India: Two days before her wedding, 19-year-old girl
shot dead by stalker in Uttar Pradesh
shot dead by stalker in Uttar Pradesh
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The stalker wanted to marry the victim, but she had refused
Angry over rejection, a stalker shot a 19-year-old Dalit woman and her father, in Uttar Pradesh’s city of Meerut, just two days before her wedding day. Reportedly, the accused, Saagar Thakur, wanted to marry Anchal, but she refused his advances. Furious about this, he opened fire during a celebration, killing the girl and her father.
Reportedly, the stalker arrived at the victim's house on June 27, when the pre-wedding celebration was going on and started firing indiscriminately.
The brother of the girl has also suffered bullet injures in the firing incident. Meerut city’s Superintendent of Police, Akhilesh Narayan Singh, said: "The accused Saagar and his accomplices reached the girl's house around midnight and began firing indiscriminately at the victims' family members. Anchal and two other family members were directly hit while others ran for safety.”
While Anchal died on the spot after being hit by a bullet, her father who was also hit, died at the hospital later during treatment. The girl's brother is being treated at the hospital.
Anchal's elder brother Aman told the police: “Saagar wanted to marry Anchal, but she had rejected him. On June 27 night, Saagar, and his five friends reached our house on motorbikes and started pressurising us for marriage. Later, they opened fire."
Twitter users are sharing news reports about the safety of women in the country, and especially in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
@ila_home posted: “UP is one of the most unsafe places to grow up in. One would think things would have changed in last few decades - seems hasn't changed much.”
@Khush_boozing tweeted: “Just a daily Reminder that How safe a woman is in Uttar Pradesh.”
Police have filed an FIR (First Information Report) under sections 302 (murder) 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and other sections of Schedule Cast/Schedule Tribe Act (Prevention of Atrocities). Five people including Saagar, his mother Rekha, and three other accused have been named in the FIR.
The prime accused Saagar is still absconding, while two of his aides have been arrested.
"We have arrested two accused Neeraj and Prince. Efforts are on to arrest the other accused," a police official confirmed, according to a news report by Times of India.
Colombia army chief says 118 soldiers investigated for sexual abuse of minors
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General says army has ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual abusers
A person holds a banner that reads ‘Heroes don’t rape’ during a demonstration in Bogotá, Colombia, on Tuesday. Photograph: Carlos Ortega/EPA
Reuters in BogotáAt least 118 members of the Colombian army have been investigated since 2016 for alleged involvement in sexual abuse against minors, the head of the army has said, amid accusations of sexual violence by soldiers against young girls.
Of the 118 soldiers and army officials, 45 were fired, while the remaining 73 are facing criminal and disciplinary investigations by the attorney general and procurator’s offices, Gen Eduardo Zapateiro told a virtual news conference.
The army has “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse by those within its ranks, Zapateiro said, referencing figures from an army review going back four years.
Seven soldiers were arrested last week for allegedly gang-raping an indigenous girl in Risaralda province. All seven men and three of their superiors have been fired, while two higher-up officials have been reassigned.
Another case – that of a young girl allegedly sexually abused by various soldiers while being held at an army site in jungle Guaviare province for several days without food or water – emerged over the weekend.
Zapateiro denied a systematic effort to protect army members implicated in acts of sexual violence against minors and said all soldiers received human rights training.
“No Colombian soldier is trained within the institution to attack the human rights of boys, girls or adolescents,” he said.
But, are they trained not to?
“I will not tolerate any type of conduct distant from ethical principles, moral values and good customs,” Zapateiro said. “There are no second chances.”
The general did not specify how many cases the 118 officials were involved in or discuss allegations of sexual harassment made by female soldiers in recent months.
The Colombian army has 240,000 members and leads the country’s fight against leftist guerrillas and crime gangs founded by former members of rightwing paramilitary groups.
The army has long been accused by victims and human rights groups of rights violations during Colombia’s more than five decades of internal conflict.
It's good to see someone taking a serious stand against child molesters in the ranks.
WA Teenager who killed her baby and left the body
in a toilet block is spared jail because she was
impregnated by her paedophile stepdad
in a toilet block is spared jail because she was
impregnated by her paedophile stepdad
By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
A victim of child sexual abuse who admitted killing her newborn baby when she was a teenager in Western Australia, then leaving the infant's body in a caravan park toilet block, has been spared jail.
The woman cannot be named because she was just 14 when she suffocated the infant in Kambalda, in WA's Goldfields region, in July 1995.
Cold Case Homicide Squad detectives charged her with wilful murder last year after her DNA was linked to evidence collected from the scene 24 years earlier.
The wilful murder offence was discontinued and she instead pleaded guilty to infanticide.
The woman admitted to suffocating her newborn before dumping the body in a toilet block at Kambalda Caravan Park (pictured) in 1995 after she was impregnated by her step-father
Prosecutors had not sought an immediate jail term, noting that the child's conception was the result of persistent sexual abuse at the hands of the accused's stepfather who has since been charged with historical child sex offences.
The court heard the then-teenager's actions had been an attempt to conceal her pregnancy and the birth of her child.
Acknowledging the pregnancy and seeking help would likely have exposed the crimes of her stepfather, a person she was 'willing to protect because of the corrupt relationship (he) had manufactured with her', prosecutors submitted.
Young girls are often so heroic that they will protect their family even if it means enduring more years of sexual abuse, and the risk of more pregnancies, and the possibility of having to kill another baby.
The father, on the other hand, is such a slime-ball that he would put his daughter in such a horrible position. He should be hung.
Detectives last year travelled to regional Victoria to charge the woman, who has other children. She was extradited to WA but was granted bail and allowed to return to Victoria.
The baby did not have a name, but others have referred to him as Rijul, meaning 'innocent' in Hindi.
Does that mean they were Indo-Australians?
Judge Gillian Braddock, who oversaw an earlier hearing, previously described the case as 'traumatic and tragic', saying the case was unlike anything she had come across before in this jurisdiction.
UK drama teacher jailed for string of lesbian
child sex offences against schoolgirl
A FORMER drama teacher has been jailed for a string of child sex offences after grooming one of her talented pupils into having a lesbian affair.
Kim Connor began teaching the girl at a performing arts school when she was just nine-years-old. But by the time she was 15, the girl was staying the night at Connor's home as the older woman encouraged a sexual relationship to develop, leading to the pair going to restaurants, attending West End shows and even going on holiday together when the pupil was just 16.
The 46-year-old mum-of-two was sentenced to nine months in prison at Manchester Minshull Street today. She was also put on the sex offenders register.
Judge John Edwards described Connor's crimes as a 'gross abuse of trust' at a vulnerable period in her victim's life.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard how, as well as teaching the girl, Connor also gave her victim private tuition at her home between the ages of 10 and 14. When the girl was aged 14, the two shared hugs and a 'peck on the lips', which were repeated on several occasions, Darren Preston, prosecuting, said.
By the time her victim turned 15, the two were said to share 'kisses with open mouths', and their touching became 'more sexual' — including touching each other over their clothes in intimate areas.
After the girl turned 16, the pair's relationship was said to have become sexual and the victim would stay over at Connor's home. During a week-long trial earlier this year the court further heard that the girl 'adored' Connor, and was 'enthralled' and 'besotted' by her.
Connor, who was suspended from her job as head of performing arts at St Monica's RC High School in Prestwich when the allegations came to light, was also said to have become close with the girl's parents who grew to trust her.
However, Mr Preston told the court that when in public Connor would push the girl away and never allow her to show any affection. The pair's relationship was said to have come to an end when the girl was around 20-years-old.
In victim impact statement, the victim told the court that her 'love for life has vanished' and her 'dreams and aspirations of theatre have been tarnished'. "What Kim Connor did affected me for years," she said, adding: "She told me to keep the relationship a secret, not through excitement, but because it was wrong."
This, she said, had caused her to suffer from depression and mental health problems from the age of 15, and had led to her enter and endure an abusive relationship later in life.
The victim told the court that she had been inspired to speak out about what had happened to her by the Me Too movement. "If I had known that speaking to someone would have led me to become the strong, independent, anxiety free person I am today, I would have done it sooner," she added.
Mr Preston said: "It is the prosecution's case that, while the defendant never did anything that her victim did not consent to, this was an abusive relationship as the defendant was in a position of authority and was her teacher."
Moreover he added the crimes were aggravated by the fact that the victim was vulnerable due to her age and confusion about her sexuality.
At an earlier court hearing, Connor, of Blyton Lane, Salford, was found guilty of three counts of engagement in sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, and three counts of inciting a child to commit sex acts by a person in a position of trust.
Simon Gurney, defending, described Connor as a woman of previously 'exemplary character', who had been spoken of positively by all her character witnesses. In mitigation he added that Connor would never again be able to work in her field, and that she was the sole carer for her two children, and was relied on for the care of her elderly parents.
Judge Edwards also noted that Connor was of good character, and an 'inspirational and devoted teacher for almost a quarter of a century'. He also acknowledged that Connor accepted that her relationship with her victim was 'improper' and had occurred at a time when she too was 'harbouring doubts about her own sexuality'.
However, he added that Connor had caused "damage to a young woman who was confident and in your thrall in equal measure. "This was an abusive relationship and young people in situations like this can been damaged in many ways.
"You should have taken steps to distance yourself from your victim rather than encouraging her."
Lambeth: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
Wow! After reading this, one has to suspect that there was
so much more going on here than meets the eye
By Grainne CuffeThe inquiry heard Lambeth pushed for John Carroll's fostering application to get independent approval
Lambeth Council told Southwark social services not to be “too rigorous” with a fostering application from a convicted child sex offender and was “misleading” about the extent of his offence, an inquiry heard.
It also heard that someone claiming to be ex-MP Lord Paul Boateng, along with his wife Lady Janet Boateng, chair of Lambeth’s social services committee at the time, tried to convince a Southwark officer to give an independent rubber stamp to the fostering application from Michael John Carroll and his wife June.
Carroll, known as John, was allowed to run Angell Road children’s home in Lambeth from its opening in 1981, despite the council knowing about his conviction. He initially failed to disclose his conviction before being hired by Lambeth in 1978, but even when the council found out, he was able to keep his job.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), examining allegations of decades of abuse suffered by children under Lambeth’s care between the 1930s and 1990s, today (Tuesday, July 7) heard that Croydon Council found out about Carroll’s older conviction in 1986 while they were assessing a fostering application from the Carrolls.
Croydon sent the information to Lambeth but Carroll just had to go through a disciplinary hearing which resulted in a “final warning” – he was allowed to continue working with children until he was later let go for “financial irregularities” in 1991.
In 1999, Carroll was convicted for a host of child abuse offences on boys in the north west and in Lambeth at Liverpool Crown Court. He was jailed for ten years.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Clive Walsh, former probation officer and assistant director with Southwark social services from 1978 to 1985, said he contacted his former colleague Tony Watson, father to former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, when he saw a news article about Carroll.
He said he did so because a “significant piece of history” was missing from the story – that the reasons for his decision not to agree with the Carrolls’ application had been “expunged” from the record. Mr Walsh said he contacted his colleague to “get a clearer view” of a “strange application for fostering off the Carrolls and a subsequent meeting of politicians of which I was called”.
He told the inquiry when he learned from Croydon Council that Carroll had a child sex offence conviction he decided not to agree with the application. Mr Walsh said the then principle officer responsible for the area officers in the south of Southwark first brought the application to his attention.
“He came to see me on behalf of the staff at our area office
because they had received what they considered to be
a strange […] and troublesome request […]
“He was a long-serving trusted member of staff, more to the point he and his wife were already defacto social aunt and uncle to the two boys that they were asking to foster,” he said.
If you want me to be brutally honest this had all the hallmarks of a side movement to get an agreement, to get some degree of approval from somewhere that would give a degree of validity to the Carrolls.
Counsel to the inquiry Clair Dobbin asked why Croydon, the local authority responsible for the children, wasn’t carrying out the assessment, when they were also assessing the Carrolls in respect of another child in their care.
Mr Walsh said “transparency would indicate that the approach should have been to Croydon. At that time, it was known in Lambeth […] that Croydon were not intending to complete the application and approve the Carrolls’ foster parents’ [application].
“If you want me to be brutally honest this had all the hallmarks of a side movement to get an agreement, to get some degree of approval from somewhere that would give a degree of validity to the Carrolls,” he said.
Ms Dobbin asked if the implication was “that Lambeth was going behind the back of Croydon to arrange a foster placement for Croydon children with the Carrolls”. “It had that appearance at the time,” Mr Walsh said.
They were outraged that there was a man running a
children’s home in Lambeth who had a conviction as an
adult for sexually assaulting a significantly younger child
Mr Walsh said his director “instructed” him to attend because “there was a problem with the decision”. He said during the meeting he was “taken to task” by a senior officer after expressing concerns about Carroll running a children’s home.
“He took me to task for what he took to be my interference in Lambeth decision making,” Mr Walsh said. He said in the beginning the Southwark politicians were “sympathetic to Ms Boateng’s point of view”.
But Mr Walsh said when he “drew a parallel between” Mr Carroll’s failing to disclose his offence and Lambeth’s “failing to disclose his offence to us”, the meeting “fell apart”.
“At that point it became quite argumentative. It was also at that point that Southwark councillors started to grasp what they hadn’t previously understood, that Mr Carroll’s offence, a schedule one offence, was actually an offence of sexual assault on a child.
“They then became angry, they felt that they had been misled […] they were outraged that there was a man running a children’s home in Lambeth who had a conviction as an adult for sexually assaulting a significantly younger child […]” he said.
Mr Walsh said their preference was to have his decision overturned but their “demand was that my recorded view of the inappropriateness of Mr Carroll working as a head of home be expunged from the record”.
He also told the inquiry that someone claiming to be Mr Boateng rang him asking if he could help resolve the situation. “I received a telephone call from a male person who introduced himself as Paul Boateng and who asked whether or not he could be of assistance in resolving this troublesome matter – my position was that the matter was closed and dealt with so there was no help to be given,” he said.
Mr Walsh told the inquiry he could not be sure it was actually Mr Boateng as it wouldn’t have been “uncommon” that people “purporting to be people whom they were not” would ring him.
The inquiry continues.
Tunbridge Wells, UK, man jailed for child sex
offences committed almost 20 years ago
By Rhys Griffithsrgriffiths@thekmgroup.co.uk
Allegations of abuse were first made against Jonathan Howard, of Huntingdon Avenue, Tunbridge Wells, after more than 18 years had passed since the offences first took place.
Jonathan Howard was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment, following convictions for child sex offences.
Police arrested the 59-year-old on the same day as the accusations came to light in April last year.
Howard was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent assault, which took place between March and June 2001.
He denied two further indecent assaults, which the court ordered to remain on file.
Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Julian Smith described the impact of Howard’s crimes on his victim as "lifelong and huge".
He said: "This has clearly been the cause of much anguish and distress in their life. He does not have a complete comprehension of his actions or their impact. He has failed on occasion to properly grasp and accept his culpability."
"I would like to commend the victim for their bravery."
PC Karen Perkins, of the West Kent Vulnerability Investigation Team, said: "Howard targeted and abused a young child in a most abhorrent way. His actions have caused immeasurable trauma and harm and the victim will have to live with these memories for the rest of their life.
"I would like to commend the victim for their bravery in coming forward to help us ensure justice has now been served. I would also urge anyone who has been a victim of any sexual offence to remember that it is never too late to report this to police."
Suspect in Guam child sexual assault case dies
PRECINCT: The Dededo Precinct Command building is photographed on June 29 in Dededo. A sexual assault suspect attempted apparent suicide in police custody and subsequently died at a hospital on Saturday, according to the Guam Police Department. David Castro/The Guam Daily Post
The man, whose identity has not been released, had been placed under arrest on suspicion of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct and child abuse after officers received the complaint on Friday.
Guam police spokesperson Sgt. Paul Tapao said the man was waiting to be processed when officers found him unresponsive. “Officers later discovered the male appeared to have tried to commit suicide,” said Tapao.
He was taken to the Guam Regional Medical City where he died around 6:13 p.m. on Saturday, police stated. GPD’s Criminal Investigation Division has been investigating the case as an injured person investigation.
The police department’s Internal Affairs division is also investigating.
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