- Ariel Castro may have beaten Michelle Knight worst in Cleveland hell house
- New details emerge about Michelle Knight — oldest of the woman freed from Cleveland hell house
- Behind the forgotten abductee Michele Knight
- Kevin Annett video
Ariel Castro may have beaten Michelle Knight worst in Cleveland hell house
The first victim in the Ohio house of horrors was allegedly the captors' main 'punching bag.'
By Michael Walsh / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, May 16, 2013
Inside Ariel Castro's Cleveland hell house, three young women allegedly suffered over a decade of abuse — but his first captive, in particular, may have borne the brunt of that beast's brutality.
Michelle Knight's family friend told CNN that she was Castro's main "punching bag," having been beaten so severely with hand weights and other objects that she suffered vision and hearing loss, as well as muscle and joint damage.
Back in August 2002, Castro abducted Knight, 21, but she was removed from the FBI's missing persons database after 15 months and slowly forgotten; whereas, awareness campaigns sprung up for the other victims, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry.
Castro allegedly raped the women repeatedly and impregnated Knight at least five times. But each time, he starved her for at least two weeks before punching her stomach until she miscarried, the police report read....
Knight appears to have gone into seclusion, even from some family members, her grandmother said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/michelle-knight-worst-article-1.1345709
New details emerge about Michelle Knight — oldest of the woman freed from Cleveland hell house
Michelle Knight disappeared Aug. 23, 2002.
She was reportedly beaten repeatedly by her captors and suffered hearing loss and damage to some of the bones in her face — but her mother tells the 'Today' show she never gave up hope. By Corky Siemaszko / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Word that Michelle Knight had escaped from the Cleveland house of horrors came as a double shock Wednesday to her twin brother Freddie.
“I was freaking happy as hell because I didn’t know my sister was kidnapped,” he told CNN. “My mother never tells me anything.”
Freddie Knight said his mom, Barbara, kicked him out of the house when he was 14 and he was estranged from the rest of the family. But the years melted away when he saw his sister at the hospital....
Knight, who is believed to be 32, was reportedly beaten repeatedly by her captors and suffered hearing loss and damage to some of the bones in her face....
Police have already conceded that they paid more attention to the disappearances of the younger women Knight had been imprisoned with — Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry.
Knight reportedly had a troubled childhood and dropped out of high school at 17 after she was bullied by classmates....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/details-cleveland-escapee-michelle-knight-article-1.1338149
Behind the forgotten abductee Michele Knight
Matt Young news.com.au May 10, 2013
Knight was never officially classed as a missing person
Abducted women found alive in Cleveland home
HORRIFIC details are emerging about Cleveland abductee Michele Knight's difficult past, including an alleged gang-rape before her decade-long kidnapping.
Knight is also reported to have given police crucial evidence indicating there may have been more victims, telling authorities she was unsure how many women were detained inside the house.
It's alleged she suffered up to five miscarriages while imprisoned and lived in darkness for long stretches of time....
19 Action News reports she is being treated at Metro Health Medical Centre for anxiety, and reports she may undergo reconstructive surgery to "heal injuries suffered at the hands of her attacker during her decade in captivity".
"When she was severely beaten, he had beat her so bad in the face, she has to have facial reconstruction, and she's lost hearing in one ear," her grandmother, Deborah Knight said.
But it is unclear whether those injuries were sustained during her imprisonment or whether it was due to a gang-rape which allegedly occurred in junior high school, one year before her August 2002 disappearance.
Knight's grandmother claims three of her classmates "grabbed her by the arm and raped her at school".
Knight bore a child after the ordeal, a boy named Joey. She later lost custody of the child who was placed in foster care, reports the Daily News....
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/behind-the-forgotten-abductee-michele-knight/story-fnat7jnn-1226639583612
Kevin Annett video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C7g111Ih-pU#!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters' Friends, Emily Castro Says, - Neighbor Reported Screams in Past, Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
- Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters' Friends, Emily Castro Says
- Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past
- Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters' Friends, Emily Castro Says By RUSSELL GOLDMAN May 16, 2013
Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping three women and keeping them imprisoned in his home for a decade, stalked the neighborhood where his daughters lived and preyed on the girls' friends, his daughter says.
Two of his alleged victims, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, went to school with Castro's two daughters and the four girls all knew each other, his daughter Emily told a private investigator in a recorded jailhouse interview obtained by ABC News.
"It couldn't be coincidence," Emily Castro told private eye Chris Giannini of her father's decision to allegedly target two girls his daughter's knew.
READ: Cleveland Kidnap Suspect Comforted Victim's Mom Last Year
Emily Castro is serving a 25 year prison sentence for stabbing her own infant daughter in 2011.
At the time of her 2003 abduction, Berry lived just a few houses down the block from the home in which Castro's daughters lived with their mother and stepfather. And Emily's sister Arlene was the last person to see DeJesus before she disappeared.
Berry, now 26, and Emily, now 25, attended school together. "I went to Wilbur Wright (Middle School) with her," Emily Castro told Giannini.
She said she was bothered that her father allegedly "used" her and her sister to look for victims on their street where they lived and played....
She said her father was routinely abusive of her mother Grimilda Figueroa, even beating her once while her mother was recovering from brain surgery. During the incident Emily Castro said she jumped on her father's back stabbing him with a pencil in an effort to get him to stop.
Ariel Castro was arrested following that incident, but the charges were later dropped....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-kidnapper-ariel-castro-preyed-daughters-friends-emily/story?id=19195556
Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past 05/07/2013
Juan Perez discusses his neighbor Ariel Castro, who was arrested in the abduction of three women.
Transcript for Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past
We're joined by another neighbor, juan perez. Thank you for joining us this morning. I know you live just two houses away from ariel castro.
Before you saw the police pull up last night, had you had any sense that something terribly wrong was happening inside that house? No, I had no idea.
He was loving to all the kids in the neighborhood. He was nice to me since I was 5 years old. Never had any kind of suspicions....
What can you tell us what happened there? Well, my sister -- my mother had heard the screaming and then I heard it too. My sister then reported it.
But we didn't know which direction it was coming from. We didn't know seriously if it was from the right side or the left side because we were inside the house, but there's a difference between -- there is a difference between a woman that's, you know, playing around and joking around screaming and there's another kind of scream that makes you want to report. And my sister reported it....
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/missing-cleveland-girls-found-alive-castro-neighbor-reported-19123728
Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Part 2 of 2008 "Primetime": Two Ohio cousins kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery.
05/10/2013
Transcript for Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Two teenage cousin. -- who vanished off the streets of Toledo have now been missing for 48 hours. I think it -- price -- something's happened.
Police think the girls ages fourteen and fifteen have probably run away in the most likely come home soon. -- Kimberly his mother Stephanie refuses to just sit and wait....
All the while the girls are being held captive for us towns and -- -- less than six miles away by a pimp and two prostitutes.
....The FBI thinks it's the bigger number a 100000. Minors in America. Forced to trade sex for money.
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/teen-girls-held-captive-forced-prostitution-19153038
- Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past
- Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters' Friends, Emily Castro Says By RUSSELL GOLDMAN May 16, 2013
Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping three women and keeping them imprisoned in his home for a decade, stalked the neighborhood where his daughters lived and preyed on the girls' friends, his daughter says.
Two of his alleged victims, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, went to school with Castro's two daughters and the four girls all knew each other, his daughter Emily told a private investigator in a recorded jailhouse interview obtained by ABC News.
"It couldn't be coincidence," Emily Castro told private eye Chris Giannini of her father's decision to allegedly target two girls his daughter's knew.
READ: Cleveland Kidnap Suspect Comforted Victim's Mom Last Year
Emily Castro is serving a 25 year prison sentence for stabbing her own infant daughter in 2011.
At the time of her 2003 abduction, Berry lived just a few houses down the block from the home in which Castro's daughters lived with their mother and stepfather. And Emily's sister Arlene was the last person to see DeJesus before she disappeared.
Berry, now 26, and Emily, now 25, attended school together. "I went to Wilbur Wright (Middle School) with her," Emily Castro told Giannini.
She said she was bothered that her father allegedly "used" her and her sister to look for victims on their street where they lived and played....
She said her father was routinely abusive of her mother Grimilda Figueroa, even beating her once while her mother was recovering from brain surgery. During the incident Emily Castro said she jumped on her father's back stabbing him with a pencil in an effort to get him to stop.
Ariel Castro was arrested following that incident, but the charges were later dropped....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-kidnapper-ariel-castro-preyed-daughters-friends-emily/story?id=19195556
Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past 05/07/2013
Juan Perez discusses his neighbor Ariel Castro, who was arrested in the abduction of three women.
Transcript for Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past
We're joined by another neighbor, juan perez. Thank you for joining us this morning. I know you live just two houses away from ariel castro.
Before you saw the police pull up last night, had you had any sense that something terribly wrong was happening inside that house? No, I had no idea.
He was loving to all the kids in the neighborhood. He was nice to me since I was 5 years old. Never had any kind of suspicions....
What can you tell us what happened there? Well, my sister -- my mother had heard the screaming and then I heard it too. My sister then reported it.
But we didn't know which direction it was coming from. We didn't know seriously if it was from the right side or the left side because we were inside the house, but there's a difference between -- there is a difference between a woman that's, you know, playing around and joking around screaming and there's another kind of scream that makes you want to report. And my sister reported it....
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/missing-cleveland-girls-found-alive-castro-neighbor-reported-19123728
Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Part 2 of 2008 "Primetime": Two Ohio cousins kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery.
05/10/2013
Transcript for Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Two teenage cousin. -- who vanished off the streets of Toledo have now been missing for 48 hours. I think it -- price -- something's happened.
Police think the girls ages fourteen and fifteen have probably run away in the most likely come home soon. -- Kimberly his mother Stephanie refuses to just sit and wait....
All the while the girls are being held captive for us towns and -- -- less than six miles away by a pimp and two prostitutes.
....The FBI thinks it's the bigger number a 100000. Minors in America. Forced to trade sex for money.
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/teen-girls-held-captive-forced-prostitution-19153038
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
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Japanese mayor: Wartime sex slaves were necessary, Oxford exploitation trial: Guilty verdicts over child rapes
Japanese mayor: Wartime sex slaves were necessary
By MALCOLM FOSTER Associated Press 5/14/13
TOKYO (AP) — An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle.
The comments made Monday are already raising ire in neighboring countries that bore the brunt of Japan's wartime aggression and have long complained that Japan has failed to fully atone for wartime atrocities.
Toru Hashimoto, the young, brash mayor of Osaka who is co-leader of an emerging conservative political party, also said that U.S. troops currently based in southern Japan should patronize the local sex industry more to help reduce rapes and other assaults.
Hashimoto told reporters on Monday that there wasn't clear evidence that the Japanese military had coerced women to become what are euphemistically called "comfort women" before and during World War II....
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
China's Foreign Ministry criticized the mayor's comments and saw them as further evidence of a rightward drift in Japanese politics under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"We are appalled and indignant about the Japanese politician's comments boldly challenging humanity and historical justice," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily media briefing. "The way they treat the past will determine the way Japan walks toward the future. On what choice Japan will make, the Asian neighbors and the international community will wait and see."
Asked about a photo of Abe posing in a fighter jet with the number 731 — the number of a notorious, secret Japanese unit that performed chemical and biological experiments on Chinese in World War II — Hong again urged Japan not to whitewash history so as to improve relations with countries that suffered under Japanese occupation.
"There is a mountain of definitive iron-hard evidence for the crimes they committed in the Second World War. We hope Japan will face and contemplate their history of aggression and treat it correctly," Hong said.
Abe posed, thumbs up, in the aircraft during a weekend visit to northeastern Japan.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed disappointment over what it called a senior Japanese official's serious lack of historical understanding and respect for women's rights. It asked Japan's leaders to reflect on their country's imperial past, including grave human rights violations, and correct anachronistic historical views....
http://news.yahoo.com/japanese-mayor-wartime-sex-slaves-were-necessary-042050746.html
describes crimes
Oxford exploitation trial: Guilty verdicts over child rapes 14 May 2013 Seven members of a sex grooming ring have been convicted of abusing children from Oxford.
An Old Bailey jury heard six girls were drugged and suffered sadistic abuse while aged between 11 and 15.
The court heard victims were plied with alcohol and drugs before being forced to perform sex acts. Some had also been beaten, burnt and threatened.
Nine men had denied charges including rape, arranging child prostitution and trafficking between 2004 and 2012.
Two were acquitted of all charges....
The abuse began in Oxford but some of the victims would be later taken around the country to be offered to other men who were in contact with the gang.
Victim: "I was scared to say no"
The court heard how the men identified vulnerable girls for abuse then groomed each one of them until they were under the control of the gang....
The Old Bailey was told the key members of the group used and abused the six victims in a systematic and organised sex trafficking ring over eight years until their arrest in 2012.
The court heard how the men identified vulnerable girls for abuse and then groomed each one of them until they were under the control of the gang.
They were then each either abused by the men themselves, given to their friends or offered at a price to others who were not on trial.
The youngest girl to be targeted was 11-years-old. The girls were mostly chosen because their unsettled or troubled lives made them easier to manipulate....
One of the victims had complained to police twice but no one was charged.
A care home manager, who was later sacked, refused to pay her taxi fare when she returned after running away and the 14-year-old was driven back to Oxford where she was raped....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22438623
By MALCOLM FOSTER Associated Press 5/14/13
TOKYO (AP) — An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle.
The comments made Monday are already raising ire in neighboring countries that bore the brunt of Japan's wartime aggression and have long complained that Japan has failed to fully atone for wartime atrocities.
Toru Hashimoto, the young, brash mayor of Osaka who is co-leader of an emerging conservative political party, also said that U.S. troops currently based in southern Japan should patronize the local sex industry more to help reduce rapes and other assaults.
Hashimoto told reporters on Monday that there wasn't clear evidence that the Japanese military had coerced women to become what are euphemistically called "comfort women" before and during World War II....
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
China's Foreign Ministry criticized the mayor's comments and saw them as further evidence of a rightward drift in Japanese politics under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"We are appalled and indignant about the Japanese politician's comments boldly challenging humanity and historical justice," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily media briefing. "The way they treat the past will determine the way Japan walks toward the future. On what choice Japan will make, the Asian neighbors and the international community will wait and see."
Asked about a photo of Abe posing in a fighter jet with the number 731 — the number of a notorious, secret Japanese unit that performed chemical and biological experiments on Chinese in World War II — Hong again urged Japan not to whitewash history so as to improve relations with countries that suffered under Japanese occupation.
"There is a mountain of definitive iron-hard evidence for the crimes they committed in the Second World War. We hope Japan will face and contemplate their history of aggression and treat it correctly," Hong said.
Abe posed, thumbs up, in the aircraft during a weekend visit to northeastern Japan.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed disappointment over what it called a senior Japanese official's serious lack of historical understanding and respect for women's rights. It asked Japan's leaders to reflect on their country's imperial past, including grave human rights violations, and correct anachronistic historical views....
http://news.yahoo.com/japanese-mayor-wartime-sex-slaves-were-necessary-042050746.html
describes crimes
Oxford exploitation trial: Guilty verdicts over child rapes 14 May 2013 Seven members of a sex grooming ring have been convicted of abusing children from Oxford.
An Old Bailey jury heard six girls were drugged and suffered sadistic abuse while aged between 11 and 15.
The court heard victims were plied with alcohol and drugs before being forced to perform sex acts. Some had also been beaten, burnt and threatened.
Nine men had denied charges including rape, arranging child prostitution and trafficking between 2004 and 2012.
Two were acquitted of all charges....
The abuse began in Oxford but some of the victims would be later taken around the country to be offered to other men who were in contact with the gang.
Victim: "I was scared to say no"
The court heard how the men identified vulnerable girls for abuse then groomed each one of them until they were under the control of the gang....
The Old Bailey was told the key members of the group used and abused the six victims in a systematic and organised sex trafficking ring over eight years until their arrest in 2012.
The court heard how the men identified vulnerable girls for abuse and then groomed each one of them until they were under the control of the gang.
They were then each either abused by the men themselves, given to their friends or offered at a price to others who were not on trial.
The youngest girl to be targeted was 11-years-old. The girls were mostly chosen because their unsettled or troubled lives made them easier to manipulate....
One of the victims had complained to police twice but no one was charged.
A care home manager, who was later sacked, refused to pay her taxi fare when she returned after running away and the 14-year-old was driven back to Oxford where she was raped....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22438623
Monday, May 13, 2013
Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Beat Wife, Threatened Neighbors, Police Records Say
Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Beat Wife, Threatened Neighbors,
Police Records Say
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN and MATTHEW JAFFE CLEVELAND May 13, 2013
Cleveland cops were summoned six times to handle accusations that accused kidnapper Ariel Castro had assaulted or menaced people, including three alleged beatings of his wife, but he was only convicted once and was never sentenced to any prison time.
One of the accusations against Castro was that he battered his wife while she was recovering from brain surgery, according to newly released police records.
It is unclear whether any of the reported incidents could have led police to the three women allegedly held as sex slaves for a decade in his house, but the number of times his name pops up in the Cleveland police database is far more than the two incidents police originally reported.
There was no immediate response today from police or prosecutors....
Castro's ex-wife, Grimilda Figueroa, who died last year, first accused Castro of assault in 1989, 1993 and again in 2005, three years after he allegedly abducted his first victim Michelle Knight in 2002.
Castro was "a monster," according to Figueroa's family members who spoke to ABC News last week on the condition of anonymity. He was "nice when he was outside but behind closed doors he was an animal. Two faced. He had done terrible things to her [Figueroa] and treated her like trash."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-kidnapper-ariel-castro-beat-wife-threatened-neighbors/story?id=19169152
Ariel Castro, Cleveland suspect, has a dark past that foreshadowed crimes he’s now accused of
By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Jerry Markon and Luz Lazo, Published: May 11
Cleveland — Shorty needed a ride home.
She got confused sometimes, the result of some undefined mental condition, and wasn’t always sure where she’d wandered. Her family knew this about Michelle “Shorty” Knight, all 4 feet 7 inches of her, and that’s why they worried.
She got in a car.
It begins there, with that simple act, a 21-year-old — in many ways still very much a girl — got in a car. Aug. 22, 2002. If she’d looked up in that last moment of freedom, she would have seen a church steeple.
Eight months later, another girl. Same road. Two-tenths of a mile away.
Mandy had just finished her shift at Burger King, was still in her Burger King hat and shirt. Tomorrow would be Amanda “Mandy” Berry’s 17th birthday; a party was planned.
She got in a car.
The hunter of girls had found a rich hunting ground, a stretch of road clotted with used-automobile lots, discount jewelers, fast-food joints — and schoolgirls.
A year later, April 2, 2004, the hunter was back. Gina, just 14, was walking home with friends from Wilbur Wright Middle School, a stately brick building set on a shaded street two blocks from Burger King. Georgina “Gina” DeJesus broke off on her own, steps away from the spot where Knight was taken.
A car pulled up. The driver was the father of one of her best friends.
She got in the car.
For the next nine years, authorities say, Knight, Berry and DeJesus together endured an excruciating ordeal as captives in a seemingly normal house on a seemingly normal street in a busy residential neighborhood less than four miles away. Until their remarkable rescue last week, authorities say, they were physically, sexually and psychologically abused by their captor, Ariel Castro, a school bus driver who played salsa music in nightclubs and harbored a dark past that foreshadowed the crimes he’s now accused of committing.
At Castro’s home on Seymour Avenue, he chained the young women in his basement, according to a police report. Eventually, investigators say, he moved them to the second floor of his house, a two-story place with a small back yard, a saggy porch, peeling paint and faded white siding. Most of the time, they were trapped inside, and on the rare occasions they were allowed to venture into the yard, Castro forced them to wear wigs and sunglasses, the report says. He told them to keep their heads down.
Castro, now 52, raped all his captives, authorities say....
In the beginning, the romance between the 20-something Ariel Castro and Grimilda Figueroa went fine. But it quickly deteriorated.
In the early 1990s, the unmarried couple lived on the second floor of the home of Figueroa’s parents. Once, Castro shoved Figueroa down a steep flight of stairs, family members recall. Her father, aided by a pack of neighbors and relatives, beat Castro in retaliation. He didn’t fight back. “He didn’t fight no man,” Figueroa Jr. says.
Things only got worse when the couple moved to their own place; Castro’s beatings of his common-law wife became more frequent and more severe, Figueroa’s relatives say.
He exhibited strange, domineering traits. Grimilda Figueroa became a near-prisoner in her home, a sister, Elida Caraballo, says. Castro padlocked doors from the outside when he left. One day, Caraballo went into their house and saw Castro shoving Figueroa into a cardboard box and closing the lid....
More recently, neighbors say police have been contacted at least twice in the past two years because of suspicious activity. The first time, neighbor Elsie Cintron says she called police after spotting a child’s face in an attic window and hearing banging. Officers responded, Cintron says, but left when no one answered the knocks at Castro’s door. The next time, her son Israel Lugo says, a group of elderly women who were exercising in the area called police. According to Lugo, the women and his sister had all seen a naked woman on all fours with a dog collar around her neck in Castro’s back yard. Cleveland police say they have no record of the calls....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cleveland-suspect-ariel-castros-american-dream-darkened-by-allegations-of-violence/2013/05/11/61302bd8-ba44-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN and MATTHEW JAFFE CLEVELAND May 13, 2013
Cleveland cops were summoned six times to handle accusations that accused kidnapper Ariel Castro had assaulted or menaced people, including three alleged beatings of his wife, but he was only convicted once and was never sentenced to any prison time.
One of the accusations against Castro was that he battered his wife while she was recovering from brain surgery, according to newly released police records.
It is unclear whether any of the reported incidents could have led police to the three women allegedly held as sex slaves for a decade in his house, but the number of times his name pops up in the Cleveland police database is far more than the two incidents police originally reported.
There was no immediate response today from police or prosecutors....
Castro's ex-wife, Grimilda Figueroa, who died last year, first accused Castro of assault in 1989, 1993 and again in 2005, three years after he allegedly abducted his first victim Michelle Knight in 2002.
Castro was "a monster," according to Figueroa's family members who spoke to ABC News last week on the condition of anonymity. He was "nice when he was outside but behind closed doors he was an animal. Two faced. He had done terrible things to her [Figueroa] and treated her like trash."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-kidnapper-ariel-castro-beat-wife-threatened-neighbors/story?id=19169152
Ariel Castro, Cleveland suspect, has a dark past that foreshadowed crimes he’s now accused of
By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Jerry Markon and Luz Lazo, Published: May 11
Cleveland — Shorty needed a ride home.
She got confused sometimes, the result of some undefined mental condition, and wasn’t always sure where she’d wandered. Her family knew this about Michelle “Shorty” Knight, all 4 feet 7 inches of her, and that’s why they worried.
She got in a car.
It begins there, with that simple act, a 21-year-old — in many ways still very much a girl — got in a car. Aug. 22, 2002. If she’d looked up in that last moment of freedom, she would have seen a church steeple.
Eight months later, another girl. Same road. Two-tenths of a mile away.
Mandy had just finished her shift at Burger King, was still in her Burger King hat and shirt. Tomorrow would be Amanda “Mandy” Berry’s 17th birthday; a party was planned.
She got in a car.
The hunter of girls had found a rich hunting ground, a stretch of road clotted with used-automobile lots, discount jewelers, fast-food joints — and schoolgirls.
A year later, April 2, 2004, the hunter was back. Gina, just 14, was walking home with friends from Wilbur Wright Middle School, a stately brick building set on a shaded street two blocks from Burger King. Georgina “Gina” DeJesus broke off on her own, steps away from the spot where Knight was taken.
A car pulled up. The driver was the father of one of her best friends.
She got in the car.
For the next nine years, authorities say, Knight, Berry and DeJesus together endured an excruciating ordeal as captives in a seemingly normal house on a seemingly normal street in a busy residential neighborhood less than four miles away. Until their remarkable rescue last week, authorities say, they were physically, sexually and psychologically abused by their captor, Ariel Castro, a school bus driver who played salsa music in nightclubs and harbored a dark past that foreshadowed the crimes he’s now accused of committing.
At Castro’s home on Seymour Avenue, he chained the young women in his basement, according to a police report. Eventually, investigators say, he moved them to the second floor of his house, a two-story place with a small back yard, a saggy porch, peeling paint and faded white siding. Most of the time, they were trapped inside, and on the rare occasions they were allowed to venture into the yard, Castro forced them to wear wigs and sunglasses, the report says. He told them to keep their heads down.
Castro, now 52, raped all his captives, authorities say....
In the beginning, the romance between the 20-something Ariel Castro and Grimilda Figueroa went fine. But it quickly deteriorated.
In the early 1990s, the unmarried couple lived on the second floor of the home of Figueroa’s parents. Once, Castro shoved Figueroa down a steep flight of stairs, family members recall. Her father, aided by a pack of neighbors and relatives, beat Castro in retaliation. He didn’t fight back. “He didn’t fight no man,” Figueroa Jr. says.
Things only got worse when the couple moved to their own place; Castro’s beatings of his common-law wife became more frequent and more severe, Figueroa’s relatives say.
He exhibited strange, domineering traits. Grimilda Figueroa became a near-prisoner in her home, a sister, Elida Caraballo, says. Castro padlocked doors from the outside when he left. One day, Caraballo went into their house and saw Castro shoving Figueroa into a cardboard box and closing the lid....
More recently, neighbors say police have been contacted at least twice in the past two years because of suspicious activity. The first time, neighbor Elsie Cintron says she called police after spotting a child’s face in an attic window and hearing banging. Officers responded, Cintron says, but left when no one answered the knocks at Castro’s door. The next time, her son Israel Lugo says, a group of elderly women who were exercising in the area called police. According to Lugo, the women and his sister had all seen a naked woman on all fours with a dog collar around her neck in Castro’s back yard. Cleveland police say they have no record of the calls....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cleveland-suspect-ariel-castros-american-dream-darkened-by-allegations-of-violence/2013/05/11/61302bd8-ba44-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland, Cleveland kidnapping captive Michelle Knight
- Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland, and Abroad: An Eyewitness Comes Forward and Names her Torturers
- Cleveland kidnappings: Was Ariel Castro record of abuse a red flag?
- Cleveland captive Michelle Knight was gang-raped while in junior high
Michelle Knight bore a child as a result of the sex attack, which happened roughly a year before she was abducted in August 2002
- Cleveland captive Michelle Knight leaves hospital without telling family
Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland, and Abroad: An Eyewitness Comes Forward and Names her Torturers
(ZWOLLE, Holland) - A survivor of a high-level ring involving child sacrifice, torture and trafficking went public today in an exclusive disclosure and interview with Freedom Central's Mel Ve and ITCCS Field Secretary Kevin Annett. May-08-2013
Toos Nijenhuis, a fifty four year old physiotherapist and mother of five from Holland, was tortured, raped and used experimentally from the age of four years old by wealthy and powerful men around the world, including top officials of churches and governments.
And, Nijenhuis claims, these crimes are continuing today, including the ritual sacrifice of children in rural Holland.
On May 7, Ms. Nijenhuis accompanied Kevin Annett, Mel Ve and other investigators to a forested site near to Zwolle where such child murders took place as recently as November, 2010, according to Ms. Nijenhuis....
These assaults occurred in Holland, Scotland, and a military experimental base in Melbourne, Australia, where Toos was subjected to what appears to be pain threshold and behaviour modification experiments. She also witnessed the torture and murder of other children.
Key excerpts from the interview and statement of Toos Nijenhuis are found in this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyrPEu7nk1Q
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may082013/holland-child-ring.php
Cleveland kidnappings: Was Ariel Castro record of abuse a red flag? (+video)
What if Ariel Castro’s past record of domestic violence had resulted in legal action? Could it have led authorities to discover that he was holding three women in his house? Could it have prevented the kidnappings from occurring?
By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer May 11, 2013
What if Ariel Castro’s past record of alleged domestic violence had resulted in legal action against him?
Could it have led authorities to discover sooner that the Cleveland man was holding three kidnapped women in his house? Could it have even prevented the kidnappings from occurring?
Those questions are emerging after details have surfaced that the Ohio kidnapping suspect had several run-ins with the law regarding alleged domestic violence.
The incidents involved the woman, Grimilda Figueroa, with whom Mr. Castro fathered four children.
Now Castro has been arrested and stands accused of kidnapping and abusing three other women and keeping them locked in his house since 2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively.
The Reuters news agency reported Saturday that Ms. Figueroa’s accusations against Castro began as early as 1989 and spanned through 2005. The most recent case involved a request by her for a court order of protection....
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0511/Cleveland-kidnappings-Was-Ariel-Castro-record-of-abuse-a-red-flag-video
Cleveland captive Michelle Knight was gang-raped while in junior high
Michelle Knight bore a child as a result of the sex attack, which happened roughly a year before she was abducted in August 2002 By Rich Schapiro AND Corky Siemaszko NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Michelle Knight went through hell even before she was kidnapped off a Cleveland street and imprisoned as a sex slave for nearly 11 harrowing years.
A year before her August 2002 disappearance, Knight was gang-raped while in junior high school and bore a child as a result of the ordeal, her great-aunt said Thursday. The boy, who she named Joey, was later taken from her and placed in foster care.
“She was a delightful girl, outgoing,” Deborah Knight, 62, told the Daily News. “She was very helpful. We just had a lot of fun together.”
But all that changed when three classmates “grabbed her by the arm and raped her at the school,” the great-aunt said. “That’s how she had Joey.”
Then, when Knight was at her lowest, Ariel Castro slithered into her life, police say.
Her abduction, imprisonment and rape — all at Castro’s hands, police say — ended on Monday, when she and two other women — escaped from Castro’s house of horrors on Seymour Ave. in Cleveland. Also liberated was a 6-year-old girl born to one of Knight’s two fellow captives. Knight, now 32, was forced to serve as a midwife during the delivery....
While fellow captives Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were quickly reunited with their families, it took police several hours to track down Michelle Knight’s twin brother, Freddie, the first member of her family police were able to reach.
Freddie Knight — who in earlier interviews said he wasn’t even aware his sister had been kidnapped because he was kicked out of the family’s home at age 14 — said “she looked white as a ghost.”
Michelle Knight suffered several miscarriages while imprisoned and lived in darkness for long stretches of her confinement.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cleveland-abduction-vic-gang-raped-jr-high-article-1.1339798
Cleveland captive Michelle Knight leaves hospital without telling family
After one visit with her mother, Barbara Knight, the hospital says the daughter refused to see visitors, including close family members.
By Michael Walsh / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Kidnapping victim Michelle Knight slipped away from the hospital without seeing her family — upsetting and confusing her mother.
"Michelle Knight has been discharged from MetroHealth. She is asking for her privacy at this time," MetroHealth Hospital said in a statement Friday.
Earlier that day, the hospital released a statement saying that Knight, now 32, is in good spirits and grateful for flowers and gifts from well-wishers. They added that she is particularly thankful for the Cleveland Courage Fund....
Michelle Knight's grandmother, Deborah Knight, told local station WOIO-TV that Knight the young woman's face had been beaten so severely that she might need to undergo facial reconstruction surgery.
Knight, the first of the three victims, was likely subjected to additional physical abuse at the age of 20 — before Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry joined her in the home on Seymour Ave. in Cleveland.
Large awareness campaigns were launched to find Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, the other victims, but Knight's case was largely dismissed as a runaway case. She was removed from the FBI's list of missing people after 15 months.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cleveland-captive-knight-avoids-public-family-article-1.1341364
- Cleveland kidnappings: Was Ariel Castro record of abuse a red flag?
- Cleveland captive Michelle Knight was gang-raped while in junior high
Michelle Knight bore a child as a result of the sex attack, which happened roughly a year before she was abducted in August 2002
- Cleveland captive Michelle Knight leaves hospital without telling family
Child Sacrifice and Trafficking in Holland, and Abroad: An Eyewitness Comes Forward and Names her Torturers
(ZWOLLE, Holland) - A survivor of a high-level ring involving child sacrifice, torture and trafficking went public today in an exclusive disclosure and interview with Freedom Central's Mel Ve and ITCCS Field Secretary Kevin Annett. May-08-2013
Toos Nijenhuis, a fifty four year old physiotherapist and mother of five from Holland, was tortured, raped and used experimentally from the age of four years old by wealthy and powerful men around the world, including top officials of churches and governments.
And, Nijenhuis claims, these crimes are continuing today, including the ritual sacrifice of children in rural Holland.
On May 7, Ms. Nijenhuis accompanied Kevin Annett, Mel Ve and other investigators to a forested site near to Zwolle where such child murders took place as recently as November, 2010, according to Ms. Nijenhuis....
These assaults occurred in Holland, Scotland, and a military experimental base in Melbourne, Australia, where Toos was subjected to what appears to be pain threshold and behaviour modification experiments. She also witnessed the torture and murder of other children.
Key excerpts from the interview and statement of Toos Nijenhuis are found in this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyrPEu7nk1Q
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may082013/holland-child-ring.php
Cleveland kidnappings: Was Ariel Castro record of abuse a red flag? (+video)
What if Ariel Castro’s past record of domestic violence had resulted in legal action? Could it have led authorities to discover that he was holding three women in his house? Could it have prevented the kidnappings from occurring?
By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer May 11, 2013
What if Ariel Castro’s past record of alleged domestic violence had resulted in legal action against him?
Could it have led authorities to discover sooner that the Cleveland man was holding three kidnapped women in his house? Could it have even prevented the kidnappings from occurring?
Those questions are emerging after details have surfaced that the Ohio kidnapping suspect had several run-ins with the law regarding alleged domestic violence.
The incidents involved the woman, Grimilda Figueroa, with whom Mr. Castro fathered four children.
Now Castro has been arrested and stands accused of kidnapping and abusing three other women and keeping them locked in his house since 2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively.
The Reuters news agency reported Saturday that Ms. Figueroa’s accusations against Castro began as early as 1989 and spanned through 2005. The most recent case involved a request by her for a court order of protection....
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0511/Cleveland-kidnappings-Was-Ariel-Castro-record-of-abuse-a-red-flag-video
Cleveland captive Michelle Knight was gang-raped while in junior high
Michelle Knight bore a child as a result of the sex attack, which happened roughly a year before she was abducted in August 2002 By Rich Schapiro AND Corky Siemaszko NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Michelle Knight went through hell even before she was kidnapped off a Cleveland street and imprisoned as a sex slave for nearly 11 harrowing years.
A year before her August 2002 disappearance, Knight was gang-raped while in junior high school and bore a child as a result of the ordeal, her great-aunt said Thursday. The boy, who she named Joey, was later taken from her and placed in foster care.
“She was a delightful girl, outgoing,” Deborah Knight, 62, told the Daily News. “She was very helpful. We just had a lot of fun together.”
But all that changed when three classmates “grabbed her by the arm and raped her at the school,” the great-aunt said. “That’s how she had Joey.”
Then, when Knight was at her lowest, Ariel Castro slithered into her life, police say.
Her abduction, imprisonment and rape — all at Castro’s hands, police say — ended on Monday, when she and two other women — escaped from Castro’s house of horrors on Seymour Ave. in Cleveland. Also liberated was a 6-year-old girl born to one of Knight’s two fellow captives. Knight, now 32, was forced to serve as a midwife during the delivery....
While fellow captives Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were quickly reunited with their families, it took police several hours to track down Michelle Knight’s twin brother, Freddie, the first member of her family police were able to reach.
Freddie Knight — who in earlier interviews said he wasn’t even aware his sister had been kidnapped because he was kicked out of the family’s home at age 14 — said “she looked white as a ghost.”
Michelle Knight suffered several miscarriages while imprisoned and lived in darkness for long stretches of her confinement.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cleveland-abduction-vic-gang-raped-jr-high-article-1.1339798
Cleveland captive Michelle Knight leaves hospital without telling family
After one visit with her mother, Barbara Knight, the hospital says the daughter refused to see visitors, including close family members.
By Michael Walsh / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Kidnapping victim Michelle Knight slipped away from the hospital without seeing her family — upsetting and confusing her mother.
"Michelle Knight has been discharged from MetroHealth. She is asking for her privacy at this time," MetroHealth Hospital said in a statement Friday.
Earlier that day, the hospital released a statement saying that Knight, now 32, is in good spirits and grateful for flowers and gifts from well-wishers. They added that she is particularly thankful for the Cleveland Courage Fund....
Michelle Knight's grandmother, Deborah Knight, told local station WOIO-TV that Knight the young woman's face had been beaten so severely that she might need to undergo facial reconstruction surgery.
Knight, the first of the three victims, was likely subjected to additional physical abuse at the age of 20 — before Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry joined her in the home on Seymour Ave. in Cleveland.
Large awareness campaigns were launched to find Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, the other victims, but Knight's case was largely dismissed as a runaway case. She was removed from the FBI's list of missing people after 15 months.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cleveland-captive-knight-avoids-public-family-article-1.1341364
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)