Former Young Canadians official to plead guilty in middle of sex-abuse trial
Kevin MartinCalgary SUN News Calgary
Former Young Canadians official Philip Heerema is facing a potential jail term after his lawyer said Monday he would be entering a guilty plea.
Defence counsel Allan Fay told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Larry Ackerl he had reached an agreement with Crown prosecutor Martha O’Connor on a plea deal.
“I have instructions to resolve this matter by way of guilty plea,” Fay told Ackerl.
The move came as a surprise as Heerema had earlier pleaded not guilty (5th story on link) to 20 sex-abuse related charges involving teenage boys with the Calgary Stampede performance troupe and was in the middle of his trial.
Among the charges Heerema, 55, faces are four of making child pornography, two of accessing it, one of possessing child pornography, five of internet luring and three of sexual exploitation.
All those offences carry minimum sentences of one year in prison under the Criminal Code if the Crown proceeds by indictment, although some of those provisions have been ruled unconstitutional by some courts.
Fay said a guilty plea will be entered Tuesday, after O’Connor prepares a statement of agreed facts for Ackerl.
He said he will then be asking for an out-of-custody psychiatric assessment, meaning a sentencing hearing won’t take place for several months.
But he said he and O’Connor are in agreement on an appropriate punishment.
“There will be a joint submission for sentence,” Fay said.
The move comes after Ackerl heard evidence from several men who testified they came into contact with Heerema in the course of his employment with the Young Canadians.
Heerema was the business administrator for the performing troupe for the Calgary Stampede’s annual Grandstand show until he resigned in February, 2014, after allegations of inappropriate behaviour surfaced.
The 20 charges involved allegations of sexual impropriety involving eight teenage boys from 1992 to 2014.
The joint submission will, unfortunately, be much less than he deserves. Plea deals almost always are, and Canadian sentences are almost always too light to begin with.
Heerema has not agreed to a plea bargain because he feels guilty and ashamed of himself, nor because he wants to spare his victims the ordeal of having to testify, they've already done that. He is doing it for entirely selfish reasons for which he should not be rewarded. Nevertheless, we can all expect to be disappointed in the sentence he gets.
Hyderabad: Maths Teacher suspended for sex abuse
DECCAN CHRONICLE
Hyderabad: Maths teacher K. Lingaiah of Z. P. High School in Shivanagar, facing sexual harassment allegations, was suspended on January 25 itself, Sangareddy district education officer Vijaya Kumari said on Monday. The DEO received a complaint on January 11 after which an inquiry was conducted by assistant director and nodal officer against the teacher. The accused teacher gave his submission on January 25 after which he was suspended.
Denying the allegations by the child rights wing, DEO Vijaya Kumari said, “There was no meeting between the staff members and the accused, and no excuses were accepted from the accused. A proper inquiry was done in the school and the teacher was given a show-cause notice, and immediately suspended as per procedure.”
Meanwhile, the child rights wing has written to SP Sanga Reddy and state DGP about the issue of K. Lingaiah sexually abusing girl students of the school, asking for him to be booked under POSCO Act.
Shiva Nagar, India
Theresa May refuses to defend Defence Secretary
over affair with junior employee
Westminster Woes
Theresa May and Gavin Williamson © Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP
The recently appointed defence secretary, who took over from Michael Fallon after he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, admitted his affair in an interview with the Daily Mail on Monday.
Father-of-two Williamson told the right-wing tabloid how he had a relationship with a former junior employee at fireplace firm Elgin and Hall in 2004, behind his wife’s back.
He made the admission on the same day as he claimed “Russia is ready to kills Brits by the thousands.” Prompting accusations that he deployed hawkish rhetoric to deflect attention away from his affair.
When asked whether Williamson had been completely honest about how he departed his former job, Tory leader May fell short of outright defending Williamson.
During her trip to China, May dodged questions about his affair, saying: “Gavin has told people about something that happened before he became a member of Parliament, let alone became a minister.”
Williamson reported how he persisted in sending his lover flowers so she would finally give in to the affair. Williamson, however, who worked at Yorkshire-based Elgin and Hall as managing director, denies claims he was sacked by the firm because of the affair.
This was backed up by one of his friends, who told the Times: “They ended it on a Friday and both said it couldn't go on. On the Monday Gavin decided he didn't want to stay at the company. He was offered the job of operations director to stay. There was no disciplinary process.”
The PM also seemed to reject any similarities between Williamson and her former first secretary, Damian Green, who was sacked after a cabinet office investigation found he had not been honest about pornographic material found on his parliamentary computer.
Green was the latest senior minister to be targeted by the sexual harassment scandal that has been seeping through Westminster over the past months.
The latest scandal is likely to deal a blow to Williamson’s reported aspirations of becoming the next PM. The secretary has already been the target of a widespread backlash, as he was appointed to the role despite having no experience as a minister or in the armed forces.
Critics suggest he got the job through the backdoor, a returned favor from May due as he was instrumental in garnering parliamentary votes for her to become PM.
Teenage sex abuse victim felt 'used liked a puppet' by man who blackmailed her over two years
One Survivor's Story
Agricultural contractor, Alan Feehily (27), from Milebush, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, was described as “pure evil” by his victim, who said he has used her “like a puppet” to perform degrading sexual acts.
Feehily pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last November to four sample charges of defilement of a child aged under 15 years of age at various locations in Co. Galway on dates between 1 January, 2013 and 12 October, 2014, while the facts in another nine similar charges were admitted.
Detective Adrian Fehily told the sentence hearing last Friday the girl was aged between 14 and 17 and the accused was aged between 22 and 24 at the time the offences occurred. He said Feehily became acquainted with the girl when she was 14 through another person and disapproved when he heard she had a 15-year-old boyfriend.
He threatened to tell her parents about the boy if she didn’t give him a kiss. The girl refused but he kept threatening to tell her parents if she didn’t kiss him. She finally relented and kissed him. After that, the threats became more aggressive and Feehily blackmailed her by threatening to tell her parents she had kissed him.
Detective Fehily said the accused began bringing the girl to school in his car and drove her to various locations before using threats of violence to get her to perform sexual acts on him against her will while she was wearing her school uniform.
He would collect her after school and subject her to the same abuse. The seriousness of the sexual assaults progressed until one day, Feehily demanded the girl have full sexual intercourse with him after he had collected her from school.
The court was told Feehily “created rules” which the victim had to obey. “She would have to ring him daily to let him know where she was and what she was doing and would have to reply to his persistent text messages within ten minutes ,” Det Fehily said.
He demanded she take pictures of herself naked and video herself performing sexual acts before forwarding the content to his phone. He used these images to blackmail her further. She was 16 years old at the time.
The abuse ended when the girl attended a school friend’s 18th birthday party where there was no phone coverage. Feehily picked her up from the party and was aggressive towards her because she hadn’t phoned him or answered his texts. She confided in the friend and soon after the Gardai were contacted.
Feehily was arrested and his phone examined. Offending photos and videos of the victim were stored on the device.
He was interviewed on six occasions and at all times claimed the sex was consensual. He admitted he had sex with the underage girl on a number of occasions. He denied her claims that she had consented out of fear and because of the threats he made.
Det. Fehily confirmed Feehily had no previous convictions and had not come to Garda attention since.
Victim impact statement
In her victim impact statement, the girl, who was present in court, said her life had been turned upside down by the accused. She said school became a blur and her grades slipped as she became “fixated with staying alive.”
While my friends were all having fun, I was being forced every day – like a puppet – into degrading sexual acts against my will. I was completely ashamed and degraded. He was pure evil. I was forced to grow up fast and I lost six years of my life. I have suffered since I was 14.
“He showed the most awful cruelty to me as a teenager. I’m now able to dress as I like and I should be able to book a ticket freely and go where I like. “I really do wish to go to college and travel the world someday but he has put all of that on hold,” the girl said.
“While I know now that I will make it, I still find it hard to tell my story.
There were times when I was not believed, even by people in authority.
He has taken so many things, like safety and security from me and filled
me with shame and fear, but he has not taken away the person I am.
I will never be afraid of the truth again,”
the girl’s victim impact statement concluded.
Bernard Madden SC, defending, said a probation officer had carried out a partial risk assessment on Feehily and her report stated he would be a suitable candidate to carry out community service in lieu of a prison sentence.
Feehily told the probation officer he had been in a consensual relationship with the girl. The probation officer stated in her report that more time was needed to carry out a full risk assessment and that Feehily would benefit from the ongoing support of the probation service.
I suspect that many bullies who groom and coerce their victims are not fully aware of the criminal component to their relationships. He may well have convinced himself that it was a consensual relationship and that the girl just needed a little push now and then. Narcissists are like that!
Madden asked for sentence to be adjourned so that a comprehensive analysis and risk assessment on his client could be completed.
Referring to a report which was handed into court, Madden said it had found his client’s attitude to be: “Minimisation of offending and lack of empathy for the victim along with a failure to recognise a fetish for young girl in uniform.”
He said his client had assessed as being at “low to moderate risk of reoffending” because of his inability to see the harm of his actions.
That would make him moderate to high in my scale of reoffending probabilities.
Grooming
Judge Rory McCabe said there was compelling evidence of conduct that constituted grooming and that conduct had escalated to manipulation, domination, threats and aggression. The judge said Feehily had subjected the girl to a pattern of abuse of the grossest kind and he had maintained to the present day that it was all consensual.
“I have no difficulty in rejecting that,” he said. He said Feehily’s conduct demonstrated “a dangerous propensity to aggression and manipulation to a very high degree.”
The duration of the offending and the clear premeditation were seen as aggravating factors.
The victim, he said, had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a direct result of the years of sexual trauma she had suffered from a young age.
Noting the maximum sentence for the offence of defilement of a child was five years, Judge McCabe indicated a four-year sentence for each offence to be appropriate, giving a 20% discount, he said, for the “limited” mitigating factors.
However, he adjourned finalisation of that sentence to 10 May and directed the probation officer complete a full risk assessment of Feehily in the interim. He remanded him in custody until 10 May to await the findings of the probation assessment and to finalise sentence then.
Two young children in care report sexual abuse
by 11 people including their parents
Their story is one of 16 case studies published
by the Child Care Law Reporting Project.
Their story is one of 16 case studies published by the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP). The children in this case, who were both of primary school age, were told in December 2015, 18 months after coming into care, about interim care orders that had been secured.
It was at this time that they made disclosures of abuse by 11 named individuals, including their mother, their father, two male relatives, a female relative, three teenage girls and two other men. They also alleged another female relative was present when they were abused.
As a result of these allegations, the couple’s newborn baby was taken from them six months later under an emergency care order.
A specialist garda child sex abuse interviewer spoke to the children and Tusla, the child and family agency, applied to the court for the DVDs to be used as evidence, rather than hearing directly from the two young children.
This was granted by the judge. In the DVDs, the two children described in detail being forced to perform oral sex on the adults and being raped by some of them. They also gave detailed physical descriptions of all the adults involved.
Although their parents acknowledged they had a problem with alcohol, resulting in the children’s poor attendance at school and neglect, they denied any physical or sexual abuse. Five of the adults named by the children gave evidence, all denying there had been any sexual abuse in the house while they visited, though they accepted a lot of alcohol was consumed. This case will resume later this year.
NI couple appear in court on child sex abuse charges
A bus driver from Northern Ireland has appeared in court accused of raping a child aged five or under, while his wife – a school cleaner - is accused of aiding or abetting.
He and his 57-year-old wife Heather Talbot are both charged with gross indecency with a child, aiding or abetting gross indecency, and inciting gross indecency.
The couple are also accused of making and distributing indecent images of children.
Heather Talbot worked as a contracted cleaner at Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle, Co Down, while Gary Talbot worked for Translink.
In a statement, the school principal said they had learned of the matter through the media and “immediately contacted the PSNI and the Education Authority” before releasing a statement to parents, governors and staff.
“An extensive police investigation has already taken place, and there is no suggestion that the school or any other person in it is involved,” the statement said.
Translink has confirmed that a member of staff has been suspended pending the outcome of a police investigation.
The charges are related to alleged criminal activity at the Talbots’ Kinghill Avenue home in Newcastle between 2001 and 2003.
Police searched the property in October last year and seized several computers and mobile phones.
A detective told Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court that forensic analysis showed the pair had been communicating with like-minded individuals on the dark web.
Police are still trying to identify the victim.
Bail granted to Heather Talbot by District Judge Eamon King is to be appealed against by prosecutors at Belfast’s High Court, while Gary Talbot was remanded in custody.
Barry Bennell will not give evidence at
child sex abuse trial
In the category - Is anyone surprised?
By Press AssociationEx-football coach Barry Bennell has chosen not to give evidence at his child sex abuse trial.
The court has heard evidence from 11 complainants who say there were abused by the former Crewe Alexandra coach on various dates between 1979 and 1991.
The Crown say the defendant is a "predatory and determined paedophile" who carried out "systematic and persistent" sexual abuse of young boys while he worked as a youth coach in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Manchester.
Bennell, 64, denies offences of indecent assault, buggery and attempted buggery.
He has been following the proceedings via videolink, as he needs to be frequently fed through a tube because part of his tongue had to be removed when he developed oral cancer.
"men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." Romans 1:27b.
The trial was adjourned until Monday when the prosecution and the defence will give their closing speeches to the jury.
Summing up of the case by the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Clement Goldstone QC, is expected to begin on Tuesday.
70 year old Urmston man jailed for 19 years
for catalogue of child sexual abuse cases
By Nigel BarlowA seventy year old Trafford man who subjected children to a catalogue of sexual abuse has been jailed for nineteen years
Minshull Street Crown heard how the abuse spanned from 2004 until 2012. The victims – a boy and a girl – were aged under 12 at the time of the offences.
Most of the offences took place in Urmston and Sale.
He threatened the victims by telling them that if they told anyone they would get in trouble and go to prison.
However, in November last year one of the victims bravely confided in a family member and the police were made aware. The second victim then also came forward to police.
Sleith was subsequently arrested but denied all the offences and claimed the pair were lying.
Detective Constable David Fox, from GMP’s Trafford Specialist Protective Services, said: “Sleith subjected these young children to sickening offences over the space of eight years.
“He abused them for his own perverse pleasure and went as far as taking the girl to meet other dangerous depraved men who would also sexually assault her.
“What these victims have been through is harrowing and how they have carried this pain with them for so long is heart-breaking.
“They feared Sleith and he manipulated them into thinking if they told anyone they would be the ones to get in trouble.
“They were innocent children and their bravery and courage has now put a sex offender behind bars.
“I hope this case shows just how seriously GMP takes reports of sexual offences, no matter when they happened.
“We will do everything in our power to support victims and make sure their attacker doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
Trafford, UK
Self-proclaimed female 'monster' jailed for
taking child sex abuse images
A woman who described herself as "a monster" after taking hundreds of indecent pictures of a young girl has been jailed for seven years.
She admitted nine offences but Judge Sally Cahill told her she had "not shown any proper remorse".
Speaking after the case, a relative said the girl had been "left serving a life sentence". Sheldrake should be "behind bars for the rest of her life", they added.
Sheldrake, of Norton Grove, Beeston, admitted offences, including two charges of taking a total of 356 indecent photographs of a girl aged under 16.
The court was told three of the photographs were classed as category B and 353 were category C.
Her offences also included two charges of making indecent photographs of a young boy in connection with two images which were classified in category A - the most serious category.
Catherine Silverton, for the defence, said an examination by a forensic psychologist had shown Sheldrake had experienced a "major depressive episode".
Well if she didn't, she surely will now!
She told the court she had described herself as a monster and had tried to take her own life the day before the hearing.
The barrister said: "She took an overdose of all the tablets she could find in her home in the hope she would not wake up and have to come to court to face this today."
What you would have woken up to would have been a Hell of a lot worse.
Judge Cahill said the impact on the girl had been huge and she had suffered physically, emotionally and educationally.
Det Insp Marc Bowes, of West Yorkshire Police, described the offences as "absolutely appalling" and said Sheldrake's offending was "significant and sustained".
Police arrest mother, grandmother of sexual abuse victim in Marianas
Mother and Grandmother of the year candidates
By Bryan Manabat - bryan@mvariety.com - Variety News Staff
THE grandmother and mother of a 15-year-old girl who police say was the victim of a sexual assault were arrested, Wednesday, on charges of obstruction, interference with a domestic violence report, and child abuse.
Rose Borja Fernandez, 37, and Francisca S. Osilek, 59, posted bail in the amount of $4,000 on the same day.
No bail hearing was held for the women, but Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Govendo ordered them to return to court as required and to stay away from the victim and the two defendants.
??? Osilek Jr., 19, and Jeffry Manarang Fernandez, 35.
The two were charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree.
According to the victim, Osilek lured her to Coral Ocean Point beach and engaged in intercourse with her. Police said Osilek admitted that he had sexual contact with the victim even after the victim told him “no.”
As for the other defendant, Jeffry M. Fernandez, the victim said he inappropriately touched her on June 8, 2016 while she was sleeping.
She said she woke up and saw Fernandez next to her — there was no other person next to her, she added. She said she ran out of the room, crying. A family member confirmed to the police that on the day of the alleged incident, the victim did run out of the bedroom crying, and that Fernandez exited the room after the victim ran out.
Victim blaming
According to DPS, the victim said Francisca S. Osilek told her, “This is all your fault,” referring to the charges against her son.
The victim said Francisca Osilek also told her, the victim, to “drop the case” because she was the only one who could “make it all go away.” Police said after she left her grandmother’s house, she was taken to the house of her mother, Rose Borja Fernandez.
According to the victim her mother told her “I miss [Jeffry Fernandez],” adding, “He is all I have left.”
That should make a little daughter feel important!
The victim told police that she understood these statements to mean that it was her fault that her stepfather was in jail.
The victim also said she heard her grandmother speaking with her mother about her, the victim, dropping the case. Police said the victim was not returned to her father where she lives, neither was she taken to school the next day.
The victim was observed to be emotionally upset when she was relating to police what her grandmother and mother told her, police said. She said she believed that it was her fault that two male defendants are in jail and that she felt guilty about it.
Ministry warning after institute teacher’s
second arrest for sexual abuse on Cyprus
EVIE ANDREOU CYPRUSThe education ministry warned it will be relentless concerning cases of child sexual abuse after a 63-year-old teacher was arrested for alleged indecent behaviour against a nine-year-old girl at a Limassol private institute.
The man – who was convicted in the past for a similar offence – was arrested on Tuesday and remanded for eight days following a report by a nine-year-old girl and her parents last Sunday to the police that he behaved in an indecent manner towards her at the private institute.
The 63-year-old, who was reportedly convicted in 2014 for a similar case that took place in 2011 and served prison time for a number of months, in 2015 transferred the title deed of his institute to his wife’s name while his daughter is the director.
The education ministry said that following his first conviction it requested he was no longer involved with the institute’s two branches.
'Requested'? That was the best they could do? Seriously?
In an announcement, the ministry said that following a legal services ruling in 2016 concerning the 63-year-old it had repeatedly asked his lawyer and the owner of the private institute in question for the teacher’s removal from both premises.
'Repeatedly asked!' Now that's so much better!!!
It also requested that the man “is not to be involved in the operations of the institutes during their opening hours, while stressing that failure to comply with the above obligation constitutes a criminal offence”.
The lawyer, the education ministry said, had pledged in writing on behalf of the institute, that this request would be respected.
The education ministry said that it too had investigated the case in cooperation with the police and the state legal services and that it “will be relentless in dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors”.
'Relentless' - that means asking repeatedly?
But despite unequivocal statements, checks by the ministry did not prevent the man from continuing to teach at the institute.
Have you ever heard of injunctions?
According to head of the private institutes association Giorgos Gavriel, authorities make on-site visits to a private institute only when the business owner files to get an operations licence.
Speaking to state broadcaster CyBC radio, Gavriel said that the association has been asking for the establishment of a committee that will carry out on-site visits and checks on each establishment.
He added that private institutes have to submit to the education ministry clean criminal records of their teaching staff but that no checks are made on-site.
The education ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Former Adass Israel Jewish girls' school principal Malka Leifer evades extradition hearings again
By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeillAn Israeli principal wanted on child sexual abuse charges in Australia has once again successfully claimed mental incompetence to Israeli authorities and will evade extradition hearings for another six months.
Last week, Ms Leifer convinced another psychiatrist review board in Israel that she was too unwell to face an extradition hearing.
Ms Leifer has avoided every single one of her extradition hearings in the last three years, claiming she suffers from panic attacks and anxiety. This is despite evidence uncovered by her victims that she has been spotted out and about in Israel attending religious festivals and going about her normal life.
Ms Leifer's victims were notified overnight by Israeli authorities of the devastating news.
"We've all had a week filled with anxiety, watching the clock and waiting to hear updates from Israel," former Adass student Dassi Erlich told the ABC in a statement.
Dassi ERlich and daughter.
One of Leifer's victims.
"We are devastated, worried and wondering if we will ever have closure. It's really hard not to lose hope but we have no plans to give up the campaign to #bringleiferback. We are fighting for justice for ourselves, Malka Leifer's past and possibly future victims."
A Federal Government spokesperson told the ABC "the Government will continue to advocate for the extradition of Malka Leifer, so she finally faces justice in Australia".
Meanwhile, shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said Labor would also continue to press for the extradition of Ms Leifer. "While extradition requests are often complex and take some time to resolve, I and my colleagues are very concerned that justice is being delayed in this instance for reasons that are difficult to understand," he said.
"I am very grateful that Premier Daniel Andrews raised this issue directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visited Israel in December last year. "I also want to thank survivors of the alleged assaults, such as Dassi Erlich, who have shown great courage and integrity in their campaign to bring Ms Leifer to justice."
Ms Erlich and her two sisters travelled to Israel last year to lobby Israeli members of parliament about the case.
Australian officials were then shocked last year when an Israeli judge halted extradition proceedings while the former principal underwent a psychiatric treatment regime.
In September, during a visit to Israel, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull personally lobbied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the case.
Mr Turnbull also met with Ms Leifer's victims before travelling to Israel.
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