Spike Lee apologises for defending Woody Allen over sexual abuse allegations
"I Do Not And Will Not Tolerate Sexual Harassment," Lee wrote
He probably should have added, 'any longer'
By Will Richards, NME
Spike Lee has backtracked on comments he recently made defending Woody Allen over sexual abuse allegations.
Speaking to New York radio station WOR 710 this week, Lee had discussed prominent allegations that Allen abused his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
“I’d just like to say Woody Allen’s a great, great filmmaker,” Lee originally said on air. “And this cancel thing is not just Woody.
“I think that, when you know, we look back on it, we’re gonna see that, I don’t know if just short of killing somebody, I don’t know you just erase somebody like they never existed. So, Woody’s a friend of mine, a fellow Knick fan, so I know he’s going through it right now.”
Appearing to take back his comments in a new tweet posted last night (June 13), Lee clarified: “I Deeply Apologize. My Words Were WRONG. I Do Not And Will Not Tolerate Sexual Harassment, Assault Or Violence. Such Treatment Causes Real Damage That Can’t Be Minimized.”
Spike Lee✔
@SpikeLeeJoint
I Deeply Apologize. My Words Were WRONG. I Do Not And Will Not Tolerate Sexual Harassment, Assault Or Violence. Such Treatment Causes Real Damage That Can't Be Minimized.-Truly, Spike Lee.
Allen recently criticised “self-serving” members of the film community who denounced him in relation to the ongoing abuse allegations.
“The actors have no idea of the facts and they latch on to some self-serving, public, safe position,” he told The Guardian. “Who in the world is not against child molestation?”
“That’s how actors and actresses are, and [denouncing me] became the fashionable thing to do,” he added, “like everybody suddenly eating kale.”
Spike Lee is about to release new film Da 5 Bloods, which NME called “one of his best ever movies” in a five-star review.
“Lee has made a Vietnam War movie the only way anyone really can – by acknowledging that no awful event in history can ever be defined by a single start or end point, and that no one person’s take can ever feel definitive.
“History will probably never stop repeating itself, but Spike Lee will hopefully never stop reminding us about it.”
X Factor reject whose version of Spandau Ballet’s Gold went viral admits 13 rapes and 31 sex offences
Claudia Aoraha, The SunAN X Factor contestant whose version of Spandau Ballet's Gold went viral has admitted to a total of 31 sexual offences - including 13 rapes.
Phillip Blackwell, 55, has pleaded guilty to committing 31 sexual offences against nine victims over three decades, and across three different counties.
Blackwell first appeared on television back in 2008 and gave one of X Factor's most bizarre auditions.
The former classroom supervisor ended his version of Spandau Ballet's hit Gold by singing the last note for almost 30 seconds.
He was arrested on 22 January at his home in Launceston, Cornwall, before appearing at Warwick Crown Court in February.
Blackwell pleaded guilty to 11 sexual offences against five women in the West Midlands - including four counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and five counts of indecent assault.
Today, after more than 20 years of offending,
Blackwell’s past has caught up with him and
now he must face the consequences of his actions
Caroline Corfield, Detective Chief Inspector
The young women were all walking alone in the early hours of the morning when they were attacked from behind between 1997 and 1998.
However, Warwickshire Police then decided to investigate a further string of sexual offences against four women from 2005 to 2019 in Cornwall - before and after his time on X Factor.
In May, appearing in court via video link, Blackwell pleaded guilty to a further 20 sexual offences - including nine counts of rape - bringing the total number of offences to 31.
Blackwell also admitted to four counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault by penetration and three counts of voyeurism. He also pleaded guilty to one count of taking indecent photos of a child, and a count of voyeurism in relation to the same child.
Blackwell appeared at court again this morning, and will be sentenced on 27 July.
Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Corfield from the Warwickshire Police Major Investigation Unit said: “Blackwell offended on a huge scale.
'DANGER TO WOMEN'
"It is clear he is a dangerous and manipulative sexual predator who has caused untold misery to his victims for the purpose of his own sexual gratification.
"He poses a serious danger to women.
“Today, after more than 20 years of offending, Blackwell’s past has caught up with him and now he must face the consequences of his actions.
“Most of the survivors of his crimes have had to wait many years for justice and will have been forced to relive the horrors Blackwell subjected them to.
"All the women he has attacked and abused have shown immense courage and I hope they can take some comfort from this conviction.”
Karen Hackett, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The CPS worked in partnership with Warwickshire Police who led investigations involving Devon and Cornwall and West Midlands Police to build a strong prosecution case against Phillip Blackwell to reflect the gravity of the offences.
Netflix Series On Jeffrey Epstein: Child Sex Abuse Survivors Recount Disturbing Experiences
By Guest Writer -June 19, 2020013
Posted by Diya Narag, FII
Netflix’s new docu-series ‘Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich’ is the story of the powerful American financier who used his money and power to sexually assault women and underage girls. He was also reportedly involved in trafficking and running prostitution rackets for the infamous people he was connected to. The four-part series gives an insight into the life of Jeffrey Epstein who, high on his money, power and connections, would stop at nothing to turn his perverted fantasies real.
Jeffrey Epstein was charged with the sexual abuse and trafficking of at least 40 underage girls – one even aged 14 – and then paid them to get others involved. According to a report by The Atlantic, a detective investigating Epstein’s case termed it a ‘sex pyramid scheme’.
The series – that predominantly allows the survivors to narrate their stories of abuse, shows how Jeffrey Epstein projected a saviour image and used the technique of child grooming to abuse the survivors.
There is much more on this article at FII (Feminism in India)
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Former NSW Labor MP Milton Orkopoulos
charged with 15 new child sex abuse offences
By crime reporter Mark Reddie, ABC Aus
Former NSW Labor minister Milton Orkopoulos has been charged with 15 new child sex abuse offences. Detectives arrested the former Swansea MP at his cell inside Silverwater Jail in western Sydney this morning.
The 62-year-old is accused of sexually abusing two young boys at Lake Macquarie and on the Mid-North Coast in the 1990s.
The fresh charges include five counts of aggravated sexual assault and three counts of causing a child to participate in child prostitution. The convicted paedophile spent 11 years in prison for child sex offences.
Orkopoulos, who served as Aboriginal affairs minister under former premier Morris Iemma, was released on parole last year.
Former NSW Labor minister Milton Orkopoulos leaves court today.(AAP Image: Bianca De Marchi)
However, he was put back behind bars after allegedly breaching his parole. He is expected to appear in Newcastle Court via audio visual link tomorrow.
Okopolous served in Parliament from 1999 to 2006 and was a Lake Macquarie councillor for four years.
NSW Police Superintendent Danny Sullivan said the alleged offences took place "all the way through" the 1990s. He could not go into specific details about how Orkopoulos and the boys knew one another with those details to come out in court.
He said the police had offered counselling and support to the alleged victims. "These matters are very delicate and when a victim comes forward we're very conscious of the trauma that coming forward may cause them.
"We have very experienced detectives who work with those victims on this journey to where we are today with someone being charged with 15 offences," Superintendent Sullivan said.
He also said he could not elaborate on the charges of causing a child to participate in child prostitution. "They're very difficult matters and they arise directly from the investigation, and they'll be put before the court as that person has now been charged."
Former Rich Co., Ut, commissioner facing
child sex abuse charges takes own life
By: Bryon Glathar, Herald Managing Editor
EVANSTON — Former Rich County (Utah) Commissioner Thomas J. Weston of Laketown was found dead on Friday, June 5, said Rich County Sheriff Dale Stacey. Weston, 68, was arrested on Jan. 24 and charged with two felony counts — sodomy on a child and aggravated sexual abuse of a child — in Utah’s 1st District Court. Stacey told the Herald Wednesday that Weston’s death appears to be a suicide.
According to court documents, the Rich County Sheriff’s Office received a report on Jan. 22 that Weston had sexually assaulted a minor female relative “numerous times over about a 1 1/2- to 2-year period,” dating back to 2018.
On Jan. 24, just two days after the report of abuse, Stacey set up a monitored phone call between the victim and Weston, during which the former commissioner admitted to abusing the child, according to court documents. During the call, which was overheard by detectives, Weston allegedly said he did things that would “probably put me in prison the rest of my life.” Stacey arrested Weston that same day.
Weston was out of jail on $50,000 bail. Since he was a long-time commissioner — he served 18 years on the commission before retiring in 2018 — the case was being prosecuted by the Cache County Attorney’s Office. A clerk there said Weston was last in court on May 12 for a pretrial conference. A trial date had not been set. He was facing a minimum sentence of 15 years to life if convicted of the charges. According to court documents, prison time was mandatory for the charges Weston was facing before his death.
If you or a loved one are experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is available by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). If you are a victim of sexual assault, help is available by calling the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).
Chinese billionaire convicted of child sexual abuse
to appeal sentence
chinadaily.com.cn Editor : Mo Hong'eReal estate tycoon Wang Zhenhua, who was on Wednesday found guilty of sexually molesting a 9-year-old girl, has maintained his innocence and will be appealing the sentence, his lawyer announced on Thursday.
The incident involving Wang and the girl took place in a five-star hotel in Shanghai last year.
According to a report by Xinmin Evening News, a friend of the girl's mother took the child to the city on the pretext of visiting Disneyland, but eventually took the girl to the hotel to meet Wang.
The chief judge of the case told People's Court Daily that Wang molested a minor under 12 years old and left her with a level 2 minor injury, which both constituted the maximum punishment for molestation.
Child molestation refers to sexually assaulting a child in a way that doesn't include sexual intercourse.
The friend, Zhou Yanfen, was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday.
I suspect the friend is not a friend anymore.
The trial, which was closed to the public to protect the identity of the minor, spanned 16 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Wang has never been a pedophile or a sexual abuser, and the investigation by the public security bureau cleared him of any suspicion of assaulting the girl," wrote Wang's lawyer Chen Youxi in his announcement on Baidu.
"He did not retract his confession, and his statement was consistent throughout the investigation, prosecution and hearing at court – he denies sexually molesting the girl."
The lawyer wrote that he has been following the public opinion about the case, including the criticism against the court and the defendant after the verdict was out. Some netizens view the five-year sentence as too light a penalty.
"If online discussions revealed the truth, I, like the netizens, would hate the suspect and not defend him. Chinese lawyers do not merely abide by the work ethics of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of our clients in accordance with the law, but are people in the community who pursue justice and support the weak according to moral ethics," wrote Chen.
He also pointed out that there has been an imbalance in the information being disseminated to the public, explaining that while the girl sought help from the media, which led to an outpouring of public sympathy and outrage, Wang has been tight-lipped about the case.
"Wang, his family members and companies do not reply to any queries. The public has only received partial information from his part about the case," he said.
That is typical behaviour for someone with something to hide.
Chen noted that he and the other lawyer involved in defending Wang have not accepted any interviews or divulged details of the case to the public. He wrote that "all online information about their comments on the case is groundless and speculative."
"We will continue to ignore public criticism and not respond to online comments. All facts will be presented to the court in the second trial," he wrote. "We look forward to a fair verdict in the second trial."
Fair for whom? For the girl? Is this the part about moral ethics?
According to the plaintiff's lawyer, the defendant had attempted to offer 500,000 yuan ($706,400) as compensation through a third party but was refused.
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