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At least 24 bodies, mostly female, found in El Salvador mass grave at ex-policeman’s home, as possible murder ring investigated
21 May, 2021 20:20
A mass grave containing the remains of at least 24 people has been unearthed at the home of a former police officer in El Salvador, who authorities reportedly believe may have been part of a gruesome murder ring.
Officials have said the burial site in the northwestern municipality of Chalchuapa may contain more than 40 bodies, most of whom are believed to be female.
Ex-cop Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chavez, 51, was arrested earlier this month over the killings of a 57-year-old woman and her 26-year-old daughter.
He has confessed to their murders. Chavez was dismissed from the police force in 2010 after being accused of sex crimes.
Forensics officers who searched his property said they uncovered at least seven pits where bodies had been buried for as long as two years.
The grim discoveries are being investigated as part of a possible murder ring involving officials and which may have operated for a decade. At least 10 people are facing charges relating to the string of crimes.
The suspects include people smugglers, ex-soldiers and police, El Salvador’s National Civil Police (PNC) chief Mauricio Arriaza Chicas was quoted as saying in La Prensa newspaper on Wednesday.
Chicas said investigators believe some of the victims may have been approached by their killers on social media, with offers to help them leave the country or find employment.
Former top cop jailed for possessing more than
20,000 child abuse images
Richard Moriarty, Scottish Sun
22 May 2021, 21:49
A FORMER top cop has been jailed for possessing more than 20,000 child abuse images — some showing kids as young as three.
Former top cop Peter Jones has been jailed for possessing more than 20,000 child abuse images
Credit: © Andrew Price / View Finder Pi
Detectives found the images after seizing equipment in a raid on the home of the ex-Assistant Chief Constable of Hampshire.
He had 53 category A images — the most serious type — 387 category B and 19,701 category C images, Chester crown court heard.
Philip Clemo, prosecuting, said: “The devices these images were found upon contained other evidence which showed strong links to this defendant.”
The majority were still images but there were also videos of young girls.
Jones who retired from the police 21 years ago, had also served as a detective superintendent for the Cheshire force for 24 years.
Jones, of Sandbach, Cheshire, denied making indecent images of children and possessing them. He also pleaded not guilty to possessing extreme pornography and having prohibited images.
He was convicted by jury at a three-day trial. Judge Patrick Thompson jailed him for 15 months, with a further 12 months on licence.
He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for ten years and given a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.
Det Insp Stuart York, of Cheshire Police, said: “While none of these offences took place whilst Jones worked for the police, as a former senior officer he was well aware that what he was doing was wrong.
“This wasn’t just a one-off incident and over a sustained period of time he downloaded more than 20,000 indecent images of vulnerable victims for his own sexual gratification.”
Footie chiefs let paedophile coach train kids for 13 years
after hearing of assaults
SUNDAY MIRROR
Despite a string of alerts and claims of a cover-up – Geoff Broome continued coaching and indecently assaulted at least three boys in the 1990s
Football coach Geoff Broome was allowed to coach kids for 13 years after chiefs learnt of the abuse (Image: NB PRESS LTD TEL 07976731081)
Football Association chiefs allowed a paedophile coach to train thousands of youngsters for 13 years AFTER being told he had assaulted two 11-year-old boys.
Geoff Broome admitted abuse in 1988 and accepted a police caution.
But – despite a string of alerts and claims of a cover-up – he continued coaching and indecently assaulted at least three boys in the 1990s.
He led 40 tours around the UK and coached with clubs including Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe United. Broome was finally jailed last month for four years for eight assaults on three boys. It is feared more victims will come forward.
The helpless boys were caned, spanked or massaged. One of his victims, now in his 40s, said: “I gave up football after what Broome did to me. I’ve never felt settled since. It’s scarred my life.”
The scandal comes after a string of abuse allegations rocked football and led to 13 coaches being jailed.
Brazil struggling with sex abuse crisis against underage girls
More than half of rape victims in the country were under the age of 13, according to the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety, with four such assaults taking place every hour
NAIARA GALARRAGA GORTÁZAR
São Paulo - 22 MAY 2021 - 10:54 PDT
A park in São Paulo. More than half of all rape cases reported in Brazil were against children under the age of 13. LELA BELTRÃO
Often the cases appear as a few words in the local press: “Man and woman arrested over the rape of a 13-year-old girl.” A police statement adds that the victim’s uncle had been raping her for the last six years, with the full knowledge of the girl’s mother and grandmother. In this case, arrests took place on May 5 in Pinheiros, a city of 77,000 people in northern Brazil, but neither the age of the victim nor the circumstances of the crime are unusual. The most recent statistics from the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety (FBSP) are shocking. Every hour, four girls under the age of 13 are raped in Brazil. More than half of the 66,041 victims were under that age, according to the 2019 report.
These cases hide the true scale of the issue as they are the ones escalated to the police or medical specialists. Much abuse takes place hidden from view and protected by family omertà. “Sexual violence against children is shrouded in a pact of silence,” says Marcia Bonifacio, the head of a team of psychologists at São Paulo City Hall who provide support to schools for problematic students. Their disruptive behavior often hides a life of sexual abuse and other forms of violence at home.
Sexual violence against children is shrouded in a pact of silence
MARCIA BONIFACIO, PSYCHOLOGIST FOR ABUSE VICTIMS
The psychologists have seen cases of a four-year-old girl who masturbates four times a day in class, a 10-year-old girl who starts to show signs of pregnancy, or the seven-year-old boy who pressures classmates into performing oral sex. “It’s a very perverse circle with few happy endings,” says Bonifacio. Brazil’s patriarchal and macho culture is plagued by taboos about sex, but at the same time promotes precocious sexual activity. The victims do not follow any pattern of age, race or social class, but their aggressors are almost always family members or close family friends. “I have never heard of a case perpetrated by a stranger,” explains Bonifacio. Fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers and older siblings, however, are common.
The Brazilian Penal Code considers any sexual relations with a child under 14 to be statutory rape, and further considers them as rape of a person considered “vulnerable” (unable to consent due to age, illness or incapacity). As it is not uncommon for the mother of the child or other relatives to be complicit, the abuse can extend through childhood. Often the victim will be blamed for destroying the family or leaving it without an income if they complain and the aggressor is the main financial provider.
Unfortunately, cases can start extremely early. “When they are between zero and six years old the victims have little understanding of what is happening, they may even perceive it as a game, as a sign of affection. They feel pleasure and they have no boundaries – frequently the aggressor requires them to keep it a secret,” explains prosecutor Renata Rivitti. However, this ignorance can stretch into a child’s teens given a lack of information and sex education.
Bonifacio recalls the case of a 13-year-old from an evangelical family. The girl discovered in science class that what her father had been doing to her since she was eight years old and got her first period was sex. With no television, cellphone or internet, she had simply not heard of it.
Hospital cases
Detecting abuse is the first step, and in the case of young children, this is usually discovered according to their behavior at school. When they are older, they often tell someone they trust, but the most serious cases come to light at hospital. A further difficulty once abuse is exposed is protecting the victim without re-victimizing them, and prosecuting the crime. The child will have to repeat their testimony to different services, the police and doctors. They will face intense scrutiny and have to undergo a thorough forensic examination. Many end up far away from their relatives, neighborhood, school and friends, and blame themselves for speaking out. Some retract their accusations because the price paid for speaking up is too high.
Rivitti says she encourages information sharing with victims, to make them aware of what abuse is and how it works. “Then they will know how to explain it, and they will have to be believed,” she says. They try to identify a family member who will protect the girl at home and separate her from the rapist. If he is providing for the family then they try to seek extra financial support.
Getting a case strong enough to bring before a judge is another major difficulty in Brazil. It is usually the child’s word against the adult’s. The worst nightmare of those fighting child rape is that the court will acquit the accused. “We simply cannot deliver the lamb to the wolf with a judge’s approval,” Rivitti says.
Given the complexity of the challenge, Luciana Temer runs the Liberta Institute, which seeks to raise awareness with documentaries to break what she terms “the perverse circle of the normalization of abuse.” Also on board is one of the most famous men in Brazil, Globo TV presenter Luciano Huck, who is politically influential.
As it is not uncommon for the mother of the child or other relatives to be complicit,
the abuse can extend through childhood
Rivitti is trying to replicate the model she created in Jacareí, a city of 235,000 inhabitants in Brazil’s interior, at the São Paulo state level. This works by coordinating educational, social and health services to better protect victims, leading to higher rates of detection and rape complaints, fewer witnesses in trials and more convictions. She works with a network of 70 other prosecutors.
With schools closed for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, the team Bonifacio leads had to pivot online to create an outlet for children to denounce violence. They created a website that received 200 complaints in nine months. Of these, 56 were for sexual violence.
I am inclined to believe that Russia is very similar in so many ways.
'Holding Hope': Survivor spearheads efforts to raise awareness
around childhood sexual abuse
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Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan campaign also aims to raise awareness
CBC News ·
Posted: May 22, 2021 10:02 AM CT
Sarah Labadie created Holding Hope Saskatchewan to educate others about child sex abuse.
(Submitted by Sarah Labadie)
Sarah Labadie found out her sexual abuse wasn't normal after watching an episode of a television series.
She was abused as a child, but was told by the perpetrator that what was happening was normal — and she shouldn't tell anyone.
"I was told to keep it a secret, and I did because...when you're a kid, you're told adults are always right. Listen to adults, no matter what," she said.
She was 11 or 12 years old when she watched that series, when she saw something similar to what she was going through happen and realize the abuse was not normal, but rather criminal.
Now, Labadie is speaking out and educating others about the signs and symptoms of child sex abuse, as the creator of a community group called Holding Hope Saskatchewan.
This week, Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan is running a campaign called Champions for Children.
The goal of the campaign is to create a culture of belief around sexual abuse. It takes a child seven times to speak about their abuse before someone believes them, Kerrie Isaac, the organization's executive director said.
"It's just about educating the community, caregivers on the realities of sexual abuse, raising awareness for the signs and behaviours," she said, and added the organization's goal is to empower caregivers to create safe spaces for children to come forward.
Isaac said signs of childhood sexual abuse include increased anger and aggression, children being withdrawn, eating problems, avoidance, anxiety, depression, fear and shame. Physical signs include bruising and cutting.
Labadie said it's not an uncommon issue — one in three children experience childhood abuse.
Last month, she planted 764 blue pinwheels in front of Regina's city hall. Each pinwheel represented 100 people in the city who have or will experience childhood abuse, she said.
Sarah Labadie placed pinwheels in front of City Hall to honour victims of child sex abuse.
(Submitted by Sarah Labadie)
"Those pinwheels, you know, just create a childlike whimsy feeling. And it was just a reminder of the childhoods we want for all people and [it] just served to honour survivors," she said.
Labadie said that sharing her story and helping others has been healing for her.
"Even if you hadn't said something right when it happened, or it's been 10 decades, however long, it's still OK to talk about, you still deserve help. So I've seen a lot of other people, realize that and start to share their experiences," she said.
Excellent! You're my hero, Sarah. God bless you!
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