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Toronto police constable dismissed for misconduct after
tweeting about sexual harassment
Lane Harrison · CBC News ·
Posted: May 02, 2023 6:23 PM PDT | Last Updated: May 2
The Toronto Police officer has filed a human rights complaint alleging race and gender discrimination.
She has been off on medical leave since 2018, after enduring years of harassment by fellow officers.
A Toronto Police Service constable will be fired or must resign in seven days after being found guilty of eight counts of misconduct, according to a police tribunal decision Tuesday.
The ruling by Robin D. McElary-Downer, a retired deputy chief with the South Simcoe Police Service, in the Toronto Police Service disciplinary hearing was related to Const. Firouzeh Zarabi-Majd's tweets alleging racism and sexual harassment inside the service, her refusal to leave the property of another officer and her refusal to take part in an internal investigation.
Zarabi-Majd did not attend the hearing, saying she was unable due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The tribunal is a quasi-judicial forum where the police investigate allegations of serious breaches of its code of conduct and Police Services Act.
"Taking into consideration the nature and seriousness of the misconduct, a demonstrated inability to reform and the likely damage to the [Toronto Police Service], coupled with all the other factors I contemplated, I find Constable Zarabi-Majd's usefulness as a police officer spent," wrote McElary-Downer in a decision published Tuesday.
So, don't get sick if you are in the TPS, your usefulness to the force will be spent!
The decision comes about three years after Zarabi-Majd told CBC's The Fifth Estate that the Toronto police environment is "so toxic you're just constantly trying to survive." She said she was kissed without her consent and male officers asked her to describe the bodies of female suspects she searched.
Toronto police Const. Effy Zarabi-Majd decided to document the pornographic magazines she found lying around at her workplace in 2018 and used the images as part of her complaint before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
Melanie J. Webb, the lawyer who defended Zarabi-Majd, said she and her client will review the decision and consider any viable options for an appeal. Webb said any comment on specific aspects of the decision would be reserved for argument on appeal, if that is pursued.
"This has been a devastating experience for PC Zarabi-Majd," Webb said in an emailed statement.
There is more to this story on CBC:
Changes to South Australian child sex abuse law
thanks to Grace Tame campaign
By Katelin Rice, Posted on May 4, 2023
The wording of a South Australian child sex abuse offence heading is set to be amended to better reflect the nature of the offending, following a campaign led by abuse survivor and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame.
As part of Ms Tame’s campaign for harmonisation of child abuse laws across Australia, she has been calling for changes to the way the sexual abuse of a child is worded in legislation – especially in jurisdictions where it is referred to as ‘an unlawful relationship’.
At the crux of Ms Tame’s concerns is that the word ‘relationship’ in the heading of the offence implies mutual responsibility, consent, and diminishes the gravity of the offence.
“This change takes significant steps towards eliminating salacious debate and confusion. Words hold immense weight. The previous terminology also gave scope for the sexualisation and adultification of boys and girls in a particularly dark, twisted context,” Grace Tame says.
“This change may appear small, but it is not. Action like this and the show of support at the highest level that comes with it, is not to be taken lightly. It ensures our legislation and our community correctly identifies and understands what deliberate repeated child sexual abuse is. The tide is turning. Children are being heard.”
The Government will seek to change the name of the section 50 Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 offence from “Unlawful sexual relationship with child” to “Sexual abuse of a child” with the introduction of a new Bill in Parliament’s Legislative Council today.
This Bill does not change the elements of the offence, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.
This change is consistent with similar offences in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and Tasmania.
“This measure is a small, but important, part of broader reforms we are pursuing in relation to sexual abuse that have included the criminalisation of stealthing, and measures to reclassify the possession of child pornography as a serious indictable offence,” Attorney-General Kyam Maher says.
A broader review of sexual consent and abuse laws, that includes other issues raised by Ms Tame and her Foundation’s Harmony Campaign, is also being undertaken by the South Australian and Federal Governments.
'I live for human connection': Australian child sexual abuse survivor on how she thrives 10 years on
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Eleven more Pakistani Muslim men appear in court accused of
sexually abusing teenage girls two decades ago
The men are accused of offences ranging from rape, trafficking people
for sexual exploitation and sexual activity with an underage girl.
By CIARAN MCGRATH
17:38, Wed, May 3, 2023 | UPDATED: 17:59, Wed, May 3, 2023
Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court, where the 11 men appeared (Image: MEN)
Eleven men have appeared in court charged with more than 100 offences as part of an investigation into non-recent child sexual exploitation. The 103 offences relate to incidents involving three teenage girls in Rochdale between 2000 and 2006.
Officers are continuing to work alongside partners, including Rochdale Council, to provide a multi-agency response to safeguard those affected and ensure they are supported.
The suspects appeared before Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court today (Wednesday).
Tahir Rashid, 52, of Hudsons Walk, Rochdale has been charged with 13 offences, including rape and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Mohammad Salim, 44, of Bradley Smithy Close, Rochdale has been charged with eight offences, including rape and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Suklene Shah, 44, of Crawford Street, Rochdale has been charged with two counts of penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Mohammed Shazad, 42, of Beswicke Royds Street, Rochdale has been charged with 16 offences, including rape, trafficking persons within the UK for sexual exploitation and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Nisar Hussain, 39, of Newfield Close, Rochdale has been charged with three offences, including making indecent images of a child and trafficking persons within the UK for sexual exploitation.
Naheem Akram, 46, of Manley Road, Rochdale has been charged with 10 offences, including rape and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Mohammed Zahid, 62, of Station Road, Crumpsall has been charged with 32 offences, including rape, trafficking persons within the UK for sexual exploitation and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl, gross indecency with an underage girl, procuring an underage girl to have unlawful sexual intercourse with unknown males.
Roheez Khan, 37, of Athole Street, Rochdale has been charged with three offences, including rape and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Arfan Khan, 39, of Grouse Street, Rochdale has been charged with four offences, including rape and penetrative sexual activity with an underage girl.
Mustaq Ahmed, 65, of Corona Avenue, Oldham and Kasir Bashir, 45, of Napier Street East, Oldham has been charged with six offences, including rape and gross indecency with an underage girl.
Boy, 17, sentenced to life behind bars after leaving teenager
paralysed following stabbing
The victim survived the attack but was left with life-changing injuries and has
very limited movement beneath the stab wounds.
By ALICE SCARSI, RICHARD ASHMORE
19:24, Thu, Apr 27, 2023 | UPDATED: 21:22, Thu, Apr 27, 2023
(Image: Suffolk Police)
Such a nice-looking young man. He's going to have one long nightmare in prison.
A teenage boy has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 12 and-a-half years behind bars for stabbing a 16-year-old girl seven times in the back of the neck, which left her paralysed. The sentence was handed down at Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday afternoon. Alex Tye, 17, who can be named after reporting restrictions were lifted, attacked the victim in a park near her home in the village of Benhall, Suffolk, at approximately 2am on October 2.
The attack took place days after Tye's girlfriend had broken up with him after discovering he was still in contact with the victim, with whom he had worked and secretly had a relationship.
Tye's ex-girlfriend had suspected there was something romantic between the pair but he had told his ex-girlfriend the victim was "meaningless" to him.
Following the split, Tye had also messaged his ex, saying "I would kill to get you back", the court heard.
The young victim only survived the attack by "pure chance", the court also heard.
Following the life-changing injuries the girl has suffered she has very limited movement below the stab wounds.
The stabbing took place in a park
Described as a "fighter" in a statement issued by her family following the sentence, she is undergoing rehabilitation to try to gain back as much movement as possible.
In a statement read out to the court on the victim's behalf, the girl said she will never be able to go into her attic bedroom again.
She said: "I want to know why he did it. I think it must be my fault but I cannot figure out what I did wrong... I will never beat my dad in a running race again. I will never play cricket again on the beach."
The judge allowed reporters to name Tye due to the serious nature of the crime he committed.
Ahead of the attack, Tye messaged the victim and arranged to meet her at night in a park near her home.
When she received the unexpected invitation to meet him, the girl had jokingly asked Tye, "You are not going to stab and kill me?", the court heard.
During their meeting, the pair spoke on a bench for more than an hour and kissed, before he attacked her as they were leaving the park.
The victim only survived by pretending to be dead and didn't scream until Tye, who had taken her phone away with him, had driven away from the scene, the court heard.
She laid unable to move for around four hours, until a dog walker found her and emergency services were called.
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