Child Sexual Abuse - Australia > Woman 'Leader of the Pack' child sex ring in prison

 

Child abuse ring found in Aussie prison

Hannah Moore

Tue 27 August 2024 at 4:41 pm GMT-7·1-min read

A child abuse ring allegedly operating out of an Australian prison has been uncovered by police, with inmates allegedly sending each other letters detailing the sexual abuse of children.

The group of inmates, who police say call themselves ‘The Pack’, allegedly shared letters between themselves detailing child sexual abuse and their plans to offend against children in the future.

Detectives working under Strike Force Edits, set up in April to investigate the production and distribution of child abuse material in NSW prisons, on Wednesday charged a 31-year-old female inmate at Junee Correctional Facility.

Junee Correctional Centre.

Police will allege she identified herself as the leader of ‘The Pack’ and directed the group while behind bars. It will be further alleged she wrote letters detailing child abuse, which she sent to other inmates.

She has been charged with eight counts of produce child abuse material, eight counts of disseminate child abuse material and knowingly/recklessly direct criminal group.

The woman was refused bail to appear before Wagga Wagga Local Court on Wednesday.

Investigations under Strike Force Edits continue.

Islam Hates Girls and Women > Prolific online child sex abuser from Pakistan gets 17 years in Aussie prison; CIA says teens plotting to kill tens of thousands at Taylor Swift concert

 

Update on Islam Hates Girls and Women > Muhammad impersonated YouTube star to sexually extort and abuse 286 girls in 20 countries

Pakistani man sentenced to 17 years in jail for sexual abuse of hundreds of victims

NewsDrum Desk

28 Aug 2024 20:40 IST

Melbourne, Aug 28 (PTI) A Pakistani-origin man has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for over one of the worst online child sexual abuse schemes in Australia, targeting hundreds of victims in the country and overseas by pretending to be a 15-year-old social media influencer with a large following.

Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed, 29, pleaded guilty to 119 charges, relating to 286 people from 20 countries, including the UK, the US, Japan and France. Two-thirds of his victims were aged under 16, BBC News reported.

A Perth court heard Rasheed coerced them into a cycle of increasingly extreme abuse by threatening to send explicit messages and images of them to their loved ones.

Rasheed pretended to be a teenage YouTube star and blackmailed hundreds of children into performing sexual acts.

Rasheed will be eligible for parole in 2033, when he will be aged 38, ABC News reported.

In handing down her sentence in the District Court of WA on Tuesday, Judge Amanda Burrows said the volume of offences was of such magnitude there was "no comparable case … I can find in Australia".

He approached children online in that guise, sent them pictures of the online star and initially asked innocuous questions to gain their trust.

He then asked the victims for pictures that he could "rate" and later threatened to send screenshots of their responses to friends and family unless they performed increasingly extreme sexual acts – including those involving family pets and other young siblings or children in the home.

In sentencing, Judge Burrows said those offences were "of a degrading, humiliating nature [and] the conduct involving a family pet was particularly abhorrent".

The court heard Rasheed would set a "countdown" timer, threatening to distribute the responses and further images he had made of them if they didn't comply with his demands, the report said.

Judge Burrows said Rasheed's offending was aggravated by the fact he abused a number of the victims with groups of other adults, inviting other paedophiles to watch live streams while he directed children to perform the distressing acts.

In other cases, he continued to bully and coerce the children despite their "obvious distress" and "extreme fear", with some telling him they were suicidal.

"The callous disregard this man had for his victims around the world and their distress, humiliation and fear make it one of the most horrific sextortion cases prosecuted in Australia," said Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean.

"This type of online exploitation and abuse is devastating and causes lifelong trauma," it said.

Rasheed was first charged by the Australian Federal Police in 2021 after they were contacted by Interpol and police in the United States raising concerns about a person, believed to be in Australia, who was targeting young girls through social media.

He is already serving a five-year jail term for a separate crime in which he sexually abused a 14-year-old child in his car on two separate occasions at a Perth park, which the judge noted was during the same period he was committing the online offences.

The court heard Rasheed spent hundreds of hours engaged in a sex offender treatment programme while in prison, however, a psychiatrist found he still represented a "well above average risk" of reoffending.

A report prepared by a psychiatrist for the court detailed how Rasheed moved to Australia from Pakistan at a young age and how his parents were "traditional, conservative and strict".

He was sent to an all-boys private school where he and his brothers were the only Muslim students, which led to him feeling socially isolated.

Like the hundreds of Pakistani child rapists in England, Rasheed was most likely schooled in strict Islam where any woman or girl 'in your right hand', that is 'under your control', is fair game for being sexually abused, if she's not a Muslim. Straight out of the Quran as spoken by Mohammed himself. 

Terror plot at Taylor Swift concert aimed

to kill thousands: CIA official

By Stefanie Dazio  The Associated Press

Posted August 29, 2024 5:55 am

 3 min read

The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency’s deputy director said.

The CIA notified Austrian authorities of the scheme, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group. The intelligence and subsequent arrests ultimately led to the cancellation of three sold-out Eras Tour shows, devastating fans who had traveled across the globe to see Swift in concert.

CIA Deputy Director David Cohen addressed the failed plot during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit, held this week in Maryland.

“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said Wednesday. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”

Austrian officials said the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian man, was inspired by the Islamic State group. He allegedly planned to attack outside the stadium, where upwards of 30,000 fans were expected to gather, with knives or homemade explosives. Another 65,000 fans were likely to be inside the venue. Investigators discovered chemical substances and technical devices during a raid of the suspect’s home.

That doesn't sound like a plan to kill tens of thousands to me?

2:15

Teen terror suspects plotted ‘bloodbath’ at Taylor Swift’s Vienna concerts, says Austrian chancellor

Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, previously said help from other intelligence agencies was needed because Austrian investigators, unlike some foreign services, can’t legally monitor text messages.

The 19-year-old’s lawyer has said the allegations were “overacting at its best,” and contended Austrian authorities were “presenting this exaggeratedly” in order to get new surveillance powers.

That sounds much more likely. The CIA actually works like that, I believe.

Swift broke her silence about the cancellations last week after her London shows had concluded.

“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

She thanked authorities — “thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she wrote — and said she waited to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour concluded to prioritize safety.

“Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she wrote.

Concert organizer Barracuda Music said it canceled the three-night Vienna run that would have begun Aug. 8 because the arrests made in connection to the conspiracy were too close to showtime.

The main suspect and a 17-year-old were taken into custody on Aug. 6, the day before the cancellations were announced. A third suspect, 18, was arrested Aug. 8. Their names have not been released in line with Austrian privacy rules.

The shows in London, the next stop after Vienna, came on the heels of a stabbing at a Swift-themed dance class that left three little girls dead in the U.K. In a statement issued after the Southport attack, Swift said she was “just completely in shock” and “at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.” News outlets reported that Swift met with some of the survivors backstage in London.

The Vienna plot also drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.

Cohen on Wednesday praised the CIA’s work in preventing the planned violence, saying that other counterterrorism “successes” in foiling plots typically go unheralded.

“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the CIA headquarters. “And not just the Swifties in my workforce.”

The record-smashing tour is on hiatus until the fall.

Wolves Among the Sheep > The world's most Catholic Country has yet to come to grips with heroic pedo bishop; Pedo woman meets victim at church

 

Church sex abuse scandals in East Timor met by silence, but Pope Francis’ visit brings new attention

When the Vatican acknowledged in 2022 that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, East Timorese independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys, it appeared that the global clergy sexual abuse scandal that has compromised the Catholic Church’s credibility around the world had finally arrived in Asia’s newest country

• By NINIEK KARMINI, DAVID RISING and NICOLE WINFIELD - Associated Press
 
• Aug 28, 2024 Updated Aug 28, 2024

DILI, East Timor (AP) — When the Vatican acknowledged in 2022 that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, East Timorese independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys, it appeared that the global clergy sexual abuse scandal that has compromised the Catholic Church’s credibility around the world had finally arrived in Asia’s newest country.

And yet, the church in East Timor today is stronger than ever, with most downplaying, doubting or dismissing the claims against Belo and those against a popular American missionary who confessed to molesting young girls. Many instead focus on their roles saving lives during the country’s bloody struggle against Indonesia for independence.

Pope Francis will come face to face with the Timorese faithful on his first trip to the country, a former Portuguese colony that makes up half of the island of Timor off the northern coast of Australia. But so far, there is no word if he will meet with victims or even mention the sex abuse directly, as he has in other countries where the rank-and-file faithful have demanded an accounting from the hierarchy for how it failed to protect their children.

Even without pressure from within East Timor to address the scandals, it would be deeply meaningful to the victims if Francis did, said Tjiyske Lingsma, the Dutch journalist who helped bring both abuse cases to light.

“I think this is the time for the pope to say some words to the victims, to apologize," she said in an interview from Amsterdam.

The day after Lingsma detailed the Belo case in a September 2022 report in De Groene Amsterdammer magazine, the Vatican confirmed that Belo had been sanctioned secretly two years earlier.

In Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni's statement, he said the church had been aware of the case since 2019 and had imposed disciplinary measures in 2020, including restrictions on Belo's movements and a ban on voluntary contact with minors.

Despite the official acknowledgement, many in East Timor still don't believe it, like Dili university student Martinha Goveia, who is still expecting Belo will show up to be at Francis' side during his upcoming visit.

If he's not there, she said, “that is not good in my opinion,” because it will confirm he is being sanctioned by the Vatican.

Vegetable trader Alfredo Ximenes said the allegations and the Vatican's acknowledged sanctions were merely rumors, and that he hoped Belo would come to welcome the pope and refute the claims in person.

"Our political leaders should immediately meet him to end the problem and persuade him to return, because after all he has contributed greatly to national independence,” Ximenes said.

Timorese officials refused to answer questions about the Belo case, but there’s been no attempt to avoid mentioning him, with a giant billboard in Dili welcoming Pope Francis, whose visit starts Sept. 9, placed right above a mural honoring Belo and three others as national heroes.

Only about 20% of East Timor's people were Catholic when Indonesia invaded in 1975, shortly after Portugal abandoned it as a colony.

Today, some 98% of East Timor's 1.3 million people are Catholic, making it the most Catholic country in the world outside the Vatican.

A law imposed by Indonesia requiring people to choose a religion, combined with the church's opposition to the military occupation and support for the resistance over years of bloody fighting that saw as many as 200,000 people killed, helped bring about that flood of new members.

Belo won the Nobel Peace Prize for his bravery in drawing international attention to Indonesian human rights abuses during the conflict, and American missionary Richard Daschbach was widely celebrated for his role in helping save lives in the struggle for independence.

Their heroic status, and societal factors in Asia, where the culture tends to confer much power on adults and authority figures, helps explain why the men are still revered while elsewhere in the world such cases are met with outrage, said Anne Barrett Doyle, of the online resource Bishop Accountability.

Please continue reading on 2NewsNevada at:

“Bishops are powerful"

Woman accused of child sex crimes after meeting victim at church; diary leads to arrest

by: Joey Schneider, Max Diekneite

Posted: Aug 28, 2024 / 11:40 AM CDT

Updated: Aug 29, 2024 / 08:06 AM CDT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A St. Louis-area woman faces felony charges and is accused of child sex crimes. Investigators say a diary led to the mentor’s arrest.

The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged Brandi James, 25, with two counts of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy (deviate sexual intercourse) and one count of child molestation amid the investigation.

Brandi James

Investigators believe the alleged sex crimes happened between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. James met the victim at the House of Deliverance Church in St. Louis County, according to court documents obtained by FOX 2.

Court documents state that the victim’s mother came across a diary, finding a note that implied the 13-year-old victim was sexually involved with a church member.

Investigators say the information on victim’s phone supports the allegation that James had engaged in sexual acts with the victim on at least two occasions.

James, who was 22 at the time of the alleged crime, made admissions to others but refused to speak to police on allegations, per court documents. She is jailed in St. Louis County on a $300,000 cash-only bond.

Detectives with the St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Crimes Against Persons are leading the investigation. Police say the church has cooperated with the investigation.

The St. Louis County Police Department urges anyone with relevant information in this case to contact the department’s Child Abuse Unit at 314-615-5400.

House of Deliverance Church’s Senior Pastor Eric Battle provided FOX 2 with the following statement Wednesday:

“Brandi James is not now, nor has ever been, an employee nor mentor at the House of Deliverance Church. Her relationship with the alleged victim took place outside of the church without any involvement with the church. All employees and volunteers at the church are required to submit and pass a criminal background check. The church is and has been willing to assist in the investigation in any way we can.“

Wolves in the Henhouse > Youth symphony director in Utah; Long-term swimming coach in Sydney, AU

 

'They trusted you': Ex-symphony director sent to prison

for sexual abuse of teen 20 years ago

Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes

By Emily Ashcraft, KSL.com | Posted - Aug. 28, 2024 at 4:33 p.m

AMERICAN FORK — A Utah band director said Thursday he was groomed and abused for four years as a teenager by Brent Taylor, a now-retired director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony. He said over this time there were weekly occurrences of sexual experiences and manipulation by a man who "claimed to be" his mentor.

"The defendant had a way of making this all seem normal. ... Mr. Taylor employed a masterful and calculated process," the man said Wednesday.

It wasn't until he was teaching his own group of students when he said he came to a full realization of what had happened, and the significance of the moral, ethical and legal boundaries Taylor had crossed.

Brent Taylor, 76, was ordered Wednesday to serve a term of three years to life in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, in the man's case. The sexual abuse occurred between 2002 and 2006.

The victim listed multiple first names of other boys who he said he witnessed Taylor groom or abuse during that time and said he is sorry he did not come forward sooner. He brought his story to police days after a Deseret News investigation was published in 2018 with allegations against Taylor from six others.

Read more on this story on KSL at:

'You are the betrayer'

Former Sydney swimming coach Dick Caine

revealed as serial paedophile

BySarah McPhee

August 28, 2024 — 2.19pm

Former elite swimming coach Dick Caine has been revealed as a serial paedophile after a judge found he had sexually abused six underage students, and lifted an order concealing his identity to the applause of his victims.

Caine, who was head coach at the Carss Park swimming pool in Sydney’s south for decades, pleaded not guilty to 39 charges against girls aged 10 to 16 across the 1970s and 1980s.

The 78-year-old did not appear for a single day of his lengthy judge-alone special hearing in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after he was previously deemed unfit to face a criminal trial due to health reasons.

The court heard on Wednesday that Caine was in palliative care in hospital.

Delivering his long-awaited judgment, Judge Paul McGuire found “on the limited evidence available, the accused committed the offence charged” on all 39 counts against all six victims, some of whom attended court and welcomed the outcome as “closure”.

Caine’s offending includes multiple counts of indecent assault of a child and unlawful carnal knowledge of a pupil, a form of sexual assault.

A non-publication order over Caine’s identity expired as the verdicts were returned. The judge refused another application by Caine’s lawyers to have a further order imposed for one week, attracting cheers and applause from the victims in the public gallery.

Lawyer Amelia Causley-Todd, representing Nine, the owner of this masthead, fought against the last-ditch secrecy bid, arguing the offences were among “the most serious” that can be committed, particularly due to Caine’s position of authority, and that there was “incredible public interest”.

The judge said he was persuaded that the interests of open justice were fundamental, including fair, accurate and timely reporting of criminal proceedings.

McGuire found Caine had a tendency to have a particular state of mind, being a sexual interest in prepubescent and pubescent females, and to act on that in a particular way, including touching their breasts, forcing oral sex, digital penetration and sexual intercourse with girls for whom he was a swimming coach.

He was further satisfied the elements for each offence had been established beyond reasonable doubt.

“I find that none of the complainants consented to any of the sexual contact, and that the accused knew that none of them consented,” the judge said.

Caine’s offending occurred in the pool sauna, gym, female toilets, his office, home and car.

The court heard his victims had “genuine” hopes of competing in the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, which were “dashed because of the accused’s conduct”.

After the coach’s abuse, one victim had disposed of her collection of sporting memorabilia and trophies.

“Those items, which were things she would’ve otherwise found wonderful and [be] proud of, had become a nightmare,” the judge said.

Another victim had received annual Christmas cards from Caine, and found them “to be a reminder of the accused’s previous threat for her to keep quiet”.

Regarding one count of sexual intercourse without consent, the judge said there was evidence Caine had “fought against” his victim’s resistance.

McGuire, acknowledging the delay of the complaints brought against Caine, said common features of child sexual abuse include trauma and shame, and that in this case there was a power imbalance and age disparity.

He said Caine created fear by his authority, and many of the victims had been “reliant on the accused to assist them in achieving their Olympic aspirations”. Caine was arrested in June 2022.

Prosecutors and Caine’s lawyers will make submissions in relation to a penalty at a hearing in December.