Germany: Trial begins for Scout leader accused of
700 child sex abuse crimes
Proceedings have begun against a former German scout leader who is accused of nearly 700 instances of sexual abuse against minors. The man had previously been cleared of sexual abuse charges due to lack of evidence.
German scouts
Criminal proceedings began Monday in southern Germany against a former scout leader who is charged with sexually abusing four boys hundreds of times between 2010 and 2018.
A regional court in Freiburg in the state of Baden-Würrtemberg began the first of a seven-day hearing in the case against a former leader of an protestant scout troop in Staufen. The town became infamous in 2018 when a woman and her partner living there were jailed for pimping out a boy to pedophiles (4th story on link) online.
And here I thought it became famous for the 2016 rape and murder of an EU diplomat's daughter by a Muslim migrant who had done the same thing in Greece before coming to Germany. Or, the 2018 gang-rape of an 18 y/o girl by at least 7 Syrian migrants (3rd story on link).
The prosecution had brought 676 charges of sexual abuse against the man, of which the youth criminal chamber is allowing 330 to be considered in court.
The four victims were between the ages of seven and 14 at the time of the abuse.
Two of the boys came into contact with the accused when they were 7 and 8 years old as members of a scout troop. The 42-year-old German man led the group from 1999 to 2011, apart from a 3-year break.
The suspect is accused of sexually abusing the 7-year-old 131 times and the 8-year-old 14 times.
He is also said to have abused an 11-year-old boy 549 times between 2014 and 2017. The court did not reveal how the two originally came into contact.
The fourth victim came into contact with the man at a campsite near Freiburg in 2017 when the boy was 8 years old.
The man had previously been accused of sexually abusing children in a earlier case, but was cleared in criminal proceedings that ended in 2007.
Man arrested for sexual assault after the 15-y/o
victim calls for help in Ottawa
OTTAWA — Today, the Ottawa Police Service Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit (SACA) charged a man with sexual offences following an investigation.
On January 23 a worker from the Child Aid Society (CAS) contacted police reporting that a 15-year-old girl had contacted them advising she was in distress and wanted help.
Frontline officers attended a business in the 400 block of Tweedsmuir Avenue shortly after 4 p.m., spoke to a man who claimed to be alone inside the unit of concern; and police soon located the 15-year-old victim hiding beside a bed.
Further investigation revealed that the victim had attended the location between January 21-23.
Michel Levesque, 35, of Ottawa was charged with Sexual Assault on a person under 16 years of age, Sexual Interference and Invitation to sexual touching. He is scheduled to appear in court today.
The investigation continues and SACA investigators are concerned there could be more victims.
The Ottawa Police will respect a victim’s wishes to pursue or not pursue the matter before the courts. The reporting of these incidents by victims to police is key for investigators to identify suspects and determine crime trends.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Ottawa Police Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 or at crimestoppers.ca.
15 year sentence demanded for former coach in
French child sexual abuse case
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Update: Geddes was sentenced to 18 years in prison
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Update: Geddes was sentenced to 18 years in prison
Andrew Geddes, a former tennis coach, is accused of raping and sexually assaulting four girls Pixabay
Text by: RFIProsecutors at a court in Paris have called for a 15-year sentence for a former tennis coach accused of raping four of his students, all minors at the time. The case comes as senators call on the government to better protect children from sexual predators.
Andrew Geddes, 53, a former tennis coach, is accused of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting four girls between 1999 and 2005. The youngest was only 12 years old at the time, the others were between 15 and 17.
“He was God, he was a guru,” France’s avocate-générale (top legal adviser) told the Assize Court in Nanterre on Friday on the last day of the trial. “He gradually sucked these young tennis players in.”
Details from trial
During the trial, the four women told how they had been under the influence of the “charismatic” trainer who “isolated them”; how he alternated between humiliation and compliments to undermine their confidence.
Some civil parties described how sexual intercourse took place in Geddes’ car or in the club house toilets, and was sometimes filmed.
The former trainer at Sarcelles tennis club admitted to having had romantic relationships with each of them, and recognised “slippages” because of the age difference but denied rape and believed they were consenting.
“At the time, due to my immaturity, blinded by my need for recognition, I was incapable of recognising non-consent,” he told the court.
“What freedom can a girl of 12,15 or 17 have faced with a man 20 or 30 years older than her?” the avocate générale retorted. “The first victims of sexual abuse are children. Why? Because they do what is asked of them.”
The battle to fix an age of consent
The case comes at a time when the age of consent is becoming a hot button issue in France.
A preliminary enquiry for “rape of a minor” was recently opened against French writer Gabriel Matzneff, now 83, after publisher Vanessa Springora accused him of raping her in her recently-published book Le Consentement (Consent).
Springora was under 14 at the time. Matzneff has never denied they had a sexual relationship but maintained they were in love.
On Friday, members of the cross-party women's rights delegation in the Senate called on the government to “change the penal code in order to better protect young minors from sexual predators”.
In an open letter to the Minister of Justice, Secretary of State for gender equality and minister for child protection, the signatories said it was time to open up a parliamentary debate on the age of consent. The law of 3 August 2018 which reinforced measures to tackle sexual violence "had not resolved question", the said.
Despite a push by some MPs to fix an age of consent, lawmakers voted against setting at 15 the minimum age at which a minor cannot consent to a sexual relationship with an adult. As a result, France still has no law establishing a legal age of sexual consent.
"Should the age limit be 13, 14 or 15? ask the signatories to the letter. "Let's put our trust in parliament, and parliamentary debate, to decide."
Father, 49, took overdose and died three days after police searched his house for child porn as BBC filmed outside
A father took his own life just three days after he had returned home to discover police searching his house for child porn - and a BBC documentary crew filming outside.
On April 15, police carried out a raid on his home on Oswald Road after they received intelligence that indecent images of children had been downloaded and made available to share from an IP address linked to him.
Mr Cordes was not arrested, the inquest at Maidstone Coroners' Court heard.
One indecent image had been downloaded by Mr Cordes, the Independent Office for Police Conduct later reported.
Police were working with Channel 4 on a documentary, which aims to show the work of officers who identify and apprehend offenders involved in child sexual abuse.
The camera crew, from the BBC's standalone production arm BBC studios, filmed outside during the raid. They continued to film outside the property when Mr Cordes arrived home - and he told them that they did not have his consent to appear on camera. The crew had 40 seconds of footage of Mr Cordes taken during the day's filming.
A laptop and a mobile phone were seized from the house.
Mr Cordes's family have now accused the police of having 'blood on its hands' over its handling of the case. They also pointed the finger at the BBC for being a 'catalyst' for his death.
Kent Police's Detective Constable Darren Bassett said: 'He was asked if he had seen any indecent images of children. He said he had but it wasn't something he had searched for.
'I explained to him if it was an accident, then it wasn't anything to worry about because we would be able to see what search terms and websites he used.'
An interview was set up for the following day at a police station in Canterbury - but Mr Cordes never showed up. Two days later, police community support officers discovered Mr Cordes dead following calls from concerned neighbours.
Police community support officers who discovered Mr Cordes, after concerned calls from neighbours, said a note was also found in the house which referenced 'stigma' and said that 'he was sorry but could be happy now'.
During the inquest - which resumed yesterday - his family quizzed DC Bassett on why no welfare checks had been carried out before police and the camera crew arrived. His step mother Heather Cordes asked: 'Did you ask Russell whether he suffered from depression or anxiety?'
He replied: 'You take somebody at face value. There was no reason for me to believe there was any underlying issues.'
Mr Cordes's daughter Drew attended the hearing and paid tribute to her father. She said: 'My father always put me first. There was not a moment I didn't feel love and adored by him. We were incredibly close'.
His sister, Michele Cordes, blamed Kent Police for his death, when questioning DC Darren Bassett. She said: 'You have got blood on your hands.'
Teacher charged with sexual assault of 13-y/o student
at Sydney school
By Lara Pearce, 9NewsA teacher at a Sydney high school is behind bars charged with sexually touching one of his 13-year-old students.
Detectives from the NSW Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad began investigating in December last year following reports the girl had been sexually assaulted in class at a south-west Sydney school.
Police pounced on the 63-year-old man at a home in the NSW Southern Highlands just after 8.30am this morning.
He was taken to Moss Vale Police Station and charged with two counts of intentionally sexually touching a child aged between 10 and 16 years.
Police will allege the man sexually touched the girl during class in December last year.
He has been refused bail to appear at Moss Vale Local Court later today.
Investigations are continuing.
Canada's Absurdly Criminal-Friendly Judicial System Has Fresh Blood on Its Hands
Quebec City man charged with woman's murder was on day parole for ex-spouse's brutal slaying
Marilla Steuter-Martin, Loreen Pindera · CBC News
A man charged with killing a Quebec City sex worker was allowed to have what the Parole Board of Canada deemed "inappropriate" sexual relations with women — despite the "serious and worrisome risk."
Gallese, 51, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Marylène Levesque, whose body was found by police in a hotel room in Quebec City's Sainte-Foy neighbourhood on Wednesday evening.
Police say Gallese turned himself in Wednesday, telling them where to find the body of Levesque, who was a sex worker, according to Radio-Canada sources.
Gallese was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years for the 2004 second-degree murder of Chantale Deschênes who, according to parole documents, he struck on the head with a hammer and stabbed several times, enraged by her decision to leave him.
Marylène Levesque, 22, was found dead at a hotel in Quebec City's Sainte-Foy neighbourhood on Wednesday.
(Marylène Levesque/Facebook)
Gallese had been living in a halfway house since March and had been allowed to have his "sexual needs" met, his parole officer told the board at a hearing in September.
The board raised serious concerns about that as a "risk management strategy" but nonetheless listed Gallese's likelihood of reoffending as "low to moderate."
"The Board expects the assessment that culminated in this approach to be re-examined," it said.
It denied Gallese full parole but extended his day parole under several conditions. He was required to report any relationships with women, sexual or otherwise, and was forbidden to consume drugs or alcohol.
Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel has asked federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair to look into the case. LeBel wants to know why certain conditions were granted to Gallese and whether his case workers were properly trained to evaluate the risk he might have posed to public safety.
"Once we have answers, we can work with [Blair] to put measures in place to keep a similar situation from happening," she said.
Véronique Hivon, the justice critic for the Parti Québécois, said the case shows a certain "nonchalance" in the way violent crimes against women are treated. She said they require a specialized approach from all levels of the justice system, including the parole board.
'Very concerning'
Sandra Wesley, the director of Stella, a Montreal-based sex workers' organization, said the case is "very concerning" because the parole board appears to have given Gallese tacit permission to hire prostitutes, knowingly putting them at risk.
"They identified that this man was a potential danger to women and wasn't ready to have proper relationships with women but figured that he could then go see sex workers. It really tells us what they think about us," Wesley said.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Blair said public safety is "the main consideration in all parole decisions. Violent offences by individuals on day parole are incredibly rare," the spokesperson said, calling day parole "an important part of a process of gradual, supervised release."
Levesque's death is the first homicide in Quebec City in 2020. Gallese is due back in court Feb. 26.
'I just wanted someone to be nice to me': Kelly was innocent, timid, and just 13 when she was groomed and raped by Pakistani men in Manchester
One Survivor's Story
Curry Mile, Manchester, UK
SPECIAL REPORT: In the wake of the publication of a devastating report into an abandoned police operation investigating child sexual exploitation, Jen Williams speaks to a victim and uncovers a horrific story of institutional abandonment
By Jennifer Williams
Manchester Evening News
Last week, a devastating report revealed how scores of vulnerable children were left to be abused and raped by a south Manchester-based grooming gang 15 years ago.
The review, which looked at an abandoned police operation called Augusta - and the inaction of social services at the time - found girls and boys living in children’s homes, most of them looked after by Manchester council, had been failed by the agencies that were meant to protect them.
It outlined harrowing abuse suffered by children as young as 12 at the hands of a network of up to 97 Asian (read: Pakistani) men based around Rusholme, who would pick them up from homes ‘in plain sight’ before abusing them in houses and above restaurants on the Curry Mile.
Barely any of those men were charged before the operation was shut down, despite police and the council having detailed information about who they were. At least eight went on to commit sex offences against children.
Now, one woman who was abused by a gang at the time has come forward to tell her story.
Kelly, not her real name, still remembers the first time she went to the Curry Mile with the friends she had just made in her new children’s home.
Aged 13, she was ‘pretty innocent, pretty timid’ and - she recollects now - ‘not streetwise at all’.
Two girls, one of them even younger than her and also living in the same home, had befriended her. And she wanted to fit in.
“We went to a place called Rusholme - I had never been there before,” remembers Kelly, now in her 30s. As a child, I could see all the restaurants. There were so many lights around, so many people. I felt that I had made friends. I wanted to impress them, I wanted to seem streetwise.
“One of the girls knew everyone she came across in Rusholme and had met up with a man who she called her boyfriend. This was the first Asian Pakistani man I had ever met. I looked at him and thought to myself that he was so much older than the girl he called his girlfriend.”
From there, they were invited to a flat above a restaurant on the Curry Mile, which she can still identify. “They were giving us food and drink,” she remembers. “There were so many people - men - there, but they were all really friendly to me. They seemed nice. I wasn’t afraid and, after all, I had my new friends with me.”
Already Kelly had been scarred by the behaviour of those with power over her. She had entered the care system around a year earlier, due to abuse within her family.
When she looked in the mirror, she says, ‘I could not stand the reflection I could see staring back at me’. “I was disgusted at what I was looking at.”
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“I started going out with them more, and every night I started absconding from the children's home.”
And that was how it all began.
“One night, I went out with the two girls. They said we were going to a house party. We went to a house in Rusholme. When we got there, I was given vodka - this was one of the first times I had drunk alcohol.
“Everyone, including the girls, were giving me more and more. My head was spinning and I was dizzy. I felt so sick. I remember being in one of the bedrooms upstairs and one of the men who was my friend came in. I wasn’t scared - he was my friend.
“Then he was hurting me. He got on top of me. I told him no: please stop. I was still a virgin. He didn’t listen - this friendly man was so horrid, with evil in his eyes. He did what he wanted that night.”
From that point on, she says, ‘he was always there when I walked out of the children’s home’.
Kelly remembers the private homes she had lived in previously as being ‘happy’. But, for reasons she never understood, Manchester council then started moving her around.
There is more to this dreadful story in the Manchester Evening News
Rotherham sex offender hands himself in
after being confronted about child sex abuse
By Matt JarramNottinghamshire Live
A man has been jailed for more than 11 years after admitting a series of sex offences against a child.
The abuse happened between 2002 and 2009. He was arrested and later charged.
Tomlinson admitted indecent assault, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and four offences of sexual activity with a child when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on November 29. He was sentenced at the same court on Friday, January 24.
He was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life, given an indefinite restraining order protecting the victim and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to have no unsupervised contact with children under 16.
Detective Constable Amy Revill, who led the investigation, said: "Tomlinson's abuse will have a lifelong impact on his victim and no sentence will ever make up for that. However I hope she gains some comfort in the fact that he has now faced justice for his crimes.
"I would also like to thank Nottinghamshire Sexual Violence Support Services - an independent sexual violence advisor service - as without their support we cannot achieve these outcomes."
The sickening scale of child sexual abuse
across Cambridgeshire
By Annie Gouk, Richard BrownCambridgeshire Live
Reports of child sex abuse have risen to their highest level on record in Cambridgeshire.
Exclusive analysis of the latest official crime statistics has revealed that there were 740 cases of sexual crimes against children recorded by police in our area in the 12 months to June 2019.
That’s up from 536 similar child sex offences recorded the previous year - and is the highest number recorded since at least 2002, when the figures first began.
The figure has nearly doubled in the last five years alone, rising by 96% from 378 cases in the year to June 2014.
The increase may be due to an actual rise in abuse, but it may also be linked to more victims feeling able to come forward, and better recording practices by police.
These crimes include rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and grooming of children under the age of 16 - the age of consent in the UK.
In cases where the gender of the victim is given, nearly four in every five of those affected in Cambridgeshire were girls.
The increase in reports of this type of crime seen in Cambridgeshire reflects a national trend.
Across England and Wales, there were 62,265 sex crimes against children recorded by police last year - up from 59,757 cases seen in the 12 months to June 2018, and again the highest number ever recorded.
Andrew Fellowes, NSPCC Public Affairs Manager, said: “These figures draw back the curtains to give us a sense of the scale of child sexual abuse.
“The increase could be down to a number of reasons including more people speaking out, better police recording, or a rise in offending, particularly online.
“It can be difficult to comprehend such vast numbers but we must all remember that behind these statistics are real children who have suffered and have to deal with the devastating consequences that abuse inflicts.
“We know it is difficult to talk about abuse but it is vital children know they can come forward and they receive swift, appropriate support that they deserve.”
The offences recorded in Cambridgeshire last year included 157 cases of sexual activity involving a child under 16, 134 cases of sexual assault on a female child under 13, and 95 cases of rape of a female child under 16.
Which is one child rape every 4 days - and those are only the ones reported.
Police also recorded 88 cases of sexual activity involving a child under 13, 88 cases of sexual grooming, 86 cases of rape of a female child under 13, and 44 of sexual assault on a male child under 13.
Irish CSA victim reveals he can’t sleep at night because he watches for ‘door handle constantly’ - 25 years later
One Survivor's Story
Craig FarrellThe Irish Sun
A BRAVE sex abuse victim has told how he can’t sleep at night because, “I watch for the door handle constantly”.
The Dubliner, who is a skilled standardbred horse trainer and rider, received justice last October when Anthony Core, 56, was caged for seven years for various sexual assaults dating between September 1993 and 1995.
John said: “It has ruined my life. I have taken mental breakdowns. I have personality behaviour disorder. I suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder. I do cognitive behaviour programmes. I suffer from stress and anxiety.
“Tony Core has ruined my whole life. He even broke up my family. I broke up with my ex-partner over the trial — the stress and strain of it and that it put on us. So basically, he has destroyed everything.
John strides ahead by throwing himself into harness racing
Credit: Garrett White - The Sun
“I still don’t sleep at night. I can’t sleep because I watch for the door handles constantly. Because that’s what it was like — just waiting for it — because it always happened at night.
“My ex-partner used to say before the pin wouldn’t even have dropped, and I could hear it. That’s the way I am at night time trying to relax.”
John was born and raised in Ballymun. His parents separated when he was a tot and he grew up living with his dad and his father’s girlfriend.
Core, who is the girlfriend’s brother, entered John’s life when he was invited to stay in the house after being released from prison.
'HE WAS GROOMING ME'
John, who has two young boys, aged two and eight, told how Core, unknown to John’s dad and his dad’s girlfriend, abused and groomed him.
“He started bringing me down on the handlebars of his push bike to sign on with him. He would then go across the road and buy cider in the off-license.
"We would go up to the fields where there was a shed and drink in there.
“Basically, he just kept showing me the love and attention that I never really had and that I was craving. I am only realising now that he was grooming me.”
John continued: “I knew at nights that it was going to happen to me. I would go up to bed and he would have pulled my bunk bed out from the wall — because he would put his hands up from below and grope me.
“I could see every time he was coming for me. I would wait for the handle on the door to be pulled down. I didn’t know what was happening until I got a little older and started to realise that it was not right.
“I use to watch his hands coming up trying to get me. I use to spend the night awake watching for his hands coming up.
“It got to the stage where I would think of bringing hammers or knives up with me just to try and stop it.”
Please link to the Irish Sun for more on this story.
Birmingham child sex predator 'ran
voodoo-like cult', says ex-church member
By Mike LockleyBirmingham Live
A sex beast who abused children - and hid his crimes behind a religious group - ran a voodoo-like cult, a former member has revealed.
During ceremonies, carried out in private homes studded around Birmingham, those he preyed on were forced to purify themselves by drinking perfume.
“Spiritual bathing”, where those abused were draped in red sashes, was a prelude to degrading sexual ordeals carried out by depraved Oluronbi.
“It was cult-like,” said the Birmingham man we spoke to, a member of Oluronbi’s Imole Ayo religious group for 11 years.
“He is controlling and manipulative. He would use the name of God to remove the father, then manipulate the mother into forming a relationship of a sexual manner in an attempt to abuse the children.
“And all in the name of God.”
Juliana Oluronbi
The young man spoke out after Oluronbi was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of abusing children and adults over a 20-year period. We have also spoken to the father of one victim, who told our reporter: “I forgive him. As a Christian, I have to forgive him. I do not hate him.
“Christians do not feel hatred for anyone, we pray that sinners will repent so they can reach heaven. As long as they repent their sins, they can make the Kingdom of Heaven.
“We don’t want to make hellfire, we want to make heaven. “My daughter does not feel the same, although that is what we taught her. I have tried to talk to her about it, but she just cries.”
Wait til you see how much suffering she endures, and how it affects her relationship with Christ. You will revisit your decision to forgive him who destroyed your child. From her perspective, it looks like you have taken the side of the monster and abandoned her in her grief and anger. She needs to go through this and not be told it's wrong and un-Christian. You are not required to forgive Satan. You are required to be alongside your suffering child.
Some of the crimes were committed after the 60-year-old convinced his victims to take part in so-called spiritual bathing to purge their bodies of evil spirits.
Some fell pregnant multiple times and were spirited to abortion clinics by Oluronbi, who was a qualified pharmacist. Sickeningly, one of his victims endured five terminations.
Born in Nigeria but living in Longbridge, Oluronbi preyed on his victims’ strict Christian beliefs.
Warped and twisted Christian beliefs! How did he get away with several abortions, either by the hospital or by the congregation? It's absurd!
Some were draped in red sashes during the bathing ceremonies, and warned that they would become witches if his grubby advances were refused.
At Birmingham Crown Court, he was convicted of 15 rape charges, seven indecent assaults and two sexual assaults. They were committed against six women and a man. Five of them were members of his church.
The evangelical pastor’s wife Juliana, from Walsall, was found guilty of three counts of aiding and abetting rape and helping to arrange some of the abortions. The pair await sentence.
Oluronbi, a bear-like individual with a near-hypnotic grip over his victims, originally had links to Edgbaston’s Cherubim and Seraphim Church, but launched his own splinter religious group from private homes in the city. The sex attacks, stretching back to the 1980s, began when the victims were children.
Oluronbi blamed the Devil for his actions
Please go to Birmingham Live for much more on this story.
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