Hundreds of students kidnapped in Nigeria, nearly 5000 since last May

 

Nigeria's president sends troops to rescue more than 250 kidnapped students

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday sent troops to rescue more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the country’s northwest in one of the largest mass abductions in three years.

Issued on: 08/03/2024 - 18:36Modified: 09/03/2024 - 17:19

3 min

By:NEWS WIRES

Video by:FRANCE 24Follow|FRANCE 24

The Kaduna state attack was the second mass kidnapping in a week in Africa’s most populous state, where heavily armed criminal gangs on motorbikes target victims in villages and schools and along highways in the hunt for ransom payments.

Local government officials in Kaduna State confirmed the kidnapping attack on Kuriga school on Thursday, but they have still not given figures as they said they were still working out how many children had been abducted.

At least one person was shot dead during the attack, local residents said.

Sani Abdullahi, a teacher at the GSS Kuriga school in Chikun district, said staff managed to escape with many students when the gunmen known locally as bandits attacked early Thursday firing in the air.

He told local officials 187 pupils had been snatched from the main junior school along with another 100 from the primary classes. Three local residents also said between 200 and 280 children and teachers had been snatched.

“Early in the morning... we heard gunshots from bandits, before we knew it they had gathered up the children,” local resident Musa Mohammed told AFP.

“We are pleading to the government, all of us are pleading, they should please help us with security.”

The Kaduna abduction and the mass kidnapping a week ago from camps for people displaced by jihadists in northeast Borno state illustrate the challenge facing Tinubu who promised to make Nigeria safer and bring in more foreign investment.

“I have received briefing from security chiefs on the two incidents, and I am confident that the victims will be rescued,” Tinubu said in a statement ordering armed forces to track down the kidnappers.

“Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered.”

Brave words from a government that has supported the jihad movement of genocide against Christians and farmers in Nigeria for many years now. Brave, but empty. The only way they will get the students back is to pay a hefty ransome. This is one way in which the Nigerian government supports jihad.

The two mass kidnappings also came almost ten years after Boko Haram jihadists triggered huge international outcry in April 2014 by kidnapping more than 250 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.

Some of those girls are still missing.

More than 100 people are reported missing after militants carried out the mass kidnapping last week targeting women and children in camps for those displaced by the jihadist conflict in Borno. But conflicting accounts have emerged about the time and number of victims.  

 ‘No stone unturned’ 

Police did not provide figures for the Kuriga school kidnapping. But the numbers of those reported abducted in Nigeria are often lowered after people who went missing while fleeing attacks return home.

“The Kaduna State Government and Security Agencies are working round the clock to ensure the safe return of the school children,” state governor Uba Sani said on X, formerly Twitter.

“I have received strong assurances from the President and National Security Adviser that no stone will be left unturned to bring back the children.”

In the last three years, hundreds of schoolchildren and college students have been kidnapped in mass abductions in the northwest and central region, including in Kaduna.

Almost all were released for ransom payments after weeks or months spent in captivity at bandit camps hidden in the forests that stretch across northwestern states.

UN child welfare agency UNICEF also condemned Thursday’s attack and called on the government to do more to protect students.

“Schools are supposed to be sanctuaries of learning and growth, not sites of fear and violence,” UNICEF Nigeria director Christian Munduate said in a statement.

Nigeria’s armed forces are battling on several fronts, including against armed criminals in the northwest and the long-running jihadist insurgency in the northeast that has killed 40,000 and displaced more than two million since 2009.

Nigeria's forces also battle astonishing corruption in the government and higher levels of the military, as well as a lack of enthusiasm to disrupt the Islamic genocide of Christians.

Fighting in Borno has eased as militants have been pushed back from the territory they once controlled, but they still carry out attacks, kidnapping and raids in remote areas.

Last September, gunmen abducted more than 30 people, including 24 female students, in a raid around a university in northwest Zamfara State.

In February 2021, bandits raided a girls’ boarding school in the town of Jangebe in Zamfara, kidnapping around 300 students. Months earlier, gunmen snatched more than 300 students from a boys school in Kankara in Katsina state before releasing them days later.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, 3,620 people were abducted in 582 kidnap-related incidents in Nigeria, according to local risk analysts SBM Intelligence. It has recorded 4,777 people abducted since Tinubu took office in May last year.

 (AFP) 

5 Nigerian Schoolgirls Dead, One, The Only Christian, is Still Captive

War on Christianity - Boko Haram

Several Nigerian schoolgirls did not survive Boko Haram captivity

5 are believed dead, while Leah Sharibu of Dapchi is still unaccounted for

The Associated Press

Two of the newly released Dapchi schoolgirls are shown waiting to board a plane at the air force base in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Wednesday after they were returned to safety. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Just one Nigerian schoolgirl is still held by Boko Haram after the extremists released 104 classmates seized in a mass abduction and she "will not be abandoned," President Muhammadu Buhari said Thursday, with no word on five girls still unaccounted for, but who are said to be dead and buried.

The president's statement calls Leah Sharibu "the only Dapchi schoolgirl still in captivity" after the extraordinary release of the girls on Wednesday.

Freed girls and parents have said Sharibu is Christian and still captive "because they want to convert her to Islam."

Or, because she can be used as a slave/sex slave since she is not Muslim.

Rebecca Sharibu told the Associated Press that her 15-year-old daughter refused.

"Her friends said they tried to convince her but she said she will not convert to Islam," the girl's mother says. "Boko Haram said since she will not convert to Islam she should remain behind. That was how they left her."

Leah Sharibu asked her departing Muslim classmates to pray for her.

We should all be praying for this courageous girl with the heart of a martyr!

Buhari's statement said "true followers of Islam all over the world respect the injunction that there is no compulsion in religion." He added that he looked forward to meeting with the girls who were freed.

Except that that is not what the Quran teaches! Consequently, it would appear that 'true followers of Islam' don't believe the Quran.

Also Thursday, the father of one of the five schoolgirls still unaccounted for said he has been told his daughter and others are dead and buried.

Inuwa Garba told The Associated Press that friends of his daughter who were freed told him the 16-year-old died from injuries in the frightened stampede that occurred during the mass abduction in Dapchi a month ago.

"They told me five of the girls died and my daughter, who was among them, was the first to die" the day the girls were seized, Garba said. The survivors told him the bodies were buried in the bush.

"I believe what the girls told me because they were all together and saw what happened," he said.

Maj.-Gen. Rogers Nicholas, commander in charge of the operation to rescue (rescue???) the Dapchi girls, carries one of them as others wait to board a plane at the air force base in Maiduguri on Wednesday. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

On Wednesday, one 14-year-old released by the fighters told reporters that five girls had died but did not provide details. One of the freed girls, Khadija Grema, has said a Christian classmate remained captive, while those released are Muslim.

"We were freed because we are Muslim girls and they didn't want us to suffer. That is why they released us," she said.

The freed girls were taken to the capital, Abuja, later Wednesday.

The Boko Haram extremists brought back the girls they had kidnapped from a boarding school, dropping them off with a warning: "Don't ever put your daughters in school again." Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language.

The abductions in Dapchi have evoked painful memories of the tragedy in Chibok, where 276 girls were kidnapped from their boarding school. Nearly four years later, about 100 of them have never returned home. Many had been forced to marry their captors and had children fathered by them.

The Nigerian government denies that it paid a ransom or made a prisoner swap in exchange for the Dapchi girls' freedom. Both of which occurred before the largest release of Chibok schoolgirls last year.

The latest mass abduction is thought to have been carried out by a Boko Haram splinter group aligned with the Islamic State group that has criticized the leader of the main Boko Haram organization for targeting civilians and has focused instead on military and Western targets.

Nigeria's government under Buhari has repeatedly claimed victory over Boko Haram in recent months but the extremists continue to carry out deadly suicide bombings in the north, often using young women who have been abducted and indoctrinated.

The Dapchi mass abduction has caused a fresh round of outrage, especially about the protection of schools in a region where Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of people over nearly a decade.

The release of the girls came a day after an Amnesty International report accused the Nigerian military of failing to heed several warnings of the imminent attack on Feb. 19 during which the girls were seized. The military has called the report an "outright falsehood."

Boko Haram Returns Nigerian Kidnapped Schoolgirls

Witnesses say Boko Haram militants have returned an unknown number of the 110 girls who were abducted from their Nigeria school a month ago

Here we go again. This article indicates that almost all the girls who were kidnapped last month have been returned. There is no mention of 80 girls having been rescued days later (see story below). Was that another Nigerian lie to suggest that the military was actually doing something? You seriously can't believe anything that comes out of this God-forsaken country where truth is extremely unlikely in any area of life.

Falmata Abubakar, one of the girls freed from the Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi, is photographed after her release by Islamist Terrorist in Dapchi, Nigeria, Wednesday March. 21, 2018. Witnesses say Boko Haram militants have returned an unknown number of the 110 girls who were abducted from their Nigeria school a month ago. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Boko Haram extremists returned almost all of the 110 girls abducted from their Nigeria boarding school a month ago with an ominous warning, witnesses said Wednesday.

The fighters rolled into Dapchi around 2 a.m. in nine vehicles and the girls were left in the centre of town. As terrified residents emerged from their homes, the extremists said “this is a warning to you all,” resident Ba’ana Musa told The Associated Press.

“We did it out of pity. And don’t ever put your daughters in school again,” the extremists said. Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language.

Nigeria’s government said 101 of the 110 schoolgirls, most of them Muslim, had been confirmed freed and that the number “would be updated after the remaining ones have been documented.”

“No ransoms were paid,” the information minister, Lai Mohammed, said in a statement. The girls were released “through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and it was unconditional.”

In Islam it is forbidden to rape a Muslim girl unless you are married to her or unless she was behaving badly (her hair was showing, etc.). Only non-Muslim girls can be taken as slaves/sex slaves by Muslim men. They must have been thoroughly disappointed to find that most of the girls were Muslim. Poor research on their part.

Family members were en route to the town Wednesday morning.

“When I get there we will do a head count to see if all of them have been released,” said Bashir Manzo, whose 16-year-old daughter was among those kidnapped during the Feb. 19 attack.

Manzo confirmed that his daughter was among those freed.

“As I speak to you there is jubilation in Dapchi,” he said.

The mass abduction and the government response brought back painful memories of the 2014 attack on a boarding school in Chibok. Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls, and about 100 of them have never returned. Some girls were forced to marry their captors, and many had children fathered by the militants.

The Chibok girls were mostly Christians.

The latest mass abduction is thought to have been carried out by a Boko Haram splinter group aligned with the Islamic State, one that has criticized the leader of the main Boko Haram organization for targeting civilians and has focused instead on military and Western targets.

Residents in Dapchi fled on Wednesday morning upon hearing that Boko Haram vehicles were headed toward the town.

“We fled but, from our hiding, we could see them and surprisingly, we saw our girls getting out of the vehicles,” Umar Hassan told the AP.

“They assembled the girls and talked to them for some few minutes and left without any confrontation,” said another resident, Kachallah Musa.

The girls were at the general hospital in Dapchi “and the counsellors are there with them,” the information minister told reporters. As with the released Chibok schoolgirls, “they will be quarantined and be counselled before they go back to their schools.”

Their release came a day after an Amnesty International report accused the Nigerian military of failing to heed several warnings of the imminent attack last month. The military has called the report an “outright falsehood.”

Nigeria’s government celebrated the girls’ release. “GREAT NEWS from Dapchi, Yobe State. Thank God for the safe return of our sisters. Alhamdulillah!” an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, said on Twitter.

Nigerian army failed to act before 110 girls abducted

By Susan McFarland

School girls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 meet Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria. A report Tuesday by Amnesty International accuses the Nigerian army of failing to act on warnings of another mass abduction last month. File Photo by STR/EPA

UPI -- A report by Amnesty International accuses the Nigerian army of failing to act on "advance warnings" given hours before Boko Haram militants abducted 110 girls from a school last month.

The human rights group alleges the army and police received at least five calls on Feb. 19, warning that gunmen were heading to the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi.

The report says witnesses and residents said they alerted army officials and police after seeing a convoy of gunmen heading toward the school.

Amnesty called for an investigation into the circumstances that led to the abductions of at least 110 girls after Boko Haram stormed the school. The Nigerian army rescued about 80 girls two days later at a border town between Borno and Yobe.

The latest report I can find from Nigeria pegs the number rescued at 76. It seems that rescue is confirmed even while I doubt just about everything that comes out of that corrupt country, and even though major news sources carried this story, it is still doubtful.

"The Nigerian authorities must investigate the inexcusable security lapses that allowed this abduction to take place without any tangible attempt to prevent it," said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International's Nigeria director.

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok, and about 20,000 people have been killed since the terrorist group began its insurgency there in 2009.

One of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls was rescued in January and 82 were released in exchange for five top Boko Haram commanders last May. Twenty-one others had previously been freed after negotiations.

"Evidence available to Amnesty International suggests that there are insufficient troops deployed in the area, and that an absence of patrols and the failure to respond to warnings and engage with Boko Haram contributed to this tragedy," Ojigho said.

"The Nigerian authorities have failed in their duty to protect civilians, just as they did in Chibok four years ago. Despite being repeatedly told that Boko Haram fighters were heading to Dapchi, it appears that the police and military did nothing to avert the abduction."

More than 100 Nigerian Schoolgirls Remain Missing

In spite of government announcement that

80 had been rescued

You can't really believe anything that comes out of Nigeria.

Truth seems to be a foreign concept there.

By Daniel Uria  

Nigerian Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed said Sunday 110 girls kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants, like the ones pictured above, remain missing. File Photo by Usuf Osman/EPA

This photo of captured Boko Haram troops has no date on it, but is certainly not recent.

UPI -- More than 100 girls are missing after suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a school in Nigeria on Monday.

Nigerian Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed said Sunday 906 female students were at the school on the day of the raid on the Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State and 110 girls remain unaccounted for.

"We want to assure Nigerians that no stone will be left unturned in our determination to rescue these girls," he added.

The Yobe State Government had announced Wednesday that 80 girls had been rescued by the Nigerian Army.

The government later retracted the announcement and apologized for the "erroneous" statement, which it said was based on inaccurate information.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted Friday that the military has been deployed in response to the kidnapping and additional troops and surveillance aircrafts have been sent to monitor the area.

"The entire country stands as one with the families, and with the government and people of Yobe State. This is a national disaster," Buhari wrote. "We are sorry that it happened; we share your pain. Let me assure that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return all the missing girls."

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok and about 20,000 people have been killed since the terrorist group began its insurgency in 2009.

One of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls was rescued in January , 82 were released in exchange for five top Boko Haram commanders in May 2017 and 21 were freed in October 2016 after negotiations with Boko Haram.

Nigerian Army Rescues 80 Schoolgirls Abducted by Boko Haram

Can it be true?

One has to be reluctant to believe anything that comes out of Nigeria, especially if it's good news. Let's hope and pray it is true and pray for those not yet accounted for.

By Daniel Uria

Boko Haram militants are loaded onto an aircraft by the Nigerian military to be taken to a rehabilitation center in Gombe where they reportedly are to begin a de-radicalisation process, in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on July 8,. The terror group may have abducted more than 100 school girls after a raid Monday. File Photo by Usuf Osman/EPA

UPI -- The Nigerian army rescued about 80 girls abducted by Boko Haram militants in a raid at a school on Wednesday.

The girls were rescued at a border town between Borno and Yobe and were taken to the Geidam Army Base to undergo medical checks, CNN reported.

Mohammed Alamin, the commissioner of education for Yobe state, said the school will be visited to check names off a list in order to confirm the exact number of girls rescued.

Alamin couldn't confirm if any bodies were recovered at the scene and the Yobe state government said more details about the number of girls rescued and their condition will be provided in "due course."

Up to 111 girls were initially unaccounted for after Boko Haram stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School (2nd story on link) in Dapchi on Monday evening, Yobe state police commissioner Abdulmaliki Sumonu said.

"Eight hundred and fifteen students returned to the school and were visibly seen, out of 926 in the school. The rest are missing," said Sumonu.

Sumonu said he could not confirm if the missing students had been kidnapped, adding not all of the girls live at the boarding school and some may not have been present during the raid.

"It's a very sensitive situation," he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari said he ordered the military and police to "mobilize immediately" to find the girls and dispatched his defense minister on a fact-finding trip.

"I share the anguish of all the parents and guardians of the girls that remain unaccounted for. I would like to assure them that we are doing all in our power to ensure the safe return of all the girls," Buhari said.

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok and about 20,000 people have been killed since the terrorist group began its insurgency in 2009.

One of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls was rescued in January, 82 were released in exchange for five top Boko Haram commanders in May 2017 and 21 were freed in October 2016 after negotiations with Boko Haram.

Global P&P List from Nigeria, Ireland, South Africa and UK-2, Today

Chibok girls rescued from Boko Haram to start university
Mother sentenced for sex abuse of her own sons - Ireland
South Africa completely inept in dealing with CSA
So. Yorkshire police chastised for failing victims of Ian Watkins - UK
Recluse sentenced of having 11k child porn images - UK

Released Chibok girls ready for education after ordeal

Abuja (AFP) - The 106 Nigerian schoolgirls no longer in captivity by Boko Haram jihadists fighting against western-style education will all go to university from September, the country's minister for women's affairs said Friday.

One of the girls required a prosthetic leg following her ordeal, several needed surgery for injuries and four babies have been born as a result of their detention, Aisha Alhassan said in a statement.

The Islamist militants seized 276 schoolgirls from the remote northeast Nigerian town of Chibok in April 2014, triggering global condemnation and drawing attention to the bloody Boko Haram insurgency.

Former US first lady Michelle Obama led a worldwide social media campaign under the banner #BringBackOurGirls to raise awareness of the group's plight.

All 106 girls who either escaped or were released or rescued from their captors "will be resuming school at the American University of Nigeria foundation school in September 2017," said Alhassan.

Twenty-four girls who had managed to escape were already studying courses at the institution and will be joined by the rest of their freed classmates in the new school year.

The freed girls, who are all in good health, have received extensive trauma counselling since regaining their freedom.

"Previously frequent incidents of flashbacks, insomnia and nightmares have now been successfully brought under control," said Alhassan.

"The girls have become survivors and heroes in their own right."

In their quest to create a hardline Islamist state, Boko Haram, whose name roughly translated from Hausa means "Western education is sin", has waged a relentless campaign against education in northeast Nigeria.

Along with attacks on schools, thousands of women and young girls have been abducted during the eight-year insurgency, which has left at least 20,000 people dead and displaced more than 2.6 million.

Mother jailed for participating in the

sexual abuse of her sons in Ireland

A County Wicklow woman who participated in the sexual abuse of her two sons has been sentenced to three years in prison.

The woman, aged in her 60s, appeared before Wicklow Circuit Court for sentencing recently, following her trial which took place in March.

The sentence hearing related to one incident, which State prosecutor Paul Murray said occurred some time between 1996 and 1999.

It was a Sunday, Formula One was on the television and they were all in the sitting room of the house. One of the brothers was aged between 12 and 14 at the time, the other between 10 and 13.

The stepfather told his wife to get undressed, which she did. The victims told the court during their mother's trial that they had been forced to digitally penetrate their mother. She took part in what happened and also touched the boys' genitals, as did their stepfather, who then had sex with the mother in front of the boys.

The older brother made a series of statements regarding his stepfather in 2014, as well as one statement indicating what happened involving his mother. The younger brother also came forward.

The victims' stepfather was sentenced to 21 years, with seven suspended, in the Central Criminal Court last year for the sexual abuse, which he carried out over many years when they were boys.

The victims' mother was interviewed in 2014. She answered some questions but denied stripping off in front of her children.

During her trial, the older brother gave evidence that he remembered his mother smiling at him during the incident.

'After what she did to me I never felt like I had a mother,' said the older brother in a victim impact statement. 'That day, she told [my stepfather] it was OK to do the things he did. I lost all confidence in myself, I had nobody to talk to. A mother is meant to protect her kids. I felt no protection. She allowed a paedophile to abuse me. She was a witness and she joined in.

'She has never taken responsibility for her crime. She made me relive it in court and deal with her barrister putting it to me that I was lying. She knew I was not lying.'

In his victim impact statement, the younger brother said that he was filled with anger and anxiety at putting pen to paper 'as, if I do, it means it really happened. It's no longer a nightmare, but a reality.

'That day will haunt me for the rest of my life,' he said. 'I feel so ashamed and embarrassed. The only job as a mother is to raise your children not to have to recover from their childhood. It's safe to say she failed. I have spent a lifetime trying to undo the damage.'

He said that he has no life skills and is not able to read and write properly as he was made leave school at 13.

'Sleeping at night is the hardest thing for me,' he said. 'I have constant nightmares and I am afraid of the dark. It's a daily battle facing the day ahead, when the vicious cycle begins.'

He said that after speaking to gardaí for the first time, he 'left the station feeling that there was someone there to protect us, the way a parent should protect a child.'

'These two young boys depended on their mother to protect them,' said Judge Michael O'Shea. 'A mother has influence, commanding and directing influence over the family. She was in a position of trust, a dominant position. She was in a position to be protector, instead of that she turned out to be an abuser,' said the judge.

'They were extremely vulnerable by reason of their ages,' he said. 'They could do absolutely nothing. What they were subjected to and what they had to do in the course of the abuse involving their mother is simply outrageous and disgusting. It has had a horrendous and destructive effect on both of them.'

Judge O'Shea sentenced the woman to five years, with two years suspended.
Bray People

Co. Wicklow, IE

South Africa's child abuse stats shock

DAILY NEWS
MPHATHI NXUMALO AND RUSANA PHILANDER

Barnard said the country's ongoing violence against children painted an incredibly bleak picture. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

DURBAN - South Africa’s child protection services were in crisis, said World Vision SA, and a University of Cape Town (UCT) study found that only 19% of child abuse cases in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape were referred to the police by social services.

In turn, the police only referred 8% of such cases to social services.

Paula Barnard, national director of World Vision, said there was a lack of inter-sectoral collaboration between social services and the police.

“We’re dealing with a fragmented, inadequate system which is failing our children daily. Perpetrators aren’t brought to justice, and children don’t receive crucial therapeutic and support services that are vital to their recovery and long-term well-being,” she said.

The lack of social welfare support and co-operation between various departments, said Barnard, resulted in many cases falling through the cracks.

Jackie Branfield, of the human rights NGO Bobbi Bear that helps sexually abused children, said the researchers were being “generous” by saying 19%.

She said tests conducted on child victims of sexual abuse were supposed to be sent to the forensic laboratory within seven days. But this was not the case, because some samples had been lying around for 18 months.

From her experience, Branfield said that 12 years ago only about 2% of cases that went to court in Durban resulted in convictions.

She felt the Department of Social Development needed to be more efficient.

“If the department could do only a quarter of their job, then there would be no need for Bobbi Bear,” Branfield said.

Valdi van Reenen-Le Roux, director of the Trauma Centre in the Cape, agreed there were not enough services which protected children.

“There are not enough counsellors and social workers, and that is why not a lot of children have access to these crucial services.”

The Child Abuse Tracking Study 2017, by UCT’s Children’s Institute, found that children were most at risk in their own homes, and younger children especially were most likely to be abused by a relative or someone they knew - 80% of under-four-year-olds were related to their abusers.

“Perpetrators behave with impunity and they often show callous disregard for the effects of their actions on children,” the report read.

Poor record-keeping meant vital information was often missing from files. The lack of information meant allocation of resources would be a problem.

“The lack of inter-sectoral collaboration was based on a lack of trust and low expectations, for example the police referred cases to the Department of Social Development and nothing happened.

“Additionally, there was limited inter-sectoral collaboration between other departments. Critically, schools and teachers are not being involved in the management of children post abuse,” the study found.

According to UCT’s research, delays in justice and lack of psychosocial support meant children were being traumatised again and could lead to them suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Another study, the Optimus Study by UCT and the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention, found that: “Of the young people interviewed in schools 35.4% - one in every three young people - had experienced some form of sexual abuse at some point in their lives.”

It found that 26.3% of children who were interviewed at home said they experienced sexual abuse.

The research found that 36.8% of boys and 33.9% of girls reported some form of sexual abuse.

The study estimated that more than 784967 young people aged 15 to 17 in South Africa had been sexually abused.

The Daily News had earlier this year reported that Childline received 20,000 calls for help in the province every month.

Most of the children come from Chatsworth, Phoenix, Pinetown, Inanda, KwaMashu and uMlazi.

Both the KZN police and the Department of Social Development declined to comment until they read the recent UCT study.


Police spokesperson Colonel Thobeka Mbhele told the Daily News that the police were not allowed to comment on statistics that were not from the police minister.

South Yorkshire Police 'failed to act' on child sex abuse claims against Ian Watkins

The ex-partner of former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins says she was ignored by officers when she repeatedly made allegations against him

Ben Bason

The police watchdog says South Yorkshire Police failed to act on child sex abuse claims made against former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins.

Watkins was jailed for 35 years for child sex crimes in 2013 after an investigation by police in Wales but his ex-partner says she made a number of claims to officers in our county the year before and was ignored.

Joanne Mjadzelics says she even took in his laptop, that contained indecent pictures, to Doncaster police station.

The IPCC say that the inaction by officers may have placed a child at risk of further abuse for several months.

IPCC Comissioner Jan Williams IPCC Commander said:

“The evidence suggests there was a general view among officers at Doncaster that Ms Mjadzelics was not to be taken seriously, and consequently enquiries were not progressed as they should have been.

“It is concerning that a neighbourhood police constable without specific training or support, rather than an officer from a specialist team, was expected to view and make judgement on a potential image of child sexual abuse.

“South Yorkshire Police did not handle a request for assistance from South Wales Police thoroughly. I have recommended they create a policy document setting out what is expected of officers in collaborating on serious offence investigations.”

The IPCC now want the force to review how the deal with child sex abuse claims.

It's made the following recommendations:

• only suitably trained and qualified officers carry out child sex abuse investigations;
• their process for allocating serious offence enquiries should be reviewed to ensure they are assigned to the appropriate department; and
• a policy document is created to assist SYP collaboration with other police forces.

South Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable David Hartley has responded to the findings saying:

“Our handling of this matter fell far below the standard the public or we as a service would expect and I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Ms Mjadzelics as she received a service that was unacceptable with no support"

"As a service, we are absolutely committed to working together to protect the most vulnerable, achieve justice, and prevent future offending.

Ms Mjadzelics had a right to expect, and demand better from South Yorkshire Police.”

The NSPCC say it's "vitally important that lessons are learned" from South Yorkshire Police's handling of the claims.

A spokesman for the charity said:

“While Watkins is thankfully behind bars where he belongs, the report’s damning conclusion that a failure to treat initial claims made against the singer seriously could have put a child in danger should be a wake-up call for all those involved.


“The force must now ensure each of the report’s recommendations are swiftly acted on and appropriate action taken."

Recluse who fled to Glasgow caught with 11k

child abuse images

Chris Humphreys

A PAEDOPHILE who was found to have more than 11,000 still and moving images showing the sexual abuse of children has been sentenced to five years and four months in prison.

Christopher Knee appeared at Swindon Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced for 12 offences relating to the possession and distribution of videos and pictures of a sexual nature that involved children and animals.

The 22-year-old first appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on May 3 where he pleaded guilty to the offences. He was told that the offending was so serious he would be sentenced by a judge.

Knee has been living near Glasgow having fled Swindon when investigations into his offending first came to light.

The court heard how he came to the attention of the police as a result of investigations by the National Crime Agency.

Officers raided his address in January 2016 and his electronic devices were seized. Large numbers of still and moving images, many in category A which is the most serious, were found by specialist investigators.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, said: “This defendant was identified as a person accessing and sharing indecent images using online file sharing websites. He used his real name and email address. “The devices that were seized each had high volumes of indecent images.”

Ms Hingston went on to outline that, in total, there were 3,183 images and videos in category A, 5,971 in category B and 2,191 in category C. She added: “When officers examined the devices they found numerous chat messages discussing the sharing of images.”

The judge was asked to take into account aggravating features including the age and vulnerability of the children, the “discernible pain” they were experiencing, the high volume of images and the number of people to whom they were distributed.

Gareth James, defending, acknowledged that the offending was very serious. He told the court that Knee had suffered traumatic experiences in his early life that had played a role in his behaviour.

“He is now a recluse,” said Mr James. “He lives in a property without internet access and has sought help. He does take his offending very seriously.”

Sentencing Knee to a total of five years and four months in prison, Recorder Richard Onslow said: “These images were some of the worst imaginable kinds of utterly depraved acts against children, including babies. You had evidently searched for these images and discussed the sexual abuse of children with other parties.

“You are 22, you have no previous convictions, you have led an isolated and lonely life and there are matters which trouble you. “But you know, as do most people, that making, possessing and distributing these appalling images encourages the vile trade in these things and the commission of dreadful acts against young, innocent children.”

Knee will serve half of his sentence in prison and half in the community on licence. He will be subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.


His electronic devices will be destroyed.

82 Chibok Schoolgirls Released by Boko Haram Reunited with Families

By Allen Cone 

Some of the 82 released Chibok girls meet Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (C) on May 7 at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. On Saturday, they were reunited with their families. Photo by STR/EPA

UPI -- The 82 Nigerian Chibok schoolgirls captured by Boko Haram more than three years ago were reunited with their families Saturday.

Bahir Ahmad, the personal assistant to the president, announced the news on Twitter, writing it was an "emotional" welcome at the capital, Abuja.

How delightful to see smiles on some of those faces

"I am really happy today, I am Christmas and New year, I am very happy and I thank God," said Godiya Joshua, whose daughter Esther was among those freed, in a report by The Telegraph.

The girls were released two weeks ago. The remaining 113 are supposedly still captured.

In 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped. Boko Haram released 21 of the girls in October and another 50 or so escaped on their own since being abducted.

"We have trust in this government, definitely they will rescue the rest safely and back to us alive," said community leader Yakubu Nkeki.

Five commanders from the extremist group were exchanged for the girls' freedom. Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross helped negotiate their release.

Many of the girls, mostly Christian, were forced to marry and gave birth. Some have refused to return after becoming radicalized.

The two groups of girls -- last month and October -- were reunited with family members Saturday. Nigeria's Channel TV showed the young women laughing and embracing.

The girls are in government care as part of a nine-month reintegration program personally overseen by President Muhammadu Buhari. Human rights groups said that is too long for them to be away from home.

Families in the remote Chibok community had been waiting word on whether their daughters were freed.

Another Abducted Chibok Schoolgirl Escapes Boko Haram

By Ed Adamczyk

A group of 82 girls, abducted in 2014 by Boko Haram insurgents from their Chibok, Nigeria, school, were returned to the capital, Abuja, on May 7. One more girl escaped and is traveling to Abuja, the Nigerian government announced Thursday. Photo courtesy the Nigerian government/EPA

UPI -- A girl abducted in 2014 by the Boko Haram insurgent group has escaped, a Nigerian government official confirmed.

Femi Adesina, spokesman for acting President Yemi Osinbajo, said Wednesday that Osinbajo made the announcement during a Federal Executive Council meeting, adding that the unidentified girl is traveling to the capital, Abuja. She will be reunited with 82 others, of a group of about 276 kidnapped from a Chibok school on April 14, 2014, who were freed 12 days ago, he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, returned to Nigeria from a medical stay in London to meet the girls on May 5, before returning to London.

Nigeria 'mopping-up' Boko Haram?

Adesina also said Nigerian military forces were capable of defeating Boko Haram, a terrorist group involved in an eight-year campaign for an Islamist caliphate in Nigeria that has cost thousands of lives and displaced millions. 

Addressing concerns that the depleted Boko Haram is regrouping in Nigeria's Sambisa forest, Adesina commented, "One thing you can be sure of is that this government has the capacity to confront any security challenge that arises. So, if they are regrouping they will be flushed out again. I believe that we have seen the worst of that insurgency. We are in a mopping-up process and I believe the mop-up would be completed."

Sounds more than a little optimistic to me.

Chibok Girls Rescued From Boko Haram But Far From Free

82 Chibok girls are free of kidnappers

but still not home

One girl's refusal to leave reveals Boko Haram's control as Nigerian government counsels freed girls

Chibok girls recently freed from Boko Haram captivity gather Monday in Abuja, Nigeria.

One who was kidnapped in 2014 chose to stay with her husband, a government spokesman said.

(Sunday Alamba/Associated Press)

Anna Cunningham
Lagos, Nigeria

It took three years, three weeks and one day for 82 Chibok schoolgirls to regain their freedom after a kidnapping at the hands of Boko Haram that stunned the world.

But it should have been 83 girls.

According to Garba Shehu, the Nigerian president's spokesman, one girl refused to leave.

"One said, 'No, I have a husband, I'm happy where I am,'" Shehu told local television after the release on Saturday.

It's among the first real indications of the level of control Boko Haram has exerted on these girls and young women.

​"It is not at all surprising," Mausi Segun, a senior Nigerian researcher with Human Rights Watch, told CBC News.

"People in long-term captivity, as these girls, will develop some sympathy for their captors — Stockholm Syndrome."

Segun says the trauma the mainly Christian girls have witnessed, "including constantly dealing with deaths, deliberate killings and other crimes," along with their exposure to Boko Haram's Islamic ideology, "could leave them confused about issues of faith."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, left, meets recently captives in Abuja on Sunday. The government carefully stage-managed their release. (Nigeria State House via Associated Press)

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls, mostly aged between 16 and 18. Since then, 57 have escaped, three were found over the course of the last year, 21 released last October and 82 released on Saturday. That leaves 113 missing. 

Girls rescued in October are still not home with their families

For the latest group to be released, a transition back to normalcy will not be easy.

Many questions are being raised in Nigeria about the way in which the government is handling the released hostages. 

Those released in October have not been able to return to their homes and families. Instead, they have been kept in government-run facilities in the capital Abuja, where they have taken lessons and have received counselling.

The newly released 82 have also yet to be reunited with their families. The government says it is still verifying their identities.

Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International's Nigeria director, has called for the government to "respect their privacy and ensure they are reunited with their families … and not be kept in lengthy detention and security screening."

With some released hostages being held for months on end, such processes can "only add to their suffering and plight."

Freed captives sit in a hall as they are welcomed by officials in Abuja on Sunday.

A Nigerian researcher says they suffered trauma, 'including constantly dealing with deaths,

deliberate killings and other crimes.' (Reuters)

The Chibok schoolgirls spawned a global Twitter hashtag #bringbackourgirls, which shed light on the horrors of the Nigerian conflict, which began in 2009 and has killed at least 20,000.

Thousands of women and young girls like these have suffered a similar fate, forced to become Boko Haram wives, raped, trained to fight or become suicide bombers.

'They are probably different people, due to their experiences.'

— Elizabeth Pearson, specialist on Boko Haram

"They are probably different people, due to their experiences, than the young women preparing for their exams in 2014," says Elizabeth Pearson, a Boko Haram specialist who studies woman and conflict.

The world might never know the story of why at least one schoolgirl converted to being an apparently "happy" Boko Haram wife.

The release of the 82 was carefully stage-managed. The actual handover happened in a forest near the Cameroon border — the girls in exchange for an undisclosed number of Chadian prisoners, believed to be senior Boko Haram commanders.

Was money involved? What else was in the deal?

Yan St. Pierre, a counterterrorism specialist and head of Modern Security Consulting Group based in Berlin, says we might never know.

"Boko Haram will always try to get the best deal. And the reality is that most of what went down and was agreed upon will never be made public."

But he says the deal was done because "both sides felt they were maximizing the opportunity."

Campaigners observe a minute of silence for the remaining hostages during a daily meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls, mostly between 16 and 18, and 113 are still missing. (Associated Press)

The first pictures of the girls came from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was not involved in negotiations but facilitated the release.  

The girls, dressed in ICRC bibs, were walking toward a military plane. This was probably their first flight anywhere, and it took them directly to meet Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks in Abuja in 2016. Buhari, 74, is in ill health and being treated in London. It's not clear when he'll return. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Images emerged of them having blood pressure checks and then it was all smiles, as they were greeted by the president.

An unrealistic transition maybe, but one the Nigerian authorities were ready to present to the world.

"The government's practice of parading the young women in front of the cameras doesn't appear to put their psychological needs first," says Pearson.

The government has promised that all will be done to provide the girls with an education and the counselling they need. 

"Without a doubt," says Segun, "Nigerian authorities need support in scaling up and improving the quality services."

The group released last October has also been kept in Abuja, in a government-run centre where they are attending lessons and having counselling.

Some parents have been angered, particularly at Christmas when the girls were taken to Chibok to meet family, but only allowed to do so in a local politician's house, before being returned to Abuja.

The 82 captives wait to be released in exchange for several militant commanders, near Kumshe,

Nigeria on Saturday. (Zanah Mustapha/Reuters)

There remain, of course, continued security risks for the girls.

Buhari was elected president in 2015 on a promise to end the Boko Haram insurgency. The release or discovery of 106 girls is a major political triumph for his government.

But Buhari, 74, is in ill health and being treated in London.

Within seconds of the release of the photo of his meeting the girls, the government issued a statement saying the president was flying to London.

In January he went on 10 days' leave for routine medical checks, but his stay turned into nearly two months.

Now it's not clear when he'll return, raising questions about whether he's well enough to lead.

But experts say talks for the release of the remaining Chibok girls will carry on regardless.