Failed asylum seeker on trial for rape calls victim ‘prostitute’ in German court
The New Normal - German style
A failed asylum seeker accused of raping a girl in front of her own boyfriend at a German nature reserve has lashed out in court, calling the alleged victim a "prostitute."
The defendant, identified as 31-year-old 'Eric X' from Ghana, is charged with aggravated rape and predatory blackmail.
The accusation stands that, armed with a tree saw, he broke the couple's tent while they were camping in a nature reserve near Stuttgart in April.
After the couple handed over their cash, which amounted to just €6 (US$7), and a music speaker, Eric X allegedly looked at the 23-year-old woman and shouted "Come, you b**ch. I want to **** you."
He then dragged her out of the tent while threatening her with the saw, preventing her boyfriend from stepping in, Bild reported.
Eric X then ran away, but was spotted a few days later while walking around the River Rhine in the city of Bonn, while holding the stolen music speaker from the couple's tent.
While facing the charges in court on Monday, Eric X was told by the prosecutor that he could speak. He then broke his own lawyer's order of silence, shouting "Why should I remain silent about a case I don't know anything about?"
The outbursts continued after the court heard that CCTV footage showed Eric X leaving an asylum shelter at 7:58pm on the day of the crime, not returning until 3:06am the next morning.
"This is not the truth. This is a trick of the court. A trick question," he said, maintaining that he was inside the shelter the entire time.
"I'm not interested in this kind of joke. I have no time to hear these fairy tales. They play games, so I look like a rapist," he added, according to Die Welt.
He then lashed out once again, after he was told that the DNA found on the victim matched his own.
"If the court says that this is my DNA, then I must call the girl a prostitute. Anyone who supports this girl who claims she was raped is the dirtiest man on Earth," he said.
Eric X arrived in Europe after crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, and came to Germany after first staying in Rome and Salzburg, Austria. He claims he killed his brother-in-law in Ghana over a dispute about inheritance, according to Bild.
His asylum request had been rejected by Germany just days before the crime occurred, according to Focus.
A psychiatric analysis found no mental illness, meaning Eric X can be held fully accountable for the rape if found guilty.
The trial is ongoing, and is scheduled to wrap up on October 19.
Canadian police seek recalled Vatican envoy
on child porn charges
Statues of Catholic Saints and the St. Peter's basilica dome are seen at the Vatican on September 3, 2017.
(Vincenzo Pinto / AFP/Getty Images)
Nicole Winfield and Rachel Zoll
Associated Press
Canadian police have issued an arrest warrant for the Vatican diplomat who was recalled from the United States in a child pornography investigation, accusing him of accessing porn over Christmas last year from a church.
Police in Windsor, Ontario, said Carlo Capella, a 50-year-old monsignor from Italy, allegedly uploaded the child porn to a social networking site while visiting a place of worship in Windsor between Dec. 24 and Dec. 27.
The Vatican recalled Capella, the No. 4 official in its Washington embassy, after the U.S. State Department notified it Aug. 21 of a "possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images" by one of its diplomats in Washington.
It never identified Capella by name and provided no details of the accusations, sparking criticism from U.S. church officials who have been under fire for decades of cover-ups of priestly sex abusers.
Windsor police provided the most information about the case in a statement Thursday announcing the arrest warrant, and the archdiocese of London, Ontario, confirmed it had assisted authorities in the investigation of "Msgr. Capella."
In the statement, Windsor police accused Capella of accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography. It said authorities were alerted in February that someone in Windsor had allegedly uploaded child porn using a social networking site.
They obtained records of the internet service provider and determined the dates in question. It said it had issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Capella, though it noted that he had returned to Italy.
Capella is currently in Vatican City, though the Vatican hasn't said under what terms.
Canadian police declined to say if they had passed the case to Interpol or if Canada would initiate extradition proceedings. The Vatican doesn't extradite its citizens, however.
It likes to keep all its pervert priests close to home!
In explaining its decision to recall the diplomat, as is common in such cases, the Vatican said its own criminal prosecutors were now investigating the case and seeking information from the U.S.
At the time of the Sept. 15 announcement about Capella's recall, neither the Vatican nor the State Department made any mention of a Canadian angle to the case.
Capella was a high-ranking priest in the Vatican's diplomatic corps. He served on the Italy desk in the Vatican's secretariat of state and was part of the official delegation that negotiated a tax treaty with Italy before being posted to the U.S. embassy last year.
A canon lawyer, Capella is listed online as having written a 2003 paper for the Pontifical Lateran University on priestly celibacy and the church's criminal code.
Several U.S. church officials have complained that the Vatican was being less than transparent about the case.
The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, urged the Holy See to be "forthcoming with more details" about the case, a reflection of how the U.S. church still struggles with credibility problems 15 years after the sex abuse scandal erupted in the U.S.
The diplomat's recall was expected to loom over an international conference next week at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on protecting children from online sexual exploitation, pornography and abuse.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and Capella's boss, is to deliver the keynote speech Tuesday on "The Holy See and its commitment to combating sex abuse online."
Panelists at the conference, which was organized months ago, are to include top law enforcement and academic experts in the field of child protection and cybercrimes.
Sex abuse victim's 50 year wait for justice
after horrific abuse
A 70-year-old man has been jailed for seven years for sexually abusing a young girl more than 50 years ago
The case was heard at Leicester Crown Court
Michael Victor Burton was convicted by a jury of a series of assaults upon a schoolgirl from the age of eight, when he was a teenage college student.
Burton, of Linley Avenue, Shepshed, who went on to live a law-abiding life throughout adulthood, was told the offences against the “vulnerable” youngster were “unforgiveable.”
Sentencing at Leicester Crown Court, Deputy Judge Michael Stokes QC said: “These offences go back a considerable number of years, right back into the 1960s when you were yourself a teenager, although over 18, when two (serious sex) offences were committed.
“Sentencing in such a case is always extremely difficult. On one hand we have the victim. When she was a child, under 10, you subjected her to a degree of persistent indecency."
“She hardly understood what was happening to her, although as time went on she obviously realised what had happened to her at your hands. The damage that is done to individuals who are subjected to this sort of sexual abuse is incalculable. It’s been with her, nagging away in her mind, for 50 years."
“Anyone subjected to traumatic events when they are very young, inevitably, will never forget. Such consideration never passed through your mind at the time.
“On the other hand, you’re now 70-years-old. After you matured, you went on to live and, I entirely accept, a perfectly upright life. You married and produced children and the references I’ve read talk of a completely different individual."
“Some might ask ‘what’s the point of locking someone up for what they did 50 years ago,’ but a balance has to be achieved. Were these offences committed in the present day the sentence would be in double figures."
“I have to take account, not only of the time that’s passed but the level of your maturity at the time and your positive good character since these offences concluded. I have to consider the youth and vulnerability of the victim, who was a little girl of eight or nine when these offences began although the indecency probably started before that.
“There was a gradual build-up of touching, kissing, playing games … for a child of that age to experience such horrific treatment is unforgiveable.”
Burton, who denied the offences, was told he would serve about half of the sentence with the remainder on licence and will have to enlist on a sex offender register for life.
Robert Underwood, prosecuting, said a victim personal statement described the complainant as having waited 50 years for justice. He quoted her statement: “It’s held me back from enjoying my life as I should have been able to with confidence and self-worth.”
Mr Underwood added: “Throughout her adult life, this has been a cloud hanging over her.”
Child sex doll creep dodges jail after importing
lifelike mannequin from Hong Kong
Paedo Simon Glerum was arrested after Border Force officers intercepted the 3ft 3ins doll and was later found to be in possession of vile child abuse images.
BY SAM RUSSELL
Sex doll creep Simon Glerum has dodged jail (Image: Essex Live)
A paedophile who imported a sick "childlike sex doll" has been sentenced to a suspended jail term of a year.
Simon Glerum, 33, was arrested after Border Force officers at Stansted Airport intercepted a parcel from Hong Kong. It contained the 3ft 3ins tall doll, which was anatomically correct, and came with items including a body stocking. The package was labelled as a mannequin.
Glerum was arrested at his home in Great Bardfield, Essex, and police seized a laptop which was found to contain child abuse images downloaded from the internet and a fictional story describing the sexual abuse of a child.
He admitted, at Chelmsford Crown Court, importing the doll, three counts of making indecent images of a child and one count of possession of a prohibited image.
He was sentenced on Friday to 12 months in prison suspended for 24 months, with the sentence concurrent for all five counts.
He was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, and must complete a sex offender treatment programme and 20 days in rehabilitation.
The doll will be destroyed.
The doll came with accessories including a pink comb and a bodystocking (Image: SWNS)
Judge Patricia Lynch, who was passing sentence in this case, said: “These offences are always serious, particularly when it relates to indecent photos of children.
“In your case, this involves the importation of a child sex doll – any case involving exploitation of children is treated as serious.
“You are viewing real children, real children who are often deprived and real children who need protection.
“Pornography involving children at the moment is horrifying, not merely because of the activity itself but often the look on the child’s face. No child should be subjected to this – you are perpetrating this vile, evil and wicked trait. Research shows that children who suffer this can suffer for the rest of their lives."
“However, as far as sentencing is concerned, it is in the interest of the public and children that you can learn the error of your ways. You have sought help and have already taken steps to avoid reoffending. You must understand by now how serious this sort of offending is and you must take a chance to address this offending and make it right. Make the most of this opportunity.”
Detective Inspector Neal Miller said: "The importation of childlike sex dolls can be an indication of offences being committed against children, as in this case, where images of child abuse were found on Glerum's computer. We will always investigate and deal with such cases robustly and have made a number of arrests. One is currently going through the courts.
"We work closely with Border Force, National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecution Service in our commitment to prevent the importation of these obscene items and to protect children from harm."
Dunstable man pleads guilty to historic
child sex abuse
A man from Dunstable has pleaded guilty of 17 counts of child sexual abuse, in relation to crimes dating back to the 1970s.
Michael Grimes, 70, from Croft Green, pleaded guilty to the offences at Luton Crown Court on Wednesday (27 September).
Grimes’ crimes continued over a series of decades, from the 1970s to the present day.
He sexually abused four girls on multiple occasions over a number of years, and was also found to have more than 4,000 indecent images of children on his computer, including almost 1,000 of the more severe category.
Grimes was arrested after police received intelligence suggesting the downloading of indecent images to his home computer. A warrant was executed in August 2016 and thousands of images were subsequently discovered on his media devices along with a miniature covert recording device.
Shortly afterwards, a victim contacted police to say that she had been sexually abused by Grimes in the 1970s. This then led to further victims coming forward.
Investigation Officer Paul Baddeley said: “It is impossible to comprehend the level of sexual abuse that Grimes has inflicted on his victims over the past five decades. This is one of the most shocking cases that I’ve encountered."
"Not only did Grimes sickeningly abuse four girls on multiple occasions over a period of years, he also progressed his level of offending into the digital age and took advantage of the Internet to feed his vile and abhorrent fantasies by downloading images of the very worst type of child sexual abuse."
“I’d like to praise the victims for their courage in coming forward and the bravery they showed in the harrowing testimonies they provided. I’d also like to thank the numerous officers that have worked on this difficult case."
“I hope that this will give the victims the chance to move on as best they can, and that it shows others who have experienced abuse that they can come forward to police and that we can make a difference.
Don’t be afraid to come forward.” Grimes has been remanded in custody pending sentencing at a later date.
Ninth man charged over Rotherham
child sex abuse operation
A man has been charged with rape and sexual assault in connection with an investigation into child sexual exploitation and abuse in Rotherham.
Darren Hyett, 44, from Broom Chase, Rotherham has been charged with nine counts in total, the National Crime Agency said.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between between 2004 and 2007.
He has been released on bail pending a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates Court on 2 November.
At least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in the town between the years 1997-2013 the Jay Report found in 2014.
Mr Hyett, has been charged with three counts of raping a female aged under 16, two counts of raping a female aged over 16, two counts of sexual assault against a female aged under 16 and the trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation.
He also faces one charge of perverting the course of justice.
So far 26 men have been arrested and Mr Hyett is the ninth to be charged under Operation Stovewood.
The National Crime Agency targets serious and organised criminals who present the highest risk to the UK, according to its website.
Felixstowe man jailed for 'disturbing catalogue
of sexual abuse' on young girls
A man from Felixstowe who carried out a 'disturbing catalogue of sexual abuse' on young girls has been jailed for 15 years.
27-year-old Karl Garnham was found guilty of nine offences in total - with four of those relating to sexual assaults of girls under 13 years old, three of rape and two of sexual activity with a child.
Garnham pleaded not guilty, which meant his young victims had to give evidence in court.
The offences dated back from 2003 to 2016 and happened in the Felixstowe area.
Garnham was just 13 himself when the first incident took place.
Police were first made aware of his abuse in January 2016 when they were told that a young girl had been sexually assaulted by Garnham. Three other victims then came forward during the subsequent investigation.
"Whilst these offences began when Garnham was himself underage, he continued a disturbing catalogue of sexual abuse into adulthood which has had a significant effect on his victims," Detective Constable Hayley Kennedy said.
"The victims, some of whom remain children, have been remarkably brave throughout this police investigation. I cannot take away what has happened to them but I hope that today’s result offers them some comfort in the knowledge that this man is now behind bars for his crimes against them.
"I hope, too, that it encourages other victims of sexual abuse to come forward and reassure them that we will always investigate any allegations of sexual abuse thoroughly and as a consequence bring offenders to justice.”
Not enough, I'm afraid. The man is a predator and most likely always will be a predator. He will probably get out in about 10 years while some of his victims are still young women. Their nightmares will just be ending when they are liable to bump into him again. And then there are all those young, unsuspecting girls...
Netherlands child care worker accused of
child sex abuse to stay in custody
By Janene Pieters
A pedagogical assistant suspected of sexually abusing two girls (3rd story on link) in his care at a Patrou child care institution in De Bilt, will remain in custody for another 60 days, the court ruled on Friday, NU.nl reports.
Bart C., 27, was arrested in August after two girls from the same family told their parents he made them perform sexual acts with him. He confessed to doing so after his arrest.
In the days following his arrest, the authorities received a number of reports from parents of children attending the same Patrou facility. The Public Prosecutor did reveal exactly how many reports, but did say it was less than five. A spokesperson for the Prosecutor told NU.nl that these reports are still part of the investigation, but no official charges were filed against C. yet.
A pro-forma hearing is scheduled for November 7th. The exact charges against C. are expected to be revealed then.
A week after his arrest, C. tried to commit suicide in his cell. After a short stay in the hospital, he was returned to custody.
WA teacher charged with child sex offences
A Perth school teacher has been charged with a range of child sex offences
Australian Associated Press
A Perth teacher has been charged with child sex offences allegedly involving a student at the school where she worked.
The 34-year-old abused a female student at a secondary school in Perth between 2015 and 2017, police alleged on Friday.
The girl was aged between 15 and 17 at the time.
Child Abuse Squad detectives have charged the woman with 12 offences including the sexual penetration of a child under 16 and indecently dealing with a child over 16 while under her authority.
White supremacist Michael Holt sentenced to 4.5 years for weapons, child porn offences
Harriet Alexander
A neo-Nazi who fantasised about shooting up a shopping centre has been sentenced to at least four and a half years in jail for weapons and child pornography offences, with a judge pointing to his obsession with "sex, guns and death".
Michael James Holt, 27, pleaded guilty to stockpiling an arsenal of replica pistols, homemade shotguns, slingshots and knuckledusters at his mother's house in Windsor, his grandfather's house in Hobartville and at the Tall Timbers Hotel in Ourimbah.
Michael James Holt with some of the weapons seized
Police also uncovered child abuse material when they raided the three premises in August 2015 following a tip-off, including sexually explicit conversations with a 14-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl and naked images that he sent to them.
Judge Jeffrey McLennan spent more than 10 minutes describing the individual weapons and materials found in boxes, fridges, cupboards and garages seized from the three locations. A sheriff began to yawn.
Holt, who wore glasses and had shaved the sides of his skull, bowed his head throughout the proceedings. He has been categorised on the autism spectrum but is of average intelligence and not mentally ill.
He had downplayed his interest in guns to the forensic psychiatrists who prepared sentencing reports, telling one: "I don't see it that different to being interested in cars."
He also complained that the gun laws in Australia were too restrictive.
But in text messages downloaded from his mobile phone, Holt frequently expressed suicidal and homicidal thoughts and discussed guns and white supremacy.
A home-made ''slam gun'' was among several firearms seized from three properties in 2015. Photo: NSW Police
"Had some homophobic dickhead threaten to punch my head last night at the hotel because he's scared of guns, he called me a 'Martin Bryant mother....'," he said in one message.
In another: "I always fantasise about mass homicide when I'm in crowds and crowded places." And: "I've had enough of this shit – I'm about to lose it. All these c---- need to get butchered."
The judge said it was difficult to know what was meant by the messages and it was a matter of conjecture whether he would have actually gone through with his fantasies.
The majority of weapons seized were replicas, although they also included five fully functioning weapons that could be fired at close range.
But Judge McLennan said the messages sent to the teenagers were very explicit and he was squarely in the category of sex offender.
"His obsession with sex, guns and death points to a deeply disturbed and disturbing psychology," Judge McLellan said.
He sentenced Holt to a maximum seven years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of four and a half years. He will be eligible for parole on March 9, 2020.
"And whether you are released, Mr Holt, will depend entirely upon how the parole board assesses your suitability, having regard to the primary interest of community safety," Judge McLennan said.
Anglican church failed to pay child sex abuse
survivor agreed $1.5m settlement
The royal commission’s public hearing into Brisbane Grammar and St Paul’s school on 3 November 2015. Photograph: Getty Images
Christopher Knaus
The Anglican church failed to pay a child sexual abuse survivor an agreed $1.5m settlement, prompting allegations it has treated him with disdain.
The church, however, says the failure to meet the payment deadline was inadvertent, and urgently moved to transfer the money after being alerted to the error on Friday.
The survivor, who asked for anonymity, sued the Anglican church’s Brisbane diocese in late 2015 for horrific abuse he suffered at St Paul’s school in the 1980s, at the hands of convicted paedophile Gregory Robert Knight.
Mediation occurred in July, and the case settled, with the Brisbane diocese to pay 28 days after it was given the necessary charges from law firm Shine Lawyers. Shine told the church on multiple occasions that the date it was required to pay was 13 September.
The church, however, told Shine the payment date was two weeks later, on 28 September.
But the church still failed to meet the later date, despite warnings from Shine of fresh legal action if the money did not arrive.
The survivor has suffered hugely since the abuse, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol in an attempt to deal with severe psychological trauma.
“[The case] been a traumatic part of my life, the whole thing ... I was really excited on the day it all finished. It was finished, regardless of what the outcome was, I just wanted it to be behind me,” the survivor told Guardian Australia.
“And now I just feel like it’s just always there, every day I wake up. It doesn’t even feel real,” he said. “It’s extremely hard. It’s just this continual thing, like this cloud, hanging there, waiting.”
Shine special counsel, Roger Singh, launched a new action in the Queensland supreme court on Friday, in an attempt to force the church to make the payment.
But a spokesman for the Anglican diocese said the error had been remedied as soon as the church was alerted. He accused Shine of using it to generate publicity.
“The church urgently authorised payment within hours of learning of the transfer error,” he said. “It is disappointing that Shine Lawyers is seeking to use an anomaly to generate publicity for financial gain.”
Singh said the handling of the payment by the Anglican church “smacks of arrogance” and treated the survivor “with disdain”. “I’ve been involved in scores of claims involving the Anglican church, and a leopard never changes its spots,” he said.
“It begs the question, have they learned anything from the royal commission and its outcomes? Their conduct has done nothing other than to cause [the survivor] further distress and anguish.”
Knight’s case, explored at length in the royal commission, demonstrated fundamental failings in the handling of abuse allegations.
Astonishing lack of concern for children
Prior to arriving at St Paul’s in 1980, Knight was found to have abused children at a school in South Australia.
Despite the school’s knowledge of the abuse, Knight was allowed to leave with his teaching registration active and moved to Brisbane Grammar, where he was again accused of abusing children. He left Brisbane Grammar and applied for a job at St Paul’s.
The St Paul’s headmaster was warned about the man’s “attitude to boys”, but failed to exercise the appropriate caution, the royal commission found. Numerous allegations of abuse were made against Knight while he was at St Paul’s. The only action the school took was to accept Knight’s resignation in 1984. Its then headmaster provided him with a positive reference, which Knight used to gain employment at a Darwin school. There, he again abused a child, crimes for which he was later convicted.
The impact of abuse on the survivor has been profound. He describes the following years as a “classic case of post-traumatic stress”.
“I self-medicated through drugs, mainly drugs, and alcohol to a lesser degree. They were the one thing that I had some sort of relief, it gave me a place where I could breathe or something like that,” he said. “The last 30 years have been horrific, really, for my family, my extended family.”
The settlement will be used to build a better life, he said. It would be used to continue psychiatric help, and invest in a future for his children.
The church’s behaviour, he said, had made him question its public claims to have changed.
“I don’t think the church has changed at all,” he said. “If this is supposed to be a smooth process to the ending of it, I hate to think what the opposite of that would be, because it’s been horrible, it really has.
“Not even a phone call, or anything, just an explanation or something like that would be nice, you know?”
Little Warriors founder a 2017 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award Finalist
by Morinville News Staff
Little Warriors founder and board chair Glori Meldrum has been named a finalist for the 2017 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards for the Social Change Award.
Little Warriors is a national, charitable organization committed to the awareness, prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse. Little Warriors offers a child sexual abuse prevention workshop called Prevent It! to adults across Canada. Little Warriors also supports The Be Brave Ranch by Ray LaBonte and Family, a treatment centre focused on helping children who have been sexually abused heal, and increase their chances of growing into healthy adults.
The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards recognizes female business owners from across Canada who make impressive and substantial contributions to the local, Canadian or global economy.
Out of over 6,400 nominees, 18 finalists have been selected to represent six award categories.
The Social Change Award is dedicated to a female entrepreneur that is a leader of a registered charity, has been influential in improving the quality of life for clients in the community and a champion for philanthropy, volunteerism and social change. Glori Meldrum is one of three regional finalists being recognized in this category, representing the West Region.
“I am honoured to be selected as a regional finalist among so many talented women entrepreneurs from across Canada. When I founded Little Warriors in 2008, I had a dream to make a difference to the lives of children who have been sexually abused and work to prevent child sexual abuse,” Meldrum said in a release. “So many people have helped me achieve this dream along the way, and I am humbled by the tireless work of so many individuals that have stood by me on this journey.”
Winners will be announced at the 25th Annual Awards Gala, hosted by Diane Francis, editor-at-large for the Financial Post, on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.
Congratulations on being a finalist, Glori. A recognition well deserved for the great work that you do.
