Couple given over 21 years in prison after
filming sexual abuse of children
By Graham McGrath Extra.ie
A couple have been given over 21 years in prison after filming themselves sexually abusing children.
Mark Gable, 33, and Jessica Fry, 27, admitted at Chelmsford Crown Court in September to a number of child sexual abuse charges.
The charges related to abuse carried out on children between 2017 and 2019, which were filmed by the couple.
Gable was arrested first by Essex Police, who discovered a video in which the paedophile could be seen abusing an infant. More videos were found, which had been recorded by Fry, who could also be seen featured in one of the disgusting clips.
It was revealed in court that some of the children who were abused by the couple, had been given to them by parents who wished for the couple to care for the children.
Both Gable and Fry pleaded guilty to charges of assault by penetration of a child, the sexual assault of a child, taking indecent images of children and distributing indecent images of children.
Gable was given 11-and-a-half-years in prison, while Fry was given a ten-year sentence in court.
Detective Constable Jeanine Atkins-Calver, of Essex Police, said: ‘Mark Gable and Jessica Fry are dangerous and methodical paedophiles. Gable and Fry worked together to not only abuse very young children, but also documented that abuse for their own gratification.
‘Their crimes are horrific. To subject anyone to sexual abuse is abhorrent but when that victim is so young it is unimaginable. They are a danger to the public and I am pleased they both now face a significant time behind bars.’
India child sex abuse: Raped for money
‘by her father’s friends’
One Survivor's Horror Story
It all began, she said, with her father inviting friends home for drinks. The inebriated men would tease and grope her in front of her parents. Sometimes, she said, the men would disappear into their single, musty bedroom with her mother.
Then one day, the girl recounted, her father pushed her into the bedroom with one of his friends and locked the door from outside. The man raped her.
Childhood soon became a nightmare. Her father would call up men, booking their time with his daughter, and taking money from them. Counsellors believe the girl was raped by at least 30 men since then.
On 20 September, acting on a tip-off from teachers, child welfare officers rescued the girl from her school and took her to a shelter home. A medical examination confirmed rape, according to child welfare officials.
Four men, including her father, have been arrested in connection with the case. They have been charged with rape, using a child for pornographic purposes and sexual assault. All have been denied bail.
Police are looking for five more men known to the father who also allegedly raped and sexually abused the girl. Investigators have a list of names and photographs of some 25 men known to the family that they have been showing to the girl. “I don’t remember any faces. It’s all a blur,” she told them.
The family lived in a fairly prosperous town in southern India known for its lush hills, clean air and freshwater streams. But the good fortunes of their hometown seemed to have passed her family by.
On that day in September, the school received word from a couple of teachers who lived in the same neighbourhood as the girl. “There’s something wrong with her family and something is going on in her house. Try talking to her,” they said.
The school management immediately called a counsellor from a women’s assistance group. Next morning, the counsellor arrived.
They sat face-to-face in the staff room. Upstairs, her mother, unaware of what was going on, attended a routine parent-teacher meeting.
“Tell me,” the counsellor said to the girl, “about your family and your life.” They spoke for four hours. The girl said she was having a tough time at home because her father was jobless. The family could be evicted at any time for not paying rent, she said, and began sobbing.
Then she grew silent. The counsellor told her about the gender classes in her school and how child abuse was common. “Something is happening in my home also. My father is abusing my mother,” the girl interjected.
The counsellor asked if she could share some details. She said she had once been assaulted by a man who had come to see her mother. Her mother had admonished the man. But then many men came to see her mother when she was away in school, she said.
More and more men began coming to her home. After late drinking sessions, they would sexually abuse her, she said. The counsellor asked her whether she knew about contraceptives which helped avoid pregnancy and diseases.
“No, no, we use condoms,” the girl said. That was the first time, halfway into the conversation, she admitted to having sex.
After that she told the harrowing story of a lost childhood.
“Men would come and take my mother into the bedroom. I thought this was normal. And then my father pushed me into the room with strangers,” she said.
Sometimes her father forced her to take nude pictures of herself and send them to the men who visited her.
Earlier this year, she said, her parents panicked after she missed her periods for three months. They took her to a doctor, who ordered an ultrasound test and prescribed some medicines.
By now, the counsellor was convinced that the girl was a victim of serial rape. She called in child welfare officers, and told the girl they were taking her to a shelter home. She appeared to be unfazed.
Her mother, coming out of her meeting with the teachers, saw her daughter being taken into a car and screamed. “How can you take my daughter away?”
The counsellor told her they were taking her away because she had “some emotional problems” and needed counselling. “Who are you to counsel my daughter without my permission?”
Her daughter was already on her way to the home. For the past two months, she has been living there with other girls – all victims of sexual abuse.
India has a shameful record in the sexual abuse of children. The majority of abuses are committed by people known to victims, such as relatives, neighbours and employers, according to official records.
In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 10,221 rapes of children recorded in India. Crimes against children in the country have been steadily rising in recent years.
Counsellors say horrific stories such as this one are not uncommon. At the shelter where the girl has been staying, there are three girls, aged between 12 and 16, who have been sexually abused by their father.
A counsellor said she had helped transport a heavily pregnant 15-year-old girl – who had been raped by her father – to her exam hall. “When we asked the girl to surrender the child when it was born, she said, ‘Why should I give away my child? This is my father’s child. I will bring up the child,'” the counsellor said.
At the shelter, the girl featured in this article slept endlessly for the first few days. Then she scribbled notes on how much she loved her Amma (mother). Her mother says her daughter “made up this story [of sexual exploitation] because she had been fighting with us and wanted to teach us a lesson”.
There was a time, her mother said, when things were not so bad. Her husband sometimes used to make up to 1,000 rupees (about $14; £11) a day in his job.
Now she is the only occupant of an empty house – her husband in prison awaiting trial, her daughter in a shelter. “I am a caring mother. She needs me,” the girl’s mother told the BBC.
Who needs who?
The paint is peeling from the grimy walls. In her absence, the walls are where her daughter’s memories live. “She would draw and scribble on the walls. That’s all that she did,” her mother said.
“Friends. If I could openly express my innermost feelings then it would be an achievement in itself,” the girl had written on paper and pasted on a door.
A few months ago, mother and daughter had a fight.
When the girl got back from school, she took some blue pastel, drew the picture of a palm tree and house with a chimney spewing smoke on the front door. It was what a lot of girls at her age would draw from imagination.
Then she wrote a note of apology hurriedly on the door and went out.
“Sorry Amma,” the girl wrote.
Police firearms officer among 16 accused of
child sex abuse in UK
John Simpson, Crime CorrespondentThe Times
A serving firearms officer has been charged as part of an alleged child sex abuse ring accused of targeting three young teenage girls.
Mr Ditta, a trained specialist firearms officer who has been celebrated as a success story in the force’s efforts to diversify its workforce, has been charged with one count of sexual touching.
The other 15 men aged between 30 and 46 face charges including rape, supply of a class C drug and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Two of the men are accused of making death threats.
The force said Mr Ditta worked for protective services unit.
Judge dismisses all 19 charges against ex-Afghanistan hostage Joshua Boyle in sexual assault case
Estranged wife Caitlan Coleman had accused Boyle of assault,
unlawful confinement
Kathleen Harris · CBC News 
Joshua Boyle had pleaded not guilty in Ottawa to 19 charges, including sexual assault, assault and
unlawful confinement, with the bulk of the charges involving estranged wife Caitlan Coleman.
(Collage/ The Canadian Press)
Ontario Court Judge Peter Doody on Thursday dismissed all 19 charges against Joshua Boyle, a former hostage of Taliban-linked extremists in Afghanistan.
The charges included counts of assault, sexual assault and unlawful confinement of his estranged wife, Caitlan Coleman. The long trial concluded in October.
Doody said during the three-hour hearing in Ottawa on Thursday that the Crown did not prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judge said he did not believe Boyle's version of events, but he could not accept Coleman's "unconfirmed evidence."
"I do not believe her, just as I do not believe Mr. Boyle."
He also raised concerns about Coleman's reliability as a witness due to inconsistencies in testimony and memory lapses.
Boyle, 36, had pleaded not guilty to all 19 charges.
Of those charges, 18 related to Coleman, a U.S. citizen, and were linked to alleged incidents between October and December 2017, after the couple returned to Canada from Afghanistan with the three children they had while in captivity. They had been held hostage for five years by Taliban-linked extremists.
Boyle sat quietly in the courtroom as Doody delivered the lengthy decision.
Coleman now lives in the U.S. with their four children, including one born in the U.S. after the couple separated. She wasn't in court Thursday, but was represented by her lawyer.
No 'credibility contest'
In handing down his early decisions, Doody found while Boyle's controlling behaviour made Coleman angry, frustrated and upset, it did not make her fear for her safety.
At the start of the hearing, Doody said, "This is not a credibility contest," after recounting different versions of events given in testimony from Boyle and Coleman.
Coleman said she was confined, tied up and assaulted, and Boyle controlled her and tried to make her believe she was mentally ill, Doody told the court.
Boyle denied physically assaulting her and said Coleman had fits where she was out of control.
Doody said there was little evidence to substantiate the claims, and his role was to determine whether the Crown had established the case without reasonable doubt.
Boyle's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, said his client is "extremely pleased" and relieved with Thursday's ruling. He spent time in custody, has worn an electronic bracelet and has been under strict bail conditions for two years.
Greenspon said the acquittal is the "first step" to Boyle's ultimate goal, which is to gain access and eventually custody of his four children. He has never seen the youngest and has not seen the others in two years.
As for the judge's remarks shredding Boyle's credibility, Greenspon said that weighed into the judge's decision. "The judge made sure to explain that on several occasions," he said. "Because had it been a credibility contest, I think it would be a tie. They both lost."
Coleman's lawyer, Ian Carter, spoke with his client after Doody's ruling and said she is "devastated" by it.
"I think the case is an example of the challenges that a complainant faces in coming forward with allegations of sexual assault or domestic violence in terms of how things operated in our justice system," he said. "She needs some time to process what was said today and try and move on with her life."
Crown lawyers did not make a statement or take questions after the ruling. It's not yet known if the Crown is considering an appeal.
Doody had said he found it "incredible" Boyle testified he had not given careful thought before the trial to a "list of rules" for Coleman that included instructions for her to lose weight, have cold showers and plan interesting sex twice a week.
"I cannot accept that," he said.
Boyles meet Justin
Just two weeks before Boyle was arrested by police, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a private meeting in his office with the family.
That meeting raised some eyebrows, as Boyle was previously married to Zaynab Khadr, the sister of Omar Khadr, whose late father was an associate of Osama bin Laden.
A government official said the Boyle family had requested the meeting with Trudeau. No official photographs or notices of the meeting were released by the PMO, although photos were tweeted out by the Boyle family.
The official said Trudeau agreed to the meeting because of the ordeal the Boyle family had been through.
There is more on this story on CBC.
3 Toronto teens sentenced to 2 years of probation
for St. Michael's College School sex assaults
WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing
CBC News
Three former students of St. Michael's College School in Toronto were sentenced Thursday.
(Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press)
Three teenagers were sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and 30 hours of community service each for the assault and two sexual assaults on the campus of an all-boys private school in Toronto in 2018.
The three former St. Michael's College School all pleaded guilty in October to one count each of assault with a weapon and sexual assault with a weapon for three separate locker-room attacks.
One of the teens also pleaded guilty to a charge of making child pornography, having filmed the sex assaults on his phone.
The boys hugged their parents and lawyers after Justice Brian Weagant's sentences were handed down.
In an unusual move, Weagant declined to read his entire decision, saying the courtroom was loud and he didn't want to be misquoted. He heard sentencing arguments in the Ontario Court of Justice last month.
In his written decision, Weagant said the boy's actions must be denounced — but added that can be "expressed in ways other than by incarceration."
"These boys were expelled from their school. All faced challenges to get into new schooling. One boy faced threats," he wrote. "The boys are all keenly aware of the stress and shame brought on their families."
The judge also focused on media coverage of the proceedings, saying the boys' families have had to "run a gauntlet of media vans" at each court appearance.
"In spite of the fact that we actually have other serious charges to deal with in this building, the media has decided this is the case that requires society's focus. That fact has added to the shame the boys are feeling," he wrote. "I think it is safe to conclude that these young persons have heard society's voice loud and clear."
Two of the boys are 16 years old and one is 15, CBC News has confirmed. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, none of the defendants or their victims can be identified.
The Crown had sought 12 to 15 months in jail for two teens and 10 to 12 months for the third. Lawyers for the teens had asked for two years' probation with no jail time, saying their clients are remorseful and ashamed.
Four other teenagers were initially charged. One of them had his charges withdrawn. The cases of two other accused have concluded, but the Ministry of the Attorney General has refused to disclose those outcomes.
Another accused is set to go to trial in March.
The extreme hazing incidents sparked debate around the country about bullying and how such cases are handled by school administrators.
Incidents occurred over 3 months
The details in the agreed statement of facts in the case are graphic, describing three different incidents involving members of one of the school's football teams.
In the first case, in September 2018, a student was changing his clothes when he was surrounded by several people and "picked up by the arms and legs and swung around," according to court documents.
The group put him on the floor and pulled down his football pants then struck him across the buttocks with a broomstick.
A month later, the same boy was victimized again, this time with the broomstick shoved in between his buttocks and into his anus several times. This incident was also recorded but then deleted after the victim pleaded with one of the accused to erase the video.
The third incident, in November 2018, involved a different victim, who was not on the school's football team. He was also anally penetrated with a broom handle, an assault also filmed and then distributed.
Weagant's ruling included the terms of the boys' probation, which include having no contact with the victims or with their co-accused or with the rest of the school's 2018 football team — unless it's for a purpose under the Education Act, or they are involved in a sporting event organized by the Ontario Provincial Football League or the Ontario Varsity Football League.
The judge also touched on a culture of bullying at the school. "I conclude that the criminal behaviour in that locker room was fertilized by an atmosphere in which bullying was part of the normative culture of the three boys being sentenced today," he wrote in his decision.
Civil lawsuit against school
The school's administration were made aware of the incidents at the time but did not contact police. Police were only made aware of the assaults after they were approached by various media outlets with questions.
The principal, Greg Reeves, and school president, Father Jefferson Thompson, who oversaw that decision-making process, resigned in the wake of the incidents becoming public.
One of the victims and his parents have filed a civil lawsuit against the school, alleging administrators, staff and football coaches either were aware of a culture of bullying or should have been aware.
The lawsuit seeks a total of $1.65 million in compensation and punitive damages.
"Their son went to school and he was unsafe. All he wanted to do was play football and he was the subject of a sexual assault," said the family's lawyer Justin Linden outside of the downtown Toronto courthouse.
"The youths have been held accountable now, with these sentences and criminal charges. But the school has been missing from this whole criminal process."
An independent committee set up to examine the culture at St. Michael's found that bullying remained a "systemic" problem despite extensive measures taken by the school in the wake of the scandal. It also found hazing was not a problem.
The committee issued a 123-page report in August that offered 36 recommendations, including developing a comprehensive strategy to address bullying and robust staff training to deal with the issue. The school promised to adopt all recommendations.
In a statement Thursday, St. Michael's said it continues to pray for "all of the individuals involved and their families."
3 UK men are convicted of sexually assaulting girl, 12,
who was 'sold for sex by Asian grooming gang'
and 'passed around like a piece of meat'
By Faith Ridler For Mailonline
Three men have been convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl who was 'passed around like a piece of meat for the sexual gratification of several men', a court heard.
The victim, now an adult, told a jury she was forced to perform sex acts in a churchyard, was raped above a shop on a filthy mattress, and was violently abused when she tried to refuse their advances.
Opening the case at the start of the trial, Michelle Heeley QC, prosecuting, said the victim had been 'passed around like a piece of meat for the sexual gratification of several young men, some of whom are in the dock'.
Five men have been on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, with the jury unanimously agreeing verdicts on Tuesday for three of the men.
Deliberations are continuing on another separate charge faced by one of the convicted men, and in the case of two other separate co-accused.
The offences are all alleged to have taken place in the Telford area of the West Midlands, in Shropshire, sometime between 2000 and 2003, and started when the girl, now an adult, was just 12.
Mohammed Ali Sultan, 33, formerly of Telford, was convicted of rape and three counts of indecent assault.
Jurors heard at trial how he already had previous convictions in both 2012 and 2015 for 'similar offences against young girls'. He is serving a 6 year sentence for those offences.
Mohammed Ali Sultan, Mohammad Rizwan, Shafiq Younas and Amjad Hussain were convicted by a jury
Co-accused Mohammad Rizwan, 37, was also found guilty of two counts of indecent assault.
In the trial, jurors were told the victim was sold for sex by a man named Tanveer Ahmed, who 'befriended her' during a low point in her life.
Ahmed, who made takeaway deliveries for Perfect Pizza in the town, was not on trial alongside the other defendants, having been deported to Pakistan for 'unrelated offences'.
Jurors also watched a video-recorded interview with the victim, in which she told detectives of enduring two years of 'hell' and repeatedly contemplated taking her own life as she was traded between different men for 'months and months'.
These 'Asian' grooming gangs are almost entirely Pakistani and Muslim. Remember, Islam is the Religion of Peace, in case you didn't know.
Aussie 'swinger' who raped a girl, 8, while her mother and stepfather joined in has his sentence CUT because it 'wasn't in the worst category' of sex offending
By TITA SMITH FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
A 'swinger' who sexually abused an eight-year old girl alongside the victim's mother and stepfather has had his sentence cut from 21 to 17 years.
Tracy Coulter, 58, pleaded guilty earlier this year to abusing the Perth girl in group sessions involving up to four adults, including her guardians, who can not be named to protect the victim's identity.
He appealed the sentence as 'manifestly excessive' and the Court of Appeal partially upheld his case, cutting his term for one of the offences from 13 to nine years, while the other remained at eight years.
The District Court heard the offences were discovered after a memory card containing a video of some of the abuse was found in a short-term rental property, and handed to police.
The girl was sexually abused in group sessions with up to four adults including her mother and stepfather (stock image)
The recording showed the girl being abused 'simultaneously or in quick succession' by Coulter, her mother and her stepfather, the ABC reports.
Coulter was arrested in January 2018 and admitted committing the offences shown on the recording and to another charge in relation to three other incidents the girl reported to police in later interviews.
He was charged with sexual penetration of a child, making an indecent recording and persistent sexual conduct based on the girl's account.
The Court of Appeal cut his 13-year term for the abuse disclosed by the girl during police interviews to nine years but upheld the eight-year sentence for the offences on the recording.
The two terms will be served cumulatively and backdated to his arrest. He will be eligible for parole in 2033.
Police raid one of six properties (pictured) during Taskforce Mirzam into the child sexual abuse in March 2018
His original 21-year jail term was one of the longest prison sentences ever handed down in Western Australia for child sex abuse.
The court heard that adult offenders had all met through the 'swingers sex scene'- persons who engage in group sex or the swapping of sexual partners.
The mother and stepfather faced court on December 6 for 'depraved sexual abuse' between 2011 and 2015 of the girl and her younger brother.
The girl was aged between five and nine at the time, while her brother was between four and eight.
They will be sentenced in March 2020. So I guess that means they were found guilty!
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