Everyday thousands of children are being sexually abused. You can stop the abuse of at least one child by simply praying. You can possibly stop the abuse of thousands of children by forwarding the link in First Time Visitor? by email, Twitter or Facebook to every Christian you know. Save a child or lots of children!!!! Do Something, please!

3:15 PM prayer in brief:
Pray for God to stop 1 child from being molested today.
Pray for God to stop 1 child molestation happening now.
Pray for God to rescue 1 child from sexual slavery.
Pray for God to save 1 girl from genital circumcision.
Pray for God to stop 1 girl from becoming a child-bride.
If you have the faith pray for 100 children rather than one.
Give Thanks. There is more to this prayer here

Please note: All my writings and comments appear in bold italics in this colour

Saturday 31 December 2016

Bungled Investigation into Child Sex Abuse at Dolphin Square Reopened

Historical Child Sexual Abuse Case Reopened After BuzzFeed News Investigation

Lynyzy Billing / BuzzFeed News

“It’s one of the most positive things that has happened in the last 35 years,” said David, who spoke out about being abused at a flat in London’s notorious Dolphin Square in the 1980s.

Patrick Strudwick, BuzzFeed UK LGBT Editor

The survivor at the centre of a major historical child sexual abuse case has welcomed the decision by Lincolnshire police to reopen the case, following a six-month investigation by BuzzFeed News that raised multiple questions about the original police operation.

David, who asked that only his first name is reported, described the development as “one of the most positive things that has happened in the last 35 years”.

He approached BuzzFeed News in 2015 with concerns about how both Lincolnshire police in 2007 and the Metropolitan police last year investigated his claims. David alleged that Gordon Dawson, a well-connected member of the landed gentry, groomed and raped him aged 15 in Lincolnshire in the early 1980s before taking him on trips to London’s Dolphin Square where further abuse took place.

The apartment complex close to Westminster subsequently became embroiled in allegations of sexual abuse by politicians. David revealed that he was taken to dinners with MPs and other powerful figures and said he would awake the next morning in the Dolphin Square flat, in pain and with blood and semen on him that was not his. He still does not know who, other than Dawson, might have been involved.

David in the early 1980s.

During our investigation, which unearthed key police files and documents from the inquest into the sudden death of Dawson in 2007 – he was found dead less than two hours after a police officer warned him he was to be arrested – it emerged that several other men had also come forward. Some alleged Dawson abused them when they were as young as 5 years old.

Many of the files supported David’s testimony, such as his concerns that Dawson had been warned of his impending arrest on two occasions. David also alleged that he had advised police during their investigation to remove firearms from Dawson’s private gun collection, but they failed to do so, and amid the investigation, Dawson was found dead with a rifle next to him.

Within two weeks of the BuzzFeed News investigation being published, Marc Jones, the police and crime commissioner for Lincolnshire, said “there are lessons the force can and must learn” and Detective Superintendent Rick Hatton, head of Lincolnshire police’s public protection unit, apologised to survivors.

Keith Best, the chief executive of Survivors UK, the group for abuse victims, supported David’s calls for the case to be re-investigated, citing “grave errors” by Lincolnshire police, while leading criminal lawyer Nigel Richardson described the police interventions at the time as “odd”, “irregular”, and “unusual” for an “allegation of this seriousness”.

Gordon Dawson Property of David

Now, six months later, Lincolnshire police have started re-examining the original investigation carried out during 2006 and 2007. Details of this new probe are not currently being shared but BuzzFeed News understands that several lines of inquiry surrounding the case are being pursued.

Hatton, who is also head of Lincolnshire Police’s public protection unit, told BuzzFeed News: “Lincolnshire Police have reviewed the original file and spoken further with [David]. As a result of this, investigations are ongoing into the original allegation and further details that have come to light.”

“What’s happening now is very encouraging,” David told BuzzFeed News. He added that he hoped the fresh investigation would unearth “as many answers as possible” and that he was “very surprised” that the case is being re-examined “because it’s been so hard to get here”.

Frustrated with Lincolnshire police, who had closed the investigation following Dawson’s death in 2007, David responded to a request by the Metropolitan police in late 2014 for anyone who had been abused in Dolphin Square to come forward. After interviewing David, the Met declined to investigate further, prompting his decision to contact BuzzFeed News.

Friday 30 December 2016

French Doctor Faces Trial, Accused of Raping 37 Patients, Including Minors

Le médecin violeur filmait ses victimes... Blog Archive » Isabelle Steyer Avocate

A doctor is before criminal courts in France accused of dozens of counts of rape. The former general practitioner allegedly filmed his patients for nearly a decade. Some of his victims were minors when the alleged incidents took place.

Thierry Dassas, who worked in the small village of Argent-sur-Sauldre in the Centre-Val de Loire region, was arrested in late 2014 after an 18-year-old woman made a complaint to police, which led to a wider investigation.

Investigators seized dozens of videos, prompting a judge to launch a call for other victims to come forward. A total of 37 patients filed complaints for incidents between 2005 and 2014.

The 66-year-old Dassas was indicted for rape, abusing his authority and invading his patients’ privacy. Several of the victims were minors at the time of the events. The case is now before the criminal court in Cher.

French law defines rape as “any act of sexual penetration of any kind committed on the person of another by violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”

In court, Dassas admitted to having filmed some patients, but denied raping them. He claimed that the incidents were merely typical gynecological examinations that are sometimes carried out by general practitioners, particularly in rural doctors’ surgeries.

According to local newspaper Le Berry Républicain the judge presiding over the case said Thursday that he expects Dassas’s lawyer to launch an appeal, which will likely push the case back until the end of 2017.

Argent-sur-Sauldre, France

Man Charged with Sex Trafficking, Assaulting Two Women in Edmonton

Police believe there may be additional victims
in Alberta and Saskatchewan
CBC News 

Omar Abdi Ahmed is facing a total of 18 charges in relation to a pair of sexual assaults. (Edmonton Police )

An Edmonton man is facing human trafficking and other charges after two women were allegedly sold for sex and sexually assaulted.

Investigators believe the same man may have trafficked other women in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and that he may have used social media sites to approach women.

Omar Abdi Ahmed, 24, — also known as Jojo — is facing a total of 18 charges, Edmonton police said in a news release Friday. Ahmed is from Winnipeg but has family in Edmonton, police said. 

He is in custody.

The police investigation began on Dec. 7, when patrol officers were called to a reported sexual assault in the area of 154th Street and 111th Avenue.

Police determined that an 18-year-old woman had been assaulted and trafficked over several days.

Ahmed is facing six charges in relation to the incident, including human trafficking, procuring, receiving a financial or material benefit from sexual services, advertising sexual services, sexual assault and unlawful confinement.

On Dec. 28, police responded to another report of an assault in the area of 38th Avenue and Gateway Boulevard.There, officers found a 20-year-old woman who had been threatened, choked and trafficked for sex.

Ahmed has been charged with 12 offences in connection with the second incident.

They include human trafficking, receiving a financial or material benefit from sexual services, procuring, advertising sexual services, withholding traffic documents, forcible confinement, uttering threats, choking with intent to overcome, assault, mischief and two counts of breach of recognizance.

Investigators believe Ahmed may have trafficked other women, using social media sites to approach them. Other victims may be in Alberta and Saskatchewan, they said.

Police have released a photo of the accused as they believe there may additional victims who have yet to come forward.

Acting Staff Sgt. Melanie Grace from the EPS vice unit said in a news release Friday: "I encourage anyone who has been approached by Ahmed or feels they have been trafficked or exploited by him to contact police as soon as possible.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Edmonton police or Crime Stoppers.

'It Struck Me as Odd': Uber Driver Saves Teen from Sex Trafficking

© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

A 16-year-old girl has been rescued from a sex trafficking ring after an astute Uber driver recognized warning signs. Keith Avila had been driving with Uber for barely a month when he picked up three women and immediately realized something was wrong.

Avila earned less than $8 from an Uber ride Monday, but saved one young woman from being forced into prostitution. He picked up three women in Elk Grove, California, and noticed that one of the passengers appeared at be around 12 years old but dressed oddly for her age.

“She had a really short skirt," Avila told KCRA. "So, you could see all her legs, and it struck me as odd because she was so young and she was dressing like that."

But it wasn’t until he decided to eavesdrop on what the other two women were telling her that he figured out what was going on.

“‘You need to get your priorities straight. We need to make this money. We need to make this money,'” he told KOVR, recalling their conversation.

“'First thing you want to do is ask: Do you have any weapons? When you're hugging him, just ask, do you have any weapons?'” Avila claims the woman told the girl. “'Pat him down while you're hugging him. Get the donation, first. Before you start touching him, going in there, get the donation first.’”

Avila dropped the girl and the two women accompanying her, identified as Destiny Pettway, 25, and Maria Westley, 31, at a Holiday Inn Express. He drove a safe distance away and called the police who found the girl with 20-year-old Disney Vang. All three have been arrested with bail set for Pettway and Westley at $500,000 for pimping charges. Vang has been released on bail.

The teenager was found to be a runaway, a group of young people that are particularly susceptible to human trafficking. Elk Grove police spokesman Chris Trim praised Avila’s quick thinking, telling KOVR: “He listened in depth and in fact even knew what room they were going to and that helped our officers.”

Good work, Keith, God bless you. It may turn out that the girl ends up prostituting herself anyway, but, at least you have given her a chance to rethink that decision.

Elk Grove, CA

Texas Cop Arrested for Sexual Affair With 13yo Girl


© Carlo Allegri / Reuters

A Texas law enforcement officer has been arrested for the repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl over a period of several months.

Jesus Gonzalez, 42, is accused of having sexual relations with his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter. He was arrested Tuesday and charged with a first-degree felony of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

According to an arrest warrant cited by KENS, (a CBS-affiliated television station located in San Antonio), the girl told investigators that Gonzalez had engaged in sexual intercourse with her over 20 times between September and mid-December. Gonzalez even told the girl that he wanted to marry her, despite being in a relationship with her mother for more than a year and a half.

According to the affidavit, the mother first found out about the sexual abuse when she saw a lewd picture on her daughter’s cell phone. She soon discovered her daughter had been texting these photos with Gonzalez at his request.

Gonzalez was reportedly armed and in his police uniform when he was arrested.

In a press conference covered by the local news station, Elmendorf Police Chief Marco Pena confirmed that Gonzalez was a reserve officer in his department since October. Upon being arrested, Gonzalez immediately resigned.

Sexual assault and child abuse training

At the press conference, Elmendorf Police Chief Marco Peña said he was “saddened and appalled” by Gonzales’ arrest. “Unfortunately sometimes we don’t know what individuals--what’s in their minds and their hearts sometimes.”

And single moms need to be much more careful who they bring into the house! There are way too many stories like this on this blog! Such predators not only violate the child, they violate the mom's trust, and they immediately build walls between the mom and the child. 

In addition, local news outlet KSAT reports county officials have confirmed Gonzalez previously worked as a law enforcement officer for Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center, the Alamo Colleges, and the Natalia police departments, over the past 18 years. They also cite Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records which show Gonzalez had completed the sexual assault and child abuse training courses that his department requires.

Gonzalez is currently awaiting Indictment at the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, with a $75,000 

Thursday 29 December 2016

Vancouver Cop in Sex Exploitation Unit Charged with Sex Exploitation

VPD police detective James Fisher charged with sexual exploitation and sex assault

29-year police veteran facing 6 counts involving a juvenile and an adult
By Karin Larsen, Chad Pawson, CBC News 

Det. Const. James Fisher, pictured here in 2014, is a 29-year member of the Vancouver Police Department. He was charged Thursday with sexual exploitation and sexual assault. (CBC)

A veteran Vancouver police detective, who in 2015 received a special citation for his work on a sexual exploitation investigation, has been charged with sexual exploitation.

Det. Const. James Fisher was arrested Thursday and faces three counts of sexual exploitation, one count of sexual assault, one count of breach of trust and one count of attempt to obstruct justice, according to court documents obtained by CBC News.

Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said one of the victims is a juvenile and another an adult. 

"He's been suspended from duty,"  said Palmer, noting that information from another VPD officer led to the investigation of Fisher. 

Fisher is a 29-year member of the VPD and in 2015 received a Chief Constable Unit Citation for "extraordinary dedication" for his part in the Counter Exploitation Unit's investigation into a child trafficking case.

"The details I can share are limited, as the matter is before the courts," said Palmer at a hastily called news conference Thursday.

He said a fellow officer came forward with concerns about Fisher in March of 2016 and an investigation was immediately called at that time.

Palmer also said that B.C.'s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner was also involved in the case from the beginning.

"It is rare for a VPD officer to be charged with offences such as these," said Palmer. "There is no information that any other officer was involved."

The charges against Fisher relate to allegations from August 2015 to November of this year.

'Very troubling news'

Palmer denied that any Creep Catcher group — those that look to use false online social media accounts to out sexual predators — were involved in Fisher's case.

But Vancouver's top cop did say that because Fisher was involved in numerous investigations, the force will be reviewing those.

Fisher appeared in court Thursday morning, but the details of his bail hearing are subject to a publication ban.

Palmer called the charges against Fisher "very troubling news" and said they are "not reflective of the other members of the police department."

DRC - Many Child Soldiers are Girls Who Volunteered

To escape poverty, girls are choosing to be child soldiers in the DRC
By Rumbi Chakamba, Women & Girls 

People take part in a demonstration against Congolese President Joseph Kabila in Brussels, Belgium, on December 17. Demonstrators demand the respect of the constitution in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the departure of Joseph Kabila after the end of his second mandate.
Photo by Julien Warnand/European Pressphoto Agency

Throughout the decades-long conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, children have been abducted and made to serve as soldiers. While most are male, it is estimated over a third are female, used mainly as domestic and sexual servants, but sometimes as fighters. Now the London-based NGO Child Soldiers International has released a report showing that many of the girls in armed groups weren't enlisted by force. They joined of their own free will – driven by poverty and a lack of access to education.

The NGO interviewed over 200 female former child soldiers following their escape from local militia groups, collectively known as the Mai Mai. The researchers found that many of the girls who had joined by choice cited the burden of school fees as their primary reason. Education was beyond their reach, but life with an armed group would at least offer them food, security and, they thought, better opportunities. "I was pushed out of school for failing to pay the fees, so instead of roaming aimlessly in town, it was better to go and help [the militia] in the bush," one girl was quoted as saying in CSI's report.

"Sometimes they join the Mai Mai encouraged by their parents, who think that providing their children to the armed group can protect the family against attacks and looting," says Sandra Olsson, spokeswoman for CSI. "Although it may sound like a choice, in reality it could be their only option to escape a life of utter poverty or to protect themselves from constant and terrifying attacks on their villages."

But for all the girls who join, whether voluntarily or by force, the reality is that life under the control of armed groups is one of servitude and abuse. As one of the girls interviewed by CSI put it: "Life in the bush was only suffering."

The girls said they were used as domestic servants and sex slaves. Many were repeatedly raped, often by different men, and drugged. "I would wake up and find myself naked," one victim told the researcher. "They gave us drugs so that we would not get tired of all of them using us."

The girls also described how they were forced to loot goods and then carry the heavy spoils through the bush, for hours and sometimes days. Those who were too weak to carry their pillaged load were killed.

But for many of the girls, escape offered little relief. When they finally make it back home, girls who have been living with the Mai Mai are "often stigmatized and rejected by the community and also experience difficulties in rehabilitation," says Dede Nkuluba, spokeswoman for Reconfort, a local organization that helps reintegrate former child soldiers.

The assumption that all female child soldiers are used for sex leads to many of them becoming isolated and, as a result, living in poverty. "For the majority of girls we interviewed, we were struck to find out that a major source of distress came from the current stigmatization, if not outright rejection, they faced when they finally returned home, because [in their words], they had 'known men in the bush,'" says the CSI's Olsson.

"Some of the girls we talked to even said that they had considered going back because they couldn't take the pain of being stigmatized and excluded from community life," she says. Furthermore, advocates believe this stigma could explain why many girls choose to stay in the militias and suffer.

Though it's difficult to get accurate figures for the number of girls within the Mai Mai, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo estimates that girls make up around 30 to 40 percent of children in armed groups. Between January 2009 and November 2015, out of 8,546 former child soldiers registered by MONUSCO, only 7 percent were girls. That leaves a disproportionately high number of girls either unaccounted for or still serving as members of the armed groups.

The former female child soldiers who spoke to CSI researchers said that when they escaped, they left many girls behind. As well as fearing rejection by their communities, girls within the groups are often subjected to stricter security measures than boys. And during demobilization, girls aren't considered soldiers but "wives" and, in some cases, mothers, so they are often held back, or hidden away, when militia commanders hand over the children in their ranks to child-protection agencies.

Despite their ordeals, many of the girls interviewed by CSI still hold on to dreams of a better life. According to Nkuluba of Reconfort, many female child soldiers find it difficult to re-enter the school system because they are usually too old by the time they manage to escape. But the girls in the CSI study said they were determined to get an education in the hope that it would lead to a positive identity and acceptance by their communities.

One recurring theme in the CSI's research is the importance of access to education for girls, both in helping those who are trying to reintegrate and for preventing them from joining the Mai Mai in the first place.

"Prevention is rarely prioritized in a situation of ongoing conflict," says Olsson. "We need long-term interventions to stabilize and pacify communities. Education is an important part of that."

Rumbi Chakamba is a freelance journalist based in southern Africa. This article originally 
appeared on Women & Girls, and you can find the original here. For important news about 
the issues that impact female populations in the developing world, you can sign up to the 
Women & Girls Hub email list. 

British Girl Held as Sex Slave for 13 Years by Rapist Who Sold Her 4 Babies

First I have heard of this. I wonder how many more such
horror stories there are that I am not aware of?
Anna Ruston was held for 13 years and brutally raped
by a Pakistani inside his family home,
but is now bravely telling her story
BY EMILY RETTER, Mirror

file photo

For 13 long years Anna Ruston was held prisoner inside her abductor’s home; she was beaten relentlessly and used a sex slave.

Her harrowing story, told for the first time today, has chilling echoes of those of world-famous kidnap victims Natascha Kampusch , Jaycee Lee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, and Elisabeth Fritzl.

Yet this all happened in the UK.

Mostly locked in a bedroom, Anna’s only contact with the outside world came on rare hospital visits for brutal injuries and the birth of four children.

These innocents, the result of repeated rapes, would later be sold on by the monster.

Through these hospital visits, he would remain by her side, posing as her husband – yet she was too petrified to speak out.

Her ordeal was similar to that of the daughter of Josef Fritzle (Photo: Getty Images)

“I can still see that bedroom, the corner where I would rock in pain. Although after a while I stopped feeling pain, I think my body shut down,” she says. “And I can smell it – the can I used as a toilet, the garlic he reeked of. I got to the point where I didn’t know what life was.”

Anna only stayed sane, she recalls, by talking to her late grandmother – the woman who brought her up when her parents rejected her.

That, and by looking at a small ragged photo of her first boyfriend, Jamie, which she kept hidden under a floorboard.

Just 15 when first imprisoned, Anna, whose name has been changed for her safety, has never felt strong enough to give evidence to bring her captor to justice. The police have tried to change her mind, even revealing a later victim is willing to speak out if she does.

The house of 'Sweden's Fritzl'

But as part of her therapy, she has written her story in a new book, Secret Slave. She hopes, in time, she will be able to take her captor to court.

Anna told how she was a vulnerable teen staying with a friend of her mum’s before she was lured by Malik – an Asian taxi driver who worked at the Midlands rank where she helped out.

Malik is a Pakistani name, to be specific. I know that is no surprise to anyone from the Midlands area.

“My nana died when I was ten and my parents didn’t want me,” Anna explains.

Her story bears similarities to those of young white girls, often in care, who have been groomed by convicted Asian sex gangs across the UK.

“If anyone showed me affection I grabbed hold of that,” she adds. “Malik would ask me how I was. It was nice to have someone interested."

American Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped aged 14 (Photo: Reuters)

“When he asked me to go back to his house for tea he knew no one would miss me."

“There are a lot of vulnerable girls like I was. This could be happening on any street.” Anna fears it was because Malik was Asian that authorities she encountered during her captivity asked no questions.

She says: “Malik dressed me in his culture’s clothes, dyed my hair black, made me wear a scarf and keep my head down. When he spoke for me they thought it was a cultural thing. And I think people are scared to be accused of ­discrimination.” Sounding more broken than angry, she adds: “I feel let down.”

It was one day in 1987 that the cabbie asked blonde Anna to “meet his family for tea”, which she “thought was nice”. It was just two days after her 15th birthday.

She says Malik lived with his brothers, their wives, children and his mother.

Anna recalls: "They gave me milky tea and chapattis and even when Malik said I should stay the night I thought nothing of it, I assumed he would take me home in the morning.”

Natascha Kampusch was held in a basement for eight years (Photo: REUTERS/Police/Handout)

Instead, she says, Malik came into her room and branded her a “filthy white s***” who he would “make his own”. He turned on her with the most violent physical abuse and sickening rape ­imaginable, then locked the bedroom door.

This torture and pain would be repeated almost every night for 13 years.

One of his brothers also took to visiting her. And, seeing an opportunity to make money, Malik eventually prostitued her to men who would visit the house. Malik’s family turned a blind eye.

The wives were sometimes friendly, on occasion sneaking her painkillers. They would draw heavy kohl make-up around her eyes to hide her bruises.

“But they were scared to say anything,” she says. “They were being abused too.”

The only time Malik let up in his abuse was when Anna was pregnant.

Jaycee Dugard was held for 18 years (Photo: Channel 4)

She carried four children during her captivity. The reason for Malik’s apparent care soon became clear. He wanted to sell her babies – as she quickly learned after giving birth to her first, a boy.

Anna was overjoyed when she realised she was pregnant. She admits: “When you feel a baby move in your stomach you feel you have someone with you, you are not alone.” But when her firstborn arrived in hospital, Malik quickly got her discharged and whisked him away.

“I barely held any of my babies, I did not get the chance to be a mother to them,” Anna says.

Each time, she would be marched out to hold her children for health visitors. But once contact stopped, the baby would be sold.

“I do not know where they are,” she admits.

It seems astonishing that no professional raised the alarm when they met this mute, six-stone girl.

Once, the police visited the house when Anna’s screams were heard – but Malik convinced them all was fine. For herself, Anna says she simply became too terrified to escape.

“Twice I tried to get out of the back door but I got such a beating,” she admits.

Instead, she made regular attempts to kill herself – with painkillers, by throwing herself down the stairs, and even by trying to strangle herself with her scarf. “But I couldn’t bear the choking,” she says. Anna admits she would eventually have ended it all, had not finally been for the help of a health visitor.

Secret Slave by Anna Ruston is out today: RRp £7.99 Blink Publishing

She eventually plucked up the courage to write “help me” on a piece of paper with a date she knew Malik and his family would be distracted by prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid.

When her health visitor came to the house she dropped it on the floor. Anna remembers: “I think she must have had an inkling, because she put her foot on it, then picked it up.”

When the woman handed her a form to sign she had written on it: “I will ring the house phone three times when I’m outside.”

The plan had everything stacked against it, but by miracle, it worked.

As expected, the family were occupied with prayers, and after the phone rang Anna asked to go to the toilet – they let her.

Anna had planned to try the back door – but with an incredible stroke of luck, a key had been left in the front and she managed to get out to her rescuer. “I think Nana was looking down on me,” says

By the time they alerted police, Malik had already been in touch, claiming his “wife” had run away and “suffered severe mental illness”.

But eventually, Anna managed to get them to believe her story. However, she was too terrified to press charges.

I can understand her reluctance to charge Malik, but she needs to get past that and hopefully writing this book will help her. As long as he is free other girls are in danger. His brothers also need to be brought before the law as well as the women who helped keep her locked up.

But what really confounds me is why the police are not looking for her children born from Malik? They have the records of their birth from the hospital, they have his admission as the father, yet they don't have any idea where the children are! They don't need Anna's testimony to get a conviction here, so why are they not pursuing this angle?

Under police protection, briefly, she stayed with her mother who seemed unconcerned about where she had been. Neither of her parents made any attempt to search for her after she went missing nor had social services.

Anna’s salvation came when she met Jamie again.

Amanda Berry who was held by Ariel Castro (Photo: AFP)

Her old flame, who had also been away with the Army, was delighted to see her.

When she told him she had suffered anorexia and had been in hospital and moved away, he accepted that. The pair slowly re-built their ­relationship. “I struggled with anything physical for a long time,” Anna admits. “I only let him hold my hand.” But Jamie accepted her anxiety was down to her mental illness. Incredibly, it was only last year she told him the truth.

“He went away for a day, I thought I had lost him, that he would judge me,” she says. “But he came back and just hugged me.”

The couple have four chidlren of their own, aged 15, 11, eight and four. Like the ones she had in captivity they are two boys and two girls.

I say I only have four – although they could never replace those I lost,” says Anna.

Anna, who still suffers from physical injuries, as well as bulimia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which means she rarely leaves her home. “It is a hard life, my children and Jamie keep me going,” she says.

Anna hopes one day, along with being physically free, she will finally be emotionally free.


Evil kidnappers who held girls around the world

Ariel Castro
(Photo: Reuters)

Bus driver Ariel Castro kidnapped three women between 2002 and 2004 by offering them lifts and luring them to his home in Cleveland, Ohio.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were chained to a wall in a windowless room and constantly raped and beaten.

Amanda, snatched at 16, had Castro’s daughter in 2006 and was “rewarded” by being unchained.

In May 2013, he left their room’s door unlocked and she went to the front storm door to scream for help from neighbours.

Puerto Rican-born Castro killed himself shortly after starting his life sentence in 2013, aged 53.


Josef Fritzl

Elizabeth Fritzl had seven children with her own father (Photo: Daily Mirror)

Josef Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth captive for 24 years behind eight locked doors in a secret basement at his home.

He assaulted and raped her numerous times, and Elisabeth had seven children by him.

Four joined her in captivity but one died. The other three were raised by Fritzl and wife Rosemarie – he claimed they were dumped on the doorstep.

Elisabeth was 18 when her dad lured her into the 600sq ft basement in Amstetten, Austria, on August 29, 1984.

At times, Fritzl shut off the lights or refused to deliver food for days as punishment.

Elisabeth only escaped in 2008 after one daughter fell ill and she begged Fritzl to let her visit the child in hospital. Police who had checked on a missing persons report detained the family at the hospital.

Fritzl was jailed for life. Now 81, he is held in a section for the criminally insane at a prison in Upper Austria. Elisabeth and her children live in an unnamed village in the country’s north.


Brian David Mitchell

Brian David Mitchell (Photo: Reuters)

Elizabeth Smart was aged 14 when she was abducted from her bedroom by Brian David Mitchell.

The religious fanatic had been hired by Elizabeth’s Mormon parents as handyman in their home in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2002, he abducted her in the middle of the night and dragged her up a canyon, where she was chained to a tree and raped. Elizabeth’s sister, Mary Katherine, then aged nine, witnessed the kidnapping and gave police a description of the abductor.

Elizabeth was taken to Sandy, Utah – 18 miles from her home – and held by her captor and his wife, Wanda Ileen Barzee, for nine months. In 2003, Mitchell was arrested after someone recognised him from a photofit shown on TV.

Mitchell, was jailed for life and Barzee for 15 years.


Phillip and Nancy Garrido

Phillip Garrido was jailed for over 400 years (Photo: Reuters)

In June 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted while walking from her home in California to a school bus.

Her stepfather, who was waving her off, witnessed the kidnapping.

Jaycee was kept captive by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, inset, for 18 years. She was forced to live in tents behind her captors’ home in Antioch. Jaycee had two daughters with Philip, giving birth for the first time aged 14.

Nancy Garrido got 36 years for her part in the crime (Photo: Reuters)

Phillip, who was on parole for a separate incident, was caught in 2009, when he was seen with two young girls. His parole officers ordered him to a meeting, which he attended with the girls and an older woman, who was identified as Jaycee, then 29.

Phillip received 431 years in prison, while Nancy was sentenced to 36 years.



Wolfgang Priklopil

Priklopil threw himself under a train after Natacha escaped (Photo: Reuters)

Austrian Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped on her way to school by Wolfgang Priklopil in 1998, aged 10.

She was locked in a windowless cell beneath his garage outside Vienna and beaten, starved and abused. She escaped in 2006 after she was told to clean Priklopil’s car and she managed to run to a nearby house.

Priklopil killed himself the same day by jumping in front of a train and Natascha wept when she found out, leading police to think she had Stockholm syndrome.

Natascha released a book about her ordeal, 3,096 Days, in 2010 and a film was out in 2013. Earlier this year, it was reported she lives part-time in the house she was held in after Priklopil, gave it to her in his will.


HELPLINES

If you have suffered any kind of abuse and would like to talk to someone, these 24-hour freephone helplines and websites can help you:

Samaritans: 116 123 (across UK and Ireland), and samaritans.org

National Domestic Violence helpline: 0808 2000 247

The Survivors’ Trust: 0808 801 0818 and thesurvivorstrust.org

Wednesday 28 December 2016

Army Colonel, Doctor and Teacher Among 8 Caught with Child Porn

8 men ruin their lives and embarrass others with child porn habit
Army Colonel Sentenced to 12 Years in
Child Pornography Case
By MARK SCOLFORO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARRISBURG, Pa.

A colonel who once headed the U.S. Army's strategic war gaming division sobbed and apologized Wednesday before being sentenced to 12 years for receipt and distribution of child pornography.

Col. Robert Rice, 59, told a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that he was deeply ashamed and acknowledged that the victims of child pornography may never heal.

"When this began I didn't see the human beings," Rice said. "I came to realize that this is not a victimless crime. That each time an image is passed it renews the ... emotional damage."

He said he was "so sorry and ashamed for what I did to continue that cycle."

The sentence was made concurrent with a four-year term he received in October after pleading guilty to three pornography counts during a military court-martial. Those findings and sentence are under review by an Army general.

In the federal case, Rice was convicted by a jury, and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Clancy said his actions during the investigation and trial were calculated. "The severity of this kind of crime cannot be overstated," Clancy said.

Clancy said that Rice wore his full dress uniform, bedecked in medals, every day of his trial.

Rice also blamed his wife for his own conduct, which Clancy said subjected her "to an extended period of humiliation." Clancy said they have been involved in a protracted, bitter divorce that is not final.

Rice told U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner that his own actions put his wife in an impossible position. "She had the moral courage to do what was right, and I did not," Rice said.

Rice, who has spent 37 years in the military, was most recently assigned to the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was arrested in 2013.

Conner said Rice's criminal activity became known because of software that had been installed on one of his computers. He said Rice had a large number of images and displayed knowledge of and experience in trading child pornography, actions that occurred over an extended period of time.

He was fined $5,100 and will have to spend 10 years under supervision upon release.






Former Survivor contestant jailed for
child pornography
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Michael Skupin winces in pain after badly burning his hands, face and shoulders during an episode of Survivor II: The Australian Outback.

PONTIAC, Mich. — A former contestant of the CBS TV show “Survivor” has been sentenced to at least a year in prison for possessing child pornography.

Michael Skupin appeared Tuesday in Oakland County court in suburban Detroit. He asked for mercy from the judge and said he’s “deeply sorry.” But Skupin denied downloading the photos on his laptop.

So, what's he sorry for?

In a separate case, he was placed on probation and ordered to pay $31,800 to victims of a financial scheme. During that investigation, authorities found child porn on Skupin’s laptop. He was convicted in November.

Skupin will be eligible for parole after a year. The longest he can be kept in prison is four years.

In 2001, Skupin had to be evacuated from the “Survivor II: The Australian Outback” after falling into a campfire, but he returned for “Survivor: Philippines” in 2012.  

Pontiac, MI




Man, 33, facing child porn charges after investigation in Guelph, Ont.
By: Staff The Canadian Press 

GUELPH, Ontario — A 33-year-old man is facing child pornography charges after an investigation in Guelph, Ont.

Local police say they'd undertaken a lengthy investigation into child porn offences, but provided no details.

They say the man was arrested Tuesday and charged with accessing and possessing child pornography as well as making it available for distribution.

Police did not release the man's name. He is due to appear in court on Feb. 7.

Guelph, Ontario




Clark Co. man faces federal child porn charges

By: Richard Wilson

A Clark County man is facing federal child pornography charges and is being held in jail following his Dec. 22 arrest. 

Timothy Kenneth Wright, 45, of New Carlisle, is charged with one count each of possessing and distributing material containing "visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of a minor," according to records with the U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio.. 

The defendant has been appointed a public defender. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and a detention hearing is set for Thursday in Magistrate Judge Michael J. Newman's courtroom. 

Court records show the case against Wright was filed on Dec. 15 and he was arrested by U.S. Marshals the following week. 

Wright was sent to prison in 1996 for three years after being convicted of a similar offense involving a minor in nudity material. 

He previously lived in Fairborn and in 2010 he was charged with failing to register his address in Greene County. 

Wright is not currently registered as a sex offender in the state of Ohio.

New Carlisle, OH




Lewiston man gets 10 years for child porn

Sun Journal Staff CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS, Staff Writer  

LEWISTON — A federal judge imposed a 10-year sentence on a local man for seeking child pornography on his computer.

Douglas Blodgett, 46, appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland where the judge also sentenced him to a decade of supervised release for accessing with intent to view material containing images of child pornography. He also was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to the child depicted in several of the child pornography images he accessed by computer.

Blodgett had pleaded guilty to that charge in August.

At his Lewiston home in March, Blodgett had logged on to his home computer and accessed various child pornography sites. He used so-called Internet Relay Chat through his Internet browser to find child pornography, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Chapman.

Prosecutors indicated they would have been able to establish at trial that the information about Blodgett's Internet access was obtained during a forensic search of his computer and through admissions he made to investigators, according to court records.

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's Homeland Security investigations.

Lewiston, Maine



Child porn victims sue ex-Pennsylvania college professor

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania college professor convicted on child pornography charges is being sued by eight victims depicted in the porn series authorities discovered on his computers.

The victims, identified only by pseudonyms, filed a lawsuit against 59-year-old Kirk Nesset in Erie federal court last week seeking statutory damages of $150,000 apiece in addition to compensatory and punitive damages.

Seattle-based lawyer Carol Hepburn says she brought the legal action to compensate the victims, who continue to suffer because recordings of their abuse are online forever.

The former creative writing and contemporary literature professor resigned from his position at Allegheny College following his arrest in October 2014.

Nesset is currently serving a 76-month term in a federal prison in California.

Erie, PA




Ann Arbor area doctor charged with
possession of child porn
By Darcie Moran 

ANN ARBOR, MI - A doctor from the Ann Arbor area faces federal charges of possession of child pornography.

Timothy Paul Barth, 66, of Scio Township was indicted on two charges for receipt and possession of child pornography on Dec. 20 in the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Court, federal court records show.

Barth came under investigation after Ann Arbor area Best Buy employees found images of child pornography on his computer while working on it in April 2016.

According to the complaint filed on Dec. 13, investigators found about 3,729 images of child pornography, primarily of prepubescent girls, on Barth's laptop.

Barth remains in federal custody after a detention hearing on Dec. 16 in which U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Sara Woodward revealed allegations that Barth assaulted female relatives as children.

One victim reported in 2011 that she was assaulted as a child in the 1990s when she was sick at a holiday gathering, and he was allowed to take care of her because he was a doctor, according to a Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office report included in online court records.

David Steingold, Barth's attorney, raised questions about the validity of the claims and the timing of the 2011 report, indicating there may have been a disagreement between Barth and the relative before she contacted police, according to audio recordings of the hearing. Woodward disputed Steingold's assertions, according the audio recordings.

Steingold also said Barth is seeing a psychologist, who, according to court records, specializes in treatment of sexual disorders and forensic evaluation of sexually-related offenses. 

A hearing to review his appeal of his detention is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2017.

Barth, who is listed as an Ann Arbor doctor, has lived in the community for more than 35 years and was working as a general internist at clinics in Warren and Detroit at the time of his arrest, according to court documents.

Scio Township, MI




Teacher loses licence for not disclosing
child porn convictions
Alistair Martin-Smith did not reveal that he had been convicted of offences in the United Kingdom in 2007.
By TERESA LATCHFORD Aurora Banner

A York Region teacher has been stripped of his certification for failing to reveal child pornography convictions.

The Ontario College of Teachers Discipline Committee has found Alistair Martin-Smith guilty of misconduct when he failed to disclose criminal convictions relating to child pornography when applying for a long-term occasional teaching position with the York Region District School Board. At his hearing, Martin-Smith pled guilty to professional misconduct and his certification and qualification with the organization was revoked immediately.

While the school board is unable to speak about specific cases and would not confirm or deny if this teacher set foot in a classroom, the board’s recruitment and retention manager, Gail Long, said many teachers are hired on a conditional agreement.

“The full hiring process isn’t complete until the applicant’s vulnerable sector screening is complete and comes back clean and clear,” she said. “If there is a red flag in the results, human resources will take a closer look.”

An item of concern on a screening report would trigger an adjudication process within the human resources department, she added. The issue would be further examined, the applicant may be asked questions for clarification and it is at the discretion of the department whether employment should be approved or denied.

“Our priority is student safety,” Long said. “We do our due diligence and ensure screening reports are clean and clear before a teacher sets foot in a classroom.”

In 2006, Martin-Smith lived and worked in the United Kingdom. He took his laptop into a repair shop where a technician checked the hard drive and found what looked like pornographic images of children, according to the agreed statements of facts released by the Ontario College of Teachers.

The repair shop reported it to police and Martin-Smith was arrested and charged. The images found included more than 1,700 pornographic images and videos of individuals who were or who appeared to be children.

In 2007, he was convicted of one count of taking an indecent photograph and 14 counts of making indecent photographs of children relating to the images he had downloaded from the Internet.

In 2012, he applied for a long-term occasional teacher position with the York Region District School Board. After completing the required paperwork and completing an interim offense declaration, he was hired.

Following consent by Martin-Smith, the York Regional Police and Toronto Police Service proceeded with a reference check and a vulnerability sector screening report, which all board staff must undergo. In 2013, the report uncovered his criminal record in the United Kingdom.

The Ontario College of Teachers investigated the allegations of Martin-Smith providing false information regarding his professional qualifications, failing to reveal criminal convictions and signing a declaration with false or omitted information.

It was also decided Martin-Smith’s name would be made public in the college’s monthly publication to act as a deterrent, not only for the applicant himself, but others who may consider providing false or omitting information on applications in the future.

York Region, Ontario