Justice systems under fire in Spain, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and Israel
Spanish child sex abuse victims demand legal changes
Spanish child sex abuse victims demand legal changes
AP
MADRID — Spanish campaigners on Thursday delivered a petition with more than half a million signatures to Parliament in Madrid, demanding an extension of the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases.
Many alleged child abusers in church, state, and sports institutions have gone unpunished because their alleged crimes were reported only many years later by their victims, the organizers of the event said.
Miguel Hurtado, a spokesman for victims’ group Stolen Childhood Association, said the 15-year statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases should begin to run only after an alleged victim reaches 50 years of age.
Currently, it begins after an alleged victim turns 18. The Spanish government has proposed to raise that to 30.
By the age of 33, I was still in complete denial of the sexual abuse I suffered as a toddler. It was a few years later before I became aware of it, and many years after that before I could actually talk to anyone about it.
Hurtado said he initially wanted the statute of limitations for child sex crimes to be scrapped, but legal experts told him that would be unconstitutional.
With Spain poised to hold a snap general election, Hurtado said it was too late for Parliament to take any measures.
‘‘It’s not going to happen,’’ he told The Associated Press on Thursday. “But we want political parties to include [the measure] in their election manifestos. That way, it becomes locked in.’’
Hurtado was the first person to accuse a Spanish Benedictine monk of sexual abuse, in 1999. Nine others later came forward with stories about alleged abuse that occurred decades ago.
Canadian man convicted in brutal death
of 14y/o boy set free
of 14y/o boy set free
Another story without child sex implications but another story of
just how screwed up Canada's justice system is. I often complain
about 3rd world justice systems, but Canada's is not much better.
Tracy McLaughlin / Toronto Sun
Nick Bullock, previously convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his 14-year-old cousin, leaves court in Barrie on Wednesday, Feb. 13 2019. Tracy McLaughlin / Toronto Sun
BARRIE – Hot tears of anger, pain and anguish flowed in court as parents watched the man who savagely stabbed their 14-year-old son to death walk away a free man Wednesday.
Killer Nick Bullock, previously sentenced as an adult to life in prison for the murder of his younger cousin, was released on a plea deal to manslaughter after the Court of Appeal tossed the verdict.
The cousin, Brayton Bullock, was lured into the woods and stabbed 13 times in the face, eye, head, chest and back on March 9, 2006.
“This is not justice – this is a lie!” said the dead boy’s mother, Tammy Warren-Bullock, who trembled and wept in the crowded courtroom as she read out her victim impact statement.
Brayton Bullock, 14. Submitted
“The courts have tidied up this case up in a neat little bow to get a conviction, but make no mistake Nick — you are a child killer.”
With tears rolling down her cheeks, the grief-stricken mother looked into the eyes of her son’s killer, who stared her down with no emotion.
During the first trial, court heard how Bullock — now 29 — was 16 and held a resentment for his younger cousin who was an A student.
Caan and Abel, all over again. Society has not progressed beyond the first set of brothers.
He lured him into the woods in the south end of Barrie and stabbed him to death, then coolly walked to a nearby recreation centre to wash off the blood and discard the knife.
He then developed an alibi by purchasing two cokes with his debit card at a nearby store so he could tell police Brayton was with him.
Later he told his friends, “some guys dragged Brayton into the bush” and lead them to the body. At the scene, Nick pretended to “freak out” and rolled in the bloodied snow beside the body to throw off police evidence.
At his sentencing hearing, a psychiatrist testified Bullock had “psychopathic tendencies.”
The appeal court last year tossed the murder verdict after it found Barrie police failed to give Bullock his proper rights as a youthful offender.
And, consequently, the Court of Appeals has failed to give Brayton his proper rights to justice. But they are completely blind to that logic. A psychopathic murderer has his rights ensured; an innocent victim has no rights under Canadian law, apparently.
Justice Michelle Fuerst accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter — which means he did not intend to kill — and sentenced Bullock to the 12 years he has already served in prison.
“This was a vicious crime … it showed sophisticated and calculated thinking,” the judge said.
Wait! What? You are saying it was murder, but you accept a plea of manslaughter? What kind of lunacy is that?
Brayton’s father, Colin Bullock of Sudbury, became so emotional he stormed out of the courtroom.
“My son was savagely murdered,” he said outside of court. “This is a broken justice system that has failed to protect its citizens.”
Not completely true! It is determined to protect criminals and murderers, just not innocent Canadians.
Moments later his son’s killer walked out of court with his mother, a free man.
Biological male identifying as female sexually assaults 10y/o girl in supermarket bathroom in Scotland
Gets community service
By Jonathon Van Maren, The Bridghead
This is the sort of story that should make every parent tremble with rage and remind all of us that there is a real cost to accepting the premises of the transgender movement—and that, as always, that cost will be largely paid by children. According to the UK’s Courier, which obediently and ludicrously refers to a violent male as a “she,” a biological man identifying as a woman named Katie Dolatowski has escaped with a slap on the wrist after sexually assaulting a ten-year-old girl in the women’s bathroom at a supermarket:
The woman – who cannot be named to protect the identity of her child – voiced fury that Katie Dolatowski had been freed to serve her sentence in the community. Dolatowski, 18, sexually assaulted the girl in the toilets of Morrisons, Kirkcaldy.
She grabbed the terrified youngster by the face, shoved her into the cubicle and ordered her to remove her trousers. But instead of being jailed at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, Dolatowski, who identifies as a woman but was believed by her victim’s family to be a man, was given community payback and tagging orders.
The mum felt “very, very let down” and said: “I don’t have any confidence whatsoever that he will not go out and do something equally as bad or worse.” The girl had been sledging when the assault occurred on March 4, last year, a month after Dolatowski had filmed a 12-year-old girl on the toilet in another supermarket in Dunfermline.
When she came out of her cubicle, Dolatowski shoved her back in and told her there was a man outside who would kill her mother. The brave schoolgirl, however, punched Dolatowski in the face, stomach and groin and ran to her father and siblings waiting just outside the toilets.
Her mother said the girl was hysterical after the attack and continued to suffer flashbacks. She said: “This is something that will remain with her for the rest of her life. He was stalking the toilets. He went there specifically to attack a child.
“We were so, so lucky that nothing worse happened. It was only her reaction that stopped that. It could have been a five-year-old child that wouldn’t have been able to fight back.”
The court heard Dolatowski had been in the social care system since the age of three and had mental health issues. But the mother said: “A lot of people have been in care but they do not go out and assault children. I don’t care that he has issues or what his background is, he is a paedophile and he has been let out on a supervision order.”
Dolatowski admitted sexually assaulting the girl and following another girl into the toilets at Asda Halbeath, Dunfermline, on February 8, and trying to film her urinating by holding her mobile phone over the cubicle partition. Banning her from having contact with children, Sheriff James Williamson gave her what he described as a “stringent” community-based sentence, allowing her to be released from Polmont Young Offenders Institution to supported accommodation.
Dolatowski was considered to pose a “moderate risk” of reoffending but Sheriff Williamson said: “I have come to the conclusion that the public will be better protected by the imposition of a stringent community payback order.”
Seriously? I will need that explained to me!
The simple fact is that when you remove all identifiable standards for who is actually a woman and instead say that men with beards and penises can not only identify as women, but gain access to women-only spaces by doing so, you place people in danger.
It is insane to think that there are not those who will take advantage of the obliteration of our safety standards, just like the biological men who have decided to identify as women to get sent to female prisons (and rape women there) are doing, and just like this young man who managed to escape jail despite going after female children in the women’s bathroom twice. I’ll bet “Katie” is still allowed in women’s bathrooms, too—you’ll notice that the media and the courts obediently treated this biological male as a woman.
The outraged mother speaks for many of us. The fact that children would be put at risk for the sake of a doomed social experiment advocated by those who wish to do away with the foundations of our civilization is disgusting.
Lawyers offer closing arguments in
northern Ontario sex abuse case
In the courtroom
by: Linda Richardsonnorthern Ontario sex abuse case
In the courtroom
The Sault Ste. Marie Courthouse is pictured in this file photo. Michael Purvis/SooToday
The Crown position: The complainant has "no motive to fabricate" and came forward after nearly 40 years to disclose what had occurred because she "couldn't live with this anymore."
The lawyers made their closing arguments Thursday in the Marathon, Ont. man's indecent assault trial at the Sault Ste. Marie courthouse. And after hearing their submissions, Superior Court Justice Edward Gareau reserved his decision until April 17.
Sabourin has pleaded not guilty to the charge, which stems from incidents alleged to have occurred in the town of White River in the early 1980s.
During the trial, which began Monday, Gareau heard from two Crown witnesses - the complainant and her brother - and two called by the defence - Sabourin and his sister.
The complainant described three incidents that she said occurred when she was a pre-teen and the accused a young adult.
She testified that Sabourin touched her inappropriately, fondling her breasts and kissing her when she was at his parents' home, attempted to have intercourse with her during another visit and on a third occasion tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
Sabourin took the witness stand to deny the allegations, repeatedly telling the court it never happened.
On Thursday, his lawyer Bruce Willson attacked the woman's credibility, as well as what he called a "terrible investigation" that had brought his client to court.
He noted the woman has a good job, is educated and is knowledgeable about sexual abuse matters. "She has the ability to emulate a victim of sexual assault."
Willson said the complainant "had the signature trait of a person" who is making something up."
I wonder if Willson has the signature trait of a person who is making something up?
Pointing to parts of her evidence he suggested had changed when she was pressed during cross-examination, he said people don't do a good job when they make things up.
Assistant Crown attorney Robert Skeggs countered that the woman's evidence "came out rather unblemished. I didn't hear any inconsistencies," he said, noting the complainant was a child at the time of the alleged incidents while Sabourin was an adult.
She testified there were more incidents, but "could clearly remember only three."
Skeggs described her as a strong woman, who is now able to stand up for herself. She has become very introspective later in life," and is someone who years later doesn't know why she didn't say anything earlier as suggested by the defence.
This is an example of why we "shouldn't have pre-conceived ideas" about responses to sexual abuse, he said.
The woman told the court the extent of what she had shared earlier as an adult - general statements that something had happened with Sabourin, he said. "We don't have anybody who can go back years to tell us about her allegations that go back years."
Skeggs called Sabourin's evidence "unbelievable."
If the accused's testimony that he didn't meet the complainant until he was in his mid-20s is accepted then there would be no reason to fabricate, he suggested.
Sabourin testified that he never saw the complainant at his family home, but his sister indicated she recalls her occasionally coming over to the house.
While the woman didn't want to go into details in the past, she indicated on the witness stand that she came forward because she "wants to have peace," to help herself, Skeggs said.
Criticizing the investigation, Willson questioned why the half dozen people the complainant said she had told over the years about something happening with Sabourin weren't called to testify.
He suggested her parents, who she said she told when she as 21, "could corroborate her evidence that the abuse was disclosed prior to her going to police (in 2016)."
"This all goes to her credibility that they are not here," Willson said.
Why didn't you subpoena them yourself?
"We have a middle-aged lady testifying about matters that occurred 40 years ago," Willson said, noting this is the case with all the witnesses, including Sabourin.
"You can't hold the accused to a higher standard than the complainant when assessing credibility," he said. "What can he do except say I didn't do it about something that occurred 40 years ago."
Maybe Sabourin has trouble with dates and is not educated, but "he's very clear this didn't happen," Willson said.
He described the complainant as a "tough lady who had no problem going toe-to-toe with the defence during cross--examination. "She was argumentative and didn't seem to be the type of character to keep this bottled up for 35 years," Willson said. "She seemed to be the type of person to confront him."
In response, Skeggs argued that the defence wants to conclude because these other people weren't in court "she must have made up the events."
He noted she was able to describe the first floor of the home, a second-floor bedroom and a sun porch that she said had a mattress on the floor and was used as a bedroom.
'There was uncanny confirming evidence" that the porch was Sabourin's bedroom at one time, the prosecutor said.
Skeggs suggested if Sabourin's evidence and that of his sister that the complainant was never in the porch is to be believed how did the woman know what it looked like?
No new investigation into woman's sex abuse
complaint in 2010, Irish High Court hears
complaint in 2010, Irish High Court hears
By Ann O'Loughlin, Irish Times
Gardaí did not carry out a new investigation when a woman suing her father, for allegedly sexually abusing her as a child and facilitating neighbours to do the same, made a complaint as an adult in 2010, the High Court has heard.
In 1988, two years after the woman, her sister and mother left the family home for a refuge, a file was sent to the DPP on foot of a garda and health board investigation of the original abuse allegations. The DPP did not recommend prosecution because the child, who was between four and six when the abuse allegedly occurred, was too young to give evidence, the court heard.
So, in Irish eyes, toddlers are fair game for paedophiles?
The father says it never happened.
In 2010, when the woman was in her 20s, she made her own complaint to gardaí who took her prepared statement.
A detective garda from her locality told the court today he took that prepared statement from her and asked her a number of questions. She also made a declaration in relation to her personal details and other details.
After he tracked down the 1988 file on the matter through the DPP's office, he then forwarded his own report to the DPP, along with the woman's own statement, "to have the entire matter reviewed". The DPP directed in October 2011 that there be no prosecution against the father, the garda said.
Why, was she too old now in her 20s?
The case was on its fourth day before a judge and jury. Nothing can be reported that might identify the woman.
Under cross-examination by Bernard Madden SC, for the father, the detective garda agreed there had been no new investigation in relation to matters in the woman's statement, including an interview with the father or any of the other parties accused of abuse.
He agreed with counsel that none of the allegations made in the woman's prepared statement of 2010 were investigated by him or any other garda.
The garda also said he did not see it as "a fresh complaint" as it had been investigated before (in 1988) and he had sought a review from the DPP as to what could be done.
Another garda, now retired, who investigated the 1988 complaint, which arose out of interviews between the child and social workers at that time, told Sasha Gayer SC, for the woman, that she (garda) questioned the then eight-year-old child in detail about the allegations.
Under cross-examination, Mr Madden, for the father, put it to the retired garda that the three-page statement from 1988 was "not the language of a child of eight". The garda replied: "All I can say is it is a statement of what the child said".
A consultant liaison psychiatrist who first saw the woman in 2013, told the court she formed the opinion that she had post-traumatic stress disorder and a damaged personality.
The case, before Mr Justice Michael McGrath and a jury of 10 men and two women, resumes on Tuesday.
I complain a lot about Canada's justice system, but Ireland's is barely into the 20th century, IMHO.
London paedophile who raped girl
in the 1980s and 90s gets 10 years
Luke Actonin the 1980s and 90s gets 10 years
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Michael Paule, of St George’s Road, Dagenham, raped and sexually assaulted his young victim a number of times over several years.
He had denied any wrongdoing and last week was found guilty of four counts of rape of a girl under 16 years old and three counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14.
Today he was jailed for 10 years.
PC Clare Henson, investigating officer, said: “The victim has shown a huge amount of courage in coming forward to report the abuse suffered as a child, which can only be described as a deeply traumatic experience.
“I would like to commend her for coming forward to police, providing a video recorded interview and attending court to see this predatory man stand trial and face the justice he so rightly deserves.
“I would urge anyone who has been the victim of such offences to come forward to police when they feel comfortable enough to do so.”
Israel's Deputy Health Minister Accused of Threatening Gov't Psychiatrists in Sex Abuse Case
New details emerge in case involving Australian ultra-Orthodox principal accused of sexual assault on minors, reveals Litzman's attempts to have Malka Leifer declared unfit for trial and block her extradition
Ido Efrati and Aaron Rabinowitz, Haaretz
Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman on his way to the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 18, 2018.Emil Salman
Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman has been questioned by the Israel Police over allegations that he tried to use his influence, including the use of threats, to get government psychiatrists to have Leifer declared unfit for trial and to block her extradition.
The anti-extradition campaign, which began with an Australian extradition request and Leifer’s subsequent arrest in Israel in 2014, has involved lawyers, media advisers and ultra-Orthodox “fixers.” According to sources in the Gerer (or Gur) Hasidic sect, the campaign has been funded by Leifer’s family, as well as loans and donations. One source said that the community does not deny the gravity of the acts with which Leifer has been charged or think that she shouldn’t be punished; rather, the argument is that she should be in an Israeli prison, rather than in an Australian facility alongside non-Jewish inmates.
Good grief! That surely can't be the reason Israel protects paedophiles with such tenacity? These creatures have no rights to be anywhere. They just need to be locked up. Protecting them from extradition is a heinous criminal act. I can't possibly imagine how God would approve of such insanity.
According to information obtained by Haaretz, Leifer’s family offered psychiatrists tens of thousands of shekels for a medical opinion on her condition, far above the usual fee. There was no explicit request for a specific conclusion, but apparently the intention was clear, and a number of the psychiatrists were uncomfortable with it. The information has been submitted to the Health Ministry and to the state prosecution.
Senior government psychiatrists refused interview requests from Haaretz this weekend on the case. “To everything there is a season. I’m not interested,” was the response of one who is familiar with the details.
Health care officials are not commenting on the case — or on the pressure that Litzman is known to apply routinely in regard to the sensitive issue of psychiatric services provided to the Haredi community. One of Litzman’s avenues of influence in this regard leads to the psychiatry department of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, whose director is Prof. Omer Boneh. A source at Hadassah says Haredi patients are given priority in the department. “Doctors in the department say that while the department will refuse to admit a patient because the department is full, when it’s a Haredi patient the request comes from an aide to Litzman and within 10 minutes room is found for him.... It has to do with the stigma — it’s easier and simpler to visit a patient at Hadassah than at Eitanim Psychiatric Hospital.” Boneh did not respond to requests for comment.
Boneh and his ties to Litzman were mentioned in a 2012 report in Haaretz by Yair Ettinger on the use of psychiatry by Israel’s Haredi establishment, including the prescribing to male yeshiva students of antidepressants whose side effects are known to include a decline in sexual desire. “Sometimes psychiatrists are liable to become agents of the Haredi establishment,” said one psychiatrist. Another spoke of being pressured by rabbis and Haredi community figures and the “dual loyalty” that can develop among physicians who see this as an opportunity to increase their pool of patients.
Over the past decade there have been reports of a number of uncomfortable incidents related to psychiatry in which Litzman was involved. In 2009, Channel 2 News reported that Litzman had asked senior psychiatrists to soften professional assessments of Haredim serving prison sentences for sex crimes — assessments that are critical to determining their supervision during furloughs and after their release. That year, Litzman put up 200,000 ($55,000) of his own money to bail out a Haredi woman who was charged (and eventually convicted) with starving her children, and even offered his own home for her house arrest. Litzman also drew harsh criticism for visiting Rabbi Eliezer Berland after Berland served five months of an 18-month prison sentence for sex crimes.
Tamil Nadu toddler dies under mysterious circumstances, sexual assault suspected
By R Sivakumar Express News Service
VELLORE: A one-and-a-half-year-old child died under mysterious circumstances in Vaniyambadi near here. Injury marks on the body have raised suspicion of sexual assault pointing fingers on the paramour of the child's mother.
Sources said the child was taken to the Government Hospital in Vaniyambadi on Friday night by her mother, a 24-year-old resident of Perumalpet, with injuries.
On examination, the doctors pronounced the kid brought dead. Injury marks were seen on body parts including genitals, hands, shoulder and cheeks.
The child's mother, who had three children including the deceased, had separated from her husband, a mason, three years ago following her alleged illegal intimacy with another mason while staying in Bengaluru, the sources said.
Recently, the woman and her paramour moved to Vaniyambadi and were staying with two of her children while the other one was with her first husband.
The sources noted that she had left for a local shop on Friday evening leaving the child with her paramour. On return, she was shocked to see the child crying, writhing in pain, and rushed her to the GH.
However, the Vaniyambadi Town police have registered a case of suspicious death.
"We have registered a case under section 174 CrPC. An investigation is going on to ascertain the cause of death," Inspector T Ramachandran said. He refused to reveal the nature of the injuries and cause.
The child's mother and her paramour, who is from Chennai, were allegedly tight-lipped on how the child suffered the injuries. They were held by the police for interrogation.
Since the woman refused to lodge a complaint, the Police searched for the relatives of her first husband and received a complaint from his father Baskar, the sources said.
Meanwhile, a senior Police officer said that the truth behind the child's death could be brought to light only after receiving reports of post-mortem and forensic tests.
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