Balcony-climbing serial rapist on trial for 10 sex attacks in France
© Karl-Heinz Spremberg / Global Look Press
A suspected serial rapist, who assaulted 10 women in their homes after climbing through open windows, is being tried in the city of Avignon in southern France. He faces up to 20 years behind bars.
Dubbed the ‘balcony violator’ by the local media, the 35 year old stands accused of raping six women and attempting to rape four others between 2013 and 2015, BFM television reported.
The modus operandi of the accused sounds like something straight out of a horror movie. According to prosecutors, he entered the homes of the victims by climbing up building facades at night and finding an unlocked window. After the assault he would force the woman to take a shower and clean the apartment with bleach to erase evidence.
Patrick Gontard, the lawyer of the father-of-two, said the defendant was remorseful for the suffering he caused. Marc Gieger, who represents three of the victims, said his clients were traumatized by the assaults, having been violated in the privacy of their homes, and cannot wait to see their tormentor sent to prison, where he wouldn’t be able to harm anyone.
The verdict in the case is due Friday.
UK man, 83, jailed for decades of child sex abuse
of kids as young as four
Dirty old man of the month!
Sazzad Miah, 83, has been jailed for 18 years for offences against four girls
An 83-year-old man who sexually abused and raped four girls over the course of more than two decades has been jailed.
Sazzad Miah, 83, of Jermyn Close, Cambridge, was convicted of 18 separate counts - six of them rape - after a trial at Cambridge Crown Court.
The charges included:
Five indecent assaults
Two counts of indecency with a child
Four counts of rape
Two counts of rape of a child under 13
Four counts of sexual assault of a child under 13
One count of sexual activity with a child.
Two of his victims were as young as four, another was aged five - and a fourth was aged 10, the court heard.
Miah was arrested last October after police were tipped off about the abuse, which dated back 23 years. The defendant, who had denied all the charges, was jailed for a total of 19 years and placed on the sex offenders register for life.
During a 16-day trial, the court heard how he abused one girl over a period of 12 years, between 1992 and 2004, and another over eight years - between 2004 and 2012.
Each one of the 18 counts carried a jail term of between 18 months and 19 years, which the court ordered should run concurrently. At a sentencing hearing in Peterborough, Miah was jailed for 18 years, extended for one year on licence.
He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and an indefinite restraining order.
Det Insp Andrea Warren, from the Child Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit, said: "I would like thank the victims for being so courageous and supporting the investigation. "I acknowledge how difficult that was for each of them.
"Child abuse is totally unacceptable and we will support victims of such crimes and work tirelessly to bring the offender to justice."
UK man jailed for online child sex offences
By Amanda ChalmersA BIDFORD man has been jailed after pleading guilty to child sexual offences committed online.
White was initially arrested in February this year after a warrant was conducted at his address. Following his arrest, his phone was seized and sent for examination, where evidence relating to the offences was found. He was charged and remanded on 15th February.
Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Matt Collins from Warwickshire Police said: “I hope that this result gives a clear warning to other offenders that we are absolutely committed to protecting children from sexual abuse, and bringing those responsible to justice.
“I’d like to thank the family of the victim for their support with our enquiries, so we were able to investigate White’s offences and ensure he was brought before the courts to face justice.”
UK man jailed for 18 months for child pornography
A building contractor from Cosheston downloaded a guide to child abuse as well as more than 31,000 indecent images.
Andrew Durrant, aged 63, had been reading up on how to meet children and groom them for sexual abuse.
Durrant, of Oakleigh, was jailed for 18 months today (Tuesday) after he admitted child sex offences.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court the "paedophile's handbook" had been found by police examining his computers for child pornography.
The guide featured a section headed "the hunting season" and urged readers to "start stalking."
Mr Pulling said it was so rare for the police to find the guide that the only comparable case was that of Jon Venables, one of the killers of Liverpool toddler James Bulger.
Judge Paul Thomas said "obscene" did not even begin to describe the guide.
Durrant, a father of four, admitted possessing the guide, which was an offence, and 31,000 indecent images and videos featuring children as young as two.
His children must be so proud of him! His grand-children, if he has any, would be horrified.
He also admitted possessing extreme pornographic images featuring adults having sex with animals.
Mr Pulling said the material was discovered after police raided his home.
His barrister, Dyfed Thomas, said Durrant had been viewing child pornography since he was in his 40s. He now appreciated he had a problem and had voluntarily referred himself to a doctor.
It took him 20 years to figure out had had a problem? 20 years and an arrest!
There was no suggestion, he added, that Durrant had gone further than look at photographs.
Judge Thomas told Durrant, "The only conclusion that can be drawn from the material found is that you have a long standing inclination to and interest in paedophilia.
"You have an intelligent but warped mind. These are real children experiencing real sexual brutality. They are treated that way, to be filmed in the act, for the sexual enjoyment of perverted individuals like you.
"Without people like you there would not be a market for this evil trade," he added.
Child Sex Predator to be moved to a co-ed prison facility
in Bermuda - Seriously!
Fiona McWhirterA women’s charity raised concerns yesterday after it was announced a dangerous sexual predator is to be housed at the Co-Educational facility.
Campaigners welcomed the prevention of Seaman’s return to the outside world but said they were worried about his detention in a jail that holds women prisoners and men aged 20 and younger.
They highlighted concerns over the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes for sex offenders.
Elaine Butterfield, executive director of the Women’s Resource Centre, said: “We are encouraged to see the steps taken by the Minister of National Security and the Minister of Health in the interests of public safety and that the ‘real risk’ in releasing this sex offender is being taken seriously.
“However, considering that the sex offender will be housed alongside women and younger inmates is also of concern. It would appear that this is the best possible solution in an inadequate situation.
“Treatments and programmes for sex offenders is a very specialised area and any programme or treatment regime for these offenders must be long term and focused on relapse prevention.”
She added the WRC wanted “serious consideration” of a proper sex offender’s programme, including specialised treatment while convicted criminals were still behind bars, collaboration with centres overseas before they are released and continued public notification of the release of potential risks to society.
Ms Butterfield said that, along with partner organisations, “we remain open to assisting the Government with a viable solution for the betterment of all”.
The decision to transfer Seaman to the Co-Ed at the end of his sentence was made under the Mental Health Act because island hospitals are not secure enough to hold him.
Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, revealed last week that he had acted to provide the “proper detention and specialised monitoring required” as well as necessary protection for the public, pending transfer of Seaman to an appropriate institution in Britain.
Mr Caines, who worked with Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, said they wanted to prevent the release of Seaman, who was not identified by the minister, to “protect the public from this dangerous individual”.
Seaman, now 33, was sentenced to eight years in jail in 2011 for a serious sexual assault committed the previous year as the young girl played outside and while he was an outpatient at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.
Then Chief Justice Richard Ground ruled the offender should be imprisoned at Westgate Correctional Facility rather than be subject to a Mental Health Act order.
Yesterday, anti-child abuse charity Saving Children and Revealing Secrets said more should be done to help rehabilitate sexual offenders who target children.
Debi Ray-Rivers, the charity’s founder and executive director, said: “Scars wholly supports Minister Caines’s efforts to deal with the very important issue of there not being any treatment programmes in the prisons specifically to treat child sex offenders.
“Without such programmes, the prisons have been a revolving door for many child sex offenders. In fact, the prisons may have even increased the likelihood of reoffending.
“It is understood that due to not having the appropriate treatment available, some child sex offenders have been given the Sex Offenders Treatment Programme, which we understand is a general treatment programme for sex offenders who offend against adults.”
Ms Ray-Rivers added: “In England, the prison-run SOTPs have now been banned as they were shown to actually increase the likelihood of reoffending.
“In any event, any prison-run programme regarding sex offences against adults would not be of assistance in treating child sex offenders. They obviously require a programme specifically focused on treating those with a sexual attraction to children.
“Scars would like to see Bermuda come up to speed with treatment so that our child sex offenders are offered the most up-to-date treatment that is available and effective.
“If child sex offenders are being released without the effective and most up-to-date treatment then that is not reducing the risk of children being sexually abused in our community.”
The Ministry of Justice for England and Wales keeps treatment programmes under “constant review to reduce reoffending and protect the public”.
A spokeswoman for the UK ministry explained: “The new programmes for sex offenders which we have introduced over the past two years, Horizon and Kaizen, draw on the latest international evidence on effective treatment for this cohort of offenders.”
The new programmes replaced the Core and Extended programmes, after a study on the Core SOTP found prisoners completing the programme were slightly more likely to reoffend than those in a control group.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said yesterday: “We can confirm that consideration is being given to the possibility of a transfer for a person from Bermuda to the UK. It would not be appropriate to go into further detail at this time.”
The Ministry of National Security did not respond to a request for comment.
Two polygamists and child abusers sentenced to
house arrest in B.C.
DAPHNE BRAMHAM Vancouver SunIt’s a travesty. Two men who are both polygamists and child sex abusers won’t spend a day in jail.
Convicted on one count of polygamy, fundamentalist Mormon leader Winston Blackmore was sentenced Tuesday to six month’s house arrest. Presumably, he’ll spend that time in the company of at least some of his 24 wives and 149 children.
In other words, his punishment is to carry on doing exactly what he’s been doing for the last 30 years. After house arrest, the 61-year-old will be on probation for a year.
Trial evidence showed that Blackmore married and impregnated nine women who were under 18; two were only 15.
His co-defendant, James Oler, was sentenced to three months under house arrest and a year’s probation. Oler was convicted for having five wives, two of whom were under 18.
(Last year, Oler was acquitted on a charge of unlawfully removing a child from Canada for illegal purposes. The Crown’s appeal of the acquittal (2nd story on link) was heard last week and a decision is pending.)
Unlike Blackmore, Oler will likely spend his time under house arrest alone since Warren Jeffs, the pedophile prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, banished Oler from the church and from Bountiful, B.C. It means that he no longer has any contact with his wives, children or anyone else in the community.
These sentences are a disgrace.
Constitutional arguments in the case of Winston Blackmore, a polygamous leader near Creston, B.C., have been delayed until December in Cranbrook Supreme Court. TREVOR CRAWLEY PHOTO / PNG
Far from having any deterrent effect, they are more likely to embolden others and not just those within the fundamentalist Mormon tradition.
If there is a chilling effect at all, it will be on those who left this abusive and dysfunctional community and bravely testified against friends and family.
But these slaps on the wrist can’t solely be blamed on Justice Sheri Donegan or even special prosecutor Peter Wilson, who recommended jail sentences far below the maximum of five years imprisonment outlined in the Criminal Code.
The blame accrues to several generations of provincial attorneys general and the lawyers who worked for them. Their hubris and complete disregard for the protection of children and the rights of women has damaged hundreds of lives and is now likely to claim the lives of many more.
Did I mention, children have no voice?
He could have done it in the public interest, sending a sharp message to the community of fundamentalist Mormons in Bountiful, B.C. that multiple marriages even in the name of God are illegal.
At the time, the community numbered fewer than 500 members. At its height a few years ago, there were more than 1,500.
But Gabelmann, who is not a lawyer, caved. He bowed to legal opinions from two retired B.C. Supreme Court justices who opined that the religious guarantees in the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms might trump the criminal law.
Those judges formed their opinions in a vacuum with no evidence and no witnesses and those opinions ran counter to the lawyers in the federal Justice Department. The Justice Department lawyers concluded that the law first passed in 1890 was a justifiable limit on religious freedom.
He did, however, ask RCMP to reopen its investigation. It was during the investigation that Blackmore brashly held a polygamy summit in April 2005. He invited Plant along with the attorneys general of Arizona, Utah and Idaho where other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have communities.
Had any of the attorneys general attended, they would have heard Blackmore admit that he had married several under-aged girls in front of close to 500 people from the neighbouring town of Creston.
Wally Oppal replaced Plant as attorney general in the summer of 2005. He was the first and only B.C. attorney general to call what was happening in Bountiful “intolerable.”
Peck recommended a constitutional reference to the Supreme Court of Canada for a final decision on the question. Oppal disagreed. He wanted charges laid, but didn’t have the power to do it himself.
Eventually, British Columbia did file a reference to the B.C. Supreme Court, which upheld the law.
All that constitutional fretting took nearly 30 years.
But more importantly, what was lost in that intellectual bafflegab was that girls as young as 15 were forced into religious, plural marriages and subsequently impregnated.
The evidence was there and ignored. And because nobody — none of the attorneys general who preceded or followed Oppal and none of their deputy ministers or even lawyers in the prosecutions branch — deemed the evidence of child sexual abuse worthy of pursuing, the last special prosecutor on the file was legally barred from even considering it.
Children are voiceless! And because they are it is incumbent upon governments to be extra vigilant and extra diligent in protecting them instead of protecting their own behinds. B.C. has failed the children of Bountiful miserably for several decades. Shame on us.
Webcam child sex: why Filipino families are coercing children to perform cybersex
Activists warn that poverty combined with increasing internet access means the number of victims is rising – and they are getting younger
BY KIERAN GUILBERT
“It was like a bomb exploded,” Ruby, now 21, says, speaking in an empty church in Tagaytay city, 60km south of the Philippine capital of Manila. “I had seen cybersex dens in TV shows and movies, but I didn’t know that they existed in real life.”
Ruby had, she adds, been “totally fooled” by the scam. “I was forced to do things you could not imagine a 16-year-old having to endure.”
Ruby is not a rare case but one of a rising number of ever younger victims of cybersex trafficking – a form of modern-day slavery where children are abused and raped over live streams.
The Philippines is seen by rights groups as the epicentre of the growing trade, which, they say, has been fuelled by cheap access to the internet and technology, the high level of English, well-established money-wiring services and rampant poverty.
Some families say, ‘We don’t touch, we just show’
Sam Inocencio, International Justice Mission
The Southeast Asian nation receives at least 3,000 reports per month from other countries of possible cases of its children being sexually exploited online (a number that has tripled in the last three years), according to its justice department.
Yet the crime is difficult to police because most victims are exploited by their own relatives in a country with very high levels of sex abuse within families and a culture of silence in communities that stops people speaking out, campaigners say.
Bondage cuffs found at the home of the suspected cybersex operator. Picture: AP
And Filipino abusers and paying clients in other countries are outfoxing law enforcement by mixing up payment methods, turning to cryptocurrencies and broadcasting over encrypted live streams that cannot be traced by police.
The crime is not only growing in the Philippines, but across the region, in countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam, activists say.
“This is a global trend, but very evident in Southeast Asia,” says Damian Kean, a spokesman for End Child Prostitution and Trafficking International (Ecpat), a global network of charities that works to end abuse of youngsters. “We are seeing online sexual exploitation of children expand across the region.”
Demand for child webcam sex in Mekong region ‘outstripping supply’, United Nations report says
Victims in the Philippines are getting younger, says Lotta Sylwander, country director for the United Nations children’s agency Unicef. Abusers can earn up to US$100 per show in a country where about a fifth of the total population of 100 million people earn less than US$2,000 a year, government figures show.
“Exploitation begins online […] but often leads into offline physical sex exploitation [and] trafficking,” Sylwander says.
Lotta Sylwander, country director (Philippines) for Unicef. Picture: Lotta Sylwander/Unicef
The biggest obstacle to tackling the crime at its source is a widespread belief within communities that making children appear naked on webcam is a victimless act, rights groups say.
“Some families say, ‘We don’t touch, we just show,’” says Sam Inocencio, national director for the International Justice Mission (IJM), an anti-slavery charity. “But we have seen some awful cases where children have been tortured over webcam.”
Driving through the narrow, winding streets of a crowded slum in Manila, local police investigators point to rows of ramshackle homes crowned with gleaming white satellite dishes. At least 40 per cent of the Filipino population had access to the internet as of 2015, up from a quarter in 2010, and about 5 per cent in 2005, according to World Bank data.
Sam Inocencio, Philippines director for the International Justice Mission. Picture: YouTube/Sam Inocencio
Philippines webcam sex bust reveals shocking rise of online child abuse
“People are not aware of the severity of the crime […] they need to know the laws and their punishments,” says Genesis Jeff Lamigo, a spokesman for global children’s charity World Vision.
No data exists on the number of child victims of cybersex trafficking, but at least 400,000 people in the Philippines – or one in 250 – are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index produced by activist movement the Walk Free Foundation.
Computer hard drives collected during a raid on the home of the suspected cybersex operator. Picture: AP
The plethora of social-media sites, messaging and video-call apps and online payment services make it easy for Filipinos to connect with global buyers and stream sex abuse undetected.
“The facilitators are following trends in technology,” says William Macavinta, a police chief superintendent in Manila. “This makes tracking them more difficult – it is a challenge to gather digital evidence,” he adds, explaining how anti-money-laundering and cybercrime officials help police to chase leads.
Developed countries, from which the demand for online sex exploitation usually originates, must do their part
Philippines Senator Loren Legarda
Joint operations with nations such as Britain, the US and Norway could swing the tide as clients realise they can be punished in their home countries, adds the investigator, who will not disclose his name because he is not authorised to discuss his work.
Damian Kean, a spokesman for End Child Prostitution and Trafficking International. Picture: Twitter/Damian Kean
“Developed countries, from which the demand for online sex exploitation usually originates, must do their part,” she says.
But with cybersex abusers and customers playing a game of cat-and-mouse with law enforcement, Ruby – who endured two months of slavery before escaping – fears that countless other girls will have to endure the same abuse as she did.
While she has been able to rebuild her life with the help of the IJM (she is studying English, with hopes of becoming a lawyer), she weeps as she recalls the suffering of other girls who were trapped in the trade with her.
“They didn’t feel any shame […] they didn’t value themselves,” Ruby says. “Those girls were in a place where they really had no hope.”
N.Z. Politician Marama Davidson opens up
on child sexual abuse
One Survivor's Story
Marama Davidson has given her first full interview about the sexual abuse she endured as a girl. (Photo / NZH)
She says when she was about eight years old, a distant relative staying with her family frequently visited her bedroom at night.
She says she pretended to be asleep when the assaults took place.
She says she started acting out, screaming and yelling whenever her parents had to leave, because that's when the abuse was able to happen. Davidson says it's uncomfortable for her to speak out because she loves her family.
"And over the years that I didn't tell this story, it was out of protecting my family, wanting to maintain the reputation of my family."
She says having a strong and loving family can give people a different sense of obligation to them that can silence victims. "You know straight away that the people who love me will feel destroyed that they haven't kept me safe."
Child Matters says the #MeToo movement has shone a light on what can happen to vulnerable people. Chief executive Jane Searle says people's awareness of child abuse is increasing.
She says that includes the responsibility to protect children in their communities and families.
"I think it's that old New Zealand thing of that if it happened in someone else's home, we left it alone, we didn't intrude on our neighbour's business, and I think that is a long held belief. That is finally changing."
I sure hope so, because it has been abysmal at protecting children from predators.
Searle says the ability to abuse a child is built on secrecy, and those surrounded by a loving family can find it more difficult to speak out. "There's some in the field who will say that often children who are from good homes will not tell because they are trying to protect their families."
You can hear her story in a Newstalk ZB - New Zealand Herald podcast, called Speaking Secrets, available for download on iHeartRadio and iTunes.
ACT sexual assault cases soar 80 per cent in six years
By Daniel BurdonAustralian Capital Territory - The number of sexual assault cases being heard in the ACT's courts system rose 80 per cent in six years, with a similar jump in domestic violence cases, leaving prosecutors under rising pressure to keep up.
A review of the territory's Department of Public Prosecutions resources has found the "alarming rate" of sexual assault matters was part of a wider trend of pressure on the territory's prosecutors, with criminal trials rising at nearly four times the rate of population growth.
The number of sexual assault and domestic violence cases begun in ACT courts rose from 75 in 2011-12 to 136 in 2016-17 and from 503 to 687, an increase the review team dubbed "alarming", rising 80 per cent for sexual assault matters and 36 per cent for domestic violence matters.
It comes as the territory joins the national redress scheme, with compensation for ACT victims of child sexual abuse expected to cost about $12 million over the next four years.
While the pressure has been felt across the justice system, the DPP has been particularly over-matched in recent years as the government has funded other parts of the system, like police and the courts, without a similar increase in resources for prosecutors.
Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White said the sexual assault and domestic violence cases had the biggest impact, mainly due to the Royal Commissions into child sexual abuse and increased reporting of domestic violence and child sexual abuse cases.
"It's also true that complainants in sexual offences cases are more inclined to come forward to police now and that's a very good thing, but it also means more cases are coming before the courts," he said.
The review also found the number of days prosecutors had spent in court for trials had risen from 293 in 2012-13 to 342 in 2016-17, and compounding the pressure was the fact the ACT was unique as the DPP here handled both serious inditable matters as well as lower-order summary cases.
"Together, these pressures have pushed the capacity of senior prosecutors within the DPP to the limit," the report reads.
The government has given the DPP $1 million extra in 2018-19, rising to $2.4 million in 2021-22, on top of funds for the department to work on confiscation of criminal assets cases, and extra funds to deal with more cases with a fifth magistrate.
The review was completed in December last year, and taken into account for the 2018-19 budget, but only recently publicly tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
Mr White said the funds would pay for more senior prosecutors to handle the more complex cases, with new appointments expected in coming weeks, though the DPP would need to have a "continuing conversation" with government about resources.
The review found the extra pressure from more courts operating and a planned move to bring Supreme Court listings down to five weeks could "push the DPP beyond its capacity".
While the government increased the department's funding in line with the review recommendations, it did not separate the DPP's funding from the general allocations given to the justice directorate.
Mr White said the directorate was taking funds off the top for "internal overheads". "That is, as far as we're concerned money that would be better spent on prosecutions, rather than [directorate] overheads, and the government affirmed they were still looking at this issue," he said.
Mr White also said the DPP was hopeful the government would enact some legislative changes to allow "suitably qualified and trained" paralegals to do summary listing matters to free up junior prosecutors to work on more complex hearings.
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