Decades of Incestuous Rape in Quebec Family

Daughter of accused recounts years of terror

at Quebec incest trial

CBC News 

The 53-year-old daughter of a 79-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting his children gave a chilling account in court Tuesday of how he sexually assaulted her when she was eight years old and for decades after. (Sketch by Laurie Foster-Macleod for CBC News)

Warning: The following account from the second day of testimony at the trial of a Val-des-Monts, Que., man facing incest and sexual assault charges contains descriptions of events some readers may find deeply disturbing.

The now-adult daughter of a west Quebec man on trial for incest and sexual assault gave a disturbing account in a Gatineau courtroom Tuesday of what she described as more than 30 years of sexual abuse and terror at her father's hands.

The woman, now 53, testified on the second day of the jury trial of the accused, a 79-year-old father of eight and an Outaouais businessman now living in Val-des-Monts, Que.

He faces three charges of incest, two of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

The woman had sought and obtained on Tuesday permission to lift the publication ban on her name, but CBC and Radio-Canada have chosen not to name her to protect the identities of other members of her family.

The CBC changed their minds a few days later; see below.

Speaking in French in a trembling voice, she said the first incident happened when she was eight years old and living in Cantley, Que., when her father drove her to Montreal to shop for clothes for Christmas.

She said during the trip they stopped at a motel, and once they were in a room, he sexually assaulted her.

No place safe, witness told court

The woman said her father told her that he was doing it for her own good, but that if she told anyone about it — including her mother — the police would take her from her family.

The incident was the first in what she described as an unrelenting series of sexual assaults that, as she told the court, were too many to count.

She said no time or place was safe, testifying that she was raped in his van, at the house, the cottage, in the woods and even during her lunch break at school.

The woman told the court she was afraid to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, for fear her father would wake up and assault her.

Pregnant at 13

She became pregnant at the age of 13 and testified that the accused was the father.

How did this issue not get brought to light when she was pregnant at 13. Some doctor failed to do his job, it appears, and she paid for it with many more years of rape and 2 more pregnancies. How does a woman tell her children who their father is when it is her own father? What kind of stigma does that leave a child when she does tell them the truth? 

She said her mother didn't ask her who the father was. Her parents first sought to get her an abortion, but her pregnancy was too far along, she said.

She told the court her father raped her daily during her pregnancy.

She said she became pregnant once more in her late teens and again in her twenties, and each time she said the accused was the father.

She sobbed in the court as she recounted how, when her mother died in 2004 from pancreatic cancer, her father raped her on the day of the funeral.

Went to police in 2014

A few weeks later, the woman testified, her father stopped the assaults but continued to threaten her.

With her mother dead, the alleged victim told the court she felt she no longer had to protect her.

She testified she finally broke down and told one of her sisters everything, and in 2014 went to police.

When asked by the Crown why she hadn't gone to the police sooner, the woman said she was terrified and humiliated and didn't know who to trust.

She said her father was a prominent man in the communities they lived in, and was friends with several police officers, who would come to the house to play cards.

Man convicted of incest sentenced to

15 years in prison

By Paul Cote Jay, CBC News 

Jacques Lesage, 79, was found guilty on Jan. 20 of three counts of incest and one count of indecent assault in relation to two of his daughters: Lucie Lesage, now 53, and Nathalie Lesage, 49. (Supplied photo)

A 79-year-old Val-des-Monts, Que., man convicted of sexually abusing two of his daughters for years and fathering three children with one of them has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Gatineau judge.

Jacques Lesage will also be added to the sex offender registry, and has been forbidden from communicating with his two daughters at the centre of this case, as well as another daughter.

Taking into account time served, there are 11 years and eight months left in the sentence.

Lesage was found guilty last Friday of three counts of incest and one count of indecent assault in relation to Lucie Lesage and Nathalie Lesage, now 53 and 49, respectively.

The identities of victims in sexual assault cases are typically protected by a publication ban, but the women in this case asked for the ban to be lifted so that their father's name could be published.

Lucie and Nathalie Lesage hugged in the courtroom and spoke to reporters, clasping each other's hands.

"We're turning a page," Lucie Lesage said in French. "For sure, the wounds are still there, but we'll learn to live with them and to rebuild ourselves totally — a little bit at a time."

They said they were satisfied with the judge's recognition of what they had to endure. They said their father showed no remorse and had been indifferent from the beginning of the process or even portrayed himself as the victim.

Superior Court Justice Michel Pennou said it would be useless to consider reintegrating Lesage into society. He said the only option is to isolate him and impose a penalty that could serve as a deterrent to others.

The judge said Lesage ruined the lives of two of his daughters and turned the lives of the three children he fathered with one of them upside down. Pennou also said Lesage acted without heeding the consequences, and was only looking to satisfy his own sexual impulses.

Crown lawyers had asked for a 20- to 22-year prison sentence, arguing it was warranted by the nature of the violence, the decades of abuse committed against Lucie Lesage and his apparent lack of remorse.

Defence lawyer Antonio Cabral argued for a seven-year sentence, owing to Lesage's age and poor health.

Cabral said the 15-year sentence for incest is one of the most severe in Canadian history and he plans an appeal.

Man fathered daughter's 3 children

Lucie Lesage had told the court that she experienced more than 30 years of at-times constant sexual abuse, beginning when she was eight years old. She said her father kept her in a constant state of fear, and told her if she told anyone about the abuse, the police would take her from her family.

She had the first of his three children when she was 13 years old. 

In her victim impact statement, she said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and has never been able to have a normal relationship.

It wasn't until her mother had died and Lesage was an adult that she confided in one of her sisters, and found the courage to come forward to police in 2014.

She advised all abuse victims not to stay quiet.

"Don't hesitate," she said in French in an interview outside the courthouse. "Don't hesitate to denounce those who are trying to keep [their abuse] a secret."

2nd daughter left home as teen

After Lucie Lesage went to police, her sister followed suit.

Nathalie Lesage testified her father first molested her when she was five years old and first raped her when she was eight. She described a childhood spent in a state of perpetual panic that lasted until she left home as a teenager, and said the abuse ruined her life and she too battled PTSD and depression.

She told the court she wanted her father to get the maximum sentence.

After the sentencing, Nathalie said she was satisfied with the judge's decision and the condition that he be added to the sexual offenders registry.

"As long as he's alive, he'll be in the registry as a sexual predator. That's what he is, a sexual predator," she said in French.

Lesage denies some claims

In his own statement, Jacques Lesage continued to deny he had ever touched Nathalie, but acknowledged he abused Lucie.

He also denied abusing a third daughter who came forward, Chantal Knippenberg, now 45. Last Friday, the court found him not guilty of sexual assault and indecent assault in relation to Knippenberg.

Lesage has been incarcerated since he was first charged in 2014, and still faces two separate charges related to another victim: one charge of sexual assault and another charge of sexual interference with a minor.

That separate trial is expected to begin in June.

Outaouais, Quebec

Judge Allows Paedophile Music Teacher to Keep Working with Kids

Judge allows paedophile music teacher to keep working with kids after parents write support letters

BY LOUIE SMITH

Neil Deller, from Essex, UK, had a daily "fixation" with child porn and 3,500 images showing girls as young as three and bestiality were found on his computer

The music teacher was spared jail at Chelmsford Crown Court after parents sent 12 letters of support

A judge has allowed a paedophile music teacher to continue working with children after hearing letters of support from 12 of his pupils' parents.

Neil Deller, 42, had a daily "fixation" with child porn and 3,500 images showing girls as young as three and bestiality were found on his computer.

He continued to give private lessons following his arrest two years ago and the parents of many pupils wrote positive references to a court .

The letters were presented to a judge who spared Deller jail and refused to ban him from teaching children aged under 18 in the future.

Prosecutor Daniel Taylor, who requested the order, said: "He comes into contact with children on a regular basis so it is proportionate in order to protect those individuals."

The court heard the teacher had a "daily fixation" with porn

But Judge Christopher Ball QC instead told Deller to disclose his conviction before teaching kids aged under 16.

He added: "There’s no reported history from any of the people who have had dealings with you.

"By the very nature of your dealings and teaching them you have had opportunity to interfere with them if that was your interest and that’s not your interest."

Deller, who has taught privately and in state schools across Essex and Hertfordshire, had admitted seven offences involving downloading and possession of child porn.

He could have been sentenced to three years in jail when he appeared before Chelmsford Crown Court.

But Judge Ball said there was compelling evidence that he did not pose a significant risk of sexually abusing young people.


The judge said there was compelling evidence he did not pose a risk to children

Instead, he imposed a community order on the paedophile and arranged for him to attend an internet sex offender treatment programme.

Deller, of Bishops Stortford, Essex, will be supervised for three years, carry out 120 hours unpaid work and have his Internet activity monitored for five years.

Judge Ball added: "Over the last ten years there has been a constant stream of cases, almost always male defendants in their middle or late years, who have become involved in, absorbed by, fixated with internet pornography.

"And the ease with which this material can be accessed, it's not long before that interest and obsession with pornography descends into a kind which depicts sexual assaults on very young children.

Not to mention animals! Sin is progressive and for many people it is a steady descent into more and more morbid and perverted porn.

"That's the downward path you have taken. For a considerable period you have found yourself obsessed on a daily basis with this sort of material."

Deller was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for five years and pay £850 costs.

What do you think of this? Initially, I thought it outrageous, but since he apparently has not acted out beyond viewing child porn and bestiality, I think it a good idea to try and rehabilitate him. On the other hand, I am alarmed that parents would continue to send their children to a man who is admittedly obsessed with some of the worst kinds of child pornography. At the very least I would require them to be chaperoned.

     Essex, UK

Plea Deal Allows Rapist of 2 Year Old No Jail Time or Sex Offender's List

Court Lets CONVICTED Child Rapist Who Left 2-Year-Old In A Pool of Blood Walk Free

Protesters have taken to the streets outside of the court house in San Angelo, Texas after a local prosecutor’s plea deal let a convicted child rapist home without serving any jail time, or even requiring him to register as a sex offender.

You read that right, he was convicted of raping a 2-year-old and leaving her in a pool of her own blood. But that didn’t matter to the courts who let this convicted child rapist walk free, NO JAIL TIME and he doesn’t even have to register as a sex offender!

Brittany Lynn Rosser explained in a Facebook post last week, that her boyfriend, Thomas Boden, 29, was drunk and apparently suicidal and homicidal after raping her daughter.

She explains that he attempted to force her to crash the vehicle that she was driving, saying simply that they both “need to die.”

She got home, by the time two police officers had arrived to respond to the call about the attempted crash and general abusiveness of Boden, her daughter came out screaming, “My butt, my butt!”

So Rosser, “laid her down and opened her diaper to find an enormous amount of blood and a clear vaginal tear.”

Then, she recalls, she “asked Annabelle what happened and she said, ‘Tom hurt me with his hand.’ I ran outside screaming and crying, pushed past several cops and asked Thomas if he touched my daughter. He didn’t say a word, but had a slight grin on his face.”

Rosser says that both her 4-year-old daughter and the hospital confirmed the attack. The 4-year-old had actually witnessed it.

“She told me Tom held Annabelle down on the floor holding a shirt over her face while she was screaming and ‘cut’ her private area with his hands,” Rosser explained. “Later I searched the house and found another diaper and TONS of bloody wipes in the trash along with empty beer cans. All was taken into evidence with Thomas’ DNA all over it. He never even tried to hide the evidence.”

Sickening sweet deal

Boden was actually convicted in this attack, but he was offered a ridiculous plea deal that reduced his charge from Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. As a result, he only faces 10 years probation. He will not be required to register as a sex offender even with the plea conviction.

Assistant District Attorney Jason Ferguson issued a statement in response to protests that erupted from members of the community, saying that prosecutors did what was in “the best interest of the child”.

“In this case, we were dealing with a child who was 2 years old at the time of the offense, no adult witnesses, but serious injuries,” Ferguson tried to justify. “When we were looking at our options, my primary concern was for the best interest of the child, including considering what going through the rigors of trial preparation and testimony in front of a jury would be like for a toddler.”

He went on to say that, “The only witnesses to this offense were both toddlers – one was 2 and one was 4. The possibility of one or both of these children being unable to testify was extremely high, if not a certainty. If that were to happen, we faced the very real possibility that the Defendant would be found Not Guilty and simply go home with no consequences. That was something we could not risk.”

Why could you not risk it? It appears you really didn't risk much. You had the mother's testimony, you had the DNA on the child's diaper, you had both children as witnesses. Good grief, you should have been able to get a conviction on half that.

So what happens now? The guy is free to walk the streets and strike terror in the hearts of both of those little girls all through their growing up years. No, Mr Ferguson, you were not thinking of the girls when you offered that sickening sweet deal. If you can't do better than that, you should find another line of business, you suck at this.

The community isn’t having it. Protesters gathered who could quickly be heard screaming “Justice system has failed us” and “It should not hurt to be a child.”

Now, many in the community are calling for Ferguson’s resignation.

Add my name to that list, please.

Kassia Jaramillo said in an interview with the San Angelo Standard-Times that “ten years’ probation is a slap on the wrist.”

“This is a broader issue about how our society views sexual violence,” Rose Luna, the spokesperson for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) said to protesters on Monday.

“Once you hear that, it absolutely makes your heart skip a bit. It makes you pause,” Luna said. “It makes you say, ‘Here we are in 2015, in a highly civilized society, yet we have no grand jury indictment of a child sexual assault on a 2-year-old child.’”

“We have high incidents of sexual assault cases, a low reporting rate, and when they do make it to the justice system, they’re pled out,” she added. “This is not just a law enforcement issue, but rather a society issue.”

Ashley Springer, the victim’s aunt, said that district attorney never asked the family what they thought about the insulting plea deal.

“We were not contacted about it. We weren’t asked how we wanted this to be done,” Springer explained. “If it was their daughter, it wouldn’t have been done like this.”

Man Confesses to 27 year old Child Rape and Murder

Shocking details of abused Jacob Wetterling’s last moments

27 years after 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling disappeared,

the man who raped and killed him confesses

Daniel (Danny) James Heinrich, 53, who confessed on Tuesday to the 1989 slaying of Jacob Wetterling.  REUTERS

Gulf News, AFP

Washington: A US man admitted Tuesday to killing an 11-year-old boy in 1989 in a case that shocked Americans and prompted a law requiring states to establish sex-offender registries.

The missing Jacob Wetterling’s smiling face on thousands of posters became a symbol of both innocence and unsolved “cold” cases, raising national awareness about sexual predators.

A masked gunman abducted Wetterling on October 22, 1989 while he was riding his bicycle near his Minnesota home with his brother and a friend.

His disappearance traumatized thousands of American families well beyond Minnesota’s borders and pushed many states along with Congress to adopt laws in the 1990s to protect children and better coordinate efforts against sex offenders.

But despite intensive work and media attention, the investigation into Wetterling’s abduction became bogged down until last year with the arrest of a man for owning child pornography.

Investigators were led to Danny Heinrich after his DNA was found to match a sample taken from the sweatshirt of a 12-year old boy, Jared Scheierl, whom he had sexually assaulted nine months before Wetterling’s disappearance.

On Tuesday, Heinrich, 53, admitted in a Minnesota court to having abducted, sexually assaulted and killed Wetterling as part of a plea deal related to 25 child pornography charges.

All but one were dropped as part of the deal, which calls for him to serve a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The statute of limitations had expired for charges linked to the sexual assault of Scheierl.

Heinrich’s confessions led investigators last week to recover Wetterling’s remains from where the body was buried in a field, nearly 27 years after his death.

On Tuesday, Heinrich recounted the details of his victim’s last hours in front of both his parents, who had always kept hope of finding their son alive, the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper reported.

After kidnapping the boy, Heinrich said, he handcuffed him and put him in the front seat of his car.

“What did I do wrong?” he recalled Wetterling asking.

Heinrich then dragged him near a gravel pit and stripped him before sexually assaulting him.

The crying boy said he was cold and begged his attacker to let him go home, Heinrich recalled.

But Heinrich said that he panicked. “I pulled the revolver out of my pocket,” the newspaper reported him as saying.

“I loaded it with two rounds. I told Jacob to turn around.

“I raised the revolver to his head. I turned my head and it clicked once. I pulled the trigger again and it went off. Looked back, he was still standing,” Heinrich added.

“I raised the revolver again and shot him again.”

Unbelievable! Turned his own head so as not to traumatize himself. 

Heinrich later returned to bury Wetterling’s body.

Investigators had long targeted Heinrich for the boy’s kidnapping but were unable to find evidence.

“I want to say ‘Jacob, I’m so sorry,’” his mother Patty Wetterling said after the hearing. “It’s incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours, last minutes.”

She and her husband Jerry have become national advocates for missing children, founding the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which helps prevent child exploitation.

In a news conference on Tuesday, police said the solving of Wetterling’s murder proved no criminal case was unsolvable.

America’s upper Midwest “lost its innocence” with Wetterling’s kidnapping, said Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner. “It changed the way we raised our children.”

Heinrich is set to be sentenced in November.

Stearns Co., MN

Rape Bill Awaits CA Gov’s Signature as Stanford Rapist Gets Out of Jail Early

A combination booking photos shows former Stanford University student Brock Turner (L) on January 18, 2015 at the time of arrest and after Turner was sentenced to six months in county jail for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman, in Santa Clara County Sheriff's booking photo (R). © Reuters

Brock Turner’s six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman is coming to an end three months early. The ex-Stanford swimmer’s light penalty provoked outrage and inspired California legislation now just one step away from becoming law.

Turner, 20, will likely be released from jail Friday having served only half of his six month sentence. Three months may be a short time to serve for sexual assault, but a lot has changed between when he was convicted and now.

Three months ago, Turner was found guilty of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. On top of his brief jail time, Turner will spend the rest of his life on the sex offender registry and will have to complete a sex offender management program.

Although life on the sex offender registry is no one’s idea of fun, it is a far cry from what the prosecutors were originally seeking, which was a six-year sentence in federal prison.

While California has mandatory minimum sentencing laws for forcible rape, the same is not true for cases where the victim is unconscious or severely intoxicated – which is what allowed Turner to slink out of court with what was seen by many as a slap on the wrist.

But on Monday, state lawmakers passed legislation that would remove a judge’s ability to use discretion during sentencing of such crimes.

"Sexually assaulting an unconscious or intoxicated victim is a terrible crime and our laws need to reflect that," Democratic Assemblyman Bill Dodd, a co-author of the legislation, said in statement.

He went on to say, “This bill is about more than sentencing, it’s about supporting victims and changing the culture on our college campuses to help prevent future crimes.”

The bill now moves to Governor Jerry Brown (D), but he has made no mention of whether or not he will sign it into law.

Turner’s sentence was cut short largely due to the fact that he had no prior run-ins with the law, which was also what inspired Judge Aaron Persky to give him a lean sentence, explaining that anything harsher might have a “severe impact” on Turner.

Persky also received a significant amount of backlash from the sentencing – so much so that he was transferred into civil court.

Teen Who Impregnated His School Teacher Gets Massive ‘Child Sexual Abuse’ Payout

BY BRITT D.B. 

A teacher at Citrus Valley High in Redlands was arrested on suspicion of 

having sex with a student resulting in the teacher's pregnancy.

Laura Elizabeth Whitehurst, 28, was an adviser to the then-16-year-old boy, who is now 17.

Whitehurst gave birth to a child last month and the teen is the father, according to police.

In 2013, a California high school teacher pled guilty to having illegal sexual relationships with three of her students.

Laura Elizabeth Whitehurst, who was 28-years-old at the time of the case, was charged with 41 counts of sex and oral copulation with a minor. The English teacher wound up pleading to six counts and served 6 months of jail time.

As if news of Whitehurst’s sexual misconduct with multiple minors wasn’t upsetting enough — she also gave birth to a child fathered by one of her teenage victims.

Now, that victim and his family have won a massive child abuse settlement case — one of the largest for a single victim from a public agency.



The price tag? 6 million dollars.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the victims family sued the Redlands school district on the basis that officials were negligent in protecting their students, or responding to accusations of Whitehurst’s misconduct.

The former student asserted that certain school officials were well aware of his relationship with Whitehurst, and failed to warn his family. The victim also testified that the school questioned the English teacher and himself about the pregnancy — though it warranted no action on the district’s part.

John Manly, an attorney for the victim, argued that school officials did nothing despite the mounting evidence of the relationship, saying:

“There was a picture of her in the birthing suite circulated to people at the school with the boy,” Manly said.” The principal wrote an email about the photo.”

Details of year long sexual abuse likely swayed the jury as well.

During the case, the victim painted a picture of manipulation on Whitehurst’s part. Redlands Daily Facts reports:

According to the victim’s complaint, Whitehurst demanded the teen keep their relationship secret, demanded he not associate with other women or girls and manipulated him in a religious manner by saying the baby was “God’s plan” and a “miracle baby.” Whitehurst also allegedly required the victim to attend doctor appointments with her, and even called the principal to excuse the victim’s absences while he attended appointments.

District Spokesman Tom DeLapp said at a press conference that he hopes “this tragic and unfortunate episode will now be behind us,” and allowed that the school district is unhappy with the outcome.

Whitehurst is currently registered as a sex offender and shares custody of her child with her former victim.

Welsh (Pakistani) Mother Jailed 5 Years for Filming Porn with Her 14-yo Son

Wait until you read her defence!

Donald Trump, are you getting this?

© Chip East / Reuters

A Welsh mother has been jailed for five years after filming videos of her having sex with her 14-year-old son. She then sent the videos to a cousin of hers in Pakistan, alongside indecent images of her three-year-old daughter too.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard how the 36-year-old, who has not been identified, recorded the “truly shocking” pornographic clips on her mobile phone, including oral sex and other sex acts.

"Under instructions she gave him they are seen having sexual intercourse," prosecutor Ian Kolvin told the court Monday.

It’s understood the mother-of-four recorded the videos at the request of a cousin in Pakistan, according to The Express.

The videos were discovered by the woman’s 13-year-old daughter when she borrowed her brother’s phone during a birthday party. She forwarded the images to her iPad and then on to her father, who no longer lives with their mother.

When police seized the woman’s phone, they also discovered indecent images of her three-year-old daughter.

Lawyers for the woman, who appeared via video link from Eastwood Park prison in Bristol, argued that “cultural differences” had hugely impacted the direction of her client’s life and that this was “completely out of character.”

Isn't that a contradiction?

“She lives in a male-dominated society, she did what she was told,” lawyer Ruth Smith said. "She did not want to cause conflict and did not want to bring shame on her family for fear she would be cut off and ostracized by them.”

So, she had sex with her son so as not to bring shame upon her family? Did I get that right?

"She felt she could not see a way out of the dilemma,” she added.

“She lives in a male-dominated society,

she did what she was told,”

Strange isn't it! A Muslim woman in the UK uses the same statement for defence that caused great offence in the US.

The court also heard that the woman, who lived in Cardiff, had been “subjected to significant abuse” and that her “suggestibility may have resulted in a vulnerable individual.”

In her son’s victim impact statement, which was read out court, he said he was “very upset and ashamed” of what his mother had done.

“I wish it hadn't happened and I had a happy life,” the statement read. “You shouldn't have done it.”

The woman, who is currently undergoing tests for Hepatitis C, admitted to six charges of sexual activity with a child and taking and distributing indecent images of a child.

Judge Eleri Rees described her actions as “truly shocking and a gross breach of trust” and something which will greatly impact her children going forward.

"You sent the videos to someone related to you in Pakistan. But you had a choice, you were not under duress, you could have found a way out,” Judge Rees told the woman.

"It is hoped you accept any treatment offered to you while in custody in the hope that when you are released you will lead a normal life."

After originally hearing the offenses in May, the woman’s children were placed into care but the judge ruled Monday that as well being jailed for five years, she will never be allowed live with any child under the age of 16 without supervision. She will also have to sign as a sex offender for the remainder of her life.

Wessex Man Exchanged Sexual Images with 14-year-old Girl Online

File picture

Alex Winter 

A MAN who exchanged graphic sexual images with a 14-year-old girl he had met online has been jailed.

Russell Bollen, of Hardy Crescent in Stalbridge near Sturminster Newton, Wessex, UK was aware of the youngster's age at an early stage but continued to message her, a court heard.

However, he had no plans to meet her, it was said.

The defendant, 24, admitted two counts of causing or inciting a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity and six of possessing indecent photographs of a child before a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He returned to the court for sentence on Friday, July 22.

Judge Brian Forster QC said Bollen, who works as an electrician, "used his spare time" to "pursue contact" with the victim.

The girl also sent sexual images of her boyfriend to the defendant.

"You quickly became aware of her age and despite being aware of it you continued [the] contact with her," Judge Forster told Bollen.

"I have been able to look carefully at the flow of messages between you.

"It is apparent that she was fully participating in the exchanges that took place and when it came to the transfer of images, she was willing to suggest that she send you sexual images of her boyfriend."

Bollen was "socially isolated" at the time the messages were sent, it was said.

"You should have known from an early stage that it was time to stop the exchange," Judge Forster said.

"For you, what took place is said to have been some sort of fantasy but for the girl, it was real.

"You encouraged her to carry out sexual acts."

Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott told the court there was an element of "grooming behaviour" to the offences.

Judge Forster said: "There is not much indication that you planned to meet and carry out any acts upon her.

"To a large extent, you were involved in mutual conversation."

Bollen, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to a total of 20 months in prison for the offences.

He will also report as a sex offender for 10 years after his release from prison and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order has been made.

No indication in this story as to whether or not the girl got some serious psychological counselling, but she certainly needs it.

    Sturminster Newton, UK

Bahamas Rights Group Pushes for Sex Offenders Registry As Child Sex Abuse and Incest Cases Rise

CARIBBEAN360


MEMBERS OF THE ACTIVIST GROUP SOLIDARITY242, WHO ARE ASKING BAHAMIANS TO SUPPORT THEIR PUSH FOR A SEX OFFENDERS REGISTRY AND MISSING CHILDREN ALERT SYSTEM. (PHOTO: SOLIDARITY 242)

NASSAU, Bahamas, Friday July 22, 2016 – A non-profit activist group is urging Bahamians to join an online protest today to pressure government into opening a Sex Offenders Registry and Marco Alert system for missing children.

The push by Solidarity242 comes almost five years after the murder of 11-year-old Marco Archer – a tragedy that triggered calls for the Sex Offenders Registry. In October 2013, Kofhe Goodman was sentenced to death for abducting, kidnapping and eventually murdering Archer. According to the prosecution, he committed the crime for his “sadistic sexual gratification”.

Goodman had been convicted of unnatural sexual intercourse in 1993 and was also jailed for the attempted murder of a nine-year-old boy.

“It has been five years since The Bahamas was rocked by the brutal death of Marco Archer and yet Marco’s Law is not fully functional. There is no Sex Offenders Registry, there is no Marco Alert,” said Kishlane Knowles, co-founder of Solidarity242.

“Our children are being left vulnerable and we as Bahamians have to push back and demand that the government does its part in protecting our children, as promised.”



In 2013, Freeport saw the loss of five young boys, all of whom went missing, all of whom were murdered. In June of 2015, Minister for Social Services, Melanie Griffin revealed in her 2015/2016 Budget Address that there had been an increase in the reported cases of sexual abuse and incest incidents involving children.

Earlier this year, a retired police officer pleaded guilty to molesting three siblings.

“Sexual predators are walking among us, nameless and faceless. We don’t know who they are until they have hurt a child. When a child goes missing there is no systematic way of alerting the general public immediately. How many children between 2011 and 2016 could have been saved from sexual abuse and/or abduction had the government implemented the elements involved in Marco’s Law? Let’s really think about that,” Knowles said.

At 6 p.m. today, Bahamians all over the country and abroad are being asked to visit the Marco’s Law viral protest event on the Solidarity242 Facebook page for ways to get involved in the social media demonstration.

“There will be hashtags, a temporary profile picture for supporters to download and two other elements that we are keeping under wraps until Friday’s launch”, revealed Selina Archer, who created the viral protest concept and plan specifically for Solidarty242.

“The protest has been designed to be inclusive of all Bahamians no matter what island they live on or what country they live in. The beauty of the viral protest is that all the activities can be done online from the comfort of a smart phone, tablet or computer.”

Knowles, along with Solidarity242 co-founders Lisa Davis and Shenique Fisher will use the social push to aggressively pursue answers from government once the protest is over.

Culture of Rape Attitude Unchanged at Stanford; Rape Victim's Brilliant Response

Stanford rape case: Sex offender's dad says 6 months is too harsh for '20 minutes of action'

Ex-Stanford swimmer Brock Turner sentenced for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2015

By Lauren O'Neil, CBC News 

'His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life,' wrote Dan A. Turner of his son, Brock, who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on Stanford University's campus.'

The subject of sexual violence on campus is at the forefront of public consciousness once again this week as details spread online from the trial of a former Stanford University swimmer who was convicted of assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster.


On Monday evening, the Stanford Department of Public Safety released Brock Turner's original arrest photo from Jan 18, 2015. (Stanford Department of Public Safety )

Brock Turner, 20, was arrested in January 2015 after two men riding bikes saw him "thrusting" on top of a motionless woman after a Palo Alto frat party.


Turner tried to flee when confronted by the men, who were graduate students at Stanford, but later said that the unnamed 22-year-old victim was conscious throughout the encounter.

Police say that she was found partially clothed and "completely unresponsive."

The Dayton, Ohio, native and Olympic hopeful withdrew from Stanford voluntarily after he was arrested and pleaded not guilty to three felony charges of sexual assault.

Tensions were high ahead of the "Stanford swimmer rape case" verdict when it came down more than a year later in March 2016 — and, for the most part, advocates for those affected by sexual violence seemed pleased when a California jury found Turner guilty of all charges.

And then came the sentence

Late last week, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in county jail and three years' probation.

Turner must also complete a sex offender management program and register as a convicted sex offender.

One source indicated that he must remain on the sex offender register for life. This is the only part of the sentence that strikes me as being the least bit excessive. Ten years should be sufficient if he does not re-offend. 

Persky has no record of judicial discipline and had his defenders when the Associated Press contacted officials in the country on Monday.

Barbara Muller, a criminal defence attorney who works two weeks a month in Persky's court, says he "is definitely one of the fairest judges" in the county. "He considers all facts and is very thorough," Muller said. "He plays it right down the middle."

Still, some are urging for Persky's recall in Change.org petitions, and Stanford University law professor Michele Dauber, a friend of the victim, launched a campaign to remove Persky from the bench. Dauber didn't return phone calls and email inquiries from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.

Professor Dauber should have her tenure revisited for her disgraceful behaviour. If she had not been a friend of the rapist, do you think she would care in the least about a 6 month sentence for rape? I suspect she would be outraged at the leniency.

Considering that the maximum sentence Turner could have received was 14 years in state prison (and that he'll likely only serve three months behind bars in total, according to the San Jose Mercury News), his punishment was widely decried as a "slap on the wrist."

The controversy heated up over the weekend after BuzzFeed News released the victim's full, 7,244-word-long courtroom statement online.

"One day, I was at work, scrolling through the news on my phone, and came across an article," reads an excerpt of the powerful and, at times, graphic piece. "In it, I read and learned for the first time about how I was found unconscious, with my hair dishevelled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled off over my shoulders and pulled up above my waist, that I was butt naked all the way down to my boots, legs spread apart, and had been penetrated by a foreign object by someone I did not recognize."

"And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times," the statement continues. "She was found breathing, unresponsive with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach curled in fetal position. By the way, he's really good at swimming."

As of Monday, the victim's deeply personal story had been viewed nearly six million times on BuzzFeed alone.

CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield further exposed the victim's words on Monday afternoon by reading her entire statement live on air for the news network's viewers.

Outrage has now been swelling over what critics consider to be a light sentence for days, more and more so as the victim's letter circulates.

Another letter, however, is inspiring perhaps even more passionate responses right now — one that was penned by Turner's father. Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen confirmed to the Washington Post this morning that the letter, written by Dan Turner, is authentic.

The six-month jail term given to Turner, seen here on June 2 outside the Santa Clara Superior Courthouse, for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after both attended a fraternity party is being decried as a token punishment. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News/Associated Press)

It was submitted to court before Turner's sentencing last week and appears to have first been shared on Twitter by Stanford law professor Michele Dauber, who helped draft new policies for dealing with sexual violence on the university's campus.

"As it stands now, Brock's life has been deeply altered forever by the events of Jan 17 and 18," reads the statement, in which the elder Turner argues that his son shouldn't be sent to jail. "He will never be his happy-go-lucky self with that easygoing personality and welcoming smile."

Neither will she!

And then, in what has become perhaps the most contentious part of the letter, the father attempts to explain why jail time isn't a fair punishment for his son.

"These verdicts have broken and shattered him and our family in so many ways," he writes of the convicted sex offender. "His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve."

Neither will hers; so why should he be permitted to go on with no life-long consequences?

"That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20-plus years of life."

What about the price the victim has to pay. It is even steeper. The consequences of rape on a woman are extraordinary. They are life-changing and very rarely for the better. Where is the father's empathy for the victim? 

Dan Turner's entire letter can be read in full here, but we'll conclude with these words for the ex-Stanford swimmer. They were written by the case's victim:

You said, 'I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life.' A life, one life, yours, you forgot about mine. Let me rephrase for you, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect. You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again. You knocked down both our towers, I collapsed at the same time you did. If you think I was spared, came out unscathed, that today I ride off into sunset, while you suffer the greatest blow, you are mistaken. Nobody wins. We have all been devastated, we have all been trying to find some meaning in all of this suffering. Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.

See one thing we have in common is that we were both unable to get up in the morning. I am no stranger to suffering. You made me a victim. In newspapers my name was 'unconscious intoxicated woman', 10 syllables, and nothing more than that. For a while, I believed that that was all I was. I had to force myself to relearn my real name, my identity. To relearn that this is not all that I am. That I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All­-American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty, with so much at stake.

I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt, my life was put on hold for over a year, waiting to figure out if I was worth something.

With files from The Associated Press

Please join me in praying for this young woman, and also praying against the culture of rape in North American universities, and the insanely stupid practice of binge drinking. Turner is 100% responsible for the girl's rape, but it probably would not have happened had she not drunk until she passed out.

Attitudes in universities have to change toward women, but I don't see the possibility of that happening as long as pornography is so readily available to boys and young men.

4000 Child Sex Abuse Convictions in Last 10 Years in New Zealand

But problem is much, much worse

Sex offender registry closed to the public

There has been a staggering 4,000 child sex abuse convictions in New Zealand over the last decade with no signs of it slowing down, says New Zealand First.

“This proves that the government’s proposed child sex offenders register should be open to the public, and that’s what New Zealand First is demanding to ensure children and families are kept safe,” says Spokesperson for Social Development Darroch Ball.

“With an average of 400 sex abuse convictions every year, that’s more than one person sent to jail every day for committing a sexual offence against a child.

“The figures indicate that a large number of convicted paedophiles will soon be released into the community and the government is doing little to protect children once this happens.

“The public surely has a right to know if there is a convicted child sex offender living in their community, and the government must act quickly to keep children safe as more offenders are released from prison,” says Mr Ball.

Prison terms are nowhere near long enough to protect our children.


Tip of the iceberg
Unless New Zealand is completely unique in the world, that 4000 represents the tip of the iceberg. 

According to my calculations, New Zealand experiences about 9,600 different children being sexually abused every year. Since most, about 80%, are abused repeatedly, the actual number of child sex events in New Zealand is probably much closer to 50,000 per year.

So that's about an 8% conviction rate per child sex abuse act

This problem is way bigger than anyone is reporting, and it's not just New Zealand. 


Conviction rates
In India, for instance, of those who go to trial for child sex abuse, only about 5% are convicted, although officially the conviction rate was 46%, but since the infamous bus gang-rape and murder of a college girl in Delhi, the official conviction rate has actually dropped to 26%. In Pakistan that number is 7%. 

Turkey, of all places, has one of the best, if not the best conviction rate in the world. From the numbers I've seen the rate varies between 60 and 90%. In Paraguay the conviction rate is about 30%. 

The NSPCC reports a conviction rate in the UK if 73.5%, although that number is decreasing. However, in another report, NSPCC says the conviction rate has fallen to 60%.


Reporting rates
It is without question that the majority of child sex abuses never get reported to authorities. In the US, NSOPW reports that rates vary according to your source between 16 and 30%. In American colleges, it drops to 12% as the culture of rape means that colleges keep a lid on sexual attacks in order for them to look like they are safe places to send your children.

One study in Canada found that 95% of all child sex abuse events go unreported. They also report that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before 18. However another study show the rates of sexual assaults involving contact are about 15% for girls and 6% for boys.

Some of the difference in numbers can be explained by the definition of child sex abuse. Some statistics include non-contact sexual abuse like exposure to another's anatomy, or pornography, or attempted coercion, others look at only sexual abuse involving touching.

Not All Perverts are Really Stupid, But There's Not Much Doubt About This One

Pervert jailed after landlord found vile child sex abuse images on his phone following bar room brawl 

The thug left his mobile in the pub when he was kicked out

Pervert Daniel Bessell has been banged up after a pub landlord found child pornography on his phone. 

Daniel Bessell was sentenced to 17-months in
prison and was ordered to sign the sex offenders
register for 10 years
Bessell, of Willesborough, Kent

By LILA RANDALL M&Y News Agency

A PERVERT has been jailed when a pub landlord found child pornography on his phone after a bar room brawl.

Daniel Bessell was spotted topping up his glass with alcohol he had smuggled into the pub during a busy evening of live music.

When landlord Ian Rampton approached Bessell for drinking cans bought from an off-licence, Bessell swung a punch at him.

Staff later discovered 'horrible, disgusting and awful' indecent photos of children on a mobile phone the thug had left behind on a table in the The Albion pub in Ashford, Kent.

Judge Simon James at Canterbury Crown Court sentenced Bessell to 17-months in prison and he will also be required to sign the sex offenders register for 10-years.

Mr Rampton said: “If he hadn’t hit me and been thrown out, he wouldn’t have left the phone, and we wouldn’t have found the pictures.

"I don’t mind being smacked for that.”

The father-of-three recalled the night of the incident in November 2014: “There was a man standing alone by the band.

"He looked like a bit of an oddball, and he kept turning around and going into his bag.”

Mr Rampton asked Bessell to stop drinking and after Bessell mumbled a reply he was then told to leave the premises.

He continued: “He then punched me in the left eye, catching my glasses.

“I bundled him out of the pub – a few regulars saw what happened and helped.”

Once Bessell was outside the pub, he is said to have desperately tried to re-enter claiming he needed to find his girlfriend.

However when reflecting on the evening Mr Rampton believes he wanted to find his mobile.

After providing a police statement Mr Rampton returned to the pub at around 12.30am, when staff said they found a mobile and they suspected it be Mr Bessell's.

Mr Rampton said they searched through the photographs to try and work out who the owner was.

He said: “We saw a few pictures of women at first, but kept looking to see if there was one of the owner.

"That is when we found the child images.”

Police Officers discovered a second phone belonging to Bessell which also contained indecent images.

2nd Woman, 3rd Person Sentenced for Incest Against 3 Children

Michigan woman sentenced in child sex abuse case

JACKSON COUNTY, Illinois
A Michigan woman was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal sexual assault Friday in Jackson County, Illinois, according to the state's attorney's office.

The attorney's office says 35-year-old Armanda Gordon, of Ludington, Michigan, pleaded guilty to the felony charge on Nov. 18. The charge stems from an investigation into allegations of the sexual abuse of two children. In that investigation, the children said Robert Pleasant, with whom the attorney's office says Gordon was in a relationship, abused them sexually over a number of years. Pleasant was sentenced last week to 75 years in prison.

The attorney's office says one of the children also said Gordon committed acts of sexual abuse against the child. The attorney's office says Gordon admitted to participating in the abuse between 2003 and 2010, directed by Pleasant. 

Gordon was sentenced to serve six years in prison. She will have to serve at least 85 percent of that sentence, followed by a mandatory supervised release period of three years to natural life. She will also have to register as a sex offender for life. 

Robert Pleasant

Husband, wife charged with child sex assault

Jackson County
Jun 19, 2014  0
A husband and wife living in Wolf Lake, both formerly of Murphysboro, were arrested Wednesday night on sex crime charges.

Robert Pleasant, 36, faces two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. 

Bethany Pleasant, 25, faces one count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and criminal sexual assault. 

They were arrested at their residence in Wolf Lake on outstanding Jackson County warrants.

The warrants were obtained after a nearly month-long investigation of alleged sexual abuse involving three minors. 

Two of the minors are Robert Pleasant's biological children. The other is his ex-girlfriend's child, who now lives in Michigan. 

His biological children were not currently living with the couple.

Both were taken to Jackson County Jail. Each has a $1 million bond.

Murphysboro Police, DCFS and the Michigan Child Protective Services Agency conducted the initial investigation. Union and Jackson County sheriff's offices and Illinois State Police assisted in the apprehension of the suspects.

Bethany Pleasant

Wolf Lake, IL woman sentenced for criminal sexual assault

Updated: Feb 03, 2015 2:18 PM PST
Amber Ruch

WOLF LAKE, IL (KFVS) -
A Wolf Lake, Illinois woman has been sentenced for criminal sexual assault.

According to Michael C. Carr, Jackson County State's Attorney, Bethany R. Pleasant, 25, was sentenced to prison on Monday, Feb. 2.

Pleasant entered a guilty plea on Nov. 13 to criminal sexual assault, a class 1 felony.

Carr said on Feb. 2, after a lengthy sentencing hearing, Pleasant was sentenced to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. This sentence is subject to 85 percent truth-in-sentencing legislation, meaning she must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.

Pleasant will serve three years to her natural life of mandatory supervised release after her release from the IDOC. She will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her natural life.

Starting in May 2014, officers and detectives with the Murphysboro Police  Department started a large-scale investigation into alleged inappropriate sexual contact between Pleasant and the victim, who was about 13 years old when the acts happened. The victim told authorities about the acts of sexual conduct.

Detectives also interviewed several witnesses and executed some search warrants related to the investigation.

According to Carr, a large amount of digital evidence was collected during the investigation, which helped investigators with corroborating the abuse allegations.

On June 18, 2014, Pleasant was taken into custody.

The investigation was conducted by the Murphysboro Police Department. Assistant State's Attorney Casey Bloodworth prosecuted this case.

Child Sex Offenders Largest Group of Inmates in Military Prisons – Report

I would never have guessed this

© US Army / Wikipedia

More than half the cases in the military justice system involve child victims of sex assault, according to an investigation by Associated Press. This has raised questions about the transparency of military courts.

With information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, AP uncovered that out of the 1,233 inmates in US military prisons, 61 percent were convicted of sex crimes. Children were the victims in more than half of those cases, making their abusers the largest group of criminals in the US military prison system. In 2015 alone, service members victimized children in 133 of 301 sex crime convictions.

The military justice system operates independently from federal and state criminal courts. The US Constitution requires openness in civilian judiciary, which is why trials and court filings are open to the public, as a way of providing accountability.

Children more likely to be abused in homes of returning war veterans – study© Lucas Jackson 

The military judiciary is much less transparent, however, and acquiring full accounting of perpetrators’ crimes and sentencing is difficult. The most that the public can generally hope to see is a brief summary of the results of the trial. Records for most federal court cases are available online via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records. To obtain records from military trials, on the other hand, a request must be made through the Freedom of Information Act, which itself includes an exemption that allows the government to withhold records in cases where disclosure could violate personal privacy.

Case information that might be relevant to the public interest includes pretrial agreements between the accused and prosecutors, which can drastically reduce sentences for criminals such as child sex offenders.

In January, a military Judge found Chief Warrant Officer Daniel E. DeSmit of the US Marine Corps guilty of several sex offenses. He had spent $36,000 producing and viewing child pornography over a period of six years.

DeSmit, 44, was sentenced to 144 years in prison, but due to an undisclosed pretrial agreement, his jail time was reduced to just 20 years. AP asked for the investigative report in DeSmit’s case, but their Freedom of Information Act request was initially rejected on privacy grounds. The report was only release after AP appealed.

While the Army, Marine Corps and Navy have recently begun including references to plea deals in trial summaries, the Air Force still does not.

In civilian courts, there are minimum sentences that are mandated by the federal government for sex crimes. This includes 15 years for child sex trafficking, or 30 years for engaging in a sex act with a child under the age of 12. Military courts do not do not impose any such mandatory minimum sentences for those crimes.

Even after serving time, service members are given a level of privacy that those convicted in civilian courts do not receive. While the Department of Justice maintains a federal registry for civilians that can be viewed by the public, and many similar systems exist on the state level, there is no equivalent database documenting the sex crimes of service members.

Exacerbating these transparency problems is the fact that child sex crimes do not receive the same amount of attention as sex crimes with adult victims, which Congress and the Department of Defense have focused on preventing and prosecuting.

Department of Defense officials, however, said that such a high proportion of military prisoners are child sex abusers because judges and juries view the crimes as particularly heinous and impose longer sentences. They also said that military prosecutors pursue cases that civil prosecutors would never take to court, and the startlingly high number of convicted pedophiles in the military reflects this.

Bermuda Tackling Child Sex Abuse From All Sides

Measures to tackle child sex abuse could be put forward this year by the parliamentary group investigating how Bermuda deals with sex offenders.

Bermuda - an archipelago of 181 islands

Mandatory education and awareness training, child protection policies and bolstered laws on the reporting of sex offences are on the joint select committee’s agenda, according to chairman Mark Pettingill.

The One Bermuda Alliance MP said discussions are ongoing about the creation of a sex offenders’ registry — but cautioned about the need to differentiate between serious, prolific offenders and “Romeo and Juliet cases” involving young teenagers.

In an interview with The Royal Gazette, he said that, historically, a lot of sex offences against children happen “in what we often regard as being safe havens or in positions of trust”.

The former attorney-general continued: “They may occur with close family members or with people that are in youth organisations or even schools, which is really terrible. Whilst it is obviously such a minority of people that are involved in those types of activities, that’s where there tends to be a degree of prevalence.

“We don’t want to make it difficult for all the wonderful people that come along and give up their time to children, but unfortunately this is where the prevalence tends to be.”

The joint select committee on sex offenders was created last year to examine existing legislation surrounding a sex offenders’ registry and other matters related to convicted sex offenders.

Mark Pettingill MP

In recent weeks the issue has been in the spotlight again, after a former police officer was jailed for 15 years for the sexual exploitation of his daughter and incest. The media was unable to report the offender’s name for legal reasons, prompting campaigner Sheelagh Cooper to repeat calls for a more open legal process and a sexual offenders’ registry.

Mr Pettingill, a defence lawyer, said that while the idea of a registry is still on the agenda, the committee is still debating how to go about it.

“This has been a debate for some time. I have to say, I see both sides of the coin,” he said.

He said that Bermuda has the ability to produce a list contained within its criminal code, but he believes it should be at the discretion of the attorney-general.

“In my view, there are certain types of criminals that commit these things that people should just be aware of who they are because it warrants that children and society deserve the protection from that type of individual.

“At the same time you have the Romeo and Juliet cases where you have, let’s say, a 17-year-old boy who has a consensual sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and he basically gets run in by her parents.

“I’ve seen those types of cases. Entirely consensual, but unlawful still — he’s deemed over the line and she’s still under it. Should he be put on a sexual offenders’ registry as a sexual offender? I don’t think so.”

Mr Pettingill said a balance needs to be found between who should be on the register and how much of it is publicly available, with consideration given to the circumstances of the offence and how prolific it is.

He said prolific offenders that are deemed “to have a real risk”, despite serving time in prison and undergoing treatment, should be on a public register.

“I think we can do better than what we have,” he added.

Satellite shot of Bermuda - total land area 20.6 sq miles

Regarding the joint select committee’s efforts, Mr Pettingill said: “You’d love to have everything done overnight — it just doesn’t work that way.

“Conceptually, we are getting there. I am hoping this year that things will be moved along. Some things are low-hanging fruit that we need to get right on.

“We want to mandate education and awareness training about anyone that is an owner, manager, employee of any organisation that deals with children.

“I’m talking about an organisation like Scars, that teaches people on what to look for, how to deal with children and all those things.”

He said he would also like to see certificates of satisfactory completion on the training.

“That would address anyone that has supervision, control or direct access to children.

“If you deal with a child, you have to have done this training to understand what the challenges are,” he said.

Mr Pettingill said that the committee is considering mandating that organisations have child protection policies in place, “so you don’t have a situation where you have one-on-one between adult supervisors and children, unless it can be something that is observable”.

The committee also wants to consider the enforcement of laws requiring mandatory reporting of these types of offences.

He said: “It might be that we’ve got to consider bolstering that law, so that for some reason you don’t have people deciding ‘oh, well, I’m going to proceed down the counselling road’ rather than immediately reporting it to the authorities.”


Child Sex Offences Laws Need Revising

Two children’s charities have thrown their weight behind Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves’s suggestion that Parliament should consider revisiting the Island’s sexual offences laws.

Bermuda is more than 1000 kms
from the nearest land

While sentencing a former police officer convicted of sexually exploiting his daughter and three counts of incest to 15 years’ imprisonment, Mr Justice Greaves said that the maximum penalty for incest “is inadequate in this jurisdiction”.

He invited Parliament to consider revisiting the sexual offences laws and whether it is appropriate to increase the penalties for incest and buggery to bring them in line with those for sexual exploitation.

“Mr Justice Greaves is absolutely correct that the legislation governing sentencing for incest needs to be amended,” said Sheelagh Cooper, founder and chairwoman of the Coalition for the Protection of Children.

“We are pleased to see that he has pointed that out as it is, and always has been, a serious problem in a small community like Bermuda.”

Debi Ray-Rivers, the founder and executive director of SCARS, added: “Certainly the law makers must take some direction from the assessment of the courts in relations to offences.

Judge Carlisle Greaves

“In this instance an experienced and highly regarded Justice has given his view on the current position and state of the law and consequently you have to hope that the Government is listening and will make the necessary changes to the law a priority.”

At the sentencing, Mr Justice Greaves noted that the maximum sentence for the sexual exploitation offence is far greater than the maximum sentence for incest, which he said is “inadequate in this jurisdiction”.

The court heard that the maximum sentence for sexual exploitation of a young person by a person in a position of trust is 25 years and seven years for incest.

Mr Justice Greaves said the penalty for sexual exploitation was amended after the infamous John White case, a former police officer who was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for sexually abusing three boys. White’s sentence was later reduced to 18 years by the Court of Appeal.

And while the White case “changed everything in Bermuda when it came to sexual offences, particularly those involving children”, Mr Justice Greaves said, incest and buggery laws were not amended when the penalty for sexual exploitation of a young person by a person in a position of trust was increased from 20 to 25 years.

The Royal Gazette approached Government for comment but received no response.

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory
with a population of about 65,000 people more than half of whom are black