Six stories - some good, some bad, some ugly
UK, Malaysia, Kashmir, Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Guam
Police chief, Longfield, back Sammy's Law - May allow more victims to come forward
Sammy Woodhouse was forced to commit crimes by one of the Rotherham child grooming gang - and now has a criminal record
By Frazer Maude, Sky News Reporter
The chief constable of Bedfordshire Police has told Sky News he backs calls for a new law to pardon children who were forced to commit crimes by their abusers.
The campaign is being led by Sammy Woodhouse - who as a teenager was groomed by a sexual predator involved in the Rotherham child grooming gang.
Like many others in her situation she was forced to break the law by her abuser - and says that her criminal record is now making it hard for her to move on with her life.
Sammy told Sky News: "I'm asking for the Government to put something in place stating that children, while being groomed to commit crimes, can't be charged.
"I want them to recognise how many people across the country have been charged - me being one of them. I want to be able to speak to someone, have that cleared, because while it's on our records I feel like we are constantly being blamed for being abused."
Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has given the proposed law his full support, telling Sky News: "I think policing is about sensible, pragmatic ways of doing things. If this was a member of my family, or this was someone who I knew, I would hope common sense would prevail.
"Sammy's story is very powerful - she is the victim in this, she is not the offender, and if we get more victims coming forward so that officers can go after those offenders, and get the evidence against them to put them behind bars, then that works for me."
At least 1,400 children were sexually
exploited in Rotherham over 16 years
Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield has also backed the scheme, saying that if Sammy's Law could be made to work it could be of benefit to vulnerable young people who are being groomed and abused.
"The authorities and police will want to look and make sure it isn't used or abused by those who want use it to get away with offences in the past - or indeed for abusers to use this to exploit children further," Ms Longfield told Sky News.
"But with intelligent insight and a grown up look at this, and with grown up dialogue it has the makings of something very positive for children going forward."
Sammy has written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd asking her to consider introducing Sammy's Law, but is yet to receive a full response to her letter.
The proposed law could potentially affect hundreds of victims of child sexual exploitation, by removing a level of control from their abusers and making it easier for them to go to the authorities to report their abuse.
The Home Office issued this statement to Sky News: "Ms Woodhouse was a victim of vile abuse and she has shown tremendous strength and courage in speaking out. We will consider Ms Woodhouse's situation and respond to her directly in due course.
"Safeguarding vulnerable people is a top priority for this Government and that is why we are overhauling how police, social services and others work together to protect children and bring perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice.
"We are determined to ensure that victims do not suffer in silence and feel able to come forward to report abuse and get the support that they need."
Massive jump in child molest cases in Sabah,
Malaysia, since 2014
STATISTICS obtained by the Sabah Social Welfare Department showed an increase of 186 cases of sexual abuse cases against children in the state last year, from 14 cases in 2014.
Sabah Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Jainab Ahmad Ayid said the ministry viewed the matter seriously, especially with about 50% of the cases involved physical sexual abuse and another 30% involving incest.
She called on all quarters to report to the authorities of children being sexually abused, even if it involved their own family members.
“There is better awareness among the people in Sabah on the importance to report the matter to the authorities. Cooperation from voluntary and non-governmental organisations is needed to assist and protect victims of child sexual abuse ,” she said.
Jainab told reporters this after the launch of the Welfare Month and a forum on “Stop Sexual Crime Against Children” by the chairman of the Welfare Association of Wives of Sabah Elected Representatives (Bakisa), Faridah Tussin , who is Chief Minister Musa Aman’s wife.
In a related development, Jainab hoped the setting up of a special court to handle sexual crimes against children in Sabah could be expedited.
This followed a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said on Thursday that the special court on sexual crime against children would be set up in all states in stages, with the first phase in Sarawak, Selangor and Johor. – Bernama, September 30, 2017.
Kashmir peer has traumatised a generation of children
Hindustan Times
First person account of child sexual abuse victim who is now 30 years old and has deposed before a judge against Aijaz Sheikh, a so-called faith healer from north Kashmir
Here is his account, as told to HT’s Ashiq Hussain:
It was in 2002, when I was 14, my uncle took me to Aijaz Sheikh, a so-called faith healer or a ‘peer’ in north Kashmir’s Sopore, and left me there for the night.
My uncle had some personal issues and wanted the faith healer Aijaz Sheikh to solve them. The ‘peer’ had asked him to bring a young boy who would talk to his ‘djinns’ (genies) about the issues. The ‘peer’ would tell that his genies are pious and hence would talk only to children. On the very first night, the ‘peer’ raped me and the ordeal continued for a year until I broke my foot and stopped going there. Each time my uncle would leave me there for the night, Sheikh would rape me. It took me around 15 years to overcome the trauma and I was finally able to speak to someone about it, a friend of mine.
Once I spoke about it, it gave me a huge relief.
“The moment you tell the story to anyone, your life will be destroyed,” my tormentor would tell me. “Djinns will chase you if you tell this to anybody. Your life, family and friends will be destroyed.”
I was living in fear and trauma for a long, long time. And there are still people, who are his victims, living in fear. I have spoken to at least 12 victims. Some of them are still not ready to come forward.
Some of them are ready to speak out, but their families are not supporting them, because of the stigma. It’s more difficult for a male rape victim than a female to reveal their ordeal in our society.
‘FAITH-HEALER’ IN COURT
The case came to the light after a Class 10 student along with his father approached Bomai police station in March 2016 with allegations of sexual exploitation against Sheikh.
The police filed a case, which is now before the chief judicial magistrate, Sopore. First hearing took place on September 16 ,2017 when Sheikh appeared before the court without a lawyer.
Second and third hearings on September 20 and 27 could not happen as CJM, Sopore Masarat Roohi was on leave.
When I shared this story for the first time with a friend, I wrote it down on a paper. I didn’t have the courage to say it directly. In conclusion I wrote: I don’t know what is going to happen to me now.
Imagine the trauma I was going through. In 2015, I shared this with a friend and in 2016 I heard a young boy has filed a case against Sheikh. I met the boy. He is very brave. He said that he was abused by the Sheikh more than 50 times over a period of four years. I was really sad and shocked and said it is time to take the Sheikh to task.
When it happened to me, I was a child. I was vulnerable. I had no idea what was happening to me. I was thinking that I have sinned and this guy was punishing me for that. This is what was going through my mind.
His modus operandi was simple. No child goes to the ‘peer’on his own.
It’s the adults who would go to Sheikh with their issues, related to ailment, slump in business, child education among others. He offers them solution, saying his genies would address their problem. He also claims to have memorised the whole Quran.
He has an amazing voice. People get fooled and believe him. He then tells people that his genies are ‘pious’. He calls them ‘Neek Moukals’. And then tells people that they would talk only to children as they don’t commit sins.
He takes the child to his room after dinner and then tells him to look down as he would bring a ‘djinn’ into his own self. He tells the child not to look up when the ‘djinn’ comes into his body, otherwise he would burn into ashes. He conquers the child with fear.
He switches the language from Kashmiri to Urdu as if genies have entered his body. The child narrates the issues of his family. The peer would then ask very uncomfortable questions such as had he ever had relationship with a girl or a boy or if he had ever masturbated. And then he tells the child to sleep naked with him. Saying no to him would mean annoying a ‘djinn’ who could destroy the boy. After I lied with him he raped me. I still remember I was not able to walk properly for two weeks. Yet none of my family members, relatives or teachers noticed it. They had no clue what I was going through. This is the story of every child who is his victim.
This disgusted man even rapes a child in front of other children. He forced them to penetrate each other. Once he asked me to penetrate my cousin who was three years younger to me and was 11 at that time. When I could not do it, he raped him himself. In front of me he has raped many children. If there are seven to eight children present on a night, he would rape the chubbiest boy. He is so evil that he would replicate with kids whatever happens in the porn world.
There are worse details which I can’t share. You can imagine the trauma this man has inflicted on a generation of children. For the past two decades he has been doing it.
When it happened to me, it was 2002. I know a victim who was exploited in 1999.
Six people have already given a testimony in front of Sopore’s chief judicial magistrate against the peer and I am one of them.
Experts Call For Rethink Of Measures
Surrounding Children's Sexuality
Rudolph Brown
One in every three wards of the State, in two of the island's residential childcare facilities, tested positive for at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI) during a study done two years ago.
The Child Health and Wellness Study in Residential Childcare Facilities, which was commissioned by the Child Development Agency (CDA) in collaboration with the National Family Planning Board (NFPB) through funding from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), found that the average age for first sexual intercourse was 11 years and four months.
Just over 50 per cent of the girls surveyed in the study said they had agreed to sex on the first occasion, while 36 per cent claimed that they were forced. Twenty per cent also reported a history of pregnancy.
"Originally, we tested 60 young ladies (19 tested positive for an STI) but when we looked at the results it called for a little bit more intervention so we ended up testing 120 (additional 60) young ladies," Andrea Campbell, director of health promotion and prevention at the NFPB, told The Sunday Gleaner.
"The follow-up 60 showed more cases of multiple STIs; persons having more than one," added Campbell of the study that was intended to describe the health status of the children within the two childcare facilities and explore the factors which may contribute to their sexual and social vulnerabilities.
"Following up on the study, and having worked with the staff at the facilities, we decided that there was the need for a life skills programme looking at all of these issues. In order to carry out this programme and make it effective, we had to do some training with the staff as well as to sensitise the girls.
"And after this training we developed a manual that the staff in the facilities would use in working with these children. The manual was railroaded by the Jamaican Coalition for a Healthy Society, who thought we were sexualising the girls by giving them the information, which in my humble opinion would have actually been helping them to make informed choices," argued Campbell.
In commenting on the findings of the study, head of the CDA, Rosalee Gage-Grey, told our news team that the prevalence of STIs among the girls who were tested at the two facilities is not surprising as the majority would have come into care with sexual-abuse issues.
According to Gage-Grey, with the extent of sexual abuse in the country as high as it is believed to be, the prevalence of STIs among children in wider society could be a significant problem.
Children Need The Information
She argued that the issues with the law and policy in providing reproductive health information to children needs to be resolved.
"At some point we have to come to the realisation that the children need the information to make informed decisions," said Gage-Grey.
"We have to go with the law, but there has to be some level of agreement as to how we are going to treat with this serious problem that we are having with children who are being coerced and initiated from a very early age to understand the issues.
"Part of the challenge is that if a child says he/she has not been sexually abused you cannot examine them even if they had been deemed to be sexually active," noted Gage-Grey.
In an aim to tackle this challenge, the CDA is looking to work with the Ministry of Health to see if, in addition to the usual back-to-school medicals, from an ethical perspective, additional medical checks can be done for things such as STIs.
The Childcare and Protection Act (of 2004) makes every citizen legally responsible for reporting to the Office of the Children Registry (OCR) any knowledge or suspicion that a child "has been, is being or is likely to be abandoned, neglected or physically or sexually ill-treated".
Persons who fail to do so, upon conviction before a resident magistrate can be fined a maximum of $500,000 or to imprisonment to a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
But Campbell is concerned that this law which is intended to protect children could be doing some harm as it has made health-care workers, who are "prescribed" persons mandated to report to the OCR, fearful of offering assistance to minors.
"So if a young girl comes in and says she is sexually active and would like to access contraceptive, do I send her home for her parents?" questioned Campbell.
"She won't go. But she will come back in three months pregnant. But as the health-care worker, what do I do? I don't have $500,000 to pay," added the Campbell.
‘Rapists have no place in Zimbabwe society’
Freeman Razemba Crime Reporter
PEOPLE who abuse and molest children have no place in society and should be arrested and prosecuted, Police Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri has said.
He expressed concern over the prevalence of sexual abuse cases perpetrated on girls. Comm-Gen Chihuri said this in a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Commissioner-General (operations) Innocent Matibiri at the 2017 ZRP Primary Schools Merit awards in Harare last Friday.
“This is why as an organisation and a country we need to speak with one voice against those who take advantage and abuse children, he said. Those who abuse and molest children have no place in our society because children constitute the future of our nation. The prevalence of sexual abuse cases perpetrated on the girl child is an ugly stain on the nation’s fabric. The perpetrators of such are evil people who should be exposed, reported, arrested, prosecuted and removed from our society.”
Comm-Gen Chihuri called for collaboration to ensure that criminals are brought to book and face the full wrath of the law. He said the merit awards provided an ideal interactive social platform for the ZRP education department to come together with stakeholders to celebrate, introspect and build on the success of the past year, as they plan for the coming year.
Prizes were awarded to pupils who attained four units at Grade 7 in 2016, teachers of pupils that had four units, headmasters of schools that had pupils that got four units, schools with the highest number of pupils that got four units, schools that had quality results and the most improved school.
Comm-Gen Chihuri said the broadened category presented and provided the ideal motivational incentive for enhanced competitive spirit in diversity of talent, capability and ability.
“The importance of primary school level in laying the foundation for the learning and development of pupils cannot be over-emphasised,” he said. “As we are all aware, it is at primary level that the children have their first contact with formal institutionalised learning.”
Comm-Gen Chihuri said teachers had the collective objective to see the children prosper in life as they found their rightful places in God’s divine plan.
Lawsuits: Boys forced to swim naked for meals, badges
Mindy Aguon |The Guam Daily
ACCUSED: Father Louis Brouillard was born in 1921 and ordained in 1948. The Diocese of Duluth included Brouillard on its list of clergy members with credible allegations of child sexual abuse. Photo courtesy of Jeff Anderson & Associates
“Brouillard stated they needed to do these things in order to obtain their merit badges and in order to dine-out with him."
Two former Boy Scouts allege they were forced to swim naked and sexually molested in order to obtain merit badges and get free meals from a priest and scoutmaster in the 1970s.
Lawsuits were filed in the Superior Court last week by F.P. and M.M. who alleged they were subjected to sexual abuse by Louis Brouillard when he was a priest on Guam and a scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America.
The lawsuits, filed by Attorney Michael Berman of Berman O’Connor and Mann, allege that Brouillard used his influence and authority as a priest to lure the boys to go on outings with the Boy Scouts organization.
F.P. alleges he was subjected to Brouillard walking around exposing himself at the Barrigada parish and that Brouillard would force the boys to swim naked while he groped them in exchange for buying them free meals at McDonald's and other restaurants and for merit badges.
M.M. alleges Brouillard would take photos of the boys while they were swimming nude without their consent. “Brouillard stated they needed to do these things in order to obtain their merit badges and in order to dine out with him,” the complaint states.
He was 13 at the time and said the priest's actions made him feel "so uncomfortable" that he did not continue another term with the Boy Scouts.
The lawsuit also accuses Brouillard of encouraging him to read adult magazines in an effort to sexually arouse him and make him more susceptible to Brouillard’s abusive advances.
The complaints allege Bishop Apollinaris-Baumgartner, suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Monsignor Zoilo Camacho, now-deceased Father Antonio Cruz and others were aware of the sexual abuse committed by Brouillard and deliberately remained quiet and withheld such information.
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