A 12-year-old girl, sexually exploited by her mother,
enabled by lax financial rules in Philippines
The Westpac scandal has brought the role of financial institutions
in enabling child sexual abuse into sharp relief
Carmela Fonbuena in Manila
Philippines authorities in the Rizal house where a woman was arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting
her own daughter. Photograph: Suppled by AFP
On 25 October plainclothes police barged through the red door of a family home in a dense neighbourhood in Rizal, a province two hours away from Manila.
There they arrested a mother who was allegedly sexually exploiting her own 12-year-old daughter. The 45-year-old woman was clutching her phone. Police took it and then handcuffed her.
A video provided by International Justice Mission (IJM), a global organisation fighting human trafficking that provided assistance to the police, shows the daughter nearby, her head covered by a towel, nodding at police. The rest of the family watched.
The mother did not deny her alleged crime, said Major Michael Virtudazo of the police Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATIP-D). He is confident a court inspection of her mobile phone will confirm information they had been given by a specialised police unit more than 6000km away in Australia.
The woman had allegedly been live-streaming her daughter posing in sexual positions to customers abroad, in exchange for cash she received through a nearby money transfer business.
One of those customers is alleged to be an Australian from Sydney, who is accused of paying to watch her daughter.
Technological advances have turned the Phillipines, a traditional destination for traveling sex offenders, into a hub of live-streamed sexual abuse.
John Tanagho, IJM field director in the Philippines, said the country’s robust money remittance infrastructure is one of the enabling factors that drive the crime – along with widespread internet access and the availability of cheap broadcast-capable mobile devices.
The same financial facility that millions of overseas Filipino workers use to easily send money back home has allowed sex offenders to pay for live-streamed content.
“Livestreaming online sexual exploitation of children is not unique to the Philippines but it is believed to be worse in the Philippines than other countries,” Tanagho told The Guardian.
“One more critical factor is people speak English well. They’re able to communicate with the online sex offenders from Western countries who speak in English.”
Westpac probe exposes extent of problem
The Philippines has grappled with the problem for decades. It doesn’t help that it has become a family business for some, making investigations difficult when children refuse to report their parents.
In poor villages in the country, many are drawn into the lucrative crime that could earn traffickers in one day what they would probably make earning minimum wage jobs for a month.
It is why the role of financial institutions is critical. “In the first place, the demand comes from other countries. We can stop production here if they are able to flag suspicious transactions abroad. If there is no demand, there is no supply,” Virtudazo said.
Tanagho said: “They can and they should detect red flags. When they detect red flags, they should, in reasonable fashion, cooperate with government agencies so that those traffickers and those offenders can be arrested and restrained after a proper law enforcement investigation.”
The extent of the problem was exposed in a legal action the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, the government financial intelligence agency known as Austrac, launched against one of the country’s biggest banks, Westpac, accusing it of legal breaches that allowed its customers to pay for child abuse undetected.
At a meeting on Friday afternoon, Westpac’s board decided to appoint what it described as “independent experts” to investigate who was to blame for the breaches.
“The notion that any child has been hurt as a result of any failings by Westpac is deeply distressing and we are truly sorry,” chairman Lindsay Maxsted said in his first public statement since Austrac filed its lawsuit on Wednesday morning.
“The board unreservedly apologises.”
Austrac said Westpac failed to carry out appropriate due diligence on customers sending money to the Philippines and Southeast Asia for known child exploitation risks. The financial intelligence identified at least six Westpac customers with questionable transactions and a history of travel to the Philippines.
“In October 2014 and November 2014 Customer 1 transferred money to a person located in the Philippines who was later arrested in November 2015 for child trafficking and child exploitation involving live streaming of child sex shows and offering children for sex,” read Austrac’s statement of claim. The customer transferred $136,000 to the Philippines between November 2013 and July this year and made travels to the Philippines in 2014 and 2016, according to the allegations.
Tanagho says a robust monitoring system is critical. “Banks around the world are monitoring suspicious transactions related to money laundering. In the same way banks and money transfer agencies should be monitoring suspicious transactions related to online sexual exploitation of children,” said Tanagho.
Hidden crime
The arrest in Rizal was remarkable for a crime that is largely hidden, usually requiring police to take a deep dive into the dark corners of the internet. In this case, it was dedicated work by groups in Sydney and cooperation between police in Australia and the Philippines that led to an arrest.
The investigation began in July when the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children referred to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation an Australian user who uploaded child abuse material to social media.
The Australian federal police commenced Operation Culgoa, resulting in the arrest of an unnamed 63-year-old Sydney man. A subsequent search of his home in the Sydney suburb of North Rocks showed electronic devices containing more child abuse materials that law enforcement would later trace to the town of Taytay in the Philippines.
The woman will face charges related to trafficking, child pornography, and cybercrime. The 63-year-old Sydney man appeared in the Parramatta local court on Friday.
The case highlights the importance of transnational cooperation. Virtudazo told the Guardian many of the successful arrests in the country stemmed from referrals made by other countries, allowing them to jumpstart investigations.
“Because it is a global crime, it requires a global response,” said Tanagho.
New Zealand man found guilty of murdering
British backpacker
British backpacker
By Darryl Coote
(UPI) -- A New Zealand jury on Friday found a 27-year-old man guilty of killing a British backpacker who disappeared a year ago while on a Tinder date in Aukland.
The jury deliberated for more than five hours before returning the unanimous guilty verdict as the man convicted of killing Grace Millane stood with his hands by his side. The killer, who cannot be named by court order, is to be sentenced Feb. 21.
Millane's body was found Dec. 9 in a bush area of Waitakere nearly a week after she went missing following a date with the accused on Dec. 1, the eve of her 22nd birthday.
The prosecution argued during the three-week trial that Millane was strangled to death while the accused said she died of a tragic accident, the result of rough sex at his apartment.
Millane's parents, David and Gillian Millane, wept following the verdict.
"The verdict of murder today will be welcomed by the members of the Millane family and friends of Grace," David Millane told reporters while fighting back tears. "It will not reduce the pain, the suffering we've had to endure for over the past year."
He said Grace Millane was "a beautiful, talented, loving daughter. Grace was our sunshine and she will be missed forever," he said. "She did not deserve to be murdered in such a barbaric way in her [overseas experience] year."
Grace Millane, 21, traveled to New Zealand last November from South America as part of a yearlong trip around the world following college graduation. She was last seen with the accused in CCTV footage walking arm in arm into his apartment building.
Her body was found over a week later stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a shallow grave.
'I hope he rots,' victims say of P.E.I. man
who sexually abused his sisters
Ryan Ross (ryan.ross@theguardian.pe.ca)
Two of the victims of a man who sexually abused them as children hold hands after hearing his sentence at the P.E.I. Supreme Court on Nov. 25, 2019. - Ryan Ross
Judge notes "systemic pattern of abuse" in handing down
five-year prison sentence
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A P.E.I. man who was found guilty of sex offences involving his sisters while the victims were children was sentenced Monday morning to five years in prison.
The man appeared before Justice James Gormley in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown for sentencing on charges that included two counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.
In giving his decision, Gormley said the offences weren’t isolated events, and the accused targeted the young females.
“This was a systemic pattern of exploitation and abuse,” Gormley said.
And yet you sentenced him to only 5 years? Good grief! Canadian justice is so not victim-friendly.
During the trial, the court heard that the three complainants, who were sisters, and the accused all thought he was their uncle before learning he was really their half-brother.
The allegations of sexual abuse dated back to when the complainants were children and involved threats to hurt them or family members if the victims ever told anyone what was happening.
As Gormley read his decision, he said it was a serious aggravating factor that the victims were younger than 18 at the time of the offences.
Gormley also said the accused was in a position of trust.
Another serious aggravating factor, and yet, just 5 years! How pathetic.
If children can’t rely on family members, then who can they trust, Gormley said. “Children are particularly vulnerable to family members.”
Especially when the justice system does so little to protect them.
“I hope he rots."
-Victim
Gormley said the victim impact statements showed the “heavy toll” the offences had on the women.
The sexual behaviour was aggravated by the man’s threats to the victims, Gormley said, adding the accused had ample opportunity to show mercy and didn’t.
After hearing the sentence, two of the victims met with the media, including one woman who said she thought the accused might have gotten a lesser sentence. She said she was glad he received the sentence he did. “I’m just glad it’s done,” she said.
The second sister who was also at the courthouse said she was glad to hear the sentence, although she added she wished it was higher. “I hope that he gets what’s coming to him in jail,” she said.
A third sister, who lives in Alberta, spoke briefly to the media on speakerphone.
“I hope he rots,” she said.
PUBLICATION BAN
Along with the prison sentence, the accused must provide a DNA sample for the national databank, his name will be on the sex offender registry for life and he will be subject to a lifetime weapons prohibition.
The accused made another appearance in court Monday afternoon in front of P.E.I. Court of Appeal Justice John Mitchell on a motion seeking his release from custody pending an appeal of his conviction. The Crown did not oppose the motion.
A publication ban prevents the release of any details that could identify the victim.
Both of the victims who were present in court Monday previously said they planned to seek to have the publication ban lifted because they want other people to know what the accused had done.
Accrington, UK, martial arts instructor jailed
over child sex abuse images
By Aban Quaynor, Lancashire Telegraph
A MARTIAL arts instructor who sent 'revolting and disgusting' child pornography to an Israeli paedophile who was abusing his own daughter 'live' online has been jailed.
Prosecuting, David Bentley said as a result of seizing that man's electronic devices, Israeli authorities discovered he had been contacted by 38-year-old Stacey over Skype.
Mr Bentley said it seemed Stacey had become aware of the Israeli man via a chat room used for people sharing indecent images of children. The court heard Stacey had sent him an image of a man holding his genitals, before later sending him an indecent image of a child.
There was then a conversation about abusing a child in real-time.
Mr Bentley said police managed to trace Stacey via his Facebook page.
A search warrant was executed in September 2017 because officers were particularly concerned that because of a reference on the page to Aztec Martial Arts in Accrington that Stacey would have access to children.
When he was arrested Stacey told police: "This is a stitch-up."
Police seized a number of Stacey's electronic devices, including his Samsung mobile phone and an Asus computer and hard drive.
On the Samsung they found 11 category A indecent images - the most serious examples of child sexual abuse, one category B video, 27 category C images and one extreme pornographic image.
In his police interview answered 'no comment' to questions put to him but provided a prepared statement denying his guilt and saying the phone and computer had been purchased second hand.
Mr Bentley said requests were made by the police for Stacey to provide swipe patterns, passwords and PINs for his devices but he refused. Three separate requests were also made by Stacey's solicitors for him to provide those access details, all of which he refused.
Stacey, of Queens Road West, Accrington, three charges of making indecent images of children, one of distributing indecent images, one of making an indecent image and one of failing to disclose access to an encrypted device.
Defending, Bob Elias said his client had been drinking alcohol and taking cocaine at the time he was engaging in this illegal activity and described it as a "fantasy crime". He said Stacey had ruined his life and lost his business as a result of his offending.
Mr Elias said: "These are abhorrent images that would cause feelings of revulsion or disgust in any right-thinking man or woman who saw them."
Sentencing Stacey to three years in prison, Judge David Potter added: "These images are revolting and disgusting. You did find them arousing in your own sexual perversion. These are very serious offences. So serious that only a an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate."
NCA operations manager Hazel Stewart said: “Offenders cannot hide behind encryption and evade justice.
“Behind every sexual abuse image is a child whose life has been utterly devastated and men like Stacey are perpetuating that suffering. Their horrible interest fuels the market in child sexual abuse."
Stacey was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order was made.
Kings County, N.B., teen who could not legally consent to sex with older man shocked by plea deal
Zachary Gallant, 23, was sentenced in Saint John's Court of Queen's Bench on Sept. 10. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
She was three months past her 15th birthday and, according to the law, too young to consent to sex with a 21-year-old man.
Everyone she trusted said what happened was wrong — her parents, the police, the prosecutors, the school principal and her therapist. She says she did what they told her to do.
She gave statements to the RCMP. She was interviewed by Social Development. She was cross-examined at a preliminary hearing. And she prepared herself to testify at a seven-day trial to which 400 potential jurors had been summoned.
But at the last minute, the ground shifted, said the teen, who is now 17 and can't be identified because of a publication ban.
The Crown and the defence agreed the charge of indictable sexual assault would be withdrawn if Zachary Gallant pleaded guilty to indictable assault.
Gallant, 23, pleaded guilty to indictable assault and the Crown withdrew the charge of indictable sexual assault. (Zachary Gallant/Facebook)
Indictable offences are among the most serious and because the complainant was under 16, a sexual assault conviction would have carried a maximum sentence of 14 years of incarceration and a minimum of one.
On Sept. 10, Gallant was sentenced to 16 months to be served in the community. The sentence meant no jail time, no curfew and no requirement to be registered as a sex offender.
The teen was shocked. People who work with sexual assault victims weren't.
They say plea deals are common and victims are rarely prepared to hear the most traumatizing aspect of their violation — that it was sexual and intimate — effectively erased.
Sexual Violence New Brunswick says that's why it has launched a pilot project that teaches victims how the courts work and how to prepare for an outcome that may not make them feel safer or that justice was served.
In other words, how not to expect justice in a Canadian courtroom.
The teen in this case, who did not receive such counselling, said she feels as if her life was ruined for nothing.
"I've never felt so let down."
There is much more to this sickening story on the CBC. Including witness tampering, bullying, a suicide attempt,
Ripley, UK, man, 21, could be jailed after downloading sickening videos of child sex abuse
By Martin NaylorNottinghamshire Live
A 21-year-old could be facing jail time after he downloaded sickening videos and pictures showing sexual abuse of children.
The 21-year-old was also looking at videos showing women having sex with animals, Derbyshire Live reports.
And Marriott kept the images in a Dropbox account on the internet which, when he was asked about them by the police, admitted he was keeping them to share if anyone else wanted to see them.
Good grief! They should test his IQ, see if he has one.
He now faces a wait until the new year to see if he is jailed.
Previous similar convictions
Adjourning his sentencing hearing until January 9, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “You cannot go away thinking that a custodial sentence will not be the case.
“This is a concerning case because of the nature of the images and because you have previous convictions of a similar nature. I am ordering a psychiatric assessment of you to give me some idea about your dangerousness.”
Christopher Eckersley, prosecuting, said the offences date back to 2015 and have taken this long to come to court as the Dropbox account Marriott used was held by a Californian firm. It has taken considerable time for the American authorities to provide Derbyshire police with a report.
He said the National Crime Agency alerted the police that the Dropbox account contained indecent images and was linked to his email address.
They went to his home address in Nottingham Road, Ripley, seized his devices and arrested him.
Mr Eckersley said: “Significantly, he told police that he kept the images just in case anyone he was talking to on the internet asked him for them. 129 indecent images and movies were discovered which included 81 of (the most serious) category A.”
Child abuse images on his phone
Mr Eckersley said while under investigation for these offences, police seized Marriott’s mobile phone in July of last year and it again contained four further vile child abuse images of category C, the least serious.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of making indecent images.
Joe Harvey, mitigating, said: “I would ask for a pre-sentence report and I think a psychological report would also be helpful. As a result of this offending and through the support of his family, Mr Marriott is engaging with psychotherapy.”
An NSPCC spokesman said: “The children in the images and videos that Marriott downloaded have been subjected to horrific abuse that can destroy childhoods, with the effects potentially lasting a lifetime.
“This is an industry where children are abused to order and individuals such as Marriott fuel it every time they download such material.
“The internet is being used as a gateway to child abuse far too frequently and the NSPCC is calling for providers to take greater responsibility for what’s shared on their platforms and cut off this vile material at source.”
Anyone concerned about a child can call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.
Children and young people can contact Childline free and confidentially on 0800 1111 or via www.childline.org.uk
NGO accuses North Korea of institutionalized
child sex abuse
REUTERSSEOUL--North Korean children are "constantly in danger" of sexual abuse and resulting social stigma without any chance to seek legal protection, a Seoul-based rights group said on Wednesday.
Activists with PSCORE, or People for Successful Corean Reunification, interviewed more than 200 young male and female North Koreans who had fled to settle in the affluent, democratic South for a study on child abuse at home, at school and in state facilities such as prison camps and orphanages.
In a 195-page report, "Inescapable Violence: Child Abuse within North Korea," the group described sexual abuse as "institutionalized and widely accepted as a normal part of life."
"Children are constantly in danger of being sexually harassed, and have no legal recourse available to them," the report said.
At school, for instance, teachers are "most often the perpetrators" who could physically harass female pupils and openly make lewd comments.
In one instance, a defector in her 20s testified her teacher said during class that one of the students must have "better stamina for sexual intercourse" because she had darker skin.
Another defector who said she became a trader at age 14 to make a living said she had struggled to keep men from groping her breasts and buttocks while traveling to markets by buses and trains.
One day she saw a male stranger rape a woman lying next to her at a dark inn room that dozens of people shared due to train failure, but her aunt sleeping nearby forced her to keep quiet to avoid "inviting trouble."
Gathering information in North Korea is notoriously difficult, and Reuters was unable to independently verify the defectors' accounts. North Korea has previously rejected criticism over human rights abuses as false accusations aimed at toppling its regime.
Last year, Human Rights Watch also reported "endemic" sexual abuse in North Korea based on interviews with some 100 defectors, although it acknowledged its survey was too limited to provide a generalized sample.
PSCORE said the rampant abuses constitute a breach of a U.N. convention on children's rights, to which North Korea is a signatory. U.N. investigators have also criticized human rights violations in North Korea including the use of political prison camps where executions, rape and starvation take place.
"The lack of government response crystallizes the notion that child sexual abuse is tolerated, and results in the rampant social stigmatization that prevents victims from reporting their abuse," PSCORE said.
Australian missionary Kevin Rietveld jailed over
child sex crimes in Solomon Islands
By Evan WasukaABC Australia
An Australian missionary has been jailed for three years on child sexual abuse charges in the Solomon Islands.
Kevin Rietveld, 72, was arrested on June 24 and charged with nine counts of indecent assault involving five girls under the age of 15.
Rietveld later entered a plea bargain with prosecutors on charges relating to four of the victims, with two of the indecent assault charges being withdrawn.
The abuse took place between 2010 and 2012 when Rietveld was the head of the Supporting Work in Ministry — which is part of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia — on the outskirts of Honiara, the capital of the South Pacific nation.
The victims were sponsored by the mission.
Rietveld returned to Honiara this year to answer the charges following a lengthy investigation by local police and Australian authorities. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on bail.
But last month, according to court documents, he breached his bail condition by contacting one of the witnesses and was returned to custody.
Rietveld was initially sentenced to four years and two months but the magistrate reduced this to a three-year sentence, taking into account time already spent in custody, as well as his public service, age and health.
It's not like he took the age of his victims into consideration, why should the judge take his into consideration.
Ella Kauhue, president of the National Council of Women, said the sentence was too lenient and a "slap in the face".
"Such a decision has discouraged a lot of people, especially women," Ms Kahue said.
"It reflects a law that sometimes makes judgements in isolation — looking at the perpetrator and making the decision —[and] not thinking about the impact this horrific act … will have on these four girls."
Boy charged in alleged child sex assault at
private Montessori school in Toronto
A placard advertises an open house for Alive Montessori and Private School on Wembley Road
Wednesday November 27, 2019.
Joshua Freeman, CP24.comPolice have laid charges against a boy after a child was allegedly sexually assaulted at a Montessori school in Forest Hill.
The incident occurred on Nov. 4 at Alive Montessori and Private School on Wembley Road, in the Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue area, Toronto police said.
Members of The Child and Youth Advocacy Centre – an agency that works with police to handle cases of child abuse – arrested a boy in connection with the incident on Nov. 25.
Both children are students at Alive Montessori, which offers private schooling from pre-school through elementary.
The boy has been charged with sexual assault and sexual assault causing bodily harm. He was released from custody on conditions and is scheduled to appear in youth court on Jan.7.
The suspect cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Police said they are not disclosing the ages of the victim or the suspect.
Child sexual exploitation is on the rise in Africa
Very disturbing statistics
BY GRAÇA MACHELAcross Africa, there must be tougher and enforced laws set up against the factors that allow child sex offenders to thrive.
Credit: Njambi Ndiba
Of all the suffering and abuse endured by African boys and girls – and sadly the list is long and shameful – sexual exploitation is surely one of the most egregious. In my long life I have often witnessed the worst excesses of cruelty towards children – trafficking, violence, kidnapping, forced recruitment, discrimination of all kinds – and child sexual exploitation is a red thread that runs through them all.
The statistics are truly shocking. To take just a few examples:
Three quarters of children living on the streets in Uganda are victims of sexual violence.
More than half the children with disabilities in Cameroon and Senegal who reported sexual exploitation have been raped.
In South Africa, one in three children is at risk of sexual abuse before reaching the age of 17.
Nearly 40 percent of boys and girls in Ghana say they have been assaulted.
And so the depressing litany of abuse goes on.
However, I have no doubt that most child sexual exploitation in Africa remains hidden and unreported. One in three child victims of sexual exploitation tells no one, fearing disbelief, blame, reprisals and public shame. Boys are even less likely to report sexual abuse, a situation made worse by the absence of laws to protect them.
It is no exaggeration to call child sexual exploitation in Africa a ‘silent emergency’ – the title of a new report out this week from the African Child Policy Forum which lifts the lid on the scale and scope of the problem.
Although child sexual exploitation is by no means a 21st century phenomenon, I was disturbed to read in the report of two modern trends which exacerbate the problem: digital technology and accessible travel which enable offenders to operate both virtually and in person, with little danger of detection. Africa is fast becoming the new frontier for online child sexual abuse, especially in those countries with higher internet coverage. Yet very few countries have laws specifically criminalising online sex crimes, and those that do frequently fail to enforce them adequately.
No country enforces them adequately!
Similarly, laws regulating travel and tourism in Africa are weak or non-existent, giving free rein to criminals intent on travelling to the continent with the sole intent of sexually exploiting children. Sex tourists – 90 percent of them men – typically originate from the USA, UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, Korea, and China. They target countries with weak or poorly-enforced laws including South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan.
However, we cannot blame the growth in child sexual exploitation solely on digital and travel trends. In more than four decades of working with children across the continent and beyond, I have seen time and time again the corrosive, insidious impact of poverty, inequality and discrimination driven by traditional patriarchal and cultural attitudes.
Practices such as child marriage and treating children as property – combined with outdated laws which refuse to acknowledge that boys can be victims too – have deep roots which will not be easily be changed. Attitudes that glorify predatory sexual behaviour and objectify women’s sexuality have aggravated the sexual exploitation of girls, while traditional views of boys and men as perpetrators of sexual violence have led to the gross neglect of them as victims. In addition, African attitudes towards especially vulnerable groups, such as children with disabilities, those living and working on the street or those in unregulated domestic employment remain significant barriers to reducing child sexual exploitation. Homeless children, for example, almost always resort to so-called ‘survival sex’, including unprotected sex.
Perhaps what angers me most is that those who are supposed to protect our children – peacekeeping forces, humanitarian agencies, governments, law makers, teachers, police officers and parents – stand accused of abusing their power, control and trust in order to submit both girls and boys to sexual exploitation. It is a measure of how widespread this abuse of power has become that I was not particularly surprised to read about teachers in some west and central African countries demanding sex in exchange for higher grades. Instead of being safe havens, schools in certain instances, are becoming dangerous places for both girls and boys, who endure sexual violence from both teachers and fellow students.The sexual exploitation of children is a multifaceted problem which requires action on multiple fronts, but that is no excuse for inaction. African governments must urgently pass legislation which is explicitly protective of the welfare and security of children, and that prohibits sexual abuse, child sex tourism and online exploitation. They must also build strong social institutions to safeguard the welfare of children as well as hold offenders accountable. Civil society organisations, teacher’s associations, parents and caregivers must also be vigorously engaged to protect children and rid our societies of this hidden scandal which is so damaging to this, and future, generations of boys and girls.
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