The Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Rape charges dropped against French rugby players in Argentina; Rape inquiry against Mbappe closed in Sweden

 

Argentina court drops rape cases

against two French rugby players

Americas

A court in Argentina dropped cases against two French rugby players on Tuesday who had previously been under investigation for allegedly raping a woman they met in a nightclub in July. Their lawyer said the cases had been dropped "because the crime did not exist". 

Issued on: 10/12/2024 - 16:04

1 min

By:

NEWS WIRES

File photo of French rugby players Oscar Jegou, right, and Hugo Auradou taken in Mendoza, Argentina on August 12, 2024. © Mariana Villa, AP

An Argentina court has dismissed aggravated rape charges against French international rugby players Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, the pair’s lawyer said on Tuesday, drawing a line under a dark period for the European country’s rugby community.

Auradou and Jegou, both 21, have been under investigation since July 12 for alleged aggravated rape – a charge used for suspected gang rape – in Argentina’s western Mendoza province after they both made their international debut.

The two players always denied any wrongdoing and said the sex was consensual.

“The judge has just ordered the players to be acquitted, arguing that the act was not a crime,” the French players’ lawyer, Rafael Cuneo Libarona, told Reuters. “The dismissal is not due to doubt, but because the crime did not exist.”

The two players spent several days in preventive detention and almost a month under house arrest in Argentina.  They were eventually allowed to leave Argentina at the start of September, when they returned to France.

Auradou has played eight matches for his club, Section Paloise, since he returned to competition on Oct. 5 while Jegou resumed playing on Nov. 2 with Stade Rochelais and has played four matches.

The French rugby federation president Florian Grill told Reuters in October that they would not play for the French national team again “until the case is dismissed”.

Swedish prosecutor closes rape inquiry against

France's Mbappe as evidence 'not sufficient'

Europe

A Swedish prosecutor on Thursday closed an an investigation into alleged rape and sexual assault by French footballer Kylian Mbappe due to insufficient evidence. Lead prosecutor Marina Chirakova said in a statement that "the evidence is not sufficient to proceed and the investigation is therefore closed". 

Issued on: 12/12/2024 - 09:56

3 min

By:

NEWS WIRES

Kylian Mbappé warms up before a football match between Real Madrid and Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, on December 10, 2024. © Marco Bertorello, AFP

An investigation into alleged rape and sexual assault in Stockholm which Swedish media said targeted Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe has been closed due to insufficient evidence, the Swedish prosecutor said Thursday.

Mbappe, the 25-year-old Frenchman who is one of the highest-profile players in world football, visited the Swedish capital October 9-11 with a group of people after he was left out of his country's squad for a Nations League match.

Sweden's prosecution authority announced on October 15 that it was investigating an alleged incident that occurred at an upscale Stockholm hotel on October 10, without mentioning the suspect by name. 

Several Swedish media outlets, including newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen and public broadcaster SVT, identified Mbappe as the suspect.

"My assessment is that the evidence is not sufficient to proceed and the investigation is therefore closed," prosecutor Marina Chirakova said in a statement that also did not mention Mbappe by name.

Chirakova said the person in question had not been interrogated and "not been notified of suspicion of a crime".

"I have concluded, based on what has emerged in the case, that new evidence, including interrogations of the person in question, would not change the evidence situation right now," she told AFP.

She said her team had nonetheless "conducted a large number of interviews in the investigation".

Petra Eklund, the lawyer for the plaintiff, whose name has not been disclosed, told AFP she had "no comment" to the news that the case had been closed.

Mbappe's lawyer said in October that he was "shocked" to see his name linked to the investigation.

Speaking for the first time about the case on Sunday, he told French television show Clique he was "not involved".

"I haven't received anything, no summons... I'm not involved," he said.

According to Aftonbladet, Mbappe and his entourage dined at a restaurant one evening before going on to a nightclub.

The complaint was filed on October 12 after the alleged victim had sought medical attention, according to the newspaper.

Expressen reported that police had seized some clothing as evidence, saying it consisted of women's underwear, a pair of black trousers and a black top. Photographs showed police officers leaving the hotel with brown bags.

Difficult season

Mbappe joined Madrid this summer after seven years at Paris Saint-Germain and has stayed clear of scandal in his private life.

The forward, who is known for carefully managing his image through a close network of family, lawyers and spokespeople, has become one of the world's highest paid players after a stellar career that began when he was barely into his teens.

He has had a difficult season since moving to reigning European champions Real Madrid from PSG in the summer, failing to find his top form.

However the Frenchman scored in Madrid's 3-2 win against Italian side Atalanta on Tuesday which revived Real's flagging bid to regain their Champions League title.

Mbappe won the World Cup as a teenager in 2018 in Russia and scored a hat-trick in the 2022 final in Qatar which France lost on penalties to Lionel Messi's Argentina. 

At PSG he was part of a superstar trio with Messi and Brazilian forward Neymar, but the Qatar-owned club were unable to win the Champions League.

(AFP)

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Rape Charges Dropped in Rockville High School Case That Stirred Immigration Debate

The White House previously said the case illustrates

a need for stricter immigration policies

Rape charges were dropped against two immigrant teens accused of attacking a girl at Rockville High School in March. 

Rape and sexual assault charges have been dropped against two young immigrants accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom of a high school in Rockville, Maryland, prosecutors say.

The reported crime horrified local parents and became national news after the White House called it an example of why President Donald Trump is cracking down on illegal immigration.

The defendants, Henry Sanchez Milian, 18, and Jose Montano, 17, each illegally entered the United States alone, to join their families. Deportation proceedings against them are underway. 

Rockville High School accused rapist Henry Sanchez Milian

The teens initially were charged with rape and sexual assault after an encounter with the girl at Rockville High School in March, during school hours. 

But the evidence does not support rape charges, Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said Friday morning. 

"We have concluded that the facts in this case do not support the original charges filed in this matter," he said at a news conference. "Due to the lack of corroboration and substantial inconsistencies from the facts that we have obtained from multiple sources since the filing of the original charging document, the original charges cannot be sustained, and prosecution on those charges is untenable." 

McCarthy said the investigation was extensive and included multiple interviews and reviews of phone and computer records, school surveillance video and medical records.

Montano now faces possession and distribution of pornography charges. Sanchez Milian also faces possession of pornography charges. 

The pornography charges are related to lewd photographs the girl sent to Montano, who then forwarded them to Sanchez Milian.

Montano's lawyer, Maria Mena, called the pornography charges unfair. She argued that the girl should be charged for creating the pornography.

Under Maryland law, statutory rape laws apply when the older person is a full four years older than the younger person. 

The girl reported to police that the two boys approached her in a school hallway and asked her to walk with them, police initially said. Montano asked her for sex, and after she refused, he and Sanchez Milian forced her into a boys' bathroom, where they took turns raping and sodomizing her as she cried out in pain and asked them to stop, police said.

Defense attorneys later said text messages between the girl and Montano showed the two spoke about having sex at school the following day. 

A judge ruled that was not an agreement, however, that would have bound her to have sex with two partners. 

Prosecutors said texts between Montano and Sanchez Milian showed they planned to attack the girl.

The superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, Dr. Jack Smith, said the district is still cooperating with police and prosecutors.

“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the Rockville High School community, particularly the female student who has been at the center of this. I know that the staff and students remain focused on healing as a community and ending this school year 'Rockville Strong,'" Smith said in a statement.

No matter the outcome of the case, Montano and Sanchez Milian will not return to the high school, Smith said. 

"We need to provide them an education, but it will not be in a school building. It will not be during the regular school day. It will not be a typical school experience," he said. 

Federal deportation proceedings against them have already begun. 

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a news conference Friday that spokesman Sean Spicer reacted after the alleged crime to "what he knew at the time."

The school received threats of bombings and shootings after the alleged attack. One caller threatened to shoot "illegals" at the school, police said.

Sanchez Milian's father was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after it was discovered he was living in the U.S. illegally, officials said.

Montgomery County Public Schools records show 27 reports of high school sexual assaults or sexual incidents requiring police response in the previous school year, the News4 I-Team reported, including at least one incident at Rockville High School.

In 2014-2015, the school district reported 14 “sex-related” incidents requiring police response at county high schools.

In April 2014, MCPS told the I-Team it installed mirrors and cameras to reduce blind spots in some hallways of another high school in Rockville after a consensual sexual encounter wasn't noticed by staff or administrators.

Alaska School Hid Evidence of Employee Sexually Abusing Disabled Kids – Lawsuit

Begich Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska © Google Maps

The parents of a special-needs student are suing the Anchorage, Alaska school district, arguing it waited too long to investigate a teacher’s aide over claims of sexual abuse. In a plea deal, the aide served 48 hours of community service.

Begich Middle School teacher’s aide Julianti Clarke, 62, was charged with abuse in October 2014, after surveillance video showed her fondling a disabled male student in the lunchroom. In November 2015, prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that would let Clarke serve 48 hours of community service and dropped the charges.

Seriously? Good grief!

In a lawsuit filed this week in Anchorage Superior Court, the student’s parents argue that the school district edited the video to hide Clarke’s abuse of another student while their son watched. They say the district “negligently failed” to supervise Clarke and failed to protect students, asking for damages over $500,000 for "foreseeable severe emotional distress," according to Alaska Dispatch News.

The district waited for several weeks to investigate Clarke, and did not alert the police or forbid her from contact with the student, says the parents’ civil complaint. Unedited video shown to the family by the Anchorage Police Department revealed Clarke fondling another student while their son watched, attorney Mike Kramer told local news station KTVA.

“At least one other child was receiving similar mistreatment,” Kramer said. “We obviously don’t know the identity of that child or whether his parents were contacted, or whether police were even notified about that, but it’s disturbing that we were given an edited video tape that removed that particularly disturbing section.”

“The whole time she’s doing it to the other kid, he’s pounding himself in the head with his fist,” Kramer added.

Clarke was “promptly placed on leave” and fired as soon as the surveillance video was reviewed, the school district said in a statement. According to spokeswoman Heidi Embley, an employee had informed the school in September 2014 that Clarke had “refused to open a bag of chips” for a student, and the administrators found no inappropriate conduct. About two weeks later, the administration found an “unrelated complaint of similar behavior” and that probe turned up “inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature," Embley said.

The family decided to sue after six months of trying to get the school district to release the September 2014 report, Kramer said.

”Our concern is that had they responded to this in September when they should have, they would have been able to confirm that the abuse had been going on since the start of school in August,” Kramer said. Because the surveillance cameras are wiped every 30 days, no lunchroom footage prior to September was available, the Anchorage School District told the family, according to Kramer.

Clarke originally faced two criminal charges of first-degree sexual harassment. According to the prosecutors, she “stroked the student's genitals over his clothes, stuck items from the table down his shirt and used his hand to wipe the table.” The student “communicates through a menu-driven electronic device and responds verbally only rarely,” according to the court documents cited by Alaska Dispatch News.

In the end, prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to charge Clarke with a sex crime, reducing the charges to second-degree harassment and dropping them entirely after she agreed to perform 48 hours of community service.

“A couple different prosecutors looked at it and said that it was not entirely clear whether there was any type of sexual contact with the child,” District Attorney Clint Campion told KTVA.

Archdiocese Admits Failure in Exchange for Dropping Charges of Enabling a Pedophile

‘We failed,’ archdiocese says, admitting it mishandled child sex-abuse claims

By TORY COONEY 

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis publicly confessed wrongdoing for the way it handled the sexual-abuse allegations of three boys.

“Today, I, as the leader of this archdiocese, stand before you to say we failed — in what we have done and what we have failed to do,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said after a court hearing Wednesday, mirroring a prayer traditionally said in each Mass.

What? We failed - in what...we have failed to do? What does that mean? No wonder the archdiocese is in trouble. Then there was the former Archbishop who didn't know sex between a priest and a child was illegal...


Bernard Hebda, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis speaks at a news conference in St. Paul, Wednesday, July 20, 2016. Standing behind Hebda is Timothy O'Malley, Director, Office of Miinisterial Standards and Safe Environment. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Criminal charges against the archdiocese over its handling of a child sexual-abuse case were dropped that morning, after prosecutors announced additional accountability measures.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said that his office has insisted on the “direct admission of wrongdoing from the beginning,” and could not consider dismissing charges until it was made.

“It is my expectation that, never again, will the facts of this case be repeated and the protection of children will forever be of paramount importance within this archdiocese,” Choi said.

That's great, but what about justice for the crimes that have already been committed? It's like a mom telling a child to say they're sorry, as if that fixes everything.

CRIMINAL AND CIVIL CHARGES

The Catholic archdiocese faced six gross misdemeanor counts of child endangerment for allegedly turning a blind eye to repeated misconduct by Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest at Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul who is now in prison. Wehmeyer was convicted of molesting two boys in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin.

Ramsey County prosecutors accused top church officials of failing to respond to “numerous and repeated reports of troubling conduct” by Wehmeyer, dating back to when he entered the seminary in 1997 until he was defrocked.

A civil petition was filed at the same time as the criminal case and led to a “landmark” settlement in December. It called for a new child-protection plan and protocols defining how such issues should be handled. Elements included broader background checks for clergy and volunteers, child-protection training, the mandatory reporting of abuse and regular reviews of protocols subject to prosecutor review.


John Choi was my hero last month when he announced charges against the archdiocese. He's not my hero anymore.

The settlement also called for reviews every six months for three years. The first of these was held Wednesday morning.

After the first reviews, officials said they are pleased with the progress. Additional measures were also added, expanding the December agreement and extending it to four years.

“You rolled up your sleeves and you looked at what you could do to protect kids going forward,” Ramsey County Chief Judge Teresa Warner told archdiocesan representatives, including Hebda, at the hearing. “This is a significant single step.”

ADDITIONAL MEASURES

While the initial settlement was far more extensive than anything the court could have mandated, the additions make it “really unprecedented,” Choi said.

“It should be, I hope, a model for child protection protocols and how they would work … with governmental agencies, ” he said. “That has not been seen before.”

The agreement announced Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court includes:

An additional year of oversight, with progress reports by the archdiocese to continue until February 2020.

A public admission of wrongdoing by the archdiocese with respect to the victims in the civil and criminal cases.

Restorative-justice sessions with the victims to be scheduled by the court. Hebda will be directly involved in at least three.

A seat on the archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board to be filled by a person appointed by the prosecutor’s office.

The release of any prior litigants from confidentiality requirements in previous settlements. There will be no additional confidentiality agreements unless requested by the victim.

A guarantee of continued counseling resources for the three victims and their immediate families, if necessary.


The victims and their families appreciated the archdiocese’s admission and “wholeheartedly” supported the Ramsey County Attorney’s resolution of the case, Choi said.

Hebda said he was “very happy” to hear of the victims’ approval.

“We’re sorry for what’s happened and we want to work with the county attorney’s office, certainly with the community, to do all that we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Hebda said.

Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who has represented hundreds of people in abuse cases against the church, praised the decision to drop charges in exchange for concessions from the archdiocese. He said it was the right thing to do for survivors and their families, and would push new information into daylight.

CRITICISM AND CONCERN

Some continue to criticize Choi for not pursuing criminal charges against specific officials within the archdiocese.

“Wrongdoing is deterred when wrongdoers are punished,” said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “But not one Twin Cities Catholic official is being punished – in the courts or in the church – for repeatedly deceiving parishioners, moving predators, hiding evidence, stone-walling police or endangering kids.”

Clohessy specifically called out former Archbishop John Nienstedt, who stepped down shortly after charges were filed against the archdiocese last year.

Both he and Anderson said it was incumbent on the Vatican to take stronger action, including defrocking, against Nienstedt and others involved.

When asked about the decision not to charge any church leaders, Choi said that in order to bring criminal charges, he has to believe his office can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“There just wasn’t sufficient evidence to point to one particular person, but there certainly was, with respect to the entire corporation,” Choi said.

Why then does the responsibility not fall on the man in charge? Can priests be transferred without the approval of the archbishop?

WETTERLING TO SERVE

The Ramsey County Attorney’s appointment of child advocate Patty Wetterling to the Archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board was announced Wednesday.

After Wetterling’s son was abducted in 1989, she became an advocate of child safety education. She now serves on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s board of directors.

“For me, this is a great opportunity to help champions that I have always admired build a world where children can grow up free from sexual exploitation. I am honored to serve,” Wetterling said in a written statement.

The Ministerial Review Board is responsible for examining abuse allegations and is made up of 12 members, 10 of whom are lay people. Lay members include a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and two non-Catholics.

Marino Eccher contributed to this report.

I really like all the programs that have been set up and hope they do become a model for other archdioceses. But I am not happy that bishops and archbishops who enabled pedophile priests to carry on their sick, evil abuse of children, are off Scot free. There ought to be consequences for such sinister behaviour.

Sir Cliff Richard has been Cleared of Child Sex Allegations

As Cliff Richard is cleared of sex abuse claims

 - should accused remain anonymous?

BY ALISON PHILLIPS

Cliff Richard has been cleared of child sex allegations

672 days after police raided his home

Sir Cliff Richard has been cleared of child sex allegations

Entertainer Sir Cliff Richard has been told he will not be prosecuted over child sex allegations.

It has been 672 days since police raided the 75-year-old's home and it was broadcast live on the BBC.

Furious Sir Cliff has accused officers of hanging him out like "live bait" and said his reputation had been permanently tarnished by South Yorkshire Police who named him as a suspected paedophile before he had even been interviewed.


So should those accused of sex crimes remain anonymous until they are proven guilty?

YES - Nick Freeman, celebrity lawyer


Lawyer Nick Freeman

The Cliff Richard case perfectly illustrates why there needs to be an urgent review of the law for defendants in sex cases .

Sir Cliff was publicly named and exposed to massive media intrusion, and yet he was never charged.

There has never been a more high profile case to call for an urgent review of the law for defendant anonymity in sex cases .

The damage these allegations can cause to a person’s reputation is immense. The stigma will typically remain for a lifetime.

  Click on image to play clip 0:45

I fully support the need for the anonymity of victims in sex cases as it affords them added protection and support throughout the entire judicial process and beyond.

Now the same protection should also be provided to those people accused of sexual offences.

I have been campaigning for a change in the law for many as a direct result of representing falsely accused defendants, whose lives and reputations have been ruined by such allegations.

All such matters of anonymity in sex cases should still rest with the discretion of the Judge, who may decide that naming an accused would be in the safety and interest of the public.


No - Alison Phillips, Mirror columnist

I accept it must be horrific for someone to be accused of a sexual offence like Cliff Richard has been.

But if there was anonymity for people such as him, why wouldn’t there be anonymity for murder ? Or attempted murder?

And fairly soon our whole justice system would become shrouded in secrets and mystery.

It is as vital that justice is seen to be done in this country as that it actually is done.


Cliff Richard and Gloria Hunniford

Without it we could have secret police dragging people out of their homes and putting them under arrest without ever having to tell anyone what they have done.

That may sound extreme and unlikely - but it is where the slippery slope of secrecy leads one way or another.

More importantly we as a country should continue to demonstrate that other great tenet of British justice - innocent until proven guilty.