Nigeria 'Raids Boko Haram Cell Linked to Abductions' But No Girls Rescued

For what it's worth, here is a report from BBC of military activity by Nigeria. The Nigerian military and government have no credibility in my estimate, as limited an action as this was, I would still take the report with a grain of salt.

Nigeria's military says it has raided a Boko Haram intelligence unit thought to be linked to the recent abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls.

The cell leader Babuji Ya'ari was arrested, a military statement said.

Mr Ya'ari had been actively involved in the seizure of the girls as well as the killing in May of a traditional leader, the emir of Gwoza, the statement added.

About half of the abducted girls

More than 2,000 people have been killed this year in attacks blamed on Boko Haram militants.

Mr Ya'ari was a businessman who "participated actively in the abduction of schoolgirls" in the northern town of Chibok, the defence ministry statement said.

He used his participation in a civilian vigilante group fighting Boko Haram to cover up his work spying for the militants, the military said, adding that he had co-ordinated "several deadly attacks in Maidugiri", the capital of Borno state, since 2011.

The defence ministry said they had also arrested women from the intelligence cell.

The military's claims could not be independently verified.

Boko Haram militants abducted more than 200 girls from their school in Borno state on 14 April. Most are still missing.

The group says it will not free the girls until authorities release all imprisoned militants. The government says it knows where the abductees are, but that a rescue could lead to the girls being killed.

The militants have been blamed for several other recent attacks, including an assault on churches near Chibok on Sunday that killed at least 30 people, and a bomb attack on a busy shopping district in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, last week.

Du Pont Heir Gets Probation for Raping His 3 Year Old Daughter

Robert H. Richards IV, a du Pont family heir who raped his 3-year-old daughter nearly a decade ago but received no prison time now faces a lawsuit from his former wife that accuses him of sexually abusing his toddler son.

Richards IV has reached a tentative settlement with his former wife in a sexual abuse lawsuit she filed on behalf of their two children, according to court records.

Attorneys for Tracy Richards filed a motion Friday seeking approval of the proposed settlement with Robert H. Richards IV in Sussex County Superior Court. A hearing before Judge Richard F. Stokes, which will be closed to the public, is set for Tuesday.

The motion was filed under seal, said Thomas Neuberger, one of Tracy Richards' attorneys, who said he could not provide details.

John D. Balaguer, attorney for Robert Richards, could not be reached late Friday.

If Stokes approves the terms, the settlement would mark a swift end to a case that shocked many inside and out of Delaware's legal system.

Richards, 48, who avoided prison after pleading guilty to the rape of his daughter, is a scion not only of the family that built a worldwide chemical empire in Delaware but also one that founded the prominent Wilmington law firm Richards Layton & Finger. (Somehow seems appropriate).

Depositions had been scheduled this month for Richards and his parents, former Richards Layton & Finger partner Robert H. Richards III and his wife Wendy. But the court docket shows that both depositions were canceled.

Tracy Richards

Tracy Richards' lawsuit, filed March 11, sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for assault, negligence and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress on her children.

Richards IV, who was originally charged with two counts of second-degree rape with a minimum of 20 years behind bars, pleaded guilty in 2008 to fourth-degree rape of his daughter. Fourth-degree rape carries no minimum prison time and sentencing guidelines used by judges and prosecutors urge zero to 30 months in prison.

The lawsuit also accused Richards IV of sexually abusing his toddler son around the same time he assaulted his daughter, but he has never been charged with a crime involving his son. The lawsuit cites statements that Richards made while on probation as evidence that he admitted in April 2010 that he sexually abused his son, who is now 10. Those assaults began around December 2005, when the boy was 19 months old, and continued for about two years, the lawsuit said.

Robert H. Richards IV

Police investigated a claim of abuse in 2010 without arresting Richards but authorities reopened the investigation after the lawsuit was filed.

The lawsuit's allegations came six years after Richards pleaded guilty in a criminal case that had not received media coverage. The fact that a man of great financial privilege never went to prison and that his sentencing judge, Superior Court Judge Jan R. Jurden, noted in her order that he "will not fare well in prison'' generated outrage in Delaware and beyond.

Jurden's notation incorporated an argument made by Richards' defense lawyer, Eugene J. Maurer Jr..

The judge's words led to a barrage of criticism and threats against Jurden, leading authorities to give her a security detail. Several members of Delaware's legal community rushed to her defense. Jurden, who was a candidate for a Supreme Court vacancy, did not receive the appointment. 

So Richards get probation for fear that he might get mistreated in jail. Meanwhile, his children have to live with the fact that he is free and could show up at any time. Jurden has also put the well-being of other children at risk from this pedophile. Was his name added to the pervert list? Another sad but predictable day for the American 'Justice' System.

Jurden gave Richards eight years of probation and ordered him to get treatment at an expensive mental hospital near Boston, although he never went to the out-of-state center. Richards is still on probation.

Royal Commission Interim Report Reveals Abuse Often Started at 9 or 10 Years of Age

It takes an average of 22 years for survivors of child abuse to come forward and many Australians who have been abused still haven’t spoken out, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says. I bet if you removed those people who reported in the first year from the sample, that you would find the number to be much higher than 22 years.

In its interim report, released on Monday, the commission said on average female victims were nine years old and male victims 10 years old when the abuse started and that it takes men longer than women to disclose their abuse.

The commission, which began its inquiry into institutional abuse on 13 January 2013, said its analysis also showed 90 per cent of sex abusers are men.

'We understand that although many people have come forward to the Royal Commission, it is likely that they represent only a minority of those abused,’  the commission said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
 has revealed its interim report. This pictures shows
Commissioner Justice Peter McClellan in Sydney

'Many others are yet to disclose their abuse or, for various reasons, feel unable to come forward at this time.’

On Monday, the commission which has already been running for 18 months, urged the federal government to give it more time and money to finish its job or risk squandering the opportunity and insulting the victims.

The commission said it needs another $104 million and an extra two years to do its job and reach more vulnerable groups.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan says the inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse must be given the time and resources it wants.

'To not finish the job properly and completely would be an insult to all the victims of abuse and one of the greatest lost opportunities of our generation,’ he said in a statement.

Brother Julian McDonald Deputy
Province Leader of Christian Brothers
 of Ociania (right) with Frances
Sullivan  (left) from the Truth and
Justice Healing Council.

'This is a once in a lifetime chance for the community to fully understand the devastation of child sexual abuse, its historic pervasion into so many different institutions and steps needed to ensure past tragedies are never revisited.’

Personally, I would really like to see this commission complete it's work, but then, I'm not paying for it, nor am I paying for searching the Indian Ocean for a plane wreck. But I appreciate your priorities, Australia. God bless you.

HOW INSTITUTIONS HAVE REACTED TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION
YMCA
Has promised to obtain software to centralise its recruitment, pre-employment screening and testing of policy knowledge and employee performance management
Engage an independent party to review its organisational culture
Review its policies to simplify and clarify them for staff
Review its parent handbook so that its child protection policies are explained better.
The Department of Education and Communities is reassessing whether YMCA NSW is a fit and proper person to be involved in the provision of an education and care service

SALVATION ARMY
Salvation Army Commissioner Raymond James Condon confirmed that the Army accepts that, in certain circumstances, it is vicariously liable for abuse in its boys and girls homes

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS
Christian Brothers deputy provincial leader Julian McDonald recognised the order has a responsibility to survivors of abuse.
Christian Brothers announced all survivors of its Western Australian institutions would be offered ongoing professional psychological counselling, for life, if needed.

Attorney-General George Brandis said the interim report made clear the enormous scale of the task being undertaken by the commission.

'It is important that those affected by child sexual abuse and the Australian community as a whole can learn from the commission's work so far,’ he said in a brief statement.

Attorney-General George Brandis

The federal government was considering the request for a two year extension of the royal commission's December 31, 2015 closing date to deliver its final report, it said.

The commission has said children can help design institutions that are safe for them as they have the knowledge and experience different to adults.

Research into the views of children about their safety from sexual abuse in institutions has thus been ordered.

The commission is yet to reach a view on a national redress scheme for survivors.

'We have not yet reached a view on a national scheme,’ the commission said.

Four Australian states have offered redress schemes for former residents of child institutions in Qld, WA, Tas and SA.

Incomplete data from the Catholic Church's National Committee for Professional Standards shows Church authorities have paid more than $43 million to claimants since 1997.

The commission is considering whether it is appropriate in principal to recommend a national scheme, if its possible to devise a scheme that's fair to both claimants and institutions and how that scheme might fit with existing redress schemes.

The Salvation Army is facing a slump in donations to its flagship fundraising drive
 after the inquiry's revelations of terrible sexual abuse of children in its care

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army is facing a slump in donations to its flagship fundraising drive after the inquiry’s revelations of terrible sexual abuse of children in its care.

Donations to the Red Shield Appeal Doorknock in May are down an estimated 20 per cent this year.

Spokesman Major Bruce Harmer said the evidence heard at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a key factor.

The church expects to fall 20 per cent or $2 million short of its $10 million target for the doorknock held on May 24 and 25.

It also expects to miss the $80 million target of the broader Red Shield Appeal, which includes corporate and other donations.

Senior Catholic Bishop Steps Down After Being Charged with Child Sex Abuse

One of the most senior members of the Catholic Church in Australia has stepped aside after being charged with child sex abuse, the Church says.

Bishop Max Davis, who serves as the top Catholic official for the military, is accused of abusing a student in 1969.

In a statement, the Church said he "emphatically denies" the allegations and would defend the charge.

It relates to a period before Max Davis was ordained, when he was a teacher at a Catholic school in Western Australia.

Bishop Max Davis

"It is alleged in 1969 the man, who was a teacher at St Benedict's College in New Norcia, indecently assaulted a boy who was 13 years old at the time," Western Australia police said in a statement.

He had been charged with "three counts of Indecent Treatment of Children Under 14", it said.

The bishop is due to appear in court in Perth on 25 July. In its statement, the Church said he had decided to stand aside while the courts dealt with the case.

Max Davis has served as bishop of the Australian Defence Force since 2003.

The case comes as a national inquiry into child sexual abuse continues.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining religious groups, NGOs and state-care providers.

The commission was established by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and launched in April 2013. The move followed pressure from lawmakers amid police claims the Catholic Church had concealed evidence of paedophile priests.

It has been holding both private and public hearings, and is due to report back in late 2015.

Rolf Harris Found Guilty of All 12 Child Sex Abuse Charges

Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris has been found guilty of 12 counts of indecently assaulting four girls in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

One of the victims was a childhood friend of his daughter, while another was aged seven or eight.

The court heard Harris, 84, was a "Jekyll and Hyde" character, who had a dark side to his personality.

Prosecutors said he used his "status and position" to abuse his victims. He will be sentenced on Friday.

The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, said a custodial term was "uppermost in the court's mind", but he wanted to see a medical report before sentencing.

Harris, who was granted bail, faced a mass of photographers and reporters as he left court in the company of his wife Alwen and daughter Bindi, who had both attended most of the trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The central prosecution allegation concerned a friend of Harris's daughter, whom the court heard he groomed and molested from the age of 13 until she was 19.

Rolf Harris police mugshot 

The other victims told the court they were touched or groped by Harris, sometimes at his public appearances.

The jury deliberated for 37 hours and 45 minutes before reaching their unanimous verdicts.

Harris was found guilty of all 12 charges he was prosecuted on. They were:

Count one: A woman said Harris touched her inappropriately when she was just seven or eight while he was signing autographs in Hampshire in the late 1960s.

Count two: Harris was accused of groping a teenage waitress's bottom at a charity event in Cambridge in the 1970s.

Counts three to nine: A childhood friend of Mr Harris' daughter said he repeatedly indecently assaulted her between the ages of 13 and 19, including once when his daughter was asleep in the same room. He admitted a relationship with the woman, but said it began after she turned 18.

Counts 10 to 12: Australian woman Tonya Lee, who has waived her right to anonymity, said he fondled her three times on one day while she was on a theatre group trip to the UK at the age of 15.

Six other women also told the court about indecent assaults Harris had carried out against them in Australia, New Zealand and Malta. The entertainer was not prosecuted over those incidents but the evidence was introduced by the prosecution as an added illustration of his behaviour.

The verdicts came just before 3pm, almost 38 hours into the jury's deliberations.

Before they were delivered the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, made it clear to all those inside court two - the journalists, the public, and the relatives of Rolf Harris - that he expected silence throughout the process.

Everyone took him at his word. There was barely a sound as the forewoman stood.

Rolf Harris was allowed to remain seated in the glass-fronted dock, listening as he had throughout his trial, on a headset.

A court sketch of the Rolf Harris jury delivering its verdicts

A short distance away his wife, Alwen Hughes, his daughter Bindi, his niece Jenny and other relatives and supporters looked on.

Twelve times the forewoman of the jury said the word "guilty". Harris remained completely impassive. Bindi widened her eyes, looking stunned. Jenny turned to Harris's wife and gently shook her head.

They had been convinced of his innocence. But the jury was sure of his guilt.

line
Harris, from Bray, Berkshire, was first questioned in November 2012 in Scotland Yard's Operation Yewtree investigation set up in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against the late BBC Radio 1 DJ Jimmy Savile.

Although his arrest was unconnected to Savile's offending, the publicity surrounding that case had prompted the friend of Harris's daughter to come forward. The other women contacted police after Harris's arrest in March 2012.

Speaking outside court after the seven-week trial, Jenny Hopkins, deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for London, said: "The victims in this case have suffered in silence for many years and have only recently found the courage to come forward.

"Each victim, unknown to the others, described a similar pattern of behaviour; that of a man acting without fear of the consequences.

"I hope today's verdict provides other victims with the courage and confidence to come forward, no matter who is alleged to have carried out the abuse."

Peter Watt, director of national services at the NSPCC, said the children's charity had had 28 calls about Harris through its helpline, including 13 people who said they had been abused by him.

He added: "All of this was passed to the police, helping them to build their case against Harris, whose actions over the years have seriously damaged the lives of his victims.

"His reckless and brazen sexual offending, sometimes in public places, bizarrely within sight of people he knew, speaks volumes about just how untouchable he thought he was."

Rolf Harris leaving Southwark Crown Court after the verdicts on 30 June 2014

Ms Lee, 43, said the abuse had led her to contemplate taking her own life.

The mother-of-three said: "This has impacted me in ways you can't imagine and in ways that can't be taken back...

"To this day I can't go to sleep without lying in a lounge and having the TV on. I cannot lie in a room and try and sit with my thoughts and go to sleep."

Rolf Harris arrives at court on 30 June 2014 with daughter
Bindi (l), wife Alwen (r) and niece Jenny (second r)

And the childhood friend of Harris's daughter, who has not been named, said: "I am very relieved, that's all I am prepared to say".

A make-up artist who told the trial that she was was repeatedly groped by Harris in Australia told the BBC "justice has finally been done".

Rolf Harris with the Queen and Kylie Minogue
at the Diamond Jubilee concert in June 2012

Harris became known to successive generations after arriving in London from his native Australia at the age of 22 in 1952. He became a fixture on British TV screens as a children's entertainer, songwriter, performer, and became an OBE, MBE and CBE.

Harris painted a portrait of the Queen in 2006 and took part in her Diamond Jubilee concert six years later.

He was awarded a Bafta fellowship two years ago but the academy says it will strip him of the honour in light of the conviction.

In his evidence, Harris reminded the jury of his career, how he had invented the wobble board instrument by accident and popularised the didgeridoo, and talked about his hit records, briefly singing a line from one of them, Jake the Peg.

He denied having sexual contact with his daughter's friend while she was under 16, but said they had consensual sexual contact later. He described himself as a "touchy feely sort of person" and rejected the other women's claims of sexual assault.

Ex-Portuguese Detective Drops Another Bombshell in Madeleine McCann Search

The disgraced detective, Goncalo Amaral, made a bombshell claim in a Portuguese television documentary that openly mocked Scotland Yard’s new investigation. When asked if people will ever learn what really happened, Mr Amaral responded: “Yes, we will, when MI5 opens the case files, we will find out."

“Don’t forget that the British secret services followed the case right from the beginning. I don’t know if that information will be made available but if it’s like the United States, it takes years to have access to confidential information.”

Mr Amaral, 56, was the officer who co-ordinated the Portuguese police investigation from May 3, 2007, when three-year-old Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on the Algarve.

After criticising British police he was kicked off the case four months later.

Goncalo Amaral, Madeleine, Gerry and Kate McCann

In his latest interview he claims that after two British police dogs were used to searched the McCann’s apartment at the Ocean Club, his team had to take the British person responsible for the operation to Faro Airport.

Amaral, now retired and working as a crime writer, went on: “He’s at the airport waiting for a plane to return to England and he receives a phone call. Then he explains to our colleague that a member of MI5 was at the airport, waiting to talk with him about the result of the investigation.

“Someone has the information, so make the information available.”

There has been suspicion in the senior ranks of Portugal’s police that US and/or British intelligence chiefs have satellite images of the area that could be helpful but have never passed them on.

The latest Scotland Yard squad is apparently working on the theory that Madeleine was abducted by burglars who were also involved in drug trafficking. Mr Amaral said the same theory was put forward by a Yard detective seconded to his team seven years ago.

“It was discussed and completely set aside because it made no sense,” he said. “Nobody has proved the house was broken into, that there was a theft, there are no traces of a break-in. No money, cameras or anything else was taken.”

He said he expects the latest Yard inquiry to wind down soon, without a breakthrough, adding: “They are getting to the point of saying that she is dead.

“They will reach the point of saying that the cadaver can’t be found and the case can’t be solved.”

Mr Amaral will face Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, at a civil court in Lisbon on July 8.

The couple, who cling to the hope their daughter might be alive, are suing him for £1million for libel over his claim that Madeleine died in the apartment, made in his book The Truth Of The Lie.

Who knows if there is anything to Amaral's claims? He's in the crime-writing field now so this could well be just a way of getting some free publicity. There's not much I would put past this man, but it should be interesting to see if this accusation draws any response in London this week.

Life for Other Northern Nigerian Girls Can Be Pretty Horrid

With every second girl in northern Nigeria being married off before they turn 15 they get little education. If the husband decides to divorce her and cast her out, her family is unlikely to take her back and her future is desperate. This situation will only get worse under Shariah if Boko Haram succeeds in conquering or splitting Nigeria.

This is the story of one girl, but she represents thousands.

Maimuna Abdullahi was sold into marriage by her parents for £120 and abused by her new husband, who locked her away and forced hard labour on her.

When she ran home she was beaten, first by her father, then her husband, and was summarily divorced by her husband for daring to flee - and she is still just 14 years old.

She is one of thousands in Nigeria with similar stories - and, shockingly, her husband blames his beaten former bride for her ordeal, saying she was disobedient and over-educated.

Beaten: Maimuna Abdullahi, left, is pictured recently at the school
 in Nigeria which has taken her in after her ordeal

After fleeing her husband Mahammadu Saidu, who locked her away for days at a time, she was whipped by her family for daring to come home, then attacked by her furious husband as well.

Her battered face swelled so much that doctors feared her husband had dislocated her jaw. Her back and arms bristled with angry welts from the whipping her father gave her.

She was gaunt from hunger, dressed in filthy rags. And barely a year after her wedding, she was divorced.

It would be a tragic story for a woman of any age. But for Maimuna Abdullahi, it all happened by the time she was 14.

'I'm too scared to go back home,' she whispers, a frown crinkling her brow as she fiddles nervously with her hands. 'I know they will force me to go back to my husband.'

Maimuna is one of thousands of divorced girls in Nigeria, children who were forced into marriage and have since run away or been thrown out by their husbands.

They are victims of a belief that girls should get wed rather than educated, which drew the world's attention after Boko Haram terrorists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls two months ago and threatened to marry them off. Most are still missing.

Attacker: Saidu, pictured, said he feared marrying
someone more educated would make him 'the wife'.

Maimuna's former husband, Mahammadu Saidu, blames her few years of school for her disobedience. A handsome man of 28 who is obviously proud of his ankle-high boots, he does not deny beating his wife.

'She had too much ABCD,' he says. 'Too much ABCD.'

Nigeria, a young country of about 170 million, has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.

The law of the land states that the age of consent, and thus of marriage, is 18. However, the custom of child marriage is still ingrained enough that even a middle-aged federal senator has married five child brides and divorced at least one.

Across the country, one in five girls are married before the age of 15, according to the United Nations.

In the desperately poor Muslim north, where child marriage is often considered acceptable by shariah or Islamic law, that number goes up to one in two.

This is also where Boko Haram is trying to impose its extreme version of Islam, changing the face of the region and especially of its girls.

Children as young as five now hide their heads and shoulders in hijabs, a rare sight just a few years ago. Some girls become wives as early as nine.

There are no official numbers for just how many of these girls get divorced, often ending up destitute and shunned by their families.

But they are all too visible. A few miles from where Maimuna lives, children her age and younger sell their bodies to truck drivers, flitting in and out of vehicles.

Maimuna was saved from this fate by Saadatu Aliyu, who has turned an old family home into a school for divorced girls.

At the Tattalli Free School, which gets by on private donations, a couple of dozen girls gather in the courtyard for a sewing lesson. Toddlers mill around, the children of divorced girls who came in pregnant.

'Nobody knows how many thousands of them there are,' says Aliyu of the girls. 'That's why we have so many prostitutes, and very young ones, in the north.'

Escape: Maimuna ran away while her husband was looking for work out of town
 - but was whipped by her father for daring to come home

Maimuna grew up on the outskirts of Kaduna, in a half-finished brick building on the edge of a middle-class suburb.

Her father, a farmer called Haruna Abdullahi, picks up a stone and throws it at a stray dog as scrawny as he is. At 45, he's been married for 30 years and has fathered eight children.

'It's our culture to give our girls in marriage,' he says in a reasoning tone. 'From the age of 12, a girl can go to her husband's house.'

His wife, Rabi Abdullahi, nods, and asks her husband's permission before talking. She too was a child when she married, although she does not know exactly how old.

'It is our way of life,' she says. 'In my day, a bride would never dare to run away.'

Her life is hard, she says, but her marriage good. She insists that her husband is not a cruel man, pointing to a well he built so she did not need to walk more than a mile to collect water.

The tradition of child marriage is rooted partly in poverty. This is an area where most people do not have running water, electricity or indoor toilets, where children get only three or four years of schooling.

No sanctuary: Maimuna's parents, Rabi Abdullahi, left and Haruna Abdullahi, right,
have seven other children and say it is not unusual to marry as young as 12

A marriageable daughter can bring in a bride price and mean one less mouth to feed.

So in late 2012, Maimuna's father arranged to marry his eldest daughter to his best friend's eldest son.

The son, Saidu, paid a dowry of 35,000 naira (£120) for Maimuna - more cash than Abdullahi has had in his life. She was 13, and he twice her age.

Saidu farms his own plot of land and owns a small motorbike, making him relatively well off and eligible.

He says he has known Maimuna all his life, (sic - all her life) and waited years for her to reach what he considers marriageable age.

'When she was a kid, I would bring her candy and call her "wifey",' he says. 'We were always meant to be together.'

Saidu left his village school at fifth grade, the highest level offered, and says he regrets it.

The high school was in another village, too far to walk. Now he cannot write, and must find someone else to read him even the most personal of letters.

He says he promised Maimuna she could carry on going to school, even if it meant he had to find work in town. But he also worried.

'If she is educated, she will be looking down on me because I didn't go to school, so she will be the husband and I will be the wife,' he explains.

Maimuna said she did not love him and begged her father to let her stay in school. She had always been a good daughter, obedient, hard-working and popular among her friends, so her stubborn refusal to accept her marriage surprised her parents.

Rescue: Sympathetic family members took Maimuna in,
and she is now able to attend school again

But her wishes were not up for discussion. Her father was clear on what counts: 'It's what is good for the family and the community.'

The link between child marriage and education is clear. Only 2 percent of married girls in Nigeria go to school, compared to 69 percent of unmarried girls, according to the United Nations.

Some 73 percent of married girls received no schooling, and three out of four cannot read at all.

Many of Maimuna's friends from school were already married and not one was happy, but they had no idea how to escape.

Nobody prepared Maimuna for the marriage bed. There was no advice, no warning of what to expect, even from her married friends.

She settled into a new life where she felt like a slave. When she wasn't working in the fields, she was cleaning, carrying water and firewood, cooking and at the beck and call of her husband's demanding parents.

Every day she was exhausted, and when she finally got to bed, her husband wanted to 'bother' her, she says.
He never kept his promise to let her go to school.

When she objected to her treatment, her husband locked her into their hut, for days. He would not even allow her to visit her parents.

Maimuna bided her time until the rainy season was over and her husband went to town to find work.

Nine months ago, she took off, escaping to her father and begging him to let her return home.

Instead, he whipped her until her back was raw. Then he summoned her husband and forced her to go back to him.

Saidu, humiliated and furious, slapped her repeatedly in the face, jerking her head from side to side with the force of his blows.

She fled once again, first to a sympathetic aunt in a nearby village and then to a cousin in Kaduna.

She now shares one cramped room with her cousin's family, just a short walk away from Tattalli school, down a dusty alley and along a road lined by open drains stinking of stagnant water.

When Maimuna showed up at the school, she had been badly beaten and refused to speak, says teacher Victoria Dung.

They took her to the hospital, where doctors found she was badly malnourished. The whip marks on her back may last a lifetime.

Her husband waited the customary three months to make sure there was no baby. Then he divorced her, as a husband can do under shariah or Islamic law by declaring the divorce aloud three times.

He informed her parents of the divorce in a letter dated Feb. 14, which he could not write himself.

Maimuna considers herself among the lucky ones. She balances a broken chair on a tree stump at the school to sit in front of a sewing machine, learning to make garments she can sell in the market.

She thinks she'd like nursing, and wants to master English and Arabic.

'I don't know what I want to be when I grow up but, even if I get married, I want to have some education to back me up,' she says in her native Hausa, with a teacher translating.

'I pray that what I have done will help the younger ones, that my parents learn from the experience of my running away from home.'

It is by no means certain.

After her departure, Maimuna's father called a community meeting to discuss the problem with elders.

He says he knows of many girls who ran away from home because of marriages, but the elders have not yet come up with a solution.

Some girls are rebelling in other ways. A 14-year-old forced to marry a 39-year-old in April poisoned the groom's food a week after their wedding, killing him and three of his friends.

Abdullahi denies beating his daughter, and says he is no longer angry with her.

He insists he is happy that she has found a place where she can get the education she craves.

Yet he gets visibly upset, the tendons in his neck standing out, as he describes the financial problem she has left him.

Maimuna's former husband is demanding back his money, but Abdullahi has spent it on land.

And Saidu already has land - what he wants is cash, so he can look for another bride. Abdullahi does not know where he will find it.

Asked if he will treat his five younger daughters differently, he is ambivalent. The eyes in his chiseled face narrow, and he looks down at the ground.

'I would allow my daughters to go to school if I had the money. I have seen what happens, otherwise,' he says.

'But my reason is poverty, always financial problems. What can I do but give them out in marriage?'

Saidu, in the meantime, says he no longer cares for Maimuna and will move ahead with his life.

'This time I will marry a girl of 12, so that she will do what I want to do,' he says. 'Because if you marry a girl who is older, then she will not listen to you.'

As he speaks, his eyes slide to the porch where Maimuna's 10-year-old sister, Hafsat, is cuddling a neighbor's baby. A sly smile curls his lips. 

Senior Orthodox Jewish Leaders Face Cover-up Inquiry over Child Sex Abuse

Some of Australia’s most senior orthodox Jewish leaders are under investigation for allegedly failing to report multiple instances of child sexual abuse.

The Sunday Age has obtained witness statements and tape recordings from this month’s successful prosecution of a former Bondi Yeshiva authority figure, Daniel Hayman, that indicate senior Jewish leaders failed to act on complaints of abuse and cast doubt over their public statements on the scandal.

Daniel Haymen pleads guilty to child sex abuse and walks free

The documents and recordings provide an insight into strongly held views within segments of Australia’s ultra-orthodox Jewish communities that child sexual abuse should not be reported to secular authorities.

New South Wales police and the NSW Ombudsman are examining whether senior Rabbis broke the law by failing to report incidents of alleged child sexual abuse at Bondi’s Yeshiva centre to authorities.

Similar investigations are taking place in Melbourne into the failure by leaders of St Kilda’s Yeshiva college to act on allegations of abuse by two former employees who were recently jailed for sexual abuse offences against students.

Under the NSW Ombudsman Act 1974, it is an offence for the leaders of a government and non-government agency to fail to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the Ombudsman. The head of an agency must also implement policies to ensure employees report alleged abuse. Institutions such as Catholic schools and the Yeshiva Centre are bound by that legislation.

A NSW police spokesman confirmed that detectives from Strike Force Bungo have been liaising with the NSW Ombudsman’s investigators “regarding whether there may have been a failure to report incidents of abuse to the Ombudsman”.

The spokesman said detectives had not identified sufficient evidence to take the matter to court but were continuing their inquiries.

Documents and tape recordings obtained by Fairfax Media reveal that three senior Sydney rabbinical figures were allegedly told of Hayman’s offending by victims during the 1980s. But none contacted police.

Instead, Hayman was sent to the United States only to return to indecently assault a 14-year-old boy and allegedly molest a 12-year-old girl.

Hayman, 50, this month received a 19-month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to aggravated indecent assault of a 14-year-old boy at a youth camp in the late 1980s. Hayman was 24 at the time of the offence and working at the Yeshiva-run camp.

Magistrate David Williams said he had to sentence Hayman by applying laws relevant to the time of his offending, adding that Hayman would have been jailed if he was tried under contemporary laws.

Mr Williams also had to acquit Hayman of an indecent assault offence against a 12-year-old girl because of a legal “oddity”.

Explaining the complicated matter, Mr Williams said he was bound to apply an old law that was in place at the time of the incident. Under this law, if there was any possibility that Hayman’s offence was actually more serious than the crime of indecent assault he had been charged with, he had to be acquitted.

Witness statements and court testimony reveal several children allegedly approached former senior Yeshiva figure, Rabbi Boruch Lesches, between 1986 and 1989 to report Hayman’s indecent conduct.

One of Hayman’s alleged victims testified last month how he and a group of boys went to the home of Rabbi Lesches in 1986 or 1987 to report Hayman’s abuse of them.

Another alleged victim told the court how she told Rabbi Lesches, now a senior Chabad leader in New York, in 1989 that Hayman had committed an indecent act on her.

The court testimony contradicts a public statement released by Rabbi Lesches last year in which he said: “I had no knowledge of the alleged charges claimed to have occurred some 25 years ago.”

Rabbi Lesches released the statement after Fairfax Media broadcast a legally recorded telephone conversation in which he admitted to knowing of concerns about Hayman’s behaviour and of one case of alleged abuse.

But Rabbi Lesches publicly asserted that the complainant against Hayman was about the same age, around 21 years old. The alleged victim discussed in the recorded conversation was actually almost a decade younger.

Rabbi Lesches also added in the phone conversation his belief that some sexual abuse victims may have “consented” and cautioned against reporting Hayman to police. Rabbi Lesches later apologised for these remarks.

A witness statement to police also implicates one of Australia’s most senior Jewish leaders in covering up Hayman’s offending.

In a 2011 witness statement, a former Bondi Yeshiva rabbinical college student alleges he told the senior Jewish leader, whom Fairfax Media has chosen not to identify, of Hayman’s alleged offending against two teenage boys.

The statement says that after the senior rabbi was told of the incidents, Hayman was sent overseas. The alleged victims were given no counselling and police were not called.

A November 2011 tape recording of a conversation between Hayman and a victim contains admissions of inappropriate conduct with several children.

Hayman told the victim that Rabbi Lesches and the present spiritual head of the Bondi Yeshiva centre, Rabbi Pinchas Feldman, had both spoken to him about his conduct during the mid-to-late 1980s.

Rabbi Lesches

‘‘He [Rabbi Feldman] just told me it shouldn’t happen and I should take steps to avoid it,’’ Hayman said in the recorded conversation. ‘‘It was a once-off conversation in his office.’’ Well, that should handle that! No follow up! No counselling, no discipline, just a free vacation to the US.

When reports first emerged last year that police were investigating alleged abuse at the Bondi Yeshiva centre, Rabbi Feldman said: ‘‘I do not recall anyone ever coming to me with such a problem. I am shocked to hear that anything of this nature has taken place here.”

Following Fairfax Media’s report of the conversation between Hayman and his victim, Rabbi Feldman’s lawyer threatened to sue.

The Bondi Yeshiva Centre later released a statement saying Rabbi Feldman had no recollection of anyone confessing to him their involvement in child sexual abuse.

Rabbi Feldman with former PM Howard
and MP Peter King

Fairfax Media has learnt that people who have given evidence against Hayman have been intimidated and vilified within their communities.

A male victim of Hayman’s, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court last month that he had been “abandoned” and “cast out” by his adoptive family.

“The community was more intent on protecting its good name than me,” he said.

Fairfax Media emailed Rabbi Lesches’ son, who last year handled his media comments, for a response to the claims by Hayman’s alleged victims about them having told him they had been abused more than 25 years ago.

But his son has not responded.

Honour Killings: Love Forbidden, Murder Forgiven

This is not a pleasant article to read. It tells us how, in many parts of Pakistan, marrying for love may result in one's own family murdering you and your spouse, in the name of honour. 

Somehow, murdering your own daughter restores honour in the insane Islamic minds of many Pakistanis. After all, murdering your own daughter is much better than being embarrassed at the fact that she married without your consent, or married someone believed to be from a lower 'class'.

Of course, we are not talking honour here at all but flat-out pride. Both of the above scenarios are an insult to the family and many families would rather murder their own child than be seen by their neighbours as having been insulted. When your pride is more important than the lives of your children, you are seriously insane. How can such barbarism exist in the 21st century?

A young couple in Pakistan were tied up and had their throats slit with scythes after they married for love, police said Saturday.

The 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man married on June 18 without the consent of their families in eastern Pakistan's Punjabi village of Satrah, police said.

The girl's mother and father lured the couple home late on Thursday with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing, said local police official Rana Zashid.

"When the couple reached there, they tied them with ropes," he said. "He (the girl's father) cut their throats."

Police arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.

Cultural traditions in many areas of Pakistan mean that killing a woman whose behaviour is seen as immodest is widely accepted.

Immodest behaviour that sparked recent killings included singing, looking out of the window or talking to a man who is not a relative. For a woman to marry a man of her own choice is considered an unacceptable insult by many families.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 869 so-called "honour killings" were reported in the media last year — several a day. But the true figure is probably much higher since many cases are never reported.

The weak Pakistani government, battling with a troubled economy and a Taliban insurgency, does not collect centralized statistics and has no strategy to combat the killings.

Pakistani law means that even if a woman's killer is convicted, her family is able to forgive the killer.

Many families simply nominate a member to do the killing, then formally forgive the killer.

That's what happened earlier this week, a lawyer said, when a tribal council in central Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district sentenced another young couple to death for marrying for love.

The couple's lawyer, Zia Kiyyani, said the two had appealed for police protection after their marriage on June 21, but had not received any.

The 19-year-old girl's family came to take her from her husband's family, swearing on the Koran that they would not harm her and would hold a proper wedding ceremony, he said.

"During this the girl shouted, cried and mourned for her life and her husband's life because she knew that they will kill both of them," he said.

The girl, named Mehreen Bibi, was shot by a member of her family when she returned home, police said. Her husband went into hiding and her father registered the murder complaint so he could forgive the killer, Kiyyani said.

"That will end the case," he said.

Pakistan must write and enforce a law revoking the right of a family member from forgiving the murderer of another family member. This is legalized murder and it doesn't belong in the 21st century.

The Latest Info on the Kidnapped Nigerian School-Girls

The kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian school girls in April  has produced a flurry of condemnation and a pledge from the world community to provide assistance for their safe return, but the girls remain prisoners!

On May 21, U.S. President Barack Obama informed the House Speaker that the U.S. would be sending around 80 armed forces members to Chad to help search for the girls, who had been captured just over a month earlier. The military personnel would help with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area. Other countries, including Canada, Britain, France and China said they too would also provide assistance.

But so far, nothing. Of the 395 students who were at the secondary school in the village of Chibok, near the Cameroon border, on April 14 during the siege, 219 remain unaccounted for. Meanwhile, witnesses say, Islamic extremists have abducted 60 more girls and women and 31 boys from villages in northeast Nigeria. In fact, 8 more girls were abducted in the first week of May.

"The inability of the Nigerian government to locate the girls "continues despite outside assistance," wrote John Campbell, a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council for Foreign Relations, in his recent blog. "If the story of the latest round of kidnapping has legs, it is likely to re-energize domestic and international concern about the [Goodluck] Jonathan administration’s response to the Boko Haram challenge." Response, there's been a response?

Darren Kew, a professor of conflict resolution at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and executive director of the schools' Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development, said the girls are essentially part of a negotiation between the government and Boko Haram, the jihadist Islamist organization behind the kidnappings.

Boko Haram wants to trade girls for prisoners

"Boko Haram wants to trade at least a chunk of them in exchange for the release of some Boko Haram fighters who are in jail," he said.

There has been cause for some optimism over the girls' fate. Weeks ago, it appeared that Boko Haram and the Nigerian government had reached a deal where at least 150 of the girls would be released for some prisoners, Kew said. But at the last minute, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan seemed to have squelched the deal, possibly loath to create an incentive for the extremist group to kidnap others in exchange for prisoners.

"Jonathan has continued to look weak throughout this crisis, and I think they're probably very worried that a negotiated deal might make him look that way as well," Kew said.

The Nigerian military has said on several occasions that it knows the whereabouts of the girls, but fears if it moves in, the girls will be killed.

"They may have in fact gotten close at one point, but I don’t think they’re any closer to liberating them at this point and time," Kew said.

Local officials are optimistic that a deal will be struck soon, Kew noted, but added that doesn't seem to be based on hard evidence, but rather on hopeful speculation.

World support helping 'at the margins'

"The force will remain in Chad until its support in resolving the kidnapping situation is no longer required," said Vanessa Hillman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Defence Department.

"We're still working closely with the government of Nigeria to provide the informational aid to the search for the kidnapped girls."

The aid provided by some countries has helped "at the margins," Kew said, but much of it, like training assistance, will have a longer-term effect, while intelligence support could have more immediate results.

But so far, there has been no sign the Nigerian military has undertaken any major offensive action in the area.

"Some is fear that when the military comes in with a big push, it’s a very blunt instrument," Kew said. "I'm sure they’re worried about the collateral damage that comes from a push like that, especially with so much global scrutiny right now."

While the government and military have been heavily criticized for their response to the kidnapping, legitimate challenges to finding the girls do seem to persist.

"A lot of the efforts are being hampered with just the terrain they're dealing with," Hillman said. "You're dealing with a two-tier forest, two levels of forest to try and look through. [The surveillance drones] have difficulty with that," Hillman said.

As well, the girls may have been separated, with one large group taken over the border while others may have been broken into smaller clusters of two and three, some used as human shields, interspersed among pockets of Nigeria.

"Technically [Boko Haram] are very adept at blending back into their population, and I expect they’ve done the same with the girls," Kew said.

Please pray for these girls, for them to feel God's presence in their distress, and for Him to provide a way to break this impasse and bring the girls home.

ISIS Militants Rape Christian Mother and Daughter Who Couldn't Pay Poll Tax

The nightmare continues for Christians living in ISIS-controlled areas as militants exact brutal punishment for those who fall short of their strict and violent interpretation of Islam.

The AINA news agency is reporting that an Assyrian mother and daughter were raped by militants in Mosul after saying they did not have the money to pay the jizya poll tax for non-Muslims.

See my other blog for articles on the rapidly rising persecution of Christians around the world. One wonders if God is moving Christians out of Iraq before His judgement falls?

The rapes were carried out in front of the father who was so traumatised that he committed suicide, reports Dr Sallama Al Khafaji, a member of the Iraq High Commission for Human Rights.

ISIS declares Shariah law over occupied territory in Iraq

ISIS has demanded that all non-Muslims pay the jizya tax and abide by strict Sharia regulations.

"The Christians have told me that they cannot pay this tax and they say 'what am I to do, shall I kill myself?'" Dr Al Khafaji told AINA.

There are also unsubstantiated reports that ISIS militants shot and killed four Christian women because they were not wearing veils.

Barnabas Fund said the ISIS takeover may be the "death knell" for Iraq's Christian community, which had already dwindled since the US-led invasion of 2003.

"Having previously sought refuge in Syria, this is no longer an option and as ISIS violence threatens the stability of the wider region, Christians have very few places of safety to which to run," said Barnabas Fund international director Patrick Sookhdeo.

Papal Nuncio to the Dominican Republic Defrocked for Child Sex Abuse

A tribunal in the Vatican has convicted the former papal envoy to the Dominican Republic of sex abuse and stripped him of the priesthood.

Jozef Wesolowski, who is originally from Poland, was recalled by the Church last year amid claims that he had abused boys in Santo Domingo.

Jozef Wesolowski

Wesolowski is the highest-ranking Vatican official to have been investigated for sex abuse.

Pope Francis has urged the Church to root out and punish abuse by priests.

Wesolowski had served as envoy to the Dominican Republic for five years. He was ordained as a priest and bishop by his compatriot, Pope John Paul II.

He has two months to appeal against the sentence. As a citizen of the Vatican, he also faces criminal charges in the city state, which could lead to a prison sentence.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have also opened an investigation into Wesolowski, but have not charged him.

Pope Francis last year strengthened the Vatican's laws against child abuse. He has pledged a crackdown on clerics and employees of the Church who exploit minors, comparing their actions to a "satanic mass".

This is a surprising outcome but a welcome one, and a very good step in putting things in order in the Catholic Church.

Arguably the Worst Mother in Ireland

A mother was today given a 14-year sentence for the sexual exploitation of her five-year old daughter.

The 47-year-old west of Ireland woman had also admitted charges of sexually assaulting and ill-treating the little girl.

The offences took place at the family home in the West between 2004 and 2008.

Longford Courthouse

Evidence heard at a previous sitting of Roscommon Circuit Court revealed that the mother did not intervene while the little girl was led around in a dog lead by a neighbour before being raped.

The child was subjected to shocking sexual abuse by her mother as well as by the neighbour from the age of five.

The court sitting in Longford today heard that her father has pleaded guilty to charges of sexually assaulting his daughter and is due before a sentencing court later this year.

The neighbour was given an eight-year sentence last year after pleading guilty to the oral and vaginal rape of the child.

That sentence is currently under appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The court heard previously that the woman gave the neighbour permission to do as he wished with her daughter and for as long as he liked.

The offences came to light after the girl was taken into care with her two siblings in 2008.

She initially said her mother had been slapping her and later spoke of her mother knocking her over.

In statements from social workers and the victim, it emerged the mother had also taught her daughter to masturbate when she was just five, while the child often went without food and was unable to use utensils or brush her hair when taken into care at the age of nine.

Her first foster family became concerned at what they called her sexualised behaviour.

She used to kiss her sister on the mouth and later it emerged that she was openly masturbating.

The foster family was unable to cope and the child was moved to another foster home.

Here, she struggled to eat and did not know what it was to feel full. She spoke of several evenings when there was no food in her original family home.

In her foster home she ate eight Weetabix to satisfy her hunger, but was unable to clean herself.

Judge Tony Hunt said he would suspend the final four and a half years of the 14-year term and also passed seven-year and five-year sentences respectively for the sex assault and ill-treatment offences.

This woman should never see the light of day again. If she was that horrible with her own daughter, what could she do with someone else's?

Ex-Scouts Canada Leader Pleads Guilty to 16 Counts of Sexually Abusing 4 Boys

Honestly, I'm not picking on Ottawa, but this is the third story in two days from the capitol city. I'm surprised, however, that Stanley was not also a hockey coach.

Scott Stanley, a former Scouts Canada leader in Ottawa, has admitted in court to luring four boys with sexually explicit texts and repeatedly molesting them.

Scott Stanley, 30, is a former
Scouts Canada leader

Stanley, 30, was a Scouts volunteer for five years, beginning in 2009. He is also a former City of Ottawa lifeguard and swim coach.

He pleaded guilty on Thursday in the Ontario Court of Justice to 10 counts of sexual interference, three counts of luring and three counts of invitation to sexual touching.

The boys were between the ages of 12 and 15 at the time of the abuse.

The molestation began in the summer of 2012 and continued for a year and a half, according to an agreed statement of facts read in an Ottawa courtroom. Stanley took the boys to movies, hosted visits in his parents' basement and drove the boys to secluded locations, court heard.

Stanley told one boy not to tell anyone about the sexual abuse because he would get in trouble, court heard.

Another Scouts leader told CBC News that he warned the organization that Stanley was spending time alone with boys, despite the "two-deep rule" that requires scouts to always be under the supervision of at least two adults. He said some of the abuse could have been prevented had the organization heeded his warnings sooner.

Scouts Canada did not comment Thursday, but has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Friday

Stanley is expected to be sentenced on Sept. 25.

More Sickening Revelations on the Perversion of Jimmy Savile

As much as I hate even the thought of this pathetic excuse for a human being, I feel it's important to present some findings in the latest reports.

Newly-published reports have said the late entertainer Jimmy Savile sexually assaulted victims aged five to 75 in NHS hospitals over decades.

The reports, which cover 28 hospitals, include graphic details of his activities.

Savile sexually assaulted victims as young as five at NHS hospitals - and this happened during decades of unrestricted access, the reports say.

He abused patients in their beds, in corridors and also targeted staff and visitors. The reports detail harrowing accounts from alleged victims.

Leeds General Infirmary
Sixty people came forward to say they had been abused between 1962 and 2009. They were aged between five and 75. Thirty-three of the 60 were patients and 19 were children.

A number of organisational failures allowed someone "as manipulative as Savile to thrive and continue his abusive behaviour unchecked for years", the report says. More like decades! How can it be possible that no-one did anything about this? I think a lot of people must have much to answer for, not in this world, but...

One 10-year-old boy was sexually assaulted while he waited on a trolley for an X-ray on a broken arm.

Main entrance at Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital

Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital
The report details 11 allegations of sexual abuse, six of them involving patients. Two were staff and three were children, it says.

It said Savile watched and made inappropriate comments when female patients were stripped and showered naked in front of staff.

The report said the number of cases of abuse it found was likely to be an underestimate.


Inquiry chairwoman Dr Sue Proctor says Savile had an "unwholesome interest in the dead".

She also referred to Savile's claims that large rings he wore were "made from the glass eyes of dead bodies at the mortuary".

It is alleged he posed for photographs and performed sex acts on corpses in the Leeds hospital mortuary.

The report says there is no way of verifying this but Dr Proctor says controls on access were lax.


The reports detail how hospital staff "didn't want to hear or believe" what his young victims were saying.

They say Savile had a familiarity with porters and nurses rather than with senior managers, and he threatened he could get people fired if they reported allegations of his abuse.

Measures are now in place to make sure a similar situation does not happen.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the reports detailing Savile's abuse were "truly awful", patients had been "let down badly" and he apologised on behalf of the government.

Peter Watt, national services director at the NSPCC, said it was "hard to believe senior staff could be so blind" to what was happening. Exactly!

Lesley McLean, Victim Support's manager for West Yorkshire, said Savile preyed on his victims and many who were children at the time were still "coming to terms with feelings of guilt".

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham questioned whether those negligent in public duties should be held to account, and said he was concerned about how public bodies carried out checks and managed their relationships with celebrities.

American Pervert Round-up #4, Pastor, 2 Teachers & More

Former pastor pleads guilty in child sex abuse case

LURAY, Virginia -- A former pastor in Luray and Shenandoah County has pleaded guilty to six counts in a child molestation case in Page County Circuit Court.

The plea agreement of James Richard Daley, 71, a pastor at the Lebanon Lutheran Church in Lebanon Church for several years in the 1980s, did not specify any sentencing recommendations but Daley could spend the rest of his life in prison. Page County Commonwealth's Attorney Kenneth Alger II said the five felony counts of indecent liberties with a child and one felony count of aggravated sexual battery to a child less than 13 years old carry a prison term of up to 45 years.

Daley and his wife Margaret were arrested in mid-July after someone reported suspicions of child abuse to the Luray Police Department. James Daley has been held without bond in jail since then.

Daley was pastor at Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray at the time of his arrest. He and his wife operated a day care center out of their home, which served as a parsonage for one of several churches at which James Daley was a minister, according to authorities.

The town subsequently revoked the business license under which Margaret Daley operated the day care center.

Margaret Daley was convicted a few days ago in juvenile and domestic relations court on a new charge of failure to report a case of suspected child sexual abuse. She has appealed the case to Page County Circuit Court. Her conviction in juvenile and domestic relations court, if upheld, would require her to serve 10 days in jail out of a total sentence of 90 days.

The case against Margaret Daley also included a conviction on contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She is not appealing the latter conviction, which involves a fine of $500.


FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — A 69-year-old Fort Madison man has made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse and one of lascivious acts with a child.

The Fort Madison Daily Democrat says  Roger Mendez made the pleas on Friday. Prosecutor Clinton Boddicker told Judge John Linn that Mendez also agreed to plead guilty later to three misdemeanors.

Police investigator David Doyle says that following Mendez's arrest in January, several other people came forward with accusations. Doyle says Mendez had victimized seven males, ages 7 to 20.

Doyle says the oldest accuser had made allegations years ago, but police couldn't develop enough evidence for charges then.


Casper, Wyoming man pleads guilty to child sex abuse

A Casper man pleaded guilty in Natrona County District Court on Wednesday to sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

William Allen Reed pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sex abuse of a minor, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The incident occurred in August 2010 while the girl was staying at Reed’s home in Casper.

Reed pleaded guilty through an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit committing the crime but recognized he would likely be convicted at trial because of the strength of the state’s evidence.

A charge of child sexual abuse in the third degree was dismissed in accordance with the plea deal.


Warrensburg teacher arrested in child sex abuse investigation

Gasconade County Sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday afternoon arrested a former Warrensburg, Missouri, teacher wanted in connection with a felony child sexual abuse investigation from Johnson County.

Darron Joseph Chapmam, 36, of Warrensburg, was stopped at 2:30 p.m. June 24 on Route B entering Gasconade County near Redbird. Chapman was wanted on a Johnson County warrant alleging one count of statutory rape and four counts of statutory sodomy for offenses against a girl, now 10, which occurred at his home between October 2008 (her fifth birthday) and last Friday (June 20).

A $500,000 cash only bond was set. Chapman resigned his position as the IT director in the Warrensburg School District on June 17, according to a television report posted online.  He was charged Tuesday.


Piano teacher's wife does not believe child sex abuse allegations 

EAST GOSHEN, Pennsylvania — The wife of a piano teacher accused of molesting several of his young students said Wednesday she does not believe the allegations against her husband. I wonder if she knows Dottie Sandusky?

Anton Fomin, 44, of East Pikeland, Chester County, PA waived his right to two preliminary hearings on Wednesday in connection to allegations that he sexually abused five 6-year-olds and an 11-year-old during private piano lessons at the Malvern School of Music.

He faces a slew of felony abuse offenses in separate cases after investigators filed two sets of charges against him earlier this month.

Following the hearing, Fomin’s wife, Tatiana Abramova, said she did not believe her husband would harm children and said she believes there is more to the story.

“He is my husband, and I trust him,” said Abramova. “He is a noble man. I don’t believe he would do anything to harm those children. He wouldn’t be able to harm anyone, I know he wouldn’t.”

Abramova said she has been with her husband for more than 20 years, since they met in Russia before moving to the United States, and in that time she has never seen anything to make her believe he is capable of harming children.

“I just hope this works out for my family,” Abramova said. “There is more to it.”

Despite Abramova’s confidence in her husband, prosecutors say the evidence suggests otherwise. Three of the children allegedly told investigators that Fomin touched them inappropriately during private lessons, according to the complaint. Three others allegedly reported that Fomin showed them pictures of nude children and adults during their lessons, but did not tell investigators that he ever touched them.

Investigators also executed a search of Fomin’s East Pikeland home and allegedly discovered photographs of nude children and adults, including himself, on his personal computer, according to a criminal complaint.

After Wednesday’s proceeding, Fomin’s cases will now head to the Chester County Court of Common Pleas, where he will face trial on over 40 counts of sexual abuse and related offenses. A formal arraignment was scheduled for July 3, according to court records.

Following the waiver, Fomin was transported back to Chester County Prison in lieu of $300,000 bail for each case.