Friday, January 31, 2014

Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy protection

Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy protection
Matt Volz, Associated Press January 31, 2014

HELENA, Montana (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena planned to file for bankruptcy protection Friday as part of a proposed settlement of $15 million for hundreds of victims who say clergy members sexually abused them over decades while the church covered it up.

Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said the bankruptcy reorganization plan comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs' attorneys and insurers, resulting in the deals to resolve the abuse claims.

The settlement details are being worked out, but the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Montana would be responsible for approving and supervising the disbursement of $15 million to compensate the 362 victims identified in the two lawsuits.

In addition, at least $2.5 million will be set aside for victims who come forward later, Bartleson said....

The Helena diocese is the 11th in the nation to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of sex-abuse claims

The two lawsuits filed in 2011 claim clergy members groomed and then abused the children from the 1940s to the 1970s. They claim the diocese shielded the offenders and knew or should have known the threat they posed to children....

In one of the lawsuits, the plaintiffs said they were repeatedly raped, fondled or forced to perform sexual acts while at school, on the playground, on camping trips or at the victims' homes.

The second lawsuit, filed a week after the first in 2011, contained similar allegations against priests, but also alleged that nuns at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius abused dozens of Native American children....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/31/catholic-diocese-files-for-bankruptcy-protection/5078991/ 

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Australian panel told of sexual abuse of boys at Salvation Army homes, Salvation Army's response to The Royal Commission, Child abuse inquiry: Priest told boy he was 'product of evil and satanic relationship', Are our children at risk of Satanic pedophile rings?

Australian panel told of sexual abuse of boys at Salvation Army homes
By Jethro Mullen and Jessica King, CNN
Wed January 29, 2014

(CNN) -- An Australian commission is hearing allegations of the physical and sexual abuse of boys in the care of the Salvation Army over several decades.

The shocking treatment at some of the organization's boys homes included rape, beatings, locking boys in cages and, in one case, forcing a boy to eat his own vomit, the commission was told Tuesday.

The public hearings, taking place in Sydney, are part of a wide-ranging investigation into how Australian institutions responded to cases of child sexual abuse.

The current phase is focusing on the Salvation Army's response to abuse that took place in four of its boys homes in the states of Queensland and New South Wales in the 1960s and '70s....

The Salvation Army isn't denying the abuse, which came to light previously. It has apologized, admitting that hundreds of boys suffered in its care....

Those who did complain weren't generally taken seriously.

"In cases when abuse was reported, the boys were often disbelieved and were punished for reporting what were characterized as 'lies,'" he told the hearing....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/28/world/asia/australia-salvation-army-abuse-hearing/

Royal Commission

These pages have been designed to answer questions you may have about The Salvation Army's response to The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. On the 28th of January 2014 the Royal Commission will begin its public hearing into four boys' homes operated by The Salvation Army's Australia Eastern Territory during the period from 1965-1977.

The Salvation Army feels deep regret for every instance of child sexual abuse inflicted on children in our care. We are grieved that such things happened. We acknowledge that it was a failure of the greatest magnitude....
http://salvos.org.au/royalcommission/


Child abuse inquiry: Priest told boy he was 'product of evil and satanic relationship'
29 January 2014

A priest told a former resident of a church-run children's home in Northern Ireland that he was the product of an evil and satanic relationship, an inquiry has heard.

The son of an unmarried mother said he became a zombie, introverted and fearing the next beating, lying soaked in urine at night in an attempt to dissuade any sexual abusers from "dropping the hand".

He was a resident at St Joseph's in Termonbacca, Londonderry, run by the Sisters of Nazareth order of nuns, in the 1950s and complained about his treatment to a priest after leaving the home.

The response was: "You must never speak about this, you must understand... you and the other orphans are bastards. You are the product of an evil and satanic relationship. You never had a chance."....

"I have waited 65 years to say this. When I was reared by the Sisters of the Congregation of Nazareth it was equivalent to being reared by the Taliban, such was their sadism, their lack of empathy, their fundamentalism, their lack of dignity to the little helpless boy."

He ran away and was recovered time after time.

One nun smirked and said: "Welcome back, your majesty," the witness said.

"Then the beatings would start."....
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/child-abuse-inquiry-priest-told-boy-he-was-product-of-evil-and-satanic-relationship-29961572.html


Are our children at risk of Satanic pedophile rings?
Judy Byington Saratoga Springs Child Abuse Examiner
January 29, 2014

Are our children in danger of exploitation by global Satanic pedophile rings?

This month several child abuse survivors of Satanic pedophile rings came forward to say "Yes."....
http://www.examiner.com/article/are-our-children-at-risk-of-satanic-pedophile-rings

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Ottawa-Gatineau part of national human trafficking blitz, Ottawa Police takes part in a National Focus on Young Women Coerced Into Sex Trade

Ottawa-Gatineau part of national human trafficking blitz
By Derek Spalding, OTTAWA CITIZEN January 28, 2014

OTTAWA — Police from across the country identified girls as young as 15 being forced into prostitution, according to numbers from a national anti-human trafficking blitz conducted last week.

Officers in 26 cities, from Alberta to Newfoundland, were involved in the two-day campaign that yielded interviews with 330 women, eight arrests and 28 individual charges.

Despite appearances, the women do not want to be prostitutes, according to a news release issued by Ottawa police Tuesday

“Investigators found several teenagers and young women were being forced to perform through threats of violence, physical intimidation, drug dependency and other forms of coercion,” the release states. “Part or all of the proceeds from the sexual encounters were kept by their controller or pimp.”
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Ottawa+Gatineau+part+national+human+trafficking+blitz/9440594/story.html

Ottawa Police takes part in a National Focus on Young Women Coerced Into Sex Trade
Tuesday, January 28, 2014     

(Ottawa)—Last week, police services from across Canada participated in a two-day blitz focusing on the growing concern that young women are being forced to participate in the sex trade.  This project was coordinated by the Durham Regional Police Service.

“Operation Northern Spotlight” involved 26 police services from across Canada and took place on Wednesday January 22 and Thursday January 23, 2014.

Over 330 women, some as young as 15 years of age, were interviewed. Police found some were being forced to perform sexual acts, multiple times a day, for paying male customers.
http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/MediaRoom/NewsReleases/14-01-28/8c3172c6-7799-4b38-a93e-bd5ab9f0f4cf.aspx 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Salvation Army ‘deeply regrets’ sexual abuse of children in its care, Northern Ireland child abuse inquiry to hear victims of Derry nuns, Sisters of Nazareth become second Catholic order to admit to child abuse

Salvation Army ‘deeply regrets’ sexual abuse of children in its care
Charity acknowledges ‘failure of the greatest magnitude’ before public hearing into its response to abuse at four of its homes

    Australian Associated Press
    theguardian.com, Monday 27 January 2014

The Salvation Army says it feels deep regret for every instance of sexual abuse inflicted on children in its care.

The statement comes as representatives of the Salvation Army prepare to appear before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse on Tuesday.

The commission is preparing to investigate the charity's movement of staff linked to sex abuse between children's homes in New South Wales and Queensland....

At a child abuse inquiry in Victoria last year it was revealed that since 1997 the Salvation Army had received 474 abuse claims, 470 of which arose from its children's homes, over 30 to 40 years.

It has also been reported that the Salvation Army Australia has privately paid out more than $15 million settling abuse claims.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/28/salvation-army-regrets-sexual-abuse-children-in-care


Northern Ireland child abuse inquiry to hear victims of Derry nuns
Former residents of homes run by Sisters of Nazareth to give evidence at historical institutional abuse inquiry on Monday

    Henry McDonald Ireland correspondent
    theguardian.com, Monday 27 January 2014

The UK's biggest ever child abuse inquiry will hear evidence on Monday from victims who were abused in two Derry homes run by Catholic nuns.

Based in Banbridge courthouse in Northern Ireland, the historical institutional abuse inquiry will focus on the maltreatment of children in Nazareth children's home and Termonbacca, both run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

The order of nuns has already issued an apology to victims at the tribunal....

The Derry-based homes are among 13 separate institutions where children were physically and sexually abused. The inquiry will hear from 434 people and will last until June 2015.

A representatives of Northern Ireland's Health and Social Care Board also said that if the state had failed in any way it was sorry.

Among the state-run institutions under examination was the former boys' home at Kincora in east Belfast where senior staff including a prominent Orangeman ran a regime of sexual abuse and rape during the 1960s and 70s.

A number of those who ran the home or were implicated in the abuse were also loyalists working as state agents....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/27/northern-ireland-child-abuse-inquiry-nuns-sisters-nazareth

Sisters of Nazareth become second Catholic order to admit to child abuse
Nuns join De Le Salle Brothers in admitting at institutional child abuse inquiry that children in their care were abused

    Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
    theguardian.com, Tuesday 14 January 2014

Two Catholic orders have now admitted children were abused in their care at the largest inquiry into institutional child abuse in UK legal history.

The Sisters of Nazareth nuns joined the De La Salle Brothers in their admissions on Tuesday that girls and boys were subjected to physical and sexual abuse in institutions in Northern Ireland that they controlled....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/14/de-la-salle-brothers-order-admits-abuse-boys-care-home

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Utah law professor to make case for child-porn victims

Utah law professor to make case for child-porn victims
Restitution » Cassell will argue before the Supreme Court on compensation for child-pornography victims.

By Brooke Adams The Salt Lake Tribune  Jan 16 2014

Paul Cassell has advocated passionately in courtrooms across the country that every person who views or distributes an image of child pornography contributes to what victims have described as "death by a thousand cuts" and thus should be held liable for restitution.

On Wednesday, the University of Utah law professor will make that argument before what will be his most important audience yet: the U.S. Supreme Court. It is the first time a crime victim’s attorney has appeared before the court in a criminal case filed by the government; the outcome may result in a historic decision for crime victims’ rights.

The case before the U.S. Supreme Court involves a Texas man who viewed images of an 8-year-old girl identified by the pseudonym "Amy Unknown," who was sexually abused by her uncle in 1997.

When Amy was 17, she learned that pornographic images of her abuse, taken by her uncle, were being widely circulated on the Internet, which is where Doyle Randall Paroline came across them.

Paroline was arrested in 2009 after an employee at a computer company found sexually explicit images of minors on his computer. Two images of "Amy" were among the nearly 300 child pornography images that investigators later discovered on the machine. Paroline pleaded guilty and received a 24-month prison sentence.

James Marsh, Amy’s attorney, filed a restitution request for $3.4 million — the sum first awarded to his client in a 2008 case under what turned out to be a little-used 1994 federal law that requires mandatory restitution for child pornography victims.

"I didn’t know it was the first request ever filed for a victim of child pornography," Marsh said of that first case.

But since then, Marsh, who teamed up with Cassell about 4 1/2 years ago, has filed restitution requests on behalf of Amy and other victims of child pornography in hundreds of cases. Amy has received victim notices in more than 1,800 federal child pornography cases. They have won restitution for Amy in 180 cases, collecting about 40 percent of the full amount awarded to her....
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57400897-78/amy-restitution-court-child.html.csp 

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Police say they've identified more victims of man accused of 110 child sex offences, Narok gripped by fear of ‘cult whose aim is to kill, maim'

Police say they've identified more victims of man accused of 110 child sex offences
January 24th, 2014  TRACY MCLAUGHLIN | QMI AGENCY

ORILLILA, ON -- Police say there are eight additional child victims in a sexual assault case that includes accusations of bestiality, conspiracy to kidnap and rape a child, voyeurism and the making of child pornography.

Police have also introduced new allegations that some children were drugged before they were sexually assaulted.

Shayne Lund, 22, of Midland, Ont., has been in custody since October on 110 sex-related charges.

Two female friends of his are also in custody. It is alleged the women helped Lund get access to children between the ages of two and five.

Avery Taylor, 20, is facing 20 charges. Kathryn Thompson, 19, faces 26 charges. Both are from Orillia.

The new allegations against the three accused include administering a noxious substance to children as young as two years old, coercing children to have sex with animals, coercing them to commit voyeurism and videotaping them in sexual acts....
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/01/20140124-210525.html


Narok gripped by fear of ‘cult whose aim is to kill, maim Friday, January 24th 2014  By KIPCHUMBA KEMEI

Narok town residents are living in fear of a gang whose apparent mission is to hack to death as many people as it can.

Since September last year when the first attack was reported, the machete wielding gang has killed at least three people. Several others have been permanently maimed.

The gang has been operating day and night unhindered in the densely populated Majengo, Mukuru and other estates in the town's outskirts, forcing residents to retire to their homes early for fear of being attacked. Some parents have withdrawn their children from school to safeguard them from the gang whose number, mission and mode of operation have puzzled the police and the National Intelligence Service....

Narok County Police Commander Grace Kaikai believes the gang is a cult whose mission is only to kill in for what they have been made to believe. "There are strong indications that it is a cult. The way it operates and the fact that it's members don't take anything from their victims lend credence to that. We are working round the clock to identify its members and have them answer for the deaths and injuries," she says. ...
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/mobile/?articleID=2000103113&story_title=narok-gripped-by-fear-of-cult-whose-aim-is-to-kill-maim

Dave Lee Travis trial: DJ 'knew Jimmy Savile liked young girls' and thought 'good luck to him' , Jimmy Savile investigation lands at unnamed school in West Bridgford, Queen Elizabeth and Cameron issued warrants for a paedophile ring?

Dave Lee Travis trial: DJ 'knew Jimmy Savile liked young girls' and thought 'good luck to him'
Jennifer Cockerell Friday 24 January 2014

Veteran DJ Dave Lee Travis told police after his arrest on suspicion of sexual offences that he would have reported fellow BBC broadcaster Jimmy Savile if he had known he was a paedophile.

Travis said he knew that Savile liked young girls and thought “good luck to him”.

But he told police that he did not think the girls were under-age, jurors at London's Southwark Crown Court heard.

Reading extracts from interviews with police after Travis's arrest in November 2012, junior prosecutor Teresa Hay said that, although the defendant denied the offences, he described such groping behaviour as the “norm” during the 1970s.

Ms Hay told jurors: “He said if he had touched someone's breasts he would admit it as it was considered to be a bit flirtatious at the time and no-one thought that much about it....

68-year-old Travis from Buckinghamshire, denies 13 indecent assaults and one sexual assault, dating back to 1976 at the height of his fame....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dave-lee-travis-trial-dj-knew-jimmy-savile-liked-young-girls-and-thought-good-luck-to-him-9083169.html


Jimmy Savile investigation lands at unnamed school in West Bridgford
By Nottingham Post January 25, 2014
LAWYERS acting for victims in the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal are now looking into the activities of the disgraced DJ at a Notts secondary school.

The school in West Bridgford has not been named but it is understood that the BBC presenter hosted roadshows there in the 1970s....

Eight sex abuse complaints, made to Notts Police in light of Operation Yewtree – set up by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the scandal – have been referred to the Met, although not all necessarily relate to Savile himself....
http://www.nottinghampost.com/Did-Savile-strike-70s-visits-Notts-school/story-20499130-detail/story.html


Queen Elizabeth and Cameron issued warrants for a paedophile ring?
Judy Byington Saratoga Springs Child Abuse Examiner
January 25, 2014

Today Queen Elizabeth and UK Prime Minister David Cameron were issued arrest warrants. The two were charged with sexual crimes against children as part of an international pedophile ring.

“We have enough evidence to prosecute and hold both the Prime Minister and Queen of England" said ex-Royal Military Policeman Matt Taylor....
http://www.examiner.com/article/queen-elizabeth-and-cameron-issued-warrants-for-a-paedophile-ring

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Lawsuit: Mormon church covered up sexual abuse at Hawaii camps

Lawsuit: Mormon church covered up sexual abuse at Hawaii camps
Courts  Two Utah men claim they were sexually molested decades ago as boys.

By Janelle Stecklein
The Salt Lake Tribune  Jan 23 2014

Two Utah men are suing the Mormon church claiming that decades ago they were sexually molested as boys after the church recruited them to pick pineapples in Hawaii.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the 2nd Circuit Court in Hawaii, alleges that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Maui Land and Pineapple Company Inc. and Youth Developmental Enterprises, recruited youths from Mormon communities in Utah and southern Idaho to go to camps in Maui to pick pineapples in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to them being sexually molested.

The camps were closed in the ‘90s, the lawsuit claims.

The men, now 41 and 42, now live in the Salt Lake City area.

The lawsuit claims that Mormon men in their 20s, who qualified for supervisory positions after completing their two-year missions, ran the camps, which recruited minors from church wards and scouting organizations.

The lawsuit claims that one man, who was appointed camp coordinator, branch president and stake high counselor for one of the camps, molested the two boys from 1986 until 1989.

The lawsuit also claims that the defendants knew of the camp coordinator’s "pedophilic sexual violence."

Cody Craynor, a spokesman for the LDS church, said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and works actively to prevent abuse. This case was filed yesterday, and many details in the legal complaint are unclear. The church will examine the allegations and respond appropriately."
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57438270-78/church-lawsuit-camps-claims.html.csp

Lawsuit: Mormon Boys Molested At Maui Pineapple Farms, Church Knew 01/23/2014
Two Utah men are suing the Mormon church, alleging that, decades ago, they were sexually molested by a church camp coordinator when they worked on a Maui pineapple farm.

The lawsuit was filed in the 2nd Circuit Court in Hawaii on Wednesday. It claims that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and Maui Land & Pineapple Company recruited boys in the 1970s and 80s from Mormon communities to work in the camps, where the plaintiffs, now in their 40s, were molested.

The Maui camps paid boys to pick and grow pineapples and were supervised by LDS men in their twenties who had completed their two-year missions and could help train the boys for missionary life. The defendant, an Idaho man, was a camp coordinator and, in addition to being the boys’ boss, served as their spiritual leader.

The lawsuit claims that the defendant molested the two boys from 1986 until 1988, and that the church knew of the camp coordinator’s "pedophilic sexual violence."....

A church spokesman said in a statement Thursday that "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and works actively to prevent abuse. This case was filed yesterday, and many details in the legal complaint are unclear. The church will examine the allegations and respond appropriately."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/lawsuit-mormon-molested-maui_n_4656186.html

International Common Law Court of Justice Sponsored by the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, Brentwood school district to pay $8 million in child abuse settlement

Brentwood school district to pay $8 million in child abuse settlement
By Rowena Coetsee Contra Costa Times 01/23/2014

BRENTWOOD -- School district leaders announced Wednesday that Brentwood Union School District has settled a second child abuse lawsuit with an $8 million payout.

Trustee Heather Partida made the statement following a closed session meeting in which she and fellow board members unanimously approved the settlement.

"We have learned painful, necessary lessons about the culture we must have in place if we are to be worthy of the trust parents place in us," Superintendent Dana Eaton said after the settlement was announced.

The district's insurance will pay the families of eight special needs children who were physically and verbally abused by the same teacher at Loma Vista and Krey elementary schools.

Filed in August, the federal lawsuit names the instructor, Dina Holder, as well as former Loma Vista Elementary Principal Lauri James, former Superintendent Merrill Grant, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Margaret Kruse, Director of Special Education Margo Olson, and former Director of Special Education Jean Anthony.

The suit claimed that Holder violated the children's Constitutional rights by using "unjustified and unreasonable force" against them.

It also alleged that five district administrators were indifferent to the students' plight and, by deliberately withholding information about what was happening in Holder's classroom, interfered with parents' right to comfort their children.....
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24974490/brentwood-school-district-pay-8-million-child-abuse

International Common Law Court of Justice
Sponsored by the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State

Founded as a lawful Citizens’ Tribunal of Conscience in Brussels, on September 15, 2012 in Brussels

Natural and Customary Law allows for the establishment of popular courts of justice when the existing legal and governmental authorities are subverting the law and justice, or aiding those who do. Common Law arose historically to uphold the liberties of the people against tyranny, whether religious or secular, and accordingly, has universal jurisdiction when convened as a jury court by more than twelve duly sworn men and women.

The International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) was established as the legal and judicial arm of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and state (ITCCS), with the help of legal experts, judges and survivors of church terror and imperial genocide in more than a dozen countries.

ITCCS the sponsoring body of ICLCJ was formed in May of 2010 at a closed meeting of survivors of church and state terror in Dublin, Ireland. The event was initiated by Nobel Prize Nominee Reverend Kevin Annett of Canada and members of Irish survivors’ groups.

The foundational purpose of the ITCCS is to unite survivors of genocide and child torture across borders, and to mount a broad political, spiritual and legal movement to disestablish the Vatican and other churches and governments responsible for historic and ongoing crimes against children and humanity.
http://www.iclcj.com

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Documents Reveal Decades Of Child Abuse Among Some Chicago Priests

Documents Reveal Decades Of Child Abuse Among Some Chicago Priests by David Schaper January 21, 2014

Papers documenting allegation of sexual abuse by priests in the Chicago Archdiocese were released to the public today by victims' attorneys. The documents cover only 30 of at least 65 priests for whom the Chicago church says it has substantiated claims of child abuse. The papers, put online, were made available through settlements between Church and victims' lawyers. Church officials said most of the abuse occurred before 1988, none after 1996, and that all were ultimately reported to authorities.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

We have new revelations today detailing decades of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Chicago. Thousands of pages of documents, released by victims' attorneys, show how the church hierarchy mishandled accusations of abuse.

NPR's David Schaper reports.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: The documents tell one heartbreaking story after another - 6,000 pages detailing not just how children and adult victims were abused by trusted priests, but also how church officials often bungled their responses, failing to turn sexual predators over to criminal authorities and often shuttling the offending priests from parish to parish, where they abused again....

SCHAPER: That deception, says Anderson, came from the cardinal on down. And he says not only were the victims and their families deceived, but so too were parishioners where offending priests were transferred, as well as the police and the public at large. In one case in 1979, a priest raped a 13-year old boy and later warned him at gunpoint not to tell anyone. The documents show the boy's parents were assured that the priest would get treatment and would be kept away from minors, but he wasn't. Within a year, that priest was returned to ministry in another parish where he abused again.

In another case, the late Cardinal John Cody tells a priest accused of sexually abusing a girl that the allegations, quote, "should just be forgotten," adding that no good can come of trying to prove or disprove it. That priest later abused again....

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
http://www.npr.org/2014/01/21/264576054/documents-reveal-decades-of-child-abuse-among-chicago-priests

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Ex-student calls teacher over alleged sex abuse, posts talk on YouTube

Ex-student calls teacher over alleged sex abuse, posts talk on YouTube            
By Holly Yan, Cheri Mossburg and Janet DiGiacomo, CNN
Tue January 21, 2014

(CNN) -- A woman who says a female teacher from middle school sexually abused her for years decided to confront the teacher -- and post video of the exchange on YouTube.

Within hours, the educator resigned from her job at another school in California. Police launched an investigation. And the former student, who once felt powerless, now says she feels vindicated knowing the ex-teacher is no longer working with children.

The former student, who calls herself "Jamie," said the abuse started when she was 12 years old.

"I am 28 years old and have been waiting years to get up enough courage to report a teacher for sexually abusing me for years," Jamie's caption on her YouTube video states.

"When I finally got up enough courage to report her, I found out that the statute of limitations was up and she will never have to pay for the things that she did to me."....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/justice/california-teacher-alleged-sex-assault/index.html 

Monday, January 20, 2014

Detecting Genuine vs. Feigned DID on Psychological Tests: Implications for Assessment, Forensics, and the Construct Validity of DID

Detecting Genuine vs. Feigned DID on Psychological Tests: Implications for Assessment, Forensics, and the Construct Validity of DID
ISSTD 30th Annual International Conference
Date: Sunday, November 17, 2013

AUTHOR (S):  Bethany Brand, Ph.D., Gregory Chasson, Ph.D., Frank Donato, none,
Cori A. Palermo, B.A., Kyle P. Rhodes, none,  Emily F. Voorhees, none, Mischa Tursich, Ph.D., David Tzall, MA,  Richard Loewenstein, M.D.,

Assessing dissociative identity disorder (DID) can be difficult, particularly because individuals with this disorder often produce extreme elevations on validity scales on some personality tests and interviews. The goal for this study was to provide information about how to distinguish genuine versus feigned DID on widely used personality tests and interviews. A group of SCID-D-R diagnosed DID patients completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) and a forensic gold standard interview, the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS/SIRS-2). In these three papers, we compare the data from the DID group to that from feigners who were exposed to hours of training about DID (i.e., coached simulators) as well as to a feigning group that was not coached about DID (i.e., uncoached simulators). Across the papers, the coached group generally was better able to imitate DID than was the uncoached group. However, neither group was highly successful in feigning DID. Given that well-coached individuals could not successfully imitate DID on well-established psychological tests, this series of studies provides support for the trauma model of dissociation as well as for the construct validity of DID. Furthermore, the results will help assessors and forensic experts better distinguish genuine from feigned DID.
http://www.softconference.com/isstd/sessionDetail.asp?SID=330510

Late BBC Host Jimmy Savile Abused 'Up to 1,000 People' (Report), Report: Television Star Jimmy Savile Sexually Abused Victims in BBC Studios, Culture of secrecy blamed for BBC's failure to stop Jimmy Savile's crimes, Britain disrupts Philippines online child abuse ring

Late BBC Host Jimmy Savile Abused 'Up to 1,000 People' (Report) 1/20/2014 by Georg Szalai

A report about the results of an internal probe at the U.K. public broadcaster is expected to be published in February.

LONDON -- The final report on an internal BBC probe is expected to state that late radio and TV host Jimmy Savile sexually abused "many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people" while working for the U.K. public broadcaster, the Guardian's sister publication The Observer reported.

At least 138 victims are believed to be pursuing civil actions against the BBC, according to the newspaper report. Last year, a police report cited 214 abuse cases and about 450 overall complaints recorded by authorities.

The BBC report is also set to call on the broadcaster's leadership to reform a "culture of secrecy," according to the paper....
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/late-bbc-host-jimmy-savile-672456


Report: Television Star Jimmy Savile Sexually Abused Victims in BBC Studios
by Warner Todd Huston 19 Jan 2014

Just when the UK may have thought that there could not be any worse news about the sex abuse scandal perpetrated by its once most famous TV and radio star, the Jimmy Savile case gets worse—not just for the late celebrity's reputation but for those accused of enabling him, including the CEO of the New York Times.

A new report is about to come out saying that Savile abused teens right on the premises of government-run broadcasting facilities.

Jimmy Savile, an actor, TV and radio announcer—or "presenter" as they call it in Britain—and well-loved charity spokesman, passed away in 2011, but only months later, rumors of his rampant abuse of British teens who were enamored of his stardom began to leak out.

In 2012, allegations of his sexual abuse of vulnerable young Brits gained critical mass, and a full-scale government investigation was launched—as the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) is owned and run by the government. This gave Savile's crimes an air of government approval when it became known that many BBC officials may have known of Savile's crimes but covered them up, assisted in them, or at the least ignored them.

By June of 2013, not only had hundreds of cases of abuse come to light but the investigation had spread to other BBC employees.

In mid-2013, the BBC released a statement saying that it was "appalled" by all the sexual crimes perpetrated by Savile and his cohorts....

A source close to Dame Janet's investigation told the British media: "The numbers are shocking. Many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people were victims of Savile when he was representing the corporation. The report will overshadow Pollard. It will go right to the heart of how Savile was able to get away with the most heinous of crimes under the very noses of BBC staff for more than 40 years."....
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/01/19/Blockbuster-Report-Sex-Molesting-BBC-Star-Used-BBC-Studios-to-Abuse-Victims

Culture of secrecy blamed for BBC's failure to stop Jimmy Savile's crimes
Chris Patten pressed to prove corporation has changed as inquiry expected to conclude that DJ abused up to 1,000 people
Jason Deans The Guardian, Sunday 19 January 2014

Senior BBC figures are facing calls to reform the corporation's "culture of secrecy", as an internal inquiry is expected to reveal Jimmy Savile sexually abused up to 1,000 children while working for the corporation.

The BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten and director general Tony Hall will come under renewed pressure to show that the corporation has decisively changed a culture that allowed Savile to abuse his victims unchecked during more than 40 years as a presenter of TV shows including Top of the Pops and as a Radio 1 DJ. Savile died in 2011.

Former court of appeal judge Dame Janet Smith's report will say the number of victims of Savile's sexual activities may never be known but that his behaviour had been recognised by BBC executives who took no action, according to the Observer. At least 138 victims are pursuing civil actions against the BBC.

The paper quoted a source close to the Smith inquiry, expected to report next month, saying that "many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people" were victims of Savile while he was working for the BBC from the 1960s until his retirement in 2006....
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/19/call-to-end-bbc-culture-of-secrecy


Britain disrupts Philippines online child abuse ring
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY January 16, 2014
LONDON — Britain's National Crime Agency said it has broken up an international crime group that live-streamed child sexual abuse from the Philippines.

The agency said the joint investigation with authorities in the United States and Australia yielded 29 arrests for people in 12 countries who had paid to watch the online abuse, which in some cases was arranged by members of the children's own families.

In a statement, the NCA said that the "use of Web cams to stream live abuse, particularly from the developing world, is a significant and emerging threat."

The investigation was started after a routine visit by police in the English county of Northamptonshire to a registered sex offender, the NCA said. The probe began in 2012 and resulted in 15 children ages 6 to 15 being safeguarded from abuse....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/16/britain-philippines-child-abuse-online/4504911/

Saturday, January 18, 2014

UN slams Vatican for 'efforts to cover up' pedophile priests in sex abuse scandal, More than 20 schools face compensation claims from alleged abuse victims in wake of Jimmy Savile scandal 'Savile scandal made mum tell cops about Roache rape' Alleged victim's son speaks out, Freddie Starr arrested for third time over sex abuse claims


UN slams Vatican for 'efforts to cover up' pedophile priests in sex abuse scandal

By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor  1/16/2014

The Vatican faced blistering criticism from a United Nations committee Thursday over allegations it protected pedophile priests at the expense of victims in what constituted a worldwide sex abuse scandal.

It was the first time representatives of the Holy See were questioned in public on cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy around the world.

The U.N. committee's main human rights investigator, Sara Oviedo, led the most intense grilling the Holy See has received on the issue, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Given the "zero tolerance" policy of the Vatican, she asked, why were there "efforts to cover up and obscure these types of cases?"....
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/16/22324032-un-slams-vatican-for-efforts-to-cover-up-pedophile-priests-in-sex-abuse-scandal


More than 20 schools face compensation claims from alleged abuse victims in wake of Jimmy Savile scandal
    Jan 12, 2014
    By Keith Perry

....More than 20 schools face compensation claims from alleged abuse victims after the Jimmy Savile scandal.

They include fee-paying institutions Caldicott, in Farnham, Bucks, where Deputy PM Nick Clegg went and Ashdown House, East Sussex, London Mayor Boris Johnson's prep school.

The allegations span from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Jessica Standley, of lawyers Slater & Gordon, said since Savile there had been "an increase in victims reporting abuse at institutions"....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jimmy-savile-scandal-more-20-3013389 


'Savile scandal made mum tell cops about Roache rape' Alleged victim's son speaks out

THE son of a woman accusing Bill Roache of rape has said she wouldn’t report him as she “didn’t want to cause a rift in his family”.

17th January 2014

The man, who was not identified, added that he only became of his mum’s experience after the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Giving evidence, the alleged rape victim's son said he recalled a conversation with her about the time the Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith cases emerged in 2012....

The man told his mum that she should go to the police as there may be more women out there and that “sometimes it takes that one person to have the strength to come forward”.

"She really didn't want to. She was telling me straight away that some things are just best left alone in the past.

"She didn't want to cause a rift between his family and on top of that she desperately didn't want anyone to find about it."

He said that remained the case and some members of her family still don't know.

Roache, 81, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, denies the rapes and five counts of indecent assault involving the four other complainants aged 16 and under on dates between 1965 and 1971....
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/361003/Bill-Roache-trial-Humiliated-rape-victim-only-told-cops-after-Jimmy-Savile-scandal


Freddie Starr arrested for third time over sex abuse claims
The comedian was first arrested over a year ago by detectives from Operation Yewtree, the investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal

By Hayley Dixon 14 Jan 2014

Freddie Starr has been arrested for a third time by police investigating the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

The comedian, 71, was told that he faces a further allegation of sexual offences when he attended a police station in Warwickshire by appointment.

Starr was first arrested more than a year ago by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Yewtree, the investigation launched in the wake of claims against Savile....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/10572394/Freddie-Starr-arrested-for-third-time-over-sex-abuse-claims.html 

Friday, January 17, 2014

Coronation Street's Bill Roache 'Raped' 14-Year-Old Twice, Court Hears, Dave Lee Travis 'Was Snogging My Face Off.. I Thought I Was Going To Be Raped', Woman Tells Court

Dave Lee Travis 'Was Snogging My Face Off.. I Thought I Was Going To Be Raped', Woman Tells Court

The Huffington Post UK/PA 16/01/2014

A "petrified" woman has told how she thought she was going to be raped by DJ Dave Lee Travis when she was 15 at a Showaddywaddy concert, a court heard.

The alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the former Radio 1 DJ became "frisky" with her after she was invited into his caravan at the gig on a farm in the late 1970s.

In a videoed police interview played to the court, the woman said she was talking about music with Travis inside the caravan when he offered to sign her poster....

Travis, whose real name is David Patrick Griffin, is charged with 13 counts of indecent assault dating back to between 1976 and 2003, and one count of sexual assault in 2008.

The 68-year-old, from Buckinghamshire, is accused of assaulting 11 women, one of whom was 15 at the time of the alleged crime.

He denies all the charges....
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/16/dave-lee-travis-all-over-my-boobs-court-hears_n_4610177.html

Coronation Street's Bill Roache 'Raped' 14-Year-Old Twice, Court Hears
The Huffington Post UK  16/01/2014
A woman allegedly raped by Coronation Street star William Roache kept quiet for decades because she blamed herself, a court has heard.

She described how she was a "gullible" teenager - "a kid" - who was raped on two different occasions in 1967 at the actor's then-home in Lancashire.

A jury at Preston Crown Court has been told the woman finally came forward to police last year in the wake of a number of celebrity sex scandals.

In her police interview played to the court, the woman told a female officer: "All these years I have never brought it to anyone's attention. I chose not to say anything.

"I thought I was to blame, especially the second time.

"I was gullible ... I was a kid. I would never have repeated it to anyone."

But by last year she said "it has started to bother me because there might be other people that this has happened to".

She continued: "It started where I can't sleep, it is there at the back of my mind all the time."

The woman detailed how in the first alleged assault Roache - who knew her, she said - had sex with her with "no warning" in the bedroom of his bungalow....

Roache, 81, of Wilmslow, Cheshire - who has played Ken Barlow in the ITV soap for more than 50 years - denies the rapes.

He has also pleaded not guilty to five counts of indecent assault involving four other complainants aged 16 and under.

The alleged offences are said to have occurred between 1965 and 1971....
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/16/bill-roache-sex-abuse_n_4608894.html

Thursday, January 16, 2014

UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy, Saratoga Springs Child Abuse Examiner Judy Byington

Vatican tells UN hearing 'no excuse' for child abuse
Vatican has acknowledged there can be "no excuse" for child abuse, confronted for the first time at length and in public over the global priest sex abuse scandal

By Nick Squires
16 Jan 2014

Victims of clerical abuse accused the Vatican of obfuscating and using “disingenous” arguments as representatives on Thursday came in for unprecedented public questioning by the United Nations over the Catholic Church’s cover-up of the rape of thousands of children by sexually abusive priests.

In testimony to a UN committee in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative, showed a degree of remorse over church sex abuse scandals, saying that “such crimes can never be justified”.

But he reiterated an argument that the Vatican has long used — that the Holy See cannot be held responsible for the actions of clergy members in countries around the world because its remit extends only to those living and working within the Vatican City State, a tiny sovereign territory where less than 40 children reside.

Priests were “not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries”, he said.

The argument was dismissed by campaigners, who said it was clear that the Vatican is the hub of the world-wide Catholic Church and issues orders to dioceses around the globe....

The Vatican has been condemned for moving abusive clergy from one diocese or parish to another, destroying or withholding evidence and failing to report suspected abuse to the police.

“The new Pope seems to be making encouraging gestures in a lot of areas, but he’s doing nothing to even begin to expose — much less reverse —decades of selfish church cover-ups that endanger kids and protect predators. It’s very disappointing. What we heard today felt like more of the same,” Ms Blaine said. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/10576203/Vatican-tells-UN-hearing-no-excuse-for-child-abuse.html


UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy 
16 January 2014
....The Vatican has been confronted publicly for the first time over the sexual abuse of children by clergy, at a UN hearing in Geneva.

....Last month, the Vatican refused a request from the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for data on abuse, on the grounds that it only released such information if requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings.

...."The view of committee is that the best way to prevent abuses is to reveal old ones - openness instead of sweeping offences under the carpet," Kirsten Sandberg, chairwoman of the 18-strong CRC, told the Vatican delegation.

"It seems to date your procedures are not very transparent."

The Vatican was asked why it continued to describe abuse as an offence against morals rather than a crime against children.

....Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said: "To prevent abuse of minors is a real, immediate concern."

On prosecution of offenders, he said priests were "not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries"....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25748952


Saratoga Springs Child Abuse Examiner Judy Byington
Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret, Author, "Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities"; CEO Trauma Research Center and Child Abuse Recovery Speakers Bureau; Supervisor over Children Services, Alberta Mental Health; Director, Provo Utah Family Counseling Center; State of Utah Child Welfare: http://www.22faces.com  and http://www.ChildAbuseRecovery.com 
http://www.examiner.com/child-abuse-in-provo/judy-byington

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

'Satanist' kills black metal singer, 'Devil nurse' fined $1,300 for posting pictures with dead nursing home patients, Man admitted ritualistic killing of Dublin landlord in chess row, say police, Nigeria: Mother of 18-Yr-Old Boy Who Killed Virgin for Ritual Speaks

'Satanist' kills black metal singer 11 Jan 2014
A self-styled Satanist has claimed on his Facebook page that he was the person who murdered the singer of a local black metal band....

On Friday, a Facebook user calling himself Maleficent Meditation, whom police believe to be Mr Prakarn, wrote on his Facebook page that he had killed the singer....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/389066/satanist-slays-metal-singer


'Devil nurse' fined $1,300 for posting pictures with dead nursing home patients
The 37-year-old unidentified woman, who worked part-time at a Swiss nursing home, was slammed for posting Facebook images of herself with dead nursing home patients. The woman, originally from the Philippines, also added satanic messages and dominatrix-themed photography to her feed. 

By David Harding / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, January 12, 2014
A satanic nursing home employee in Switzerland who posted pictures of herself posing with a dead patient on Facebook has been fined.

The 37-year-old received a fined around more than $1,300 for her sick pics, the equivalent of around 120 days' pay....
The woman, originally from the Philippines, has been dubbed the "devil nurse" by Swiss media....

She was convicted for "violating the peace of the dead."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/devil-nurse-fined-posting-pics-dead-patients-article-1.1576873 


Man admitted ritualistic killing of Dublin landlord in chess row, say police
Garda tells court Italian national Saverio Bellante admitted to murder of landlord Tom O'Gorman in Castleknock
Henry McDonald in Dublin
theguardian.com, Monday 13 January 2014

An Italian man who allegedly cut open his Dublin landlord's chest and tried to eat his heart has admitted murder, a court heard on Monday.

Dressed in black, Saverio Bellante, 34, from Palermo, Sicily, appeared at Blanchardstown district court in Dublin on Monday morning, charged over the murder of Tom O'Gorman in what Irish police have described as a very unpleasant, bizarre killing. He offered no plea. He refused legal representation and will defend himself, the court was told....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/13/ritualistic-killing-chess-dublin-landlord-castlerock 


Nigeria: Mother of 18-Yr-Old Boy Who Killed Virgin for Ritual Speaks
By Ifeanyi Okolie, 10 January 2014
Lagos — MOTHER of the 18-year-old boy, Ikechukwu Lucky, who was arrested by the police in Lagos State for strangling a 12-year-old girl, Bose Ogoja, to death for money ritual, in Badagry area of the state, has said her son is possessed of an evil spirit that has been tormenting him.

The mother of the boy, Esa Egbo, told newsmen, yesterday, that her son had been arrested four times for attempting to rape little girls between the ages of 10 and 15 years by the police in Badagry Division.

Mrs. Egbo also said she and her family are members of Perfect Christianity Mission in Surulere area of Lagos, where Dr. Ofuche Ukoha (aka Sign Fireman) is the General Overseer, adding that her son does not know or have any access to the cleric, whom he claimed sent him to kill the girl....
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401100347.html 

Vatican will be questioned about its record on child sexual violence Thursday

This Thursday, for the first time ever, the Vatican will be questioned about its record on child sexual violence by an international body. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva is holding the meeting in two sessions on Jan 16, each three hours long. SNAP and our attorneys from CCR will be there. Later in the evening (Geneva time) CCR and SNAP are hosting a reportback via Livestream directly after the review to report about it to survivors, advocates and supporters. Two separate events and you can view them both on the internet.

Watch the UN review via livestream here!
http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/category/webcast-archives/crc/

The review will take place on Thursday, January 16, 2014 from 10am-1pm CET, (4am-7am EST) where the Vatican will be reviewed on their compliance with the Convention on Rights of the Child and then from 3pm-6pm CET (9am-12 noon EST) the Vatican will be reviewed on their compliance with the Optional Protocols on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

**This will be broadcast in the English language. This is broadcast by the UN.

Then two hours later at 8 pm CET (2 pm EST) we will have the “reportback” by CCR and SNAP.  Tune in here .
https://new.livestream.com/ccrjustice/VaticanBeforeTheUNJan2014

You can  follow the conversation on Twitter and ask questions before or during the livestream by tweeting to the hashtag #HolySeeConfess or by emailing questions to askCCR@ccrjustice.org.

SNAP and CCR submitted reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child detailing how the Holy See has violated the core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/survivors-network-of-those-abused-priests-v.-joseph-ratzinger,-et-al

Monday, January 13, 2014

300 victims of child homes horror to tell their story as abuse inquiry finally opens - Northern Ireland residential institutions

300 victims of child homes horror to tell their story as abuse inquiry finally  opens  
BY JOANNE SWEENEY – 13 January 2014
A £19m Government investigation on the abuse of children over a 73-year period in Northern Ireland residential institutions is under way. 

More than 300 men and women will give evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) on the physical and sexual abuse and neglect they suffered from those who should have cared for them.

The witnesses, now middle-aged and older, will tell their harrowing stories at the inquiry, which will be held in Banbridge Courthouse, Co Down.

At the end of the 18 months of evidence, involving at least 14 individual institutions, the inquiry will determine whether there were "systemic failings" in preventing such abuse.

The inquiry will investigate historical institutional abuse – if there were systemic failings by institutions or the State "in the duties towards those children in their care between years of 1922-1995". Abuse will include physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as neglect.

Coming from all over Northern Ireland, the Republic, Britain and Australia, the witnesses – many of whom will only be identified by a code to protect their anonymity – may finally get recognition of the wrong that was done to them after the inquiry reports to the Executive early in 2016.

All the witnesses spent time in residential care of the various institutions. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/300-victims-of-child-homes-horror-to-tell-their-story-as-abuse-inquiry-finally-opens-29910328.html


Nuns 'battered boys stupid' in Derry children's home, victim tells child abuse inquiry

Man now aged 55 says he was caned on the feet by Sisters and sexually abused by older boys
By Michael McHugh – 13 January 2014

Nuns used to batter boys stupid during daily abuse at a children's home in Londonderry, one victim has claimed.

John Heaney, 55, was caned on the feet by members of the order of the Sisters of Nazareth at St Joseph's in Termonbacca and said he suffered sexual abuse from older boys.

"Nuns were very good at raising their hands. All the Termonbacca boys have a flat spot on the back of their heads because they were battered stupid," he said.

Termonbacca will be one of the first residential homes examined, with evidence from witnesses due to begin in coming weeks. Mr Heaney made his comments as he prepared to attend Sir Anthony's hearings....

300 victims

The largest ever inquiry into the abuse of children at residential homes in the UK will examine the soul of society, a lawyer has said.

Decades of physical, sexual and emotional suffering were inflicted upon the most vulnerable by the church, the state and voluntary organisations, it was alleged today.

More than 300 victims are set to testify to the investigation, which is expected to last 18 months.... http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/nuns-battered-boys-stupid-in-derry-childrens-home-victim-tells-child-abuse-inquiry-29912351.html

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Ritual Abuse Newsletter - January 2014, Ritual Abuse Conferences 2014, Intentionally false reports of child maltreatment in US was 1.07%

January 2014 Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Newsletter
http://ritualabuse.us/2014/01/issue-114-january-2014/

It contains information on child abuse, ritual abuse, clergy abuse, mind control, human experimentation and other topics.


A conference to help survivors of severe child abuse (ritual abuse) and torture will be held on August 15  - 17, 2014, between 8 - 5 PM Saturday and Sunday at the DoubleTree Hotel near Bradley International Airport, 16 Ella Grasso Turnpike, Windsor Locks, CT 06096 (between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA).  This conference will help educate survivors of this abuse and their helpers.  Pre-registration is preferred.  For information write  S.M.A.R.T., P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295  E-mail: smartnews@aol.com, conference information is at:  http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

Ritual Abuse And Extreme Abuse Clinician’s Conference August 15, 2014 - A one day conference preceding our regular conference will be open to licensed practitioners in related fields to discuss issues in working with clients suffering from ritual abuse and extreme abuse symptoms.  Students studying in related fields and retired licensed practitioners may write smartnews@aol.com by e-mail for more information. Internet conference information is available at: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/ritual-abuse-and-extreme-abuse-clinicians-conference-2014/


Child Maltreatment 2012: False and Substantiated Rates by State
The estimate of intentionally false reports of child maltreatment for the entire United States was 1.07%
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/2012%20substantiation.html

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Dari-Mart murder "Satanic thrill killing," How 18-yr-old boy killed girl, 12, for money ritual

Second Oregon death row inmate wants execution
Jason Van Brumwell killed another inmate while serving a life sentence in Eugene’s notorious ‘Dari-Mart murder’  By Register-Guard and news service reports Jan. 10, 2013

PORTLAND — A second Oregon death row inmate is challenging the state to carry out its death penalty.

Jason Van Brumwell, originally jailed in a brutal Eugene murder, agrees with fellow inmate Gary Haugen that pursuing appeals is pointless and he should be executed. He has yet to formally ask the Oregon Supreme Court to order that the sentence be carried out.

The 38-year-old Brumwell was sent to death row in 2007 with Haugen after the two were convicted of a prison killing in September 2003. At the time, Brumwell was serving a life sentence for aggravated murder in the 1994 slaying of a convenience store clerk in Eugene.

Brumwell was 18 when he and three other teenagers plotted a late-night murder and robbery at a Dari-Mart store in west Eugene that prosecutors described as a satanic thrill killing. Testimony in the trial indicated that the young men, heavily involved in drugs and death metal music, planned to carve satanic symbols into the bodies of their victims or use blood to paint symbols on the store walls to frighten the community.

One of the teens beat to death store clerk Fran Wall, and Brumwell nearly beat to death a second clerk, Donna Ream, who survived despite losing half her blood. The crime went unsolved for five months before a Eugene detective tracked the killers through fake signatures on lottery tickets stolen from the market....
http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news/local/30975952-75/death-brumwell-inmate-row-appeals.html.csp

How 18-yr-old boy killed girl, 12, for money ritual
Friday, January 10, 2014

The police in Lagos State, yesterday, said they have arrested an 18-year-old boy, Ikechukwu Friday, who allegedly killed a 12-year-old girl for money ritual.

The suspect, who is currently being interrogated at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, was paraded before newsmen.

According to him, a pastor he asked for money instructed him to kill a young girl and obtain her faeces.

He said the pastor promised him N100,000 if he was able to accomplish the task....

“I pressed her neck tightly and she passed out faeces. I was, however, not able to get the faeces because I was caught before I could escape.”
http://www.osundefender.org/?p=144159

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Minn. diocese releases list of accused clergy, Jimmy Savile victims call for single inquiry

Minn. diocese releases list of accused clergy
Friday, January 3, 2014
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — The Diocese of St. Cloud joined other Roman Catholic dioceses around Minnesota Friday in releasing lists of clergy credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The St. Cloud diocese released a list of 33 names. Twenty-one people on the list are dead.

On Thursday, a man who says he was sexually abused by a priest in the mid-1960s held a news conference with his attorneys to demand the list's release.

But Jane Marrin, communications consultant for the diocese, told the St. Cloud Times the diocese already had been working on the list....

So in mid-December, I decided to release the names of those clergy," (Bishop Donald) Kettler said.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Minn-diocese-releases-list-of-accused-clergy-5112306.php

Jimmy Savile victims call for single inquiry
By David Sillito Media Correspondent  6 January 2014
Victims of Jimmy Savile are calling for a single inquiry into how the ex-BBC DJ and presenter managed to evade justice.

There are more than 30 individual investigations being carried out by organisations linked to Savile.

About 50 of the people who have reported being abused say they fear key questions will not be answered about how Savile, who died in 2011, operated.

But the NSPCC charity says creating one overarching inquiry could mean lessons are not learnt as quickly.
Television expose

Solicitor Alan Collins, who is representing 60 of Savile's victims in compensation claims, said the majority of his clients fear an unsatisfactory resolution from the separate investigations.

He told the BBC: "It should be one inquiry, chaired by a high court judge. I fear if this does not happen, an opportunity will have been lost, not only for the victims but for the country as a whole.

"The risk (of not having one inquiry) is justice may be incomplete."....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25612738 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Paedophile monster Ian Watkins to bank more than £150,000 from band break-up while behind bars, Pervert vicar facing prison sentence after pleading guilty to child pornography offences, Gang rape, killing of teen in India sparks outrage

Paedophile monster Ian Watkins to bank more than £150,000 from band break-up while behind bars

    Lostprophets distributing assets having disbanded after conviction
    Watkins, 36, currently serving 29 years for serial sex offences
    Set to earn £147,497 in assets and more than £100,000 in royalties
By Mia De Graaf 4 January 2014

Paedophile rock star Ian Watkins will earn more than £150,000 while serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences.

The singer's conviction forced his former band, the Lostprophets, to break up - and distribute their assets worth more than £700,000, it has been revealed.

Watkins, who is currently jailed in top-security Wakefield prison, is contracted to take £147,497 in the deal.

And music experts claim the convicted molesterer will earn more than £100,000 in royalties during his sentence.

The 36-year-old, from Pontypridd, pleaded guilty to three counts of child sexual assault at a trial in Cardiff Crown Court last month....

Lostprophets were founded in Pontypridd in 1997 and the band sold about 3.5 million albums worldwide.

His former bandmates have turned their back on him - saying they are 'heartbroken, angry, and disgusted' at his sex crimes and have urged more of his victims to contact police.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533974/Sick-paedophile-Ian-Watkins-set-bank-150-000-bars.html


Pervert vicar facing prison sentence after pleading guilty to child pornography offences By Gary Stewart
3 Jan 2014

The Rev Ian Hughes made and possessed thousands of indecent images of children

A Merseyside vicar is facing jail after pleading guilty to making and possessing thousands of indecent images of children.

The Rev Ian Hughes, who was priest in charge of the Wirral parishes Poulton and Seacombe, admitted 16 counts relating to more than 8,000 images and movies when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today....

Hughes was charged following a search of his home on Brougham Road, Wallasey , on May 22 last year.

Pornographic material recovered included more than 6,000 images and movies at the lowest category of seriousness, more than 1,000 at category two, more than 500 at categories three and four and more than 60 at category five, the most serious....

After charges were brought against him  a spokesman for the Church of England’s Diocese of Chester said: “Ian Hughes was suspended from all church duties as soon as these very serious and disturbing allegations became known to us.”
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/pervert-wirral-vicar-facing-prison-6467573


Gang rape, killing of teen in India sparks outrage
January 4, 2014

KOLKATA, India (AP) — The father of a teenage girl who was allegedly gang raped and later died after being set on fire in eastern India is demanding a federal inquiry into the case, which has renewed public outrage over sexual violence in the country.

Hundreds of people protested Friday in the West Bengal city of Kolkata, accusing state authorities of failing to protect the family after the 16-year-old girl went to police in October to report she had been raped twice by the same gang.

The state's urban development minister defended the police response, noting that six suspects had been arrested in the rapes and another two for allegedly setting the girl on fire....

The girl reported being gang raped and left in a field near her home in late October in the Madhyamgram suburb of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta. The next day she was allegedly abducted by the same gang and raped again before being left unconscious by railway tracks, police said.

The girl's father, a taxi driver, said last week that his daughter was set on fire on Dec. 23 after being threatened with violence if she did not withdraw her police complaint. She died from her injuries on Wednesday....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/04/gang-rape-killing-of-teen-in-india-sparks-outrage/4317079/

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Neighbor of Ariel Castro pleads guilty to murders, rapes, kidnappings; Priest Released, Monsignor William Lynn, Priest Formerly Convicted In Child Abuse Scandal, Released

Neighbor of Ariel Castro pleads guilty to murders, rapes, kidnappings
By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC News  12/30/13

A man nabbed by Cleveland police because of the proximity of his house to the late serial rapist and kidnapper Ariel Castro pleaded guilty to murder and rape charges on Monday in connection with the killings of two women.

Elias Acevedo Sr. was sentenced to 445 years in prison without parole for the murders of the women and multiple counts rape that date back as far as two decades, according to NBC affiliate, WKYC....

Acevedo, who lived doors away from Castro, pleaded not guilty in October to 293 counts, including 173 counts of rape and 115 counts of kidnapping.

On Monday, in a plea deal, Acevedo pleaded guilty to strangling Pemberton in 1994 and killing a pregnant Adkins the following year. Adkins' body was discovered in October....
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/30/22112946-neighbor-of-ariel-castro-pleads-guilty-to-murders-rapes-kidnappings

Monsignor William Lynn, Priest Formerly Convicted In Child Abuse Scandal, Released
01/03/14
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A church official who recently won an appeal of his landmark conviction in the priest-abuse scandal was released from custody Friday, and the city's Roman Catholic archbishop defended the decision to use church funds to help with bail.

Monsignor William Lynn was staying at an undisclosed location in Philadelphia after being processed at a city jail and being fitted with an electronic monitoring device Friday morning, defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom said. He was due in court Monday for a bail hearing.

Lynn, who left a state prison on Thursday after 18 months behind bars, is the first U.S. church official to have been charged for hiding complaints that priests were molesting children.

City prosecutors had charged him with felony child endangerment, but the state Superior Court ruled that the law that existed at the time did not cover people who did not directly supervise children.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/04/monsignor-william-lynn-released-priest-abuse_n_4540861.html

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Italy's Highest Court Overturns Pedophile's Conviction Because 11-Year-Old Was 'In Love', The behavior patterns of abused children as described in their testimonies

Italy's Highest Court Overturns Pedophile's Conviction Because 11-Year-Old Was 'In Love'  Agence France Presse  Dec. 31, 2013

Italy's highest court has overturned the conviction of a 60-year-old man for having sex with an 11-year-old girl, because the verdict failed to take into account their "amorous relationship".

Pietro Lamberti, a social services worker in Catanzaro in southern Italy, was convicted in February 2011 and sentenced to five years in prison for sexual acts with a minor.

The verdict was later upheld by an appeals court.

But Italy's supreme court ruled that the verdict did not sufficiently consider "the 'consensus', the existence of an amorous relationship, the absence of physical force, the girl's feelings of love"....

Lamberti was caught naked in bed with the girl after an investigation by police based largely on wire-tap evidence, it said.
http://www.businessinsider.com/italys-highest-court-overturns-pedophiles-conviction-because-11-year-old-was-in-love-2013-12 

 Making Sad Sense of Child Abuse

Dec. 23, 2013 — When a man in Israel was accused of sexually abusing his young daughter, it was hard for many people to believe -- a neighbor reported seeing the girl sitting and drinking hot chocolate with her father every morning, laughing, smiling, and looking relaxed. Such cases are not exceptional, however. Children react to sexual and physical abuse in unpredictable ways, making it hard to discern the clues.

Now Dr. Carmit Katz of Tel Aviv University's Bob Shapell School of Social Work has found that when parents are physically abusive, children tend to accommodate it. But when the abuse is sexual, they tend to fight or flee it unless it is severe. The findings, published in Child Abuse & Neglect, help explain children's behavior in response to abuse and could aid in intervention and treatment.

"All the cases of alleged physical abuse in the study involved parents, while we had very few cases of alleged parental sexual abuse," said Dr. Katz. "More than the type of abuse, it may be that children feel they have no choice but to endure abuse by their parents, who they depend on for love and support."....

About 3.5 million cases of child abuse are reported in the United States every year. Similarly alarming situations exist in many other countries. Abused children often suffer from emotional and behavioral problems, which can later develop into sexual dysfunction, anxiety, promiscuity, vulnerability to repeated victimization, depression, and substance abuse.....

Dr. Katz says the study teaches an important lesson when it comes to parental physical abuse. Just because children do not fight or flee their parents does not mean they are not being abused. Children need their parents to survive, and in some cases, parents love, care for, and support their children when they are not abusing them. Under these impossible circumstances, children often feel their best option is accommodation. In one interview in the study, a child said, "Daddy was yelling on me because I didn't do my homework, so I told him I am sorry you are right and brought him his belt." There were many similar examples.....

C. Katz, Z. Barnetz. The behavior patterns of abused children as described in their testimonies. Child Abuse & Neglect, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.08.006
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131223181821.htm 

The behavior patterns of abused children as described in their testimonies     C. Katza, Z. Barnetz

....The results show that abuse type has a strong effect on children's behavior, with children in the sexual abuse group reporting more fight and flight behavior and children in the physical abuse group reporting more self-change behavior. This finding was interacted with the severity of abuse variable, with children in the sexual abuse group reporting less flight behavior and an increase in the self-change behavior with the highest level of severity of abuse....
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014521341300224X 

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Lasting Damage of Child Abuse

The Lasting Damage of Child Abuse  
 Scott Mendelson, M.D. 12/31/2013
The effects of childhood sexual and physical abuse last a lifetime. Abused children may grow up to be adults prone to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and other psychiatric disorders. They are more prone to suicide. However, in recent years we have learned that abuse does more than wound self-esteem and break the spirit. It can damage the very substance of the brain and how it functions.

A major way by which childhood abuse can disrupt normal brain activity is by diminishing its capacity to handle stress. Stress is more than the worry and distress we experience when the circumstances of life push us beyond our limits. The body's response to stress is a complex biological mechanism.....

A study published in 2009 in the prestigious journal Nature Neuroscience revealed part of the reason why adults who were abused as children have abnormal stress responses. The grim details of the study included comparisons of the brains of individuals who had committed suicide vs. those who had died natural deaths. Among those who had committed suicide were some who had suffered severe childhood abuse and others who had not. It was found that among those who had suffered abuse, there were fewer of the special cortisol receptors in the brain that allow cortisol to turn off the stress response. It was further found that the section of DNA responsible for maintaining adequate numbers of these receptors had been methylated. They were no longer in full operation....

The emotional upheavals suffered by adults who were abused as children can continue to wreak havoc on jobs and schooling. They can lead to substance abuse. They can devastate marriages. Thus, the innocent victims of child abuse continue to suffer as adults....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson-md/the-lasting-damage-of-chi_b_4515918.html