Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis faces more allegations of sexual misconduct
The Associated Press
A lawsuit charging London, Ont. native Paul Haggis with raping a publicist has prompted three additional women to come forward with their own sexual misconduct accusations against the Oscar-winning filmmaker, including another publicist who says he forced her to perform oral sex, then raped her.
Paul Edward Haggis (born March 10, 1953) is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer, and director of film and television. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners: Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Crash (2005), the latter of which he also directed. He is the creator of the television series Due South and the co-creator of Walker, Texas Ranger. He is a two-time Academy Award winner, two-time Emmy Award winner, and seven-time Gemini Award winner. - Wikipedia
The lawsuit was amended late Friday to include allegations of sexual misconduct toward those three additional women, who have chosen to remain anonymous. In the lawsuit, obtained by CBC News, the women are referred to as Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3.
When asked about the new accusations, Christine Lepera, the lawyer for the 64-year-old screenwriter of Million Dollar Baby and Crash, said, "He didn't rape anybody."
A statement from Lepera provided to CBC News says that, "Mr. Haggis denies these anonymous claims in whole." In the statement, Lepera goes on to say that the new accusers have not made their concerns known directly to Haggis.
"Notably, no one has reached out to anyone on Mr. Haggis's team other than the press to report this. He views the fact that these reports appear to be spearheaded from the law firm representing Ms. Breest as a further tactic to try to harm him and continue their effort to obtain money."
Breest is the original complainant.
Dylan Farrow unloads on Cate Blanchett for hypocrisy over sex abuse and Woody Allen
DYLAN Farrow has launched a new attack on Cate Blanchett for working with her father and alleged abuser Woody Allen amid the Hollywood sex abuse scandal.
News Corp Australia NetworkCATE Blanchett has taken a stand against sexual harassment by launching a new campaign, but she’s been accused of hypocrisy over her relationship with alleged abuser Woody Allen.
Blanchett is one of 300 prominent women in the entertainment industry who founded Time’s Up, an initiative to fight sexual harassment across the US and a legal defence fund to help less fortunate women.
Farrow replied overnight to a tweet by the New York Times describing Blanchett as a “vocal campaigner against sexual harassment”.
“Can one be a ‘vocal campaigner against sexual harassment’ and a vocal supporter of Woody Allen? Seems a tad oxymoronic.”
The Australian icon won the 2014 Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Allen’s Blue Jasmine.
Cate Blanchett accepts the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role award for Blue Jasmine onstage during the Oscars in 2014. Picture: Getty Images
Farrow, 32, has long maintained her father sexually assaulted her on countless occasions when she was a child.
In a 2014 New York Times article describing one incident, she wrote that Allen, who was in a de-facto relationship with Dylan’s mum Mia Farrow, led her to a “dim, closet-like attic” in their home and asked her to lay on her stomach and play with a toy train before assaulting her.
“He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris and I’d be a star in his movies,” she wrote.
“For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing things to me that I didn’t like,” she alleged.
“I didn’t like how often he would take me away from my mum, siblings and friends to be alone with him. I didn’t like it when he would stick his thumb in my mouth. I didn’t like it when I had to get in bed with him under the sheets when he was in his underwear. I didn’t like it when he would place his head in my naked lap and breathe in and breathe out.”
Mia Farrow holding son Satchel, now known as Ronan, with father, Woody Allen holding daughter Dylan. Picture: Getty Images
The Midnight In Paris director was investigated but never charged, and has consistently denied the allegations. He countered that Mia brainwashed daughter Dylan to get back at him during their messy breakup.
When asked about the letter, which was published a month before she won the Oscar for starring in Blue Jasmine, Blanchett responded:
“It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family, and I hope they find some resolution and peace.”
Farrow also slammed Blake Lively in a tweet overnight.
When Lively, who is also one of the founding members of Time’s Up, tweeted she was “honoured” to be part of the movement, Farrow replied:
“You worked with my abuser, @blakelively. Am I a woman who matters too?”
Child sex offenders Vanessa George, Mohammed Liaqat and Wayne Fox could be freed
By Charlie Bayliss and Amie Gordon For Mailonline
There are fears a string of high-profile paedophiles could walk free from prison after the 'black cab rapist' John Worboys was released after just nine years.Worboys, Britain’s worst serial sex offender, was jailed in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting 12 passengers.
Now, among those who may be eligible for release from an 'indefinite sentence for public protection' (IPP) is Vanessa George, part of one of the 'most sickening paedophile rings this country has ever seen' who abused children in her care at a nursery in Plymouth.
Other notorious inmates who are eligible include Wayne Fox, who left his girlfriend in a coma after savagely beating her beyond recognition, and Mohammed Liaqat, the mastermind behind a child grooming gang in Derby.
The taxi driven by Warboys in which he would assault his victims after telling them, 'Don't worry, I'll get you home safe'
The controversial sentencing policy brought was in by Tony Blair's government.
Worboys, 60, has been linked to more than 100 rapes or sexual assaults in the back of his black cab during his reign of terror from July 2007 and February 2008.
Police found a rape kit in the back of Worboys' taxi which including sleeping tablets, condoms and an ashtray he used to crush the drugs (top right)
Liaqat will be eligible for parole next year was handed an IPP with a minimum sentence of eight year sentence back in 2011.
Fox could be free as early as 2019 after he was given a eight years minimum back in 2011, while George was refused parole last year but could apply after serving seven years of her IPP.
The decision to release Worboys has been heavily criticised, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has also come under fire for using just 14 complainants in is trial despite more than 100 women coming forward.
It has been said many of the statements did not pass the 'evidential threshold', but the Sunday Times claims at least 26 of the women picked Worboys out as their attacker.
Worboys was also given an IPP, which was banned six years ago by European courts on the basis of human rights. It was designed to keep prisoners indefinitely unless they proved they were fit for release.
More than 1,800 have been released over the past 18 months, but Worboys was among the first serious offenders to be considered for release.
HIGH-PROFILE PAEDOPHILES WHO COULD BE RELEASED FROM JAIL
VANESSA GEORGE
She was arrested and jailed for sexually assaulting babies and children aged around two, photographing the abuse, and sending the images to Colin Blanchard, the 'Facebook friend' to whom she sent thousands of messages and photographs.
She admitted taking up to eight pictures a day while on duty in an attempt to get him to propose to her.
There were fears she would walk free after serving her minimum sentence of seven years in December 2016, but she was turned down for parole. The panel decided the mother-of-two was still a danger and will not be considered for release again until 2019.
MOHAMMED LIAQAT
Liaqat and Saddique were the ringleaders of a gang who brought a ‘reign of terror’ to Derby's streets, targeting and grooming young girls for horrific sexual abuse.
They ran a nine-strong gang which cruised around Derby in a BMW or a Range Rover – which Saddique referred to as the ‘Rape Rover’ – looking for vulnerable young girls.
They were then offered rides in the car to ‘link and chill’ with the men, plied with vodka stored under the seats and taken to parks, hotel rooms or houses, where they were sometimes offered cocaine before being pressured into sex.
When girls refused their advances they were threatened with hammers or thrown out of cars.
Unemployed Liaqat, of Sinfin, Derby, was convicted of rape, aiding and abetting rape, being involved with child pornography, two sexual assaults, four counts of sexual activity with a child, and affray.
Liaqat was handed an IPP sentence with a minimum of eight years in 2011 for a string of offences including rape and sexual assault. He will be eligible for parole next year.
WAYNE FOX
Bareknuckle fighter Wayne Fox battered his beauty student girlfriend so badly that medics couldn't tell what sex she was.
Fox was handed an IPP of a minimum eight years in 2011.
His ex partner Tirion Lewis was left in a coma for a month and spent 18 months trying to recover from the brutal attack by 6ft 2in Fox.
Tirion was kidnapped by paranoid schizophrenic Fox as she sat in a car listening to music with her best friend Miriam Lewis.
The boxer smashed his bare fist through the window before driving terrified Tirion and her friend Miriam to forestry for the brutal attack.
He punched her 'time after time' until she sunk into a coma in the motiveless attack in woodland in west Wales.
None of these people should ever get out of jail. Letting them out to meet some arbitrary target is just insanity. Women and children will pay a high price for this stupidity.
A man has been jailed for 16 years for
raping a young girl
raping a young girl
Yasir Mohammed, 41, claimed the girl was lying, but was found guilty by a jury of two counts of rape after a trial at Hull Crown Court.
He has now been jailed as Hull's most senior judge told him: "Your conduct can only be categorised as both depraved and cruel."
It took nearly 70 minutes of an interview with specially trained officers for the victim to disclose what had happened to her.
She could only tell police what happened by placing stickers on a diagram of the female body.
Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, Recorder of Hull and East Riding, told Mohammed: "It was very difficult for that very young child to explain precisely what happened. But with the assistance of experienced police officers it was possible for her, with the use of diagrams and other techniques, to explain your grotesque behaviour."
Medical examinations by a consultant paediatrician also revealed an injury consistent with sexual abuse.
The abuse came to light after the girl's mother noticed she was behaving "oddly", the court heard.
Mohammed had made threats in a bid to stop her reporting his crimes.
Judge Richardson said: "She also said that you told her not to say anything or 'We'd both be dead'."
Mohammed, who listened to proceedings through an interpreter in Kurdish Sorani, is still maintaining his innocence. He has convictions for violence but no sex crimes on his record.
His barrister, Paul Genney, said: "I say nothing as far as the offences are concerned. They are obviously very grave. The defendant would like to me to say, and I therefore will, he maintains the stance he took in the trial."
Mr Genney said: "By reasons of this man's background; the difficulties with the language, and he's blind in one eye, custody for him is going to be particularly hard."
Fear not. You will find lots of Pakistani child rapists to socialize with.
The judge said Mohammed had made "a variety of outrageous assertions" in a bid to discredit witnesses in the case.
The second count represented rapes on occasions other than the first offence, and Mohammed was sentenced on the basis he had raped the victim "five or six times".
A child witness in the case said the offences took place "loads of times".
Judge Richardson said: "It is impossible for me to determine precisely how many times the rapes occurred. For the purposes of passing sentence upon you I can't be sure it was many occasions, but I am able to be sure it was in excess of four occasions. For the purposes of passing sentence, I am prepared to accept it was either five or six times."
The judge said the case was "exceptionally serious".
Mohammed, of Newington Avenue, west Hull, must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before he can be considered for release, and had an additional year placed on any period on licence.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for life, and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life.
One kidnapped Chibok schoolgirl and
2 other girls rescued in Nigeria
By Susan McFarland
Wife of the Vice President of Nigeria, Oludolapo Osinbajo (C) consoling one of the 21 released Chibok girls in Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2016. On Thursday, Nigeria military announced another schoolgirl who was abducted by the Islamist group Boko Haram was rescued. Photo by STR/EPA
UPI -- One of the schoolgirls abducted in 2014 by the Islamist group Boko Haram has been rescued, according to a Nigeria military official.
The Nigerian Army on Thursday announced on Twitter the girl is with troops and is safe and receiving medical attention.
The girl is one of more than 270 kidnapped by the group from a school in the town of Chibok. She was rescued more than 100 miles from Chibok in Pulka, in northern Borno state.
The military identified the girl as Salomi Pagu and said she was found with a girl named Jamila Adams who is about 14, and another child for whom the military did not list a name or age. Adams and the other child were not identified as being part of the Chibok group.
More than 100 of the kidnapped girls are still being held by Boko Haram and their whereabouts unknown. On the day they were captured, about 50 escaped. A group of 21 were freed in October 2016 after negotiations with Boko Haram.
In August, a top commander of Boko Haram confessed to leading the abduction of schoolgirls and surrendered to the Nigerian army. In September, more than 100 were reunited with their families in the capital Abuja.
The girls were freed in October, 2016 and were no allowed to go home until September 2017.
Dublin man charged over child sex abuse images
Tom Tuite, The Times
A 28-year-old man from Dublin has been released on bail after he was charged with possessing and distributing images of child sex abuse.
Peter McDonagh, of St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, faces two charges of knowingly distributing child pornography and possessing pornographic images of children.
Judge Alan Mitchell was told that the the director of public prosecutions (DPP) had directed that the man was to face trial on indictment and will be passed to the circuit court once a book of evidence had been completed.
Garda Desmond McNally said that the DPP had consented to the accused being sent to the higher court on a signed plea of guilty should that arise.
Judge Mitchell ordered him to appear again on a date next month when it is expected that he will be served with the book of evidence and returned for trial.
The judge agreed to a request by Siobhán Conlon, the defence solicitor, to grant legal aid after hearing that Mr McDonagh was not working and was on social welfare.
Dublin district court was told that when he was charged Mr McDonagh made no reply. There was no objection to bail and the judge said that reporting restrictions did not apply.
Child trafficking by Pakistani gang in Rochdale
- a second look
- a second look
THE widespread sexual assault and grooming of girls in the town of Rochdale was a case which shocked the country and prompted major criticism of the authorities.
The Sun Online looks at the scandal and how it was ignored by authorities for years.
Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a Rochdale child sex grooming gang, cited human rights laws as he launched
an appeal against deportation from Britain
PA:PRESS ASSOCIATION
What was the Rochdale child sex abuse ring?
The exposure of the grooming, sexual assault and trafficking of young girls in Rochdale was made public in 2012.
It resulted in the conviction of nine men for offences including rape and human trafficking on girls as young as 13 between 2005 and 2008.
Sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham spent years trying to get police, the council and social workers to take the grooming seriously.
After the gang was eventually jailed police, Crown prosecutors and Rochdale Council were forced to apologise for their failings.
The men - aged between 24 and 59 - preyed on teen girls plying with them booze and drugs in the Heywood area of Rochdale.
The Rochdale Safeguarding Children Board highlighted failures by 17 agencies who were meant to protect the children.
Who were the grooming gang?
Nine men were jailed for their part in the child sexual exploitation ring, the BBC reported in 2012.
Judge Gerald Clifton said at the time that the men - eight of Pakistani origin and one from Afghanistan - treated the girls "as though they were worthless and beyond respect".
Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a group of men who preyed on girls, was jailed for 22 years after being convicted of a string of offences including rape in 2012.
Four members of the grooming gang – including ringleader Ahmed – now face deportation to Pakistan.
The other three are Adil Khan, Qari Abdul Rauf and Abdul Aziz.
Khan, Rauf and Aziz were convicted of conspiracy and trafficking for sexual exploitation charges.
In June 2017 it was revealed that the members of the Rochdale gang facing deportation will receive legal aid to fight attempts to send them back to Pakistan, prompting widespread public anger.
In December 2013 a further five men were jailed after an investigation into the sexual abuse of a girl was reopened following the exposure of police failings.
The victim told police in 2008 Freddie Kendakumana raped her but he was not charged until October 2012.
In 2015 three men were sentenced for a string of child sexual offences that took place in Rochdale.
Two girls aged 13 and 15 and a 13-year-old boy were groomed by the three men between September and October 2014 after repeatedly going missing from care.
How many victims were there?
Police identified and interviewed 47 young girls who were potential victims of the gang in 2012.
It led police forces across the country to change the way that they deal with missing people.
The Times first revealed the issue of Asian sex gangs targeting girls after an investigation in Rotherham.
It led to an inquiry which found that at least 1,400 children had been exploited in that town.
A report by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board painted a picture of girls as young as 10 being targeted for sexual abuse.
Twelve council workers came under investigation for failures in relation to the case, and both the police and Crown Prosecution Service were forced to apologise for missing a chance to stop the gang in 2008.
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