Culprits Made to Mow the Lawn After Gang-rape and Breaking Back of 16 Year Old

Hundreds of protesters in Kenya have handed over a petition to police demanding justice for a teenager who was gang-raped.

The 16-year-old was gang-raped and then thrown in a pit latrine breaking her back.

The three men accused of gang-raping her were ordered by police to cut grass as punishment.

The petition signed by 1.2 million people calls for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the alleged rapists.

'Shameful response'

The BBC's Anne Soy said about 300 people walked from Uhuru Park in the capital, Nairobi, to the police headquarters to hand over the petition, which was carried in cardboard boxes.

David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of police, was not present to receive it, but sent a representative on his behalf, she says.

The girl, referred to as Liz to protect her identity, was attacked and repeatedly raped after returning from a grandfather's funeral in a village in Busia in western Kenya.

Her unconscious body was thrown into a pit latrine and she is now in a wheelchair.

When she was rescued she said she had been attacked by a gang of six men, but she could only identify three of them.

They were then detained by villagers and taken to the police, who chose not to officially prosecute them. Instead they ordered them to cut grass around a police station in Busia, near Lake Victoria.

This spurred some journalists and activists to use social media to raise awareness of the case, using the hashtag #Justice4Liz.

An online petition was then set up by activist Nebila Abdulmelik on the Avaaz petition hosting website, which started to gain international attention.

"It's incredible that more one million people have backed the campaign calling for action on the rape of Liz," she said in statement released by Avaaz.

"Rather than deleting tweets, Inspector Kimaiyo has to take action in what has been a shameful response by Kenya's police.

"The men that raped Liz must be arrested and the police officers who let them walk free must be held to account - this case has to be the moment when the culture of violence and impunity ends."

We need to pray that this will be the case - the end of the culture of violence and impunity. It won't start until police take cases like this seriously. The police involved must be made examples of.

Our reporter says the protesters carried placards - some reading "Justice for Liz" and "One in three of us will be violated in our lifetime" - which they left outside the police headquarters.

Pedophilia Officially Reclassified as Sexual Orientation by American Psychiatric Association

American Family Association:

According to the American Family Association, a shocking announcement made by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in its latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders caused an uproar among pro-family organizations and many others, as the APA states it now classifies pedophilia as a sexual orientation or preference instead of a disorder.

Sandy Rios, cultural expert and talk show host on the American Family Radio network, has issued a statement on behalf of the American Family Association in response to the APA’s position on pedophilia:

"Just as the APA declared homosexuality an ‘orientation’ under tremendous pressure from homosexual activists in the mid-'70s, now, under pressure from pedophile activists, they have declared the desire for sex with children an ‘orientation,’ too. It's not hard to see where this will lead. More children will become sexual prey.

"Sanity will never return to this culture until truth is reclaimed. It is not now, nor has it ever been acceptable for men or women to desire sex with children. Any who struggle with this must at least know that it is wrong before they can combat it and seek change."

Neon Tommy - USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism:

In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychiatric Association (APA) drew a very distinct line between pedophilia and pedophilic disorder. Pedophilia refers to a sexual orientation or profession of sexual preference devoid of consummation, whereas pedophilic disorder is defined as a compulsion and is used in reference to individuals who act on their sexuality. 

APA's decision has given rise to numerous pedophilia-advocacy groups, the chief of them being B4U-ACT, a non-profit grassroots organization based in Maryland. Created in 2003 primarily as a means for “minor-attracted persons” to be open about their sexual preferences in a supportive atmosphere, B4U-ACT is now widening the scope of their organization.

According to spokesperson and registered sex offender Paul Christiano, the pedophilia-advocacy group is “working towards de-stigmatizing the mental health community.”

It would be better if you de-stigmatized the children by not sexually abusing them.

When questioned about the most responsible way in which a pedophile could manage his sexual preferences, Christiano answered that while B4U-ACT encouraged minor-attracted persons within the organization to openly acknowledge their feelings and desires, such sexual preferences must remain purely a mental exercise and therefore entirely unconsummated. In other words, pedophiles must be allowed to fantasize about minors, as long as such acts are never consummated.

“B4U-ACT does not condone illegal activity,” Christiano insisted. But do you condemn it?

So the question is, can you openly acknowledge your pedophilic feelings and desires, perhaps fantasize about them, and then not eventually act on them when opportunity permits? I have been informed by readers that you actually can. 

It would appear that Lewis Carroll was just such  a person. He drew or photographed pre-pubescent girls until he (apparently) began to question his own motives, at which time he stopped cold. 

I wonder what the success/failure rate is for such people.

La Republica: Exposé on Child Prostitution in Peruvian Amazon Mining Towns

Nothing abounds more than gold in Peru’s isolated Amazonian mining communities than underage prostitutes waiting for clients in brothels locally known as “prostibars.”

According to daily La Republica, which published a special report Friday, approximately 400 girls and boys are being sexually exploited in the lawless enclaves of Huepetuhe, Pukiri and Delta 1. The practice is widely known in these small towns and improvised mining camps — where the youths sell sexual services for 50 soles or about $17, but an unwritten law of silence and violence prevails.

In the Amazonian department of Madre de Dios, a region in southeastern Peru bordering Brazil, Bolivia and the Peruvian departments of Puno, Cuzco and Ucayali, the illegal exploitation of gold has dramatically increased the recruitment and coercion of adolescents into prostitution through false employment offers.

Individuals known as “hooks” usually target their victims in markets and bus stations in some of the poorest and least developed regions of Peru. Children and teenagers, aged 10 to 16, mainly from Puno, Abancay and Cuzco, are tricked into leaving their Andean towns and low-paying jobs as domestic employees for promised employment in laundromats or restaurants.

Persuaded by an assured 360 soles or $126 monthly salary rather than 60 soles or $21, adolescents are also lured into Peru’s jungle by gifts that include clothing and free bus fare.

But once in Madre de Dios, their real employers — pimps and drug traffickers — tell them they will temporarily work as waitresses or cashiers in a bar.

“They tell them that this will be their job for a short period of time,” said Peru National Police Major José Rodriguez in comments to daily La Republica.

“These people evaluate the adolescent. They tell them to work the bar’s cash register, then convince them to accompany clients by offering them beer and then oblige them to prostitute themselves.”

Though Peru National Police have carried out a few crackdowns in some of the bars, La Republica reported, the trafficking of women and children for prostitution as well as child labor in the region is increasing because of the international demand for gold.

“First it was mahogany, and then came the Interoceanic Highway and now the gold,” said Rodriguez. “The three factors have done nothing less than increase illegal activities like prostitution.”

In January, the non governmental organization Huarayo, which offers temporary refuge for victims of sexual exploitation, reported that at least 200 underage girls are being subjected to forced prostitution in the mining zone of Delta 1.

“Those who resist are obliged to reimburse the cost of the trip, accommodation and food, but since they have no money they have to accept the exigencies of their employer sooner or later,” said the director of Huarayo, sociologist Oscar Guadalupe Zevallos.

During his visit to Delta 1, Zevallos determined that there were approximately 100 “prostibars.”

“We estimate that each bar has an average of 5 girls, of which two are underage, so we can say that 200 are adolescents victims of sexual exploitation,” said Zevallos.

In the makeshift mining camps and towns of Huepetuhe, Pukiri and Delta 1, very few authorities are present. In these no-law zones and safe havens for human and drug traffickers, the only representatives of the state are the mayor, the Child Ombudsmen and a deputy, a civilian filling in for the “authority” in a place too small to have a police force or even a single police officer.

“The Child Ombudsmen in Huepetuhe, Delta 1 and other mining centres try to rescue girls and adolescents that are victims of sexual exploitation and child labor in the prostibars,” said Zevallos. “But many cases can’t be resolved because they fear retaliation and the violence exercised by the exploiters and traffickers.”

In Peru, a country of origin for the trafficking of persons to Europe and the United States, children continue to be the most vulnerable and least protected citizens. Of the 3.8 million people living in extreme poverty, 2.1 million are children, with more than 60% of the under-18 population living below the poverty line.

A comprehensive anti-trafficking law was passed in 2007, but the implementing regulations have yet to be approved. And I thought the Canadian Parliament was slow.

And, according to the United Nations, “the limited awareness among the population on sexual exploitation and abuse and on the available measures to identify and report cases of abuse is also a matter of concern.”

But though Peru does not entirely fulfill the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking of persons, it is making considerable efforts to do so.

The Child and Adolescent Code prohibits forced labor, economically exploitative labor, prostitution, and trafficking, and Peru’s Penal Code, as amended in 2004, provides that a person who forces another to work without payment by means of violence or threat may be punished with imprisonment for up to two years.

The Penal Code prohibits pimping and the promotion of prostitution of minors, with a penalty of five to 12 years of imprisonment if the victim is under 18 years of age.

And in 2002, Peru ratified ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, and ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

Jimmy Savile - Super Paedophile and Operation Yewtree

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG (31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011), known professionally as Jimmy Savile, was an English DJ, television presenter, media personality and charity fundraiser. He hosted the BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, was the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops, and raised an estimated £40 million for charities.

Jimmy Saville

A year after his death, hundreds of allegations of child sex abuse and rape became public, leading the police to believe that Savile was a predatory sex offender, and may have been one of Britain's most prolific sexual offenders.

 In January 2013, a joint report by the NSPCC and Metropolitan Police, "Giving Victims a Voice", stated that 450 people had made complaints against Savile, with the period of alleged abuse stretching from 1955 to 2009 and the ages of the complainants at the time of the assaults ranging from 8 to 47. The suspected victims included 28 children aged under 10, including 10 boys aged as young as 8. A further 63 were girls aged between 13 and 16 and nearly three-quarters of his victims were under 18. Some 214 criminal offences were recorded, with 34 rapes having been reported across 28 police forces

Rolf Harris

It seems Savile got away with hundreds of child sexual assaults. However, he will stand before God and justice will be done. Operation Yewtree, an investigation into historical child sex crimes in the UK, was launched as a result of the revelations about Savile. 

Some of the fall-out of that investigation has already been posted (see http://northwoodssaveachild.blogspot.com/2013/10/rolf-harris-charged-with-13-child-sex.html). 

Below are a couple more horror stories uncovered by the investigation.

Savile ex-driver is granted bail on child sex charges

Jimmy Savile's former flatmate and chauffeur, Ray Teret, has been released on bail after appearing in court in Manchester charged with sexually abusing 15 girls.

Charges against Ray Teret, who lived with Savile and was his driver for three years in the 1960s, include rape and indecent assault of girls under 16, and one rape of a 17-year-old.

Mr Teret, 72, faces a total of 32 charges spanning several decades.

Teret

Police have stressed the accusations are not related to Savile's crimes.

Mr Teret is charged with 15 counts of rape, two of conspiracy to rape, one of attempted rape, nine of indecent assault and one of gross indecency - all against children aged under 16.

He is also charged with one count of rape not relating to an under-16 and three counts of possessing illegal materials - one of extreme pornography, one of prohibited images and one of indecent images of a child.

All of the offences allegedly took place in Manchester between 1962 to 1996.

A Manchester Magistrates Court, Mr Teret spoke only to confirm his name, age and address and was bailed until his next hearing on 15 November.


Also, A man described by a court as a former BBC driver has been found dead ahead of his trial for historical sex offences.

David Smith, 67, from Lewisham, south-east London, was charged as part of Operation Yewtree with allegedly abusing a 12-year-old boy in 1984.

David Smith

A warrant was issued for his arrest on Monday after he failed to attend Southwark Crown Court. His cause of death is not yet known.

The BBC said it had found no record of him working for the corporation. It would appear he was under contract to drive for BBC, perhaps under a business name.

Scotland Yard said a post-mortem examination was being carried out on Tuesday, but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Smith was the first person to be charged under the investigation into historical cases of abuse, which was originally set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

He faced two counts of indecent assault, two of indecency and one of a serious sexual offence.

UN Report - 7.3m Teen Births, 2m under 15, per Year in 3rd World

Teen pregnancies in the developing world are declining, but more than 7 million girls under the age of 18 are still giving birth each year, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.

The U.N. Population Fund expressed particular alarm about the dangers facing girls 14 or younger, who account for 2 million of the 7.3 million births to women under 18 in developing countries. This group faces the gravest long-term social and health consequences from giving birth as teens.

An unnamed teenager holds her son in Bangkok

"A girl who is pregnant at 14 is a girl whose rights have been violated and whose future is derailed," the fund's executive director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, said in London.

The report looked at births to women under 18 worldwide, the underlying causes of teen pregnancy, and possible solutions to the problem, which the U.N. said is part of a vicious cycle of rights violations.

"The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl's control," Osotimehin wrote in the report. "It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care." Basically - poverty!

The report said that high rates of adolescent pregnancies correspond with other social problems: "Early pregnancies reflect powerlessness, poverty and pressures — from partners, peers, families and communities. And in too many instances, they are the result of sexual violence or coercion."

The issue is most evident in the developing world — with 95 per cent of births to women under 18 occurring there. Ten per cent of women ages 20-24 in the Middle East reported at least one birth before age 18, while 22 per cent did in South Asia and 28 per cent did in Western and Central Africa, the report says.

Every day, 20,000 girls below age 18 give birth in developing countries. Nine in 10 of these births occur within a marriage or a union — highlighting the scourge of child marriage.

Osotimehin noted a positive World Health Organization report saying that some countries have seen a rapid decline over the past decade in the percentage of women reporting birth before age 15 — a trend attributed largely to a decrease in early and arranged marriages. But its overall tone set out the case for urgent action.

"The birth or pregnancy in one adolescent is unacceptable. One," Osotimehin told reporters in London. "Whether it's going up or down is not the issue — 7.3 million is huge."

The U.N. report was careful to note that some girls under 18 want to become pregnant. It stressed the benefits of waiting — such as better health, educational and future income opportunities — and called for a new approach to curbing teen pregnancies that minimizes the emphasis placed on girls' behaviour as an underlying cause.

"Childhood must never be derailed by motherhood," it said, calling for greater efforts to end child marriage and more action on gender equality.

Poverty is also a major contributor to child marriages and child sex slavery. We can certainly do better to improve the lot of 3rd world people with a little will and intent and a lot of prayer.

Please join my 3:15 PM prayer group and please consider sponsoring a child or two in third world countries.

Doctor Stripped of Licence for Sexual Abuse of Girl

CBC Report    29 Oct. 2013

The organization that certifies doctors to practice in B.C. has stripped a Victoria, B.C., Canada, man of his registration status after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a young patient.

In the disciplinary action notice filed Monday, the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons said that Dr. Farrokh Rohani sexually assaulted a 16-year-old in August 2008, and that he voluntarily stopped practising medicine the following month.

Rohani was the only doctor practicing in Port Alice at the time. It appears he was well-liked, consequently, some Port Alice residents blamed the girl, calling her a liar. 

This is too often the response of people, even parents of abused children. It is one of the reasons why child sexual abuse is not being addressed as it should. And it's one of the reasons why only about one in ten child molestations get reported. 

Please join me in my 3:15 PM prayer that God would bring this atrocity to an end.

The college said that following its own disciplinary process, it decided to revoke Rohani's licence to practise in B.C., effective Friday.

This is a good decision by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, I just wonder why it took the 5 years since the assault and more than three years after the conviction before they made that decision?

"The Board concluded that the conduct of Dr. Rohani was so egregious, and the abdication and abuse of his responsibilities as a physician was so disgraceful, that the most severe penalty available under the Health Professions Act, cancellation of his registration, was required," the college said in the notice.

Rohani was convicted for the sexual assault in B.C. Supreme Court in July 2010 and sentenced to a year in jail. A subsequent appeal to the B.C. Court of Appeal was dismissed.

The college also ordered him to pay $14,094.50 towards the College’s costs of handling his disciplinary case.

Penn State to pay $60m to 26 Victims of Sex Abuse by Sandusky

A US university will pay $60m (£37m) to 26 men who said they were sexually abused as children by a football coach.

Penn State University President Rodney Erickson called the payments "another step forward in the healing process".

Jerry Sandusky

Former coach Jerry Sandusky, 69, was convicted in 2012 of abusing 10 boys over 15 years. He was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison.

Sandusky's November 2011 arrest triggered a crisis at the US university famed for its football programme.

The scandal led to the firing of the university's revered head football coach Joe Paterno, who was accused of protecting Sandusky.

Penn State president Graham Spanier, left, and head football coach Joe Paterno talk before an NCAA college football game against Iowa in State College, Pennsylvania 8 October 2011.

Graham Spanier (left) and Joe Paterno (right) were both fired in the wake of the scandal.

Penn State's president was also fired and the football team was heavily sanctioned by the governing National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Three former high-level administrators at the university, including the president, are set to be tried on charges they covered up the ongoing abuse. They have denied the charges.

In a statement, the university said 23 settlements were fully signed and three were agreed in principle. The names of the recipients were not disclosed.

The school said it had received six other claims of abuse and believed some of those lacked merit. The university is expected to pay for the settlements primarily through liability insurance.

A lawyer for some of the men who received settlements said his clients were largely satisfied by the payouts.

"They felt that the university treated them fairly with the economic and non-economic terms of the settlement," Ben Andreozzi told the Associated Press news agency.

Mr Erickson said, "We cannot undo what has been done, but we can and must do everything possible to learn from this and ensure it never happens again at Penn State."

Sandusky, who met the boys through a charity for underprivileged youth he founded, has appealed against the verdict and maintained his innocence.

Child Abuse Royal Commission Hears how Paedophile Worked the System

Sydney, Australia - ABC News

Convicted paedophile Jonathan Lord groomed co-workers at a childcare centre to disguise the fact he was abusing boys, an inquiry has heard.

Lord, 26, is serving a minimum six-year jail term for abusing 12 boys while he worked at a YMCA childcare centre at Caringbah in Sydney's south.

Jonathon Lord

Erin Turner worked with Lord between 2010 and 2011 and is now the outbound manager for the organisation Camp America.

Ms Turner told the royal commission into child abuse that Lord would often be seen with children sitting on his lap.

She said she would respond to such incidents by shaking her head and discussing it with Lord later.

Ms Turner also told the hearing Lord deliberately befriended staff as part of his strategy.

"I think at the time I never thought grooming could be possible towards adults," she said.

"Looking back now, I definitely felt that he groomed me to gain my trust to not see anything that he was doing was inappropriate or suspicious."

The hearing was told it was common for children to sit on the laps of childcare centre staff.

"Children would come up and sit on your laps all the time," Ms Turner said.

"It's quite hard to sort of monitor that every single day."

Lord was regularly seen with the same group of young boys, but Ms Turner did not view that as suspicious.

"Half of me still thinks not much of it. Little kids look up to their leaders," she said.

Lord said his best friend 'was a seven-year-old boy'

Camp America is also under the microscope as part of the inquiry.

The organisation, based in the inner-Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, is responsible for selecting and placing Australians in US summer camps.

Lord worked as a "camp counsellor" in 2009 at the YMCA Silver Beach camp in Jamesville, Virginia, but he was soon dismissed.

A "situation log" entry dated July 8, 2009, reveals a fellow staff member at the camp found Lord in a cabin with the lights off and emerging from the bathroom with a boy.

This "questionable behaviour" was acted upon at the camp and Lord travelled back to Australia.

He applied for a job in Sydney about a month later, saying in his resume he wanted to work with children in an environment "where there are no walls or boundaries".

Ms Turner has told the hearing that statement in itself should have been a "red flag", but the question remains as to why her organisation never followed up Lord's behaviour at the camp.

Based on her own Camp America training, she said Lord's application for the summer camp should have raised a number of issues: he listed references not related to his experiences and said a seven-year-old boy was his "best friend".

Counsel representing YMCA NSW, Gregory Sirtes SC, says Lord's dismissal "and the circumstances surrounding it" were never reported by Camp America.

When the allegations against Lord surfaced at Caringbah, YMCA NSW, says it acted immediately by standing him down and contacting all staff involved.

But the organisation says it never received an international reference from the camp.

Ms Turner was not employed by Camp America at the time Lord was dismissed from his job in the US.

During her time working with him, Lord confessed he had been sent home from the camp.

Ms Turner told the inquiry that did not cause her concern because staff were regularly fired from US summer camps.

"It could be they broke curfew, they kept turning up late to activities," she said.

"It could have been a variety and it's quite common for a lot of staff to be fired.

"Also, the camp directors don't have to pay every staff member, so they save money."

The inquiry continues.

Archbishop of Poland's Jaded Logic Re: Child Sex Abuse

The head of Poland’s Catholic Church has been attacked for suggesting that child abuse resulted from pornography.

It is the second time in as many weeks that the opinions of Archbishop Jozef Michalik have sparked outrage. Last week he was forced to apologise for saying sexual abuse by priests occurred because children from broken homes “were looking for love”. Yeah, that's good, blame the children for child sex abuse. Sounds like the logic of a child sex abuser.

Archbishop Josef Michalik

In his latest controversial comments the archbishop said abuse stemmed from homes broken on pornography, “selfish” love and “the ideology of gender that raises legitimate concerns, because it goes against the laws of nature, promotes marriage between persons of the same sex and fights for the right to legalize adoption of children by these couples.”

A series of recent child sex abuse scandals involving priests has sent the Polish Catholic Church reeling and scrambling to regain its position but the archbishop’s comments appearing to try to deflect the blame from the perpetrators onto modern society or even the victims themselves provoked a furious backlash.

Agata Baraniecka-Klos, who was sexually abused as a child and now heads an organisation fighting to bring paedophiles to justice, said the archbishop’s words “were cruel to the victims” and that the “internet, feminists or gender ideology were not the problem.”

In an emotional television interview she added that Archbishop Michalik’s comments had brought back the trauma of her childhood experiences.

Poland’s media seized upon the story donating copious amounts of airtime and news print to critical coverage of the archbishop and the Church’s failure to deal with a string of sex abuse scandals that has brought the status of the Catholic Church in the country—once exulted and synonymous with all things Polish and the country’s freedom—to an all-time low.

The archbishop also received criticism from inside the Catholic Church.

“He has a problem with accepting the fact that the issue of paedophilia in the Church may have something to do with priests and the structure of the Church,” Father Jacek Prusak, a Jesuit priest, told the TVN 24 news channel.end.

Fr. Prusak is right on. A priest paedophile cannot have a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has one at all. The insistence of celebacy in the priesthood has obviously been a colossal failure. While it may cause some to be more intimate with Christ, it drives other away from Him and into pornography and paedophilia. 

Dare we pray for the Catholic church to abandon celebacy as a requirement for the priesthood?

Max Penalty for Internet Child Sex Offender

Stumbled across this story in the Copenhagen Post. It's a bit dated but it should put the fear of God, or at least a certain judge in Kansas City into internet sex abusers.

Kansas City judge hands down maximum sentence for relentless campaign of extortion against 11-year-old.

A 61-year-old computer consultant from Randers, Denmark, has been sentenced to 30 years in a US prison for tricking an 11-year-old girl to perform sex acts in front of a web cam and later threatening to expose her publicly.

Posing as 14-year-old boy, Kai Lundstrøm Pedersen recorded the 25-minute session and later used the video to terrorise the girl by sending pictures to her friends and family.

When the girl later tried to break contact, Pedersen began to threaten her, according to the St Joseph (Missouri) News-Press.

"I have 56 pictures and a video of you," he wrote on 1 August 2010. "The pictures are from the video and this one is just a free sample," he is reported to have written in an e-mail. "If you don’t want me to post everything on the internet, then write back to me. Maybe we can find a way to prevent me from making everything public. I could also send them to your Facebook friends??”

On 10 August 2010, the victim’s mother asked the police to investigate after receiving one of the pictures.

Pedersen was arrested in September 2010 while visiting the US on a trip reportedly not related to the child pornography case. Investigators, who had been posing as the 11-year-old on Facebook, determined he would be in the US and used his IP address to determine his location.

Pedersen, who plead guilty to extortion and production and transportation of child pornography. During the trial he apologised to the girl, calling his conduct “awful” and “inexcusable”.

“I’m not in a position to ask her or her family to forgive me,” Pedersen told the court. “I just hope the memory will fade.”

Pedersen was facing between 15 and 30 years for his crimes, and while his lawyer admitted that her client’s offences were “horrific”, she noted that in Denmark such a conviction would have carried only a six year sentence.

The judge, however, criticised Denmark for not taking these types of crime more seriously, and said that by handing down the maximum sentence he was sending a message to child pornographers.

Noting that most child pornography cases involve viewers not producers, Kays said: “You’re unique, Mr. Pedersen, because we don’t often get people like you.”

Cambodian Court Sentences German Man to 7 Years in Jail for Sex with Minors

PHNOM PENH,  (Xinhua) -- The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday convicted a German national of child sex purchase and sentenced him to 7 years in jail, according to a verdict announced by Judge Sin Visal.

Hans Gandner, 69, was charged on April 25 with indecent act against minors aged under 15 and purchase of child prostitution. He was found guilty of having sex with two 13-year-old boys.

"The court decides to sentence Hans Gandner to 7 years in jail for having sex with the underage," Sin Visal read the verdict.

The court also ordered him to pay 750 U.S. dollars as civil compensation to one victim and 500 U.S. dollars to the other.

The man will also be deported from Cambodia after serving his jail term.

Gandner was arrested in Phnom Penh in April while he was on his way to the Phnom Penh International Airport in an attempt to flee the country after he sexually abused the boys.

During police interrogation, Gandner confessed to having sexually molested the boys by paying 10 U.S. dollars to each of them.

Khoem Vando, deputy director of child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, which provided legal services to the victims free of charge, called the sentence a just verdict.

"This sentence will help the boys with their rehabilitation efforts and it is another strong signal towards potential future offenders that they will not get away with their crimes," he said.

It wasn't Rape, It was Love, Even if She's Only 13

The following is another part of an excellent column by Fr. Shay Cullen in Manila. He is with Preda, an organisation that rescues children being sexually abused. Please pray for the prosecutors in the Philippines to adopt a more protective attitude to children, especially special needs children.

The empires of human indifference reign supreme like tyrants over the lives of little children and all they have is a silent scream.

So it was for Rachelle and countless other children who are made to endure and suffer rape and sexual abuse so as the deviant adult abuser can satisfy his selfish sexual urge. To stop, prevent and end such evil acts, there is the mighty law to render justice for Rachelle. But did it?

Rachelle was led to believe by her mother and her 27 year-old abuser and his family that to become a live-in sexual partner of a man twice her age was her lot in life. According to them, it was right for her to be raped daily and if he hurt her and gagged her screams this was love and it was therefore right and good.

The prosecutors in Malolos, Bulacan, sworn to uphold the child protection law, to save the dignity and rights of all from rapists and childhood murderers, agreed that it was love and therefore there was no crime, no wrongdoing and if there was criminal liability of the man then even the parents would be charged. But there was no crime, it was “love” they ruled.

Then they wrote and signed their legal decision of 9 October 2012 that said in effect, if the parents and the man say it was love, then it must be love and no reasoning or no law can say that such sexual acts are wrong or unjust. There is no case to answer, they concluded and rounded it off with a poetic idiotic senseless quotation: “Indeed, the heart has reason of its own which reason does not know,” they said.

The facts of the case points to the rape and multiple sexual abuse of a mentally challenged 13 year-old girl (call her Rachelle who is now 14 years-old with a mental age of 9 years old according to a government psychoanalyst).

However, the statement of the child is clear, coherent. She described plainly what was done to her by her neighbor, a 27 year old man. The medical evidence is clearly showing multiple sexual acts. The mother of the child (impoverished and abandoned by her husband) protested at first, the family of the accused made an agreement with the mother (money was given most likely) for the child to be allowed to live-in with the accused. A local government barangay official in Calumpit, Bulacan approved.

The barangay witnesses (according to the prosecutor) said the little girl and the 27 year-old were in love and the prosecutor wrote that it was like a marriage rite even though minors are not allowed to marry, but still, it was not a crime. But Preda Foundation social workers heard of it and intervened to rescue the child, take her into a safe caring and healing community and file the charges.

But the prosecutor was not impressed with the arguments that it was rape, sex slavery and child abuse. No! They said, “if the accused were to be held criminally liable then the parents would be accomplices and this should not be case” and “it is improper and baseless to state that the respondent took advantage of her minor age”. Finally, in a contradictory conclusion, the prosecutor wrote: “The absence of the elements of rape and even child abuse being apparent probable cause does not exist”.

Then the prosecutor recommended to the 2nd Assistant Prosecutor and to the Provincial Prosecutor that the complaint of the child be dismissed and so it was. But it is wrong and it protects the accused in the face of overwhelming evidence of probable cause, this is the common harm done to child victims and to the cause of justice and the nation. Preda is Rachelle’s champion and we are protesting this miscarriage of justice and we are sure more mature legal minds will agree to reverse the decision and send it to trial. There are thousands of victims every day and their silent screams go unheard and unheeded.

Act now to help children like Rachelle escape abuse and get justice. Contact Preda Center, P.O. Box 68, Olongapo City, Philippines. shaycullen@preda.org

China's New Guidelines for Child Sex Offenders Best in the World

China has released new guidelines that prescribe harsher punishments for child sex offenders.

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities released a guideline on the handling of sex offences against minors on Thursday, promising severe penalties and minimum tolerance following many recent incidents.

Heavier sentences should be handed down for offenses committed by teachers and government personnel tasked with educating and protecting the victims, according to a joint communique by the Supreme People's Court (SPC), the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice.

As an advisory, "the guideline embodies the principle of 'maximum protection' for the victims and 'minimum tolerance' for the offenders," said SPC spokesman Sun Jungong at a press conference on Thursday. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!

Offenders serving suspended sentences could be banned from frequenting schools and excluded from jobs or activities involving minors, however, the document suggests that suspended sentences are inappropriate for adults convicted of serious offences.

Any institutions involved, schools for example, may be liable for compensation to victims or their families.

Harsher sentences are ordered for offences involving breaking and entering, preteens, children in rural areas whose parents are working away from home, those with serious disabilities or, cases of violence, pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

To protect victims' privacy, investigators will question victims at their home or other places where they feel safe psychologically. Repeated questioning should be avoided and officers should wear plain clothes when visiting victims's home or schools. Wow! This is China?

A spate of sexual assaults on minors has shocked the nation, including several involving teachers and their students.

A 62-year-old primary school teacher in east China's Jiangxi Province was sentenced to 14 years in jail earlier this month for molesting seven second-grade girls in class and infecting six of them with STDs.

Guang Tianyi, 27, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for molesting one girl and two boys on separate occasions in Beijing between December 2012 and March this year.

On June 25, a school principal was sentenced to 18 years in jail for raping and molesting girls in Qianshan County in east China's Anhui Province.

"Though the number of sexual offences is not high in terms of criminal cases, they have serious physical and mental effects on minors, an extremely adverse impact in society, and arouse strong public discontent," Sun said.

The Ministry of Education, together with three other authorities, issued guidelines on prevention of sexual assaults against children last month, asking schools to educate students against sexual assaults and to tighten reviews of teacher credentials and management of dorms.

Chu Zhaohui, a researcher with the National Institute of Education Sciences, said China still need to improve coordination for handling sex assault cases, noting that some cases were even left unreported, concealed or trivialized. Psychological counseling for victims should also be enhanced.

Two High-Risk Child Sex Offenders Living in Victoria, B.C., Canada

VICTORIA — A serial rapist dubbed the “balaclava rapist” for carrying out dozens of sexual assaults against women in Edmonton in the late '70s and early '80s will be living in a halfway house in Victoria.

Actually, one news report has it that he sexually assaulted 130 women and girls.

Despite serving three life sentences, Larry Takahashi, 61, has been granted an unescorted temporary absence from jail and will be residing in Victoria until Dec. 24, Victoria police said in a public warning  sent out Thursday morning.

Larry Takahashi, balaclava rapist

“The warning is being issued as VicPD believes that Takahashi poses a significant risk of harm to adult and teenage girls,” department spokesman Const. Mike Russell said in a news release.

After Dec. 24, he will return to custody and his behaviour during that absence will be reviewed by Corrections Canada and the National Parole Board.

Larry Takahashi was convicted in 1984 of 14 counts of rape, sexual assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault and disguise with intent between 1979 and 1983, and sentenced to three concurrent life terms.

Takahashi has admitted to attacking up to 30 women while living a double life as a model citizen by day and a rapist by night. He would enter women’s apartment buildings and residences at night and rape them while wearing a disguise.

Takahashi was eligible for full parole in 1991 and was granted escorted day passes in 1997.

There was an outcry in July 2004 after the parole board gave Takahashi permission to leave his halfway house on weekend passes and unescorted at night.

In August 2005, Takahashi had his day parole revoked after the parole board was told Takahashi had met with a convicted sex offender at Vancouver's Kitsilano Beach several times, Global News reported at the time.

Takahashi must abide by conditions of his release. He cannot consume any alcohol or other intoxicants, must report all interactions with females immediately to his parole officer and must reside in Victoria and cannot travel north of the Malahat.

If anyone sees Takahashi violating his conditions, do not approach him but contact local police immediately.

Earlier this month, Victoria police received dozens of calls from worried parents after they put out a warning that a sex offender who poses a significant risk to young girls is living in the community.

James Douglas Campbell, 63, is living in a halfway house in Victoria. He had previously sexually assaulted a girl who was on her way to school.

In fact, he was convicted of several sexual assaults on girls between 5 and 12 years of age. He was sentenced to 20 years in 1990-91, and had 4 more years added after stealing his psychiatrists car and disappearing while on parole. 

James Douglas Campbell

In June 1990, Campbell raped an 11-year-old girl in Ardrossan, Alta., then two months later took a nine year-old girl to a hotel and sexually assaulted her.

Campbell then fled to Manitoba. It wasn't long before RCMP in St. Pierre charged him with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

On Sept. 27, 1990, Campbell forced a seven-year-old girl in Winnipeg into his car and drove her to a home where he sexually assaulted her.

Campbell was arrested on Oct. 9, 1990. He pleaded guilty to the crimes he committed in Manitoba and in December 1990 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was then transferred to Alberta to face charges there and was given an additional five years.

A recent decision from the Parole Board of Canada describes Campbell's criminal history - which spans more than 40 years and includes more than 50 convictions for crimes including sex offences, robbery and weapons offences and property crimes - as "lengthy and versatile."

He meets the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia and sexual sadism and is considered a high risk to re-offend violently or sexually.


Campbell's performance while on various forms of release is described as "poor."

In both cases, Victoria police stressed they had no say in the releases and were putting out the public warnings so people can be fully informed.

“VicPD had no role in the decision to release Takahashi, nor do we have any input in to where he would live,” Russell said. “Although VicPD has serious concerns whenever high-risk offenders are released into our community we are committed to working with our community partners and the public in order to monitor Takahashi as he completes the remainder of his sentence.”

Why can't these guys be labelled "dangerous offenders" and kept in prison for life?

Please join me in praying my 3:15 PM Prayer.

Irish Justice - No Jail Time for Man Who Repeatedly Raped His Daughter

A 61-year-old man who subjected his young daughter to years of sexual abuse has avoided a prison sentence after she indicated she did not wish to see him jailed.

Earlier this month, Limerick businessman and former guesthouse owner Oliver Haskett was remanded in custody and warned he would be going to jail after harrowing evidence of the abuse suffered by his young daughter was outlined at Limerick Circuit Court.

Mr Haskett, with an address at Westbury, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault of his daughter Sheila Ryan between January 1988 and December 31st, 1990, and a further 20 counts of sexual assault between September 1991 and December 1995.

32 counts of indecent or sexual assault starting when she was 5, and he walks. Is there any justice in that? Please, Counsel, appeal this sentence.

The offences occurred at the former family homes in Foynes, Kilcornan and Adare in Co Limerick.

Ms Ryan, who waived her right to anonymity, told gardaí the abuse started when she was five years old. She also recalled how she was beaten and chastised by her father for mispronouncing words.

She said some of the abuse took place in the downstairs bedroom of a bed and breakfast which her parents operated in Adare Co Limerick.

Before sentence was imposed today, Judge Carroll Moran was told Ms Ryan did not want her father to get a custodial sentence.

Counsel for the State, Michael Collins, said the now 36-year-old was shocked when she saw her father going into custody following his last court appearance, and said she had written a letter indicating she did not want her father going to jail.

Judge Carroll Moran said Mr Haskett, a father of four, was guilty of a breach of trust and the fact he had abused his own child was a further breach of this trust.

Judge Moran said the natural paternal instinct was to protect, not to abuse, and that Mr Haskett’s actions had resulted in the premature sexualisation of his daughter Sheila.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Ryan revealed how she had come close to suicide and how she struggled with depression, eating disorders and alcohol abuse as a result of her dysfunctional childhood.

Imposing a four-year suspended jail term, Judge Moran said he had taken into account Ms Ryan’s wishes that she did not want to see her father going to jail.

Addressing Mr Haskett directly, Judge Moran said: “I want to commend your daughter for her Christian charity and forgiveness.”

It's wonderful that Ms Ryan has forgiven her father, it is a necessary step in healing. But for the state to forgive him this horrific abuse is completely unacceptable. 

Judge Moran ordered that Mr Haskett’s name be placed on the Register of Sex Offenders for five years.

BBC Star Raising Awareness of Child Sex Abuse

For a change, a BBC star is actually doing something positive for child sex abuse victims rather than adding to their numbers. Let's pray for great success in his endeavour. God bless you Matthew.

Notice the highlighted sentence below, "There are an estimated 100 million abuse survivors in Europe". Kind of confirms my numbers, doesn't it?  http://northwoodssaveachild.blogspot.com/2013/07/statistics-on-child-sexual-abuse.html

From The Copenhagen Post
Sept 14, 2013

CBeebies actor Matthew McVarish, himself the victim of an abusive uncle, is taking a 16,000 km trek to raise awareness of the problem.

Actor Matthew McVarish, who is known to millions as one of the stars of CBeebies series ‘Me Too!’, won’t stop walking until he has stopped the silence.

Scottish actor Matthew McVarish

He walks up to 50km each day, sometimes through sun and often through rain, but always with the same mission: to raise awareness about child sex abuse.

Between this past May and February 2015, McVarish will visit 31 European capitals as part of a project called ‘Road to Change’, which endeavours to prevent sex abuse cases by encouraging past victims to speak out. As part of his journey, McVarish stopped in Copenhagen last week after walking from Berlin.

A star of the BBC children’s programme ‘Me Too!’, McVarish also works as the European ambassador for the non-profit organisation Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse. He said he views his trip around Europe as one of the responsibilities of the position.

“I decided to visit all of the European capitals, but I decided to walk because that way people would be more interested,” he explained. “If I had just flown here, I don’t think the cause would get as much attention.”

For McVarish, the project has a particularly personal significance. The youngest of seven siblings, McVarish and three of his older brothers were all sexually abused by their uncle as children.

“As quite often happens, we didn’t talk about it,” he said. “About five years ago, three of my brothers were very depressed and struggling. I was looking for some help, and I found Stop the Silence.”

Inspired by the organisation, McVarish went on to write a play, ‘To Kill a Kelpie’, about two brothers discussing their experiences with sex abuse. The production motivated his own brothers to speak out themselves, and the four later pressed charges against their uncle, who is now in prison.

“I think when my brothers saw the misery they were experiencing on stage, they realised how important it was that we do something,” he said.

McVarish pointed out, however, that his intentions weren’t to drag out the past for him or for anyone he meets on the road. Instead, he hopes to help prevent cases of abuse in the future by encouraging victims to speak up.

“I’ve spoken to thousands of survivors on my walk, and I ask them if they’ve ever talked to the police. Many say that they don’t feel strong enough to stand in the same courtroom as the person who abused them,” he said.

“I completely understand that, because it’s very difficult,” he went on. “But I ask them: ‘Do you think you’re stronger as an adult than the child that same person might abuse tonight, or tomorrow, or next week?’ It’s not about seeking revenge or compensation, it’s about child protection right now.”

In each city he visits, McVarish meets with public officials to encourage policy change, particularly in regards to the respective country’s statute of limitations for reporting cases of child sex abuse. While no statute exists in McVarish’s home country, it is currently set at ten years in Denmark and varies throughout Europe.

“There will always be cases just outside of the bracket, no matter the amount of time,” McVarish said. “And the person who abused them could still be out walking the streets.”

But the main focus of his walk, McVarish pointed out, is to facilitate open discussions about abuse in communities where the topic is seldom addressed.

“There are an estimated 100 million abuse survivors in Europe, many of them in rural areas. So for their local paper to have a guy on the front page talking about sex abuse not as a scandal, but just trying to deal with it, can be very valuable.”

“People in smaller countries often find it more difficult to report because everyone in the community knows each other,” he went on. “Nobody wants to speak out against their neighbour.”

After a week-long stay, McVarish departed Copenhagen on the morning of Saturday, September 7 and headed towards Helsingør, accompanied for a short leg by the British ambassador, Vivien Life. He will next stop in Stockholm on September 28.

While issues like weather or a low mobile battery have occasionally made the trip uncomfortable, the road has been relatively smooth thus far.

“I was walking through a national park recently and walked right past a wild boar,” he chuckled. “Otherwise, I’ve seen lots of snakes, but none were a threat, and I’ve had no trouble with people.”

“Once a day while I’ve been walking through Denmark, someone would stop me on the highway and offer to give me a lift, but I always said: ‘No thanks’. They’d ask where I was headed and I’d say: ‘Copenhagen’. That inspired some strange looks.”

Church of England Sued by Child Sex Abuse Victim

A man who was sexually abused as a boy by a Church of England priest has rejected a six-figure compensation offer.

The man, who cannot be identified, was one of a number of boys abused by Robert Coles when he was a priest in Horsham and Chichester, in Sussex.

Robert Coles

Coles, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, was jailed for eight years in February after admitting 11 sex abuse charges.

The victim, now 45, says he wants a sum "in proportion" to his suffering. He told the BBC: "I've been sectioned, I've self-harmed. I've tried to end my life. "Numerous times I've been in intensive care."

The man, who said he had reported the abuse to Sussex Police in 1997, says he is prepared to go to court to get the compensation he believes he deserves. "It needs to be in proportion to what I've suffered," he said.

The Diocese of Chichester has so far been unavailable for comment, but after Coles's sentencing, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby apologised to the victims, saying he was "appalled" by the case.

He said systems designed to protect survivors had "clearly failed". Will there be an investigation as to why they failed?

Lack of transparency and cooperation with police:
Brighton Crown Court heard in February that Coles had disclosed he was a child sex abuser to senior clergy, including the then Bishop of Lewes, the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, but the information was not passed on to police.

Another BBC Celebrity Charged with Prolific Child Sex Abuse

Ex-BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall has been charged with 15 rapes and one count of indecent assault involving two girls.

Stuart Hall

The charges relate to girls aged between 11 and 16 and allegedly happened between 1976 and 1981.

The abuse was allegedly committed in Manchester, Stockport, Wilmslow and Sale.

Hall, 83, is currently in jail serving 30 months for sexual offences. The former presenter is due at Preston Magistrates' Court on 8 November.

Nazir Afzal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Following a careful review, we have decided that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Stuart Hall for 16 alleged sexual offences against two girls and that it is in the public interest to do so."

In June, 2013, Hall was sentenced to 15 months in jail after he admitted 14 offences that occurred between 1967 and 1985. One of the girls was nine years old when Hall assaulted her, Preston Crown Court heard.

In July, the Crown appealed the sentence to the Court of Appeals and the sentence was doubled. The charges mentioned at the top of the post are new. 

Stuart Hall is the second BBC celebrity to be accused of rampant child sex abuse, although he is not as iconic as Jimmy Saville. He was stripped of his OBE - Order of the British Empire, by the queen.

It is good for these victims to get their stories out so they can deal with them and move on. Please pray for their emotional and spiritual healing.

Maryville, Missouri, Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Anger is mounting after the cover-up by local officials of an alleged rape of two teenage girls in Missouri has been exposed. Meanwhile, internet vigilantes aligned with Anonymous are readying to work the case themselves.

A story published in the Kansas City Star over the weekend by reporter Dugan Arnett is grabbing widespread attention as readers continue to circulate the 4,000-word article about an incident that began with the alleged sexual assault of two teen girls in early 2012.

The Star has been working closely with the case for the last seven months, Arnett said, and that research culminated in the recent expose titled “Nightmare in Maryville: Teens’ sexual encounter ignites a firestorm against family.”

It’d be a feat unto itself to reiterate Arnett’s words while still doing his original story justice, but the gist of the Star report is that felony charges against a 17-year-old popular senior football player from Maryville, Missouri were dropped even after the star athlete himself admitted to having sex with a highly-intoxicated girl three years his junior. A 13-year-old girl was also allegedly raped during the encounter by someone, and another 17-year-old boy recorded the incident on his iPhone and was eventually hit with a felony charge himself over allegedly sexual exploiting a minor. Even with hard evidence and immaculate testimony, however, the case fell apart, no one was convicted and the family of one of the alleged victims was essentially driven out of town.

Parents of the 14-year-old girl, Daisy Coleman, are OK with having their daughter’s identity out in the open. And as her story is being shared all over the Web, the internet’s own army of computer-chair investigators is pursuing a probe of their own.

Matthew Barnett and Jordan Zech — then both 17 — were accused of raping and recording, respectively, the two teenage girls in January 2012.

“Barnett, who was arrested and charged with sexual assault, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, admitted to having sex with Daisy and to being aware that she had been drinking. He insisted the sex was consensual,” wrote Arnett.

But the younger girl — whose identity was withheld by the Star — said that wasn’t the case, and recalls Coleman crying while being carried around by a group of boys whom she drank heavily with that evening before the older girl eventually awoke half-conscious on her mother’s lawn in 22-degree weather. On her part, Coleman said she remembers nothing after being handed a second drink by a group of older high school boys that evening who had been entertaining the two girls in the Barnett household basement.

The whole thing seemed open-and-shut, at least at first, and Sheriff Darren White told Arnett that his office put together a case that would “absolutely” result in prosecutions.

“Within four hours, we had obtained a search warrant for the house and executed that,” White told The Star. “We had all of the suspects in custody and had audio/video confessions.”

But 21 months after the incident, Barnett has moved on and now studies at the University of Central Missouri, unscathed by any conviction with regard to a rape case that could have sent him to federal prison for a long stretch. Arnett acknowledged in his piece that it is also worth noting that a relative of Barnett spent 32 years in local law enforcement before serving four years in the Missouri House of Representatives. That lawmaker, Rex Barnett, also has documented political ties to Robert Rice, the Nodaway County prosecutor who ultimately dropped all the charges.

Only hours after Arnett went live with his report on the whole ordeal, Internet activists aligned with the Anonymous movement had already proposed taking over the investigation if Maryville authorities continued to ignore the matter.

A statement began circulating early Monday attributed to Anonymous, the international collective of activists and hackers who have in recent years tasked themselves with exposing egregious activity gone unhandled by authorities.

If law enforcement doesn’t open up the Coleman case, it appears as if Anonymous activists may again take matters into their own hands. And given their success in raising another controversial rape case earlier this year, the Missouri authorities' handling of the Coleman case could be put under the microscope too.

In an eerily identical incident involving the sexual assault of a teenage girl in Steubenville, Ohio, members of Anonymous waged a massive campaign that propelled the story to mainstream news networks and even spawned protests outside of Steubenville city buildings. When Rehtaeh Parsons, another alleged teenage rape victim, committed suicide, Anonymous again raised awareness of the issue and opened up an investigation that arguably outpaced anything authorities had assembled.

Some have suggested that Anonymous’ work with the Steubenville case was the catalyst in having two high school athletes tried for the assault of a teenage girl, both of whom have since been found guilty.

Once again, Anonymous is threatening to take charge of this case on their own if local officials continue to look the other way.

“We demand an immediate investigation into the handling by local authorities of Daisy's case,” the statement reads in part. “Why was a suspect, who confessed to a crime, released with no charges? How was video and medical evidence not enough to put one of these football players inside a court room? What is the connection of these prosecutors, if any, to Rep. Rex Barnett? Most of all, We are wondering, how do the residents of Maryville sleep at night?”

“We have heard Daisy's story far too often. We heard it from Steubenville, Halifax and Uttar Pradesh. In some cases, it was too late. Both Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons, girls not much older than Daisy, took their own lives after the adults, the police and the school system, failed to protect them. If Maryville won't defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them. Mayor Jim Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us,” it continues.

"We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Join us."

Internet users who associate themselves with Anonymous have since started to raise awareness of Coleman’s case by circulating articles about the Barnett family and adopting the hashtags “#Justice4Daisy” and “#OpMaryville” to try and make their efforts trend over Twitter and other social media sites.

Polish Church 'Child Sex Abuse' Exposé Ends in Violence

The following link to France24's English language news provides an 8 minute video clip of a reporter and cameraman confronting a priest about allegations of child sex abuse. What happens next is bewildering to say the least. 

Poland, the most Catholic country in Europe, has managed to keep a fairly secure lid on child sex scandals. However, pedophilia is just as prevalent there as any other country where the Catholic Church operates. 

It appears they are only now starting to deal with the problem.

Please pray my 3:15PM prayer and include a prayer for Poland.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130516-row-poland-catholic-church-paedophilia-child-sex-abuse-france24-cragg

Argentine Priest Finally Imprisoned for Child Sex Abuse

The Associated Press, Buenos Aires

A Roman Catholic priest who was convicted in Argentina of sexually abusing a boy has finally begun serving a 15-year sentence in prison.

Julio Cesar Grassi

Father Julio Cesar Grassi was something of a star in the Buenos Aires diocese, well-known for persuading Argentine celebrities to donate to the Happy Children Foundation.

His fortunes changed after some of the orphans he cared for accused him of abusing them in 1996.

Grassi was convicted in 2009, but was able to keep living across the street from the orphanage while he appealed. It is unbelievable that authorities didn't force him to move away from the orphanage. Or that his Bishop didn't advise him to move. It appears that Argentina has long way to go before taking child sex abuse seriously, though 15 years for a single conviction is a very impressive sentence.

After the top provincial court upheld his sentence last week, Grassi was taken into custody Monday.

The 57-year-old priest still maintains he is innocent. His final appeal to Argentina's Supreme Court will be made from behind bars.

Irish Republicans Deny Secret Committee to Deal with Child Sex Abuse

Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell has alleged that senior republicans were involved in a secret committee 13 years ago that dealt with almost 100 allegations of child abuse made against republicans.

The dramatic charges were made by the DUP MP under parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons yesterday, during questions to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.

MP Gregory Campbell

However, the allegation was dismissed out of hand by Sinn Féin’s Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness.

Outside No 10 Downing Street yesterday, he said: “I wouldn’t even credit anything Gregory would say under parliamentary privilege with an answer.”

Asked about the allegation by Mr Campbell, Democratic Unionist Party First Minister Peter Robinson said he was “not aware of it”. He was speaking after a meeting between Mr McGuinness, Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond, Wales’s first minister Carwyn Jones and British prime minister David Cameron.

In the Commons, Mr Campbell said: “The voluntary sector had an unfair burden in the past, particularly in dealing with sex abuse victims.

“Will the Secretary of State comment on information I have received about a fixed committee that existed within the republican movement in 2000, which dealt with almost 100 sex abuse victims and in which some very prominent republicans were involved, and will she join me in calling for those people to come forward and help those many innocent victims deal with the nightmare they are still dealing with 13 years on?”

Ms Villiers said Mr Campbell had raised “some very grave matters and I would certainly encourage anyone who has been the victim of abuse to approach the police with that information, and anyone who has knowledge of such cases to do so, too.

“It is obviously crucial that this scourge to society is eliminated,” she added, “and that the voluntary sector, the police and the Government give all the support possible to victims of abuse.”

The allegation appears to have been made in the context of the continuing controversy about Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams knowing from 2000 that his brother Liam Adams had sexually abused his daughter Áine over a six-year period from when she was aged four, beginning in 1977. See: http://northwoodssaveachild.blogspot.ca/2013/10/sinn-fein-president-gerry-adams-brother.html

Mr Adams said his brother made an admission of sexual abuse in Dundalk in 2000 but that he said it only happened on one occasion.

In late 2006 and early 2007, The Irish Times understands, rank and file Sinn Féin members were told that child abuse was one reason why the party needed to recognise the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Then, Sinn Féin cumann members, many of whom were extremely reluctant to accept the PSNI’s legitimacy, were told that the IRA could not deal with child-abuse allegations, particularly post-ceasefire.

A Sinn Féin spokesman, responding to the claim made in the House of Commons, said last evening: “Gregory Campbell’s claims about the existence of a ‘fixed committee’ dealing with cases of abuse in the year 2000 is untrue and without basis in fact.”

Is 60% Increase in Paedophile Convictions Good or Bad?

From Gulf News

London, UK: The number of paedophiles convicted of child sex offences has rocketed by nearly 60 per cent in five years.

Figures show the number of offenders convicted of sex attacks on under-16s leapt from 1,363 in 2005 to 2,135 in 2010.

While the UK Justice System seems to be congratulating itself on it's splendid work, the question is, how much has child sex abuse increased in those 5 years? Internet pornography has significantly increased child sex abuse in the making of the videos or on Skype, etc. 

One suspects that much of that 60% increase in convictions is a result of increased child sex activity. Since it is likely that fewer then one in ten abuses are reported, and not many of them end up with convictions, that the overall situation in the UK is worse than ever. 

Please join my 3:15 PM prayer group and pray that real progress will be made against paedophilia in the UK.

The increase was attributed to better detection rates, but child protection groups argued that the Ministry of Justice statistics, released under the Freedom of Information Act, suggest a rise in child sex abuse. The number of convictions in 2009, for example, was 1,916.

However, figures from the child-protection charity the National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) show that in 2008-09 there were more than ten times as many reported sex offences against under-18s recorded by police.

Statistics over the period obtained from all 43 police forces in England and Wales showed 21,618 occasions where under-18s were reported to be victims of sex crimes including rape, gross indecency and incest.

One in seven of the victims was younger than ten, while 1,000 were five and under.

Campaigners say these numbers are still relatively small compared with the real figures as child sex offences remain under-reported.

They believe the increase in internet-based sexual exploitation through social networks such as Facebook may be to blame for the dramatic surge.

Peter Davies, the chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, welcomed the increase in convictions, saying it was "a good indicator that police services and others are getting their act together".

The centre has seen an encouraging increase in the number of high-risk sex offender networks disrupted, from 29 in 2006-7 to 132 in 2010-11.

But Jon Brown, the NSPCC's head of strategy and development, said: "I think police are right when they say that they are being more successful in prosecutions, but it would also be right to conclude cautiously that we are looking at an increase in child sex abuse and in different types of sex abuse.

"The phenomenon of sexual abuse online has certainly increased."

Mum Convicted of Organising Torture of Daughter's Ex-boyfriend

This is obviously not the way to respond to a rape, at least in a first-world country. Vigilantism is fraught with danger - the risk of abusing an innocent person; the risk that that person will go free otherwise; the risk that you will be the one ending up in jail and paying compensation to the rapist. This must be driving the mother and daughter crazy.

From the Copenhagen Post
October 17, 2013 - 17:12

Four people have been sentenced to prison after they kidnapped and tortured a 16-year old boy in April

City Court made the final ruling yesterday in a brutal case in which a mother orchestrated the kidnapping and torture of her daughter's ex-boyfriend. The court has convicted a 42-year-old woman of organising a brutal attack against her daughter’s ex-boyfriend after the daughter convinced her she had been raped.

On Wednesday, Copenhagen City Court sentenced the woman to 16 months in prison for the attack in April, when her daughter was 16.

Copenhagen City Court

After luring the former boyfriend into a trap, the two, together with the woman's younger brother, aged 24, and the boyfriend of one of the girl's friends, aged 18, forced him into a van and drove him to a wooded area in Gentofte.

There they carried out an hour-long ordeal that included putting a knife to his throat, stripping him naked, grabbing his testicles and forcing him to kiss his ex-girlfriend's shoes while they broke several of his fingers with a crowbar. At one point, the young man also had an electrical cord placed around his neck.

"You really messed up this time," one of the kidnappers told the victim before they put an object resembling a gun to his temple and counted down from three.

When they were finished him, the attackers returned the boy and his clothes to where they kidnapped him.

"They threw my clothes out of the car and yelled 'run!' Then the mother told me never to contact her daughter again and if I reported anything they would cut off my throat," the boy, who has asked to remain anonymous, told the tabloid Ekstra Bladet.

The four attackers have been held in custody since April.

While the mother got the longest sentence, the daughter was sentenced to nine months in prison. The 18-year-old was sentenced to a year, and the 24-year-old got a year and three months and has been expelled to Poland.

The four offenders will also have to pay court costs and pay damages to the victim, who was able to show the court that he had 32 wounds on his body, 13 of which were to his face.