Stories from Australia, America, India, Cambodia and New Zealand feature a Cardinal, a Tennis star's father, an international school teacher and several Bollywood stars
Cardinal Pell arrives for Australian
child sex abuse court hearing
MELBOURNE: Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell arrived for his first appearance in an Australian court on historical sex abuse charges Wednesday, facing a huge media scrum ahead of the largely administrative hearing.
Vatican Treasurer Cardinal George Pell is surrounded by Australian police and members of the media as he arrives at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia, July 26, 2017. — Reuters
The 76-year-old, a top advisor to Pope Francis, returned from Rome earlier this month to face multiple charges in Melbourne relating to offences allegedly committed decades ago, when he was a senior cleric in Australia.
Details of the charges have not been made public although police said they involved "multiple complainants". The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has always maintained his innocence.
Pell, looking sombre and frail, made no comment as he was escorted by a group of police through a crush of cameras, reporters and photographers outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court, which hears hundreds of cases a week for alleged crimes ranging from theft to murder.
Several photographers were knocked over in the melee.
He was not required to attend the hearing, which allows lawyers to discuss when the prosecution brief can be handed over and set out the next dates in what is expected to be a lengthy court process.
But Australia's most powerful Catholic opted to appear, having previously vowed to defend himself and clear his name after a two-year investigation led to him being charged on June 29.
"I am innocent of these charges, they are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me," he said in Rome last month.
Despite being unofficially considered the number three in the Vatican hierarchy, no special arrangements were in place at the court. He entered the building through the front door and was screened by security.
The pre-eminent cleric has been granted a leave of absence by the Pope, who has made clear the cardinal would not be forced to resign his post as head of the Vatican's powerful economic ministry.
The charges against him coincide with the final stages of Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, ordered in 2012 after a decade of pressure to investigate widespread allegations of institutional paedophilia.
The commission has spoken to thousands of survivors and heard claims of child abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools.
Pell appeared before the commission three times, once in person and twice via video-link from Rome. In one hearing, he admitted that he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in Victoria state in the 1970s. — AFP
Mark Philippoussis' father Nikolaos arrested in relation to child sex offences in the US
Marissa Calligeros
The father of retired Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis has been arrested in the US on child sex charges
Nikolaos Philippoussis, 68, known as "Nick", was arrested in San Diego, on Tuesday local time.
In a statement, Lieutenant Greg Rylaarsdam from the San Diego Sheriff's Department said Mr Philippoussis was arrested at his residence in the suburb of Mira Mesa by detectives from the Child Abuse Unit.
He faces multiple counts of "lewd and lascivious acts with two minor victims".
"Philippoussis works as a personal tennis coach in Northern San Diego County and the alleged molestation victims took tennis lessons from him," Lieutenant Rylaarsdam said.
"The investigation is ongoing at this time."
San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore said detectives were "looking for more victims in a molestation case in the North County".
Philippoussis was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a person under age 14 and having sex with a child age 10 or younger, CBS8 reported.
He was being held on $US2.5 million bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Wednesday.
Detectives from @SDSheriff Child Abuse Unit looking
for more victims in a molestation case in the North County.
Call (858) 974-2310. pic.twitter.com/5ZpJRGqOVb
— San Diego Sheriff (@SDSheriff) July 25, 2017
Nick Philippoussis coached Mark during his professional tennis career, during which Mark reached a career-high singles ranking of world No.8.
He won two Davis Cup titles with Australia, in 1999 and 2003. He also reached the finals of the 1998 US Open and the 2003 Wimbledon tournament, but lost both matches.
In a Father's Day tribute on Instagram last September, Mark told his father: "Thank you for your support, guidance and always being there for me no matter what no questions asked. Love you."
"Love you to [sic] Son, Thanks," his father replied.
Mark Philippoussis
Although Nick had served as Mark's coach and mentor for much of his career, Mark opted to go it alone in 2006.
Reports at the time suggested that Mark was no longer prepared for Nick's "interfering ways".
However, Mark said that suggestions the pair was estranged were invasive and wrong.
"Let me tell you, that stuff's ridiculous," Philippoussis said after losing to world No.2 Rafael Nadal in the first round at Flushing Meadows in 2006.
Less than two months after going their separate ways, Philippoussis broke a three-year title drought with success in Newport, Rhode Island.
International School Official in Court Over Child Sex Abuse in Cambodia
BY PHAN SOUMY
The deputy principal of a Phnom Penh international school was due in court for questioning today after he was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a 5-year-old student, according to a ministry official on Tuesday.
Mark Andrew Smith, 39, a U.K. national and father of two, would be sent to court today as police had found evidence of abuse, said Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state with the Interior Ministry and vice chair of the national committee to combat human trafficking.
Mr. Smith was arrested on Friday as he left Golden Bridge International School.
His girlfriend, Sem Malis, on Tuesday said she had spoken to him at the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department, where he is being held, but denied there was any evidence against him.
“It is very unclear…because there was not enough evidence,” to detain him, she said.
The arrest happened two days after a Cambodian woman, known as Viriya MC, live streamed a video on Facebook describing the girl’s alleged abuse.
Babysitter jailed for sexually abusing child in N.Z.
A Blenheim man who abused a boy he was meant to be babysitting has been sent to jail for sexual abuse spanning eight years.
Franklyn Allan Best, 54, admitted representative charges of unlawful sexual connection with a minor, indecent assault of a minor and indecent assault of a boy aged under 12.
Best looked after the boy in the afternoons while his mother, a solo parent, was at work between 1999 and 2002.
He was sentenced to four years and four months in jail at the Blenheim District Court on Tuesday.
His lawyer Rob Harrison said Best was at a loss to explain why the offending happened.
Would you like me to help with that?
"Until he has appropriate assistance, I don't think he can give a coherent answer to that."
Best knew he would be going to prison, Harrison said.
Judge David Ruth said Best's offending was a gross breach of trust as the boy's mother trusted him as babysitter.
Men babysitters!!!!! Why?
Best wrote a letter to the victim, now a man, telling him not to feel responsible for what happened.
The man (the victim) had struggled to keep jobs as an adult, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and anger issues which had affected his relationships, the victim impact statement said.
He had turned to cannabis to help him sleep as memories of the abuse played through his mind late at night. He had anxiety in social and work situations and had behavioural issues as a teenager, which caused his family a lot of grief, he said.
"He feels his life would have been somewhat more normal were it not for the offending," Judge Ruth said. "He gets the feeling sometimes that life is not worth living."
The man's mother also felt like a victim, as Best violated the trust she put in him, she wrote in a letter to the judge. "[The woman] confided in you about this boy's behaviour and sought your advice about how to deal with it.
"She blames herself for her inability to assist her child. She has suffered depression, weight loss and anxiety and lives daily with the stress."
Best would be added to the child sex offender register. Under legislation introduced last year, child sex offenders would be tracked upon their release from prison, in some cases for the rest of their lives, depending on their offence and the sentence imposed.
Judge Ruth gave credit for good character and guilty pleas, reducing the end sentence from six years to four years and four months' imprisonment.
Rahul Bose, Vidya Balan launch initiative against child sexual abuse
IANS
Bollywood actor Rahul Bose along with actress Vidya Balan came together to support the eradication of child sexual abuse (CSA) as Rahul launched "HEAL: NGO against child sexual abuse".
Talking about the initiative on Tuesday evening, Rahul said: "This is one of the causes that we do not want to talk much about but it is a very sensitive issue that needs to be addressed. And you would be surprised to know that our country is one of the largely affected countries. But what is more surprising is this is one of the issues that exist in European countries as well, so it has nothing to do with socio-economic background; it happens everywhere in the world."
That is true, but India is almost certainly the worst country in the world for child sex abuse.
The initiative will be followed by an online campaign which will be supported by many celebrities of Bollywood including Karan Johar, Kalki Koechlin, Shabana Azmi, among others.
"Apart from conducting workshops in various schools and train people to council and help victims of abuse, we have made four ad films for our digital campaign which will be going on social media supported by many collogues from our fraternity. People like Karan Johar, Shabana Azmi, Atul Kasbekar, Vidya Balan, Kalki Koechlin, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sashi Tharoor, Anil Kumble among others will be part of the social media campaign," the actor added.
"Being a student of sociology I am aware of child sexual abuse. I always wanted to avoid knowing about the reality as it's heartbreaking. But when Rahul told me about HEAL, I said I would be more than happy to do any kind of contribution to raise funds or anything to create awareness for the cause," Vidya said.
The HEAL Foundation has so far, trained many individuals in schools and supported around 60 survivors of CSA. In near future, the NGO wants to expand their work and reach out to more schools, children and victims to help, train and create awareness.
Well done. God bless you all!
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