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Nick Hockley rejects suggestions Cricket Australia mismanaged
Jamie Mitchell's sexual abuse allegations
By Russell Jackson
Cricket Australia's chief executive, Nick Hockley, has stopped short of offering an apology to Australian under-19 cricketers following allegations of sexual abuse on the team's 1985 tour of India and Sri Lanka.
Mr Hockley also rejected suggestions that the governing body had mishandled the affair, claiming its response was "best practice".
Asked whether players from the 1985 Australian Under-19s tour were owed an apology from the governing body, Mr Hockley told ABC Sport, "I think we owe it to them to support them as best as we can," adding that players would be offered access to Cricket Australia's employee assistance program.
Last Sunday, an ABC Sport investigation revealed that Australian cricketer Jamie Mitchell had returned from the 1985 Australian under-19s tour of the subcontinent and alleged that he had been sexually assaulted by "someone in authority" on the tour.
The matter is now the subject of an Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation.
Jamie Mitchell was a cricketing star on the rise in the 1980s. But since returning home from a tour of India and Sri Lanka, broken in body and mind by his experiences, Mitchell has been searching for answers on what happened.
In August 2021, Mr Mitchell contacted Cricket Australia with his concerns, but said he was "fobbed off" by the governing body and felt no empathy in a call from Mr Hockley, who directed Mr Mitchell to Cricket Australia's integrity unit.
It was only three months later — after the Tim Paine scandal — that Mr Mitchell heard from Cricket Australia again, with its integrity department chief offering access to support services.
Mr Hockley has since expressed regret about his handling of the phone call to Mr Mitchell in August, 10 days after Mr Mitchell's allegations were brought to the attention of then-Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings.
"If that's the way that Jamie still feels about it then I'm very sorry that that's the way I made Jamie feel," Mr Hockley told ABC Sport.
"That was absolutely not my intention. I think it is the first such conversation that I've had and I firmly felt that I was doing the right thing, responding as quickly as possible.
"For those who know me, I think they, hopefully, consider that I'm a caring and considerate person, so I can only apologise to Jamie. It wasn't my intention to make him feel that way. Procedurally, I felt we were doing the right thing."
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Child sex offender was able to continue working as a
BBC journalist despite his conviction
Journalist's bosses were ignorant of his confession to three child sex offences
By MARK HOOKHAM FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 17:03 EST, 8 January 2022
A BBC journalist was able to continue working for the Corporation despite being convicted of sexually abusing a child.
His bosses were totally ignorant of his confession to three child sex offences and his crimes only came to light when he sent a threatening Snapchat message to a woman he had been asked to interview.
A relative alerted the BBC and, when the police were called in, officers discovered his convictions and told the Corporation.
The Mail on Sunday understands the case sent shockwaves through the Corporation with some bosses calling for every journalist to undergo a basic criminal records check with the Government's Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
BBC journalist was able to continue working for the Corporation despite conviction for sexually abusing child
It is claimed the idea was fiercely opposed by other managers and has now been quietly shelved.
The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have been contracted to work on a freelance basis for BBC West Midlands.
In May 2018, he was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and two counts of attempting to incite a boy aged between 13 and 15 into sexual activity.
He received a community sentence, told to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for five years and served with an order banning him from activity likely to bring him into contact with under-16s.
The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have been contracted to work on a freelance basis for BBC West Midlands. In May 2018, he was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court (file image) after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and two counts of attempting to incite a boy aged between 13 and 15 into sexual activity
A month later the journalist was convicted of racially or religiously aggravated harassment and an assault, but failed to disclose any of his convictions when he secured a new role working for the Corporation in London.
A BBC spokesman said the journalist did not work with children so did not need a DBS check, adding: 'The BBC has strict rules relating to disclosure of convictions and adheres to all legislation.
'In this case, the convictions were not declared by the individual, but we immediately terminated the contract when we became aware of the facts. They will never work with us again.'
Met police officer charged with nine new sex crimes
The London cop now faces a total of 29 charges, including 13 counts of rape
seen in London, May 25, 2021 © Getty Images / Andrew Aitchinson
London Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick has been charged with nine new offenses, including six counts of rape. Carrick is now facing 29 charges of sexual abuse.
The Crown Prosecution Service on Monday revealed nine new charges against the 47-year-old police officer, comprising six counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of assault by penetration, and one count of coercive and controlling behavior. The charges relate to four women, and allegedly took place between 2009 and 2018.
Carrick was first charged with rape in October, after a woman he met on the Tinder dating app accused him of pressuring her into getting drunk and having sex with her against her will. Carrick denied the accusation, but three more women came forward alleging that he had raped them, and now, with a total of eight women accusing him, the charges against Carrick allege that the London cop raped prolifically.
In total, Carrick is now charged with 29 offenses against eight women between 2009 and 2020, including 13 counts of rape, five counts of sexual assault, three counts of assault by penetration, and three counts of coercive and controlling behavior.
Carrick is currently suspended from duty and will answer to the latest charges at the Westminster magistrates' court on Wednesday.
Speaking at the time of his arrest in October, London Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said that she was “deeply concerned” by the allegations against Carrick, but would not speak further while criminal proceedings were underway.
Carrick’s case was one of several scandals to rock the Met last year. In September, police officer Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence for falsely imprisoning, raping and murdering Sarah Everard the previous March. Carrick served in the same unit as Couzens, and his first accuser said that she came forward after hearing about Couzens’ sentencing.
Some 771 Met Police officers and staff have faced sexual misconduct allegations over the past 11 years, with only 83 individuals being fired from the service, according to data obtained by iNews under a Freedom of Information request. During that time, 163 officers from the Met were arrested for sexual offenses, with 38 of those later convicted.
Man who ‘auctioned’ Muslim women online arrested
Indian police arrested a 25-year-old suspect behind the app for the ‘selling’ of Muslim women
edited photographs © Getty Images / RollingEarth
Police in India have arrested a man alleged to have created an app that published doctored photos of more than 80 Muslim women who were listed for “auction” online last year. The app, called ‘Sulli Deals’, had sparked outrage.
Delhi Police nabbed Aumkareshwar Thakur, 25, from his home in Indore, a major city in the west-central state of Madhya Pradesh, over the weekend. The arrest came six months after police registered complaints against Sulli Deals’ then-unknown creators.
Thakur’s arrest comes days after a copycat app named ‘Bulli Bai’ uploaded photos of more than 100 Muslim women earlier this month. Following wide public outcry, four people, including Neeraj Bishnoi – the app’s 21-year-old alleged creator – have been arrested over the past week.
In July 2021, Sulli Deals gained national prominence after posting, as “deals of the day,” pictures sourced without consent from the profiles of prominent Muslim women, including activists, artists, and journalists critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Both apps, which had been hosted on Microsoft-owned web platform GitHub, have been taken down. While there was no actual sale involved in either incident, several media outlets have reported that the intent was to degrade and humiliate Muslim women. The terms, ‘Sulli’ and ‘Bulli’, are reportedly slang terms used to derogatorily refer to Muslim women.
Amid the furor over the Bulli Bai app, one of the women who had filed a police complaint against Sulli Deals in July criticized the Delhi Police for its alleged inaction in that case. But the force’s cybercrimes unit told media outlets on Sunday that Bishnoi’s interrogation had led them to Thakur.
Delhi Police Deputy Commissioner (Cyber Cell) K.P.S. Malhotra told The Indian Express that Thakur had “confessed to his crime” during interrogation and admitted to joining a “trad group on Twitter ... [with the idea] to defame and troll Muslim women.”
An anonymous police source told the paper that these ‘trad’, or ‘traditional’, groups are “conservative” with “members [who] seem to have oppressive views – [ranging] from the caste system to women empowerment.”
While Malhotra said the police were “analyzing his gadgets to recover code/ images related to the app,” Thakur’s brother told the paper he had “no motive to indulge in such activity” and claimed he is “being falsely accused by those who have already been arrested.”
Model sues company over look-alike sex doll
The Instagram personality said she never gave the firm permission to create
a life-sized sex toy in her likeness
An Israeli Instagram model is seeking legal action after a Chinese company produced a sex doll in her likeness. The life-sized toy has her beauty mark under the lip and even shares her name.
Speaking to the UK’s ITV news on Monday, Yael Cohen Aris, 25, said she was dismayed to find out that a Chinese firm, Irontech Dolls, was marketing a sex doll with her head on it.
Cohen Aris said she was first alerted by a fan in 2019 who directed her to a forum where there were discussions about building a sex doll in her image. However, last year she was shocked to find that a Chinese company had gone ahead with making the doll.
Cohen Aris told ITV that there was no doubt that she was unwittingly the inspiration for the doll and would be seeking a legal outcome.
The sex toy features her hair, facial structure, eyeglasses, and beauty mark and has even been named “Yael.” Furthermore, the product was also being advertised using real life images of the Instagram model.
“It’s not just about a beauty mark and my name,” she told ITV’s This Morning show, adding “because sex dolls are still just dolls and there is a limit to how much they can look like a human being, but once it was connected to my identity and image and videos, social media, there is no mistake here.”
Cohen Aris said that she doesn’t have a problem with the sex doll industry, but claimed she was angered that her identity had been used without consent. “It’s doubly wrong because it’s connected to my identity — it’s not just a doll that looks like me or inspired by me; they never hid the fact it’s developed from me,” she stated.
A spokesperson for Irontech Dolls told the Daily Mail that similarities between the sex toy and Israeli model were just a “coincidence,” but added that they would drop the name “Yael.”
“We will inform all the partners to stop using this name and also using any photos relating to her,” the Irontech Dolls spokesperson added.
As of Tuesday, the sex toy is still being marketed as “Yael.”
The toy comes with an internal skeleton and detachable heads that can be switched. A full Irontech Doll complete with a ‘Yael’ head is currently being marketed on websites for over $1,400, according to the Times of Israel.
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