Child Sex Abuse Stories from India-3; UK-3; Australia-2; and Canada on Today's Global PnP List

Child sex abuse cases prompt protests
from politicians in India

Left parties from Bihar form human chains after 34 girls raped and abused at state-run care home in Muzaffarpur

Gulf News
Lata Rani

Patna: Leaders of the Left parties in Bihar on Tuesday formed human chains to protest against the sexual abuse of dozens of minors at a care home, and cases of violence against women in the state.

This is the third time in the past eight months that political parties have formed human chains over the social ills.

Hundreds of leaders carrying placards stood in long queues for a full hour in between noon and to 1pm to express their solidarity over the issues that have been earning a bad name for the state nationally and globally.

The Left-sponsored human chain protests had the full backing of the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) which led the human chain programme launched a frontal attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for failing to protect the lives and dignity of women in the state.

“He [Nitish Kumar] grabbed power over the issue of governance and restoring law and order situation in the state. Sadly, violence against women has become an identity for Bihar as our daughters are not safe anymore,” CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told the media on day.

He also called for Central Bureau of Investigation probe into abuses at child shelter homes and completion of the probe within three months.

At the same time, he demanded immediate resignation of CM Kumar and his deputy, accusing them of protecting the people made accused in Muzaffarpur care home sex scandal.

The Communist Party of India general secretary Satya Narayan Singh too made similar allegations, charging the state government with shielding the sex scandal accused.

“The present government in the state is trying to save the accused and hence we demand immediate resignation of the chief minister and his deputy. The sudden transfer of a CBI official midway through the probe amply proves our concerns,” Singh alleged.

As many as 34 girls were allegedly raped at the state-owned care home in Muzaffarpur, which was being run by a NGO. The matter is currently being investigated by the CBI but the Left leaders are not happy with the Patna High Court banning the publication of news items relating of Muzaffarpur sex abuse cases in the media. The court has said the publication of news could affect the CBI probe.

Elderly WA man accused of child sex abuse

An 84-year-old West Australian man has been accused of persistently sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Police allege the man from the Mid West-Gascoyne region preyed on the girl, who he knew and who was aged 14 at the time of the first incident, between 2016 and this year.

He has been charged with 17 offences and will appear before the Shark Bay Magistrates Court on Friday.

Police say the investigation is ongoing.

Shark Bay, WA

My paedophile uncle licked his lips at me behind my parents’ back when I was 11 - UK

2 Counts of raping his 13 y/o niece, and he gets 18 months.

How pathetic British 'justice' can be.

One Survivor's Story

Adam Smith

A sexual abuse victim has spoken how her uncle used to stare at her and ‘lick his lips behind her parents back’ in a bid to scare her as an 11-year-old. 

Debbie Pennington’s uncle Ronald Peters was jailed last week for 18 months and she waived the right for anonymity so she could describe what he did to her. 

Disgusted at his short sentence Debbie, now 53, revealed the torment she went through for 16 years at the hands of Peters. 

Debbie Pennington was groped and sexually abused by her uncle (Picture: Liverpool Echo) 

He first began making suggestive comments when she was 11-year-old and two years he was sexually assaulting her in her bed. 

Debbie told the Liverpool Echo: ‘I would be sat there with my parents and he would look over and lick his lips at me. 

‘He knew my parents couldn’t see him, but it gave him pleasure and a thrill to know how uncomfortable and panicked it made me.’ When she visited his home he would try and get her drunk as he kept on touching her legs and bottom. 

She said: ‘When my auntie went up to bed, I followed her and went into the spare room, which just had a single bed in."

Caption: Ronald Peters, 73, was jailed for 18 months (Picture: Cavendish) 

‘And it was about 20 minutes later, when I was just dropping off to sleep, that he came into the room, got in the bed, put his hand over my mouth and said “shhh”. 

‘He didn’t ever kiss me, he didn’t touch the top half of me at all. 

I didn’t try and do anything, I just had my hands at the side of me – now I wish I had fought back.’ ‘I just remember it really hurting and me just wanting to scream.’ 

Debbie said the abuse caused her school work to suffer and due to the stress of the ‘secret’ she was keeping, she was moved down sets and didn’t take her exams at 16. 

She said how she would try to make up excuses for not wanting to babysit, but this would cause questions from her family. 

She added: ‘I stopped going to babysit on a Saturday, because I didn’t want to have to stay over but I still went on a Tuesday night. 

‘My auntie would go out to bingo and he would go to the pub. They would leave at the same time but he would come back not long after she left. 

‘I used to sit in a chair, because I thought if I sat on the settee he would be able to sit next to me and push me down. 

He even carried on after she was married aged 22. Finally Debbie told her father how uncomfortable Peters made her feel and he went round and ‘had words’. 

She said: ‘I didn’t tell my dad anything about the sexual abuse." 

He finally left her alone but Debbie was determined for him to face justice and gave evidence in court and on August 15, two years after she had originally reported him to the police. 

Peters was found guilty at Bolton Crown Court of two counts at of indecent assault of a child under the age of 14 and jailed for 18 months. 

Debbie added: ‘I feel like his sentence was nowhere near enough. Because even though the sexual abuse was horrendous it has been everything put together, the build up to that night and all the mental abuse I have suffered afterwards. 

‘It has massively affected my life, but even though I feel like I was let down and he will be out in nine months, I would encourage anyone who has suffered abuse to come forward. 

‘Even if at the end of it you don’t get the outcome you want, you will feel better about yourself.’

Alleged circus school abusers walk free

after winning bail in NSW

THE three women, who face charges of alleged horrific child abuse, were greeted by supporters as they walked out of a NSW jail after winning bail.

Therese Ann Cook (centre) is released on bail from Silverwater Correctional Facility. 

Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

THREE women linked to a New South Wales circus school who face charges of alleged horrific and ongoing child abuse have walked free from prison after winning bail.

Therese Ann Cook, 59, her daughter Yyani Cook-Williams, 30, and Clarissa Meredith, 24, were greeted by about half a dozen supporters when they were released from Silverwater Correctional Centre on Wednesday night. The women were granted bail by NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum nearly one week ago.

The three women among seven people (4th story on link) to face a combined 127 charges related to the alleged abuse of three young boys between 2014 and 2016.

Yyani Cook Williams leaves Silverwater Jail after being granted bail.Source:News Corp Australia

The women were given strict bail conditions, which state they cannot leave NSW and cannot leave their homes unless accompanied by an approved person. They are also not permitted to be in contact with any child under 16 unless supervised by an approved adult. They each needed one or more people to provide a $100,000 surety before they could be released.

The women were charged in February along with Cook’s brother, Paul Christopher Cook, 52, and three others who can’t be named as they were underage at the time of the alleged offences.

They are linked to the Arcade Circus in Katoomba, NSW.

Police previously alleged Therese Cook abused two of the boys, then aged three and seven, before her co-accused got involved later.

She was accused of having intercourse with the seven-year-old and choking him with the intent of sexually assaulting him.

She faces 43 charges, including sexual intercourse with a person under 10, indecent assault of a person under 16 and assault occasioning bodily harm. Cook-Williams, her 30-year-old daughter, was alleged to have incited two of the boys to have sex with each other.

Her eight charges include common assault and aggravated sexual assault in company.

Meredith’s 13 charges include aggravated sexual assault in company, producing child abuse material and stalking or intimidation.

Their lawyer, Bryan Wrench, in February told a local court that one of his clients had video to show nothing happened.

Bihar: Buddhist Monk detained for

sexually assaulting children

Mirror Now Digital

After Muzaffarpur shelter home case of Bihar, a Buddhist monk of Bodh Gaya was detained for allegedly sexually abusing children. Reportedly, he had forced minor children in unnatural sexual activities.

Patna: After the social audit done by Tata Institute of Social Sciences which revealed shocking results about sexual abuse on inmates in shelter home in Muzzafarpur, Bihar,  another case of sexual abuse was reported in Bodh Gaya. According to news agency IANS, a Buddhist monk was detained on Wednesday after minor children in Bodh Gaya alleged that they had been sexually abused by the monk. The monk was identified as Bhante Sanghpriya. After 15 children of Prasanna Jyoti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre in Mastipur are complained about the regular abuse to the district police.

Police official Anil Kumar confirmed that the monk had been accused of sexual abuse.

The meditation centre is located next to Buddhist holy shrine in Bodh Gaya. In the complaint lodged by children, they mentioned the accused monk runs the residential Buddhist school-cum-meditation centre. He had forced some minor children in unnatural sexual activities. Reportedly, the victims aged between 6 to 12 and they belonged to Assam.

This would be another addition to series of cases in Bihar, where minor children had been sexually abused. In the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, 34 girls were sexually abused for years as proved by medical tests. The report by TISS revealed in April that, over four years of its existence like most government-run shelters in the state, was inspected by multiple bodies but none flagged the “highly questionable manner” in which it was being run or that several girls had reported about violence and being abused sexually. 

But, what are the odds that some inspectors have more money than they should?

Canadian man charged with child sex crimes

pleads guilty to one

The Telegram

Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – Newfoundland and Labrador (CFSEU-NL) 

A 23-year-old man who has been in custody since he was arrested last November for allegedly sexually assaulting a child and making child pornography has pleaded guilty to one of the charges he’s facing.

The man, whose name is covered by a publication ban in order to protect the identity of the young female victim, appeared in a St. John’s courtroom via videolink from HMP Wednesday morning, where he pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual interference. He’ll be sentenced Oct. 1.

That leaves him with five other charges: sexual assault, sexual exploitation, making child pornography, possessing child pornography, and observing or making a visual recording where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. 

Privacy - does that mean a closed courtroom?

The man was denied bail Dec. 1, after a bail hearing that saw a number of people in the courtroom become emotional over the details of the allegations.

He was arrested after a two-month investigation by the RNC/RCMP Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit’s internet exploitation team, with help from RCMP in Gander, as well as the RNC’s Child Abuse Sexual Assault Unit.

RNC = Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Sex abuser, 74, 'ruined the life' of UK victim

A victim of a child sex abuser said what happened to her "has ruined my life", a court heard.

She penned her raw emotions in a moving victim impact statement read out in a Nottingham courtroom before 74-year-old David Woodward was locked up for two-and-a-half years.

What Woodward did to her when she was a young girl "has never gone out of my head" and "I still feel scared when men approach me", she revealed.

She described feeling like she was a bad mother to her children and "I feel I shout at my kids a lot due to the anger I feel inside".

The woman went to police about lorry driver Woodward because she needed some sort of release, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

He denied two allegations of indecently assaulting her.

Child Abuse Increases on India's Virtual Platforms, Alarming Citizens

Sputnik ASIA & PACIFIC

The child helpline 1098 managed by the government of India has reported that of the total 187 calls received made by distressed children, 39 pertained to the mental and psychological abuse they faced on online platforms. In 2016-17, Child Helpline received 57 cases of online abuse and the last one year saw this number increase to 187.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The safety of children in the virtual world has become one of the biggest challenges faced by the Indian authorities. 

According to a report published in English Daily Times of India, out of 187 calls received in 2017-18 on the Helpline, 39 calls were related to the online game 'Blue Whale' which pushed participants to end their lives. 

Why is this game allowed to exist? Everyone involved at every possible level needs to be prosecuted for this horrifically evil program.

The children, entrapped by a challenge posed by a dominating administrator, dialed 1098 and reported the trauma which they were into, according to the helpline authorities.

The report reveals that in September last year, the helpline team received calls from two teenage girls who were on their way to Mumbai from Agra as per the directions of the blue whale game admin. They were threatened that their parents would die if they did not perform the "task."

"All 39 similar calls from children to 1098 in 2017-18 revealed a link with the Blue Whale Challenge. Some called to deal with the fear generated by the game, others were children in distress requiring physical intervention and then there were those seeking information about the game," the Times of India reports.

The other cases include videos with child sexual abuse material, corporal punishment depictions, pornography and stalking.

In most of the cases of online abuse 1098, there is a common thread —either online abuse ended in contact abuse or vice versa," Harleen Walia from Child Helpline was quoted by the Times of India as saying.

Childcare activists opine that India will have to gear up to fight the menace urgently. Shiney Elias, student counselor and program head of Jovita India, a child protection organization, told Sputnik that in most of the cases, parents themselves are not aware of the gravity of the problem and take children's ordeal as routine anxiety.   

"We are lacking in trained professionals to deal with such cases, we also do not have any ways to sensitize the parents and guardians about the phenomenon which is fast spreading among our kids. We need to hurry up before the problem becomes insurmountable. In maximum cases when children approach their parents about the problem, they either are unaware of the gravity of the issue or brush it away as routine anxiety among the kids," Shiney Elias told Sputnik.

The highest percentage of cases reported to 1098 is of children in the age group of 11-18 years, the report added.

Yes, the problem will get worse; it will get exponentially worse. We are just seeing the very beginning of this problem. It needs to be tackled internationally. Hackers could spend their time outing the bullies on Blue Whale, or outing pedophiles until governments catch up, if that ever happens.

2000 Child Migrants to sue UK government

over child sex abuse

Written by Sam Blewett

Survivors who were abused as children after being sent abroad under state-backed programmes are suing the Government for compensation.

Thousands of Britons, many in care or from poor families, were sent abroad to countries including Australia and New Zealand in the post-Second World War years partly to save on care costs.

They risked being exposed to sexual violence and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommended six months ago that some 2,000 should be paid compensation. The inquiry found that UK governments played a "central role" in the policy, which ended in the 1970s.

But lawyer Alan Collins said on Wednesday he has lodged a lawsuit in London's High Court to pressure ministers into paying.

"The Government has not done anything as far as we can tell about implementing the recommendations to set up some type of redress scheme," he said.

"So we've told the Government, unless you're going to do it you're going to end up being sued. They took no notice so we've sued them.

"The victims, they want the Government to do what IICSA said and accept that it's a flawed policy and take responsibly and not just say fuzzy, warm words but actually mean it."

Mr Collins said the lawsuit was filed on August 22 on behalf of two survivors, one sent to what is now Zimbabwe, the other to Australia, who have strong cases backed by hard evidence.

He said he has been contacted by more than 100 survivors and hopes the action will pressure the Government into paying compensation to the rest in a "domino effect".

The March report said it was "essential" that all living former migrants, then around 2,000 people, should be paid compensation. In 2010 then-prime minister Gordon Brown formerly apologised on behalf of the UK government.

On Wednesday, a Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We want to reassure those affected we are committed to providing a timely response to the inquiry's recommendations."

Time is of the essence, Mr Collins said, with many of the survivors now in old age. "The problem is, they are such an elderly group that they are dying. We can't just sit around forever and a day and hope for the best," he said.

Seven Positive Stories on Child Sex Abuse from Around the World

‘SILENCE SPEAKS, SECRETS REVEALED’: RADIO DRAMA ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE TO PREMIERE ON SEPT 4

News / Virgin Islands /

The Women’s Coalition of St. Croix’s (WCSC’s) new 26-episode radio series and talk shows will premiere on 95.1 – Isle 95, on Tuesday September 4, according to a release the coalition issued Friday. The two-minute episodes, featuring the stories of three survivors of child sexual abuse, will continue airing weekly on several local radio stations, and will be made available for streaming as podcasts on WCSC’s website and social media channels, according to the release.

“Child sexual abuse affects survivors and communities. Education is a key part of prevention efforts and offering support to survivors,” said Clema S. Lewis, executive director of WCSC.

Silence Speaks, Secrets Revealed focuses on the experiences of three young people: a 7-year-old boy, a 16-year-old pageant queen and a 15-year-old girl whose family relocated to St. Croix recently. There will be a live, 30-minute talk show following the first broadcast of each episode on Isle 95. “Our after shows will feature experts in related fields, victim advocates and survivors. The discussion of the themes can continue, we’ll take calls and provide listeners with helpful resources. These shows will be available as podcasts too,” said Carolyn Forno, assistant director of WCSC.

Sayeeda Carter and Regina Keels collaborated on the scripts for Silence Speaks, Secrets Revealed.  “This is a project that really touches me. Having been an educator for 25 years and having children tell me their stories. I thought it was just the most important work we could be doing at this moment,”remarked Ms. Carter. The writers are also educators at a high school on St. Croix. Ms. Keels was named Teacher of the Year for 2018, according to the release.

Listeners will learn about the devastating effects of child sexual abuse through this creative, entertaining programming, the release said. The writers and staff of WCSC hope community members will be encouraged by what they hear to change their experience, the experience of a child or of an adult who was sexually abused in childhood.

WCSC assisted 426 survivors of sexual violence last year, including those who experienced child sexual abuse, child pornography and sex trafficking, according to the release.

“We need to dispel the myths surrounding child sexual abuse. It’s happening right here in the USVI. We must talk about it. We must educate our children on comfortable touch/uncomfortable touch. We must believe our children. Perpetrators need to be held accountable for their actions. Survivors need support,” Ms. Lewis also noted.

The creation and production of Silence Speaks, Secrets Revealed was supported by a grant from Raliance, a collaborative initiative to end sexual violence in one generation, made possible through a commitment from the National Football League (NFL), according to the release. It noted that the radio series’ contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the NFL. WCSC is the first nonprofit in the U.S. Virgin Islands to receive a Raliance grant, according to the release.

For more information about child sexual abuse and WCSC’s programs and services for people impacted by violence, including 24-hour crisis intervention, call 340.773.9272 or email info@wcstx.org. For more information on Silence Speaks, Secrets Revealed, email WCSC at events@wcstx.org

NCMEC And Honeywell Team Up To Fight

Child Sexual Abuse Through Education

Expanded KidSmartz® Program to Deliver New Lesson Plans

to Elementary Classrooms

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 
   
ALEXANDRIA, Va., -- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® and Honeywell (NYSE : HON ) today announced that their joint child safety program, KidSmartz®,  has expanded to teach child sexual abuse prevention. The award-winning program has been educating children in grades K-5 about how to minimize the risk of abduction for five years and NCMEC and Honeywell have collaborated on that topic for more than a decade.

NCMEC created two new lesson plans, "Uncomfortable Touch" and "Surprises vs. Secrets," that are being released in time for back-to-school, and are designed to help educators in classrooms across the country introduce the topic of abuse prevention and teach behaviors that can help keep children safe. The plans are in response to a growing need to address this topic with legislation in many states requiring that schools teach their students about this issue.

"Recent studies suggest that 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday, and our CyberTipline receives thousands of reports every year about this type of victimization," said John Clark, NCMEC president and CEO. "This cannot be ignored. Through KidSmartz®, we can bring critical child abuse prevention education to schools and communities across the country."

1 in 10 is woefully inadequate. As I have mentioned several times, these numbers do not include peer-on-peer abuse for some reason. Most reputable sites use numbers that are considerably higher, for instance the CDC = 1 in 4 girls; 1 in 6 boys. The difference has partly to do with the definition of sexual abuse, and partly to do with where the numbers come from (most sexual abuse is never reported to police or anyone else, ie using official police numbers doesn't come close to reality). 

"It is important that knowledge about how to recognize and repel predatory behavior is delivered to children in grades K-5 so they can protect themselves," said Michael A. Bennett, president, Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship initiative and sponsor of KidSmartz®. "The new lessons will help us deliver this critical information to children nationwide."

KidSmartz® uses videos, music and classroom activities to teach personal safety to children. KidSmartz® materials are available in English and Spanish and are easily downloadable for free at www.KidSmartz.org. The language is age-appropriate and the message can be delivered in an interactive, non-threatening way.

The new lesson plans expand on the safety rules at the core of the KidSmartz® program:

Check First
Take a Friend
Tell People "NO"
Tell a Trusted Adult

For more information, visit KidSmartz® on Facebook and Twitter.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 

Since 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® has served as the leading private, nonprofit organization helping to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization. As part of its work as the clearinghouse and resource center on issues relating to missing and exploited children, NCMEC operates a hot-line, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), and has assisted in the recovery of more than 277,000 missing children. NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline®, a mechanism for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, which has received more than 38 million reports since it was created in 1998. To learn more about NCMEC, visit www.missingkids.org or see NCMEC on Twitter and Facebook.

About Honeywell Hometown Solutions 

KidSmartz®, the "next generation" of Got2BSafe!, is part of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship initiative, which focuses on five areas of vital importance: Science & Math Education, Family Safety & Security, Housing & Shelter, Habitat & Conservation, and Humanitarian Relief. Together with leading public and non-profit institutions, Honeywell has developed powerful programs to address these needs in the communities it serves. For more information, please visit http://citizenship.honeywell.com/.

The public education project that targets the ‘taboo’ subject of child sexual abuse in China

Project HOPE aims to mobilise the public against a serious issue that parents and authorities ‘often try to sweep under the carpet’

Laurie Chen
South China Morning Post

“I was extremely angry [afterward] and couldn’t sleep for the whole night,” the 18-year-old student, Wang Xueying, from the eastern province of Jiangsu recalled of viewing the 2011 Korean film Silenced.

The groundbreaking film, which is based on accounts of real-life systemic child sexual abuse at a deaf school in South Korea, helped raise awareness of a taboo subject in the traditionally conservative country.

Around the same time in 2016, her classmate Yang Xihang, 18, came across numerous news reports of children being sexually assaulted by their teachers and could not stop reading about the victims’ ordeals.

Inspired to move others against a serious and prevalent issue that parents and authorities in China often try to sweep under the carpet, Wang and Yang decided to set up an anti-child sexual abuse education programme in their hometown of Changshu.

The pair said they were deeply moved by the testimony of abuse survivors found on Chinese social media.

Project HOPE is the result of a collaboration between Wang Xueying and Yang Xihang, shown leading an anti-sexual abuse class for primary schoolchildren in Changshu. Photo: Handout

“I was reminded of the time when, as a child, I felt really scared going home after school, in case a wicked man would jump out at me,” Wang said.

“It almost seemed like child sexual abuse wasn’t an issue in China”

When she first started researching the issue, Wang said she found very few high-profile Chinese experts on the topic. Moreover, there was little reporting on the subject by the news media.

“It almost seemed like child sexual abuse wasn’t an issue in China,” she said.

However, such stories have made headlines more frequently in recent years, with a child sexual abuse scandal involving teachers at an upscale Beijing kindergarten (2nd story on link) last November among the highest-profile cases.

But Wang said she initially faced resistance from parents and teachers who believed that sexual abuse was not widespread. Even her own father was puzzled over her desire to make this issue her cause, she said.

“The scariest part is not that nobody is aware of the problem; it’s that nobody thinks it’s a social problem,” she said. “So when children seek protection and want to speak up, nobody is willing to listen.”

“The scariest part is not that nobody is aware of the problem;

it’s that nobody thinks it’s a social problem”

Luckily, the pair discovered Girls’ Protection, an NGO set up by former women journalists that provides lesson plans and other invaluable resources for raising awareness of child sexual abuse and how to prevent it.

Poster for the 2011 film Silenced, which dramatised systemic child sexual abuse at a deaf school in South Korea. Photo: Handout

“Xueying initially suggested [we] create a website and an official account on WeChat to propagate knowledge on anti-child sexual abuse,” Yang said. “I then recalled that our school’s peer counsellor programme had professionals train students to be student counsellors and help other students.

“So we contacted Girls’ Protection in order to get trained by them.”

With a group of close friends, the duo organised weekly screenings of Silenced at their school, United World College Changshu China, to raise awareness of their project. They also mass-emailed the student body to recruit new members for their cause.

They have whittled the respondents down to 50 people through interviews, and divided them into five “departments”: volunteer teachers who give anti-sexual abuse classes at local schools, publicity, external relations, finance and lobbying.

“We and our friends took almost half a year to successfully form our organisation, because we encountered a lot of obstacles,” she said, explaining that some members had to leave because they did not share the project’s values.

So far, the volunteers have taught thousands of children to be on guard against abusers in the local area.

Wang and Yang hope to expand the project to reach more locations around the country. They are currently training female teachers at a network of rural schools via an online video link, and replicate their organisation’s model at other schools. Guidelines from Girls’ Protection state that the teachers giving anti-sexual abuse classes using their lesson plans must be female.

Rural areas are where children are the most likely to suffer sexual abuse, Yang said. Left-behind children whose parents have migrated to urban areas in search of work are particularly at risk, according to a 2017 report from Girls’ Protection.

In July, a 56-year-old male teacher in rural Yunnan province was detained by police on suspicion of sexually assaulting six children at his primary school.

Wang Xiaorong, a teacher at the Changshu Southeast Experimental Primary School, whose students heard a talk by Wang Xueying in April, said seeing “the effective interactions between Project HOPE teachers and students” was extremely satisfying.

Wang Xueying shows a class of female rural schoolteachers a video of an anti-sexual abuse lecture. Photo: Handout

Student Yuan Siyu, 12, said the lecture increased her understanding of “the importance of preventing sexual abuse” and how to guard against it.

Reliable data on child sexual abuse rates is hard to come by in China, owing to a lack of official nationwide surveys. However, the largest academic study of its kind, which polled over 18,000 teenagers in urban and rural regions, found that around one in 13 school-age adolescents in China had experienced sexual abuse.

Of course, this also is inadequate as many of the teenagers would not likely have reached the age of 18 yet, and many victims are will not report for a great variety of reasons. The majority of child sex abuses are never reported to anyone.

A 2017 Girls’ Protection study found that 1.04 cases were reported in the media per day on average, but the real number of occurrences was estimated to be up to eight times higher.

“Confucian culture is strong so it’s awkward to talk about sex,” Wang said. “Parents and teachers will rarely discuss this knowledge with children from an early age.” As a result, she said, children remain ignorant as to the real definition of sexual abuse – unwanted sexual contact acted upon one person by another.

“Children don’t know how to draw the line between sexual abuse [and other behaviours],” Wang said. “So as a result, if a child experiences sexual abuse, they may not recognise it as serious or as sexual abuse, so they would not tell their teachers or parents.”

A scene from the Silenced, a groundbreaking film that helped raise awareness of the taboo subject of child sexual abuse in China. Photo: Handout

Under China’s child sexual abuse laws, offenders can be sentenced to between three and 12 years in prison, depending on whether their crimes were classified under rape and trafficking offences affecting girls and women, or indecent assault, which can apply to both genders.

The age of consent in China is 14 years old, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Project HOPE is working with the local government education bureau and the Women’s Federation to reform existing child sexual abuse laws, including the proposed release of sex offenders’ personal information to the public – similar to the convicted sex offenders’ registry in Britain and Ireland.

They are also lobbying the National Congress in Changshu and the nearby city of Suzhou to make compulsory anti-sexual abuse prevention education part of the national curriculum.

Wang is reluctant to discuss the project’s links with the global #MeToo movement that is currently sweeping China, since her organisation specialises in child sexual abuse, rather than the issues of rape and sexual consent between adults.

But the two projects share one similarity: both encourage survivors of child sexual abuse to speak out and defend their rights.

“We hope that children will be brave enough to report sexual abuse, when facing it, to their parents and not keep it secret,” she said. “In this way, the reporting rate will rise and more children will become braver and speak out.”

God bless you guys; you are doing a wonderful thing!

Youths Using Stage Play To Generate Awareness
On Child Sexual Abuse

They are reaching professionals as well as 8000+ children

Posted by Our Voix in Child Sexual Abuse 
 
Our Voix, a youth-led organization which provides free preventive workshops on Child Sexual Abuse,  organised a stage play named “Hota Rehta Hai” on awareness of child sexual abuse on 17 August  at the Lok Kala Manch. The play focused on the attitude of the society toward the cause and ignorance among them. It was organised in association with “NATYA USTAAD”, a Delhi-based theater and an active cultural group which is committed to the development of innovative and socially relevant shows. People from different fields such as psychologists, lawyers, journalists, consultants, professors, bloggers, among many others attended the event.

During the event, Megha Bhatia, the founder of Our Voix, talked about the magnitude of child sexual abuse and its impact. She said, “It is imperative to teach children about Safe and Unsafe touch.”

The Founder of Natya Ustaad, Arunansh Shokeen says, “We believe in Entertainment with Reality.”

The chief guest advocate Ajayendra Sanghwan spoke extensively about the importance of child sexual abuse Awareness in our country.

Around 170 people who attended this heart-touching stage play were left teary-eyed. “The show was a perfect balance of knowledge humour and emotions. It is not just the responsibility of these artists. We as a society should take a stand for the safety of the future of our Nation”, said a viewer.

In India, every second child is sexually abused, and more than 90% of cases of sexual assault with children go unreported. In such a scenario, Our Voix is working to prevent child sexual abuse. They conduct primary prevention workshops on Child Sexual Abuse for children, teachers, parents and Youth. Within eight months they have reached out to 8000+ children through their workshops and have volunteer base in Canada, US, UK, and across different states in India. They are currently conducting workshops in MCD schools in Karol Bagh Zone and aiming to cover 90+ schools.

Their workshops help parents to break the hesitation and provide them with the correct knowledge about a topic which is swept under the carpet in our society. Women are re-empowered and given tools to empower their children and other women too. Their focus is to prevent abuse before it occurs.
The organisation is the brainchild of Megha Bhatia who holds an LLM degree specialisation in Human Rights from University College London. Our Voix team comprises of Consultants, professors, psychologists, journalists, etc. The aim is to make childhood safe again.

It is rightly said by John Caldwell Holt, American author, that “Modern childhood is no more a happy, safe and innocent place for our children due to increasing cases of abuse”. However, Our Voix is working to prevent CSA and protect the rights and dignity of children from getting shattered.

If you are a survivor, parent or guardian who wants to seek help for child sexual abuse, or know someone who might, you can dial 1098 for CHILDLINE (a 24-hour national helpline) or email them at dial1098@childlineindia.org.in. You can also call NGO Arpan on their helpline 091-98190-86444, for counselling support.

'Be Brave for Kids' campaign works to bring help

to child sexual abuse victims

A child is sexually abused every 10 seconds in the U.S.  – that amounts to more than 86,000 reports each day.

More than 2,000 of those children were helped by Bivonia Child Advocacy Center last year in Rochester. That's why the center has teamed up with Causewave community partners to put a stop to abuse.

The Be Brave for Kids campaign was created to bring an awareness to child sexual abuse. Marisol Ramos-Lopez, a survivor of child sexual abuse knows first-hand how important this is.

“It doesn't matter how wealthy you are or how poor you are, it doesn't matter how much education you have or don't,” said Ramos-Lopez. “This is an issue that is impacting everyone.”

She joined the Be Brave committee to ensure that child sexual abuse is talked about. “So that children feel the openness to talk to their parents, but also that adults know how to report it, know the signs and know the questions to ask.”

This summer, the coalition launched a new website that shows what signs to look for. Portions of the site are geared towards adults that work with children in schools.

“We really want to make sure that those individuals are keenly aware of the dynamics of sexual abuse and what their role is in protecting children is,” said Deb Rosen.

The site is 100 percent confidential and anonymous also if your on the site and you quickly need to exit, maybe because you believe the abuser is in the home. They set it up so you can just press escape and you're out.

Todd Butler with Causewave community partners says this website will give parents the tools and resources to do the right thing. “If you have a suspicion but your not ready to call child protective services or your not ready to dial 911 that resources like this brand new website that we've just launched are there for you.”


One in 10 children are sexually abused before their 18th birthday. They hope this initiative will not only raise the awareness but in time decrease those odds.

After their child sex abuse was recorded and spread online, survivors call on Five Eyes governments to take action

'No longer content to live in the shadows, we are redefining

what it means to be victims'

CBC News

A group of survivors whose childhood sexual abuse was recorded and, in many cases, distributed online is calling on Canada and its global intelligence allies to do more to end the spread of child sexual abuse imagery.

The group of 11 women, called the Phoenix 11, was formed through a series of survivor meetings organized by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and the U.S.-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children over the past year.

"We are the Phoenix 11. Sexually abused as children, reduced to child sex abuse images, and stripped of our dignity and humanity, we have risen together as powerful young women who are retaking our identities and self-worth," the group said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

"No longer content to live in the shadows, we are redefining what it means to be victims who were powerless to stop the relentless onslaught of the technology of abuse."

On behalf of the group, the Canadian and U.S. centres sent letters to officials in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and the United Kingdom — the countries that make up the tight-knit security and intelligence partnership known as the Five Eyes — ahead of their meeting in Australia this month.

The letter focused on the rights of the survivors to demand the speedy removal of the images of their sexual abuse from the internet and calling for programs to help victims recover or escape abusive circumstances.

"If you can imagine, these young women were silenced, and we know child sexual abuse thrives in secrecy. These were women who were so terrified to talk about their experiences and their ongoing trauma," said Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, based in Winnipeg.

"Unlike other historical abuse scenarios, because of the trading component and the distribution, their past is their present. Their trauma continues."

Governments to tackle 'grave threats'

On Wednesday, ministers from the Five Eyes countries issued a joint statement saying they're as committed to tackling online threats as physical ones, and stating governments "must escalate government and industry efforts to stop widespread transmission of child sexual exploitation material."

"Our citizens expect online spaces to be safe, and are gravely concerned about illegal and illicit online content, particularly the online sexual exploitation of children. We stand united in affirming that the rule of law can and must prevail online," the statement says.

The statement also called on the digital online industry to take urgent action.

A spokesperson for Public Safety Canada said ministers agreed to establish a senior officials group to monitor industry progress on a quarterly basis.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale met with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection earlier this month, the spokesperson said in an email.

"Online child sexual exploitation disproportionately affects girls. It's an abhorrent and horrific crime, and victims often suffer devastating and long-lasting consequences," the spokesperson wrote.

"We applaud the courage of Phoenix 11 for standing up to those who exploited them and advocating for change. We fully agree with them that more needs to be done and have been hard at work on the challenge."

McDonald said she still tears up when she reads the Phoenix 11 statement. "I think because for years doing this work we … bear witness to the actual trauma and abuse of children being victimized," she said.

"And to watch this first generation come together, band together, become mobilized and really put the world on notice that they're not going to take it anymore — it's very, very powerful."

Phoenix 11 Advocacy Impact Statement:

For a long time we were afraid. We were afraid of the dark, we were afraid of the unknown, we were afraid of our past and what it meant for our future. Alone, isolated, yet exposed to the world, we knew there were others like us out there, yet we were scared to confront their pain because of what they understood about our pain.

Last year we all took a bold step to overcome the fears about ourselves, to band together to become a force for change. To speak for all those who cannot speak for themselves. To make the invisible visible. To make the two dimensional three dimensions.

We are the Phoenix 11. Sexually abused as children, reduced to child sex abuse images, and stripped of our dignity and humanity, we have risen together as powerful young women who are retaking our identities and self-worth.

No longer content to live in the shadows, we are redefining what it means to be victims who were powerless to stop the relentless onslaught of the technology of abuse.

We are survivors of sexual torture, child rape, erotic photoshoots, pedophile sleepovers, elementary school sex shows, streaming BDSM, and twisted sexual desires whose digital images are trafficked worldwide to fulfil the endless needs of an evil perverted community which takes pleasure from our pain.

Now we are putting the world on notice that we will no longer be a silent suffering collage of young girls and boys whose nameless and often faceless images and videos circulate worldwide in the internet cesspool of humanity.

We are the Phoenix 11. 
Hear our voice. 
See our strength. 
Answer our call.
We will not be stopped. 

We will not be silent.

School Kids Fight Sexual Abuse in India!

“I have come across some heart wrenching anecdotes from these students. The idea is not only to educate but also help them overcome any such memories that will cause them suffering.”

by Tanvi Patel

For so many of us, a simple touch can convey so many different things. When my dad keeps a hand on my shoulder, I know he wants me to feel protected. When a stranger in the bus pokes me from behind, he is just signalling that he needs me to move aside.

However, when we are clicking photographs at a family gathering, the behaviour of the uncle who stands next to me and caresses my back is repulsive and nauseating.

Statistics suggest that there is a high probability that everyone has faced such a situation at least once in their life. Sexual harassment can happen to anyone at any age, and it is especially disturbing for young children who know in their hearts that they are experiencing something “bad” but are not quite sure about how to articulate or address it.

Saroj Kumari, an IPS officer who works as Deputy Commissioner of Police in Vadodara, Gujarat is on a mission to arm children with the confidence to fight against sexual harassment.

She is doing this by going to schools and teaching children about appropriate and inappropriate touching.

The Better India spoke to the DCP about her initiative, Samajh Sparsh Ki (Understanding a touch).

“We write a letter to schools and approach them with the SSK sessions, and focus on students between the ages of 5 to 15 years. Then we discuss a timing with the school when the parents are around as well so that the conversation becomes more wholesome. We speak to the parents very seriously. We tell them about criminal offences, what measures they can take if their child complains of sexual harassment and how they can open a conversation with their kids about the same,” she informed TBI.

The teachers are told to look out for behavioural differences or signals—like a talkative child who suddenly becomes withdrawn and quiet for example. With the children, it’s more of fun and games. The team of IPS officers give them chocolates and goody bags during the session and make the atmosphere fun.

“We don’t even utter the word ‘crime’ in the presence of children as it might scare them and our motto is to make them comfortable enough to open up about their experiences, not bottle them up further. We also never mix the group of parents, teachers and students. Each group requires a unique and different type of treatment, and we give them that,” the IPS officer told us.

Saroj has established a team of 12 members to carry out the mission of SSK. They are all policewomen, trained in gender sensitisation and have already spoken to about 2000 kids in 20 different schools in Gujarat.

Their very first step was to change their uniform, as they genuinely wanted to be more approachable. Suraksha Setu Societies operating in Gujarat are aiding the policewomen’s cause by supporting them financially.

I asked the DCP what exactly do they tell the children to do if they encounter such a situation.

She gave me the following examples—

“We tell them that if a senior in school, especially of the opposite gender, or a teacher, asks that they accompany them to say, a toilet or a dark area, they must firmly refuse to do so. If they encounter a person touching them inappropriately in a public space, they must shout ‘NO!’ and alert others immediately. We encourage them to tell their parents about such incidents, or a trusted adult so that immediate action can be taken against the offender.”

The 12-member team has already helped many children come ahead with their stories of harassment. Some speak about women harassing them on a bus, and some recalled experiences of being sexually assaulted at wedding ceremonies and family gatherings.

“I have come across some heart-wrenching anecdotes from these students. If we feel that there is a need and the situation is grim, a psychologist is roped in to help the student move on from that ugly incident, and if the situation is very recent, we even take immediate action against the offender.

The idea is not only to inform and educate them but also help them overcome memories which will only cause suffering in the future,” the IPS officer told The Better India.

The children are also taught to call 1098—the children’s helpline that can take action against the offenders. The motive of the SSK initiative is to bring cases of child sexual harassment to the fore and create an open dialogue so that the kids no longer feel like mute victims.

Initiated in Vadodara and Surat, the team wishes to take these sessions to more schools in Gujarat. “We encourage the students to not only remember what we said in the sessions but also to convey it to five of their friends. Some children tell me that even their parents don’t know what good touch and bad touch is. So I say, ‘tell your parents too!'”

Thanks to initiatives like these, victims of sexual harassment now know that they have strong support by their side. Not only will this make them confident to confront the people who harass or offend them, but they will also be empowered to take steps to stop them right there!

Excellent! So proud of you guys.

Murderous Nuns; 6ix9ine; 3 Priests; Jewish Preschool; Redlands Schools Lead Today's USA PnP List

Oklahoma man arrested for sex abuse of 8 y/o girl

By: Michael Purdy

TULSA -  A 32-year-old man was arrested Monday afternoon in Tulsa for child sexual abuse.

Court record show Dante Ribeiro faces five counts of sexually abusing a child under the age of 12.

So far, not a lot of details have been released. We do know his victim is said to be an 8-year-old girl.

Tulsa World reports Ribeiro is currently being held on a $250,000 bond and he is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 4.

KRMG will follow the case as it moves through the court system.  

Catholic Diocese of Charleston faces 2 new lawsuits over child sex abuse claims

By Angie Jackson ajackson@postandcourier.com 

Diocese of Charleston Bishop Robert Guglielmone presides over the dedication of the Chapel of the Holy Family in 2015. The diocese is facing lawsuits from two men who alleged they were sexually abused as boys in the 1950s and 1960s. File/Wade Spees/Staff 

The Catholic Diocese of Charleston faces new allegations of sexual abuse from two people who said their repressed memories of incidents from the 1950s and 1960s surfaced recently due to news reports and other litigation.

In separate lawsuits filed this month in Charleston County, two men said they were sexually abused when they were students and altar boys. They alleged that the diocese knew or should have known of the molestation, failed to protect them and concealed their abusers’ predatory behavior toward children. 

In a statement, the diocese said officials have reached out to the men and offered them professional counseling. Attorneys are working on responses to both lawsuits.

The legal action comes at a time when the Catholic Church is grappling with widespread accusations of sexual misconduct following an expansive report from a grand jury in Pennsylvania.

The investigation released earlier this month found that more than 300 priests sexually abused more than 1,000 children since the 1940s. One of the priests led a church in Charleston for several years in the early 1990s after a victim came forward in Pennsylvania in the 1980s, according to the report.

A lawsuit filed Friday by attorney Lawrence Richter of Mount Pleasant stated that a victim was around the ages of 10 or 12 in the mid-1950s when he was sexually abused by Frederick Hopwood, a Charleston priest known for sex crimes who died in April 2017. 

In 1994, Hopwood admitted to repeatedly molesting an altar boy in the early 1970s. He pleaded guilty to one count of a lewd act upon a minor after at least 10 men came forward with stories of abuse. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, he received statewide immunity from further prosecution.

Wow! That sounds like a sweetheart deal!

The victim in the latest lawsuit said he remembered Hopwood saying that if he told anyone about the misconduct, he and his family “would be excommunicated and they would all go to hell,” according to the suit.

Another victim represented by Richter, who filed a separate lawsuit against the diocese on Aug. 8, said his abusers also threatened him with recrimination. The suit alleged that two male teachers and youth leaders at the former Sacred Heart Catholic School, now known as Charleston Catholic School, sexually assaulted him in the late-1960s when he was around the ages of 12 to 14.

The teachers “preyed on” young boys at church properties and other locations such as beaches, according to the suit. 

Memories of the abuse came back to the victim within the past two years. The other victim who said he was molested by Hopwood said he began to recall the incidents over the past few months. 

“His memories were repressed; he disassociated,” the lawsuit said. 

Richter could not be reached for comment.

Gregg Meyers, a Charleston-based attorney who has represented sexual abuse victims in other lawsuits against the diocese, said cases involving repressed memories are rare but recognized by South Carolina courts. He said such claims must meet specific criteria and be corroborated by a mental health professional. 

Deceased Lafayette priest accused of child sex abuse

Claire Taylor, Lafayette Daily Advertiser 

Allegations of child sex abuse have been raised against a deceased priest from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette.

Diocesan spokeswoman Blue Rolfes, in a written statement released Tuesday, said the diocese was made aware of allegations of sexual abuse of minors by the late Rev. Kenneth Morvant.

"There is no evidence of Father Morvant being implicated in the abuse of minors," Rolfes wrote. "These allegations, however, are being given appropriate consideration. Father Kenneth Morvant, though deceased, maintains the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise."

The alleged incidents, she wrote, occurred 35 to 40 years ago, which would have been between 1978 and 1983.

Morvant served as a priest in the Diocese of Lafayette 42 years, from 1961 until 2003. He died Dec. 13, 2003, at the age of 72 at his Carencro residence.

A native of Abbeville, Morvant was ordained June 3, 1961, at the Cathedral of St. John in Lafayette, where he served as an associate pastor until 1966, The Daily Advertiser reported upon his death.

He was pastor at several church parishes in the diocese, including Eunice, Rayne, Coteau Homes and at St. Martin de Tours church in St. Martinville.

Utah Catholic priest under investigation for

child sex abuse

Victims allege Father David Gaeta touched them inappropriately in the 1980s

By:  Rick Aaron 

OGDEN (News4Utah) - A Catholic priest remains on administrative leave while accusations he inappropriately touched children are investigated.

On Sunday a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City was read to the parishioners at 10 different churches where Father David Gaeta served including St. Joseph in Ogden where he was assigned from 1980 to 1984. It's during that time when the incidents allegedly happened.

When Father Gaeta was named the Pastor of St. Peter's Catholic Church in American Fork at the beginning of August, it apparently triggered some painful memories and the victims, now well into adulthood, contacted the Diocese which notified the Department of Child and Family Services and placed Gaeta on leave.

"Father Gaeta's not serving," Jean Hill of the Catholic Diocese told News4Utah on Monday. "He has been suspended from all ministry activities. He is not at the rectory. He is staying in another location and is not allowed to perform any of his duties as a priest within the Diocese."

Why would the accusers wait more than 34 years to report the incidents? Gwen Knight of Prevent Child Abuse says that 88 percent of child victims don't report...for a variety of reasons.

"Fear of not being believed, shame, several reasons like that," Knight explained. "Sometimes they use coercion or they'll threaten a child or you know make them feel they won't be believed."

Predators will often make you fell like it is your fault. Even some who find out about your abuse will make you fell like it is your fault. My uncle, who found me being abused at about age 4, chastised me for allowing this man who was in his 20s and over 6 feet tall to abuse me. 

Now the Salt Lake City Diocese is attempting to walk a fine line while their Review Board, the DCFS and law enforcement evaluate the claims against Father Gaeta.

"He is denying all the allegations," Hill said. "We are going through our process to make sure that we protect both his rights and also protect the victims and make sure there's no revictimization in this process."

The statement from the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City read:

"We regret to inform you that the Diocese of Salt Lake City received allegations of sexual misconduct against Father David R. Gaeta which involved minors. Father Gaeta is the Pastor at Saint Peter Catholic Church in American Fork, Utah. He was ordained for the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1980. He has been placed on administrative leave effective Friday, August 24, 2018, pending the outcome of the investigation by the Diocese. This matter has been reported to law enforcement, and we will cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation. If you have any information or concerns, please call Sandy Growe, Victims Assistance Coordinator, at 801-328-8641. Please continue to pray for all those impacted by this matter."

PA man accused of threatening his victim

from prior child sex abuse case

By Becky Metrick bmetrick@pennlive.com

Nearly three years after a Lebanon man was convicted of having sexual contact with a minor, he was accused of contact with the same victim, this time in a threatening manner.

South Londonderry Township Police charged Andrew Sears, 27, Sunday with intimidation, retaliation or obstruction in child abuse cases, retaliation against a victim or witness, and harassment, according to a release.

Sears was first charged with several child sex abuse crimes in December 2014 for having sexual contact with a minor. Sears was 23 at the time and the individual was 11, police said. 

In October 2015, Sears was convicted of indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of a minor and intimidation of a victim or witness, police said.

Sears' sentence included incarceration and two years of probation, police said. He was also found to be a sexually violent predator by the state Sexual Offender Board, and was required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law. 

A sexually violent predator and he was out of jail while his victim was still in his mid-teens!!! That's not justice!

Police said that Sears on Sunday was driving a vehicle in Campbelltown, South Londonderry Township, where he encountered the victim of the prior case, one block from that persons's house. The unidentified victim is now 15 years old, police said.

Sears is accused of rolling down his window, threatening that person and driving away, police said. The individual reported the incident to a family member, who then contacted police. 

Police found Sears leaving a church in the area, where he was parked, police said. Sears was taken into custody and transported to Lebanon County Central Booking for arraignment.

Sears was placed in Lebanon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $50,000 bail.

UCF students plan protest after rapper charged with child sex abuse allowed to perform on campus

By: Lauren Seabrook

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Some University of Central Florida students are working to prevent a controversial rapper with a history of child sex abuse charges from performing at CFE Arena. 

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine is known for his unconventional appearance,  controversial behavior and criminal record.

He's planning a show on Sept. 22 at the CFE Arena and some students hope he never sets foot on campus. The rapper's child sex case has a led to a petition and a planned protest.

So far students’ efforts to have the concert canceled have failed. 

Student Noemi Teutsch hopes to see more people outside than fans inside when Tekashi 6ix9ine performs. “People are just as outraged as I am, if not more," she said. 

Obviously, rap fans are not!

She started a petition, which has surpassed 5,000 signatures, asking UCF to cancel the concert. "Universities are supposed to be upholding certain moral standards and certain values,” said Teutsch. 

In 2015, the rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was charged for his part in making a sexually explicit video with a 13-year-old girl and posting the video on social media.

In a deal with the state of New York, he pleaded guilty to a felony of use of a child in a sexual performance.

Plea deals... aren't they wonderful?

"I just can't believe someone like this would be considered on a university campus to perform," said Teutsch. 

UCF officials said in a statement, "Outside performers can rent the space. However, that does not mean that the university endorses them. At all times, the safety of our campus is our top priority."

You may not endorse them but you certainly are making a statement that you are not at all concerned with their values or lack thereof.

Spectra manages the area. 

"As far as I'm concerned, they are endorsing, and they are condoning his behavior because they're allowing him to come on campus to perform," said Teutsch.

Teutsch hopes UCF cancels Tekashi 6ix9ine before it comes to a protest. She worries allowing the show to go on normalizes his behavior. "I honestly think it's ridiculous. It makes no sense whatsoever. Because at some point, you have to draw the line somewhere," said Teutsch. 

The rapper will be sentenced Oct. 1, which means he could be going to prison nine days after performing at UCF. 

Controversy also followed the rapper recently overseas when he wasn’t allowed to perform in Manchester due to his criminal record.

He has not run into any problems in any other countries.

Nuns at Vermont Catholic orphanage accused of sexual abuse, child torture and even murder

The home closed down in 1974, and the shocking allegations involve vulnerable young kids who lived there from the 1930s through to the 1970s

By Jon Lockett

HORROR stories of torture and murder have resurfaced following a lengthy investigation into historic abuse at a Catholic orphanage in the States.

St Joseph's in Burlington, Vermont, shut its doors in 1974, and the shocking allegations involve vulnerable young kids who lived there from the 1930s through to the 1970s.

An unidentified nun with young boys at St. Joseph's orphanage 

The new four-year probe by BuzzFeed News exposes the full-scale of the alleged abuse suffered by those at the home, run by the Montreal-based Sisters of Providence.

Official public documents and witness interviews are said to back-up many of the horrific claims made by the orphanage's former residents.

Sally Dale spent 21 years at St. Joseph's, which is just south of the Canadian border, after being sent there aged just two.

In 1996, she gave a lengthy legal statement telling of alleged abuse - including claims she once saw a nun throw a boy to his death from a window.

The orphanage was run by the Sisters of Providence until it shut down in 1974 

Dale - who is now dead -  claimed she was about six when she saw a young boy plummet out of a window, with a nun leaning out behind him. "And he kind of hit and - I guess you'd call it, it was a bounce. And then he laid still,'" claimed Dale.

She then told how the nun she was walking with at the time hauled her away and told her she'd just imagined what she'd seen.

Dale also claimed she had once been forced by a nun to kiss the badly burned and disfigured corpse of a boy who had been electrocuted.

A graphic T-shirt made by one of the orphanage's former residents

The property was recently purchased by a developer, which has converted it upscale condos 

Dale was one of about 100 former residents of St. Joseph's who filed suits against the Catholic Church in the 1990s.

Joseph Eskra, who spent time at the orphanage in the 1950s and early 1960s, told how one boy who failed to turn up at dinner was later found tied to a tree - frozen to death.

Other stories included claims of horrible beatings, cruel punishments, torture with fire and sexual abuse at the hands of the nuns.

Three women recalled that a girl was once placed face down over a desk and beaten with a wooden paddle. One said the nun had started out hitting the girl with a piece of wood two or three feet long, but it broke, and that’s when she reached for the paddle.

Video 9:14 - Caution, may trigger PTSD

Eventually the handle of the paddle snapped, so she got another and used that one until she was finished. “You could always tell when they were done,” one woman explained, “because the last one was the hardest.”

Those that witnessed the beatings were told if they ever mentioned the incidents they would never see their parents again.

Graffiti written on a wall in the grounds of the former orphanage

The abandoned chapel of St Joseph's Orphanage in Vermont

However, Dale's high-profile claims, and those by other former residents, were dismissed by the courts. Other litigants settled with the Church for as little as £3,000.

From 1935 until the orphanage closed in 1974, five of the eight priests who ran it were also accused of sexual abuse, according to documents that later emerged in other litigation.

The Diocese of Burlington, Vermont Catholic Charities and the Sisters of Providence has declined to comment on the allegations.

However Monsignor John McDermott, of the Burlington Diocese, gave BuzzFeed the following statement: "The Diocese treats allegations of child abuse seriously and procedures are in place for reporting to the proper authorities."

Whoopee! That should make everyone feel better!

Sexual abuse of child charges filed against 18 y/o man

CHATHAM, Ill. (WAND) – A Chatham man is accused of sexually abusing at least one underage person.

Court records show Michael Ford, 18, is facing three charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 18, along with another three counts of criminal sexual abuse.

Chatham police command officers were not immediately available to comment on the case Tuesday night.

Ford is out of jail after posting 10 percent of his $100,000 bond in Sangamon County. He is scheduled to first appear in court on Sept. 27.

Trial begins for Texas man accused of

sexual abuse of a child

LAREDO, TX (KGNS) - The trial of a man accused of sexually abusing a child, started early Tuesday morning.

48-year-old Kayro Moreno is accused of sexually abusing a child for a period of two years.

Moreno is facing numerous charges that include indecency with a child by contact and aggravated sexual assault.

The victim, in this case, testified about the encounters she had with Moreno. She testified not knowing how many times he sexually abused her, which according to her started when she was 8 years of age.

The victim's mother also testified about her relationship with Moreno.

The trial will start on Tuesday morning against Moreno in the 406th district court.

D.C. police investigating child sex abuse allegations at Jewish preschool

by Stephen Tschida/ABC7

WASHINGTON, D.C. police are investigating allegations of child sex abuse at a Jewish preschool.

The Washington Hebrew Congregation sent a letter to parents on Aug. 19 following the Aug. 15 allegations. It said it put the employee, the apparent subject of the accusation, on administrative leave over allegations that they “may have engaged in inappropriate conduct involving one or more children.”

A D.C. police report said the alleged abuse occurred between September 2017 and August 2018.

“We are deeply troubled by the allegations and are addressing them utilizing internal and external resources. Likewise, we are working closely with the affected families to provide information, counseling and support,” the first letter said.

The congregation then sent a second letter detailing how it is changing procedures in the aftermath of the alleged abuse.

“Staff members will be added to ensure that children are supervised by at least two teachers at all times,” the second letter said.

Sexual abuse cases involving three teachers costs Redlands school district more than $15 million

Richard Winton

The Redlands Unified School District has agreed to settlements totaling $15.7 million in connection with lawsuits involving three teachers accused of molesting eight former students.

The large settlement for the district of 21,000 students comes after repeated allegations that school officials failed to alert authorities of suspected sexual abuse by staff of students. The settlements include more than $7 million for one of six victims of Redlands High School math teacher Kevin Patrick Kirkland.

Last year Kirkland pleaded guilty to eight felonies and three misdemeanors for sexually abusing four female students from May 2015 to May 2016. He was sentenced to two years in prison but served only 13 months.

According to attorneys, that single payout to Kirkland’s victim is the largest pre-trial settlement involving a sex abuse allegation against an educator.

The school district and its insurer in recent years had previously paid out more than $6.5 million to settle claims that students were sexually abused by their teachers, including $6 million for a high school boy who fathered his teacher's baby.

According to the suit, Kirkland engaged in sexual acts with dozens of students while administrators dissuaded victims from reporting his actions.

An administrator told one student in 2012 that Kirkland would be disciplined as long as she "did not go to the press," according to the lawsuit in San Bernardino County Superior Court. The suit alleges district officials knew of problems with Kirkland dating to 2006. In 2016, the district tried to dissuade a student from reporting the assault to police, according to the suit.

“The size of this settlement reflects the immense harm done to our clients and the continuing failure of the Redlands Unified School District to protect students from sexual predators. We have eight perpetrators at Redlands High School in a 10-year period who have been preying upon the students unabated,” said Morgan Stewart, an attorney who handled the cases. ”The administration in charge was the same during each of these incidents, which is telling.”

Stewart on Tuesday said the state and the federal governments need to investigate the district’s conduct and its years of cover-ups and failure to act on reports.

He said Kirkland, 59, targeted the most vulnerable as a special-needs math teacher by using treats and tricks to groom students.

The school district responded to the announcement in a statement, saying, “We hope that this settlement provides a sense of closure and healing for the victims and enables our District to move forward. Regrettably, Redlands Unified is unable to erase the repugnant actions of these individuals.”

The district said it would act swiftly on any child abuse actions and had retained a top expert on the issue to advise and train staff.

The settlement costs will mostly be borne by the district’s insurer, a school district joint powers authority. Redlands Unified itself is required to pay $383,330.

The settlements also include one for a student who in a lawsuit alleged she was sexually abused as a 15- and 16-year-old by former English teacher Brian Townsley in 2008. Prosecutors opted to not charge Townsley with “annoying or molesting” a child in 2008. The girl had initially denied being abused by the teacher.

Another former student who received a settlement alleged Daniel Bachman, a former Redlands High theater technician, had sex with her as a minor from 2011 to 2013. Redlands police investigated Bachman, who was in his early 20s at the time. During the August 2015 interview he admitted to having had sexual intercourse with the student, according to a police report filed in the lawsuit. But the San Bernardino County district attorney's office declined to charge him, citing insufficient evidence.

He confessed, and there was insufficient evidence? Seriously? San Bernardino County needs a new DA!

Stewart said the significant sums for the settlements are in part because of a failure by administrators to investigate reports of sexual abuse. He also notes that outgoing Dist. Atty. Mike Ramos once served on the school board and that his office has not charged administrators whom police officers believe did not handle the allegations appropriately.

After Laura Whitehurst, a teacher at Redlands and Citrus Valley high schools, was convicted in 2013 for having sex with three boys, including one who was the father of her child, Redlands police referred two administrators for prosecution.

The district attorney’s office declined to charge neither the then-Citrus High principal nor the human resources chief with failing to report allegations of child abuse under a state-mandated reporter law.

So, did I mention San Bernardino county is in need of a new DA.