This Week's Global Pervs and Paedos List > Young incest/rape victim's nightmare that wouldn't end in Peru; Ontario Cop gets 6 years and a gold watch for rape; Former Police Watchdog charged with historical rape of girl in UK

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Young incest/rape victim's nightmare that wouldn't end

Girl raped by father should have received abortion access, U.N. tells Peru

By Adam Schrader

 

A young girl who was raped by her father and became pregnant should have received information and access, a United Nations committee told Peru last week. Photo courtesy of Hospital Regional Guillermo Diaz de la Vega/Facebook

June 18 (UPI) -- A young girl who was raped by her father and became pregnant should have received abortion information and access, a United Nations committee told Peru last week.

The girl, identified by the pseudonym Camila, was first raped by her father when she was 9 years old and was continuously abused until she became pregnant in 2017 at the age of 13, the U.N. Child Rights Committee said in a statement.

Camila, now 18, brought her case before the Child Rights Committee claiming that her rights under the Child Rights Convention had been violated.

Abortion is criminalized in Peru except to o prevent a risk to the life or a severe and permanent threat to the mother's health. The U.N. officials detailed a pattern of Camila's "re-victimization" by national authorities, who prosecuted and convicted her after she had a miscarriage.

The U.N. has since asked Peru to decriminalize abortion in all cases of child pregnancy and to ensure safe post-abortion care for pregnant children, particularly in cases of rape and incest.

The harrowing story began in November 2017 when teachers at Camila's school told her mother that she seemed isolated and depressed and had missed class, U.N. officials said in its decision in the case.

Good teachers. Too bad they didn't have Erin's Law in Peru, the rapes could have been stopped before she got pregnant.

Camila then told her mother that she had not menstruated for two months, who then had her take a rapid pregnancy test which came back positive. After the pregnancy was confirmed by a blood test at a private clinic in Abancay, Camila revealed to her mother and godmother that her father had raped her.

Days later, Camila again claimed she was raped by her father to workers at a health clinic in Huanipaca. She was taken to Guillermo Díaz de la Vega Hospital in Abancay where she tearfully told hospital staff that she did not want to have her father's child. She was not told of her right to an abortion.

Camila reiterated to hospital staff during a check-up the following week that she did not wish to have her father's baby. Instead of advising her of her right to an abortion, hospital workers ordered an ultrasound.

The girl, crying "uncontrollably," was taken back to the health clinic the following month where she reiterated for the third time that she did not want to have her father's baby. Hospital staff responded by telling her about the importance of a proper diet during pregnancy.

Camila became suicidal when health workers visited her home and advised her of a proposed birth plan for the fetus - which led her mother to petition Peru's Health Ministry for permission for a voluntary abortion, consistent with the laws of the country. She never heard back about her petition.

Camila's mother simultaneously petitioned the prosecutor in charge of criminal investigations of rape to intervene and also did not receive a response from that petition.

The girl was hospitalized the following week for severe abdominal pain and was given medication to prevent miscarriage, despite her wishes not to give birth to her father's baby, but her condition worsened and she was ultimately given emergency surgery to remove the fetus.

Instead of disposing of the fetal remains, the hospital sent them to Camila's godmother, who buried them under the patio of her home. Health clinic workers who were not advised of the emergency procedure harassed the girl at her home for days until police intervened and blamed the girl for the miscarriage.

Camila filed a complaint with Peru's Health Ministry in March 2018, requesting a resolution to the ordeal she endured. Nearly a year later, her case had still not been resolved and she requested a final ruling on her complaint from the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry determined that Guillermo Díaz de la Vega Hospital failed to comply with legal requirements to convene a board to evaluate her wishes for an abortion. The ministry also found that the Huanipaca clinic failed to comply with standards for high-risk pregnancy care for girls.

However, the Health Ministry also found that Camila had not sufficiently proven that medical workers were responsible for not having informed her about her right to a legal abortion or responsible for breaching her privacy by requesting police intervention.

Amid the standoff with health officials, Camila was enduring another with police and prosecutors.

In the days after Camila advised her mother she had been raped, Camila's godmother filed a complaint of rape against her father at the Huanipaca Police Station. Camila testified that her father raped her and that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy.

"The same day, Camila's mother reiterated her account of the sexual violence and her daughter's rejection of the pregnancy," U.N. officials said in the document.

Later in November 2017, prosecutors ordered both Camila and her father to again testify. Camila's father did not appear at the court but the girl, once again, recounted how her father raped her.

In December 2017, prosecutors appeared at the home where Camila had been raped. The girl's father admitted to authorities that he raped his daughter, pointed to the "exact place of the rape" and was arrested.

Despite his confession and Camila's testimony, prosecutors called the case "complicated" and delayed the investigation until after the birth of the baby so as not to put the life of the unborn fetus at risk. Prosecutors and police failed to notify Camila of her legal right to an abortion.

After her miscarriage, prosecutors turned their sites on the girl and sent a social worker to interview hospital staff about her miscarriage for an investigation for the crime of self-abortion. The prosecutor, during the investigation, even requested to have the fetal remains exhumed.

Camila's father later claimed that the girl was not his daughter and that she had agreed to sexual relations with him. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay about $14,000 dollars in restitution to the girl.

Camila was convicted of self-abortion based on her statements that she had wanted to end the pregnancy the following year. The girl appealed the conviction which was overturned in June 2019.

Where is the justice and compassion for a little girl who was continuously raped by her father? Who got pregnant at 13 when it was the last thing she wanted? 

Has anything been done in Peru that would prevent the repetition of such a horror show? People in responsible positions need to consider how their actions might cause an abused child to be revictimized!

Again, it's children who pay the price for the madness and evil of adults.

After 5 years of collecting over $100,000 per year for doing nothing, this creep finally gets fired. It's like getting a gold watch for being evil.

OPP officer sentenced to 6 years for sexually assaulting,

filming unconscious woman

Jason Redmond fired from force June 15, commissioner announces Friday

Dan Taekema · CBC News · 

Posted: Jun 16, 2023 7:24 AM PDT | Last Updated: June 16

Jason Redmond leaves the courthouse in Brockville, Ont., on May 31, 2023. The OPP officer has been sentenced to six years for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2017. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

A former Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer has been sentenced to six years for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman while recording it on his mobile phone.

Jason Redmond wore a dark suit and a blue medical mask as he stood in a Brockville courtroom Friday morning to hear his sentence read. He did not speak as he was taken into custody.

The victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, stood and tearfully hugged people in the gallery as he was escorted out.

In a statement issued just hours after the sentencing, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique announced Redmond had been fired and will no longer receive pay as of June 15.

He described Redmond's behaviour as "disgraceful and criminal," adding it "undermines" the work of other OPP officers.

Justice Janet O'Brien found the fired constable's moral culpability was "extraordinarily high," saying the evidence she heard indicated he felt no shame or regret and wasn't apologetic the morning after the incident, but was instead "angry and righteous."

She noted he kept the video, told friends about it and, based on the testimony of a witness, appeared to think it was funny.

The judge said as a police officer, Redmond knows the law and would have known the victim could not consent.

"During his training and experience as a police officer, Mr. Redmond understood the harm and trauma victims of violent crime suffer," O'Brien said, adding that Redmond was at best indifferent to the harm he caused his intimate partner.

Redmond 'proving a point'

The Leeds County officer was convicted of sexual assault on Feb. 16, roughly five years after the incident in December 2017.

According to one witness, Redmond was "proving a point" to the victim that she had a drinking problem, and "he made the video to show that anybody could rape her," the judge read in her ruling.

Crown attorney Peter Napier suggested last month Redmond be sentenced to five to seven years in custody, describing what happened as a "horrendous sexual assault" that called for an "exemplary sentence."

The Crown also pointed to the fact that Redmond remains a police officer, saying he should have known the harm he was causing and "the fact he tried to show everyone what he had done was just deplorable."

Defence lawyer Karin Stein argued for two or three years behind bars, the bottom end of the typical range for sentencing.

She told court Redmond has received death threats and is dealing with trauma and an addiction to crack cocaine. Stein also said her client does not plan to return to his role as a police officer.

During sentencing, the judge ruled the assault was not the result of impulsivity or impaired judgment due to the accused's background or ongoing struggles, saying he continued to blame the victim and justify his actions.

"This illustrates his contempt for [the victim] and callous disregard for her sexual autonomy and psychological well being," she said. "This confirms the sexual assault was not a lapse in judgment or out of character for Mr. Redmond … the sexual assault was a calculated, deliberate act."

The courthouse in Brockville, Ont., is shown on May 31, 2023. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

O'Brien referred to a victim impact statement where the complainant described how the event felt "so heavy and so shameful," leading her to become guarded, lonely and feeling unsafe.

The judge considered it an aggravating factor that Redmond had violated the victim's trust and assaulted her while she was unconscious and had "no ability to defend herself."

The circumstances of the case called for a "heavy sentence" above the normal range, O'Brien said.

"Mr. Redmond's conduct must be denounced in the clearest of terms."

Exactly, or else every second cop in Ontario is going to be doing it.

He was also ordered to have no contact with the victim or her family, must provide a DNA sample and must comply with the sexual offender registry for 10 years.

Officer also found guilty of assault

Redmond was convicted last Friday of nine other violent offences in connection with a separate court matter.

In that case, Justice Donna Hackett found him guilty of five counts of assault, three counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon.

That victim's identity is also protected by a publication ban. She is not the same person as the complainant in Redmond's conviction for sexual assault.

His legal history also includes a conviction for drug trafficking, for which he received one year of probation and no jail time.

How is it that a cop convicted of trafficking drugs is not immediately fired? Is there no concern about the moral makeup of Ontario Provincial Police? The OPP should be sued for keeping this creep on the force.

He's been on paid leave from the OPP since being charged in that case in 2015.

OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique previously said the force has been seeking to dismiss Redmond since his first conviction.

"This behaviour is unacceptable for any police officer and cannot be tolerated," Carrique wrote at the time.

Appeal of dismissal from OPP withdrawn

The commissioner said the OPP's Professional Standards Unit had laid charges under the Police Services Act shortly after Redmond's initial conviction and an adjudicator ordered he be dismissed from the OPP following his conviction.

However, the officer appealed that decision, which allowed him to continue to collect his salary for the last seven and a half years while being suspended on paid leave.

Redmond's name was included on the 2021 Ontario Sunshine List, which listed his income as $121,047.96 that year.

An appeal before the Ontario Civilian Police Commission was scheduled to take place in October, but in an email to CBC earlier this week, a spokesperson for the commission said it's since been withdrawn and the matter is closed.

Can justice possibly move any slower? Good grief! The OPP has to improve its ability to fire people with moral flaws.

Stein and her client declined to comment on the move.

In his statement, Carrique said the abandonment of the appeal meant Redmond could be fired and described the court process as a "lengthy and difficult journey" for the victim as well as for police.

Former British police watchdog head charged with sexually assaulting girl

By Patrick Hilsman

 

The Crown Prosecution Service charged Michael Lockwood with three counts of rape against a girl under 16 and six counts of indecent assault. Lockwood served as head of the Independent Office for Police Conduct before stepping down in December when allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo

June 16 (UPI) -- The former head of Britain's police watchdog has been charged with sexually assaulting an underage girl.

The Crown Prosecution Service charged Michael Lockwood with three counts of rape against a girl under 16 and six counts of indecent assault. The service said the assaults took place in 1985 and 1986.

Lockwood served as head of the Independent Office for Police Conduct before stepping down in December when allegations of sexual misconduct emerged.

"After carefully considering all the evidence provided to us by Humberside Police, we have authorized charges against Michael Lockwood, 64, for nine offenses under the sexual Offenses Act 1956," said Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime division.

Ainslie said, "the Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr. Lockwood are active and that he has the right to a fair trial."

Lockwood's legal representatives deny wrongdoing.

"Mr. Lockwood strenuously denies all of these allegations from nearly 40 years ago," said Emma Brooks of the PCB Byrne law firm," he will strongly defend his position and will continue to cooperate with the proceeding."

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said they were aware of the charges and confirmed that "Mr. Lockwood was IOPC director general from 2018 to 2022, but as a crown appointee, not employed by the IOPC."

The Independent Office emphasized that "as criminal proceedings are active, we are unable to comment any further."

Lockwood is scheduled to appear in court June 28.

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This Week's Global Pervs and Paedos List > American pervert jailed for 50 years in Kenya; 2 Women get justice after 36 years; UK Courts, Councils revictimizing victims and kids

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Paraplegic US pedophile, 59, jailed for 50 years in Kenya

after pleading guilty to child porn distribution

By AFP REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 12:59 EDT, 2 December 2014

An American man accused of sexually abusing Kenyan children and circulating the images on the internet will now die behind bars after being sentenced to 50 years in jail. 

Terry Ray Krieger, 59, was arrested in October after Interpol tipped off Kenyan police about an internet user in the country who went by the alias 'Babytoddler123' and was making and distributing pedophile material for overseas users.

His arrest came after Interpol investigations in Germany and the United States.

Krieger, from the state of Michigan, had initially denied the charges but then changed his plea to guilty last month.

Charged: The prosecutor reads out the charges to Terry Krieger in Nairobi court

His victims are aged between three and 10 and are from the area where Krieger lives in Olepolos in Ngong, Kajiado County, according to Daily Nation.

'Children occupy a special place in society and their rights must be protected,' Nairobi Magistrate Joseph Karanja told the court.

'The accused has robbed young children of their innocence and it is disturbing that these despicable acts have been going on undetected,' he said, dismissing the wheelchair-bound Krieger's contention that he was a paraplegic and should be shown some leniency.

Krieger allegedly exchanged 36 files between December 7, 2013 and May 18, 2014.

He would use online media platforms GigaTribe, Yahoo Chat and Skype to send the images. 

Krieger was also identified as a repeat offender, having been convicted in 1992 in the United States for criminal sexual conduct with an under 13, for which he served three years in prison.

He was released in 1995. 

The minimum sentence under Kenyan law is six years, but the judge ruled Krieger should face a maximum possible term of 50 years - meaning he will likely die behind bars.

Good judge!

36 years to justice

After a number of violent sexual assaults in Toronto in 1986, ​Raymond Burke escaped to the United States. Now, his victims finally see the potential for closure.

By Adam Carter

Mar. 23, 2022

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

Nicole Murdock dropped to her knees and vomited when she heard the crack of a gunshot echo in the empty field behind her.

It was a September night in southern Ontario in 1986, and after being abducted, threatened and repeatedly raped by a man named Raymond Burke, staring down the barrel of a gun sent her over the edge.

It was at that moment that she told Burke if he was going to kill her, he should just do it.

“I couldn’t think of any way to get out of it, [I] was just done. I couldn’t do it anymore,” she later testified in court. “I sat on the ground and said, ‘Just kill me.’”

Murdock survived that night — and now, after more than three decades and a trail of victims Burke left in both Canada and the U.S., the two women he attacked in Ontario in the 1980s are inching closer to justice.

This is a long and disturbing story about two women who were kidnapped, raped multiple times, had their lives threatened, and were brutally assaulted. Toronto's police and justice system did little to bring them any kind of justice until more than 30 years later. 

Please go to CBC for the story.

'It's highly disturbing': Courts 'scandal' robbing domestic

abuse victims of their children - sometimes to their abusers

Courts, councils are being accused of helping abusers land a huge psychological blow

on the victim and their child, by separating them and severely damaging their lives.

Jason Farrell

Home editor @JasonFarrellSky

Monday 27 September 2021 11:29, UK

Victims of domestic abuse are being discriminated against in the family courts and regularly lose custody of their children, sometimes to their abusers, according to campaigners, social workers and lawyers who've spoken to Sky News.

Courts and councils are accused of helping abusers to land a huge psychological blow on the victim and their child, by separating them and severely damaging their lives.

The situation is so bad, the domestic abuse commissioner says lawyers often advise clients not to tell the court they have been victims of domestic violence in case it is used against them.

Nicole Jacobs told Sky News that solicitors tell them: "The judge doesn't like it, it complicates things."

There seems to be a range of reasons why victims of domestic abuse fall foul of the courts

Barrister and advisor to the government on domestic abuse, Usha Sood, has described the situation as "scandalous", and is among many calling for greater transparency in the family courts.

One leading campaigner on child sexual exploitation (CSE), Sammy Woodhouse, says that victims of CSE who become mothers are facing similar problems with "hundreds of women" contacting her to say: "I wish I'd never come forward because now they're going to take my kids."

Sky News looked at the case of "Sally", whose daughter was removed from her care four years ago and given to her ex-partner, who she claims she had broken up with to escape from an abusive relationship.

Campaigners say that for the abuser, child custody is often part of a malicious game to gain control of the victim, who has otherwise escaped the violent behaviour.

Sally told us when her ex-partner applied for custody, that's how she viewed it.

She said: "I knew it was a game, I knew it was about control, I knew it was just going to be another abusive tactic to cause as much chaos and pain and drama as possible. And I just thought it was absolutely absurd."

There is much more on this very disturbing story at Sky News. Once again it is the children who suffer from the madness of men.

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Negative Stories in the War on Child Sexual Abuse - Episode V

Coronavirus: Closures risk 'spike' in child sex abuse
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Children may be at greater risk of grooming as they spend more time online, charity warns

By Tes Reporter

Experts are preparing for a spike in public reports of child sexual abuse on the internet as schools across the UK close during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is concerned children might be at greater risk of being groomed and coerced into making explicit content, given that many will undoubtedly spend more time online from Monday.

Susie Hargreaves, the charity's chief executive said increasingly videos and photos are taken by the children themselves, who have been targeted by "ruthless predators" under false identities.

"Heartbreakingly, we see more and more of this material being filmed by children themselves on devices, sometimes livestreamed from their own bedrooms in the family home," she said.

"My fear is that, with more young children being sent home from school, more of them will be spending a lot longer online, possibly exposing them to some of these criminals."

In 2019, the charity – which is responsible for finding and removing videos and images of children suffering sexual abuse from the internet – looked into a record of 260,400 reports, up from the 229,328 it investigated the year before.

Of those in 2019, 132,700 were confirmed to be of images or videos of children being sexually abused, an increase on the 105,047 in 2018.

The charity says its hotline will continue to operate while other staff members are forced to work from home to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

"We are bracing ourselves for a spike in reports," Ms Hargreaves said.

"The pandemic is forcing more and more people to stay indoors, and a lot of people are going to be spending much more time on the internet and at home on electronic devices.

"More people alone in their homes, and more people spending longer online sadly means we are likely to see more people stumbling across criminal material involving child sexual abuse on the internet.

"We are also expecting criminals to be more active on the internet during the coming months.

"This could mean we'll see an unprecedented number of public reports to our hotline as more people spot things that are not right and report it to us."

The charity urges parents to trust their children but have a frank conversation with them about the dangers.

It has also been reported that teachers believe children could be targeted by county lines gangs as schools shut down.

The Children's Society charity told The Independent: “School provides a safe place and supervision for vulnerable children, and it is a real concern that without this they may be more at risk of being targeted by criminals seeking to exploit them.

"Some children may be living in difficult situations at home and without social interaction and support during the day at school, they may be more likely to go missing, which we know can increase the risks of exploitation. 

"Families living in poverty are also likely to face further financial challenges in the coming months, which criminals may try to exploit by grooming children with promises of easy cash. 

"While it is welcome that the government has said all vulnerable children should be able to attend school, we know that many are hidden from view and may not benefit from a social care status that means they can continue to do so."

Botswana is failing its children, activists say

By Kago Komane 

A confidential report submitted by ECPAT International suggests cases of child abuse in Botswana go unreported and that the scale of the problem is far greater than reflected in police and other government statistics. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

Activists fear Botswana is increasingly becoming a haven for paedophiles and the sexual grooming of children because the government is failing to implement its own laws on the protection of the young. Their legal rights are minimal and the judicial system is failing to protect them.

According to Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Botswana ranked 135th out of 197 countries in its global ranking on access to justice for children – how it treats them in legal proceedings and the legal and practical means available to challenge violations of their rights.

Of a possible score of 261, it registered 40.2. CRIN pointed out that the country has been widely criticised for continuing to enshrine the legality of life imprisonment and flogging as criminal sentences for children.

The government has endorsed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by enacting a Children’s Act that enshrines children’s rights in 2009. However, activists complain that child protection is not a priority in the country.

They also say that the government does not account fully to international bodies, despite its formal commitments.

A confidential report submitted by ECPAT International – a worldwide network of organisations working to end the sexual exploitation of children – to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2018 says there is limited data on violence against children in Botswana.

The report suggests cases of abuse go unreported and that the scale of the problem is far greater than reflected in police and other government statistics.

“Police data are often incomplete and limited, and many cases go unreported for fear of stigmatisation. Most are ‘hidden’ in an attempt to preserve the family’s social status and integrity,” reads the report.

Chirwa Mahloko, a human rights adviser at the outreach programme Stepping Stones International, observes that child sexual abuse and sexually transmitted infection is a growing public health problem in Botswana, compounded in rural areas by the failure to manage cases and put in place preventative measures.

Prevention initiatives should take on additional importance in poorer settings where resources for managing abused children are severely limited, but critics say this is not the case.

Mahloko said shortcomings include further victimisation of victims of child abuse, a legal system that is unfriendly to children, and the lack of safe and supportive shelters for victims.

He said that the number of cases of child sex abuse is increasing. 

There is more on this story at the Daily Maverick.

Survivors of the Streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Illustration: Noor Us Safa Anik

Nilima Jahan

For children on the streets, exploitation, abuse, and neglect is just an everyday affair. And overlooking them, is a part of our everyday affair.

At this very moment, the government has no statistics on the number of homeless children, let alone the number who are being exposed to violence, sexual abuse, drug addiction, corporal punishment, malnutrition, and lack of shelter on a regular basis.

Although Article 28 (1) of the constitution mentions that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, these abandoned street children are denied their rights to a safe and healthy childhood.

Sexual abuse is currency

The story of 15-year-old Suma from Netrakona perhaps best depicts the nature of sexual abuse one faces on the streets. After her parents separated, her mother came to Dhaka and married another man in the Kawran Bazar area. Although Suma had been living with her grandmother in their village, her mother brought her to Dhaka when she was 12 years old and sent her to work as a domestic help in a house in Mohammadpur, in exchange for a lump sum of cash. That was the first time she experienced the sexual harassment of men.

According to Suma, her employer, a middle-aged businessman in Kawran Bazar, often tried to get close and touch her, talked dirty, and would use vulgar gestures. She escaped the house within a month but when she went to her mother, she was beaten up severely and disowned, now that she was a financial burden.

Suma ultimately ended up living on the streets. She soon realised that life on the streets is daunting, especially for girls her age. "I used to sleep in the Kawran Bazar area. Soon, people started inviting me to go with them in exchange for Tk 500. I've faced abusive proposals every day. I even started wearing pants and shirts like boys but people could identify me as a girl when I spoke," said Suma.

Talking to The Daily Star, Suma went on to share a horrible experience she went through in her early days on the streets. "One day, I was so hungry and I didn't have any money to buy food. I met a person and begged for money from him and he assured me that he will give me Tk 50, if I carry a load of net bags on my head and deliver that door-to-door with him. It was about evening when we finished delivering the net bags, but instead of paying me my money, he took me to a nearby narrow alley and clamped a piece of cloth on my face," explains Suma. "I could feel that I was getting weaker as he was dragging me to a building. But I was lucky as some people saw what happened and the man ran away immediately," narrates Suma.

13-year-old Munia has a similar story—her parents separating, coming to Dhaka, begging on the streets, and eventually, being physically and sexually abused by passers-by. She said girls on the streets start getting sexually abused by people they know and interact with regularly. "If you say no, you cannot live in that particular spot, because it's their area. There is not a single place that is safe for girls on the streets," she adds.

According to Mamun Bakaul, the resident social and health worker of a government-led shelter home, an overwhelming majority of street children, especially girls, face sexual harassment on a regular basis and the harassment usually starts with the person who provides them with food and shelter.

In his experience, when a girl is new on the streets, she is spotted by floating street people, who provide them food and shelter initially. This way, they become the protector of these kids. When the children start to depend on them, they control and abuse them in whatever way they want and at one point they compel them to participate in commercial sex practices, explains Mamun.

"If they resist such abuse, they are branded with a mark on a part of their body. It marks out that she was once a 'bad girl' who lives in the streets." Workers at the shelter have seen such marks on the children.

There is more to this dreadful story on The Daily Star.

Monsters in the closet - The baby that does not exist

Zyma Islam
The Daily Star, Dhaka

Illustration: Benzadid Gani

"Bring out Adnan*!" the social worker in charge of the government orphanage instructed an attendant.  A woman sitting across the desk from her, shifted in her seat.

"Does he walk? Or talk?" she asked the social worker. Before the social worker could reply, an excited toddler trotted into the room. He was only around two years old but tall for his age, his hair shorn into the dreaded bowl cut that parents and caregivers are so fond of giving.

The woman scooped him into a tight embrace and burst into tears. She began crooning his name over and over again while the child gaped at her thoroughly confused by this interaction with a complete stranger.

"Do you know me? I am your grandmother, your grandmother," she whispered to the boy but got cut short immediately by the social worker.

"You cannot tell him you are his grandmother. You are nobody to him. He only has us," the social worker told the woman, motioning to an attendant to take the child away.

"Oh, can I take a photo before you take him inside?" the woman then requested. The social worker shook her head from side-to-side.

"It is better if there are no traces of his past, considering how he was born. If he gets adopted once his court matter is settled, the adoptive family might not like that," she said.

What she was trying to explain, is that since Adnan was born of rape, it is best to have as little evidence of his past as possible, in case his future adoptive family do not want the truth to be divulged.

Adnan was born out of rape, to a mother who was not yet 11 years old at the time of giving birth. Adnan's biological father was his mother's 32-year-old neighbour who she called "uncle" and had known from the time she was six years of age.

"I work at a school and my husband lives abroad in Saudi Arabia. There have been a couple of occasions, when I've had to leave my daughter alone at home. On days when she was sick, for example. That is when he would come into the house," described the mother of the 11-year-old rape survivor. The doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital's One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) physically examined her, and surmised that the perpetrator raped her around seven or eight times.

"The man and his whole family used to visit us often, and we would do likewise. I think that is why she let him inside in the first place."

A short survey taken by Star Weekend magazine in 2017 found that for a majority of child sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator is a person close to the family, with unbarred access to the child, for example, uncles, cousins, home tutors, and domestic helpers. And for most of these cases, the place of abuse is also the place where they are supposedly the safest—at home.

The rapist compelled the then 11-year-old into keeping quiet about the situation with death threats levelled against her and her mother. "You both live alone. If you tell anyone, I will kill you both."

Trapped in that terrifying situation, the little girl sat for her primary school certificate examination. "She had not even had her periods yet, so I had no reason to believe she could be pregnant. She did not either. There was no morning sickness, no loss of appetite, no bleeding. She is also naturally a little larger than the other girls, so the pregnancy remained hidden until the very last stage," described Adnan's grandmother.

When she first noticed the bump, she thought it could be an ovarian cyst or tumour, but her daughter was going through her exams, so she decided to delay a medical checkup until those were over.

When she finally took her daughter to the doctor, the child was 32 weeks pregnant. "When the doctor informed us that he has bad news to deliver, we thought he was going to tell us it is cancer or something—but instead we find out she is pregnant."

The sky fell on her head. She rushed her to the OCC where they decided to conduct a C-section and take the baby out. "My daughter was given medication to stop her body from producing milk. The baby, we handed over to the orphanage. Nobody, not even our immediate relatives, were told what happened because of how they would perceive her. If they ever get to know, it will be disastrous. We simply told them that my daughter is sick with a virus that is very contagious so nobody can come to see us," described Adnan's grandmother. To protect her young child from the aftermath of being a rape survivor, she made it seem like the rape never happened and that the baby was never born.

And why would she not—for even protectors within the system continue to doubt the child. A gynecologist who assesses rape survivors heard the mother's case outside the tribunal two weeks back and wondered aloud how the child—a girl who is now only 12—will get married in the future.

"I don't care about getting my child married! I will make her a high-ranking government official who is so powerful that everybody defers their head in respect!" spat out the mother when the doctor left.

Meanwhile, the social worker taking care of Adnan, questioned whether Adnan's mother—a 10-year-old at the time of the incident—was raped, or whether it was a romantic entanglement.

"I mean, was she really raped? When we were growing up in the village, we did not know how babies are born before university but city girls…" started the social worker in an attempt to victim-shame.

Forget the fact that the social worker is overlooking the fact that the girl was so young she was not even menstruating; even if it is at all possible for a 10-year-old to get involved with a 32-year-old man, any sexual encounters with a minor will be considered rape as long as the law of the land prevails, and it is astounding how even social workers forget that.

"This is why I did not agree to keep the baby, even though it breaks my heart to give him over to an orphanage," said Adnan's grandmother.

Taking their secret to the grave

A total of 562 children were raped last year, as per the calculation of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK). That makes for 1.5 rapes for every day of the year, meaning every day at least one child, potentially more, is getting raped somewhere in the country.

 The calculation is more or less the same as that of the year before—in 2018, 571 children were raped. These are of course, only the reported cases—for example, the case described above was kept so hushed, it was never reported to the media, and so, never turned up in the statistics.

But that is precisely the crux of the problem—because of a lack of conversation about these topics, neither child abuse survivors, nor the caregivers find the voice to speak out. The topic lives in the realm of news, media and NGO advocacy; how many take it home to their children to introduce them to possible threats? How many parents and caregivers, after finding out that their child has been abused, help the survivor take a stand?

Why does the mother, whose story is narrated above, feel compelled to make the biggest sacrifice and give her blood and kin up for adoption, just to keep quiet about the sexual abuse?

In a piece titled "Intimate acts of violence: My experience with sexual assault as a seven-year-old" published in Star Weekend magazine in April last year, the author describes how her mother found out that her cousin was sexually abusing her, and still continued to expose her to the cousin at gatherings, and even employed him as a house-tutor for her. Even though her mother protected her from the cousin in many ways, having to face one's perpetrator is in itself a jarring experience.

Of the 258 respondents of Star Weekend's survey taken in late 2017, 147 of the respondents had never told anyone of the experience, and this number included 22 rape survivors. When asked to provide a reason as to why they never told anyone about what happened to them, they threw out responses littered with words like "shame", "fear", "disgust", and "guilt".

Most of the respondents were between five and 12 years old, when the incident happened to them. How badly are we failing our children, if they get sexually abused, and even at that young age, feel shame, fear, disgust, and guilt? How early does our social conditioning ingrain the concept of victim-blaming in the minds of our children?

85 respondents reported telling their family members or friends, and at least a third of them were either not believed, rebuked, or had no action taken.

One survivor describes how her religious teacher would abuse her under the pretext of fixing her clothes, but when she told her mother, she rebuked her instead. "Slapped me and said I shouldn't make up stories to get out of studying," is what the survivor writes.

Another survivor who was raped at the age of six, was "ordered not to speak of it again". A survivor who was molested for a year by a librarian in the year 1997, told her parents, who immediately let the school know—but the librarian continued being in employment.

What use is it anyway? 

It has been two years since Adnan was born and a legal case filed, and one cannot be sure when this will end. But when it does, Adnan will be able to be adopted by a family—no matter how long it takes.

While we do not have the most recent statistics on convictions in rape cases, a book published in 2018 by Prothoma titled "Shaja Matro Tin Shotangsho" points out only three percent of all rape cases between 2002 and then, managed to get convictions. The book also states that of all the types of cases being dealt with by the Women and Children's Tribunal, the least amount of progress is seen in sexual harassment cases—i.e. cases of sexual violence where the survivor hasn't suffered the maximum injury.

In such a bleak situation, how does one expect child sexual abuse survivors to speak out?

"Compared to all rape cases, the courts are more proactive when the victims are minors," reassures Fahmida Akhter, the lawyer of Dhaka's One-Stop Crisis Centre.

That is poor consolation for Tuni's* father Lokman. More than two years ago, Star Weekend reported the rape of a child who was about two years old at the time of the incident in a piece titled "Not seen, not heard, not believed". By the time the report was done, Tuni had already been fighting for a year and half. In the two years that have gone by since then, nothing has changed for the family, except for the fact that Tuni is now older.

"She used to stutter and stumble to explain what happened to her before, but can describe everything clearly now," said her father.

But the burden of pulling a case bears heavily on him.

"The rapist's family has already come to us with offers of money to settle the issue. It has been so long—we had to leave the area where we used to live in, I had to change my profession to be a rickshaw puller, and he continues to threaten us. I don't know how much longer this will take," he lamented.

He is on the fence about taking the money and settling out of court. If he does cave in, Tuni's rapist too, threatens to slip away into the mass of faceless sexual abusers encircling our children, striking under the security of anonymity and impunity.

Grooming gang victim refused compensation for abuse because she had a driving conviction

Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent
The Independent

Found guilty: twenty members of the Huddersfield grooming gang ( West Yorkshire Police )

A woman who was sexually abused from the age of 11 by a grooming gang has been refused compensation because of a driving offence.

Lucy* helped secure the conviction of 20 men by giving evidence about the horrific rapes she suffered in Huddersfield, while supposedly in the care of the local council.

Following the trials, she applied to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) because she was entitled to recompense for sexual abuse and its life-long impact.

But CICA rejected the application because of a dangerous driving conviction, for which Lucy had been handed a community sentence.

“I wasn’t in it for the money, I was in it purely to tell my story and get justice,” Lucy told The Independent. “I was advised to apply for compensation but CICA declined it because of my conviction.”

In a March 2019 letter, the authority said it could not award her compensation while the conviction was unspent – still on her criminal record.

A CICA official said the scheme’s terms meant that there was “no leeway or discretion for me to take into account the individual circumstances”. Lucy requested a review but in October, CICA again refused to grant compensation because the application was considered a duplicate.

She said the incident that sparked the refusal was “not a major offence” compared to the years of abuse she suffered.

Lucy, now in her 20s, had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving following a police chase where she drove through red lights and crashed. No one was injured in the incident, which happened while she was giving evidence at her rapists’ court trial and had been refused counselling in case it affected her account.

Lucy told said she had gone into “panic mode” because she believed a group of Asian men were driving towards her.

Dame Vera Baird, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said she had “real concerns” about rules denying compensation to victims with unspent convictions.

She told The Independent her office had urged the Ministry of Justice to allow discretion in cases like Lucy’s as part of a review of the scheme. “It cannot be right automatically to deny these victims compensation and there is a danger we are doing them a grave injustice,” Dame Vera said.

“It is accepted that there can often be a direct link between these crimes and future criminal behaviour of the victims.”

Grooming victims will not be refused compensation because of 'consent'

Hundreds of sex assault victims with convictions refused compensation

Sex abuse victims as young as 12 refused compensation over 'consent'

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of Victim Support, said grooming victims were disproportionately affected by the “unfair” rule and called for it to be changed. “This case sadly highlights that CICA rules are outdated and in need of reform,” she added.

“Compensation can play a vital role in making life easier for victims and survivors. Making deductions for minor unrelated convictions is unjust and can lead to distress and re-traumatisation.”

Lucy was first targeted by a grooming gang in Huddersfield by members who sold her mother drugs, and even after she was taken into care they continued to target her.

She was repeatedly taken out of a children’s home to be raped. Lucy accuses the local council of placing her with foster carers who enabled the abuse, as police failed to intervene.

Kirklees Council said its understanding of child sexual exploitation had “moved forward tremendously” and a recent review found good practice.

The abuse resulted in Lucy having an abortion aged 15 and having a child when she was 16.

Vandalism at the home of a Huddersfield grooming gang victim who has been harassed since giving evidence at her abusers' trials (Supplied)

She finished school without passing any GCSEs and suffers from trauma and other mental health issues that were exacerbated by “reliving” her experience in court.

Investigators approached her in 2015 after reviewing their records, but Lucy waited three years for trials to start and has been harassed since giving evidence.

She has been bombarded with calls, approached by her abusers’ associates near her home, had her home vandalised and was illegally identified on social media.

Lucy accuses police of neglecting to protect her since she agreed to come forward, and views the CICA’s decision as the latest failure by authorities.

“For me it wasn’t about money, but the system owes me more than what my life can be now,” Lucy said. “I’ll never get my childhood back.”

West Yorkshire Police said it had made security arrangements for Lucy and that her needs and welfare “are paramount”.

A government website says CICA makes payments on its behalf to “blameless victims of violent crime” as “society’s way of recognising that [they] have been a victim”.

It was previously condemned for refusing grooming victims compensation because it claimed they “consented” to being raped, but changed its guidance in 2017 and vowed to “make sure every victim gets the compensation to which they are entitled”.

The Ministry of Justice, which funds CICA, said it could not comment on individual cases. A spokesperson said: “Victims of child sexual abuse show immense bravery coming forward and it is vital they receive all possible support to recover from their ordeal.

“That is why we have doubled funding for emotional and practical support for victims since 2013.

“Through our Victims’ Strategy we are making improvements at every stage of the process, including reviewing eligibility for compensation and improving the court experience.”

*Lucy is a pseudonym used to protect the victim’s anonymity

Canadian Police Force, Judges Have a Long Way to Go Responding to Sexual Assaults

Victim says police not doing enough to find convicted rapist who vanished before sentencing

A Survivor's Story

By Jennifer Quesnel, CBC News

After the man convicted of raping her vanished, the victim says police in Saskatoon have done little to find him despite leads suggesting he is still in Canada.

"I'm not waiting for a phone call I'm never going to get," said the woman CBC News is calling Sarah, to protect her identity.

Sarah was raped for hours at the University of Saskatchewan's McEown Park dormitory in the early hours of New Year's Day 2012. She's not sure exactly how many attackers there were but DNA testing detected the presence of semen from two men.

'I just collapsed, and I was underneath the table,

like, shaking and bawling.'

- "Sarah"

Timloh "Butchang" Nkem was arrested, charged and convicted of sexual assault but never showed up for sentencing and hasn't been seen since.

Sarah says police at first treated her case seriously, but for nearly three years now, she has come up against one roadblock after another in her pursuit of justice.

1 suspect acquitted

Sarah had identified one suspect in her rape, an international student. She said the student was the one assailant she could remember

When Justice Richard Danyliuk acquitted the man of sexual assault, saying he believed the man honestly thought Sarah had consented to sex that night, she was heartbroken.

"I just collapsed, and I was underneath the table, like, shaking and bawling," she said.

The Crown prosecutor requested the court hold Nkem in custody following his conviction, but the judge denied the request. (Sketch artist Thomas Webster)

The second suspect, Nigerian-born Nkem, had come to Canada on a student visa in 2006 but was no longer a student at the time of the assault.

In 2013, police had charged Nkem with marijuana possession, depositing fraudulent cheques and using stolen identification to withdraw money and cash cheques. Those charges were eventually stayed.

During the trial, Sarah said Nkem's friends would attend and laugh at her and her family, sometimes smuggling alcohol into the courtroom.

After he was convicted, Crown prosecutor Buffy Rodgers requested the court hold him in custody. Danyliuk denied the request, permitting Nkem to remain on bail until his sentencing.

Why do they do that? If it's obvious he is going to get a custodial sentence, why present him with the temptation to run?

Saskatoon woman 'disgusted' with police response to sexual assault case

Woman says she was raped in university dorm and frequently sees her alleged attacker on campus

Still, on Oct. 31, 2014, Sarah was hopeful as she headed to court for Nkem's sentencing, blasting Queen's We Will Rock You in the car.

But when she and her friends walked into the courtroom, Nkem was not there. Neither were his friends. 

'Investigating my own case'

After waiting more than an hour, Danyliuk issued a Canada-wide warrant for Nkem's arrest. 

A Saskatoon police spokesperson told reporters that officers believed Nkem was likely on his way back to Nigeria.

Crown prosecutor Rodgers notified officials at Interpol he was a wanted man.

Last month, Sarah's mother contacted Nigerian immigration officials, who said they had never heard of the case.

Sarah is convinced Nkem is still in Canada, protected by the cousins who posted bail for him.

Sarah says she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She credits her dog Kota for giving her a sense of security when she experiences night terrors. (CBC)

She says police have told her and her mother to stop calling, and they have failed repeatedly to follow up on tips she has provided, including possible sightings of Nkem in Calgary and Victoria.

"I was basically investigating my own case," she said.

In March, Sarah emailed a sergeant to ask whether there were any updates in locating Nkem. His picture was no longer posted on the Wanted section of the Saskatoon Police website. 

Sarah says the sergeant assured her Nkem would be added back to the site and promised to email the next day with an update.

That email never came.

In May, Sarah and her mother again requested an update on Nkem, and again there was no reply. 

When CBC News called the Saskatoon Police Service last month to inquire about the status of the search for Nkem, a spokesperson said: "We're not just sitting on the information. We've shared information with other [police] services, certainly." 

Police in Calgary told CBC News they have no record of the Saskatoon Police ever notifying them Nkem could be in Calgary. 

Municipal police in Victoria and the Westshore detachment of the RCMP also said no one from the Saskatoon Police has contacted them. 

'We may never find him'

"We may never find him," Sarah said. "How I see justice now is really by the police acknowledging that they humiliated me and kept re-victimizing me. Made me feel like I was a burden." 

Sarah's mother has called and emailed Saskatoon's mayor and its police commission, opposition politicians and even Saskatchewan's justice minister and premier, Brad Wall, with whom she secured a meeting in October 2015. 

"Saskatchewan must do better by rape victims and more to stop rapists before they strike," Wall wrote in a handwritten response to Sarah, thanking her for her courage. "We will be following up with your mom to further explore how this can be done. 

"I am so sorry for what you have gone through in the system."

In 2015, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall wrote a handwritten response to Sarah, thanking her for her courage and promising to follow up. (CBC)

Sarah's mother said she's called and emailed Wall's office several times since that meeting, but has been ignored.

I'm a huge Brad Wall fan, but this looks like a 'fail' to me.

In September 2016, Sarah's mother was given five minutes in front of the Saskatoon Police Commission to present her concerns about the way the case was handled. 

She said she never received an official response. 

"There's been nothing done," said Sarah's mother. "We're just getting deeper into being pitted against the people that my taxpayer dollars pay to protect and serve."

CBC's calls to the chair of the Saskatoon Police Commission were not returned.

Complaint filed

Sarah and her mother have filed a complaint with Saskatchewan's Public Complaints Commission about police handling of the case. 

They want assurances the police have changed the way they question victims of sexual assault.

And they want an apology for what they see as the dismissive, disrespectful way officers dealt with Sarah and her family over the years.

Sarah said Saskatchewan's ombudsman started looking into the case, but then his term ended and the investigation stalled. She says she's run out of places to turn.

"Nothing has worked so far. There's no accountability — and that has to change," she said.

'You will experience so much more pain by going to the police.'

- "Sarah"

The Saskatoon Police Service and its former chief, Clive Weighill, declined CBC's interview requests.

"The service and its investigators have worked with the complainant and her family over several years as part of this investigation and have also spoken publicly, on several occasions, about past concerns," the service said in an emailed statement to CBC News, adding it could not comment further "in the event that the commission decides to launch a review."

Sarah never was able to complete her university degree. She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is in counselling while she works as a flight attendant. She says she's regaining control over her life — but she's worried about all the other women who've been in a situation similar to hers.

"Think of how many people have reported sexual assaults since then," she said. "And how many would have been handled the same way as my case was. It's a lot."

She says she regrets having come forward.

"You will experience so much more pain by going to the police," Sarah said. "And so much more trauma. And so much more hurt and humiliation.

"You won't heal by reporting it."

That has to change! Police have to be much more compassionate and considerate of the victims and their needs. Their first need is for the situation to start getting better when they go to the police, otherwise, they will not come and they are not likely to ever get better. 

Their second need is 'hope' that the situation will continue to get better, that justice will be done, that the rapist will be locked up and unable to attack them (or anyone else) again.

Many police forces don't seem to get the extreme trauma that rape and sexual assault causes a woman or a child. If they did, they would not sit idly by while a convicted rapist escapes justice. Speaking of justice, why did the judge allow the creep out on bail after conviction, especially when he and his friends treated the court with such disrespect?

Saskatchewan needs to do better than this!