Russian lawmaker seeks life sentences
for convicted pedophiles
© Sputnik
A working group of lawmakers headed by United Russia MP Irina Yarovaya has proposed the introduction of life sentences for sex crimes involving victims under the age of 12.
“For the first time, we are proposing to make life sentences a punishment for sex crimes against children younger than 12,” Yarovaya said at a session of the working group on Thursday.
The Russian MP also spoke in support of changes to the Statute of Limitations in cases of crimes committed against children in order to increase the timeframe within which complaints can be made for the purpose of prosecution.
Duma
The bill prepared by the working group would also make an attempt to conceal sex crimes a separate crime, and would consider situations in which a suspect lives in the same home as their victim to be an aggravating factor in the crime.
In a speech before the working-group session, Yarovaya also said that criminal use of the internet was allowing offenders to commit crimes against a large number of potential victims at the same time.
“Because of that, we made distribution of pornographic materials among children via internet and coercing underage citizens to engage in sex acts by means of the internet aggravating factors in our draft,” she said.
Russian Ombudsman for Children’s Rights Anna Kuznetsova supports the proposed changes to the Statute of Limitations.
“The law must meet the challenges of our time. Unfortunately, some of the crimes that emerge today have been committed many years ago and it is not possible to punish the criminals,” she said.
The internet also “remains open” for pedophiles and called on lawmakers to take urgent action to address this situation, Kuznetsova added.
According to the Ombudsman, the number of sex crimes committed against children in Russia has increased from 8,000 to almost 12,000 in the past five years. She said that the current situation demanded immediate measures by lawmakers.
Of course, these are only those that are reported and are likely a small fraction of reality.
4 Teachers detained in Ecuador over child sex abuse allegations
QUITO: A teacher in Ecuador has been detained on suspicion of sexually abusing 84 children, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Prosecutor Mariana Huilcapi said the teacher working in Quito was taken into custody as part of an investigation – which began last July – into "alleged sexual offenses in the field of education."
"Preliminary information was reported on 10 alleged cases of sexual abuse. However, as a result of the investigation, it was possible to determine 84 minors were allegedly involved," she added.
Hulicapi said the alleged victims were aged 12 to 14.
3 more arrested, 1 fugitive
The case comes after the prosecution ordered the detention of three teachers suspected of abusing children at a school in the southeastern port of Guayaquil.
Authorities are investigating a dozen crimes in that city, while the prosecution is offering a US$10,000 (RM42,300) reward for help in locating a fourth teacher whose whereabouts are unknown.
Investigators interviewed five seven- and eight-year-olds, who said teachers carried out the abuse in school bathrooms during break times, using "deception, threats and intimidation," according to a statement by the prosecution.
The case of Guayaquil, which according to local press reports involved dozens of children, prompted a firm reaction from President Lenin Moreno.
"We cannot allow impunity in these crimes," he wrote on Twitter.
Moreno has announced a national referendum – the date of which has yet to be set – which among other questions will ask Ecuadorians if they want to remove from the constitution the statute of limitations on sexual abuse crimes against children. — AFP
Bangladeshi flower seller saves ‘desperate’ Italian woman from threat of gang rape
© Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
An Italian woman says she narrowly escaped being sexually assaulted by a group of around 25 young men as she was walking one evening in Florence. Luckily, a Bangladeshi flower-seller was nearby to avert the attack.
The 25-year-old was walking alone on the street at 11:30pm local time, when a group of some two dozen men approached her, the woman wrote on her Facebook page. The men started to joke and asked for a selfie. But the situation apparently got worse after they offered her “a gang bang” and said she would have “a good night with them.”
After the woman tried to walk away, some of the males spat at her and grabbed her by the arm. “I started crying like a little girl, I was desperate," she told Corriere Della Sera, adding that passers-by didn’t lift a finger to intervene.
However, a Bangladeshi man named Hossein Alamgir spotted the altercation at Piazza della Repubblica, where he usually sells flowers. Speaking to Direttanews, Hossain, who lives in Italy since 2005, said he did not notice anything suspicious at first when he saw the woman and the company “of drunken youngsters,” since they were joking and laughing.
However, after seeing the young woman’s reaction and her attempts to get away from the men, he said he didn’t hesitate to tell the group to leave the woman alone, threatening to call the police and dragging her away.
"I was desperate, choking," the woman said, adding that her rescuer calmed her as if she were his daughter, giving her a handkerchief and snacks. “This is a face I'll never forget,” the woman wrote on her Facebook page after uploading a picture of the rose-seller. She is now mulling whether to file a complaint against the group of men, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera.
Magician David Blaine accused of 2004 rape
by a former model
Rebecca Lewis for Metro.co.uk
Magician David Blaine has been accused of rape by a former model, Natasha Prince. Blaine has denied all the allegations.
‘Officers from the Met’s Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating an allegation of rape. The allegation was reported to police on 17 November 2016 by a woman who alleged she was raped at an address in Chelsea in June or July 2004 when she was aged 21,’ the Met Police told Metro.co.uk.
‘There have been no arrests at this stage and enquiries continue.’ Prince spoke to The Daily Beast and claimed that ‘Blaine raped her at a private home in London’s Chelsea neighborhood in the summer of 2004, months after her 21st birthday’.
‘My client vehemently denies that he raped or sexually assaulted any woman, ever, and he specifically denies raping a woman in 2004,’ Blaine’s attorney, Marty Singer, said. ‘If, in fact, there is any police investigation, my client will fully cooperate because he has nothing to hide.’
In a subsequent statement, Singer addressed the specific allegation by Prince, saying: ‘This would include Natasha Prince.’
Prince told the publication that she met Blaine at a party in the summer of 2004, and that when she visited his house the following night, he offered her a drink and they spent time together. She then goes on to say that he ‘asked to show her something in the adjacent bedroom’ and when they entered the room he demanded she kiss him so she did. ‘And then he said, “Finish your drink” and took the glass from me and put it on the table, and that’s really the last thing I remember.
‘At some point, I was on the bed, face-forward, and he was behind me. I think it woke me up a little bit, because I’d never had that [anal sex] done to me before. I remember moving around a lot. I was limp, and I was very floaty; I was in and out of a deep sleep. ‘When I woke up, I was very relaxed — very stoned. The lights were on, and I was naked. He was shirtless at the end of the bed.’
Prince revealed that she flew to London in 2016 and met police on December 16 at Kensington Police Station, along with her father, where she met with investigators and filed a report.
There is no statute of limitations for sex crimes in Britain.
In a phone call with the publication Singer reportedly suggested that ‘anyone can make a claim — especially with this Harvey Weinstein thing’. Prince’s report to the police was made almost a year before the New York Times and New Yorker magazine would expose Weinstein’s decades of sexual abuse.
Chelsea, London
Canadian Forces instructor in Quebec charged with
sex assault involving student
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - An instructor with the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School at a garrison near Montreal has been charged with sexual assault involving a student.
The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service laid charges against Master Cpl. Pierre Desrosiers in connection with allegations stemming from a December 2016 party at a restaurant in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
A Canadian Forces statement says four charges were laid on Friday: one of sexual assault, one of drunkenness and two of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline.
The Department of National Defence says a decision on whether to hold a court martial under the military justice system has not yet been made.
The military has committed to fighting sexual misconduct in their ranks in the wake of a damning report on the matter in April 2015.
Paedophile mother was filmed having sex with a boy, 11, before selling the footage on a market stall
Davies subjected the boy to violent sexual assaults
and forced him to have sex with her
By William Watkinson
A paedophile mother who had violent sex with an 11-year-old boy before selling the footage on a market stall has been jailed for 15 years.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Dawn Davies' partner filmed the horrific abuse before the footage was sold.
Described as a campaign of "corruption and depravity" the boy was abused after being lured to the mother-of-three's Salford flat where a two-year campaign of abuse took place.
The 36-year-old had violent intercourse with the boy who had initially attempted to "fight Davies off but she won", the court heard.
Davies, of Moston, Manchester, had denied 12 charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity claiming the boy was lying but was convicted after the victim, now 16, testified against her.
The court heard how Davies often threatened to hurt him or would physically assault him if he said no to being touched. The jury heard how Davies told the victim that she would say he broke her windows if he told anyone about the abuse.
Recorder Peter Atherton said according to the Daily Mail: "This was corruption and depravity at the expense of a vulnerable child - behaviour of extreme wickedness.
"The story he revealed was truly shocking and the amount of distress he suffered was very concerning. He was used in images and videos which were sent round to others. They were shared and solicited.
"The offending required much planning as you took him to a place where he was not supposed to be and involved him in things he was not supposed to be involved in. You would threaten him if he rebelled against you with going to the police and you threatened him into not telling anyone."
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) arrested Davies at her flat after a tip-off and discovered a laptop and desktop computer which was used to make searches for "nude teen girls" and "nudist teen boys".
Atherton told the court that Davies had "no real understanding of the harm she had caused the boy who was left "frightened" by his ordeal.
The boy said in a victim impact statement: "She was messing with me, she smacked me and she hurt me. She started laughing when she done it."
He added: "I pushed her and kicked her to get her off me but she was, like, proper on me and I couldn't get her off. She was, like, grabbing me and pinning me on the bed and lying on me."
In mitigation, defence counsel, Andrew Marrs, said Davies had a "troubling upbringing", reported the Manchester Evening News.
Davies was also ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register and was made subject of a of Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
