It's Hard to Believe that Child Sex Abuse could get Worse in India, But These 5 Stories are Stunning in Their Brutality
Pakistani investigators say hundreds of girls and women being sold to China — but neither country will act
Investigators say more than 600 girls and women
have been trafficked since 2018
Former Yazidi slave confronts her ISIS rapist on Iraqi TV after meeting him as a ‘refugee’ on German street
Toronto plastic surgeon filmed patients without consent,
Rape survivor set ablaze in Uttar Pradesh, India, allegedly by those
who had gang-raped her nine months ago
Rape victim
The girl was set on fire by two of the rape accused, out on bail, along with their three associates.
The two rape accused were released on bail just a day ago. Picture for illustrative purpose only.
Image Credit: IANS
Unnao: A gang rape victim was set ablaze in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district on Thursday allegedly by the same group of accused, who had attacked her nine months back.
The minor rape survivor was admitted to a trauma centre in Lucknow with over 80 per cent burns.
The girl was set on fire by two of the rape accused, out on bail, along with their three associates. The two rape accused were released on bail just a day ago.
The incident took place in Hindu Nagar village under Bihar police station of Unnao where the minor had been gang raped in March.
The rape survivor was on her way to the hearing in her court case when she was accosted by the accused.
They took her to a secluded spot, poured kerosene and set her ablaze.
Seeing the girl go up in flames, panic stricken villagers informed the police who first took the rape survivor to the district hospital from where she was referred to the Trauma Centre of King George Medical University in Lucknow.
In her statement the rape survivor has again named the two accused.
The police have arrested three persons, namely, Hari Shankar Dwiwedi, Shubham Dwiwedi and Shivam Dwiwedi. Two others are absconding.
DGP O.P. Singh described the incident as unfortunate and said that every effort would be made to save the victim.
Unfortunate? Seriously? It's shocking; stunningly evil! Unfortunate is a pretty unfortunate term to describe this horror. I hope it's not a real reflection of how Mr Singh feels about the incident.
Reacting to this fresh case of rape Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for lying through their teeth regarding the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
In a tweet, she said: “Seeing such incidents occur on a daily basis saddens ones heart. BJP leaders should now come out of their false propaganda.”
Second Horror Story:
It may be recalled that last year, another Unnao minor rape case had hit national headlines.
A minor had been gang raped in 2017 reportedly by the BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his associates. The case was not registered. The rape survivor’s father was implicated in a false case and died of beating in police custody.
Following public outcry the Allahabad High Court had ordered a CBI probe and the BJP MLA Sengar was arrested.
In July this year the rape survivor’s car was mysterious hit by a truck, killing two of her aunts and seriously injuring her and her lawyer. Both were airlifted to AIIMS on court orders.
Following this the Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi and ordered for a safe home for the rape survivor and her family. Sengar is now lodged in Tihar Jail.
Third Horror Story:
Rapists burnt upper half of teen’s body in cover-up bid
Lata Rani, Correspondent
Patna: Days after the rape and murder of a young veterinary doctor in the south Indian city of Hyderabad, a teenager was allegedly gang-raped and killed, before her body was set on fire, in Bihar state on Tuesday.
The incident comes amid growing calls for tougher laws in the country to deal with rapists.
Reports said some villagers in Buxur district had gone to a field on Tuesday morning when they saw the half-burnt body of a young girl in the field and informed police. Police sent the body for autopsy.
“The post mortem report says the victim was raped before being killed. The victim was shot in the head by the suspects,” Lalan Singha, a local police official in charge of investigation, told Gulf News over the phone.
He said the victim, believed to be around 16-17 years old, was yet to be identified as the upper portion of her body has been burnt beyond recognition.
“Apparently the attackers set her on fire in a bid to hide her identity and destroy evidence. We are investigating the case and the accused will be caught very soon,” the police official added.
He said police recovered an empty cartridge from the scene of the crime.
Fourth Horror Story:
The incident comes barely days after another teenager was gang-raped in a moving car in Bihar’s Kaimur district, triggering strong protests leading to promulgation of prohibitory orders.
The victim was looking for transport, to take her home from a coaching class last week, when a driver offered to drop her off.
However, the moment she got inside, some four youths who were sitting inside started sexually assaulting her. According to the victim, the youths took turns to rape her in the moving car. Police have arrested four accused persons and filed charges in the case.
Rape cases have spiralled out of control in Bihar and, according to police records, 5,887 incidents have been reported over the past five years.
This year, a total of 1,165 incidents of rape had been reported as of September, indicating the gravity of the situation.
A series of such incidents have caused panic in the areas with the villagers demanding action to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
Fifth Horror Story:
Woman with hands, legs tied rescued from would-be rapist by police after high speed car chase in India
A dramatic car chase in Kolkata, India ended with the arrest of a man who had abducted a woman and tied her up in the back of his truck. The suspect has been charged with kidnapping and attempted rape.
Police were tipped off about the suspicious truck by a civic volunteer, who reportedly heard groans of a woman coming from the vehicle’s cabin while patrolling on his motorcycle. The truck sped away when the volunteer patrolman tried to confront its driver.
A high speed chase ensued. Police struggled to keep up with the truck, which was zigzagging across lanes on a state highway. The suspect reportedly even tried to ram several police cars. But the police managed to overtake the truck at an intersection.
A woman in her mid-30s – reportedly deaf and mute – was found behind the driver’s seat, with her hands and legs tied. She was taken to a local hospital for medical examination. Police believe the truck driver spotted her on the street and forced her into his vehicle.
On Dec 1st, we posted an article with 7 horrific stories like these beginning with the gang-rape, murder, and immolation of a veterinarian. Now, here, just three days later we post 5 more unbelievably horrific stories from India, and I'm sure the lists are nowhere close to exhaustive.
The attitude of men toward women and girls in the entire sub-continent is far beyond anything resembling humanity. It has been going on for at least a few hundred years and probably thousands.
===================================================================================
Investigators say more than 600 girls and women
have been trafficked since 2018
The Associated Press
In this April 14 photo, Pakistani Christian Mahek Liaqat, who married a Chinese national, cries as she narrates her ordeal, in Gujranwala, Pakistan. (K.M. Chaudary/The Associated Press)
Pakistani investigators have confirmed at least 629 girls and women from across the country were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China in the past 18 months or so. The list of names, obtained by The Associated Press, was compiled by investigators determined to break up trafficking networks exploiting the country's poor and vulnerable.
It gives the most concrete figure yet for the number of women caught up in the trafficking schemes since 2018.
But since the time it was put together in June, investigators' aggressive drive against the networks has largely ground to a halt. Officials with knowledge of the investigations say that is because of pressure from government officials fearful of hurting Pakistan's lucrative ties to Beijing.
The biggest case against traffickers has fallen apart. In October, a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking. Several of the women who had initially been interviewed by police refused to testify because they were either threatened or bribed into silence, according to a court official and a police investigator familiar with the case. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution for speaking out.
At the same time, the government has sought to curtail investigations, putting "immense pressure" on officials from the Federal Investigation Agency pursuing trafficking networks, said Saleem Iqbal, a Christian activist who has helped parents rescue several young girls from China and prevented others from being sent there.
It is horrifying that women are being treated this way without
any concern being shown by the authorities in either country.
- Omar Warriach, Amnesty International
"Some [FIA officials] were even transferred," Iqbal said in an interview. "When we talk to Pakistani rulers, they don't pay any attention."
Asked about the complaints, Pakistan's interior and foreign ministries refused to comment.
Several senior officials familiar with the events said investigations into trafficking have slowed, the investigators are frustrated, and Pakistani media have been pushed to curb their reporting on trafficking. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.
"No one is doing anything to help these girls," one of the officials said. "The whole racket is continuing, and it is growing. Why? Because they know they can get away with it. The authorities won't follow through, everyone is being pressured to not investigate. Trafficking is increasing now."
He said he was speaking out "because I have to live with myself. Where is our humanity?"
China's Foreign Ministry said it was unaware of the list.
"The two governments of China and Pakistan support the formation of happy families between their people on a voluntary basis in keeping with laws and regulations, while at the same time having zero tolerance for and resolutely fighting against any person engaging in illegal cross-border marriage behaviour," the ministry said in a statement faxed Monday to AP's Beijing bureau.
In this May 11 photo, detained Chinese nationals, accused of involvement in a trafficking gang to lure Pakistani women into fake marriages, try to shield their faces while they are escorted by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency officers to court in Lahore, Pakistan. (K.M. Chaudary/The Associated Press)
An AP investigation earlier this year revealed how Pakistan's Christian minority has become a new target of brokers who pay impoverished parents to marry off their daughters, some of them teenagers, to Chinese husbands who return with them to their homeland. Many of the brides are then isolated and abused or forced into prostitution in China, often contacting home and pleading to be brought back.
The AP spoke to police and court officials and more than a dozen brides — some of whom made it back to Pakistan, others who remained trapped in China — as well as remorseful parents, neighbours, relatives and human rights workers.
Christians are targeted because they are one of the poorest communities in Muslim-majority Pakistan. The trafficking rings are made up of Chinese and Pakistani middlemen and include Christian ministers, mostly from small evangelical churches, who get bribes to urge their flock to sell their daughters. Investigators have also turned up at least one Muslim cleric running a marriage bureau from his madrassa, or religious school.
Investigators put together the list of 629 women from Pakistan's integrated border management system, which digitally records travel documents at the country's airports. The information includes the brides' national identity numbers, their Chinese husbands' names and the dates of their marriages.
All but a handful of the marriages took place in 2018 and up to April 2019. One of the senior officials said it was believed all 629 were sold to grooms by their families.
In this May 22 photo, Sumaira a Pakistani woman, shows a picture of her Chinese husband in Gujranwala, Pakistan. Sumaira, who didn't want her full name used, told AP she was raped repeatedly by Chinese men at a house in Islamabad where she was brought to stay after her brothers arranged her marriage to the older Chinese man. (K.M. Chaudary/The Associated Press)
It is not known how many more women and girls were trafficked since the list was put together. But the official said, "the lucrative trade continues." He spoke to the AP in an interview conducted hundreds of kilometres from his place of work to protect his identity. "The Chinese and Pakistani brokers make between 4 million and 10 million rupees ($74,000 and $185,000) from the groom, but only about 200,000 rupees ($3,700), is given to the family," he said.
The official, with years of experience studying human trafficking in Pakistan, said many of the women who spoke to investigators told of forced fertility treatments, physical and sexual abuse and, in some cases, forced prostitution. Although no evidence has emerged, at least one investigation report contains allegations of organs being harvested from some of the women sent to China.
In September, Pakistan's investigation agency sent a report it labelled "fake Chinese marriages cases" to Prime Minister Imran Khan. The report, a copy of which was attained by the AP, provided details of cases registered against 52 Chinese nationals and 20 of their Pakistani associates in two cities in eastern Punjab province — Faisalabad and Lahore — as well as in the capital Islamabad. The Chinese suspects included the 31 later acquitted in court.
The report said police discovered two illegal marriage bureaus in Lahore, including one operated from an Islamic centre and madrassa — the first known report of poor Muslims also being targeted by brokers. The Muslim cleric involved fled police.
There are other cases before the courts involving arrested Pakistani and at least another 21 Chinese suspects, according to the report sent to the prime minister in September. But the Chinese defendants in the cases were all granted bail and left the country, say activists and a court official.
Global trafficking of brides growing
Activists and human rights workers say Pakistan has sought to keep the trafficking of brides quiet so as not to jeopardize Pakistan's increasingly close economic relationship with China.
China has been a steadfast ally of Pakistan for decades, particularly in its testy relationship with India. China has provided Islamabad with military assistance, including pre-tested nuclear devices and nuclear-capable missiles.
Today, Pakistan is receiving massive aid under China's Belt and Road Initiative, a global endeavour aimed at reconstituting the Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia. Under the $75 billion US China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, Beijing has promised Islamabad a sprawling package of infrastructure development, from road construction and power plants to agriculture.
The demand for foreign brides in China is rooted in that country's population, where there are roughly 34 million more men than women — a result of the one-child policy that ended in 2015 after 35 years, along with an overwhelming preference for boys that led to abortions of girl children and female infanticide.
A report released this month by Human Rights Watch, documenting trafficking in brides from Myanmar to China, said the practice is spreading. It said Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea and Vietnam have "all have become source countries for a brutal business."
"One of the things that is very striking about this issue is how fast the list is growing of countries that are known to be source countries in the bride trafficking business," Heather Barr, the HRW report's author, told AP.
Omar Warriach, Amnesty International's campaigns director for South Asia, said Pakistan "must not let its close relationship with China become a reason to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses against its own citizens" — either in abuses of women sold as brides or separation of Pakistani women from husbands from China's Muslim Uighur population sent to "re-education camps" to turn them away from Islam.
"It is horrifying that women are being treated this way without any concern being shown by the authorities in either country. And it's shocking that it's happening on this scale," he said.
And considering the attitude of Chinese authorities toward Christians and Muslims, it is very disturbing that authorities would want this to continue. Many of these women will suffer for their faith.
Kidnapped and sold into slavery at 14, one former Yazidi sex slave finally had the chance to confront her brutal Islamic State captor in a heartwrenching moment that has gone viral. Her story also had a disturbing European twist.
Standing before her abuser, Ashwaq Haji Hamid demanded answers, while the captured militant stood with his head bowed, refusing to look his victim in the eye for the entire confrontation. “Why did you do that to me?” she asked in a video filmed by Iraqi TV, demanding that he raise his head to face her.
Arabic
You’ve destroyed my life. You took everything from me. Everything I dreamed of.
Before the confrontation, Hamid bravely recounted how she had been among 300-400 Yazidi girls and women who were sold as slaves after thousands of men were killed by Islamic State terrorists in the Yazidi heartland of Mount Sinjar in 2014. The harrowing interview was broadcast by the Al-Iraqiya news channel on November 26.
Hamid recalled that the militant, called Abu Hamam, had bought her at an IS slave market in Mosul, Iraq, where the teen had been brought from Syria. He would sexually abuse and beat her several times a day.
Now you know what torture is, what it’s like to be tortured, what loneliness is. If you had any sense, any feelings, you wouldn’t have raped me when I was 14-years-old.
“I was the age of your son, the age of your daughter,” she continued, before eventually fainting and collapsing to the ground in front of her now-handcuffed captor.
Hamid fled to Germany in 2015 and began to build a new life, but was forced to confront the trauma again when she bumped into Hamam on a street in Stuttgart, where he threatened her by saying he knew now where she lived.
Fearing for her life again, Hamid decided she would rather return to live in a refugee camp with her father in Iraq than live with the threat of being so near her captor again. Although she told German police an IS militant was walking free on their streets, she was informed there was nothing they could do because, like her, he was registered as a refugee.
Hamam has since been arrested by Iraqi authorities, although it is unclear how exactly he ended up back in the Islamic republic.
English - 3:49
Man who tried to rape 4yo beaten and paraded naked in India before being handed over to police
Activists at a rally amid an outcry following the rape and murder of 27-year-old veterinary doctor Priyanka Reddy in Hyderabad, in Kolkata, India on November 30, 2019. © AFP / Dibyangshu Sarkar
Vigilant neighbors apprehended a man who allegedly attempted to rape a four-year-old girl at her home in India. The crowd then stripped the suspect and made him walk through the streets naked until they reached a police station.
The 35-year-old suspect, Jawahar Vaidya, works as a daily payment collection agent for a bank in the city of Nagpur in central Maharashtra state, police said. He had been visiting the girl’s house to collect money and, after finding her home alone on Sunday evening, the man “tried to sexually assault her,” according to a police official.
The girl’s mother suddenly returned home and called the neighbors to help.
A crowd of locals promptly subdued and thrashed the man, before stripping him naked, tying him up and parading him in ‘a walk of shame’ along the streets. He was then handed over to police. A criminal case pertaining to sexual offenses against minors was launched against him.
The incident took place amid nationwide outrage over the brutal gang rape and murder of 27-year-old veterinarian Priyanka Reddy. The shocking crime sparked protests in several cities, and four suspects have been arrested.
class-action lawsuit alleges
Former patient says she was 'overcome with humiliation'
Caitlin Taylor, Makda Ghebreslassie · CBC News
Dr. Martin Jugenburg — known online as Dr. 6ix — is shown in a examination room at his clinic, the Toronto Cosmetic Surgery Institute, in October 2018. (CBC)
A Toronto plastic surgeon could face a class-action lawsuit over allegations that he breached the privacy rights of patients by recording them — sometimes in a state of undress — without their consent using surveillance cameras inside his clinic.
Dr. Martin Jugenburg — known online as Dr. 6ix — is well-known on social media and was the focus of a Marketplace investigation last year that found security cameras in examination rooms at his clinic in the Fairmont Royal York hotel.
The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of former patients Thursday afternoon in Ontario Superior Court of Justice, alleges that Jugenburg failed to act in the class members' best interests and that he placed his interests over theirs "in pursuit of his own personal and commercial gain."
J.C., a representative plaintiff in the case, went to Jugenburg's clinic for a breast lift consultation and said the behaviour alleged in the lawsuit is unacceptable.
"I can't imagine how many other women out there don't even know this has gone on. No doctor should be able to get away with this type of behaviour."
The statement of claim also alleges that Jugenburg's clinic posted images of patients on social media without their consent. The allegations have not been proven in court.
If given the go-ahead by a judge, the class-action could represent patients who visited Jugenburg's clinic, the Toronto Cosmetic Surgery Institute, between January 2012 and February 2019.
"The heart of the lawsuit is really to get damages for women who had their trust abused by Dr. Jugenburg and who suffered some pretty serious mental health effects as a result of realizing that they were filmed without their consent," said Tina Yang, one of the lawyers involved in the case.
The plaintiffs are seeking $50 million in damages, including aggravated damages, and $25 million in punitive damages, plus an amount to be determined for special damages. Lawyers say these numbers could change if the lawsuit is certified, the number of plaintiffs in the class is determined and their additional experiences are gathered.
Last year, while reporting undercover for a story on breast implants, Marketplace producers spotted security cameras in a closed-door examination room where patients are asked to undress, as well as in the waiting area. The small black-and-white devices were attached to the ceiling in the corners of the rooms. At least some of the cameras in these rooms were also recording audio.
Following CBC's coverage, Jugenburg said in an email that he provided clear signs about security cameras and removed the cameras from examination rooms.
There is more to this story on CBC.
Regina, Sask., rapist unapologetic as judge ponders sentence for horrific sexual assault
Victim of sexual assault describes her anxiety and says,
'I didn't want to be in my skin'
Bonnie Allen · CBC News 
Gioulian Nikdima, 50, was convicted in a Regina court of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
He'll be sentenced later in December. (Gioulian Nikdima/Instagram)
Warning: This story contains content that some readers may find disturbing.
The defence lawyer for a Regina man convicted of sexual assault causing bodily harm argued in court Monday that the man's lack of remorse shouldn't factor into his sentence.
Minutes later, Gioulian Nikdima, 50, stood up in Court of Queen's Bench and made it clear to Justice Fred Kovach that, despite his conviction, he takes no responsibility for forcing anal sex on a 49-year-old woman, inflicting injury.
A nurse who specializes in rape exams testified the woman suffered one of the worst anal injuries she had ever seen.
"My only mistake in this case was meeting that woman," Nikdima told the court. "She could leave any time she want ... I know women."
1st date turned horrific, woman says
The woman said what started as a first date with a "perfect gentleman" in March 2016 turned into a horrific sexual assault after Nikdima drove her outside the city. The two met through the online dating site Plenty of Fish.
Defence lawyer Nicolas Brown asked for a three-year prison sentence and said the judge should consider the fact that Nikdima didn't use any weapons or threats.
He argued the assault wasn't premeditated, but rather an escalation of consensual sexual activity, which led the accused to take it "too far." He asked the judge to disregard Nikdima's lack of remorse.
'I felt frozen': Woman who says she was raped by Plenty of Fish
date asked in court why she didn't fight
"It's not uncommon for people who are accused and convicted of sexual assault to maintain that position," Brown said.
Regina prosecutor Randene Zielke asked that Nikdima serve a five-year prison sentence and be added to the sexual offender registry.
Zielke argued a three-year prison sentence is the starting point for sexual assaults in Saskatchewan, and one involving significant injury, as sustained by this woman, would warrant a much higher sentence.
Both the defence and Crown agreed Nikdima will almost certainly be deported to Greece after serving time, as required by the Immigration Act. Nikdima is a permanent resident who immigrated from Greece six years ago.
Senior Crown prosecutor Randene Zielke is seeking a five-year prison term for Nikdima. (Matthew Howard/CBC)
Pain similar to being stabbed
The prosecutor emphasized that Nikdima preyed upon the woman's vulnerability after driving her outside the city.
When Kovach convicted Nikdima in September, he said he wasn't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that all sexual activities in the vehicle that day were non-consensual. He specified Nikdima committed sexual assault causing bodily harm at the point that Nikdima penetrated the woman anally without communicated consent, and then disregarded her screams of pain.
In sentencing submissions, Zielke spoke at length about the violence of forced sodomy. "[The victim] described the pain as being the worst she had ever felt, as though she's being stabbed," Zielke said.
"Sexual assault is a crime of violence. It is an inherently violent act. It violates the safety, privacy and sanctity of one's body. Forced sexual intercourse is amongst the most serious imaginable acts of personal violence."
When Zielke described the severity of the woman's anal injury, Kovach suggested someone could sustain that kind of injury through consensual sex as well. He also questioned any sentencing arguments that suggested Nikdima had lured the woman outside the city in a "nefarious" scheme.
The woman submitted a victim impact statement, read by the Crown, that described how that date changed her and her life.
Before March 2016, she said, she had a great life with a career, friends, family and activities she enjoyed. "I thought the only thing missing was someone to share my life with," the woman said.
"What I can't get past is how [Nikdima] was a perfect gentleman and in a blink of an eye, he was unrecognizable. I didn't expect that a first kiss would result in years of pain and suffering."
The woman said she didn't know why she didn't fight that day, and it still haunts her. After the assault, she said, "I didn't want to be in my skin."
Victim still suffers anxiety attacks
The victim said she reported the sexual assault to prove to her adult daughter that she was "still the strong woman who had raised her."
As CBC News reported during the trial, the woman used a Google image search to track down her rapist, who had used a fake name online, and reported him to police.
The woman has seen a therapist or life coach every week since the assault more than three and a half years ago. She said she still suffers anxiety attacks in public places.
"The fear and terror of that day are never far away."
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18.
A deaf woman's decades-long battle to bring her abusive driver to justice in Victoria State
One deaf survivor's story
Exclusive by James Oaten
Melanie rejected an offer of compensation by Victoria Police so she could share her story.
(ABC News: James Oaten)
Melanie became increasingly scared as she sat in the back of the taxi. She was being driven home from school by 'John', a highly respected taxi driver tasked with taking Melanie to and from primary school.
Her classmate had just left the vehicle and gone inside his home with his parents. The 11-year-old was now alone with the 61-year-old, whose full name was Ioannis Amourgianos.
He was also a child molester.
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: This article contains content about child sexual abuse that some readers may find distressing.
Repeated attacks
For two years, before or after school, John would grope Melanie's breasts or rub her crotch. On this particular afternoon in 1997, Melanie asked if she could sit in the front seat. (I assume this was before the attacks became serious).
Amourgianos agreed on condition the young girl show her breasts. She reluctantly lifted her top.
Melanie started to clamour over the centre console, but Amourgianos wasn't done, tapping his lips with his finger to request she kiss him. Suddenly, he aggressively kissed her.
Melanie wanted to flee, but she couldn't because her home was several kilometres away. So instead, when Amourgianos was done, she simply wiped the saliva from her mouth and sat frozen in the front seat.
More than two decades later a judge would describe Amourgianos's offending as abhorrent, repulsive and vile.
An offer of money for silence
Amourgianos was this year convicted of two counts of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. But because of his old age and poor health, his two-year sentence was wholly suspended, meaning he walked free.
It is a ruling that angers Melanie, but one she accepts the court had to make.
Rather, her fury is directed towards Victoria Police, who by their own admission bungled the initial investigation and failed to treat her with respect when she was a young girl.
Had police acted sooner, the now 81-year-old would have probably spent time in prison.
Police have even offered Melanie $25,000 in compensation, but only if she stayed silent about her complaint.
She refused the deal and is now telling her story.
Abuse escalated as Melanie matured
Melanie remembers wearing pink and frilly outfits when she was in early primary school.
But after the abuse started in grade four she started to wear big, baggy clothes as a way of shielding herself.
Melanie described the initial abuse as "playful".
A young Melanie Duggan
He also liked to punch her in the arm, sometimes leaving bruises, before grabbing her groin — and even tried to force Melanie's hand onto his own groin. He was aggressive, intimidating and controlling.
"I didn't tell anyone about what happened because at the time I just thought it was normal," she told Victoria Police in a sworn statement six years after the abuse.
Melanie first reported the abuse to Victoria Police in 2003 when she was 17. But her attempt to find justice was denied.
The ABC can now reveal the extent to which Victoria Police and Melanie's high school, the Victorian College of the Deaf, failed to properly handle the complaint.
A series of bungles
First, when Melanie told a teacher of the abuse, it was not reported to authorities as required under mandatory reporting laws. It was only months later, when Melanie built up the courage, that she took the matter to the police.
But when she did, she was not provided with an official Auslan sign language interpreter. "People don't realise, as a deaf person, English isn't our first language," Melanie told the ABC through an official interpreter. "That's where we are actually vulnerable."
Instead, the high school teacher, who had already failed her before, translated the complaint for police.
Melanie said her parents were not told about what was going on and child protection authorities were also kept in the dark. The Victorian College of the Deaf did not offer counselling or support.
When Melanie reported the abuse to her school, it failed to forward that information to authorities.
(ABC News: Dylan Anderson)
Secondly, the officer taking the statement at the police station was a senior constable, not a detective. Somewhere along the line a detective was attached to the case, but Melanie is adamant she never met or spoke with a detective during the entire investigation.
The driver was interviewed, denied any wrongdoing, and resigned soon after. The investigation was closed. "Police were saying, 'it's your word against his'," Melanie said. "That was it. Bye bye, off you go."
When Melanie went to get a copy of her records a decade later, she was told they had been destroyed. "I felt like I had been hit by a truck," Melanie said.
Melanie said the trauma of the trial made her question whether the justice process was worth it.(ABC News: James Oaten)
Trial 'in some ways worse than the abuse itself'
Amourgianos was 82 years old when he was sentenced this year in the County Court of Victoria.
He was suffering from heart disease, kidney failure, type-two diabetes and arthritis, and needed a walking cane.
It was for these reasons Judge Frank Gucciardo decided jail was no longer an appropriate penalty.
"It was brutal," Melanie said. "It makes me think, all the pain I went through, was it actually worthwhile?
I'm still suffering because I had to go through the whole trial.
"In some ways it's worse than the abuse itself because they made me relive everything thousands of thousands of times."
After Victoria Police dismissed Melanie's initial complaint in 2003, she spent years trying to forget her trauma. She got married, changed her name to Melanie Merhi, and had two children. But the dark memories never went away.
In 2014, she finally realised she could not let the matter rest after a family friend, who had extensive experience helping deaf clients, made it clear Melanie's experience was woefully unjust.
Melanie refused an offer from Victims of Crime Compensation, and instead contacted the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and advocacy group People with Disability Australia.
Victoria Police was prompted to launch an internal investigation. In 2016, it concluded the detective attached to the original case "failed to appropriately investigate" the matter. In a letter sent to Melanie, Victoria Police stated the detective had been disciplined for his "poor performance", and officers had likely destroyed the original documentation.
The detective was charged with a range of offences including perverting the course of justice, Victoria Police confirmed to the ABC, but the charges were dismissed in court. The officer later resigned from the force.
Police have 'come a long way'
Victoria Police reopened the investigation and assigned a new female detective. Melanie believes she finally gave the case the respect it deserved. "Really considerate, very thorough, genuinely supportive," Melanie said. "It was because of her, everything came through."
The detective even uncovered the parts of the original brief of evidence that had supposedly been destroyed.
In a statement to the ABC, Victoria Police said it had "come a long way in recent years" on how it handled allegations of sexual abuse. That included the establishment of the Sexual Offence and Child Abuse Investigation Teams to investigate complex matters of sexual and child abuse.
Victoria Police also said officers had been trained to better help people with disabilities and support people, such as language interpreters, are made available to people making statements to police. "Victoria Police understands that people with disabilities face considerable barriers at all points in the criminal justice system, including reporting crime to police," a spokeswoman said. "Victoria Police continues to work hard to remove these barriers."
The Department of Education would not answer specific questions about Melanie Merhi for privacy reasons. "We do acknowledge the difficult experiences Ms Merhi has been through," a spokeswoman said. "We have a range of supports available to current and former students and staff who report sexual abuse. This includes Student Support Services such as psychologists for students and counselling assistant payments for former students."
A lesson for authorities
The identities of sexual abuse victims are protected by the courts, but Melanie waived her right to privacy in the hope her story would inspire other victims of injustice to keep fighting.
She thinks about her eight-year-old son, who is also deaf, and worries — what if it happens to him?
Melanie Duggan with her children
"I'm quite fortunate enough that I've got fairly good English skills, I'm fairly clever, I know how to play the game," Melanie said. "But those poor vulnerable people with disabilities who don't have the same skills, they would have given up."
She wants the State Government to do more to help disabled Victorians navigate complex legal and bureaucratic frameworks, and hopes her story will serve as a lesson to authorities.
"They want me to keep my mouth shut," she said. "They messed with the wrong person."
Auckland child rapist caught in recorded confession
has appeal dismissed
Harrison Christianhas appeal dismissed
A man who raped and sexually violated a young girl, then confessed over the phone, has had an appeal of his sentence dismissed.
Seetha Rama Rao Salvaji was sentenced to 14 years in jail this year, after his victim called him years after the abuse and recorded his confession at the suggestion of police.
The Auckland woman, who can't be named for legal reasons, previously told Stuff that confronting Salvaji over the phone was terrifying, but she was "ready to do whatever it took to bring him to justice".
Seetha Rama Rao Salvaji alleged his trial lawyer failed to properly conduct his defence.
She said she kept the abuse secret for 14 years to protect her family and out of fear of being ostracised by Auckland's Indian community.
Salvaji was found guilty of 11 charges over the abuse, which began in 2003 when the victim was 10 years old.
At his sentencing in May, Judge Jonathan Down said it was clear Salvaji had groomed the victim for sex and it was "obvious" the abuse was planned.
Salvaji appealed his convictions and his seven-year minimum period behind bars, according to a Court of Appeal judgment released on Wednesday.
In his appeal, Salvaji alleged his lawyer had failed to properly conduct his defence. He argued his lawyer erred by persuading him not to give evidence at his trial, the judgment said.
He alleged that evidence of prior statements made by his victim were inadmissible and the subject of misdirection by the trial judge.
He also challenged the admission as evidence of the recorded phone conversation that his victim arranged with the help of the police.
The appeal against his sentence and conviction were dismissed.
NZ mums of former crèche kids dismayed
by Peter Ellis appeal process
Katie Todd of RNZThree women say Peter Ellis' "death-dance" is taking them to breaking point, after claims he sexually abused their daughters in 1991.
The Supreme Court is deciding if an appeal Ellis lodged to clear his name can proceed, after he died from cancer in September.
Peter Ellis always maintained his innocence after being found guilty of 16 counts of sexual abuse in 1993, and repeatedly sought to overthrow the convictions. GETTY
The former Christchurch Civic Creche worker always maintained his innocence after being found guilty of 16 counts of sexual abuse in 1993, and repeatedly sought to overthrow the convictions.
But the mothers say their daughters have been unable to move on for nearly three decades, and they worry other sexual abuse survivors will be put off seeking justice.
Ruth*, a teacher, said the words she heard from her daughter shortly after Ellis' arrest, were still painful to recall.
"I said to her that Peter wasn't working at the crèche anymore. She was at school at this point and she said, 'oh, why not?'"
"I said, 'well, apparently he's been hurting some children'. She didn't say anything. I said, 'has he hurt you?' And she said, 'yes'. I said, 'why haven't you told me?' and she said, 'because he said he would burn your eyes out if I told'."
The jury found Ellis not guilty of abusing Ruth's daughter. But over the next few years, Ruth said her daughter would continue bringing up strange memories of Ellis, including him "sexing" her.
"It was true but I really didn't want it to be true," she said.
She said it was just the start of 28 years of trauma for her and her daughter.
Ellis' guilty verdict was the subject of two police investigations, trips to the Court of Appeal, a Ministerial inquiry and petitions calling for independent reviews - and he became the focal point of intense media coverage, books and public support as people criticised the reliability of the children's testimonies.
"Every time he tried to appeal or, you know, sneezed, his photo would be pretty much on the front page of the newspaper and splashed all over the news at night," Ruth said.
This year brought "a sense of relief" for Ruth as she heard of Ellis' death and thought she'd seen and heard the last of him. That was followed by horror at the revelation the Supreme Court might still hear his final appeal.
It could consider whether there was a miscarriage of justice due to the children's evidence being improperly obtained, a lack of expert evidence and unreliable expert evidence at Ellis' trial.
"Most people get to move on. We haven't been able to move on. The children haven't been able to move on," Ruth said.
At the start of the appeal last month, Ellis' lawyer Rob Harrison acknowledged it was a difficult situation and mentioned the stress for the complainants. But another mother who felt sickened by the possibility of the appeal proceeding, said she'd had to turn to anti-nausea tablets to cope.
After the first claims against Ellis in 1991, Angela's* daughter told her she too had been touched inappropriately at the crèche, and told to keep quiet or else her mum would turn into a frog.
The family spoke extensively with the police about it, but eventually chose not to file legal proceedings to protect their identities, and found safety living in Australia for the daughter's primary school years.
Appeal 'devastating'
But Angela, a nurse, described the possibility of the appeal going ahead as "devastating" and "disrespectful" for victims.
She said she still doesn't understand the scepticism around the case. "A three-year-old is not going to tell fibs ... you can just tell when a child's not telling you the truth. But this was totally the truth. And that's I think the worst thing, is the children now not being believed," she said.
Another mother, Lisa*, said people should recognise that the children of the Christchurch crèche showed "the most amazing courage" when they spoke to their parents about what he'd done.
Peter Ellis was caring for her daughter at the crèche in 1991 when behavioural and physical signs of abuse emerged, but without any other claims at that point, Lisa didn't think to suspect Ellis and blamed her own bad parenting.
Through what Lisa said was a "horrible, invasive" medical examination and "exhaustive" interview process, the daughter became one of seven children Ellis was found guilty of abusing.
"But the children were terrified of talking against him," she said.
"When [my daughter] had her first evidential interview, she made me check every single toilet and their building because she thought it was a trick and Peter was going to be there waiting for her."
Lisa said years of appeals hadn't put any doubt in her mind that the court got it right. However, she said she was very anxious about speaking out, after being burned "over and over and over again".
"For some reason there's just this deep human need to be believed. The hardest thing, in some ways, hasn't been the abuse. It's been not being believed," she said.
The Supreme Court is taking written submissions from the crown and Ellis' legal team, before the justices decide if the case will proceed.
A ruling is expected early next year.
*Names have been changed for legal reasons.
Australian Border Force charge Perth man
over child sex doll and child abuse material
PerthNowWA News
A Perth man who allegedly tried to import a child-like sex doll and possessed hundreds of child abuse images on his mobile phone has been charged by Australian Border Force officers.
The 26-year-old was arrested at Perth International Airport on Monday when he returned from a holiday in Thailand.
His mobile phone had been seized by ABF officers when he departed Perth on 21 November with a search of its contents allegedly locating several hundred images categorised as child abuse material.
The doll was intercepted at the Sydney Gateway Facility in a parcel from Hong Kong on 17 September which was addressed to the man’s residential address.
It will be alleged the parcel contained the bottom half of a silicone female child-like sex doll.
ABF alleges the Perth man tried to import a child-like sex doll. Credit: Australian Border Force
He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in the Perth Magistrate’s Court on 13 December 2019.
ABF Commander of Investigations Graeme Grosse said tackling child abuse material was an operational priority for the ABF. “Child-like sex dolls are an emerging form of child abuse material that the ABF is determined to prevent from crossing our border,” Commander Grosse said.
“These offences are viewed very seriously, with the maximum penalty for the import or export of child abuse material being 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $525,000.”
In addition to the importation offences, the Government recently strengthened the Commonwealth offences for possessing and otherwise dealing with child-like sex dolls.
The Combatting Child Sexual Exploitation Legislation Amendment Act 2019 which came into force in September introduced a new offence for possessing a child‑like sex doll, which is punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The new laws also amended the definition of ‘child abuse material’ to put beyond doubt that it is an offence to, for example, use the internet to advertise or solicit, or use a postal service to send, a child-like sex doll.
'Plainly inappropriate': NSW man jailed for sex with underage relative in caravan and house
The man had sex with the young girl in a caravan next to her grandparents' house. Photo / Getty Images (stock)
news.com.au
By: Sarah McPhee
Warning: Distressing content
A man who played computer games in a caravan with his cousin's underage granddaughter told police he spent time alone with her to "avoid" her abusive grandfather in a nearby house.
But the reality was he was having sex with the girl, who was aged 14 and 15 at the time of the offending, and had asked her to promise that she wouldn't tell anyone.
He also told her grandmother one morning that her "pale appearance" was due to nightmares.
"This was a sad case," Judge Alister Abadee said as he sentenced the 44-year-old man in the NSW District Court late last month.
"What started as a friendship between the offender and victim, both relatives (albeit an indirect sense), developed into a plainly inappropriate relationship leading ultimately to serious criminal behaviour sustained over a period of months."
The man pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse with a victim under the age of 16, each charge carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.
"The offender was indirectly related to the victim: he is the cousin of a woman who is married to a man – the paternal grandfather of the victim," Judge Abadee said.
The offences were committed in Rydalmere, in Sydney's northwest, between January and July 2015 when the man was aged 39 and 40.
The victim lived in the custody of her grandparents where the offender also lived in late 2014.
"The victim is a troubled youth, yearning for love and nurturing after having come from what she described as a broken family; and the offender himself had mental issues and a sense of social alienation," the judge said.
And nobody suspected a thing? Good grief!
"He disturbingly received gratification, of an emotional and sexual kind, in repeated instances, against his better judgment; and has exacerbated the victim's pre-existing significant emotional and mental scars."
The facts state that in January 2015, the man and girl were "talking and playing computer games" alone in a caravan parked at the side of the house.
The victim later told police this had gone on for four months and was "just a game we had".
She kissed him on the cheek, stating she was just "playing around", and he pushed her away.
But after some time, they began kissing each other and "started to touch each other over all their bodies".
Even when the girl's grandmother called out that it was late and time for her to "go to bed", the underage victim replied "no" and the pair stayed in the caravan.
Detailed description removed....
"Thereafter, the offender and victim engaged in further sexual acts. "Later the victim told police that she encouraged the offender to 'keep going'.
"By this, she explained, she wanted to engage in penile vaginal sexual intercourse, but the offender refused (to this point) as he thought she was a virgin."
There is much more to this story at the NZHerald.
Edinburgh child abuse victim was shipped to Australia after defending himself against sexual assault
PRESS ASSOCIATIONAn Edinburgh child abuse victim who was in care from the age of one has said he was shipped to Australia after defending himself from a staff member at an orphanage who tried to sexually abuse him.
Lady Smith, chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
The witness, known as Gavin, told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he was sent to an Australian orphanage by the care home worker he kicked during an attempted sexual assault.
Knowing Mr Smoothy had abused other boys at the orphanage when he tried to molest him, Gavin kicked him and fought him off. He was then beaten as punishment.
In his evidence, he described the Barnardo's worker as a "constant threat" and suggested he was chosen to sail to Australia for care because the culprit "wanted to get me out of there".
Gavin, speaking via video link from Australia, told the inquiry about the sexual advances and said: "I was already warned by my friend because Mr Smoothy had done things like that to him.
"I was prepared, I suppose, and I just kicked him - and that's when I got the cane again."
Sent to Australia
With the prospect of being sent to Australia - and at this point having no knowledge his parents were both alive in Scotland - Gavin said he was happy to make the trip.
"I said 'yes' because I wanted to get away from Mr Smoothy. I had this vision of riding horses to school and kangaroos jumping up and down the street. It was exciting."
His two best friends at the orphanage were not allowed to go to Australia, because one was black and Australia would only allow white people of European origin in at the time, while the other was known to wet his bed, even though Gavin sometimes did the same.
Reflecting on why he was the only one to be able to go, he said: "The fact that I wet the bed, if (the other boy) couldn't come, why could I? I thought Mr Smoothy wanted to get me out of there."
Gavin was sent from Edinburgh to London before sailing to Western Australia, where he spent the rest of his childhood in two large orphanages - Greenwood followed by Pictons.
At the former, Gavin recalls the staff hitting him repeatedly on his private parts with a cane, once involving six strikes because boys in the dormitory had a pillow fight.
'I thought I was an orphan'
Gavin also told the inquiry that, until his teenage years, he had no knowledge his parents were alive and said: "I concluded I was an orphan." He later discovered he was born out of wedlock, his father had seven children from another marriage and he was given up as a baby.
Gavin wrote to his mother - who had since got married to another man and had three more children - after finding out she was alive but was told to stop contacting her.
"I sent her a letter and she didn't answer so I sent another which she replied to, to tell me not to write again," he said. "I just surmised she hadn't told her husband about me."
Despite never seeing his mother again, Gavin made contact with his sister many years later and, in 2005, finally returned to visit Scotland.
"I went to my mum and found her grave, and that's the only time I had anything to do with her," he said.
There is more on the inquiry at the Scotsman.
Nearly half of all online child sex crimes took place on Facebook-owned apps
NSPCC warns social network could become 'one stop grooming shop' under encryption plans
Anthony Cuthbertson
Nearly half of all online child sex crimes took place on Facebook-owned apps, according to research from the NSPCC.
The charity warned that plans to introduce end-to-end encryption to the social network would result in thousands of child sex crimes going undetected. This standard of encryption is becoming increasingly popular as it prevents anyone other than the sender and receiver of a message from seeing its contents.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his vision for a more privacy-focused platform earlier this year, following calls from users to better protect their private data.
“People expect their private communications to be secure and to only be seen by the people they’ve sent them to – not hackers, criminals, over-reaching governments, or even the people operating the services they’re using,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote in a detailed blog post in March.
“Some people worry that our services could access their messages and use them for advertising or in other ways they don’t expect. End-to-end encryption is an important tool in developing a privacy-focused social network.”
Popular messaging app WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014, already uses encryption to protect the privacy of its users, however the NSPCC claims this makes it harder for police to uncover potential crimes occurring on the platform.
Only 3 per cent of the total number of child abuse incidents were recorded on WhatsApp, which the charity says is a result of these privacy measures.
“Instead of working to protect children and make the online world they live in safer, Facebook is actively choosing to give offenders a place to hide in the shadows and risks making itself a one stop grooming shop," said Andy Burrows, head of child safety online policy at Facebook.
“For far too long Facebook’s mantra has been to move fast and break things but these figures provide a clear snapshot of the thousands of child sex crimes that could go undetected if they push ahead with their plans unchecked."
Mr Burrows called on Facebook to not introduce end-to-end encryption for messages being sent from, or received by, children's accounts on Facebook apps. He also said the next government should introduce a Duty of Care regulator to protect children's online safety.
Here's what I think: Every child sex crime that is documented that involves FB, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, or any other platform, should be accompanied with a $5000 fine to that platform. And every calendar year, that fine should double. The money should be used to improve online interventions and investigations.
Facebook's encryption plans would not completely ignore user safety, according to Mr Zuckerberg, who wrote: "People should expect that we will do everything we can to keep them safe on our services within the limits of what's possible in an encrypted service."
Yet such assurances were ignored by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who earlier this year accused the Facebook founder of creating a "digital blindspot" that allowed paedophiles and terrorists to hide.
A spokesperson for Facebook said: “There is no place for grooming or child exploitation on our platforms. We use technology to proactively remove it and are developing further ways to detect patterns of harmful behaviour in order to ban and report those responsible.
“We work closely with child protection authorities in the UK, and we’re consulting with experts on the best ways to implement safety measures before fully implementing end-to-end encryption.”
Good, then you won't mind paying the fines!
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