Childcare worker, 39, is the accused ringleader of a paedophile ring responsible for the abuse of dozens of boys, girls and dogs over 15 years
By KELSEY WILKIE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
A former childcare worker has been accused of being the leader of a paedophile ring where his own children, siblings and dogs were allegedly abused.
The Townsville father, 39, was arrested on Thursday and charged with 104 child sex offences. His alleged offending happened between 1995 and 2020.
He is also accused of taking images of his victims and distributing them over a number of years.
Police have identified 12 potential victims, two males and 10 females, with ages ranging from infancy to 16 years old. One victim was allegedly an adult.
Detective Senior Sergeant David Miles said a two-year-old girl, who was allegedly one of the victims, was rescued from a home in Cairns earlier this week.
Senior Sergeant Miles said the young girl was allegedly 'passed around as a result of exchanging of drugs'. Miles said some of the alleged offending may have happened at the childcare centre but most was against his own children.
Investigators have been working closely with the childcare centre involved, however, they would not say which centre it was.
Senior Sergeant Miles said the man allegedly targeted vulnerable women with young children.
'He has then been providing them with drugs for the purpose of sedating his victims for the purpose of conducting his offences,' Senior Sergeant Miles said.
The man is expected to appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court on September 29. His arrest comes after a large-scale investigation where hard-drives, telephones and USB sticks were seized.
Three other people have been arrested in relation to the same offences, including a 33-year-old man accused of six counts of distributing child exploitation material.
The man was also charged using a carriage service to access child abuse material, producing and possessing dangerous drugs and possessing tainted property.
A 38-year-old woman previously appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court for allegedly possessing child exploitation material, distributing child exploitation material and burglary.
A 49-year-old woman has been cautioned on three counts of bestiality.
'Cautioned'? Does that mean she was given a warning rather than being charged?
Pakistan: Woman allegedly cuts off harasser's genitals in Lahore
Falah Gulzar, Social Media Reporter
A woman allegedly cut off the genitals of her harasser. She was reportedly in a relationship with the man initially, which then turned into blackmail. The incident took place in the city of Lahore in Pakistan, on September 15.
The police told Pakistani media that the culprit was enraged over the victim trying to blackmail and harass her.
According to the complaint, the 37-year-old resident of the Vehari district moved to Lahore six months ago for work. He claimed that he had a meeting set with the woman, who also lived in the same area, for the last 18 years.
The man claimed that the woman had called him over to her home and added: “She attacked me with a sharp weapon and slashed my genitals and then locked me in a room and left me there.”
He said he cried out for help and the neighbours found him and took him to the hospital, according to local media reports.
The police have registered a case, recorded statements of the witnesses and collected forensic evidence from the crime scene.
The victim was involved in harassing and blackmailing the suspect, which prompted her to take this step, police officials told local media.
In a similar incident earlier this year, a 25-year-old woman cut the genitals of a 28-year-old man in Faisalabad.
The man had reportedly tried to sexually assault the woman when she was alone at home. She then proceeded to grab a knife from the kitchen and attacked him.
Excellent! Fight back, girls!
Two men sentenced in Germany's major child sexual abuse trial
Two men will spend more than 13 years in prison for sexually abusing minors and distributing child pornography. One of the men confessed to all charges, including sexually abusing his own daughter.
One of the men sentenced to prison for sexual abuse and distribution of child pornography
A regional court in the western city of Mönchengladbach on Friday found two men guilty of prolonged sexual abuse and distributing child pornography.
The men, both aged 39, were handed sentences of 13 and a half years and 14 and a half years for the serious sexual abuse of minors, and they were also found guilty of distributing and owning child pornography.
The trial began on April 29 and was part of a series of investigations across Germany that were triggered by the discovery of a massive online child pornography network in the city of Bergisch Gladbach last year.
Both suspects confessed
The two suspects committed some of the crimes together, prosecutors told the regional court in Mönchengladbach.
One of the men issued a comprehensive confession after he was arrested in November. He had repeatedly sexually abused his 11-year-old daughter since 2016.
He also sexually abusing the niece of his co-defendant in 2017. For his part, the second man confessed to one of the crimes, and remained silent on the charge that the abuse was part of an organized child pornography scheme.
Connection to wider case
The case is the first prosecution of pedophiles connected to a larger Bergisch Gladbach case, where 200 suspects are currently under investigation. Authorities are investigating a child pornography network and following up on some 30,000 leads.
The network was discovered in October 2019, when a raid on the home of a 42-year-old local cook and hotelier uncovered large amounts of videos and pictures of child pornography. The man is facing trial, accused of repeatedly sexually abusing his daughter.
Authorities have moved forward with other related trials in the wide-ranging investigation, with the next one taking place at the Regional Court of the city of Cologne, which would begin as early as next week.
Raymond, Alberta man sentenced to five years for historic child sexual assault
Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
A 52-year-old Raymond man convicted last year of sexually assaulting two underage cousins when he was 18 has been sent to prison for five years.
Marvin Ross Harker, who can be identified after a publication ban was lifted Thursday in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench, was hoping for a non-custodial sentence, or at most, a short jail sentence he could serve on weekends. But Madam Justice Johnna Kubik said the major sexual assaults he committed warranted a penitentiary term.
“On the basis of all of the facts of this case, I am satisfied that a period of imprisonment is required to ensure a fit and just sentence,” Kubik said moments before sentencing Harker.
Kubik sentenced Harker to three years in prison for assaulting one of his cousins, and five years for assaulting another, but reduced the global sentence to five years.
“Having regard to the principle of restraint and the principle of totality, I must ensure that the total sentence does not exceed your overall culpability,” Kubik added.
Are there any principles regarding the victims? The victim associated with the 3-year sentence really gets nothing. She was just a freebie, apparently! Canadian justice - it's all about being nice to the criminal and largely ignoring the victims and potential victims.
She declined to determine a period of parole eligibility.
Kubik convicted Harker in December 2019 on two counts of sexual assault against the two women between 1986 and 1987 when they were between the ages of eight and 13. She found him not guilty, however, of sexual assault and sexual interference in relation to a third woman.
The man admitted he assaulted one of the women multiple times in August 1986 when he was 18, but he denied assaulting the other two women, one of whom testified during trial that the last time he assaulted her was one week before his wedding in 1993.
There is more on this story on the Lethbridge Herald.
Fermanagh alleged sex abuse: Father’s appeal to other victims to help progress case following daughter's death
By Jessica Campbell
The Impartial Reporter
file foto
THE father of an alleged historical child sex abuse victim in Fermanagh, who sadly died this year, has been told by police that as his daughter is now not available to give evidence, the hope of getting a conviction is not good.
The woman was allegedly abused by members of the Orange Order when she was a junior member of an Orange lodge in Fermanagh during the 1970s. It is alleged that several senior members of the organisation contributed and encouraged sexual assaults, battery and the rape of the young member.
Legal proceedings began earlier this year but the woman, who cannot be identified, died before her case could reach a conclusion. Following her death, the woman’s father has pledged to carry on fighting for justice on her behalf.
Speaking of his late daughter, he said: “My daughter’s passing has left us with a gap that we don’t know how to fill. The one thing that gives us comfort is that she carried out a lot of good work, and it hasn’t been in vain.
“We know that she is at peace now, away from the strife that she had suffered over the years.”
The man told this newspaper that, following his daughter’s death, he was visited by a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer who is investigating the case.
She explained to him that it would have been necessary for his daughter to give more evidence to assist the investigation.
“They said that would have a big bearing on the results of the case, and because she wouldn’t be there, there would be less hope of a conviction. That’s one of the things that is worrying us, that there may not be a conviction,” he told The Impartial Reporter.
When contacted about this matter, a spokeswoman for the PSNI stated: "We do not comment on individual cases however our inquiries into the allegations of historical sexual abuse in County Fermanagh are ongoing and Public Protection detectives are actively working on all of the reports made to us and are focused on gathering all relevant evidence. Files will be submitted to the PPS in due course for consideration."
The Sunday Independent revealed this week that a writ is to be filed at Belfast’s High Court against the Orange Order within weeks, following the allegations that some of its members sexually abused the woman as a child.
Human rights lawyer Kevin Winters of KRW Law in Belfast has initiated the civil action on behalf of the family of the alleged victim.
In correspondence, seen by The Sunday Independent, the Orange Order is to be “put on notice” by KRW over claims the victim sustained “repeated sexual assaults and rape” on the grounds of at least two Orange Halls from the age of eight.
During an interview for Silent No More, a BBC documentary which aired last year, the woman alleged being sexually assaulted while attending band practice at the Orange Halls in the height of The Troubles.
She recalled how she had “kicked, bit and screamed” in a bid to stop the men from touching her, and claimed that on more than one occasion her underwear was removed by one of the men as part of a “sick game”.
“The boys had to get a pair of the girls’ knickers off and hang them on the flag pole where the Union flag would go. We were hunted like foxes,” she said.
Making a heartfelt appeal through this newspaper, the deceased woman’s father is asking for others who have been impacted by his daughter’s alleged abusers to come forward and speak to the PSNI.
He said: “We would hope that the press would maybe help to bring some people forward to give evidence and help with gaining a conviction.
“We are concerned about all the children that have been abused, and all of the families that have been affected by it over the years.
“We know that there are other people out there that haven’t come forward, and we think that they will possibly come forward now.”
His voice beginning to break, he added: “This has been going on for over 40 years, and it would be great to get some closure on it.”
Co. Fermanagh, NI
N.Z. paedophile found with child abuse images sentenced to 3.5 years
Matthew Theunissen, Reporter
rnz
A man who was found with a cache of child sexual abuse material has been sent to prison for three and a half years.
Nikola Marinovich in court Photo: RNZ / Matthew Theunissen
Nikola Marinovich, who has previously been imprisoned for sexually abusing several young people, had over 4000 objectionable images and videos of children and infants.
After his first prison sentence, Marinovich worked as a freelance camera operator and was hired by the company which makes the children's TV show What Now.
In May last year Customs investigators raided his Pukekohe home and found the objectionable publications, over 1000 of which were classified as Category A - the most egregious classification.
Marinovich pleaded guilty to seven charges relating to possessing, distributing and making child abuse publications.
Judge Eddie Paul gave graphic descriptions of some of them.
"If those descriptions don't reinforce the seriousness of what you were viewing I really don't know what would," he said after describing some particularly disturbing images of children and infants, some of them just months old.
"Each image is a real child and harm is done each time an offender like you views them."
Marinovich carried out his earlier offending while working as a cheerleading coach, and some of the images in his stash were of teenage girls apparently taken while on a cheerleading trip to Australia. He appears in some of these.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield said being in the media spotlight made it difficult for Marinovich to reintegrate into society after he completed his first sentence. He suffered depression and anxiety and started using controlled drugs, including methamphetamine.
While accepting his drug abuse did not warrant a sentence reduction, "What I am sensibly suggesting is that he did have an addiction to drugs - everyone has confirmed that. His life was miserable," Mansfield said.
Marinovich had voluntarily sought professional help to get his life back on track months before Customs raided his home.
The charge of making objectionable publications relate to Marinovich filming his computer screen while it displayed abuse material.
Mansfield said that his distribution of the publications was not widespread.
Judge Paul said a letter Marinovich sent to the court seemed to show remorse for the situation he found himself in rather than anything else.
"I've received 16 references on your behalf which describe a caring and kind man," he told Marinovich. "That is not the man who has offended here - the man who has offended here has committed criminal offending for his own sexual gratification."
Lismore, AU man charged with historic sexual abuse of girls as young as two
By Freya Noble • Senior Producer 9News
A man has been arrested and is facing 16 charges relating to the alleged historic sexual assault of five girls between the ages of two and nine.
Police launched an investigation in June of this year after a woman reported being sexually assaulted as a girl by a man she knew.
During the course of the investigation, officers received information four further children were also sexually abused, NSW Police said.
Yesterday, officers searched a home near Lismore and seized electronic storage devices.
A 60-year-old man was arrested at Lismore Police Station and charged with 16 offences.
These include: eight counts of aggravated sex assault of a victim under the age of 16 years, five counts of sexual intercourse with person under the age of 10 years, assault & commit act of indecency, indecent assault of a person under 16 years under authority, and aggravated indecent assault of a victim under the age of 16.
Police will allege in court that the man sexually abused five girls, aged between two and nine, between 1989 and 2005.
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