Women beaten, shaved & paraded as ‘punishment’ for resisting rape gang in Indian village
This story reveals how little progress has been made in women's rights in India, and how very far they have to go before women and girls will be safe.
© ANI
Two women were beaten and had their heads shaved as retribution for reportedly resisting an attempted rape by a government official and his friends in Bihar, India. They were then paraded through the village by their attackers.
Seven men barged into the house of a 48-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter in Bhagwanpur, in the Vaishali district of Bihar, and allegedly tried to rape the teenager, the Hindustan Times reports.
“Around 6.30 pm, half a dozen armed men forcibly entered my house and attempted to rape me. When my mother tried to save me, they started beating us,” the young woman told police.
The women say they were hit with wooden sticks and dragged outside. Police said that a barber was called to shave the pair’s heads before they were marched through the village as a form of punishment.
Ward councillor Mohammad Khurshid is accused of being the leader of the group, and the girl told police that the local government official had been harassing her for several weeks.
“We have been beaten very badly. I have injuries all over my body and my daughter too has some injuries,” her mother said of their ordeal.
A video of the incident went viral on social media, and Khurshid and the barber were arrested on Thursday. The investigation is ongoing and police are looking for the remaining five suspects.
'Citizen of the Year' jailed for sexually assaulting a young boy - before taking him in as his foster child - Australia
By AIDAN WONDRACZ FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
A paramedic who was once named 'citizen of the year' has been jailed after sexually abusing his foster child.
Ronald Francis Willoughby, 63, was a stalwart in the Bourke community in remote western New South Wales.
Ronald Francis Willoughby, 63, was a stalwart in the Bourke community in remote western New South Wales
He had been named Rotary Citizen of the Year in 2014 and was a veteran in the Ambulance Service, The Daily Telegraph reported.
His altruism was well known around the community so nobody thought twice when the husband and father-of-two became a foster parent to Shane Rose in 2013.
But Sydney's Downing Centre District Court this week heard that before taking Rose under his wing, Willoughby had sexually assaulted him in motel rooms as a boy.
His altruism was well known around the community so nobody thought twice when the husband and father-of-two became a foster parent to Shane Rose in 2013
Willoughby first met Mr Rose at the local swimming pool six years years before he became his foster son.
Mr Rose had lost his mother in an accident at the age of 12 and did not know his father and as a result was placed into the care of the state.
Willoughby told a psychologist he recognised Mr Rose as he asked for leftovers outside of the local supermarket.
He set up the young boy with a job at the supermarket and invited him back to his house one shift, under the pretense he would make him a sandwich for lunch.
On the loungeroom floor of his family home, Willoughby sexually assaulted the unsuspecting boy.
Mr Rose was once again victimised in a motel room in 2013 - the same year Willoughby became a foster carer.
Willoughby pampered his victim in gifts including a mobile phone and enrollment at a private school in Campbelltown, in western Sydney.
Only in 2017 did he come forward and inform Child Abuse Squad detectives and later wore a hidden recording device to catch Willoughby.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Rose said he spiralled into a world of anxiety and drug and alcohol abuse and even attempted suicide.
Willoughby pampered his victim in gifts including a mobile phone and enrollment at a private school in Campbelltown, in western Sydney
He told the Downing Centre District Court in a statement that he felt Willoughby had tried to isolate him from the community.
'When my family first found out I was going to be living with a white man and not family who were of Aboriginal descent, it started an eruption of arguments and fallouts towards me.
'I felt very disconnected from my people and the indigenous community.'
Willoughby admitted to the abuse and pleaded guilty to indecent assault and aggravated sexual intercourse with a person under 16.
He admitted to the psychologist of his actions and said he felt 'so bad for Shane'.
Willoughby was handed a maximum six years in jail and will be eligible for parole in July 2020, as he has already served time in remand.
Victims confront 'twisted and evil' father in
Alberta child sex abuse case
Jonny Wakefield
Calgary SUN News Alberta
The Edmonton Law Courts, housing provincial courts, family courts, the Court of Appeal and Court of Queen's Bench, is seen in downtown Edmonton. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia
Warning: this story contains disturbing details.
The young woman stood at a podium at the front of the courtroom, facing the judge, between two attorneys in black robes.
The room fell perfectly silent for a long moment. At first, it seemed like she might not be able to speak. The judge offered her the opportunity to sit down if she preferred. But she stayed standing, and began to address her father — her abuser — seated in the prisoner box in leg shackles.
“To the person who was once my father,” she began. “I don’t hate you, I hate what you did. I hate that you were selfish. I hate that you put your own needs first.”
She paused, telling the man to look at her.
“As a child I looked up to you, I thought that this would be the type of man that I would want to have as my spouse,” she said. “That is, until your true self popped out.”
The young woman was one of nearly a dozen people to confront the man in court Friday, detailing the impacts of years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse he inflicted on them at the family’s compound west of Edmonton.
Neither they nor the man can be identified under a court ordered publication ban to protect the victims’ identities.
The man sat impassively in the prisoner box, cocking his head at times while listening to the statements. At one point, a sheriff ordered him to stop making hand signals to people in the gallery.
The man pleaded guilty to 10 charges in February including sexual assault, incest, child exploitation and making child pornography.
In late 2016, another family member called RCMP about possible sexual abuse taking place on the family’s acreage near Evansburg, according to an agreed statement of facts.
The children were taken out of school by their father years prior and homeschooled — an education that included regular drills with the more than two-dozen firearms later found on the property.
Court heard the accused took an interest in firearms after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and underwent training that included instruction in guerrilla warfare.
A few weeks after receiving the tip, RCMP learned the accused posted child pornography of his daughter on the internet. They arrested him during a traffic stop in November 2016, raided the family home and seized the accused’s electronic devices, which also contained multiple pornographic images of his daughters.
Police also found 20 to 30 firearms littered throughout the house, including rifles, machine guns, shotguns, handguns and what appeared to be grenades.
After interviewing family members, police learned the three daughters had been subjected to horrifying sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
The man began by grooming them when they were adolescents, telling them “they needed to learn about sex to please their future husbands … so he was going to teach them,” the agreed facts state.
Court heard the accused sexually assaulted all three daughters. One of them was offered up to two unknown men on the internet, who raped her while her father watched and participated.
Police found video of one of the sexual assaults on one of the girls on the man’s laptop.
All three described having to do sexual favours for their father in exchange for treats and junk food. They were told to keep the abuse secret.
All three daughters, now young adults, described nightmares, trauma and the normal lives they were deprived of as a result of the abuse. The family stood at the front of the courtroom with their arms around each other as some of the victim impact statements were read out.
One daughter said she struggles to go outside or relate to other people, and can barely write because she was pulled out of school at a such young age.
“I’m not normal, I feel like I’ll never be normal,” she said in a victim impact statement. “He has wrecked me in so many ways, he has destroyed so much of me.”
Another daughter has since graduated college and learned to drive — an activity her father prohibited. She said her father used the Bible to justify his behaviour but said she now understands it was a lie.
“I used to believe you but now, after hearing the Lord’s word as it was meant to be heard, I know how twisted and evil you really are.”
The man’s ex-wife, who was kept in the dark about the abuse, also provided a victim impact statement.
The ex-wife said she was forced to work as the family breadwinner and give all her earnings to her husband. She was often out of the house on night and weekend shifts.
“I feel so ashamed that I didn’t know what was happening so I couldn’t help my children,” she said in her statement.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place in September.
Sex abuse 'never took place' Arthur Shefford
tells Oxford, UK, jury
tells Oxford, UK, jury
By Will Walker, Oxford Mail
Oxford Crown Court
A MAN accused of sexually abusing four young girls in Oxford in the 1970s and 1980s told jurors the attacks 'never happened'.
As the trial into alleged historical sex offences continued at Oxford Crown Court yesterday Arthur Shefford took to the witness box to profess his innocence.
The 77-year-old of Abingdon Road, Oxford, is accused of indecently assaulting four children who were aged between four and 11 about 40 years ago.
Shefford, meanwhile, denies all nine counts of indecent assault as well as one count of indecency with a child alleged to have taken place in the 1970s and 1980s.
From the witness box the father-of-three told jurors that he had never taken the children for rides on his horse, where some of the alleged offences are said to have occurred. He repeated that the allegations were false and that he had not sexually abused any of his claimed four child victims.
Shefford said of one of his alleged victims - none of whom can be named for legal reasons - that he didn't know or have any recollection of ever seeing her before.
Answering one specific allegation of indecent assault against one child he explained that the girl had fallen from a tree and been stung by nettles. Shefford said that when he saw her he had used a dock leaf on the girl to 'administer' medicine and denied any illicit activity ever taking place.
Jurors also heard how in 1979 Shefford admitted two separate counts of indecent assault again involving children.
During cross examination yesterday it was put to Shefford that he simply 'does not want to accept' that he engaged in inappropriate behaviour with children during that period, an assertion he denied.
Explaining why he committed those other offences he said it was 'spur of the moment' and he now regretted it.
Shefford also told jurors that while he had pleaded guilty to one offence of putting his hands down one girl's trousers he now said that he had not done that act.
He told jurors yesterday he 'didn't realise' there were two allegations.
I'm pretty sure that destroys any credibility for his memory.
Earlier in the trial prosecutor Fern Russell said that Shefford had been at the time 'trusted by adults and children alike'.
The television repair and rental man was described by one alleged victim as a 'pillar of the community' and also called a local 'character'.
One woman said that she was abused while on a horse Shefford owned called Sugar. In a video recorded interview with police played to the court she recounted what she claims happened.
She said that after the first incident of indecent assault sexual abuse 'became normal' and attacks would happen on multiple occasions.
She said: "All of his times with me were opportunistic. It was not on a daily basis or a weekly basis, they were opportunistic. I don't know how many times it happened, a lot of times, it just became normal if you like."
Another woman claimed that she was left feeling 'disgusting' and 'filthy' after her alleged ordeal. She said: "I felt filthy, horrible, and he should not be able to do what he was doing."
The trial continues.
Female ringleader of Sydney child sex ring gets taxpayer-funded home on street with a primary school
By JOSH HANRAHAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
The cruel mastermind of a child prostitution ring that saw girls as young as 12 forced to have sex with 'fat old men', is living in a taxpayer funded home on the same street as a primary school.
The woman, now 29, recently moved into the NSW Housing Department flat located in Sydney's west, a few kilometres from where she pimped out terrified young girls.
She should be sent to the outback with a tent and a small bottle of water.
The leader of a child prostitution ring who pimped out young girls to fat old men has been put up in a taxpayer funded housing commission flat on the same street as a primary school
For three years the woman and her sister plied girls with drugs and forced them into being sex slaves, with threats of violence or being sent to the streets if they refused.
Daily Mail Australia this week revealed the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - has continued to evade police ever since she walked out of prison in 2017.
But despite her criminal past she has been handed a small flat walked past by dozens of school children every day, much to the anger of child victims of crime advocates.
Kerrie Thompson, CEO of the Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL), said her biggest concern was that the woman would be unable to resist the opportunity to re-offend.
The ringleader and her younger sister (centre) plied the girls with drugs before forcing them to put make-up on and work as sex slaves between 2009 and 2012
'The predatory behaviours that underpin a paedophile ring or a child sex ring don't just go away because you've been in jail,' Ms Thompson said.
'Her name hasn't been released publicly, so if the families at the school were to find out they would be terrified that there is someone of that nature living so close by.
'We would fear the kids at that school are in danger of being groomed.
'There's the assumption by some that if they do a jail sentence that's it, they've been rehabilitated - but they need to be strictly monitored.'
For her heinous crimes the woman received a minimum of six years behind bars, but since being released has breached her parole conditions on multiple occasions.
After being released the older sister was placed on the Child Protection Register and will remain on it until at least 2032.
As part of this she was required to keep police informed of her residential address as well as needing to check-in at a police station once a year.
But within just months of her release she had breached these conditions.
Court documents reveal in September 2017 police knocked on her door for a routine check-up, only to find the woman had not lived there for some time.
The ring operated in darkened car parks and motels like The Grandstand (pictured) at Warwick Farm, where a room costs just $49 for half a day
The rooms where the young girls were forced to have sex with 'fat old men' featured graffiti on the walls, soiled furniture and filthy showers (pictured)
Despite concerns about the risk she poses to children, it took more than a month for police to locate and arrest her, before she received a good behaviour bond in court.
For the next 18 months the woman stayed out of trouble, until in March this year she again failed to comply with her reporting obligations.
When she failed to turn up to the police station at any point throughout the month to make her annual check-in, a warrant was issued for her arrest.
'What can I say, I f**ked up. The phone that I had the reminder in was smashed,' she told police after being arrested on April 8.
Online ratings describe The Grandstand (pictured) as 'the worst motel ever', with one resident stating 'I wouldn't put my dog in it, let alone my family'
She faced Liverpool Local Court on June 13 and was handed a two-year Community Corrections Order, as well as being ordered to perform 90 hours community service.
During her first trial in the Downing Centre District Court in 2012, the court heard she and her sister had IQs in the lowest one per cent of the population.
Using the lure of illegal drugs or in some case just a roof over their heads, the sisters targeted girls who were homeless, in foster care of just out of juvenile detention.
They connected with the girls through mutual friends or even on Facebook.
The ring operated in darkened car parks and motels like The Grandstand at Warwick Farm, where a room costs just $49 for half a day.
Beginning in 2009 the child sex ring saw girls have their first sexual encounters with 'fat old men' at the direction of the sisters.
In one case the youngest girl, 12, was pimped to three different men in three days.
'Just do it... you're going to do it in life anyway,' one of the sisters told a girl who said she did not want to be a prostitute.
When the girls told the sisters they didn't want to do it, they were threatened.
When they cried for help or held pillows over their faces so they didn't have to look in the eyes of the much older men, the women were next door listening.
One sex slave, aged 13, was advertised to clients as being 'very pretty, size 10, big boobs and black hair'.
'I was so alone... I still live in fear of being kicked out into the streets, having nowhere to go and no one to love me,' another 13-year-old girl told a courtroom.
Just do it... you're going to do it in life anyway
The younger sister to a young sex slave
Dr Cathy Kezelman, an expert on the trauma of child sex abuse and president of the Blue Knot foundation, told Daily Mail Australia being subjected to such horrific sexual attacks could stay with a forever
'To be sexually abused as a child, particularly because it's at an age where your sense of self is still developing, can affect you in just about every way' Dr Kezelman said.
'It can really affect your self-esteem and your sense of worth. Children don't have the words or understanding to deal with what's happening to them and they can really struggle going through life.
'They can often try to manage stress with alcohol and drug use, while many develop eating disorders and struggle to hold down a job.
'It's not just a matter of getting up and getting on with it... it can really take time.'
After operating in secret for years the sex ring began to unravel in 2012 when the sisters conspired to rob one of their clients during his encounter with a young girl.
Rino Raymond Mura, 58, was in the backseat of his car with a young girl when one of the sisters' friends robbed him at knifepoint.
Rino Raymond Mura (left), 58, was sentenced to a minimum four years jail. Bassam Darwich (right), 57, a father-of-six, was sentenced to a minimum 20 months in jail
He called police to report the attack, but when officers arrived and found him in the company of the young girl they began putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Three months later they arrested the two sisters, Mura and three other male clients.
In sentencing Mura to a minimum of four years jail, Judge Penelope Wass said child prostitution rings could not happen without 'willing clients'.
Bassam Darwich, 57, a father-of-six, was sentenced to a minimum 20 months in jail
Bassam Darwich, 57, a father-of-six, was sentenced to a minimum 20 months in jail, a sentence the Crown unsuccessfully appealed.
Trevor Andrew Weger, 56, was jailed for three years, after being found guilty of four counts of using a child prostitute.
Another man, who like the sisters cannot be named, avoided jail but was placed on a 20-month intensive correction order (ICO).
The younger sibling's non-parole period was four years, while the older sister will be on parole until 2020.
And then she is free to destroy more children!!!
Gunnedah, NSW detectives charge 54-y/o man
with historical sex abuse offences
Breanna Chillingworth
Charges laid: Oxley Detective Acting Inspector Jason Darcy confirmed the man was arrested on the outskirts of Gunnedah on Thursday.
A MAN has been arrested by Oxley detectives and charged in connection to a historical sex abuse investigation.
A 54-year-old man from a township on the outskirts of Gunnedah has been granted conditional bail, accused of abusing a child almost a decade ago.
Oxley detectives launched an investigation into claims a child was abused by a man known to him during 2009 and 2010.
Following investigations, detectives arrested the 54-year-old man in a township outside of Gunnedah on Thursday and he was taken to Gunnedah Police Station where he was questioned by investigators.
He's facing aggravated indecent assault charges.
Much of the details surrounding the case cannot be reported for legal reasons.
This was a protracted investigation.
Detective Acting Inspector Jason Darcy
"This was a protracted investigation by Gunnedah detectives and resulted in the arrest of a 54-year-old Gunnedah man for historical sex offences," Oxley Detective Acting Inspector Jason Darcy said.
"We continue to appeal to the public for anyone with information on incidents such as this.
"Police will investigate all claims of historical sex abuse and the public can be guaranteed these matters will be examined and dealt with professionally by investigators."
The man was granted conditional bail to front Gunnedah Local Court in July.
Hamilton, N.Z. man charged after
'child exploitation' photos, videos found
'child exploitation' photos, videos found
The 51-year-old appeared in Hamilton District Court on June 28 and further charges are likely, according to a New Zealand Customs Service media statement.
The man was questioned by Customs officers when he arrived at Auckland Airport on June 26 after spending three weeks in Thailand.
His USB and tablet were searched, revealing evidence of indecent images, the statement said.
A search of his home later that day found "a large number" of images and videos of child sexual abuse.
Child protection is a matter Customs takes seriously, with specialist investigators and forensic experts working to combat such "horrendous crimes", Customs Investigations manager Bruce Berry said.
The movement of such material is actively targeted, Berry said, both across physical borders and the "cyber border".
"Child exploitation is a significant and growing threat in New Zealand, due to the increasing use of the dark web, live-streaming and cybersex trafficking, as well as an increase in the number of sex offenders who are travelling.
"It is important to understand this is is not a victimless crime - the trade of child sexual exploitation material; directly correlates to increased risks of physical abuse."
And each image or or video depicts scenes of real children being abused, Berry said.
Additional investment in Budget 2019 - $10.2 million over four years - will further strengthen Customs' ability to identify and respond to child exploitation, Berry said.
So far this year, 11 people have been arrested or charged by customs for such crimes.
Prison sentence for N.Z. man who
sexually abused 4-y/o daughter
Samantha Geesexually abused 4-y/o daughter
A mother has spoken of the damage caused to her family after her partner sexually assaulted the couple's four-year-old daughter.
The 26-year-old man, who was granted permanent name suppression to protect his family, was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison on a charge of unlawful sexual connection and three charges of indecent assault on a female under 12.
In a victim impact statement read in the Nelson District Court by a victim's advisor on Monday, the girl's mother told of how her partner's actions had damaged their family.
"My fundamental belief of who you are has just been shattered, I am left with the prospect of never trusting anyone again therefore forever raising our children in a half-empty home."
She said her partner knew she had suffered sexual abuse as a child and how it continued to affect her.
"You chose to condemn your daughter to the same emotional pain, if not worse, for the rest of her life. She deserved so much better, she deserved a father, she deserved a happy home."
The woman and her children had since moved away from Nelson. She said her daughter was plagued by night terrors and refused to sleep.
Since the offending came to light, she said her children had seen her behaving erratically, withdrawn from a lack of sleep and uncontrollably crying on the bathroom floor.
"I will forever be putting on a brave face, I will forever feel a guilt for what you have done, for not trusting my gut instinct to leave you. You are a horrible person, but I am grateful you confronted your demons."
Judge David Ruth said the offending occurred on three separate occasions over a two-month period, beginning last October. After a complaint was made to police, the man confessed to the offending, saying he wanted help to fix himself.
In each instance, the offending occurred when the girl went into her father's bedroom and got into bed with him for a cuddle.
When interviewed by police, he was distressed and remorseful, saying he felt disgusted by his actions and couldn't offer an explanation for his actions.
Judge Ruth said the scale of the offending, the vulnerability of the victim and the breach of trust were all aggravating factors.
"Despite the sense of revulsion that you properly had after the first instance, you went on and were unable to stop yourself it seems, committing further offences that were more serious than the first one."
Judge Ruth said the girl was looking to her father for "parental affection" but what she received in place of that was her father putting his own "perverted sexual needs over her wellbeing".
"She had the right to expect to be brought up without sexual abuse but you changed all of that for her."
He accepted that the man's remorse was genuine and was a substantial mitigating factor.
Crown prosecutor Sefton Revell said the young girl was vulnerable and the offending was deliberate, the man chose to do it and it was not something that was out of his control.
"The responsibility for the offending lies with the defendant entirely, he says as much in the pre-sentence report provided to the court."
Defence lawyer Michael Vesty said the man had shown a lack of self control but had since taken responsibility for his offending.
Vesty said the man was capable of being rehabilitated and wished to engage with therapeutic interventions while in prison.
Paedophile ex-cop who sexually abused young boys
dies in Scottish prison
By Michael PringleDaily Record
The predatory paedophile is believed to have suffered a stroke while serving time at HMP Grampian.
Ian Jolly, who was married with children, had been recalled to jail following early release after fresh allegations of sexual abuse were made against him.
At the time of his conviction he was living in Edinburgh in supported accommodation and had been shunned by family and friends.
Jolly was jailed last year after being sentenced for abuse which took place at addresses in Aberdeenshire during the 80s and 90s.
His sickening behaviour only came to light after the national football abuse scandal hit the headlines and a victim came forward.
Ian Jolly is believed to have died after suffering a stroke at HMP Grampian (Image: Michal Wachucik)
Jolly had been involved in coaching boys football while serving as a police officer with the former Grampian police force at the time.
During his service his duties included working at Aberdeen Sheriff Court as a duty court officer — the same court he was handed down his sentence.
During the trial his defence lawyer told the court that Jolly struggled with his own sexuality and being a police officer, as it was an environment that wasn’t supportive of gay officers.
Sheriff William Summers told Jolly he had abused the position of trust enjoyed by a police officer before jailing him for what he described as “a catalogue of depraved abuse”.
Jolly would get the boys on their own and pull down their trousers before touching their private parts. He also showed them pornography.
He entered guilty pleas to seven charges including exposing himself, performing a sex act in the presence of a child and abusing him on various occasions during a three-month period.
He also admitted similar offences and indecently assaulting the same boy on a several other occasions over a three-year period.
And on various occasions in the 1990s Jolly exposed himself and performed a sex act in front of another of the boys.
He also admitted indecently assaulting two other boys in the 1990s.
A number of the offences took place while he was volunteering as a football coach, others while he was off duty.
A statement from the Scottish Prison Service said: "Ian Alexander Jolly, 72, a prisoner at HMP Edinburgh has died.
"He was remanded at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on 15 March 2019. Police Scotland have been advised and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal. A Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held in due course."
Violence in Jaipur, India over rape of 7-y/o girl,
160 vehicles torched
India Today Web DeskNew Delhi
Violence erupted in Jaipur over the rape of a seven-year-old girl. The protesters torched 160 vehicles. They are demanding the accused to be arrested and punished.
Police force has been deployed for maintaining law and order in the city. The Internet has also been suspended in several areas.
Commissioner of police, Jaipur, Anand Shrivastava told India Today TV that the situation is under control. He appealed to the people to not believe rumours. "We hope to crack the case soon,'' he said.
The Rajasthan government also gave a compensation of Rs 5 lakh (about $34,000 USD) to the family of the seven-year-old girl.
Congress leader Mahesh Joshi and party MLA Amin Kagzi met the family members and handed a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the victim's father. District collector Jagroop Singh Yadav said the compensation was sanctioned from the chief minister's relief fund.
They also assured the family of proper action in the matter.
The seven-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped by an unknown person in Shastri Nagar area in Jaipur, police said on Tuesday.
Indian survivors of sexual abuse drop out of school due to social stigma and finances, says study In Focus
Mirror Now DigitalThe study that was conducted in collaboration with the Human Development Society (HDS) said that only 15 per cent of the survivors has received compensation from the government.
Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights releases study on why sexual abuse survivors drop out of school Only 9 per cent of the minors subjected to abuse go back to education and 33 per cent opt out of schools (Representative Image). | Photo Credit: Getty Images
New Delhi: A study conducted by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DPCPCR) has suggested that one out of every three children who are subjected to sexual abuse in Delhi, drop out of school. Only 9 per cent of the minors subjected to abuse go back to education and 33 per cent opt out of schools.
The study that was conducted in collaboration with the Human Development Society (HDS) said that only 15 per cent of the survivors has received compensation from the government. The compensation provided to the survivors was between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 ($430 - $727 USD).
Perhaps the government is moving to fix this horrible inadequacy as the story immediately above indicates a victim received Rs 5 lakh (about $34,000 USD), apparently quite quickly.
According to the study, survivors often drop out because of the stigma associated with sexual abuse. Health reasons and long legal procedures are among other reasons that prompt survivors to terminate their education.
Jyothi Rathee, member of DCPCR told Hindustan Times, "These findings clearly indicate the inadequate potential of most of the families to access welfare, legal and other services that are essential for the victims. The present scenario is bleak when it comes to providing support and services for rehabilitation and corrective measures need to be taken."
The study suggested that around 55 per cent of the families terminate the education of their children due to insufficient finances. It was also added that a large number of girl survivors stopped going to school after they struggled with self-imposed isolation.
Ramesh Negi, chairperson, DCPCR said, "In most cases, the survivors are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which requires constant support and counselling to overcome. Also, the health complications are serious and the compensation usually given is neither adequate nor timely, adding to the stress of both, the victims and their families."
The commission interviewed 100 survivors for the study. The cases of these survivors were registered in 2017-2018. The study stated that in 2017-18, 932 cases were filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the Delhi Police. Out of these, 849 were minor girls and 83 were boys.
Negi said, "We are in the process of empanelling NGOs to set up these smile clubs. Even though victims get legal aid post abuse but the overall health and mainstreaming of the victim back in the society are left out. The clubs will focus on this including psychological rehabilitation on a continuous basis, monitoring education difficulties, health status and facilitating medical care in hospitals, among others." The commission will be setting up 10-15 smile clubs in every district of the national capital to help the survivors.
Ex-OPP officer jailed 18 months for child porn
and internet luring
Terry BridgeThe Beacon-Herald
Ex-OPP officer John Paul Stone behind the Stratford courthouse on Wednesday. Mike Hensen/The London Free Press
A former police officer is heading to jail for 18 months for possessing child pornography and paying to have children in foreign countries involved in sex acts that he could watch over Skype.
John Paul Stone, 57, who spent five years working for the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) near Belleville, was led away in handcuffs by a Perth County OPP officer Wednesday after Superior Court Justice Ian Leach delivered his decision in a Stratford courtroom.
A long list of charges was laid nearly three years ago, and Stone pleaded guilty to two of them this past December.
“I’m ready,” the longtime Listowel resident said Wednesday to Postmedia outside the Perth County Courthouse in Stratford when asked how he was feeling on the morning of his sentencing.
The court heard Stone used Skype on multiple occasions between March and June 2014 to arrange sex acts and offered money in return, with several bank and Western Union transactions matching the amounts mentioned in the Skype conversations. Payments ranged from about $19 to $50.
The court heard Stone arranged the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy during one incident in early April 2014.
“Stone asked (the person) if he or she is able to find an even younger boy that is 12 or 13 years old,” Crown attorney Noelle Brady said while reading the synopsis this past fall.
A total of $49.50 was sent to the Philippines that day, bank records showed.
Investigators discovered the Skype conversations after seizing several computers, hard drives, USB devices and cellphones from Stone’s Listowel home through a search warrant in July 2015. Two images that met the definition of child pornography were recovered.
The Crown and defence lawyer Margaret Osadet both suggested 18 months behind bars. Leach said the joint submission “must be accepted.”
The lawyers also asked for Stone to be sent to the St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre in Brockville, Ont., so he can receive treatment for several ongoing psychological issues. Stone testified he was sexually abused by a police officer “over 700 times” between the ages of 10 and 16, so talking about the historic offences to investigators several decades later leading up to the man’s trial caused him to spiral out of control.
Leach spoke extensively about Stone’s “horrific” sexual abuse as a child but said it cuts both ways.
“Such an explanation is not an excuse,” he said.
He also pointed out there were only two child porn images.
Seeking and paying for online sexual abuse should be considered the same as if the abuse was performed by the voyeur. It would not have happened without his determination to watch and pay. Sentences need to be much more severe.
There should be an investigation into the abuse Stone suffered as a boy, or are the OPP just going to let that slide?
Salvation Army paid compensation to Dutch victims of historic child sexual abuse
Three victims of child sexual abuse were paid damages by the Salvation Army last year, according to Trouw.
Two of the three cases reportedly involved abuse by a Salvation Army official, the paper claimed.
The organisation reportedly told Trouw that alongside these three victims ‘there are other cases known of from the past’ who received compensation – although it would apparently not reveal the precise figure.
These three cases were revealed when the Salvation Army asked the Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven, a semi-governmental organisation which compensates victims of violent crimes, to propose a level of compensation in 2017.
One of the victims, Richard Bos, told Trouw that of a total of around €30,000, he received €2,500, and was ‘humiliated’ because he had approached the Salvation Army to ‘break the silence’ with his sister, reportedly another victim.
A spokesman for the Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven confirmed to DutchNews.nl that it had proposed compensation from the Salvation Army for three Dutch victims, although he could not reveal any details about the victims or the abuse.
In a statement online, the Salvation Army confirmed that it had asked the fund to propose compensation, and admitted that the abuse took place in the 1970s.
‘In the past, we did not listen properly or look for proper solutions such as immediately stopping abuse, offering proper guidance or treatment to victims and regularly discussing conditions for social (and physical) safety,’ it said in the statement. It stressed that it has ‘extensive protocols’ in place now to prevent abuse.
But it would appear that you still treat the victims with contempt. You must do better! You have God to answer to.
Irish man convicted of sexually abusing
son of childhood friend
By Sonya McLean and Brion Hoban
A man has been convicted by a jury of sexually abusing the son of his childhood friend while he was staying with the family almost seven years ago.
The 35-year-old pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of sexual assault, two of which relate to the older brother who was seven at the time and one which relates to the younger brother who was five, at their Dublin home on dates between August 2012 and March 2013.
The jury of three women and nine men returned a verdict of guilty on the count of sexual assault relating to the younger boy and a verdict of not guilty on the first count of sexual assault relating to the older boy after deliberating for over five hours.
Judge Melanie Greally thanked the jury for their careful attention to the case. She remanded the man on continuing bail and adjourned the matter for sentencing on October 11, next.
During the trial, Fiona McGowman BL, prosecuting, told the jury that the accused and the boys' mother had been childhood friends and the man had been living with her and her children for five months in 2012.
He then moved out as he had secured work outside of Dublin but occasionally stayed with the family.
The jury were first shown a DVD recording of the younger boy's interview with specialist gardaà in 2013.
The then eight-year-old boy told gardaà that the accused was not nice to him, that he said he hated him, he hurt him and he “had sex with me”. The child said the man would wake him up and drag him into different beds, including his mother's bed and an attic bed the accused used to sleep in.
He later explained to the garda that when he said the man had sex with him, he meant that the man pulled down his own trousers and made him touch his willy. He said the man would cover his mouth and nose with his hand and make him touch his willy by grabbing his hand.
The jury were also shown a DVD recording of the older boy, who is now 17, being interviewed by specialist gardaà in 2013.
During the interview, the child named the accused as the “person who did the things to me”. He told the garda he couldn't say what had happened but handed her a notebook and said he had written it down.
He said the accused “had sex with me, meaning mating. It should happen between a man and a woman not a child”.
The child told the garda he didn't really know what sex was but said it's how you have kids.
He said the man pulled down his trousers and "made me touch him on places that I should not have touched". He later explained that this was like his “goonies, my balls”. He said the man “made me touch him the same place he touched me”.
He said it happened twice, once in his own bed and once in the bed where the accused used to sleep in the attic room. He said it happened around Christmas.
Judge Greally directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty on the second count of sexual assault relating to the older boy.
UK Anglican Bishop accepts he failed to pass on vicar's 'child abuse confession' letter to police
By Isobel CotogniWarrington Guardian
THE Bishop of Chester has accepted he made a 'misjudgement' when he allowed a Latchford vicar to continue working despite having read a letter from him alluding to child abuse.
He accepted that he was the only one to have read the letter in 2009 and failed to pass it on to the police or even to the Diocese of Chester safeguarding adviser.
The Warrington Guardian and sister paper The Chester Standard were first to lift the lid on the Dickenson case earlier this year, covering his sentencing hearings at Chester and then Liverpool Crown Court.
Now 89, the former vicar at Christ Church in Latchford was jailed for 27 months after pleading guilty to eight counts of sexual assault.
Charles Gordon Dickenson, 89, pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual assault on a child
The inquiry heard he had written the letter – previously referred to as a 'confession' in court - to accompany his application for a renewal of his PTO (permission to officiate) 10 years ago.
All clergy must fill out a confidential disclosure form with their application and one question asks: ‘Has there ever been an allegation that your conduct has caused significant harm to a child?’.
Dickenson ticked the ‘yes’ box and wrote a letter of explanation, parts of which were read out at the inquiry.
In it he said he had received a complaint from a boy’s father in 1974, which he disclosed to the then Bishop of Chester, Victor Whitsey.
Police never became involved and Whitsey – himself now known to be a child abuser – chose to simply move Dickenson to another parish.
In his letter, Dickenson wrote: “He made me make a solemn promise that I would never again interfere with any youngster.”
Charles Dickenson was a vicar at Christ Church in Latchford at the time of the abuse
It was put to Bishop Forster that the tone of the letter 'intimates it was truthful' and there was 'enough there to raise a concern that this had not been dealt with properly in 1974'.
The bishop, who had gone on to approve Dickenson’s PTO, replied: “I made a judgement that I accept was a misjudgement, that the ongoing risk from Dickenson was very small.
“Since his conviction the publicity has been very extensive and no hint of impropriety has emerged. It seems his assurance that he would not do this again was borne out.”
Asked again why he had allowed Dickenson to continue working having read the letter, the bishop replied: “I took a view. I’m perfectly prepared to accept that that was a misjudgement. I accept that it wasn’t handled properly at the time.”
He also accepted that there was nothing to prevent him from passing the information to the police in 2009. “That could have been done, yes,” he told the inquiry. Things had changed in the past 10 years and now a referral to the police on such matters would happen “automatically”, he said.
Bishop Forster was also grilled on his actions surrounding two other child sex abuse cases.
The first involved Wallasey vicar Rev Ian Hughes, who was jailed for a year in 2014 after he admitted downloading 8,000 indecent images of children.
The inquiry heard that Bishop Forster took immediate action to suspend Hughes following his arrest but post-conviction had consulted with the Church of England’s President of Tribunals on whether to impose a 20-year ban, rather than a lifelong one.
He referred to the seductive nature of the internet, and stressed Hughes was young at 46 and had an exemplary record within the church. “I knew him well,” Bishop Forster said. “I think he got drawn into a very sick and unsatisfactory situation.”
However, he stressed he had simply been following procedure by consulting with the president of Tribunals and a 20-year-ban would in no way guarantee a return once it had been served. Risk assessments would be carried out and safeguarding procedures and training in general were far more rigorous these days.
The bishop was also asked about a reported disclosure to him in 2002 of inappropriate behaviour by the late Bishop Victor Whitsey.
He said he did not recall the conversation but believed it may have involved an allegation that Whitsey put his arm around someone.
“He had a reputation of odd behaviour in general,” Bishop Forster told the inquiry. “If someone said something odd about Victor Whitsey it probably wouldn’t have registered, partly because he was somebody who was known to behave in slightly odd ways.”
Wonder what the Bishop's definition of 'odd' is?
Cheshire Police began an investigation in 2016 after a church safeguarding adviser in Chester passed on details of alleged abuse by Whitsey.
A year later detectives revealed that they would have spoken to him in relation to 10 of the witness allegations if he had been alive.
Whitsey died in 1987.
Hartlepool, UK, man jailed for plotting on Skype to abuse children as young as four
And having images of newborns being sexually abused
By The Newsroom
David Walker took part in an online chat with a fellow sex offender where the pair discussed how they would abuse three children, aged four, five, and six, and take videos of their actions.
Walker was found to have dozens of revolting images of children on his computer, and a cannabis farm capable of yielding drugs worth £10,000, Teesside Crown Court heard.
“That man has since been sentenced to life imprisonment for child sex offences,” added Ms Scott.
“During the chat, Walker sent the man a picture of his private parts.”
The court heard Walker made suggestions of abuse against the children.
Police in Wales tracked down Walker and passed his details to colleagues in Cleveland. They raided his house where they found a stash of child sex abuse images and video.
“There were 74 of the most serious category A images,” said Ms Scott. “Of these, 46 were moving images. “Also found was 37 category B images, and 29 at category C.”
The court heard Walker’s cannabis farm was fully functioning with 22 plants and growing equipment. Police found evidence of low level dealing using mobile phones which were found in the property.
Walker, of Tankerville Street, Hartlepool, admitted attempting to facilitate a child sex offence, three charges of making indecent images of children, and producing a class B drug.
Stephen Constantine, defending, said Walker accepted he found the images arousing, but he had only attempted to facilitate a child sex offence, rather than doing so.
Judge Stephen Ashurst jailed Walker for four years and six months.
The judge told him: “It is clear from the disgusting nature of the Skype conversation you have distorted views on children, finding them sexually desirable.
“I accept this was a single conversation, and there is no evidence of you following it through.
“The images are also a serious matter, depicting children as young as three months and newborns being abused by adults.”
Walker must register as a sex offender for life, and he was made the subject of a lifelong order restricting his internet use and unsupervised contact with children.
Principal Accused of Child Sex Abuse Awaits Prosecution in China
Authorities in China’s northeastern Liaoning province have transferred a primary school principal detained over allegations of child sex abuse to a local procuratorate for further legal proceedings, The Beijing News reported Tuesday, citing local officials.
The public security bureau of Suizhong County detained the 50-year-old man, surnamed Wang, on June 1 after parents accused him of sexually abusing five children at Shuikou Primary School in Gaotai Township. One parent said Wang had raped her child several times last year, while four other parents also came forward accusing Wang of sexually harassing their children.
Amid an increasing number of child sex abuse cases in China last year, the country’s top prosecutor in February announced plans to build a database for monitoring known perpetrators. In 2017, Shanghai became the first city in the country to ban sex offenders from working closely with minors.
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