Everyday thousands of children are being sexually abused. You can stop the abuse of at least one child by simply praying. You can possibly stop the abuse of thousands of children by forwarding the link in First Time Visitor? by email, Twitter or Facebook to every Christian you know. Save a child or lots of children!!!! Do Something, please!

3:15 PM prayer in brief:
Pray for God to stop 1 child from being molested today.
Pray for God to stop 1 child molestation happening now.
Pray for God to rescue 1 child from sexual slavery.
Pray for God to save 1 girl from genital circumcision.
Pray for God to stop 1 girl from becoming a child-bride.
If you have the faith pray for 100 children rather than one.
Give Thanks. There is more to this prayer here

Please note: All my writings and comments appear in bold italics in this colour

Saturday 27 October 2018

2 Young EU Women Gang-Raped by Migrants, 1 Dead, Lead Today's Global PnP List

Trial of Super-Paedophile Aijaz Sheikh
Finally Progressing in Kashmir


Update: I have finally some good news for all our followers. The hearing against #AijazSheikh that was scheduled for today concluded a while ago. One more survivor was finally able to testify against Sheikh today.

The survivor explained to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) how Sheikh raped him for more than 50 times during a period of 4 years. He also stated that Sheikh forced other children present at his house to penetrate him (the survivor). Furthermore, the survivor said that he too was forced to penetrate several children, who were younger than him. The survivor remained silent for years because of the fear and trauma inflicted by Sheikh upon his heart and soul. 

Not a single hearing since 31st May 2018 had taken place in this particular case. We were given several reasons: either the judge was on leave or Sheikh was absent. However, today the proceedings went smoothly and we are all pleased with it.

As per our observation, it didn’t seem like Sheikh has any regrets for what he has done to thousands of children in the past 25 years. He looked like the same arrogant and shameless man. His family and friends had come to see him in the court.

There was a new Chief Judicial Magistrate who heard the case. The survivor was treated nicely by the judge. We are hopeful that we will be treated with the same empathy in the future as well.

The case will be heard again on 10th of November 2018.

FYI, Sheikh is accused of having sexually abused thousands of children in the past two and a half decades. An F.I.R under Section 377 RPC was registered against him by a child’s father on 2nd of March 2016, whose son was sexually abused by Sheikh for more than 50 times over a period of four years. Sheikh was arrested the next day and later granted bail to help him prepare his defence. 

This case has entered into its third year and is currently being heard by Chief Judicial Magistrate in Sopore. In April 2018, there was another twist in the case, when Sheikh was booked under Unlawful Activities Act. Sheikh is currently awaiting another trial in High Court Srinagar and has been lodged in Udhampur Jail for the time being.





Young woman drugged and gang-raped by refugees in Freiburg, Germany; Police and Media keep it quiet for 2 weeks

FILE PHOTO. © Global Look Press / Stefan Sauer

German police have arrested eight people, including seven Syrian refugees and a German citizen, over their suspected involvement in a group sexual assault on a 18-year-old woman in the city of Freiburg.

The incident took place on the night of October 14 but the police only issued a detailed report on the matter after all major suspects were detained. The victim, whose identity has not been revealed, attended a disco party at one of the local clubs, where she became acquainted with a Syrian asylum seeker, the police said in a statement.

He bought her a drink and the pair then left the club together, the statement adds. The man is alleged to have then dragged the woman into nearby bushes and raped her. The perpetrator then left his victim in the bushes and returned to the club to "call his friends," the German Bild daily reports.

The woman was subsequently raped by at least seven other men. According to police, the victim could not resist the assaults and was left "completely defenseless" as she was allegedly "intoxicated" by an unknown substance. German media reported that the drink the Syrian bought her might have contained "knockout drops" or some drugs.

The woman survived the encounter and filed a complaint to the police the next day. In the two weeks following the assault, officers detained seven Syrian nationals, who "were mostly living in the refugee shelters" in and around Freiburg, as well as a German citizen. The investigators also said that they "cannot rule out that other persons were involved" in the incident.

A general view shows the city of Freiburg, southwestern Germany. © REUTERS / Vincent Kessler

The Syrian suspects are between 19- and 29-years old, while the German is 25, the police said, providing no further details of the suspects' identities. "Almost all the… suspects have been previously known to police," the statement said, without revealing the exact nature of their previous misdemeanors.

The incident has once again fueled anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany, which has accepted more than a million refugees and asylum seekers since the 2015 refugee crisis, sparking resentment among some parts of the population.

"It is apparently a sheer coincidence that the particularly multicultural Freiburg hits the headlines again and again because of the particularly brutal sex crimes," one person sarcastically wrote on Twitter. It is indeed not the first such incident in the western German city. Back in 2016, Freiburg was shocked by the death of Maria Ladenburger, a 19-year-old medical student, who was raped and drowned by an Afghan asylum seeker.

An Afghan asylum seeker who had committed the rape and murder of a girl while in Greece. He was sentenced to prison, and then allowed to emigrate to Germany without any warning to German immigration or police.

Other people were seemingly shocked by the brazenness of the crime. "A [rapist] would 'usually' quickly sneak away [being] ashamed of the rape. But this Syrian had also called his buddies. Who could even understand that?" another person wrote in a tweet.

Some also blamed the German authorities for the incident. "All detainees were known to police because of earlier crimes. Why are they still in our country?" a person asked rhetorically. "This rape could have been prevented. The accomplices sit in the Bundestag!" another man wrote in an apparent attack on Germany's asylum and immigration policies.

The German media also received its share of criticism over what some described as inadequate coverage of the incident. "No, Tagesschau, that is not how it works today. [You] dedicated only a small note to the rape in Freiburg but issued a minutes-long video report about some 'trumpets in rental apartments.' Intention? Importance? In such a way, the media like you unfortunately provide a distorted picture," a person wrote on Twitter, referring to a news show aired by the German public broadcaster, ARD.

It's curious how the German (and Swiss) media are so determined to protect asylum seekers, even those who are murderers and rapists. You would think they would be more inclined to protect young German girls and women from murderers and rapists; but they don't!

The German anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party also rushed to condemn the incident and promote some of its ideas. "What else should actually happen in our country before it will be acknowledged that multiculturalism is not something that is right? All the perpetrators were known to police… but roam free and gang-rape a defenseless woman," the Bavarian branch of the right-wing party tweeted.




'I think I strangled her': Canadian trial hears accused's alleged confession to 12y/o's 1978 murder
Jason Proctor · CBC News 

Monica Jack disappeared in May 1978 while riding her bicycle between Merritt and her home on the tiny Quilchena reserve. Garry Taylor Handlen is on trial for her murder. (RCMP)

The tinny hiss of a police recording filled a courtroom Tuesday as a rapt judge and jury listened to Garry Taylor Handlen tell an undercover officer he killed 12-year-old Monica Jack four decades ago.

The alleged confession marked the culmination of an elaborate RCMP sting in which Handlen was confronted by a man he believed to be the head of a criminal organization.

A "crime boss" — who was, in fact, an experienced police officer — told Handlen his contacts claimed DNA tests tied the Ontario man to Jack's 1978 killing and police had him in their sights.

They could "clean" the situation up. But first, the so-called "boss" needed to know what happened.

"I remember picking up a broad one time. Havin' sex. Then I just lost it for some reason," Handlen told him.

"I think I strangled her. I'm not sure."

'All I know is she was Indian'

Prosecutors played the nearly 90-minute long videotape to the 10 men and four women charged with deciding Handlen's fate.

Now in his early 70s, the accused has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He listened through headphones in a glass-enclosed prisoner's box.


Garry Taylor Handlen as he appeared around the time that Monica Jack went missing in 1978. He is on trial for first degree murder. (RCMP)

Directly behind him, Monica Jack's sister sat in the front row of the B.C. Supreme Court public gallery, clutching the hand of a relative. Tears ran down her cheeks as the video played, and the undercover officer posing as the boss asked Handlen to elaborate.

"Do you remember anything about her at all?" the officer asked. "No. All I know is she was Indian," Handlen said.

'I just grabbed her'

Jack lived on the tiny Quilchena reserve outside of the town of Merritt, about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. She was out riding a new bicycle a few weeks before her 13th birthday when she vanished.

The bicycle was found near a pullout by a lake the next day. According to the prosecution, a forestry worker discovered Jack's remains in the dense brush nearby 17 years later.


Jack was out for a bike ride when the 12 year old was abducted and murdered on May 6, 1978.

"I just grabbed her," Handlen told the officer. "Just like that?" the officer asked.

"Yup. Threw her bike in the lake, grabbed her, took her in the camper and went up the hill."

The officer later asked Handlen what happened when they got up the hill. "We had sex up there," Handlen said.

"And then what happened?" - "Then I, I think I strangled her."

'We all know the rules'

None of the officers involved in the undercover operation can be identified under the terms of a publication ban. The officer on the stand said he has participated in numerous "Mr. Big" stings.

He wore a Rolex and diamond-encrusted pinky ring as "props" to meet with Handlen.

Handlen is on trial for the first-degree murder of Monica Jack. (David Ridgen)

He explained the process through which officers come up with situations designed to gain a target's confidence in a fictitious organization where trust and loyalty are the only rules. And no one ever lies to the boss.

Prior to the meeting which resulted in the confrontation, the officer said they ran Handlen through one scenario in which an associate was "fired" for lying and another in which the "boss" made an underling's problems disappear.

The court listened to an audio tape of the firing, which took place in a Quebec bar packed full of people Handlen was led to believe were gang associates, along with their girlfriends and wives. The officer told the jury that — in reality — Handlen was the only person present who was not a police officer.

In the profanity-laced audio, the officer can be heard berating a man who allegedly lied about performing a task. He orders the man to hand over his car keys and leave the bar. His associates are told to delete his number from their phones.

"We all know the rules. We don't f---ing lie to each other," the "crime boss" says. "Let that be a lesson."

'Unless you're taping me'

As the alleged confession continued, Handlen told the undercover officer he threw Jack in the bathroom of his camper after grabbing her off the road.

"I think I burned her clothes. I think I took all her clothes off and burned her clothes," he said.

The officer asked what he did with the body. "I think I just threw it behind a log," Handlen said. "I didn't bury it. Just put it, uh, a clearing there. There was a log there, and I just put it behind a log."

At one point, the undercover officer told Handlen he was sure it was hard to talk about. Handlen replied that it was. "A load off my chest, at least, (I) told somebody," Handlen said.

The officer also asked Handlen if he had ever told anybody else. "So no one else in the world except you and me knows about this," the officer asked him.

"Nobody knows," Handlen replied. "Unless you're, you're taping me."




UK MP could use parliamentary privilege
to name exec after court imposed gag

Non-Disclosure Agreements - should they be used to hide sexual abuse?

An MP has threatened to use parliamentary privilege to name a ‘leading businessman’ accused of sexual harassment, after he successfully won a legal battle to stop a newspaper identifying him.



Labour MP Jess Phillips said that she would name him in the Commons, should she receive consent from one of his alleged victims. “He should be named as long as that is what victims want. It cannot be right that the rich can buy silence,” she stated.


The MP, who chairs the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party, spoke after the Daily Telegraph was barred from publishing “confidential information” on a senior executive accused of sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff.

Ahead of publishing the accusations, the Telegraph contacted the executive for comment, he along with other senior staff members subsequently applied for an injunction to stop the details being published.

The allegations would have been “sure to reignite the #MeToo movement against the mistreatment of women, minorities and others by powerful employers,” stated the Telegraph.

In August, High Court judge Justice Haddon-Cave refused to gag the paper. But in the Court of Appeal the injunction was upheld. Judges Sir Terence Etherton, Lord Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Henderson stated that the five employees allegations had been “compromised by settlement agreements” from which “substantial payments” were made to them.

The agreements meant that both sides had made promises to keep the complaints confidential. The judges stressed the “important and legitimate role” of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

The issue came to the fore in Prime Minister’s Questions, when Phillips, who had originally suggested she could name the man during the session, asked Theresa May to comment on the court’s decision.

While the Prime Minister refused to directly address the case, she stated that "Non-disclosure agreements cannot stop people from whistle blowing, but it is clear that some employers are using them unethically.”

Though May stated the government would consult on whether regulations around NDAs could be improved upon.





Scottish sex offender jailed again after he was handed back child abuse image stash from first prison release

A sex offender who was given part of his enormous stash of child abuse images back when he was released from prison was today handed another jail term.

Kenneth Stalker served a 16-month jail term after “collecting” more than 25,000 sick images on his computer “as a hobby”.

He split with his girlfriend as a result of being caught – and when he got out of prison she gave him back his belongings that remained in her property, including a USB stick. Stalker then plugged it into his computer and discovered it contained thousands of indecent images of children.

It is understood the USB device had not been found by police investigating his earlier offence and had lain unnoticed amongst his property at his ex-partner’s home until he got out of prison. Stalker’s lawyer said that “triggered” him to go on to download more on to his mobile phone.

Now the fiend is starting a new 27-month prison sentence after he admitted new sexual offence charges.

Stalker’s stash was uncovered when police monitoring him in the community under his sex offender registration found some of the photos stored on his phone. They then took apart his computer and discovered he had hidden the USB drive in the casing of his computer’s hard drive in a bid to hide his actions from detection.

Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed told Dundee Sheriff Court: “This was a sophisticated action taken to stop anyone finding it. In total there were 3941 indecent images of children found across the hard drive and the mobile phone.”

Stalker, 39, of Lordburn, Arbroath, pleaded guilty on indictment to taking or making indecent images of children and possessing indecent images of children between June 1 2017 and October 5 2017.

He further admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice on June 1 2017.

Defence solicitor Ian Myles said: “His explanation is that once released from his previous sentence and on having some property returned he came across a USB drive that had images thereon and that’s what he plugged in to his computer.

“He didn’t actually seek this kind of material prior to seeing that. That was the trigger. He didn’t destroy the drive and then used his mobile phone surreptitiously from then. He understands the position he finds himself in and has pled guilty at an early stage.”

Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC jailed Stalker for two years and three months and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years. She also ordered that the USB drive and other computer equipment be forfeited.

Sheriff Drummond said: “These charges are all the more serious because of your analogous previous conviction from 2013. You also concealed the hard drive within another hard drive. It seems from the narration given that you have become more sophisticated in terms of hiding your actions.”

In 2013 Stalker was jailed for 16 months and placed on a three-year supervised release order after police found an enormous stash of almost 25,000 indecent images on his computers. The court heard he downloaded them over the period of two years to “give him the thrill his life was lacking”.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard that Stalker “made it his occupation” to scour sick internet sites “filtering through” pictures to find the ones he wanted to add to his computer store.




More charges against U.S. man accused of raping and kidnapping Alberta model
Bill Graveland · The Canadian Press


A South Carolina man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an Alberta woman who was lured to the United States with the promise of a modelling job is facing new charges.

Fred Russell Urey remains in custody after his arrest in May 2017. He was initially charged with kidnapping and one count of criminal sexual conduct.

That changed this week.

"The prosecution took it to the grand jury and increased the charges," said Marcia Barker, a spokesperson for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit court in Greenville, S.C.

Urey is now facing five counts of criminal sexual conduct — one charge for every day the woman was allegedly held captive.

Police have said the woman, described only as being between 18 and 25, flew to Atlanta for what she believed was a modelling job and had been talking with the accused for a couple of months.

Kidnapped in trailer

Investigators said he agreed to pay her $15,000 for her work, which would not involve "nudity or acts of sexual behaviour."

Police allege she was held captive and sexually assaulted after he threatened to hurt her and her family in Canada. They said the ordeal lasted five days, but she was allowed to contact her family via FaceTime while her captor watched. Somehow she was able to signal her location and give clues that she was in danger.

Her family contacted the RCMP, who notified local authorities. They managed to track the pair by using cellphone signals.

When officers surrounded the trailer in Norris, S.C., the woman is said to have jumped through a plate-glass window to escape. Police said they broke into the barricaded trailer, where they found a suspect in a rear bedroom. They say he held deputies off by putting a knife to his own throat before finally surrendering.

The woman's name and her hometown have not been released.

If Urey is convicted on all charges, he could face a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison instead of 90 years.

A trial date has not been set.

"The district attorney is still getting in evidence in the case. They've got a lot more homework to do," said Barker. "It's just a step in the process."




Three migrants arrested for gang-rape and
murder of Italian teenager

Another story that has been ignored by MSM in the west. Il Globo (Australia) is the only English media site covering the story except for BBC which devoted most of its space to criticizing Matteo Salvini. Political correctness gone mad!

By Laura Egan, Il Globo

Three migrant men have been arrested for the suspected murder of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found in an abandoned building in Rome last week.

Flowers and candles were laid at a wall near where Desirée Mariottini tragically lost her life. (Photo: ANSA)

DesirĂ©e Mariottini’s body was discovered in a building used as a squat in the Roman district of San Lorenzo on October 19, two days after she called her grandmother to say she’d missed the last bus home and would be saying with a friend overnight.

Investigators believe she fell unconscious for several hours after being given drugs by several people, and died of an overdose.

She was sexually abused more than once before she died. 

Two Senegalese men, living illegally in Italy, Mamadou Gara 26 and Brian Minteh 43, (Wikipedia), were held overnight on Wednesday, and a 40-year-old Nigerian was detained on Thursday.

It is expected they will be charged with group sexual violence (ie gang-rape), voluntary manslaughter and drug dealing.

All three suspects reportedly have previous convictions for drug dealing. Police are still searching for a fourth suspect, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Mariottini lived with her mother, grandmother and a sibling in Cisterna di Latina, south of Rome. “I want justice for DesirĂ©e. I don’t want this tragedy to happen to other girls,” her mother told reporters outside the family home.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini declared that the girl’s murder would not go unpunished. “I will do everything so that the worms guilty of this horror pay in full for their vileness, with no discounts,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi, announced a day of mourning for Rome to coincide with Mariottini’s funeral, the date of which has not yet been announced.

Raggi took to Twitter to promise bolstered controls in San Lorenzo, an area known for drug dealing. She also announced plans to demolish other squats.





Child abuse scandal: Suspect held for sexual assault of minors in Pakistan

LAHORE: Police on Friday claimed to have arrested a suspect allegedly involved in the sexual abuse of at least two minor boys in Okara's Renala Khurd area.

According to Geo News, police have arrested a man namely Asad, who is said to be the son of an influential local and is alleged to be a serial abuser with more than dozen victims in Chak 6/1L and Chak 18/1L villages near Renala Khurd, the tehsil headquarters of Okara district.

The case was first reported by The News journalist Umar Cheema in his exclusive report which was  published in the newspaper  on Friday.

According to the report, the parents of several victims have either been submitted into silence, or have been failed by the system or circumstances if they decided to proceed against the accused. A complaint was even registered with the FIA's Cybercrime Wing but went unnoticed.

Asad was arrested after police registered a case on the complaint of one of the victims' fathers, is also accused of filming and photographing the abuse.

Meanwhile, the victims' parents were reported to have said that they were being pressurized by the influential family of the suspect. Police officers at the Renala Khurd city station declined to comment on the matter.

Zainab's rapist/murdered hanged

The case from Renala Khurd, located around 110 kilometres away from Kasur, is the latest child sexual abuse scandal since the brutal rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ameen Fatima in Kasur shocked the nation earlier this year.

Zainab's convicted murderer, Imran Ali, was hanged to death at the Kot Lakhpat Central Jail in Lahore earlier this month after a speedy trial.




9 Girls Rescued from Brothels and Porn Producer

IJM
IJM - International Justice Mission works with police, lawyers and family ministries around the world to rescue women and children from slavery and sexual exploitation.

Praise God for a successful rescue operation last weekend that freed six girls and young women from a brutal brothel in South Asia. 

Many of these girls had been trapped for years and forced to serve dozens of customers every night.

It took several attempts to mobilize the operation, so we are so grateful for its ultimate success.

Please pray for several follow-up arrests in this case and for the survivors’ initial healing.



Praise God that justice has been served for three Guatemalan girl survivors of sexual violence – they were 3, 11 and 13 years old when the abuse first started. 

On October 24, the perpetrator (a family member) was sentenced to 64 years and four months in jail for rape, sexual assault and production of child pornography.

For over three years, IJM supported local authorities to find justice for these survivors.

Join our Guatemala team in prayer for these survivors and their families as the Lord continues to bring them healing.




This is the number of rapists and paedophiles living in the streets of Teesside

Annual figures show a huge jump in the number of sex offenders registered with Cleveland Police


By Claire Miller, Mike Brown - Teeside Live

There are more sex offenders on Teesside than almost anywhere else (in the UK), it can be revealed.

A total of 814 registered sex offenders lived in the Cleveland Police force area at the end of March 2018.

That's 110 more than last year, and it means that Teesside still has one of the highest proportions of sex offenders in England and Wales, 44% higher than the national average.

On Teesside, it is the equivalent of one sex offender for every 608 people aged 10 and over.

Ministry of Justice figures also show that one sex offender being monitored in Teesside was charged with a serious further offence - but none were convicted. As well as this, four serious sex offenders were returned to prison for breaching their licence conditions.

The 814 registered sex offenders represents almost double the number that were resident in Teesside eight years ago, when figures from individual police forces began being published. The stats cover offenders managed by Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), which are aimed at stopping sex criminals from offending again.

Sex offenders are required to notify the police of certain details, and let authorities know if those details change. This is commonly known as ‘being on the sex offenders register’.

In the year ending March 2018, 62 sex offenders in Teesside were also cautioned or convicted of a breach of notification requirements.

More restrictive orders can also be imposed on sex offenders, such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs) and previously Sexual Offences Prevention Orders (SOPOs), or notification orders.

There were 125 SHPOs and SOPOs imposed in our area in 2017/18, and one notification order. Two SOPOs were breached last year.

Teesside Live has reported on numerous cases of sex offenders going on to commit further crimes, or breaching requirements of their orders.

Geoffrey Ball, 46, was banned from starting a friendship or sexual or physical relationship with a woman without telling a police risk management officer first.

At Teesside Crown Court in August, he admitted breaching his SHPO for a second time.

Clockwise from top left: Geoffrey Ball, James Hitch, Damien Kydd and John Leslie Graham

Former nurse James Hitch, 36, avoided jail “by a whisker” in March as he was given a suspended 18-month prison sentence for making indecent pictures of children.

But in September Hitch, of Dovecot Street, Stockton, admitted failing to comply with notification requirements when he did not notify police of the expiry date on his credit card.

Sex offender Damien Kydd, 33, took a trip to Amsterdam without telling the police.

Kydd was jailed for two years in May after admitting breaching his notification requirements by taking the trip, and for not notifying police he had a Samsung Note phone. He had been jailed three times for having indecent photos of children.

In August, sex offender John Leslie Graham, 30, breached an order by not telling police he was logging on to Match.com

A legal challenge in 2010 means offenders can apply for a review of lifetime notification requirements, after at least 15 years for adults and eight years for juveniles. No offenders in the area had these requirements revoked in 2017/18.

Big rise nationally

Across England and Wales, there was a 6% rise in the number of registered sex offenders, 58,637, being monitored by police at March 31, 2018.

The increase in the number of offenders is influenced by sentencing trends, in which the number of people convicted of sexual offences is increasing.

And many offenders must be on the register for a long time - some for life - which has a cumulative effect on the total number.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “As the number of sex offenders being monitored grows it’s important to understand how these arrangements will continue to reduce the risk of reoffending.

“Just this week a Home Affairs Select Committee report warned of forces struggling to cope with the huge pressures placed on their resources.

“With more offenders breaching their orders, it’s vital police are given all the tools they need to both effectively monitor child sex offenders in the community and combat the increasing threat posed by complex online abuse.”

But, in fact, police seem to be getting fewer resources, thank you, Theresa May.

MAPPA brings together the police, probation and prison services, as the responsible authority, working with other organisations such as social services, health trusts and local authorities. Offenders eligible for MAPPA are identified and information is gathered and shared about them across relevant agencies.

The nature and level of the risk of harm they pose is assessed and a coordinated risk management plan is implemented to protect the public.




Crown calls sexual assault of 7 y/o Canadian girl
‘planned and deliberate’

Defence asking for 38-year-old to avoid prison;
prosecution wants eight years

by Nicole O'Reilly  The Hamilton Spectator


One of Hamilton's most horrific child sexual abuse cases is drawing to a close as an Ontario Court judge weighs the sentence for a man who assaulted his best friend's stepdaughter — a seven-year-old girl who was repeatedly abused and advertised online.

The 38-year-old, who pleaded guilty to sexual interference and was found guilty of making child pornography, is the fifth and final person to be sentenced in an "unfathomable" case that has been before the courts for two years.

He cannot be named to protect the victim's identity.

It is not disputed what he did. Court has heard he was drunk and high when he went over to his best friend's house in Hamilton on April 16, 2016. There, he watched homemade child pornography, watched as his best friend sexually assaulted the girl and then abused her himself.

The man maintains he didn't know his friend was recording the assault on a cellphone — something Ontario Court Justice Joseph Fiorucci already ruled wasn't believable.

Crown prosecutor Janet Booy called the assault "planned and deliberate." He had watched the pornography before and was aware of what was happening when he drove there that night. She is asking for an eight-year sentence.

The victim was used as "a prop in their perverted show," she said.

Defence lawyer Stephen Bernstein requested a five-and-a-half-year sentence, which after credit for time served in pretrial custody would equal a non-penitentiary time of less than two years.

Pointing to a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric evaluation, he said his client has very low cognitive abilities and was found to have a low risk of reoffending sexually.

His client grew up with an abusive, including sexually abusive, stepfather. He is an alcoholic, is "extremely remorseful" and had no previous criminal record, Bernstein said.

He urged the court to separate his client's one-time crime from the perpetual crimes of the girl's stepfather. He said his client's cognitive impairment made him easily led by more devious peers.

The stepfather was previously sentenced to 13 years — nearly 11 after credit for time served in pretrial custody. The three others in case were sentenced to between three-and-a-half and eight years.

Booy also pointed out that tests showed the 38-year-old's judgment was normal and that he was previously able to hold down a job and drive. "He knew he was making a wrong decision."

She accused him of blaming drugs and alcohol for his actions and noted that a phallometric test measuring sexual deviancy was inconclusive.

Booy read aloud a powerful victim impact statement written by the victim's aunt, who has travelled three-and-a-half hours to court for every hearing in the case, which was dubbed Project Links.

She is "barely surviving" and feels isolated, depressed and anxious. She constantly worries for her niece, doesn't trust people and feels guilty she didn't suspect anything was wrong.

"To think that my little niece held all this inside her delicate mind and tiny body for over a year-and-a-half as the sexual assaults continued is heartbreaking," the aunt wrote.

"When I look at her innocent little face, I think of people treating her as a piece of property and the awful things she had to endure. I wonder how a child only seven years old could endure so much trauma ... and be alive."

She is in dire need of counseling. Will she get it?

Booy pointed out the victim is old enough to remember what happened to her. She drew a picture for her victim impact statement: it shows a blond girl with tears streaming down the page.

The Woman Abuse Working Group once again submitted a community victim impact statement. "The notion that 'Hamilton is the best place to raise a child' has been profoundly shaken by these offences. Our community feels less safe and we are collectively heart broken for those who have been harmed."

The case returns to court Oct. 30 for sentencing.

7 Year Old Raped and Sold for Sex on Craigslist
Prostitute in Craigslist child-sex abuse case gets more than 6 years in prison (2nd story on link)
Sobbing prostitute apologizes to sex abuse victim, 7: 'I am not a monster' (4th story on link)
Man to serve 10 years in 'sickening' Craigslist sex abuse case involving 6-year-old girl



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