Girls in Indian home for child welfare may have been victims of child sex trafficking
Nitish Kumar seeks CBI probe into sex abuse at
Muzaffarpur shelter home
The Muzaffarpur police have arrested 10 people so far, including Ravi Kumar Roshan, the district child protection officer, Brajesh Thakur, caretaker of the short stay home, and Vikas Kumar, a member of the child welfare committee.
Nitish Kumar is natural elder brother in Bihar NDA alliance, says C P Thakur
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File)
THE BIHAR government on Thursday recommended a CBI probe into the alleged sexual exploitation of inmates at the short stay home for girls, run by NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, in Muzaffarpur.
Raising the issue in the Assembly, the Opposition demanded the resignation of Social Welfare Department Minister Manju Verma, following allegations that her husband was also involved. Verma told the Legislative Council that if her husband, Chandrashekhar Verma, a former legislator, was found to be involved, she would “request the court to hang him”. “As I hail from a backward community and am the only woman minister, I am being targeted,” she said.
The Muzaffarpur police have arrested 10 people so far, including Ravi Kumar Roshan, the district child protection officer, Brajesh Thakur, caretaker of the short stay home, and Vikas Kumar, a member of the child welfare committee. One of the accused, Dilip Kumar Verma, chairman of the child welfare committee, is absconding.
Police on Thursday filed a chargesheet against the 10 arrested persons, under IPC Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 326 (causing grievous hurt with weapons), 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 B (assault with intent to disrobe), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 109 (abetment), 504 (breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 376 C (sexual intercourse by a person in authority) and also under provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and POCSO Act.
On Wednesday, Roshan’s wife, Shiba Kumari Singh, claimed that her husband was being made a scapegoat. “I want to know in what capacity Minister Manju Verma’s husband would visit the short stay home. He used to go upstairs (where the girls stayed), while his bodyguards and others accompanying him would wait downstairs,” she alleged.
Chandrashekhar Verma said he had accompanied his wife to the short stay home only once.
Muzaffarpur Town DSP Mukul Ranjan, in his supervision report, said the girls had named Thakur, the caretaker, and identified a “head Sir” and “a sir with a very big belly”. Police are trying to identify these two men.
The report said Thakur, whose family brings out a local Hindi daily, Pratah Kamal, from the same building which houses the short stay home, has close ties with Vikas Kumar and a social welfare department official.
“Thakur accumulated assets worth billions and has properties at Raj Nagar Extension, Delhi, his paternal village of Patahi in Samastipur, Darbhanga, Bettiah, Muzaffarpur and Patna, besides owning a hotel in Muzaffarpur… through dalaali (brokerage), newspaper advertisements, sex racket and supply of girls in the country and abroad… The truth will come out once the Enforcement Directorate investigates,” Ranjan said in his report.
“Instead of rehabilitating sex workers, Thakur was using teenaged and helpless girls to get tenders. We need to identify some office bearers (who could have colluded with Thakur),” said the report. It quoted several girls as saying that they were injected with drugs, before being taken to other rooms by Kiran Devi, an employee at the shelter and one of the accused.
“We have been investigating all the allegations made by victims. We dug up a spot in front of the NGO’s office after three girls alleged that a girl had been buried there. Nothing was found… We are looking into all aspects of Thakur’s nexus,” Ranjan told The Indian Express.
Besides the girls’ shelter, Thakur also operated two other short stay homes, an old age home and a centre for women at Muzaffarpur, a handicraft centre in Samastipur, a shelter for beggars in Patna, and a voluntary group called Vama Shakti Vahini in Bettiah. The Centre and state government gave a monthly grant of Rs 1,800 per child.
Sex abuse victim reveals "hellish" abuse
'suffered at hands of Aston Hall doctor' who
're-enacted dad's sex attacks'
One Survivor's Story
EXCLUSIVE-Mirror: The brave victim has broken her 44-year silence to tell of the “hellish” attacks
By Louie Smith
Emma says Dr Milner assaulted her three times during her year at Aston Hall (Image: Dave Nelson)
Pervert doctor Kenneth Milner subjected a 14-year-old to a re-enactment of the sexual abuse she had suffered from her father.
The victim has broken her 44-year silence to tell of the “hellish” attacks.
A report admitted this week that Dr Milner may have abused 65 children. It has also been claimed that nurses at Aston Hall psychiatric hospital in Derbyshire were complicit.
Emma, now a gran in her 50s, said: “Dr Milner and a nurse put a mask on me and started dripping ether into it.
“He asked me my history and, because of the drug, I revealed the abuse I had suffered – in detail. When I told him something, he’d say ‘What like this?’ and repeated that abuse.
“He would do the same thing, copying what I had been through. I remember like it was yesterday.”
Emma, whose identity we are protecting, went into care in 1972, aged 12. She told police her dad was abusing her and he was jailed for two years.
Emma spent time at a children’s home in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. But in 1974, she was moved to Aston Hall, where Dr Milner was medical superintendent from 1954 until his death in 1976.
Emma claims she was drugged with a sedative, believed to be the antipsychotic medication Largactil. She said: “They started giving me medicine, a brown liquid five times a day. It made you feel like a zombie.”
Emma was ordered to put on a hospital gown, led to a room and told to lie down to wait for the twisted doctor. She said: “I can still picture his face. No smiles or grimaces even while he was abusing you. It was like routine.”
Her mouth was washed with disinfectant and nurses attacked her if she complained.
Emma added: “The nurses knew what was going on, especially one specific nurse – she was evil.”
They were all evil if they knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it.
SFA face compensation claim from six survivors of alleged sex abuse who were 'failed miserably'
SFA chairman Ian Maxwell (inset) and accused SFA official Hugh Stevenson (R) (Image: SNS)
Six survivors of alleged sexual abuse by football officials today announced they are suing the SFA for compensation.
Lawyers for the victims – who have given harrowing accounts of their ordeals – accused the footballing body of a “wilful disregard” which allowed suspected paedophiles to prey on children.
One survivor said the SFA must take care of those it had “already failed miserably”.
Thompsons Solicitors, representing the six, said they are sending the Scottish Football Association paperwork for the civil damages action. Legal sources said the SFA could face a multi-million-pound settlement over the court claims.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell issued apology (Image: PA Wire)
The legal bid comes just days after SFA chairman Ian Maxwell offered a “heartfelt” apology to youngsters who suffered sex abuse while under their care. Maxwell delivered his message to survivors as interim findings from a review into historical abuse were published last week.
The review found football’s child protection policies were “not fit for purpose”. Thompsons said it was the SFA’s “professional duty” to put in place safeguards they “failed completely in that duty”.
Peter Haynes, who previously told how he was abused by SFA official and coach Hugh Stevenson, who died in 2004, is among the claimants. Peter said Stevenson subjected him him to a three or four year campaign of sexual abuse, including rape, from 1979.
He said: “SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has told the country he believes his organisation’s child protection policies are a success. “I have asked him to clarify his statement. He has not as yet agreed to this. The hurt his statement caused to myself, my family and other survivors is beyond measure.
“How on Earth can they say they haven’t failed children in the past? Mr Maxwell says the SFA want a world-class child safety policy. That should begin with taking care of those it has already failed miserably.”
Fellow Thompsons client John Cleland has told how he was abused by Rangers and Hibs football coach Gordon Neely, who died in 2014.
Gordon Neely during his time at Rangers (Image: Internet Unknown)
John said he was subjected to 18 months of serious sexual abuse aged 11 in Edinburgh in the early 80s.
John said “The SFA are responsible for making sure that those coaching our children are people we can trust yet they completely failed me and my family.
“I now wait to see if their words admitting their failings are backed up by action.
“I sincerely hope that other survivors abused in Scottish football now feel able to come forward to have their voices heard.”
Patrick McGuire of Thompsons said: “As the body in charge of Scottish football at all levels, the SFA is responsible for the welfare of children taking part in our game.
“It is to the SFA’s complete and utter shame that, due to their incompetence and at times wilful disregard, criminals of the worst kind preyed on youngsters who only wanted to play football.
“The legal action for compensation that my firm is undertaking on behalf of our clients is part of the process of seeking justice and it’s one that I expect the SFA to take very seriously and settle promptly.”
Former SFA official and coach Hugh Stevenson (Image: BBC Scotland)
Janine Rennie, chief executive of the charity Wellbeing Scotland, said: “Survivors were disbelieved and ignored by the authorities for years but they are taking back control and now the SFA have admitted their terrible failings.”
Maxwell said recommendations from last week’s report would be implemented but stressed Scottish football was “a safe place for children”.
The independent review – set up 18 months ago by the SFA – found systemic gaps that still leave children at risk, and ruled that there was a shortfall in money and resources to tackle the issue.
The final version of the report is being withheld until criminal proceedings are concluded.
By last November, Police Scotland said almost 300 crimes had been recorded during a year-long probe. Officers identified 153 victims and arrested and charged 13 people with offences relating to historic child sexual abuse.
Timeline
1979 The year coach Hugh Stevenson began abusing Peter Haynes.
Around 1981 John Cleland first abused by coach Gordon Neely.
1994 Peter says he first told former SFA chief executive Jim Farry about Hugh Stevenson.
2004 Abuser Hugh Stevenson dies.
2014 Abuser Gordon Neely dies aged 62.
December 2016 Victims publicly allege abuse by Neely.
December 13 2016 SFA commissions independent review following allegations of historical sexual abuse in the sport.
May 2018 A former youth footballer sexually abused by Neely told by Rangers he should pursue his complaint with liquidators. The club said the abuse took place when Rangers were owned by a different company, now in liquidation.
July 26 2018 Independent review’s interim report brands football’s child protection policies “not fit for purpose”.
Today Six survivors of alleged abuse announce they are suing SFA.
Children as young as FIVE sexually abuse peers after learning how to online
warns charity as it finds 400% rise in 'self-generated'
child sex abuse images
By DANIEL MARTIN THE DAILY MAIL
Children as young as five are 'perpetrating sexual abuse' on their peers due to social media use, a charity has warned. More and more primary school-aged pupils are exhibiting 'harmful sexual behaviour' they have learned online, Barnardo's said.
This ranges from touching other children's private parts to encouraging them to watch inappropriate videos online.
Other minors are increasingly being groomed online in live broadcasts, evidence to MPs states, with parents often oblivious that their children are sharing explicit content in their bedrooms.
These scenes can be live streamed across the world and then harvested by paedophile websites.
Barnardo's told the Commons science and technology committee three-quarters of referrals for child sex abuse are now internet-related – up from 20 per cent three years ago.
Emily Cherry, of Barnardo's, said young children are increasingly becoming perpetrators as well as victims.
Unless such behaviour is tackled early, it could get worse in later life, she added. She told MPs: 'Children are perpetrating sexual abuse against other children, which is an increasing concern for us. 'We are seeing children come through the doors at a younger and younger age, below the age of criminal responsibility.
'We are seeing children as young as five and an increase in the number of children aged eight to ten coming through our doors for this. They are telling us they are on social media sites.
'The technology-assisted side of harmful sexual behaviour is definitely growing, from the numbers that we see coming through our doors.' She said children were being coaxed into 'streaming' sexually explicit images of themselves online.
Research has found the number of 'self-generated' child sexual abuse images and videos – ie, filmed
by the victims – has soared nearly 400 per cent in one year
And Miss Cherry demanded more robust age verification and moderation by sites such as Periscope, Facebook Live and Musical.ly, which provide paedophiles the opportunity to start 'live-grooming' children.
She said children would use the live stream sites 'innocuously' before predatory adults in a kind of 'pack mentality' ask them to lift up their top, for example. Miss Cherry urged parents to be careful about allowing children access to devices that can broadcast.
Parents who recognise problematic sexual behaviour in their children 'should seek advice – from a GP, from a teacher or, if they are especially concerned, a social worker', she added.
Susie Hargreaves, of the Internet Watch Foundation charity, told MPs that parents of children 'often in nice bedrooms' were 'oblivious to what is happening there'. Its research found the number of 'self-generated' child sexual abuse images and videos – ie, filmed by the victims – has soared nearly 400 per cent in one year.
Increasingly, children from loving and stable backgrounds were falling victim to grooming, she said, warning parents to supervise their child's use of technology.
A Government spokesman said it had increased funding to tackle child sexual exploitation, adding: 'UK citizens, especially children, must not be exposed to harm or exploitation and we are working with tech companies, children's charities and other stakeholders to develop laws that tackle the full range of online harms.'
'Kicked while I’m already down':
The child sexual assault victim denied
compensation over a petty crime
One Survivor's Story - A Struggle for Help
Harriet Agerholm
Kim Mitchell aged seven, 11 months before she was attacked ( Kim Mitchell )
“I walked in and the lights were all down,” Kim Mitchell says, describing the night she was sexually abused by her PE teacher. She was eight years old and the children at her grammar school were watching a film. Out of the shadows in the TV room, lit only by the glow of the screen, Norman Hogbin beckoned her over.
“There was nowhere for me to sit, so he plonked me in on his knee,” she says. “I was abused then and there on his lap while the other the children sat watching the telly.” She froze, she says, and silently willed someone to turn around and see what he was doing. They didn’t.
Over the next 26 years, Ms Mitchell went to her local police station in West Sussex twice, but says she was “fobbed off” each time. She tried again in 2016, this time in Northumbria, and was finally believed. Last year, Hogbin was sentenced to 15 months in jail, which after she appealed was increased to the maximum sentence for a crime committed in 1990 – three years.
After spending almost three decades seeking justice, she says she feels angry. She has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has been suicidal, but says she is unable to access long-term mental health treatment on the NHS.
Victims of sexual assault are able to claim from £1,000 to £44,000 from the Government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), to pay for expenses relating to their attack such as the cost of psychotherapy.
But the authority regularly refuses victims who have criminal convictions of any severity. Last year, Ms Mitchell was handed a community order after threatening a former employer for withholding wages from her. According to the compensation authority, that means she is not entitled to compensation.
Norman Hogbin was jailed for three years in 2017 (Sussex Police)
“To constantly have to fight and struggle to get justice and then constantly be slammed down one time after another – I feel like I’m being kicked while I’m already down,” she says. “I didn’t commit a crime when I was eight.”
The compensation system, which is overseen by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), has come under heavy criticism from campaigners for imposing arbitrary rules to save money. Last year, it emerged CICA was refusing compensation to victims of child sexual abuse on the basis they “consented” to it. Following pressure from sexual abuse and children’s organisations, the authority changed its guidelines.
CICA has also come under fire over its so-called “same-roof” rule, which denies compensation to domestic abuse victims who were assaulted before 1979. The law was initially introduced to prevent the money benefiting abusers, but in a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the court of appeal decided the rule was “incompatible” with human rights laws.
Ms Mitchell says she went to the police three times before they believed her (Kim Mitchell)
“The scheme discriminates against some of the most vulnerable victims of sexual crimes in several ways,” says Lisa Longstaff, from Women Against Rape. “Convictions, even for minor crimes like shoplifting, or an unpaid TV licence, are used to refuse an award.
“To punish us twice – first for the crime that we committed, and secondly for the crime committed against us – is unfair and disproportionate given the serious, often life-changing effects of sexual violence. And many victims end up criminalised as a result of rape trauma.”
Last year, figures obtained by The Independent revealed at least 398 alleged victims of sex abuse have been refused payments since January 2015 because they were convicted of some sort of crime.
Ms Mitchell is mounting an appeal against the CICA decision. After years of being accused of lying, she wants the authority to officially recognise what happened to her.
When she first reported the abuse at the age of eight, a social worker at West Sussex police station said she was not telling the truth “because of the way I described the incident using my fingers”, she says.
Now, aged 36, “I’m the sort of person that will drop herself in it even if that means telling the truth because if my integrity. I will never have that questioned again,” she says.
Prior to Hogbin’s 2017 conviction for indecently assaulting Ms Mitchell, he was convicted of three counts of sexually abusing another girl over a period of three years. That abuse occurred between 1999 and 2002 – nine years after Ms Mitchell was assaulted. “I feel guilt – if they had listened to me in the first place, that may have never happened to that other little girl,” she says.
It's not your guilt to carry, Kim; it belongs to the police.
West Sussex Police said in a statement it did not hold records from crimes reported in the 1990s, so it is not possible to formally confirm Ms Mitchell’s allegation was received and investigated at the time.
“However we did receive a call from the victim in 2012 asking for the case to be investigated,” a spokesperson said. “This was carefully looked into but from background enquiries we made at that stage it was concluded that the matter had been adequately investigated in 1990 and that the victim had not provided any new information. She was informed of this.
And did you actually ask her if she had any new information?
“In November 2015 we were contacted by Northumbria Police who had received a call from the victim asking for this matter to be investigated and providing new information. We then began an investigation which resulted in the conviction and sentencing of Mr Hogbin in 2017. We are glad to have helped achieve justice for the victim even after all these years.”
An MoJ spokesperson said: “This was an awful crime and we have every sympathy for Ms Mitchell. “The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme clearly sets out that payments may be reduced or refused if an applicant has an unspent conviction.
“We are looking at concerns about the compensation scheme as part of our work on a victims strategy which will be published this summer.”
Perhaps if she had had some help in the first 25 years after her assault, she might not have gotten that pathetic, little conviction. I can't believe how petty you guys can be; try to remember the purpose of this compensation in the first place.
West Sussex, UK
‘Most wanted’ Brit fugitive held after child sex abuse probe in southern Spain
By Matt Ford
A BRITISH fugitive who appears on Europe’s most-wanted list has been held in the southern Spanish city of Granada.
David Daniel Hayes, 39, from Anglesey in Wales, is allegedly a dangerous paedophile wanted on nine charges of sexual abuse against two children in the UK.
He is also suspected of comitting at least three offences in Spain after he gave private English lessons to children at his home under a false identity.
A probe launched in the wake of the latter claims revealed that the name and other personal details he supplied to clients in fact belonged to a British expatriate who lives in Valencia.
Investigators followed a trail of addresses - including B&Bs and hostels - used in adverts he posted on Spanish family websites. He was eventually tracked down in Granada and arrested after being watched by detectives for several days. And the results of a fingerprint test revealed his true identity.
Hayes vanished after flying from Liverpool to Amsterdam in May 2015, following his release on bail ahead of a trial over the alleged sex crimes.
Of course, you can get a new Visa in Amsterdam in no time.
The BBC’s Crimewatch programme at the time described him as “one of the most wanted criminals in Britain,” while North Wales Police put out a number of calls for Europe when he fled to Europe.
He has been remanded in custody and will appear before the National Court in Madrid, a Guardia Civil statement said.
Paedophile in jail, caught with child porn
By Janene Pieters
A 72-year-old man from Dronten, who is currently in custody on suspicion of sexually abusing children in the Philippines over a webcam, was caught with a USB stick full of child pornography in his cell. The stick was found in his toiletry bag, was revealed during a pro-forma hearing against the man, ANP reports.
Dronten, NL
Suspect Hans V. was arrested in April and has since been in custody. In addition to online sexual abuse of children, he is also suspected of making and possessing child pornography.
In a statement made to the police, V. said that he has been involved in child pornography since 2006, calling it an addiction. He is interested in girls under the age of 12. "You are always looking for something beautiful to come along", the Public Prosecutor quoted from his statement in the court in Rotterdam on Thursday.
The court considered the discovery of the USB stick as an indication that there is a clearly present chance of repetition in V.'s case. Partly because of this, the court ruled that he will stay in custody for the coming months. The Prosecutor called him "dangerous to children".
Predator is the correct word!
V.'s trial will start on October 3rd.
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