Ringleader of child sex gang to be released from prison
17 years early
Ashitha Nagesh for Metro.co.uk
The notorious leader of a sex gang has been released from prison 17 years early.
Mubarek Ali, who was one of two ringleaders of the gang in Telford, is just five years into his 22-year prison sentence for his horrific crimes.
The sexual grooming gang had preyed on girls as young as 13 for at least two years, who had confided in youth workers about the abuse.
Ali, 34, was then captured as part of a police investigation called Operation Chalice in 2013, and was jailed for 22 years.
However, he is now reportedly set to be released on licence as early as November.
Telford MP Lucy Allen said that Ali’s release was ‘wrong’, and could lead to him rejoining the community where his victims continue to live.
Allen spoke of the issue in the Commons last week, demanding that victims of child sexual exploitation are treated better.
In an open letter to local paper the Shropshire Star, she added that his victims are ‘living in fear’ and should have been properly consulted before his release.
‘Victims and members of the public would have expected a 22-year sentence to mean that the community could have time to heal and victims would be able to get on with their lives,’ she said.
‘What we see in this case is that one of the main perpetrators is being released into the community only five years after the trial.'
‘This is clearly of enormous concern to victims in this case, especially those who gave evidence in court.’
Four young women, who were aged 13 to 16 when they were abused between 2007 and 2009, gave evidence to Worcester Crown Court during the trial in 2013.
Mubarek’s co-defendant, (and brother) 27-year-old Ahdel Ali, was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
So, I guess he will have to wait until next year to get out!
The news came as it was revealed a record 141 criminals had their sentences increased after public requests to review them last year. The number included 41 sex offenders.
Any member of the public – not just a victim – can request a serious criminal’s sentence to be reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
The Ministry of Justice refused to comment.
The Ministry of Justice needs to comment and explain this idiotic decision.
Child sexual abuse on the rise in Viet Nam
Lieutenant General Đỗ Kim Tuyến, deputy director of the General Police Department, speaks at a July 28 HCM City workshop on raising public awareness of sexual violence against children. Photo tienphong.vn
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — Child sexual abuse has been on the rise across the country, with most incidents remaining unreported, police have said.
Between 2014 and 2016, more than 4,100 cases of sexual violence against children were reported, with girls accounting for more than 80 per cent of 4,140 child victims, according to a report from the Police Department of Criminal Investigation of Social Order under the Ministry of Public Security.
In the first six months of the year, a total of 696 cases of sexual violence against children were reported, with 710 victims.
Most of the cases were reported by relatives of victims or local residents, said Nhữ Thị Minh Nguyệt, director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Police Political Bureau Department.
Only six per cent of the cases were discovered by public security officials, Nguyệt said at a workshop held on Friday in HCM City.
Most of the alleged sexual abusers were relatives or acquaintances of victims, she said, adding that they took advantage of close relationships with naive children whose victims’ parents were at work.
Many recently reported cases involved sexual violence against children, of which the majority of alleged abusers were foreigners.
Nguyệt attributed the number of rising child abuse cases to lack of parental care, lack of gender education and life skills at schools, and the explosion of the internet and social networks, as well as tourism development.
“Many incidents remain unreported as families of victims fear their children’s dignity and privacy will be affected for their entire lives if the incidents are made public,” she said.
"Children who experience sexual abuse are more likely to be depressed and experience other types of mental health problems and to engage in high-risk behaviours such as violence and social evils such as drug abuse," she added.
More than 1,000 cases of sexual violence against children are reported every year and the reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg, said a representative of Bình Tân District’s Women’s Union.
Last year, a total of 13 cases of sexual violence against children were reported in the district.
A majority of victims were children of migrant workers who lived in boarding houses and left their children at home alone when they went to work, she said.
In some cases, child victims had sex with lovers who are also young.
Most families remained silent and failed to report the cases to authorities in a timely manner, she said.
Local public security and women’s unions planned to strengthen public awareness and public dissemination of materials about prevention of sexual violence against children, which can play a vital role, said Lieutenant General Đỗ Kim Tuyến, deputy director of the General Police Department.
Local public security and women’s unions should work with schools to offer life skills education for children, especially in disadvantaged localities with poor academic standards. —VNS
UK Teacher Charged in Child Sex Abuse
Case in Cambodia
BY SEK ODOM
A week after his arrest, the deputy principal of a Phnom Penh international school accused of sexually abusing a 5-year-old student was charged on Friday and sent to Prey Sar prison to await trial, a court spokesman said.
Mark Andrew Smith, 39, a U.K. national, was charged with indecent assault with aggravating circumstances after an hour’s questioning before Phnom Penh Municipal Court Investigating Judge Y Thavrak, spokeman Sous Vichearandy said.
Mr. Smith was arrested on July 21 as he left Golden Bridge International School of Phnom Penh.
Sem Malis, Mr. Smith’s 30-year-old girlfriend, on Thursday repeated earlier claims that the father of two was innocent and said police had told her they had found nothing to support his guilt on the school’s surveillance cameras.
The charge carries a sentence of up to five years and a fine of 10 million riel, or about $2,500.
Child sex abuse fugitive to be sent back to US
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea / Khmer Times Share:
Immigration police in collaboration with America’s FBI have arrested a US man who fled to Cambodia after being accused of child sex offences.
Lieutenant General Uk Haisela, investigation chief at the immigration department at the Interior Ministry, identified the man as Robert James Boehnlein.
Mr Boehnlein was detained in Battambang province and transferred to the immigration police department in Phnom Penh for further investigation.
“He was arrested on the basis of a warrant issued by the prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court,” Lt Gen Haisela said. “He is accused of child sexual abuse of girls in the US and he fled to hide in Cambodia.”
“He was arrested after cooperation by the FBI, Cambodian police and the court,” he added.
An immigration police officer said Mr Boehnlein would be transferred to the custody of the FBI to bring him to the US for trial after the court finished questioning him today.
Jamaicans Have a Responsibility to Report Child Abuse – Senator Reid
90% of child abuse not reported by adults who know about it
By Latonya Linton
Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, is reminding Jamaicans that they have a responsibility under the Child Care and Protection Act to report known and suspected cases of child abuse.
He said a 2013 survey by the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR), which tested people’s knowledge, attitude, practices and behaviour towards child maltreatment in Jamaica, revealed that 90 per cent of known cases of child abuse remain unreported by the adults, who knew what was going on.
“It is alarming to think of the many children who continue to suffer in silence because they either don’t know to whom they should report these matters or are otherwise convinced not to make reports,” Senator Reid said.
“We all must see it as an imperative to do what is within our power to ensure that attention is given to children, who fall into these very difficult situations where they are exploited and abused,” he added.
He was speaking at the Protect the Children Symposium at The Mico University College in Kingston on July 27.
The event was organised by the United States-based Diaspora group, Female Development World Organization, as part of activities for Diaspora Day of Service.
The Education Minister further encouraged Jamaicans to make every effort to be informed about the issues and become familiar with the possible signs that a child has or is being abused.
He said children affected by abuse can become withdrawn or be extra sensitive to touch for example.
“We all have a collective responsibility to our children and we must come together to ensure their protection. Whether it is in our homes, our communities or at the national level, each of us must identify and carry out our roles,” Senator Reid said.
President of the Female Development World Organization, Lavern Deer, said the entity “cares about the protection of our children.” She said the symposium was held to draw attention to the issue of child abuse, which affects countries across the globe.
She said the United Nations Children’s Fund reports that girls, ages 11 to 17, face the brunt of sexual abuse in Jamaica. In the United States, one in five girls is abused before the age of 18.
“What this shows us is that we have a global problem …when it comes to child sex abuse,” she pointed out.
Ms. Deer said the organisation was pleased to have partnered with Eve for Life and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in the staging of the symposium.
The OCR, which began operations in January 2007, is responsible for receiving, recording and assessing reports of child abuse and referring them to agencies for investigation and action.
Data from the OCR reveal that over 60,000 cases of child sexual abuse were reported up to 2015.
Persons wishing to make a report to the OCR can call 1-888-PROTECT
(1-888-776-8328) or 908-2132, 822-7031, 878-2882, 618-5888, 631-8933 and 631-8908.
Persons can also complete a reporting form and submit it to the OCR’s head office at 12 Carlton Crescent, Kingston 10, or fax to 908-2579 or email it to: reports@ocr.gov.jm.
Ex-gangster Stephen French slams 'sick' trolls who say Jimmy Savile abuse claims are false
Former gangster Stephen French hit back at online trolls who say he fabricated claims Jimmy Savile sexually abused him as a child.
Last week we reported on how Operation Yewtree was investigating claims the convicted criminal was assaulted by the former Top of the Pops presenter while at a Woolton Vale centre for foster children.
The 57-year-old convicted criminal waived his legal right to anonymity to tell his story to the ECHO - but was hit with a barrage of abuse from online trolls who suggested he’d taken part in the interview to publicise his biography.
French, who was once nicknamed The Devil but now prefers the moniker The Fighting Preacher, took to Facebook and turned both barrels on his critics - with a 2,500 word message branding the criticism a “hate storm.”
It read: “This hate storm that has ensued is the gossip of the vicious hate filled rumours of jealous, envious people who accused me of being a fame hungry."
“The people who claim these things and simply want them to be true because the alternative is to much for their nasty minds to take they are in a [...] rage meltdown and they are attacking me on line. These are the facts of the matter."
“In order to engage with these people who say I am lying and seeking fame on their level I have had to revert to a style of language that is referred to as SYS which stands for ‘street yet sophisticated. I have to address them in a way they can comprehend. I have to use the vernacular of the vulgar.”
Following Savile’s death in 2011, hundreds of historical sexual abuse allegations came to light - with police believing he could be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.
Last week French - who says he is a “reformed character” - became the latest complainant to come forward with accusations he was assaulted by the former DJ.
Former martial arts champion French told the ECHO he had decided to waive his legal right to anonymity after being charged - and subsequently cleared - of rape in 2016.
Although he is “too embarrassed” to publicly disclose the details of the assault, the former martial arts champion confirmed he had handed over information to Merseyside Police - who then referred it to Operation Yewtree.
He said: “Christmas 1965, I was in a children’s home in Woolton at a Christmas party. Jimmy Savile turned up and he was giving out Christmas presents. He gave me a red fire engine toy, with a yellow ladder and a silver bell on it, which kind of distracted me from what I was doing."
“What he then proceeded to do, I’m not prepared to commit to print at this moment in time, but what I did in response to his sexual assault was I smashed him in the face with the fire engine. The yellow ladder gave him a cut over his left eye.”
Despite telling staff he’d been assaulted, the former gangster said he was punished for speaking out against Savile, who was a well respected figure at the time.
He added: “I told them what he did, I was told I was a ‘naughty little boy’ and I shouldn’t be telling lies like that and I was ushered off to new foster parents.”
Correspondence seen by the ECHO show that a Merseyside Police detective is currently investigating the claims - and has referred them to London’s Met Police force under Operation Yewtree.
The operation, led by Metropolitan Police Service, started in October 2012 after several historical sex abuse allegations came to light against Jimmy Savile and other media personalities.
In the e-mails, the detective claims an operation known as Winterkey which is making a timeline of Savile’s has found 12 occasions when Savile and French could have possibly come into contact.
A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: “A 57 year-old man has made an allegation of a historical sexual assault and an investigation is ongoing”
Ex-martial arts champion French, whose biography, The Devil, chronicles his past activities in Liverpool, has convictions going back to 1972.
He was jailed for three years in 2013 for possessing a knife and threatening a business associate with an imitation firearm. He was later handed an extra 10 months in jail for perverting the course of justice.
Before that incident French, nicknamed The Devil because he struck such fear into the drug dealers he “taxed” and tortured, had claimed a Road to Damascus-style conversion had put an end to his wrongdoing.
In October last year he was acquitted of rape when prosecutors dropped charges he had branded “malicious”.
Taytay priest faces dismissal over child trafficking
TAYTAY (Rizal) parish priest Monsignor Arnel Lagarejos will be removed as priest and stripped of all his Church duties if proven guilty of human trafficking allegations involving a 13-year old girl, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
“Abuse of minors is very grievous offense. If he is proven grievously immoral for abuse of minors, he will be removed as priest. He will be stripped of all his rights and duties as priest,” former CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz told The Manila Times.
“Molestation of minors is the most grievous offense that can be committed by a cleric. That is a serious matter that will be dealt with appropriately by Church authorities,” Cruz said.
He has been designated by Antipolo Bishop Francis de Leon to lead the Diocese of Antipolo’s panel of investigators that will determine the veracity of the accusations against Lagarejos.
Pending results of the investigation, the embattled priest has already been prohibited from functioning as a priest and also stripped of all his others positions in the diocese, including his being president of Cainta Catholic College.
According to Cruz, the results of their investigation will no longer be subject for review by the National Tribunal, which is the CBCP, but “it will go directly to Rome,” for its final decision.
“It will pass through a process. After our investigation, it will be forwarded to Rome. It will go to the Rome’s Commission on the Clergy and after a thorough review and scrutiny, the decision will be handed down,” Cruz said.
Lagarejos, 55, was caught in a police entrapment over the weekend with a 13-year-old girl he allegedly met through a pimp on social media.
The priest was caught when he arrived at the at the Blue Wave Mall in Marikina City on Friday evening, where the entrapment was conducted.
He has been subjected to inquest proceedings and facing possible criminal violations.
In an official statement, the diocese assured it “respects the necessary procedures as provided by law in order to further investigate this matter.”
Pope Francis, in a letter, earlier called on all Church leaders worldwide for the establishment of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors”for the purpose of offering proposals and inititiaves” to improve procedures for protecting minors and vulnerable adults, and to “rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and health for those who were abused.”
Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary, CBCP’s Permanent Committee on Public Affairs, said the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors reminds clerics that sexual misconduct is a serious matter that will be dealt with appropriately by Church authorities.
No comments:
Post a Comment