Judge Stops Prosecution of Child Sex Offender

Santiago, Chile: Judge cites expired statute of limitations as a reason.

Judge Jéssica González ruled Thursday that there would be no criminal prosecution on sexual abuse charges against the accused former priest Fernando Karadima. This brings the seven-month investigation to an end. The judge ordered the record closed.

Karadima was a high profile priest during the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), leading El Bosque parish, home to many of Chile’s most influential politicians and business people.

Former Priest Fernando Karadima

The Catholic Church first opened a sexual abuse investigation into Kardima in 2004 regarding the same accusations. Karadima was found guilty by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors in January 2011 and was sentenced to a life of prayer and penance. He was also relieved of all priestly duties.
 
José Andrés Murillo, Juan Carlos Cruz and James Hamilton, the accusers, claimed Karadima sexually abused them in the early 1980s. Claims have been brought against Karadima as early as 1984.

This case has seen high profile testimony from such people as Ricardo Ezzati, the current Archbishop of Santiago.

Judge González chose not to move the case forward because there is a concern about the statute of limitations for such crimes. Chile has a 10-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse of children, beginning once the victim turns 18.

The alleged victims attempted to bring charges against Karadima within that period, but were dismissed by the church.

The accusers do not see this as the end of the case. Judge González is expected to rule on the legality of the charges within the next two weeks.

“This is a scenario we expected and we have to wait for her to rule on whether the facts have weight, regardless of whether they are within the statute or not,” said Juan Pablo Hermosilla, the attorney for the plantiffs, to El Mercurio.

He went on to say that although he sees the case as being closed for now, Judge González  didn’t make a judgment on the validity of the claims.  “She said ‘not now,’ but hasn’t ruled on whether the complaints are true or not and that’s what we are hoping for.”  He remained positive, telling El Mercurio, “We are pleased the facts are being investigated; they [the accusers] know his actions won´t be repeated.”

This case was previously closed when the prior judge, Xavier Armendáriz, ruled in December 2010 that there was not enough evidence to move the case forward.

Cristián Muga, the defense attorney for Karadima, was pleased with the judge’s decision Thursday and told La Tercera, “As the defense, we are calm.”

Karadima has maintained his innocence against all accusations.

(January 26, 2007) A recent study revealed that approximately 3, 700 children and adolescents are being sexually abused in Chile. The study – carried out in 2004 by the International Labor Organization (OIT) – found that 50 percent of the children involved in underage prostitution and pornography are between ages 10 and 15 years, and more than 32 percent are under age 10. Although Chile has one of the lowest rates of child exploitation in Latin America

Village Council Orders Gang-Rape

While this is not specifically child-related, it does speak to the mentality and social attitudes that must be changed in India before women and children have any semblance of security from sexual assault. 

Please pray for the Indian government to take significant action against this council and set an example that such things won't be tolerated.

A 20-year-old Indian woman said she was gang-raped on the orders of a village council because she fell in love with a man from a different religion, police said Thursday.

Thirteen men have been arrested in the Monday night attack, police official C. Sudhakar said. The woman told police that she lost count of how many men raped her. She was hospitalized Thursday in serious condition.

Gang-rape suspects being led away by Police

Television footage showed the woman, her face covered by scarves, being led into a hospital with an IV tube in her arm.

According to police, the village council in Subalpur village ordered the woman to pay a fine of 25,000 rupees (nearly $500 Cdn) when her relationship with the man was discovered. But when her family said they were too poor to pay, the council ordered the gang rape.

A rash of high-profile rapes in India over the past year has sparked widespread outrage over chronic sexual violence and government failures to protect women.

The West Bengal case is particularly troubling, because it was allegedly ordered by a council made up of village elders. Such councils are not legally binding in India, but they are seen as the will of the local community. The councils decide on social norms in the village, and in some cases they dictate the way women can dress or who they can marry. Those who flout the councils risk being ostracized.

Subalpur is about 180 kilometres north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.

Four years ago, a village council in Birbhum district ordered a young woman paraded naked through the village. She was accused of falling in love with a man from a different caste.

Annie Raja, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, said that such local councils destroy women's rights.

"They are dead set against giving basic human rights to women," she said. "These are non-constitutional bodies and the West Bengal government should take stringent action against them."

Demonstrators marked the first death anniversary of the Delhi gang rape victim in
New Delhi in December 2013. An outpouring of anger was seen across
India after a 23-year-old woman died following a gang rape on a moving bus.

India's Supreme Court has in the past issued opinions condemning the councils as illegal bodies. Several legal organizations are pushing Parliament to pass a comprehensive law that would make edicts by local councils illegal.

Female Quebec Teacher Convicted of Sexual Exploitation of Minor

Tanya Pontbriand, a former Rosemere, Que., high school gym teacher, has been found guilty of sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Pontbriand was accused of having a relationship with a 15-year-old student, who told police he and Pontbriand had more than 200 sexual encounters between 2002 and 2004. She was 32 years old when the encounters began.

Tanya Pontbriand

Pontbriand was charged in 2008 with sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation, to which she pleaded not guilty.

During the trial, her lawyer called the former student a liar and a manipulator, saying he withheld details from police and at the preliminary hearing about his sexual relationship with Pontbriand.

In his decision, which is more than 150 pages long, the judge said there was a profound inequality between Pontbriand and the victim.

Pontbriand is scheduled to be back in court on May 8​. 

US Court Decisions Re: Child Sex Abuse Cases

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A late Yale University professor's family should be allowed to sue the disgraced Roman Catholic order the Legion of Christ over a more than $1 million bequest, a federal magistrate judge in Rhode Island recommended.

The retired mechanical engineering professor, James Boa-Teh Chu, was living in East Providence, R.I., before he died in 2009. His son, Paul Chu, sued in U.S. District Court in Providence in 2012, saying his father was coerced, defrauded and deceived into signing over many of his assets to the Legion.

Among the allegations made in the lawsuit, Chu says members of the order convinced his devout father that the Legion's founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, was a saint, even as the church was investigating allegations against him including sex abuse. The Vatican took over the order in 2010 and Pope Benedict XVI ordered a wholesale reform.

US Supreme Court

Supreme Court justices expressed compassion for a woman raped as a child as they struggled with how much money should be paid to her by one man convicted of possessing pornographic images of the abuse that have spread among thousands of online viewers.

The woman known as "Amy" was in the courtroom, her legal team said, for arguments in which the justices talked frankly about the abuse she and other victims of child pornography suffer from those who look at the pictures.

"The woman has undergone serious psychiatric harm because of her knowledge that there are thousands of people out there viewing her rape," Justice Antonin Scalia said early in the hour long arguments.

Yet the court seemed to wrestle with determining how much restitution for counseling, lost income and legal fees any single defendant should be asked to pay.

Missoula, Montana

MISSOULA, Mont. -- Three people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Missoula denied the charges against them Tuesday.

Christopher Michael Cooper, 30, and Justin Gale Walker, 28, both pleaded not guilty to sexual abuse of children during a hearing before District Judge Karen Townsend, the Missoulian reported.

Prosecutors said Cooper and Walker were among several people who responded to an online ad in which a woman purported to offer a 12-year-old girl for sex. Charging documents said the two men were arrested after negotiating with undercover officers to have sex with the fictitious girl.

Jenna Elizabeth Davis, 29, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to sexually abuse children for allegedly arranging for her boyfriend to have sex with the girl.

The boyfriend, Chad Lee Briggs, 36, along with Matthew Steven Keith, 22, are scheduled to enter their pleas Wednesday to sexual abuse of children.

Neal Lewis Gray, 54, pleaded not guilty Jan. 9, while a seventh suspect — former Mineral County juvenile probation officer James Stewart Myers (No relation, I hope) — was found dead in his home last week.


A Florida jury has ordered the Florida Baptist Convention to pay $12.5 million to a man who was sexually abused by a Southern Baptist church planter as a boy, but the attorney representing the religious group insists the judgement will be overturned once he files an appeal.

Douglas W. Myers

While the jury's verdict came on Saturday, Jan. 18, Gary Yeldell, the attorney representing the Florida Baptist Convention, said on Tuesday that his client plans to appeal the Lake County jury's decision because the church planting pastor was working independently and not under the supervision of the organization at the time of the crime.

The 64-year-old former church planter spent seven years in prison after pleading guilty to lewd and lascivious molestation of the boy, who he met in 2005 at Bay Street Baptist Church in Lake County and abused for six months. Douglas W. Myers, (that's it, I'm changing my name) married at the time, reportedly left a trail of sex abuse allegations in various churches where he worked during his 30-plus years in Christian ministry. Amazing that it didn't catch up to him for more than 30 years. How dreadful!

Conservative MP wants to Bring Rape back to the Criminal Code

A Conservative MP from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, wants to bring the charge of rape back into the Criminal Code.

Rob Anders announced earlier Monday his intention to present a private members bill that would revive the old Criminal Code charge and also seek mandatory sentences for anyone convicted of that crime.

However, not everyone feels the charge needs to be revived.

"Unwanted penetration is not the only form of sexual violence that is harmful and hurtful," said Danielle Aubry, executive director of Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse. "I think focusing just on that is a mistake."

Until 1983, it was possible to be convicted of the charge of rape. Parliament then rolled that offence into the more encompassing charge of sexual assault.

At the time, it was thought the stigma surrounding a rape charge prevented many victims from coming forward and that a shift to the broader category of sexual assault could help criminalize a greater variety of hurtful sexual behaviours.

Rob Anders

New charge led to lighter sentences: Anders

Anders says changing the charge to sexual assault affected sentences and that convicted rapists aren't being adequately punished.

“What it wound up doing is having rapists get time that gropers would get and so the average sentencing right now is two years in terms of what these people serve," he said.

Aubry agrees there are big problems with how the justice system sentences sex crimes.

She says the issue of short sentences for sex crimes is "shameful" and, in that regard, she does agree with Anders on the need for stiffer sentences for convicted rapists.

"We need to have some leadership that is going to give the message that it's unacceptable for a two-year sentence for sexual assault," said Aubry.

Likely to face constitutional challenges

Anders wants anyone convicted of rape to serve a mandatory minimum of eight years in prison for a first offence and 10 years for each subsequent conviction.

“I ideally would have liked to have seen rapists get 20-years mandatory minimum but because of what we anticipate in constitutional challenges, we decided to go with eight and 10 because it was well within inside the penalties for manslaughter.”

University of Calgary law professor Chris Levy said he does not like the bill's chances of surviving constitutional challenges.

“The degree of fairness involved is highly questionable and this is what's got a lot of the mandatory minimum sentences into trouble," said Levy.

Anders says he will introduce the bill later this month.

On a separate note, a number of Calgarians also came forward earlier this month saying they will challenge Anders for the Conservative nomination ahead of the next federal election. 

Child Sexual Abusers may Face more than 10 Years in Jail in UAE

This is a great step forward by the UAE in protecting children. Please pray that the draft is made law and then enforced.

FNC members endorse draft law whereby child sexual abusers may face 10 years’ jail

Dr Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, FNC member from Abu Dhabi,
 at the Federal National Council session at the
FNC headquarters in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday

 Abu Dhabi: Members of the Federal National Council approved 52 of the 77-article new draft law on child rights and will continue reviewing the remaining articles on Wednesday.

Abu Dhabi

Under the draft law, child abusers and viewers of child sex images on the web will face tough penalties in the UAE, under a new draft law on child rights, the Federal National Council heard yesterday.

The bill will impose tough penalties, especially in cases of abuse by persons in a position of trust, authority or influence over the child including family members, guardians or teachers or abuse of particularly vulnerable children, mainly those with a physical or mental disability.

The law states that abusers who exploit children in filming pornographic materials, production, publishing, distribution or facilitating access to these pornographic materials by any means will face a minimum jail term of 10 years.

The same penalty will be handed to abusers who are in a position of trust, authority or influence over the child, including family members, guardians or teachers and persons who exploit children in online grooming and sex tourism, both free of charge or in return for money.

Studies estimated that approximately one in six boys and one in four girls is sexually abused before the age of 18, said Mary John, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dubai Community Health Centre.

“Most mental health and child protection professionals agree that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is becoming a serious problem,” she said. Should be, "has become a serious problem".

The draft law to protect children, initially called Wudeema’s Law — in memory of the eight-year-old girl who was starved and tortured to death by her father and his girlfriend — will now be known as the Law on Child Rights, after Federal National Council members voted by a massive majority to change the name.

Wadeema's story can be read at http://northwoodsministries.blogspot.ca/2014/01/uae-dad-tortures-daughter-to-death-in.html

The draft law states that possessing child pornography material, regardless of the intent of distribution, uploading or downloading of these materials via the Internet or through any other media means will be penalised with a minimum jail term of a year, or a fine of not less than Dh100,000 ($2700 usd) and not more than Dh400,000 ($10,900 usd) or both.

Studies suggest that between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of minors in Europe may be sexually assaulted during childhood. The number of web sites devoted to child pornography is growing and it is estimated that 200 images containing child pornography are put into circulation every day.

Mariam Al Roumi, Minister of Social Affairs, told the council the law provides for seven basic rights, including the right of empowerment and the right to protection in keeping with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the UAE became a signatory in 1996.

The new draft law covers all aspects related to children’s rights and contains instruments that ensure its implementation, as well as punishments that will penalise people whose morals and religious beliefs do not stop them from violating the rights of children. The government also underlined its commitment to meet those basic needs and rights in the best ways.

Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, a member from Abu Dhab, requested that the draft law protect the best interests of children, and the request was endorsed by the FNC.

The best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration and the child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name and the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents, according to the law.

Under the legislation, children have the right to protection from abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination. It also provides, among other rights, for economic, social and cultural rights, related to the conditions necessary to meet basic human needs such as food, shelter, education and health care.

Children also have the right to grow up and to develop physically and spiritually in a healthy and normal way, free and with dignity.

750,000 Men at any given Moment Looking for Child Pornography - Terre des Hommes

Three Australians were part of a webcam ring which allowed paedophiles to pay to watch children as young as six being sexually abused in the Philippines.

The crime ring has been dismantled after a joint investigation by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A total of 29 people were arrested, including two West Australian men and one Sydney man who was arrested by the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok.

The investigation turned up hundreds of thousands of images and videos depicting online child sexual exploitation, including children as young as six.

The Australians allegedly financed and ordered the child exploitation shows, which were organised by an organised crime group in the Philippines.

One of the Australians, a 53-year-old from West Perth, was sentenced in October 2013 to 24 months in jail with a minimum term of 12 months.

A 52-year-old man from Como in Western Australia has pleaded guilty to offences including accessing, transmitting and making available child exploitation material.

He will be sentenced on January 24.

The abuse involved 15 children in the Philippines aged between six and 15.

Of the 29 people arrested, 11 were part of the facilitation group in the Philippines.

Some of the facilitators were members of the children's own families.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Tim Morris has described the crimes as "abhorrent".

"The use of online media to drive these types of crimes is a sinister development," he said in a statement.

"To target the most vulnerable members of the community in this way cannot be tolerated in any society.

"It's abhorrent that these crimes occur and it is our duty as police and the wider community to ensure that every possible measure is taken to identify and assist the victims and to identify and take action against the perpetrators."

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executive associate director James Dinkins says the children were "rescued from a living nightmare".

"The group responsible for these heinous crimes mistakenly believed that they could use technology to avoid detection, but they were wrong," he said.

"We will continue to work tirelessly with our international law enforcement partners across jurisdictions and national boundaries to protect children anywhere in the world and bring criminals to justice regardless of where they live."

All of the victims rescued were placed in the custody of the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Routine visit to sex offender's house sparked investigation

The investigation began after British police carried out a routine visit at the home of registered sex offender Timothy Ford.

Police found a number of child exploitation videos on computers in his home, sparking a global investigation which led police to the Philippines.

The AFP and other organisations were contacted for help in August 2012.

Police say that in addition to paying for the live abuse of children, Ford planned on moving to the Philippines to set up an internet cafe.

Timothy Ford

Investigations into his activities and the wider customer network he was associated with identified other suspects including a man named Thomas Owen.

Owen was found to be in possession of nearly 4 million indecent images of children.

Evidence shows Ford and Owen discussed online how they could travel to the Philippines to abuse children.

In one chat log Ford, who uses a wheelchair, suggests that Owen could act as his carer so they could travel to the Philippines together in an attempt to avoid detection.

Within the UK there have been 17 arrests which have so far resulted in five convictions, including Ford and Owen.

Ford was sentenced in March to eight-and-a-half years in prison, while Owen was sentenced to seven years in jail last July.

Hans Guijit from the children's charity, Terre des Hommes, told the BBC that the abusers were exploiting desperate people.

"These people are poor and this is all about survival. For them, they think it the only way out of the poverty trap," he said.

"There is a huge demand for this kind of sexual activities - at any given moment in time there are 750,000 men looking to engage children into this kind of sexual activities." Oh my goodness! That means that there are probably more than 2 million perverts out there as potential customers. God help us.

Catholic Brother Fighting Extradition to Face 252 Child Sex Abuse Charges

New Zealand's justice minister will decide whether former Catholic brother Bernard Kevin McGrath will be extradited to Australia to face 252 charges of child sexual abuse.

In the Christchurch District Court today, Judge Jane Farish said she would refer the matter to Judith Collins because of "compelling and extraordinary circumstances".

The full reasons for her decision will be made available on Monday.

In April last year, Judge Farish ruled McGrath, 66, could be extradited, but on appeal, the High Court ruled the judge should further consider whether to refer the case to the justice minister.

New South Wales police allege McGrath abused 35 boys during the late 1970s and mid-80s.

Further details about McGrath’s alleged offending and his image remain suppressed.

Judge Farish had earlier ruled the suppression orders were necessary to ensure the integrity of any trial in Australia.

McGrath has been living in Christchurch on bail.

Woman Confronts Her Teacher-Abuser Who Confesses then Resigns

Update Jan 25, 2015 - Andrea Cardosa pleaded guilty today to the sexual abuse of Jamie Carillo and another former student.

The video at the link below is incredibly moving. The audio quality is not very good but good enough to hear the one F-bomb in this 9-minute clip.

A Victorville, Calif., woman who posted a YouTube video accusing her former middle school teacher of sexually abusing her for several years has identified herself and forced the resignation of the teacher.

The video, posted Friday, got more than 165,000 views, media reports said.

It shows the woman — since identified as Jamie Carillo, 28 — talking by phone with her former teacher, Andrea Cardosa, and confronting her about alleged abuse that took place when Carillo was 12.

The former teacher, who hasn't denied the accusations, resigned as vice-principal at Alhambra High School later the same day, the Pasadena Star-News reported on its website.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place at a middle school in Riverside, Calif. All of the communities are near Los Angeles.

School officials said Cardosa resigned after an interview with administrators, the Star-News says.

Carillo, who now has children of her own — including a daughter of about 12 — told a news conference she had previously told no one about the abuse, the Star-News said. Her concern was that the teacher might abuse other children.

Carillo said she had been threatened by Cardosa at the time. "She told me that she would embarrass me in front of my friends and family, and tell them I'm a lesbian and that I did stuff with her," the Star-News reported Carillo as saying.

Andrea Cardosa

Carillo is expected to launch a civil action against her former teacher, since the statute of limitations on the offences involved appears to have passed, media reports said.

Carillo's lawyer, David Ring, said the former teacher had been investigated by both school and law enforcement authorities in 1999 amid rumours of abuse, but there were no arrests, charges or disciplinary action, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The teacher was allowed to resign with a positive recommendation, the lawyer said.

Please, you who pray, pray for Jamie to find closure to this episode in her life; to find forgiveness in her heart, and peace in her life.

Jimmy Savile Scandal: Inquiry Suggests BBC Staff 'Turned Blind Eye' to Sex Abuse

A leaked internal inquiry has reportedly found BBC staff turned a blind eye to star presenter Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse of up to 1,000 girls and boys in the corporation's changing rooms and studios.

A report in the Observer newspaper says the inquiry by former judge Janet Smith found Savile's behaviour had been recognised by executives at the world's biggest public broadcaster but they took no action to stop him.

A police investigation concluded last year that the television and radio presenter, who died in 2011 aged 84, was a predatory sex offender who abused children as young as eight over more than 50 years.

It identified 450 victims but the Smith inquiry suggests up to 1,000 people were abused by Savile while he was working for the BBC, according to the Observer.

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, which has been consulted by Smith's inquiry, says many people at the BBC have admitted knowing about Savile's behaviour.

"The other thing I have found extraordinary, and very sad, is the number of people I have spoken to connected to the BBC - and that is a lot of people - who said: 'Oh yes, we all knew about him'," Mr Saunders told the newspaper.

The Smith inquiry report is likely to throw the BBC into fresh turmoil when it is presented next month.

The Savile revelations sparked a crisis at the corporation over how he was able to carry out such attacks and about the BBC's failure to report the claims against him when they were first raised in the weeks after his death.

Is there any chance that someone will be charged with enabling this monster to flourish in his monstrosity? Somehow, I doubt it.

Savile was one of the biggest TV
stars in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, 

Director-general George Entwistle resigned in the wake of the scandal, and was replaced by Tony Hall.

Savile used his fame as a presenter of the BBC chart show Top of the Pops and children's program Jim'll Fix It to rape and assault his victims.

The BBC is not the only organisation with questions to answer.

The health ministry is currently investigating alleged abuse of patients at state-run hospitals, while a police report last year found that officers had failed to follow up evidence against Savile dating back as far as 1964.

The publicity over Savile prompted a number of women to complain of abuse by other television stars from the same era, a number of whom are now facing criminal charges.
See: Rolf Harris Pleads Not Guilty
and: Another BBC Star