Monday, May 18, 2015
Priest abused every young boy at regional Victorian school, inquiry hears, - Rabbi sentenced to six and a half years prison term for voyeurism, Reduced Child Abuse Sentence Causes Uproar in Argentina
Child abuse royal commission: Priest abused every young boy at regional Victorian school, inquiry hears
By court reporter Peta Carlyon 5/12/15
A notorious paedophile priest abused every boy at a regional Victorian school between the age of 10 and 16, the child sex abuse inquiry has heard.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is holding long-awaited public hearings in Ballarat to examine historical abuse suffered by children at a number of schools in the regional centre, at the hands of Catholic clergy and other members of the Church.
Some of Australia's most notorious abusers were part of a paedophile ring operating in and around Ballarat for years, including Gerald Ridsdale, Robert Best and Edward Dowlan.
In her opening address, Senior Counsel Assisting the Commission, Gail Furness SC, outlined the extent of Ridsdale's offending.
She said the inquiry would hear evidence of Ridsdale's time at the Mortlake parish during the early 1980s, including comments from the priest who took over from Ridsdale.
"Father Dennehy told the Catholic church's insurance investigator that he thought every male child between the ages of 10 years and 16 years, who were at the school, had been molested by Ridsdale," she said.
Ms Furness said Ridsdale was a "prolific offender" during his time at Mortlake....
Ridsdale is serving an eight-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 30 child sex offences in 2014.
It is the fourth time he has been jailed after three previous stints in prison for more than 100 other offences....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-19/child-abuse-inquiry-begins-ballarat-hearings/6479902
Rabbi sentenced to six and a half years prison term for voyeurism
May 18, 2015 By Mike McDaniel, News Reporter
This is a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bernard "Barry" Freundel, 63, of Washington D.C., a rabbi who had worked for a Jewish congregation in Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a prison term of six years and six months on 52 counts of voyeurism stemming from a series of incidents between 2009 and 2014 in which he secretly took video recordings of women preparing for a Jewish ritual bath....
The National Capital Mikvah has two changing/showering rooms connected to the room with the ritual bath. On numerous occasions between early 2009 and October 2014, the defendant installed and maintained electronic recording devices in the larger of the two changing/showering rooms. Freundel did so for the sole purpose of secretly and surreptitiously recording women who were using the bathroom and shower; these women were totally and partially undressed before and/or after showering. The women recorded did not know they were being recorded and did not consent to being recorded.....
In addition to the 52 recordings that were the subject of the plea, computer forensic examinations revealed that Freundel secretly and surreptitiously recorded approximately 100 additional women totally or partially undressed before and/or after showering in the large bathroom at the National Capital Mikvah between 2009 and September 2014. These women did not know that they were being recorded and did not consent to being recorded....
http://www.wdam.com/story/29090052/rabbi-sentenced-to-six-and-a-half-years-prison-term-for-voyeurism
Reduced Child Abuse Sentence Causes Uproar in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — May 18, 2015
Associated Press
Two Argentine judges are under fire for reducing the sentence of a convicted child abuser on the grounds that his 6-year-old victim had suffered earlier abuse and therefore had already been traumatized.
In the newly publicized 2014 ruling, the judges cut the sentence of Mario Tolosa, a sports club vice president, from six years to 38 months. They ruled that his acts should not be considered "gravely outrageous" in legal terms because the boy already "was making a precocious choice" of his sexuality, apparently a reference to homosexuality.
Other attorneys criticized the decision and the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans has demanded the judges be removed from the bench for a ruling it said placed a 6-year-old victim "in the position of a suspect."
One of the two judges, Horacio Piombo, defended the ruling Monday in interviews with Radio La Red and the television station Todo Noticias, saying that before Tolosa molested him, the child already had suffered "the initiation by his father into the worst of worlds, leading him to depravation."
He said that "as a result of that experience with the father, the child had showed "signs of a transvestite conduct, of conduct we had to take into account."....
Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, who is running for the presidency, said via Twitter that the ruling was "an embarrassment."
"It's repugnant to say that the presumed sexual orientation of an abused six-year-old boy is a reason to reduce the sentence of the abuser."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reduced-child-abuse-sentence-uproar-argentina-31129194
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Rabbi Barry Freundel Taped Sex Encounters With 'Several' Women, The Definition of ‘Rape’ Cannot Change with a Marriage Certificate - India
Rabbi Barry Freundel Taped Sex Encounters With 'Several' Women
Uriel Heilman (JTA)May 12, 2015
In addition to secretly recording women undressing for the mikvah ritual bath, Rabbi Barry Freundel engaged in sexual encounters with several women, according to prosecutors.
That’s one of several new details about the mikvah-peeping rabbi to emerge from two documents filed in D.C. Superior Court on May 8 — one each by the prosecution and defense — ahead of Freundel’s sentencing on Friday. The documents, which attempt to sway the judge’s sentencing, shed new light on Freundel’s behavior and offer some particulars about the rabbi’s life since his arrest on October 14, 2014 — including that he has resumed some rabbinic teaching.
Freundel pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism for installing secret cameras in the shower room of the mikvah adjacent to Kesher Israel, the prominent Washington Orthodox synagogue he led for some 25 years.
He used one to three cameras, hiding the devices in a digital clock radio, a tissue box holder and a small tabletop fan, and aiming them at the toilet and shower in the mikvah dressing room, according to the prosecution’s memo. In addition to the 52 women he filmed while they were completely naked between March 4, 2012 and Sept. 19, 2014, Freundel recorded an additional 100 women since April 2009 who were not part of the criminal complaint due to the statute of limitations.
In addition to his crimes, Freundel videotaped himself engaged in “sexual situations” with “several women” who were not his wife, according to the memo....
The prosecution memo notes that in addition to the hidden cameras at the mikvah, Freundel surreptitiously videotaped a domestic violence abuse victim in the bathroom and bedroom of a safe house that he had established for her so she could escape her husband’s violence....
http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/308069/rabbi-barry-freundel-taped-sex-encounters-with-several-women/
The Definition of ‘Rape’ Cannot Change with a Marriage Certificate
By Neeta Lal
NEW DELHI, May 12 2015 (IPS) - “I was brutally raped thrice by my husband. He kept me under surveillance in his Dubai house while I suffered from severe malnutrition and depression. When I tried to flee from this hellhole, he confiscated my passport, deprived me of money and beat me up,” recalls Anna Marie Lopes, 28, a rape survivor who after six years of torture, finally managed to board a flight to New Delhi from the United Arab Emirates in 2012.
Today, Lopes works at a non-profit in India’s capital, New Delhi, and is slowly picking up the shards of her life. “Life’s tough when you have to start from scratch after such a traumatic experience with no support even from your parents. But I had no other choice,” Lopes tells IPS.
Her story is different from that of thousands of Indian women only in that it has a somewhat happy ending. For too many others who are victims of marital rape, escape is not an option, keeping them trapped in relationships that often leave them broken.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that over 40 percent of married women in India between 15 and 49 years of age have been beaten, raped or forced to engage in sexual intercourse with their spouses.
In 2011, a study released by the International Center for Research on Women, a Washington-based non-profit, said one in every five Indian men surveyed admitted to forcing their wives into sex....
The law expressly states that forced sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, provided the latter is not under 15 years of age, does not constitute rape.
Though the Domestic Violence Act passed in 2005 recognises sexual abuse in a marital relationship, legal eagles say it offers only civil recourse, which cannot lead to a jail term for the abusive spouse....
Marital rape has already been criminalised in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, most European nations, Malaysia, Turkey and Bolivia.
This places India in a tiny global minority – along with China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – which refuses to criminalise this form of assault.
Some experts feel that the Indian government’s reservations over the issue may stem from fears about a communal or religious backlash. The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 states that it is a wife’s foremost duty to have sex with her husband....
Only about six of every 100 acts of sexual violence committed by men other than husbands actually get reported, reveals Gupta’s report....
http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/the-definition-of-rape-cannot-change-with-a-marriage-certificate/
Uriel Heilman (JTA)May 12, 2015
In addition to secretly recording women undressing for the mikvah ritual bath, Rabbi Barry Freundel engaged in sexual encounters with several women, according to prosecutors.
That’s one of several new details about the mikvah-peeping rabbi to emerge from two documents filed in D.C. Superior Court on May 8 — one each by the prosecution and defense — ahead of Freundel’s sentencing on Friday. The documents, which attempt to sway the judge’s sentencing, shed new light on Freundel’s behavior and offer some particulars about the rabbi’s life since his arrest on October 14, 2014 — including that he has resumed some rabbinic teaching.
Freundel pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism for installing secret cameras in the shower room of the mikvah adjacent to Kesher Israel, the prominent Washington Orthodox synagogue he led for some 25 years.
He used one to three cameras, hiding the devices in a digital clock radio, a tissue box holder and a small tabletop fan, and aiming them at the toilet and shower in the mikvah dressing room, according to the prosecution’s memo. In addition to the 52 women he filmed while they were completely naked between March 4, 2012 and Sept. 19, 2014, Freundel recorded an additional 100 women since April 2009 who were not part of the criminal complaint due to the statute of limitations.
In addition to his crimes, Freundel videotaped himself engaged in “sexual situations” with “several women” who were not his wife, according to the memo....
The prosecution memo notes that in addition to the hidden cameras at the mikvah, Freundel surreptitiously videotaped a domestic violence abuse victim in the bathroom and bedroom of a safe house that he had established for her so she could escape her husband’s violence....
http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/308069/rabbi-barry-freundel-taped-sex-encounters-with-several-women/
The Definition of ‘Rape’ Cannot Change with a Marriage Certificate
By Neeta Lal
NEW DELHI, May 12 2015 (IPS) - “I was brutally raped thrice by my husband. He kept me under surveillance in his Dubai house while I suffered from severe malnutrition and depression. When I tried to flee from this hellhole, he confiscated my passport, deprived me of money and beat me up,” recalls Anna Marie Lopes, 28, a rape survivor who after six years of torture, finally managed to board a flight to New Delhi from the United Arab Emirates in 2012.
Today, Lopes works at a non-profit in India’s capital, New Delhi, and is slowly picking up the shards of her life. “Life’s tough when you have to start from scratch after such a traumatic experience with no support even from your parents. But I had no other choice,” Lopes tells IPS.
Her story is different from that of thousands of Indian women only in that it has a somewhat happy ending. For too many others who are victims of marital rape, escape is not an option, keeping them trapped in relationships that often leave them broken.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that over 40 percent of married women in India between 15 and 49 years of age have been beaten, raped or forced to engage in sexual intercourse with their spouses.
In 2011, a study released by the International Center for Research on Women, a Washington-based non-profit, said one in every five Indian men surveyed admitted to forcing their wives into sex....
The law expressly states that forced sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, provided the latter is not under 15 years of age, does not constitute rape.
Though the Domestic Violence Act passed in 2005 recognises sexual abuse in a marital relationship, legal eagles say it offers only civil recourse, which cannot lead to a jail term for the abusive spouse....
Marital rape has already been criminalised in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, most European nations, Malaysia, Turkey and Bolivia.
This places India in a tiny global minority – along with China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – which refuses to criminalise this form of assault.
Some experts feel that the Indian government’s reservations over the issue may stem from fears about a communal or religious backlash. The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 states that it is a wife’s foremost duty to have sex with her husband....
Only about six of every 100 acts of sexual violence committed by men other than husbands actually get reported, reveals Gupta’s report....
http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/the-definition-of-rape-cannot-change-with-a-marriage-certificate/
Monday, May 11, 2015
Sex abuse lawsuit filed against Mormon church, Irish man fighting extradition to US over child abuse image charges has Asperger's syndrome, court hears
Sex abuse lawsuit filed against Mormon church
Reza Gostar, The Desert Sun May 2, 2014
Lawsuit claims teen girl was repeatedly abused by Mormon missionary in 1985 in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert.
PALM SPRINGS – A lawsuit filed Friday against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church bishop and a missionary, claims a woman was repeatedly sexually abused when she was a teenager in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, and it was covered up.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Riverside County Superior Court in Palm Springs, contends that from July to November 1985, Jacqueline Tyler, then 13, was repeatedly abused by a missionary and that after a church bishop learned of the alleged abuse, her family was told to stay quiet and the bishop "made advance payment or partial payment of damages as an accommodation to plaintiff."
It adds that as a result of the alleged abuse, Tyler gave birth to a son on June 30, 1986.
Tyler contends she was sexually abused at least once a week. And that after she became pregnant, the lawsuit claims that the missionary paid for her to go to New York, where he attempted to cause her to miscarry "by physically abusing her body."
The lawsuit claims that the missionary paid for her to go to New York, where he attempted to cause her to miscarry "by physically abusing her body."
Tyler told the local bishop of the alleged abuse, her attorney Michael J. Kinslow said Friday, adding that rather than report the incident to authorities the bishop sought to send Tyler "out of the area and take the child from her and give it to another Mormon couple to raise."....
In January, two Salt Lake City men, ages 41 and 42, sued the Mormon church claiming they were sexually molested in Hawaii after the church recruited them to work at a pineapple farm there. The alleged abuse, they said, took place in the late 1980s and was committed by a Mormon missionary who was a leader at one of the church's camps.
In response to the Hawaii suit, Cody Craynor, a spokesman for the church, told The Salt Lake Tribune: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and works actively to prevent abuse. ...The church will examine the allegations and respond appropriately."
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2014/05/02/mormon-missionary-sexual-abuse-lawsuit/8628203/
Irish man fighting extradition to US over child abuse image charges has Asperger's syndrome, court hears
Eric Eoin Marques is accused of setting up a part of the dark net
Lewis Smith Monday 11 May 2015
A man fighting extradition to America after being accused by the FBI of being the world’s biggest facilitator of child abuse images has a serious mental disorder, a judge at the High Court in Dublin has been told.
Eric Eoin Marques, 30, is accused of setting up a part of the dark net, a secretive part of the internet hidden from search engines, which hosted graphic images of the rape and torture of children....
He is wanted in the US in connection with four counts involving the advertising of child abuse images, distribution of child abuse images, conspiracy to advertise child abuse images and conspiracy to distribute child abuse images. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
He is said to be extraordinarily skilled with computers and is alleged to have used his abilities to set up and run Freedom Hosting, the dark-net infrastructure that enabled child abuse image sites, money-laundering operations, and fraud forums to operate.
While Freedom Hosting is alleged to have earned him a lucrative income his family insist his own computers did not have any child abuse images on them....
The defendant has indicated that he would be happy to be tried in his home country and in November told the Director of Public Prosecutions he would admit in an Irish court to advertising and distributing child abuse images. Meanwhile, a judicial review is under way in Ireland to determine whether the DPP was right to indicate Mr Marques would not be charged in Ireland.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/irish-man-fighting-extradition-to-us-over-child-abuse-image-charges-has-aspergers-syndrome-court-hears-10242852.html
Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Newsletter - Issue 122 – May 2015
https://ritualabuse.us/2015/05/issue-122-may-2015/
This issue includes information on : Rochdale child sex ring, Cyril Smith child abuse probe, Lord Janner child abuse investigation, Abused children in Norfolk, Gordonstoun, Westminster Child Abuse Cover-Up, Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), Operation Fairbank, Jimmy Savile, sex abuse claims against Tony Blair minister, Enoch Powell sex abuse probe satanic abuse claim, John Downing, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), suing Mormon officials allegedly enabling and concealing abuses, Christopher Michael Jensen, Rotherham grooming scandal, Jehovah's Witnesses, Priest James Fletcher, MI5 ‘hid' child abuse at boys' home, possible paedophile ring, Kincora historic VIP paedophile ring, alleged VIP paedophile ring, Dolphin Square, Oxford child sex ring, Rotherham child abuse, Major Child Abuse Cover-Up in French Schools, claims French soldiers in the Central African Republic sexually abused children, Bill Cosby, Clergy Sex Abuse Victims In Montana's Diocese of Helena, Bishop Robert Finn, Father Charles Sylvestre, LDS Church, Michael Jackson, Military Child Abuse Case, Mexican satanist ‘Black Mass', alleged satanic rape case, American Psychological Association and C.I.A. Torture Program, Alfio Granata, Going Clear, Scientology documentary, fraternities, hazing incident, sex-trafficked kids, human rights abuse, Bitcoin's Blockchain and Child Abuse
Reza Gostar, The Desert Sun May 2, 2014
Lawsuit claims teen girl was repeatedly abused by Mormon missionary in 1985 in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert.
PALM SPRINGS – A lawsuit filed Friday against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church bishop and a missionary, claims a woman was repeatedly sexually abused when she was a teenager in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, and it was covered up.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Riverside County Superior Court in Palm Springs, contends that from July to November 1985, Jacqueline Tyler, then 13, was repeatedly abused by a missionary and that after a church bishop learned of the alleged abuse, her family was told to stay quiet and the bishop "made advance payment or partial payment of damages as an accommodation to plaintiff."
It adds that as a result of the alleged abuse, Tyler gave birth to a son on June 30, 1986.
Tyler contends she was sexually abused at least once a week. And that after she became pregnant, the lawsuit claims that the missionary paid for her to go to New York, where he attempted to cause her to miscarry "by physically abusing her body."
The lawsuit claims that the missionary paid for her to go to New York, where he attempted to cause her to miscarry "by physically abusing her body."
Tyler told the local bishop of the alleged abuse, her attorney Michael J. Kinslow said Friday, adding that rather than report the incident to authorities the bishop sought to send Tyler "out of the area and take the child from her and give it to another Mormon couple to raise."....
In January, two Salt Lake City men, ages 41 and 42, sued the Mormon church claiming they were sexually molested in Hawaii after the church recruited them to work at a pineapple farm there. The alleged abuse, they said, took place in the late 1980s and was committed by a Mormon missionary who was a leader at one of the church's camps.
In response to the Hawaii suit, Cody Craynor, a spokesman for the church, told The Salt Lake Tribune: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and works actively to prevent abuse. ...The church will examine the allegations and respond appropriately."
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2014/05/02/mormon-missionary-sexual-abuse-lawsuit/8628203/
Irish man fighting extradition to US over child abuse image charges has Asperger's syndrome, court hears
Eric Eoin Marques is accused of setting up a part of the dark net
Lewis Smith Monday 11 May 2015
A man fighting extradition to America after being accused by the FBI of being the world’s biggest facilitator of child abuse images has a serious mental disorder, a judge at the High Court in Dublin has been told.
Eric Eoin Marques, 30, is accused of setting up a part of the dark net, a secretive part of the internet hidden from search engines, which hosted graphic images of the rape and torture of children....
He is wanted in the US in connection with four counts involving the advertising of child abuse images, distribution of child abuse images, conspiracy to advertise child abuse images and conspiracy to distribute child abuse images. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
He is said to be extraordinarily skilled with computers and is alleged to have used his abilities to set up and run Freedom Hosting, the dark-net infrastructure that enabled child abuse image sites, money-laundering operations, and fraud forums to operate.
While Freedom Hosting is alleged to have earned him a lucrative income his family insist his own computers did not have any child abuse images on them....
The defendant has indicated that he would be happy to be tried in his home country and in November told the Director of Public Prosecutions he would admit in an Irish court to advertising and distributing child abuse images. Meanwhile, a judicial review is under way in Ireland to determine whether the DPP was right to indicate Mr Marques would not be charged in Ireland.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/irish-man-fighting-extradition-to-us-over-child-abuse-image-charges-has-aspergers-syndrome-court-hears-10242852.html
Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Newsletter - Issue 122 – May 2015
https://ritualabuse.us/2015/05/issue-122-may-2015/
This issue includes information on : Rochdale child sex ring, Cyril Smith child abuse probe, Lord Janner child abuse investigation, Abused children in Norfolk, Gordonstoun, Westminster Child Abuse Cover-Up, Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), Operation Fairbank, Jimmy Savile, sex abuse claims against Tony Blair minister, Enoch Powell sex abuse probe satanic abuse claim, John Downing, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), suing Mormon officials allegedly enabling and concealing abuses, Christopher Michael Jensen, Rotherham grooming scandal, Jehovah's Witnesses, Priest James Fletcher, MI5 ‘hid' child abuse at boys' home, possible paedophile ring, Kincora historic VIP paedophile ring, alleged VIP paedophile ring, Dolphin Square, Oxford child sex ring, Rotherham child abuse, Major Child Abuse Cover-Up in French Schools, claims French soldiers in the Central African Republic sexually abused children, Bill Cosby, Clergy Sex Abuse Victims In Montana's Diocese of Helena, Bishop Robert Finn, Father Charles Sylvestre, LDS Church, Michael Jackson, Military Child Abuse Case, Mexican satanist ‘Black Mass', alleged satanic rape case, American Psychological Association and C.I.A. Torture Program, Alfio Granata, Going Clear, Scientology documentary, fraternities, hazing incident, sex-trafficked kids, human rights abuse, Bitcoin's Blockchain and Child Abuse
Thursday, May 7, 2015
France launches criminal inquiry into alleged sex abuse by UN soldiers, UN suspension of sexual abuse report whistleblower is unlawful, tribunal rules, South Yorkshire Police warned twice of Rotherham child abuse but did not act, as commissioner claims girls were seen as 'willing'
France launches criminal inquiry into alleged sex abuse by UN soldiers
Prosecutors announce investigation into claims French soldiers raped children on peacekeeping operation in Central African Republic
Kim Willsher in Paris and Sandra Laville in London Thursday 7 May 2015
French prosecutors have ordered a criminal investigation into allegations that French peacekeeping soldiers raped children and demanded sex for food in the Central African Republic.
The decision follows revelations in the Guardian more than a week ago that a senior United Nations official had been suspended for leaking details of the alleged abuse to the French government.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Thursday it had decided to launch criminal proceedings after receiving a reply to its request for information from the UN about the accusations of sexual abuse by French soldiers serving with the peacekeeping operation Sangaris.
It said the investigation concerned “the rape of minors under 15 years old by persons who had abused the authority conferred upon them by their roles, and complicity in this crime”....
Kompass, director of field operations, was suspended last month and faces an internal disciplinary disciplinary hearing for breaching UN protocols.
On Wednesday an appeal tribunal found that the suspension of Kompass was unlawful and ordered his reinstatement while an internal management review continues....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/07/france-criminal-inquiry-alleged-sex-abuse-french-soldiers-un-central-african-republic
UN suspension of sexual abuse report whistleblower is unlawful, tribunal rules
Judge orders UN to lift suspension of Anders Kompass, who leaked internal UN report on alleged abuse of children by French troops in Central African Republic
Sandra Laville Wednesday 6 May 2015
An appeal tribunal has ordered the United Nations to immediately lift the suspension of a whistleblower who disclosed the alleged sexual abuse of children by peacekeeping troops in Africa to the French authorities.
A judge said on Wednesday the decision to suspend Anders Kompass, the director of field operations for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, was “prima facie unlawful”. He ordered his employers in the UN to lift his suspension immediately to prevent further damage to his reputation.
The decision is a blow to senior UN officials who have repeatedly defended their treatment of Kompass, claiming he breached strict protocols about the passing on of confidential information to outside authorities....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/06/un-suspension-of-sexual-abuse-report-whistleblower-is-unlawful-tribunal-rules
South Yorkshire Police warned twice of Rotherham child abuse but did not act, as commissioner claims girls were seen as 'willing'
Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith Tuesday 05 May 2015
Senior members of South Yorkshire police were warned twice of the serious child abuse being carried out in Rotherham around a decade before it was discovered 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and groomed over a period of 16 years – but no action was taken at the time.
The Sheffield Star has obtained reports from 2003 and 2006 detailing the organised child sexual exploitation being carried out in Rotherham and Sheffield.
Dr Angie Heal, the author of the reports, stated at the time it was “very evident” that “significant abuse” was taking place in Sheffield and Rotherham, in 2003, and in 2006 found that that the perpetrators of sexual abuse had been able to “carry on with impunity”.
The reports were sent to both South Yorkshire Police district commanders, chief superintendents and CID and community safety superintendents at the time, but no action was taken. The newspaper obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information request.
As the news of the warnings emerge, South Yorkshire’s current police and crime commissioner has claimed that “it all went wrong” in Rotherham because police had not understood what grooming was, nor recognised the abuse, and had instead seen the girls as prostitutes....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/south-yorkshire-police-warned-twice-of-rotherham-child-abuse-but-did-not-act-as-commissioner-claims-girls-were-seen-as-willing-10225840.html
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Convicted French sex offender became school head teacher, Navy aims to boost sex assault reporting, stop reprisals, Teen Son Testifies in New Jersey Military Child Abuse Case
Convicted French sex offender who became school head teacher 'may have raped 55 pupils'
Some 55 pupils of a primary school in south-eastern France, or their parents on their behalf, have accused the school's ex-head teacher of sexual abuse, prosecutor reveals
By Henry Samuel, Paris 04 May 2015
The former head teacher of a primary school in south-eastern France faces sex abuse charges against 55 pupils, the local prosecutor announced on Monday.
The case of the teacher from Villefontaine near Lyon, known only as Romain F, has shocked France and led to a government inquiry after it transpired he had been convicted of possessing child pornography in 2008 but that the justice ministry had failed to transmit his criminal record to the education ministry.
In March, he was placed under formal investigation for raping 11 pupils since last October, after confessing to having tricked blindfolded pupils into oral sex during a workshop on experiencing new tastes.
That prompted France's education ministry to launch an internal investigation parallel to the legal inquiry to discover how the convicted offender was hired, and determine if any other victims were abused....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11582189/Convicted-French-sex-offender-who-became-school-head-teacher-may-have-raped-55-pupils.html
Navy aims to boost sex assault reporting, stop reprisals
By Meghann Myers, Staff writer May 5, 2015
Instances of sexual assault are down and reporting is up in the Navy, but there are still some trouble spots on officials' minds, especially male victims and retaliation against those who report abuse.
While progress has been made, according to the head of the 21st Century Sailor Office, reports of of retaliation and assaults against men are holding steady....
The 2012 Rand study found that 62 percent of those who reported unwanted sexual contact felt they had been retaliated against, and the number didn't budge in 2014, Rear Adm. Rick Snyder told reporters in a Friday phone interview.
"I am concerned that a high percentage of victims perceive that negative things happen to them [after reporting an assault]," he said. "We're worried about that number."....
In terms of male assault victims, there's a focus on hazing and initiation activities that cross into sexual assault territory.
Men made up half of the service members who had experienced unwanted sexual contact, according to the Rand study, reporting mostly that the incidents happened multiple times, with multiple perpetrators, without the involvement of alcohol, as some sort of hazing ritual.
The reporting rate for women has raised dramatically in the past few years, Snyder said, but reports are stagnant for men at a rate of about 8 percent.
One in three women report, on the other hand....
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/crime/2015/05/05/navy-annual-sexual-assault-prevention-response-report/26705151/
Teen Son Testifies in New Jersey Military Child Abuse Case
NEWARK, N.J. — May 5, 2015 By DAVID PORTER Associated Press
The teenage son of a military couple charged with abusing their three foster children told a jury Tuesday that his parents used Bible passages to justify hitting the toddlers with a paddle, stick and other implements.
The "rod of correction" was one form of discipline meted out by Army Maj. John Jackson and wife Carolyn, John Jackson Jr. testified under direct questioning in U.S. District Court. The couple also forced the children, all of whom were under the age of 5, to drink hot sauce or eat hot pepper flakes as punishment, he said.
"With respect to the Bible, my parents believed that children needed to be trained in a certain way in order to behave," he said. One passage he said they cited: "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child, but the rod of correction will drive it out."
The trial is the second for the Jacksons. The first ended in a mistrial last fall when a prosecutor inadvertently referred to the fact that one of the children had died. The judge had previously ruled that the boy's death could not be introduced during the trial since the defendants were not charged directly with his death.
A 15-count superseding indictment charges them with conspiracy, child endangerment and assault....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/son-testifies-jersey-military-child-abuse-case-30820382
Monday, May 4, 2015
French Government Investigates Military For Alleged Child Abuse, The mother who never gave up on her child abused by the Oxford child sex ring
French Government Investigates Military For Alleged Child Abuse
May 01, 2015 Eleanor Beardsley
The French government has promised a full investigation into allegations that its soldiers sexually abused local children while serving on a peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
The French government is investigating allegations that its soldiers abused children while serving as peacekeepers in Africa last year. The case has caused outrage and revulsion in France which places high value on both its military and its relations with its former colonies. The incidents in the Central African Republic were revealed when a United Nations report was leaked this week. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has the story.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: The U.N. report gives detailed descriptions of how children were coerced or forced into sexual acts by some of the French soldiers sent to protect them. Some of the victims was young as 9. Many were orphaned boys. The report became public this week when it was leaked to aid groups who gave it to the press....
BEARDSLEY: The U.N. has launched its own investigation into the leaking of its human rights report about the abuse. The French government is still investigating reports of sexual abuse by its soldiers in Rwanda 21 years ago. General Dominique Trinquand is a former commander of French peacekeeping missions.
http://www.npr.org/2015/05/01/403597693/french-government-investigates-military-for-alleged-child-abuse
The mother who never gave up on her child abused by the Oxford child sex ring
When Lara fell victim to the notorious Oxford child sex ring, her mother tried everything to save her. Now, the two tell Nick Harding how they're trying to put the past behind them
Nick Harding
Monday 04 May 2015
....Lara was a victim of an infamous child sex trafficking ring based in Oxford. In 2013, seven members were jailed for a total of 95 years. She was one of six brave girls who gave evidence against their abusers. She was groomed from the age of 12 and for five years endured unimaginable physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Elizabeth frantically tried to save her and raise the authorities from an apathetic slumber, the type of which allowed similar gangs in Rochdale, Rotherham and other parts of the country to exploit young, vulnerable girls with impunity.
Lara was born to alcoholic parents. Her mother was a drug addict and a prostitute, her father was a sadistic alcoholic. Along with her four siblings, she was taken into care aged four. For the following six years, she tumbled through the care system, where she was sexually abused. Elizabeth adopted her when she was 10 and already deeply disturbed.
....As she progressed to secondary school, her behaviour worsened. She stayed out late, ran away from home and became violent. But instead of getting support and understanding, she was excluded from school. Elizabeth tried to get help and advice from Oxford social services.
"They refused and said it was not their problem as Lara did not come from Oxford," she explains. "I was saying very early on that I felt she needed therapeutic support to process what had happened to her. But social services didn't entertain it and felt she was just badly behaved. I was told she was a young person making choices, and although she was making the wrong sort of choices, she should be supported to make those choices regardless."
At 12, Lara came to the attention of a local drug dealer, Mohammed Karrar. He ran a crack den in a run-down part of Oxford. Manipulative and well versed in child grooming, he befriended Lara and she began to spend increasing amounts of time with him and his associates in the Cowley Road area of the city.
....Karrar gave his victim with alcopops and cigarettes and encouraged her to run away from home. Eventually, he encouraged her to take crack cocaine and began feeding her drugs. Soon after, he forced her to have sex with two men, demanding the act as payment for the drugs he had plied her with. He continued to feed her addiction, sold her to men around the country, beat her and threatened her and her family if she didn't do as he commanded.
In one incident when she was 14, Lara was imprisoned for eight hours in a guest house on a main road in Oxford and violently raped by Karrar's brother Bassam. Police were called by another guest, who heard her screams through the walls. Despite having witnesses and DNA evidence, it was decided not to pursue a prosecution when Lara declined to testify after being coerced by the gang.
....Girl for Sale' by Lara McDonnell (£6.99, Ebury Press) is out now
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/the-mother-who-never-gave-up-on-her-child-abused-by-the-oxford-child-sex-ring-10224225.html
May 01, 2015 Eleanor Beardsley
The French government has promised a full investigation into allegations that its soldiers sexually abused local children while serving on a peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
The French government is investigating allegations that its soldiers abused children while serving as peacekeepers in Africa last year. The case has caused outrage and revulsion in France which places high value on both its military and its relations with its former colonies. The incidents in the Central African Republic were revealed when a United Nations report was leaked this week. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has the story.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: The U.N. report gives detailed descriptions of how children were coerced or forced into sexual acts by some of the French soldiers sent to protect them. Some of the victims was young as 9. Many were orphaned boys. The report became public this week when it was leaked to aid groups who gave it to the press....
BEARDSLEY: The U.N. has launched its own investigation into the leaking of its human rights report about the abuse. The French government is still investigating reports of sexual abuse by its soldiers in Rwanda 21 years ago. General Dominique Trinquand is a former commander of French peacekeeping missions.
http://www.npr.org/2015/05/01/403597693/french-government-investigates-military-for-alleged-child-abuse
The mother who never gave up on her child abused by the Oxford child sex ring
When Lara fell victim to the notorious Oxford child sex ring, her mother tried everything to save her. Now, the two tell Nick Harding how they're trying to put the past behind them
Nick Harding
Monday 04 May 2015
....Lara was a victim of an infamous child sex trafficking ring based in Oxford. In 2013, seven members were jailed for a total of 95 years. She was one of six brave girls who gave evidence against their abusers. She was groomed from the age of 12 and for five years endured unimaginable physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Elizabeth frantically tried to save her and raise the authorities from an apathetic slumber, the type of which allowed similar gangs in Rochdale, Rotherham and other parts of the country to exploit young, vulnerable girls with impunity.
Lara was born to alcoholic parents. Her mother was a drug addict and a prostitute, her father was a sadistic alcoholic. Along with her four siblings, she was taken into care aged four. For the following six years, she tumbled through the care system, where she was sexually abused. Elizabeth adopted her when she was 10 and already deeply disturbed.
....As she progressed to secondary school, her behaviour worsened. She stayed out late, ran away from home and became violent. But instead of getting support and understanding, she was excluded from school. Elizabeth tried to get help and advice from Oxford social services.
"They refused and said it was not their problem as Lara did not come from Oxford," she explains. "I was saying very early on that I felt she needed therapeutic support to process what had happened to her. But social services didn't entertain it and felt she was just badly behaved. I was told she was a young person making choices, and although she was making the wrong sort of choices, she should be supported to make those choices regardless."
At 12, Lara came to the attention of a local drug dealer, Mohammed Karrar. He ran a crack den in a run-down part of Oxford. Manipulative and well versed in child grooming, he befriended Lara and she began to spend increasing amounts of time with him and his associates in the Cowley Road area of the city.
....Karrar gave his victim with alcopops and cigarettes and encouraged her to run away from home. Eventually, he encouraged her to take crack cocaine and began feeding her drugs. Soon after, he forced her to have sex with two men, demanding the act as payment for the drugs he had plied her with. He continued to feed her addiction, sold her to men around the country, beat her and threatened her and her family if she didn't do as he commanded.
In one incident when she was 14, Lara was imprisoned for eight hours in a guest house on a main road in Oxford and violently raped by Karrar's brother Bassam. Police were called by another guest, who heard her screams through the walls. Despite having witnesses and DNA evidence, it was decided not to pursue a prosecution when Lara declined to testify after being coerced by the gang.
....Girl for Sale' by Lara McDonnell (£6.99, Ebury Press) is out now
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/the-mother-who-never-gave-up-on-her-child-abused-by-the-oxford-child-sex-ring-10224225.html
Friday, May 1, 2015
American Psychological Association Bolstered C.I.A. Torture Program, Report Says
American Psychological Association Bolstered C.I.A. Torture Program, Report Says
By JAMES RISEN APRIL 30, 2015
WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists.
The report is the first to examine the association's role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group's actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"The A.P.A. secretly coordinated with officials from the C.I.A., White House and the Department of Defense to create an A.P.A. ethics policy on national security interrogations which comported with then-classified legal guidance authorizing the C.I.A. torture program," the report's authors conclude....
The involvement of health professionals in the Bush-era interrogation program was significant because it enabled the Justice Department to argue in secret opinions that the program was legal and did not constitute torture, since the interrogations were being monitored by health professionals to make sure they were safe.
The interrogation program has since been shut down, and last year the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a detailed report that described the program as both ineffective and abusive.
Rhea Farberman, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association, denied that the group had coordinated its actions with the government. There "has never been any coordination between A.P.A. and the Bush administration on how A.P.A. responded to the controversies about the role of psychologists in the interrogations program," she said....
In early June 2004, a senior official with the association, the nation's largest professional organization for psychologists, issued an invitation to a carefully selected group of psychologists and behavioral scientists inside the government to a private meeting to discuss the crisis and the role of psychologists in the interrogation program.
Psychologists from the C.I.A. and other agencies met with association officials in July, and by the next year the association issued guidelines that reaffirmed that it was acceptable for its members to be involved in the interrogation program.
To emphasize their argument that the association grew too close to the interrogation program, the critics' new report cites a 2003 email from a senior psychologist at the C.I.A. to a senior official at the psychological association. In the email, the C.I.A. psychologist appears to be confiding in the association official about the work of James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the private contractors who developed and helped run the enhanced interrogation program at the C.I.A.'s secret prisons around the world....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collaborated-on-torture-justification.html
By JAMES RISEN APRIL 30, 2015
WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists.
The report is the first to examine the association's role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group's actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"The A.P.A. secretly coordinated with officials from the C.I.A., White House and the Department of Defense to create an A.P.A. ethics policy on national security interrogations which comported with then-classified legal guidance authorizing the C.I.A. torture program," the report's authors conclude....
The involvement of health professionals in the Bush-era interrogation program was significant because it enabled the Justice Department to argue in secret opinions that the program was legal and did not constitute torture, since the interrogations were being monitored by health professionals to make sure they were safe.
The interrogation program has since been shut down, and last year the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a detailed report that described the program as both ineffective and abusive.
Rhea Farberman, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association, denied that the group had coordinated its actions with the government. There "has never been any coordination between A.P.A. and the Bush administration on how A.P.A. responded to the controversies about the role of psychologists in the interrogations program," she said....
In early June 2004, a senior official with the association, the nation's largest professional organization for psychologists, issued an invitation to a carefully selected group of psychologists and behavioral scientists inside the government to a private meeting to discuss the crisis and the role of psychologists in the interrogation program.
Psychologists from the C.I.A. and other agencies met with association officials in July, and by the next year the association issued guidelines that reaffirmed that it was acceptable for its members to be involved in the interrogation program.
To emphasize their argument that the association grew too close to the interrogation program, the critics' new report cites a 2003 email from a senior psychologist at the C.I.A. to a senior official at the psychological association. In the email, the C.I.A. psychologist appears to be confiding in the association official about the work of James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the private contractors who developed and helped run the enhanced interrogation program at the C.I.A.'s secret prisons around the world....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collaborated-on-torture-justification.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)