Liberia cannot “Move On” from Rampant Child Abuse
By Rodney Sieh
Brenda Brewer Moore, moore.brenda@gmail.com, Contributing Writer
Hawa was 12. Arma is 7. Veronica is 11. Vivian is 15. Aisha is 10. All five girls share an increasingly common experience in Liberia: each was raped.
Hawa was raped, and killed.
They are five out of the 462 sexual violence cases that were reported in Liberia between January and April 2018. At least five girls are sexually abused every day in Liberia.
And these are only the reported cases – cases that families have braved the associated stigma and distrust of the system to report. We cannot quantify how much sexual abuse of children goes unreported to avoid the stigma, or is reported but then ignored by government agencies.
In 2017, over half of sexual violence cases involved girls under the age of 18. There are even reports of the sexual abuse of babies under the age of one.
These grim statistics are unavoidably defining Liberian society. We are becoming a country that is unable or unwilling to protect the most vulnerable of us – our children. What are our values if we cannot protect our children? What is the future of our society if our children are the easy victims of sexual violence? What is the value of our laws and policies if they cannot effectively respond to this growing menace?
Liberians love to “move on.” We believe moving on is linked to our national character of resilience, of which we are very proud. To cope with national traumas – our wars, the Ebola outbreak – we have developed the attitude that nothing really comes out of belaboring pain. It is better to move on. Here, too, we seem to be asking families and survivors, as well as abusers, to somehow move on.
Rape and child sexual abuse are lifelong haunting experiences. Survivors cannot simply “move on” from the experience of having their bodies and minds violated. Some have managed to dull the pain by shelving the experience for many years, but the reality is that one cannot simply “move on” when a society does not take the extra steps to show abused persons that their experiences were wrong and their tormentors punishable.
Furthermore, studies show that children who are abused are more likely to drop out of school, be trafficked, engage in criminal activity, fall into depression, or perpetuate violence. As more of our children become vulnerable to abuse, without the needed effective response, the Liberian government and our society may be unwittingly inviting an insecure future.
Encouraging citizens to report abuse is simply not enough. In our society of taboos, stigmas and secrets, it takes a lot for an individual, especially a child, to come forward in public. The Liberian government has to demonstrate its commitment to dealing with cases of alleged sexual abuse. The current investigative standards – as demonstrated in the high profile More Than Me case – are poor, and raises question about the commitments of the government to protect its children.
In October 2018, the government mandated a local board to look into reports of widespread sexual abuse by the co-founder of the More Than Me school in Monrovia. Several Liberian young girls were infected with HIV/AIDS as a result of their alleged abuse. But six months later, there has been no reported movement. As of this writing, there is no report from the Committee, and no word from the Ministries of Gender and Education, both of which promised to “look into the matter meticulously.”
It is safe to say, here, again, we have tried to just move on!
The lack of a reliable system to effectively investigate and prosecute offenders undermines an already traumatized person from venturing forward. This not only breeds distrust among the abused, it compels them into an unhealthy silence and resignation. And it emboldens abusers.
Indeed, we have developed laws and policies concerning child rights over the last few years. However, those legal frameworks are only as good as the paper on which they are written if we continue to demonstrate a lack of political will to enforce them. Understandably, the government is grappling with competing priorities, all of which are important. However, none ought to diminish the need to increase budgetary support in building the needed capacities and support systems to fight the growing scourge of rape and child sexual abuse.
It is time to strengthen the Child Protection Units of the Liberia National Police. Investigative officers need to be trained to properly handle reported cases of child sexual abuse and rape including the provision of counselling and other protective services for abused persons. Educational programs and trainings must be facilitated and encouraged for teachers and other caregivers especially in those entities that deal with children.
Meanwhile, schools and other institutions that deal with children need to conduct regular background checks on people they hire and institutionalize child protection programs in their activities. Across all institutions of learning, it is time to develop and enforce child protection policies of which parents, teachers and students are fully aware.
It is time, too, to lift the lid on rape and child sexual abuse. We must talk about it often and openly. It must be preached in churches and mosques, in homes and on the radios and televisions. Our communities need to become so enlightened and aware about how to protect their children from situations of abuse, how to spot signs of abuse, and ways to safeguard their children.
To ask sexually abused children to “move on”, as the government appears to be suggesting that they do, is to bury them, even while they live, under the rubble of incurable physical hurt and mental anguish.
No Liberian ought to ask the soul of Hawa to rest in peace, or the minds of all abused persons to rest healthily, while we overlook the rape and sexual abuse of another child. Hawa’s young soul ought to rest only with our restless actions to protect all children from rape and sexual violence. Hawa’s death, and the rape of five children every day, cannot be a reality with which we ever rest.
It is time to respond.
Brenda Brewer Moore is a social entrepreneur and among other things, the Founder of Kids’ Educational Engagement Project who is passionate about seeing positive social changes in Liberia that affects the Liberian school system. She is a 2019 Aspen New Voices Fellow.
'I kept repeating I did nothing wrong':
Sydney man's child sex abuse conviction quashed
Sydney man's child sex abuse conviction quashed
By Phil Hickey
Sunday Morning Herald
A man has broken his silence after he spent 15 months in jail for a crime and a conviction that was ultimately quashed by the High Court last month.
In a recent major ruling the High Court quashed the man's conviction for historic child sex offences that he maintains never happened.
The man took his appeal all the way to the High Court and won. CREDIT:KARLEEN MINNEY
The High Court decision also overruled the Western Australian Court of Appeal, which had previously dismissed the man's appeal against his conviction.
His ordeal finally came to an end this week when the Director of Public Prosecutions decided to drop the case entirely.
The man, whose name was suppressed in the High Court judgement, and his partner of 16 years, who has stuck by him throughout the ordeal, spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday after the case was officially dropped in the WA District Court, and his innocence validated.
"From day dot I kept repeating I did nothing wrong," the man said. "I stuck to my guns (as did) all those people that stuck by me and believed me."
The man was charged several years ago with four counts of indecently dealing with a child under 13.
He pleaded not guilty and stood trial in 2016, nearly 20 years after the alleged offences were said to have taken place.
The alleged complainant gave evidence during the trial, but during her evidence she admitted telling some lies. The prosecution case was heavily dependent on her credibility.
At the end of the trial the Judge directed members of the jury "not follow a process of reasoning" that just because the complainant was shown to have told a lie, that all of her evidence was dishonest and could not be relied upon.
The man was found guilty of one charge and not guilty of one other. The two other charges had earlier been withdrawn from the jury.
He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and served 15, spending most of his time in Acacia prison.
"I was sour, I was angry," the man said. "When you get in there, you are not human in that place. "I found it very strange and degrading."
The man spent 15 months in prison. CREDIT:FILE/ISTOCK
The man and his new lawyers – Sam Vandongen and Shash Nigam – appealed his conviction in the WA Court of Appeal largely on the basis there was no established legal basis for the "impugned direction" to be given by the trial Judge. But the appeal was dismissed.
They then took the appeal all the way to the High Court in Canberra, which set aside the Court of Appeal's decision, quashed the man's conviction and ordered a new trial.
However, there will be no need for a new trial after the DPP filed a discontinuance notice in the District Court.
The High Court ruled it was open to the jury to find the complainant's lies "precluded acceptance of her evidence of the commission of the offences beyond reasonable doubt".
"It was that process of reasoning which the impugned direction took away," the ruling said, adding: "The misdirection cannot therefore have been one which had no effect upon the jury, acting reasonably, in its verdict. Conviction was not inevitable."
The man's partner said the High Court ruling made them feel "wonderful. We didn't need a plane to get back here (to WA) we flew back ourselves, that's how high we were feeling," she said. "It was just wonderful.
"He was that determined to prove his innocence he said 'if I have to spend every last cent I will, and I will go back to work'. (But) he hasn't been able to work, because he has had this hanging over his head."
Mr Nigam said the High Court judgment was very important to his client, and also a very important legal precedent. "You need a huge amount of heart together with the financial resources to go all the way to the High Court. Thankfully for him, he had both," Mr Nigam said.
"I’m very pleased that we were able to help him and it is a big win for him, but it certainly takes its toll on not only the client, but also those closest to them."
The man is now in the process of considering his legal options.
After the man's conviction he was also put on the sex offender's register, but has since been removed from it. His passport – which had been cancelled – has also been reinstated.
Asked if he felt a sense of freedom, the man replied: "I understand what it means now. I can go out the back and look at the stars. It is unbelievable."
Aussie abuse victim developed 2500 different personalities
to cope with the sexual abuse from her father
Jeni Haynes, 49, can present as any one of 2500 different personalities in a single day, including four-year-old 'Symphony', and an eight-year-old boy named 'Little Ricky'.
She is believed to have developed the disorder as a 'sophisticated' coping mechanism to deal with the sustained abuse she experienced at the hands of her father Richard Haynes, now 74, from the ages of four to 14.
'He heard me beg him to stop, he heard me cry, he swathe pain and the terror he was inflicting on me. My life has been devastated by his selfishness,' Ms Haynes told 60 Minutes.
Swathe, or swath, means a path someone makes - in other words, he deliberately caused her pain and probably greatly enjoyed it. It was not selfishness, selfish people don't deliberately cause pain, evil people deliberately cause pain.
'I've paid an enormous price for his depraved sexual desires. To date I've been the one paying the price.'
Children almost always pay the price for adults depravity.
Her father pleaded guilty to the string of crimes he was charged over for his decade long abuse of his own daughter from when she was just four until she was 14.
He was charged with 25 counts of rape, buggery and indecent assault at their Sydney home in the 1970s and 1980s.
From the witness box in the NSW District Court, the 49-year-old testified against her father's actions and the long-lasting effect it has had on her mental well-being.
The court heard from 'Symphony', 'Little Ricky', a bike-loving teenager named 'Muscles' and a handful of Ms Haynes' other personalities.
The court also heard how Ms Haynes underwent multiple surgeries to reconstruct her coccyx, bowels and anus due to the brutality of the abuse she had to endure.
'My dad inflicted, chose to inflict, severe, sadistic, violent abuse that was completely unavoidable, inescapable and life threatening and he chose to do this every day of my entire childhood,' she said.
Ms Haynes (pictured right) was brutally abused by her father (pictured centre) from the age of four to 14
and required reconstructive surgery for the damage done to her
She said she wanted her father to go to jail with 'everyone knowing what he did'.
Ms Haynes was finally able to face her father and officially level her accusation at him on February 21 during his trial. Her personalities were each used as key witnesses, a first in the Australian courts, and Ms Haynes said the feeling of being able to tell her story in open court was one of validation.
In the 60 Minutes interview Ms Haynes admitted she never realised having multiple voices inside her head was considered abnormal. 'I didn't know that you're only supposed to have one personality,' she said.
Almost 90 per cent of Multiple Personality Disorder cases, now more commonly referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder, involve some form of trauma or abuse. It is often thought of as a coping mechanism for victims to disconnect, distance or separate themselves from the trauma.
'Jenny was born and my father started to abuse her. An alter was created who came to take dad's abuse so Jenny didn't have to,' Ms Haynes previously said.
'Symphony intended to testify in court for the whole thing. When my father raped Jennifer Haynes he raped Symphony. He pleaded guilty because he is scared to death of hearing Symphony testify about everything he did to her.'
Ms Haynes, who now lives in Queensland, said the other egos came along after the abuse became too difficult for Symphony to deal with. It's not an act of mental illness or playing silly games, pretending to be other people,' Jeni tells Liz Hayes. 'You are protecting yourself. You are protecting your soul, and that's what I did.'
Richard Haynes, 74, (pictured) pleaded guilty to the 25 counts of rape, buggery and indecent assault
at their Sydney home in the 1970s and 1980s
Ms Haynes' 2500 personalities all have their own voices and characteristics.
He was extradited from the United Kingdom in February 2017 to face multiple counts of sexual abuse against his daughter at the heir homes in Dulwich Hill and Greenacre.
The case was one of the worst cases of child sex abuse ever documented in Australia.
Outside court, a relieved Ms Haynes told reporters she was stunned but thrilled her father had 'owned up' to what he'd done. 'The guilty plea is my father admitting everything he did and I could not be happier,' she said.
Ms Haynes said she wanted her father to face her in court because he'd previously thought of her as 'not real'. 'I am a blow-up doll ... and today he had to face the blow-up doll and I hope he enjoyed every minute of it,' she said.
Ms Haynes urged other child victims to come forward and issued a warning to their abusers. 'Children remember,' she said. 'We will tell and we will put you in a courtroom ... and you will go to jail.'
The judge had previously made an order allowing Ms Haynes to be identified after she indicated her consent.
The allegations were so serious that the case was a judge-only trial because it was feared a jury could be left psychologically traumatised.
Haynes will be sentenced on May 31.
UK Judge rules woman sexually abused her baby by performing sex act on herself while he was in same room
By Brian Farmer PAA woman sexually abused her baby by performing a sex act on herself while he was in the same room, a family court judge has decided.
Judge Thomas Greensmith said the woman had admitted performing the sex act on herself in the baby's presence numerous times - sometimes when holding him.
He has concluded her behaviour can be appropriately defined as sexual abuse of a child - and fits a definition used by children's charity the NSPCC.
The baby's father had been in the room at the time on at least one occasion, the judge had been told. The father claimed he had been unaware of what she was doing because he was distracted by his computer game. Judge Greensmith did not believe him.
Detail of the case has emerged in a ruling published by the judge following a private family court hearing in Liverpool. He said no-one involved could be identified in media reports.
The couple had been staying at a specialist assessment centre after council social workers raised concerns about the way the boy was being cared for at home, and the woman's behaviour had been recorded on CCTV. Judge Greensmith said the couple knew CCTV was operating.
The judge said: "The mother has admitted that she has (performed the sex act) in the presence of (the baby) on numerous occasions and on some occasions whilst he was in her arms during her stay at the assessment centre.
"In my judgment what the mother has done fits an appropriate definition of sexual abuse.
"The mother's exposure of (the baby) to her sexual act... is in my judgment an instance where the mother failed to take proper measures to prevent (him) being exposed to sexual activity.
"Applying the NSPCC definition of sexual abuse, I find that the mother has sexually abused her child.
"This demonstrates, in my judgment, that the mother does not have an appropriate understanding of the effects exposure to sexual activity will have on a young child. I am satisfied that this was an act of sexual abuse on the part of the mother."
Social workers had put a parenting assessment plan in place after raising a number of welfare concerns, one of which was the woman's performance of the sex act.
The couple's relationship was volatile, "characterised by conflicts" and sometimes "physical", social workers said. They used raised voices and foul language in their baby's presence and showed "no insight" about the effect their behaviour had on him.
Judge Greensmith concluded the boy should be taken from his parents' care and placed for adoption.
He said a number of other children had been taken from the couple following earlier family court proceedings after some of them were abused by a relative who had a paedophilia conviction.
The couple had let their children see the man and put them at risk, said Judge Greensmith.
Child sex offender arrested after confessing
to vigilante group
The 19-year-old suspect was stripped and forced to walk in his underwear
Maldives Independent
A 19-year-old man who confessed to sexually abusing two young boys in the capital’s suburb Hulhumalé was arrested in the early hours of Sunday after he was forced to walk in his underwear by a vigilante group.
A video of the alleged pedophile being questioned and threatened by a group of men has been circulating on social media. He was reportedly stripped down to his boxers and forced to walk on the middle of the street after he confessed to molesting the boys over four days.
The man was taken to the police station after the vigilante action was reported around midnight. A warrant was later issued for his arrest on child sexual abuse charges.
“We have taken him into our custody and we are investigating the case now. We have seen the video on Twitter and will certainly look into it during investigations,” a police spokeswoman told the Maldives Independent.
It is unclear how the vigilantes identified the suspect before the police.
The abuse of the six-year-old and eight-year-old boys was reported to police around 1am on Friday. The victims were reportedly treated at the Hulhumalé hospital.
Some 22 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in April. Earlier this month, a nine-year-old girl was taken under state care after she was sexually abused by her 13-year-old and 16-year-old brothers.
Last week, a 71-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing the underaged girl. He was reportedly the former lover of the girl’s mother.
Predators flock to teen app Snapchat,
a ‘haven’ for child abuse
Police are investigating three cases of child exploitation a day linked to the app, but messages that self-destruct are allowing groomers to avoid detection
Rosamund Urwin and Tom Calver
The Sunday Times
Snapchat allows teenagers to apply filters to amuse their friends, but there is a risk of exposure to sexual content
ILLUSTRATION POSED BY MODELS/ORIGINAL PHOTOS: ALAMY
Police are investigating three child sexual exploitation cases a day that involve Snapchat.
The photo-messaging app is loved by teenagers for its funny selfies and auto-deleting messages, but it has become a “haven” for predators using the platform to prey on the young.
Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel and wife Miranda Kerr
JIM SMEAL/BEI/SHUTTERSTOCK
This includes paedophiles using the app to elicit indecent images from children and to groom teenagers, but also hundreds of cases in which under-18s have themselves spread child pornography through Snapchat.
Snapchat was founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel with Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy, his classmates at Stanford University, California.
Spiegel, 28, its chief executive, who is married to the supermodel Miranda Kerr, turned down a $3bn offer from Facebook to buy Snapchat in 2013. The company floated instead, and is now worth about $15bn. The app is known for filters that can transform selfies into a dog or a zombie.
However, criminal use of the app has become so widespread that UK police are now handling about three child sexual exploitation cases each day in which Snapchat has played a part, according to data obtained under freedom of information laws.
In one case in Bedfordshire, an offender, who was himself under the age of 18, asked several youngsters to play a game of “Trust” on Snapchat. He then asked the children — at least one of whom was a boy aged under 13 — to give a number between one and 10, with the number relating to a body part. “Whatever number is replied always relates to sharing explicit images of the person’s genitals,” the police record said.
In total, there were 3,314 crimes of child sexual exploitation where Snapchat was mentioned between the start of 2014 and mid-March 2019. The number has ballooned since 2014, when there were just 67 cases, compared with 1,011 last year.
And those were from less than 1/3rd of police forces reporting, so the real number is much higher.
Other cases uncovered by The Sunday Times include:
• Two girls, who were both under 13, were alleged to have been raped in the northeast of England last year by two men who they had first messaged on Snapchat
• An 11-year-old boy in Wiltshire exchanged “sexual images” with an 11-year-old girl via Snapchat, before distributing the photographs to his friends
• A man in Essex attempted to groom a 14-year-old girl by communicating with her on Snapchat and other messaging services. The suspect then arranged to meet the girl for sex.
For more on this story, please visit The Sunday Times
Jesus Army churches close after child sex abuse claims
The Jesus Centre, former home of the Jesus Fellowship in Northampton
Six men from the Jesus Fellowship Church - formerly known as the Jesus Army - have so far been sentenced for the indecent and sexual assault of 11 victims between the 1970s and 1990s.
Northamptonshire Police said about 200 complaints of various types of abuse were made. Its investigations continue.
The JFC said it was "appalled" by the abuse and apologised to those affected.
A lawyer representing two alleged victims said he was concerned the closures may mean his clients do not receive compensation.
The JFC's leadership team said members of the church voted to revoke its constitution at a meeting on Sunday.
The vote came years after the first allegations of bullying and financial, physical and sexual abuse were made, the group said.
At its peak in the late 1980s, Jesus Army had about 3,000 members - about half of whom lived together in community houses.
Membership dropped to less than 1,000 people after the abuse claims were made in 2013, following the JFC's invitation to worshippers to share their experiences of the church.
The JFC passed on the reports to police in Northamptonshire - where the church was based - and an investigation known as Operation Lifeboat was launched.
'Cult'
Solicitor David Greenwood is representing two women from the area who say they were abused - one sexually and the other emotionally - by members of the church when they were teenagers.
He said the church's "totalitarian regime" meant child members were not allowed possessions, had to attend schools directed by the organisation, and were even only "parented" by people the church's "elders" deemed appropriate.
"I would classify it as a cult in as much as children were [taught] to be completely obedient to the rules made up by its sole leader, Noel Stanton," he told BBC News.
Neither of Mr Greenwood's clients' claims concern Mr Stanton, who died in 2009.
Mr Greenwood, from Switalskis solicitors, said he was aware of about 30 alleged victims of either emotional or sexual abuse, including at least one outside of the Northamptonshire area.
The JFC has other centres in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, London and Sheffield, all of which will close.
Mr Greenwood told BBC News it was "concerning" that the church's numerous trusts might make it difficult for victims to access compensation once the organisation no longer exists.
"We need to know exactly how any money from these trusts can be accessed... All that is just uncertain. We would like a bit more transparency," he added.
Northamptonshire Police said it launched a second "highly complex" investigation in March this year because of "new lines of enquiry".
The JFC said in a statement that news of the abuse had left current members of the church "profoundly shaken" and the organisation's reputation had been "badly damaged".
The leadership team added the decline in membership to less than 1,000 people has led to fewer donations so the organisation "no longer has the resources to continue as it was".
Analysis
By Martin Bashir, BBC religion editor
The decision to disband is clearly an acknowledgement of serious wrongdoing but also a recognition that religious organisations, led by charismatic individuals, can easily lead to the most appalling abuse unless they are properly managed and held accountable.
Indeed, these organisations are often chosen by predators as places where it is possible to get away with the abuse of children.
The ongoing Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has repeatedly uncovered religious communities and para-church organisations that have failed to embrace statutory standards for the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.
The church said it was "deeply sorry for, and appalled by, the abuse that has taken place" within its organisation.
It apologised to those affected, adding: "Children and vulnerable people were entitled to expect full protection from harm... as things have become clearer to us, we are grieved and deeply troubled."
Congregations that were part of the JFC will become fully independent, the leadership team said.
'Jailbait' folder exposes Australian paedophile’s
sex abuse of children in Singapore 17 years ago
He amassed thousands of videos of himself sexually abusing children in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia over a period of 15 years. Here's how Boris Kunsevitsky's crimes came to light, according to court documents obtained by CNA.
Boris Kunsevitsky has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing dozens of children in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, where he was based. (Photo: Esthemedica)
By Michael Yong CNASINGAPORE: Australian paedophile Boris Kunsevitsky’s sexual abuse of five children in Singapore went undetected for more than 15 years until Australian police found a folder in his computer called "Jailbait".
When investigators opened Jailbait, they found videos and images of Kunsevitsky having sex with children in his Singapore home, as well as subfolders that related to his victims' names, according to court documents seen by CNA.
Jailbait is an informal word for someone who is perceived by some to be sexually attractive, but younger than the legal age of consent for sex.
The five victims in Singapore make up part of the 47 children Kunsevitsky has admitted to abusing over a period of 16 years. Kunsevitsky, 53, pleaded guilty in a Melbourne court last week.
The victims, aged between 10 and 17 years old, were in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia at the time of the offences.
He is facing 59 charges relating to child sexual abuse, including having sex with a child, making child pornography material, inducing a child to have sex with another child, persistent sexual abuse of a child, and importing child pornography.
SINGAPORE VICTIMS ABUSED ON 3 OCCASIONS
Kunsevitsky sexually abused his five victims in Singapore on three occasions, prosecution court documents show. The crimes between August 2002 and August 2003 in Singapore were among the first offences Kunsevitsky committed.
The Russian native, who moved to Australia with his family when he was a child, was living in Singapore at the time of most of his offences, the court heard. He was employed by Singapore beauty firm Esthemedica, where he was a director. The company told CNA after he pleaded guilty that it had not known about his crimes.
Prosecutor Krista Breckweg told the court that “victim one” was a child residing in Singapore at the time of the offences. Kunsevitsky had sex with “victim one” between September 2002 and August 2003, the court heard.
“The offender took a series of 17 photographs of a young male, known as (redacted), who was aged approximately 12 to 14 years old, and this was at the offender’s home,” Ms Breckweg said.
Some of the images showed Kunsevitsky having sex with the boy, the prosecutor added.
In November 2002, while living in Singapore, Kunsevitsky took another 28 photographs of a boy. These images included himself committing sodomy and the boy performing oral sex on him.
Between 2001 and 2003, he also had sex with children in four countries, namely Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, and photographed those incidents.
The crimes went undetected and he continued abusing children and producing child pornography material until he was caught in 2017. On at least one occasion, he showed those pictures and videos to other children he also abused.
Singapore-based Australian Boris Kunsevitsky, 53, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to sexually abusing dozens of children.
(Photo: Facebook/Nha khoa thẩm mỹ Smile Care)
In a statement on May 24, they clarified that no police report had been lodged by any person in Singapore against Kunsevitsky and therefore, no investigations were initiated.
“Prior to his arrest in Australia in September 2017, the police had also not been informed by the Australian authorities that Boris was wanted by them, or that he was involved in any crime,” the force said.
CHILDREN ABUSED IN THE PHILIPPINES, INDONESIA
The court was told that most of Kunsevitsky's crimes were against children in the Philippines - and one in Indonesia - and that he flew out of his base in Singapore to commit the offences. “The offender was a prolific traveller. In his police interview, he explained that he travelled extensively for work,” Ms Breckweg said.
“Some of his offending occurred in Singapore, where he was based for most of the charged periods (January 2001 to September 2017).
“He also travelled regularly to the Philippines and to Indonesia, with most of the offending occurring in the Philippines. Often his trips to these Asian countries were brief and the arrival date coincided with the commencement of the offending.”
The court was told of how Kunsevitsky groomed his victims to perform sex acts on him and other children. He would record these acts, which included himself having sex with children, and keep those videos in his hard drives.
One of those videos exceeded 35 minutes, the prosecution said, and some of them included persistent abuse of the same child.
Ms Breckweg also laid out how Kunsevitsky abused a 12-year-old boy in Indonesia. Images retrieved from his computer showed the victim sitting and eating McDonald’s takeaway food before he performed a sex act on Kunsevitsky. This boy was repeatedly abused over four months.
EXPOSED BY HIS OWN IMAGES
The first hint of Kunsevitsky's crimes was in 2007, when German police identified 55 child pornography images of an Australian boy who had been groomed and abused by Kunsevitsky.
Of the images found, 49 were titled Aussie01jpeg to Aussie 39jpeg and had been shared on Microsoft Office Groove.
In 2008, German police referred the investigation to Australian authorities.
The boy was identified by Australian police in 2016 and an arrest warrant was issued for Kunsevitsky, but it could not be executed immediately because he was working in Singapore at the time, the court was told.
Wow! It took the Aussies 8 years to ID the kid?
Singapore-based Australian Boris Kunsevitsky, 53, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to sexually abusing dozens of children. (Photo: Facebook/thammyquoctebally)
The court was also told how Kunsevitsky had befriended the Australian boy by posing as a 19-year-old on a “teen chatroom” in 2004. Their chats grew to become sexual in nature, and Kunsevitsky asked to speak to the boy, who was 13 years old at the time, on a webcam to confirm he “wasn’t a cop”.
Kunsevitsky later picked the boy up from his home and drove to a friend’s house, where he put on child pornography on TV, including pictures of his abuse of Asian children.
He also had sex with the boy in his parents-in-law’s house, filming the encounter. Between the period of January 2004 and October 2005, he committed several sex acts with the Australian boy after grooming him.
Kunsevitsky was finally arrested on Sep 4, 2017, when he returned to Australia. During the years between when the case was first referred from Germany to the day of his arrest, Kunsevitsky continued to abuse children around Southeast Asia.
When Australian authorities shipped over his belongings from Singapore, they found hard drives with more than 31,000 images and 4,550 videos detailing the abuse. Some were more than 40 minutes long, the court was told, and involved the most serious kinds of child sexual abuse.
It also included pictures and videos of child pornography that he downloaded from other Internet users.
When he was arrested, Kunsevitsky was found with a mobile phone that contained images of him engaged in sexual activity with a child.
When the police questioned him, Kunsevitsky claimed that he “helps with a couple of families and their children informally” and that he allowed the children to “hang out” at his hotel.
He claimed that the children were “slapping each other” in the hotel shower and that they had used his phone to take videos of each other. Kunsevitsky told the police he also deleted a photo taken by one of the children when he was asleep.
“He said he did not get aroused looking at the photos, he’s disinterested in any sort of pornography, and he has never engaged in any sex acts with children in or out of Australia,” the prosecutor said.
Kunsevitsky, who was diagnosed with paedophiliac disorder after he was arrested, has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.
Sexual abuse against children in Turkey
at highest level in eight years
Ahval
Turkey's main opposition party deputy chair said the number of child abuse victims in the country in 2018 had reached the highest number in last eight years, independent news site Diken reported on Tuesday.
The Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi said child sexual abuse cases increased by 12 percent in 2018, compared to the previous year, reaching the highest figures since 2010.
The CHP politician drew attention to sexual crimes not only targeting children but also committed by them in her report.
İlgezdi said the recorded number of children who committed sexual abuse crimes targeting other children increased by 233 percent in 2018, compared to the previous year, reaching 5,331 from 1,603.
A total of 2,754 children aged between 12-15 were involved in crimes related to sexual abuse, according to İlgezdi.
Turkey's largest city and financial powerhouse Istanbul, saw the largest number of child abuse cases, İlgezdi said.
While the cases of sexual abuse against children had increased, the number of acquitted alleged sex offenders had increased by 11 percent compared to 2017, İlgezdi said.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has come under fire for its response to a series of child sex abuse cases in recent years.
The government in 2016 was accused of protecting the Islamist education foundation Ensar, after imposing a broadcast ban preventing reporting on 45 cases of child sexual abuse by an Ensar employee at children's dormitories run by the foundation.
Man, 25, charged with child luring in Toronto
A 25-year-old man is facing several charges following a child luring investigation by Toronto police.
Investigators allege the man used an unspecified social media platform to lure a 15-year-old child.
They say he allegedly threatened and extorted the boy as well as distributed, possessed and accessed child sexual abuse material.
Police believe the man is known to use different online identities, including “jd_psinoiz” and “Zionis Roman.”
Sergio Bahamonde, of Toronto, has been charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, access child pornography, distribution of child pornography, extortion, threaten bodily harm, threaten death, luring a child via telecommunication, and attempt to make child pornography.
He is scheduled to appear in court later Monday.
Man sentenced for historic child sexual abuse in Wycombe, UK
by Charlotte Fisher, Mix 96
A man will spend 12 years behind bars for historic sexual abuse against children in High Wycombe.
Janson Donald King, aged 85, of The Square, Thorpe Malsor, Kettering, Nottingham, was jailed for 12 years and three months today (28/5) at Aylesbury Crown Court.
It's after being found guilty by unanimous verdict of eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child. King was convicted on Friday (24/5) at the same court.
The charges relate to offences which took place in High Wycombe between the 1960s and 1980s, involving three female victims aged between 11 and 17 at the time.
Specialist Investigator, Rebecca Eva, of the Major Crime unit, said:
“‘The sexual abuse that these victims suffered as children has had a devastating impact on their lives. They have shown tremendous courage during what has been a very traumatic time for them and I hope the verdicts and sentence given brings them some closure after some 50 years.
“I would also like to thank the witnesses in the case for giving evidence and also to the Crown Prosecution Service and prosecuting counsel, Jack Talbot, for their work in securing this conviction.
“This conviction reflects the hard work that is carried out by the Child Abuse Investigation Unit in bringing these offenders to justice and I would encourage anybody who has been a victim of childhood sexual abuse to report it to the police.
“You will be listened to, there is support and help available and wherever possible, offenders will be prosecuted.”
Jury begins deliberating in Telford, UK
child sex abuse trial
By Nick HumphreysShropshire Star
Jurors in a Telford child sex exploitation trial have started their deliberations.
Three men, Ghamer Sulayman, Saleh Qasem and Ayad Hizam, all from Birmingham, are facing a string of charges relating to the exploitation of a girl.
Today, Judge Peter Barrie summed up the evidence that had been heard at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
He told how the girl, 15 at the time, claimed she was threatened by Sulayman that she must have sex with multiple men or he would smash up the car and home of one of her family members.
The jury also heard that she said he took her to a supermarket car park in Telford and made her have sex with multiple men.
The court heard that Sulayman and Qasem were in a car on July 1, 2016 when a group travelled to Telford to collect the girl and take her to a house in Birmingham.
It is alleged that several men abused her in the house.
Judge Barrie told how the victim alleged that she got to know Hizam through social media before they met and had sex at a Telford hotel.
Hizam claimed she told him she was 16 in his evidence, but she said she told him she was 15.
Sulayman said in his evidence that he got her Snapchat details from Hizam.
Judge Barrie said to the jury: "You are tasked with deciding what evidence was truthful and reliable. It is your assessment which counts.
"If you feel sympathy for her, you must not let that affect your judgement."
Qasem, 20, of Runcorn Road, Balsall Heath, denies one count of human trafficking and one of sexual assault.
Sulayman, 23, of Mercia Drive, Kings Heath, denies one count of rape and three of human trafficking.
Hizam, 21, of Bridgecroft, Balsall Heath, faces four counts of abduction and four of sexual activity with a child.
The trial continues.
Sumbal, Kashmir ‘rape’ case: No significant evidence to prove child was sexually assaulted
By News Desk
Free Press Kashmir
Srinagar: In the alleged rape of a three year old girl (3rd story on link) from Sumbal village of Bandipora district, the medical report has stated that there was ‘no sufficient evidence to confirm that the child has been sexually assaulted’.
In its report submitted to the investigation officer of police, the authorities in SKIMS medical college, have stated that there were no marks of injury on any part of the body including the private parts.
The report however establishes presence of ‘faint blood stains’ which ‘could not be scrapped (scraped?) and sent for examination’
“There was no active bleeding… the mere presence of the faint blood stains and a maculo papular rash… is not sufficient evidence to confirm that the child has been sexually assaulted,” reads the medical report.
It states that the actual source of bleeding could not be determined as there was no evidence of any injury. “Also the blood stains were not dry blood but faint stains only and could not be scrapped and sent for examination,” it reads.
“There was no evidence of any trauma, injury… Maculo papular rash can arise due to multiple of reasons,” the report reads.
After initial reports of the incident, students clashed with police, demanding swift action in the case. Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir had to shut down most educational institutions in the valley.
Last week, the police had said that the allegations of rape in the case have been proven and that a chargesheet will be filed soon.
The accused has now been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) section 3 and 5 and 376 A, B and 342 RPC.
The students of different educational institutions demanded justice to the victim and stern punishment to the accused. Students of Amar Singh (AS) College, Srinagar, carrying placards and banners, staged protests in the college campus. They demanded death penalty to the accused.
The case also had a potential to take a sectarian turn following which a Shia-Sunni coordination committee of religious scholars appealed to the people to maintain calm and end protests as “police had nabbed the culprit”.
With the medical report ruling out rape, the case is set to take a new turn.
Seems to me that the medical report did not rule-out rape, just that there was no conclusive evidence that it had occurred.
2nd Russian Scholar Of Stalin's Crimes Sentenced
To Nine Years On Child-Sex Conviction
Is Putin trying to whitewash Stalin's crimson history by removing historians who might expose him for the monster he was? Or is this a coincidence? Hint: I don't believe in coincidences!
A former museum director who has conducted research at a mass grave containing the remains of thousands of people shot under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has been convicted of having sex with a minor and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Sergei Koltyrin, who was convicted and sentenced along with co-defendant Yury Nosov on May 27 by a court in the Karelia region town of Medvezhegorsk in northwestern Russia, is the second historian involved in research at the Sandarmokh mass grave site to be prosecuted on charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of minors.
The trials have raised suspicion that the authorities are seeking to silence Russians who labor to uncover evidence of Stalin's crimes.
Koltyrin and Nosov, who were arrested in October and tried behind closed doors, were both found guilty of corrupting an underage boy and having sex with an underage boy. Nosov was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
The convictions came as the second trial of historian Yury Dmitriyev, who discovered and began documenting the Sandarmokh site in the 1990s, continues behind closed doors in the Karelian capital, Petrozavodsk.
Dmitriyev heads the Karelia branch of the Moscow-based human rights group Memorial, whose decades-long efforts to expose the extent of Stalin's crimes have met with opposition under Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Historian and activist Yury Dmitriyev appears in the Petrazavodsk court in February 2018.
He proclaimed his innocence, contending that the images were not pornographic -- but were meant to document the girl's development after his family took her in because of concerns about her health -- and that the charges were intended to interrupt his work investigating Stalin-era crimes.
The Petrozavodsk City Court acquitted Dmitriyev in September 2018, but the Karelia Supreme Court upheld an appeal by prosecutors and ordered a new trial (2nd story on link).
The historian was rearrested in June and is currently on trial on the more severe charge of "violent acts of a sexual nature committed against a person under 14 years of age" -- again referring to his daughter.
Koltyrin, who had been director of a local history museum in Medvezhegorsk museum since 1991, last year publicly criticized excavations being carried out around Sandarmokh by the Russian Military-Historical Society, which is headed by Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky.
Koltyrin and other critics contend that the new excavations, which are aimed at finding possible graves of World War II Red Army soldiers who were allegedly executed as prisoners of war by the Finnish military, are intended to revise the significance of the site and downplay Stalin's crimes against his own people.
Under Putin, Stalin's image has been steadily rehabilitated to emphasize his role in industrializing the country and leading it to victory over Nazi Germany while downplaying the purges, forced collectivization, mass political repressions, deportations, and labor camps that characterized his decades in power.
Did we mention the starvation of millions of Mennonites?
Putin has accused Russia's critics of using the "excessive demonization" of Stalin "to show that today's Russia carries some kind of birthmarks of Stalinism."
Koltyrin and Nosov declined to comment to journalists following the hearing on May 27. A former lawyer for Koltyrin has said that the historian was pressured to renounce his services and use a state-appointed lawyer instead.
I think it is obvious that Putin envies the control that Soviet leaders had over Russians. Whether he would like to take the great country back to that horrendous, godless era is another thing.
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