo’s young children by a father she warned was dangerous....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/conference-shines-light-on-plight-of-battered-mothers-seeking-custody/2013/05/10/8a2830fc-b8f1-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html
Police force admits mistakes that let Jimmy Savile escape justice
Kiran Randhawa 10 May 2013
A police force today denied a cover-up of Jimmy Savile’s five-decade reign of sex crimes but admitted to “mistakes” and missed opportunities which allowed the DJ to escape justice.
According to a new review, the disgraced entertainer was rumoured to be a “pervert” and officers were passed on information about his possible sex offending while he was alive.
One officer even commented on the late DJ getting “so many of these type of complaints”.
Despite this, he was left free to sexually assault 68 victims in his hometown of Leeds, including eight under the age of nine, and one as young as five.
The inquiry, dubbed Operation Newgreen, examined the history of the TV presenter’s relationship with West Yorkshire Police, including how officers attended his well-known Friday Morning Club at his Leeds flat.
But although the force admitted there was an “over-reliance on personal friendships” between the Jim’ll Fix It host and officers who socialised with him, it found he was not shielded or protected from arrest.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/police-force-admits-mistakes-that-let-jimmy-savile-escape-justice-8610304.html
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Clergy abuse victims call on Pope Francis to open files on Argentina’s pedophile priests, Indian legislators pass strict anti-rape law, Abuse inquiry to proceed under changed law
Clergy abuse victims call on Pope Francis to open files on Argentina’s pedophile priests
By Associated Press, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Activists against abuse by Roman Catholic clergy urged Pope Francis on Tuesday to apologize for what they called the Argentine church’s protection of two priests who were eventually convicted of sexually assaulting children.
The U.S.-based Bishop Accountability group cited the case of Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who ran the “Happy Children” foundation and was convicted of pedophilia in 2008, and Father Napoleon Sasso, convicted in 2007 of abusing girls at a soup kitchen in suburban Buenos Aires.
The Buenos Aires archbishop’s office didn’t immediately respond Tuesday.
The pope’s authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin, told The Associated Press before Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope last week that he had drawn an increasingly tough line on clergy abuse. Bergoglio insisted that accused priests face trial, and imposed a thorough screening process in an attempt to weed out future problems, Rubin said.....
Grassi was well known in Buenos Aires for persuading celebrities to donate to his “Happy Children” foundation, which ran orphanages and social outreach programs. Before he was convicted, Grassi praised Bergoglio for “never abandoning him.” Now he’s free on appeal, thanks in part to a church filing on his behalf.
Sasso, meanwhile, enjoys prison furloughs after serving half of a 17-year sentence for abusing five girls.
Sasso was assigned to the soup kitchen, at a chapel where his bedroom shared the only bathroom, after living in a home for wayward priests where he had been sent after accusations of pedophilia were raised against him in remote San Juan province.
“The bathroom had two doors. The girls would come in through the outside door, and the priest would bring them into his bedroom through the other, sexually abusing the girls,” Moreau said. “These were really poor people, who were there for free meals while their parents worked. They found an enormous amount of child pornography in his computer, semen, condoms.” It was a medical priest and a nun who discovered that Sasso abused 25 girls aged 3 to 16, but when they informed church officials, they were told to “remain patient,” and nothing was done, Moreau said.
Eventually, they sought higher authorities and the case was taken up by the criminal courts, but the mid-level officials who covered it up still have their positions, while the priest and nun were forced to work elsewhere, the lawyer said....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/clergy-abuse-victims-call-on-pope-francis-to-open-files-on-argentinas-pedophile-priests/2013/03/19/ed810cb2-90c6-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
Indian legislators pass strict anti-rape law
By Rama Lakshmi Tuesday, March 19, 2013
NEW DELHI — The Indian Parliament’s lower house passed a landmark law Tuesday that sets tougher penalties for rapists and for police officers who refuse to file a woman’s complaint of rape, as well as criminalizing offenses such as stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks.
The amendments to existing law incorporate some of the sweeping changes that were demanded after the fatal gang rape of a young paramedical student in New Delhi in December, an incident that sparked a nationwide outcry against the lack of safety for women.
Despite the unprecedented protests that galvanized tens of thousands of Indians, the number of incidents of sexual assault has not diminished.
As lawmakers discussed the new law in Parliament on Tuesday, a British tourist fractured her leg when she jumped from the balcony of her hotel room in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, to escape being molested by the hotel owner, police said....
A provision requiring government approval for the trial of police officers, officials, politicians and judges on rape charges also has been lifted.
For the first time, the law criminalizes stalking and voyeurism, acts of sexual harassment that have long been grouped under the benign euphemism “love-teasing.” Hereafter, rapes that occur during religious and caste riots also will be treated as cases of aggravated sexual assault.
The law does not, however, address contentious issues such as marital rape or the legal impunity afforded to Indian military officers. Nor does it include a provision to prohibit politicians charged with rape from running for office....
Some activists working to end the trafficking of minors said the law is a watered-down version of what was initially proposed.
“Under the new law, trafficking of a minor is a crime only if rape or sexual exploitation occurs,” said Bhuwan Ribhu, a children’s rights activist....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/british-tourist-jumps-from-indian-hotel-balcony-to-escape-sexual-assault-police-say/2013/03/19/1c25919c-9094-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
Abuse inquiry to proceed under changed law
March 19, 2013 - AAP
The Senate has agreed to change the century-old Royal Commissions Act to facilitate the inquiry into institutional child abuse.
To allow the commission to hear all the anticipated evidence, victims will be able to tell their stories in private and hearings can be held before just one of the six commissioners.
The Royal Commissions Amendment Bill 2013 has already passed the House of Representatives, with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus saying it was important for the commission to have the flexibility to make the best use of its resources.
It allows those who want to give evidence in a less formal setting to go before a private hearing, not swear an oath or affirmation but receive the same protections as those giving evidence at formal hearings.
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/abuse-inquiry-to-proceed-under-changed-law-20130319-2gcma.html
By Associated Press, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Activists against abuse by Roman Catholic clergy urged Pope Francis on Tuesday to apologize for what they called the Argentine church’s protection of two priests who were eventually convicted of sexually assaulting children.
The U.S.-based Bishop Accountability group cited the case of Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who ran the “Happy Children” foundation and was convicted of pedophilia in 2008, and Father Napoleon Sasso, convicted in 2007 of abusing girls at a soup kitchen in suburban Buenos Aires.
The Buenos Aires archbishop’s office didn’t immediately respond Tuesday.
The pope’s authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin, told The Associated Press before Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope last week that he had drawn an increasingly tough line on clergy abuse. Bergoglio insisted that accused priests face trial, and imposed a thorough screening process in an attempt to weed out future problems, Rubin said.....
Grassi was well known in Buenos Aires for persuading celebrities to donate to his “Happy Children” foundation, which ran orphanages and social outreach programs. Before he was convicted, Grassi praised Bergoglio for “never abandoning him.” Now he’s free on appeal, thanks in part to a church filing on his behalf.
Sasso, meanwhile, enjoys prison furloughs after serving half of a 17-year sentence for abusing five girls.
Sasso was assigned to the soup kitchen, at a chapel where his bedroom shared the only bathroom, after living in a home for wayward priests where he had been sent after accusations of pedophilia were raised against him in remote San Juan province.
“The bathroom had two doors. The girls would come in through the outside door, and the priest would bring them into his bedroom through the other, sexually abusing the girls,” Moreau said. “These were really poor people, who were there for free meals while their parents worked. They found an enormous amount of child pornography in his computer, semen, condoms.” It was a medical priest and a nun who discovered that Sasso abused 25 girls aged 3 to 16, but when they informed church officials, they were told to “remain patient,” and nothing was done, Moreau said.
Eventually, they sought higher authorities and the case was taken up by the criminal courts, but the mid-level officials who covered it up still have their positions, while the priest and nun were forced to work elsewhere, the lawyer said....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/clergy-abuse-victims-call-on-pope-francis-to-open-files-on-argentinas-pedophile-priests/2013/03/19/ed810cb2-90c6-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
Indian legislators pass strict anti-rape law
By Rama Lakshmi Tuesday, March 19, 2013
NEW DELHI — The Indian Parliament’s lower house passed a landmark law Tuesday that sets tougher penalties for rapists and for police officers who refuse to file a woman’s complaint of rape, as well as criminalizing offenses such as stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks.
The amendments to existing law incorporate some of the sweeping changes that were demanded after the fatal gang rape of a young paramedical student in New Delhi in December, an incident that sparked a nationwide outcry against the lack of safety for women.
Despite the unprecedented protests that galvanized tens of thousands of Indians, the number of incidents of sexual assault has not diminished.
As lawmakers discussed the new law in Parliament on Tuesday, a British tourist fractured her leg when she jumped from the balcony of her hotel room in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, to escape being molested by the hotel owner, police said....
A provision requiring government approval for the trial of police officers, officials, politicians and judges on rape charges also has been lifted.
For the first time, the law criminalizes stalking and voyeurism, acts of sexual harassment that have long been grouped under the benign euphemism “love-teasing.” Hereafter, rapes that occur during religious and caste riots also will be treated as cases of aggravated sexual assault.
The law does not, however, address contentious issues such as marital rape or the legal impunity afforded to Indian military officers. Nor does it include a provision to prohibit politicians charged with rape from running for office....
Some activists working to end the trafficking of minors said the law is a watered-down version of what was initially proposed.
“Under the new law, trafficking of a minor is a crime only if rape or sexual exploitation occurs,” said Bhuwan Ribhu, a children’s rights activist....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/british-tourist-jumps-from-indian-hotel-balcony-to-escape-sexual-assault-police-say/2013/03/19/1c25919c-9094-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
Abuse inquiry to proceed under changed law
March 19, 2013 - AAP
The Senate has agreed to change the century-old Royal Commissions Act to facilitate the inquiry into institutional child abuse.
To allow the commission to hear all the anticipated evidence, victims will be able to tell their stories in private and hearings can be held before just one of the six commissioners.
The Royal Commissions Amendment Bill 2013 has already passed the House of Representatives, with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus saying it was important for the commission to have the flexibility to make the best use of its resources.
It allows those who want to give evidence in a less formal setting to go before a private hearing, not swear an oath or affirmation but receive the same protections as those giving evidence at formal hearings.
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/abuse-inquiry-to-proceed-under-changed-law-20130319-2gcma.html
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