CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE NEWS
Provided by
DR WIDODO JUDARWANTO
DR WIDODO JUDARWANTO
FIGHT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND PEDOPHILIA
Yudhasmara Foundation
JL TAMAN BENDUNGAN ASAHAN 5 JAKARTA PUSAT, JAKARTA INDONESIA 10210
PHONE : (021) 70081995 – 5703646
email : judarwanto@gmail.com,
http://pedophiliasexabuse.blogspot.com/
Yudhasmara Foundation
JL TAMAN BENDUNGAN ASAHAN 5 JAKARTA PUSAT, JAKARTA INDONESIA 10210
PHONE : (021) 70081995 – 5703646
email : judarwanto@gmail.com,
http://pedophiliasexabuse.blogspot.com/
NEWS I : Peacekeepers 'abusing children'
SOURCE : BBC news
'Elizabeth' was raped by 10 UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast
Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity.
Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.
After research in Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity proposed an international watchdog be set up.
Save the Children said it had sacked three workers for breaching its codes, and called on others to do the same.
The three men were all dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17 - which the charity said was a sackable offence even though not illegal.
The victims are suffering sexual exploitation and abuse in silence
Heather KerrSave the Children
The UN has said it welcomes the charity's report, which it will study closely.
Save the Children says the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out.
No support
A 13-year-old girl, "Elizabeth" described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home.
emp_load.getEmpEmbeddedParams("emp_7420973");
'Elizabeth' tells the BBC about her abuse :
'Elizabeth' was raped by 10 UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast
Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity.
Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.
After research in Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity proposed an international watchdog be set up.
Save the Children said it had sacked three workers for breaching its codes, and called on others to do the same.
The three men were all dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17 - which the charity said was a sackable offence even though not illegal.
The victims are suffering sexual exploitation and abuse in silence
Heather KerrSave the Children
The UN has said it welcomes the charity's report, which it will study closely.
Save the Children says the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out.
No support
A 13-year-old girl, "Elizabeth" described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home.
emp_load.getEmpEmbeddedParams("emp_7420973");
'Elizabeth' tells the BBC about her abuse :
- "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing," she said.
- "I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding."
- No action has been taken against the soldiers.
- The report also found that aid workers have been sexually abusing boys and girls.
- "In recent years, some important commitments have been made by the UN, the wider international community and by humanitarian and aid agencies to act on this problem,"said Save the Children UK chief executive Jasmine Whitbread.
- "However, all humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on."
UN SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS
- 2003 - Nepalese troops accused of sexual abuse while serving in DR Congo. Six are later jailed
- 2004 - Two UN peacekeepers repatriated after being accused of abuse in Burundi
- 2005 - UN troops accused of rape and sexual abuse in Sudan
- 2006 - UN personnel accused of rape and exploitation on missions in Haiti and Liberia
- 2007 - UN launches probe into sexual abuse claims in Ivory CoastAfter research involving hundreds of children from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity said better reporting mechanisms needed to be introduced to deal with what it called "endemic failures" in responding to reported cases of abuse.
It also said efforts should be made to strengthen worldwide child protection systems.
Heather Kerr, Save the Children's Ivory Coast country director, says little is being done to support the victims.
"It's a minority of people but they are using their power to sexually exploit children and children that don't have the voice to report about this.
READ RECOMMENDATION : THE OTHER REPORT
Download the reader here"They are suffering sexual exploitation and abuse in silence."
Save the Children says the international community has promised a policy of zero-tolerance to child sexual abuse, but that this is not being followed up by action on the ground.
A UN spokesman, Nick Birnback, said that it was impossible to ensure "zero incidents" within an organisation that has up to 200,000 personnel serving around the world.
"What we can do is get across a message of zero tolerance, which for us means zero complacency when credible allegations are raised and zero impunity when we find that there has been malfeasance that's occurred," he told the BBC.
NESW II : Did Santa Clara County prosecutors withhold videotape evidence in sex-abuse cases?
source : Mercury News, 12/20/2008 09:03:45 PM PST
Amid the discovery of videotapes from thousands of medical examinations of children in sex-abuse cases that had been withheld for years, the nurse who conducted those examinations has testified under oath that local prosecutors have long known she was taping the procedures.
Her former boss, the doctor who oversaw the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center unit, agrees the videotaping was no secret. He said he made the decision to keep the tapes from defense attorneys, at least in part, because they could have hampered prosecutions by "muddying" the evidence.
The bombshell disclosures dramatically raise the stakes in the videotape controversy. The testimony of Mary Ritter, physician's assistant at the hospital, contradicts claims by District Attorney Dolores Carr that the office was unaware of the taping.
It adds fuel to questions about whether the prosecutor's office has fulfilled its legal obligation to make sure defense attorneys are provided any potentially helpful evidence. And it puts the district attorney in the peculiar position of challenging the credibility of Ritter, who is a star witness for the prosecution in many child sex-abuse cases.
The Mercury News reported this month that Ritter has tapes of as many as 3,000 examinations that were never turned over to defense lawyers, a disclosure that could jeopardize an untold number of past sexual-assault convictions. The paper has since learned of Ritter's testimony, which came
as she was questioned about the videotapes in an October deposition in connection with a federal lawsuit alleging that the county wrongfully removed children from a home based on an erroneous claim of sexual assault.
Amid the discovery of videotapes from thousands of medical examinations of children in sex-abuse cases that had been withheld for years, the nurse who conducted those examinations has testified under oath that local prosecutors have long known she was taping the procedures.
Her former boss, the doctor who oversaw the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center unit, agrees the videotaping was no secret. He said he made the decision to keep the tapes from defense attorneys, at least in part, because they could have hampered prosecutions by "muddying" the evidence.
The bombshell disclosures dramatically raise the stakes in the videotape controversy. The testimony of Mary Ritter, physician's assistant at the hospital, contradicts claims by District Attorney Dolores Carr that the office was unaware of the taping.
It adds fuel to questions about whether the prosecutor's office has fulfilled its legal obligation to make sure defense attorneys are provided any potentially helpful evidence. And it puts the district attorney in the peculiar position of challenging the credibility of Ritter, who is a star witness for the prosecution in many child sex-abuse cases.
The Mercury News reported this month that Ritter has tapes of as many as 3,000 examinations that were never turned over to defense lawyers, a disclosure that could jeopardize an untold number of past sexual-assault convictions. The paper has since learned of Ritter's testimony, which came
as she was questioned about the videotapes in an October deposition in connection with a federal lawsuit alleging that the county wrongfully removed children from a home based on an erroneous claim of sexual assault.
"There are people "... in the district attorney's office who have always been aware — or who have been aware since 1991," Ritter testified, naming some deputies in the office, under questioning by attorney Robert Powell.
Claims denied
Last week, officials in the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office denied Ritter's contention. Chief Assistant District Attorney Marc Buller at one point called a reporter to insist that the deposition of Ritter was supposed to be confidential and that the reporter potentially faced jail for writing about the deposition. But no protective order, which would be needed to make the deposition confidential, was ever issued.
Buller in a subsequent conversation said: "Mary Ritter is absolutely wrong. The people she names absolutely say this person is not being truthful. Our office was never notified by Mary Ritter or Dr. Kerns that anything was being videotaped."
Asked why Ritter would falsely testify, Buller said: "Maybe because she's getting sued," referring to the underlying lawsuit in which she testified. The suit also names the district attorney's office, as well as more than a dozen other parties.
Ritter's longtime supervisor, Dr. David Kerns, called Buller's assertion "ridiculous." "Mary Ritter is like a saint," said Kerns, who initially headed pediatrics at the hospital and later retired from his post as chief medical officer. "She doesn't have it in her soul to lie."
Ritter's testimony raises troubling new questions about the way prosecutors treat their obligations to provide the defense with any potentially helpful evidence, even absent a specific pretrial request from defense attorneys. The issue is one of the most controversial areas of the law because of the heightened danger of unjust convictions if the defense is unaware of evidence that could help its case.
The issue of the videotapes exploded in April, when the 6th District Court of Appeals overturned the 2006 conviction of Agustin Uribe, finding that the prosecution had improperly withheld the videotape, which was turned over only after Uribe had been sentenced to 38 years to life in prison. A defense expert then reviewed the videotape and said it contradicted Ritter's testimony that the child had been assaulted.
The court ruled that it did not matter if prosecutors actually knew the tapes existed because the Valley Medical Center examinations were conducted as part of the investigation, making the medical staff part of the prosecution team.
Unfilled state forms
Attorneys in that case discovered that the hospital has routinely failed to fill out a form, required by state law, that asks whether the examination was videotaped. Kerns said last week he made the decision to provide a more complete report than the state form, albeit one that did not reveal the existence of videotape.
He said he took responsibility for the decision not to consider the videotape as evidence: "Videotape can be helpful to the defense because it creates confusion, but it's not necessarily going to serve justice or what's true," Kerns said. "Videotape has the potential to make things muddy, if you start introducing what in my judgment is inferior evidence." Kerns' decision appears to conflict with the requirements the U.S. Supreme Court first issued in Brady vs. Maryland, that defendants be provided any evidence that potentially could help establish innocence.
In her October deposition, Ritter testified that state bar investigators questioned her in connection with potential prosecutorial misconduct in the Uribe case; she said she told them it was "very possible" the trial prosecutor, who was Troy Benson, did not know of the tape at trial.
But, she testified, other prosecutors had long known of the videotaping, which began in 1991. On occasion, she testified, attorneys asked for and received videotapes in cases preceding the Uribe case, though she said she could not recall which attorneys or which cases.
Ritter testified that one prosecutor who knew of the videotaping was Penny Blake, a former deputy district attorney who oversaw the child dependency unit. Ritter testified that county social workers who worked with Blake on dependency cases actually watched the videotaping a few times a year. In addition, Ritter said, Blake "called me in to talk about them."
Blake, who retired from the office in 2006, last week said in a phone interview, "I have no independent recollection of any conversation," about the tapes, "but I am not saying that it did not happen at all. I can only assume she (Ritter) has a clear recollection. I don't remember when I first learned about" the tapes.
Ritter said Deputy District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro, who formerly specialized in prosecuting child sex-abuse cases, also knew of the videotapes. But Gibbons-Shapiro last week firmly denied that he had any knowledge videotapes existed. He said had he known, he would have used them in court to help bolster his cases.
Ritter also said of the deputy district attorney who formerly supervised the sexual assault team, "I believe that Vicky Brown knew, although I am not certain." But Brown last week denied knowing of the tapes.
'Quite obvious' taping
Kerns, who has retired from Valley Medical Center, said there "was no secret about" the videotaping of examinations. "It was quite obvious. If you go in, there is an examining table, then there is a big magnifying binocular instrument with a camera and a connection to a video camera and a video monitor. ... This has become sensitive, but there was nothing sensitive about it at the time."
The April appellate court ruling in Uribe apparently failed to spur the district attorney to determine whether videotapes existed in other cases that should be turned over. Defense lawyer Lawrence Gibbs read the decision and contacted the district attorney to see whether videotape existed in the case of his own client, Jared Jackson, who was contesting a sexual-assault conviction that relied heavily upon Ritter's determination of sexual abuse.
But even when Michael Fletcher, who supervises the sex-crimes unit, discovered in June there was videotape in Jackson's case and made sure it was sent to Gibbs, the office still did not investigate more widely.
Gibbs hired Dr. James Crawford of Oakland Children's Hospital, who helped write many of the protocols used in California for forensic sex-abuse examinations; Crawford refuted Ritter's finding that there was evidence of trauma. Crawford wrote in a sworn declaration: "Having the videotape would have been extremely important to any forensic practitioner. I can say with confidence that no qualified medical examiner would render an opinion as to the results of this examination based on solely the photographs if the videotape were also available."
Armed with two cases where experts said the videotapes had provided clear evidence contradicting Ritter's finding, attorney Michael Kresser, whose office oversees appeals for impoverished defendants, wrote District Attorney Carr a letter calling on Carr to identify any other videotapes not turned over in criminal cases. That same month, Ritter testified in her deposition that she had been videotaping cases for years with prosecutors' knowledge.
Prosecutors now have launched an extensive effort to review the videotapes and determine which ones involve cases that ended in convictions. They say they hope to identify and notify the defense attorneys in the coming weeks.
NEW III : Child Rapist and Pornographer Pleads Guilty
source : 12:51 p.m. EST Dec. 18, 2008
source : 12:51 p.m. EST Dec. 18, 2008
SPOKANE, Wash., Dec 18, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- 50-year Sentence Recommendation Subject to Court Approval
Kenneth John Freeman, 46, formerly of Richland, Wash., pleaded guilty yesterday to three federal crimes -- two counts of producing child pornography, one count of interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity -- and three state crimes -- three counts of rape of a child in the first degree announced James A. McDevitt, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, Karin Immergut, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Andy Miller, Benton County, Wash., Prosecuting Attorney.
Freeman sexually abused his daughter from May 2000 to July 2001, when she was 10 and 11 years old. The abuse occurred in both Washington and Oregon. Freeman filmed the sexual abuse and thereafter distributed those pictures and videos internationally over the Internet.
Freeman fled the country in March 2006. Nine months later, he was profiled on the television program America's Most Wanted. The show featured an interview with his daughter and a plea for him to surrender to law enforcement authorities. A detective with the Toronto Police Service saw the show and for the first time linked Freeman to the production of child pornography images and videos that were some of the most frequently downloaded in the world.
Based on this information, Freeman was immediately placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement's and the U.S. Marshals' Most Wanted Fugitives lists and he became the subject of a worldwide manhunt. A team of investigators from various law enforcement agencies, including the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, tracked Freeman to China.
On May 1, 2007, the pursuit ended when Hong Kong authorities arrested Freeman, a former competitive bodybuilder, as he arrived at the city's bus depot to begin a holiday trip. Throughout the pursuit, special agents of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and law enforcement authorities in Beijing, Suzhou and Hong Kong were key players on the ground. The Chinese authorities, unable to take any action against Freeman due to his valid visa, nevertheless monitored Freeman's movements and notified U.S. law enforcement authorities of his intended travel to Hong Kong, which has an extradition treaty with the United States. Freeman ultimately consented to his extradition and agreed to be returned to the United States to face the charges against him. He was extradited to the United States in October 2007 to face these criminal charges.
According to the plea agreement, the U.S. Attorneys for the Districts of Oregon and Eastern Washington and the defendant agree that he should be sentenced to 50 years in federal prison followed by a three-year term of court supervision. Additionally, the plea agreement contemplates a 20-year prison sentence in state court to run concurrent with the federal sentence. Sentencing on the federal charges is scheduled for March 25, 2009.
"Thanks to the outstanding work of our local, federal and international law enforcement partners, Mr. Freeman was captured, has now pleaded guilty and will no longer be a danger to society," said U.S. Attorney McDevitt. "I want to especially thank the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon and the Benton County Prosecutor's Office for their outstanding cooperation in the resolution of this matter. This case demonstrates the success of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse."
"As a result of the collaborative efforts of local, federal and international law enforcement officers, a child sexual predator will be held accountable for the unspeakable crimes he committed," said U.S. Attorney Immergut. "Although it is tragic that the victim will be forced to live with the memory of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, we are pleased that this chapter of her life will be behind her."
"We are very pleased that the close cooperation between federal and state authorities helped obtain the convictions and lengthy recommended sentences," said Andy Miller, Benton County Prosecuting Attorney. "None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary courage and strength of the victim during this long ordeal."
"As a former fugitive on ICE's and the U.S. Marshals' Most Wanted lists, Kenneth Freeman's case is of paramount importance," said Leigh Winchell, Special Agent in Charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in the Pacific Northwest. "Over the past five years, ICE has identified and removed more than 11,500 sexual predators from our communities, but Kenneth Freeman distinguishes himself as one of the most heinous and despicable pedophiles ICE has ever encountered. His capture overseas and eventual return to Washington State to face justice are a powerful reminder that the world's sexual predators increasingly have no place to hide. ICE's work is not done. We will continue to target those who sexually exploit our children, robbing them of their innocence and their youth."
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in February 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/ .
This case was investigated by the Richland, Wash., Police Department, the Benton County Sheriff's Office, the Kennewick, Wash., Police Department, the U.S. Marshals, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assisted in the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Stephanie Lister, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, Gary Sussman, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Adrienne Dabee, Benton County Deputy Prosecutor.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.marketwatch.com/
Kenneth John Freeman, 46, formerly of Richland, Wash., pleaded guilty yesterday to three federal crimes -- two counts of producing child pornography, one count of interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity -- and three state crimes -- three counts of rape of a child in the first degree announced James A. McDevitt, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, Karin Immergut, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Andy Miller, Benton County, Wash., Prosecuting Attorney.
Freeman sexually abused his daughter from May 2000 to July 2001, when she was 10 and 11 years old. The abuse occurred in both Washington and Oregon. Freeman filmed the sexual abuse and thereafter distributed those pictures and videos internationally over the Internet.
Freeman fled the country in March 2006. Nine months later, he was profiled on the television program America's Most Wanted. The show featured an interview with his daughter and a plea for him to surrender to law enforcement authorities. A detective with the Toronto Police Service saw the show and for the first time linked Freeman to the production of child pornography images and videos that were some of the most frequently downloaded in the world.
Based on this information, Freeman was immediately placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement's and the U.S. Marshals' Most Wanted Fugitives lists and he became the subject of a worldwide manhunt. A team of investigators from various law enforcement agencies, including the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, tracked Freeman to China.
On May 1, 2007, the pursuit ended when Hong Kong authorities arrested Freeman, a former competitive bodybuilder, as he arrived at the city's bus depot to begin a holiday trip. Throughout the pursuit, special agents of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and law enforcement authorities in Beijing, Suzhou and Hong Kong were key players on the ground. The Chinese authorities, unable to take any action against Freeman due to his valid visa, nevertheless monitored Freeman's movements and notified U.S. law enforcement authorities of his intended travel to Hong Kong, which has an extradition treaty with the United States. Freeman ultimately consented to his extradition and agreed to be returned to the United States to face the charges against him. He was extradited to the United States in October 2007 to face these criminal charges.
According to the plea agreement, the U.S. Attorneys for the Districts of Oregon and Eastern Washington and the defendant agree that he should be sentenced to 50 years in federal prison followed by a three-year term of court supervision. Additionally, the plea agreement contemplates a 20-year prison sentence in state court to run concurrent with the federal sentence. Sentencing on the federal charges is scheduled for March 25, 2009.
"Thanks to the outstanding work of our local, federal and international law enforcement partners, Mr. Freeman was captured, has now pleaded guilty and will no longer be a danger to society," said U.S. Attorney McDevitt. "I want to especially thank the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon and the Benton County Prosecutor's Office for their outstanding cooperation in the resolution of this matter. This case demonstrates the success of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse."
"As a result of the collaborative efforts of local, federal and international law enforcement officers, a child sexual predator will be held accountable for the unspeakable crimes he committed," said U.S. Attorney Immergut. "Although it is tragic that the victim will be forced to live with the memory of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, we are pleased that this chapter of her life will be behind her."
"We are very pleased that the close cooperation between federal and state authorities helped obtain the convictions and lengthy recommended sentences," said Andy Miller, Benton County Prosecuting Attorney. "None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary courage and strength of the victim during this long ordeal."
"As a former fugitive on ICE's and the U.S. Marshals' Most Wanted lists, Kenneth Freeman's case is of paramount importance," said Leigh Winchell, Special Agent in Charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in the Pacific Northwest. "Over the past five years, ICE has identified and removed more than 11,500 sexual predators from our communities, but Kenneth Freeman distinguishes himself as one of the most heinous and despicable pedophiles ICE has ever encountered. His capture overseas and eventual return to Washington State to face justice are a powerful reminder that the world's sexual predators increasingly have no place to hide. ICE's work is not done. We will continue to target those who sexually exploit our children, robbing them of their innocence and their youth."
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in February 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/ .
This case was investigated by the Richland, Wash., Police Department, the Benton County Sheriff's Office, the Kennewick, Wash., Police Department, the U.S. Marshals, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assisted in the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Stephanie Lister, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, Gary Sussman, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Adrienne Dabee, Benton County Deputy Prosecutor.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.marketwatch.com/
NEW IV : Suicide 'linked to sexual abuse'
The study involved men from Australia
Men sexually abused in childhood are ten times more likely to contemplate suicide, say researchers at the University of Bath.
The study focused on Australian men who were sexually abused as children.
The research suggested although many of the abused men had not been clinically diagnosed as depressed, they were more likely to have suicidal tendencies.
"Childhood sexual abuse is an under-recognised problem in men," said Dr Patrick O'Leary.
Feeling isolated
Dr O'Leary, from the university's Department of Social and Policy Sciences, said: "Men are particularly vulnerable because they don't like to talk to others about their problems.
"Many suffer feelings of failure and isolation and think that it is a sign of weakness to discuss their past abuse with others.
"Men also tend to visit their doctors less frequently, so those who are at risk of suicide often slip under the radar of the healthcare system.
"The abuse that these men have suffered as children often sees them attempting to cope by suppressing the experience through substance abuse, alcohol abuse and obsessive behaviour, with many ending up in the criminal justice system."
Dr O'Leary concluded that a "greater awareness" in the healthcare and criminal justice systems would "help identify those who are at risk and give them treatment before it is too late."
A similar study is planned by the university in the UK.
The study involved men from Australia
Men sexually abused in childhood are ten times more likely to contemplate suicide, say researchers at the University of Bath.
The study focused on Australian men who were sexually abused as children.
The research suggested although many of the abused men had not been clinically diagnosed as depressed, they were more likely to have suicidal tendencies.
"Childhood sexual abuse is an under-recognised problem in men," said Dr Patrick O'Leary.
Feeling isolated
Dr O'Leary, from the university's Department of Social and Policy Sciences, said: "Men are particularly vulnerable because they don't like to talk to others about their problems.
"Many suffer feelings of failure and isolation and think that it is a sign of weakness to discuss their past abuse with others.
"Men also tend to visit their doctors less frequently, so those who are at risk of suicide often slip under the radar of the healthcare system.
"The abuse that these men have suffered as children often sees them attempting to cope by suppressing the experience through substance abuse, alcohol abuse and obsessive behaviour, with many ending up in the criminal justice system."
Dr O'Leary concluded that a "greater awareness" in the healthcare and criminal justice systems would "help identify those who are at risk and give them treatment before it is too late."
A similar study is planned by the university in the UK.
NEWS IV : Santa letter brings abuse chargeCrimeTexas man accused of sexually abusing girls over at least four years
source : The Associated Press December 21, 2008
Police allege that for as long as four years, Andres Enrique Cantu sexually abused the girls in their bedrooms while they slept or did their homework.
Cantu, 55, was in court for the second time in less than a week Tuesday to face a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child. He did not have an attorney present.
The 9-year-old’s plea to Santa, written as a school assignment, launched the investigation and led to the first charge last week. On Tuesday, Cantu was accused of abusing the girl’s older sister, who also wasmentioned in the letter.
An affidavit described the letter as "a wish list to Santa” asking that the girl’s relative stop touching her and her sister.
Pharr police spokesman Lt. Guadalupe Salinas said the girls’ mother had been unaware of any abuse but that the relative had moved out of the house after an earlier falling out.
The girl submitted the Santa letter on Dec. 11 to her teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School as part of an assignment, said Arianna Hernandez, spokeswoman for the Pharr-Alamo-San Juan Independent School District.
The teacher described the letter to a school counselor, who notified police, Hernandez said.
Continuous sexual abuse is a felony that carries a sentence of between 25 and 99 years in prison.
source : The Associated Press December 21, 2008
Police allege that for as long as four years, Andres Enrique Cantu sexually abused the girls in their bedrooms while they slept or did their homework.
Cantu, 55, was in court for the second time in less than a week Tuesday to face a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child. He did not have an attorney present.
The 9-year-old’s plea to Santa, written as a school assignment, launched the investigation and led to the first charge last week. On Tuesday, Cantu was accused of abusing the girl’s older sister, who also wasmentioned in the letter.
An affidavit described the letter as "a wish list to Santa” asking that the girl’s relative stop touching her and her sister.
Pharr police spokesman Lt. Guadalupe Salinas said the girls’ mother had been unaware of any abuse but that the relative had moved out of the house after an earlier falling out.
The girl submitted the Santa letter on Dec. 11 to her teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School as part of an assignment, said Arianna Hernandez, spokeswoman for the Pharr-Alamo-San Juan Independent School District.
The teacher described the letter to a school counselor, who notified police, Hernandez said.
Continuous sexual abuse is a felony that carries a sentence of between 25 and 99 years in prison.
new v :'Papa' gets 18 years for sexual abuse of girl, 6, in day care. The judge gave him a harsher sentence because of his position of trust.
source : Star Tribune, December 19, 2008 - 8:45 PM
The man known as "Papa Gene" to the little girl he would be convicted of sexually abusing was sentenced Friday in Ramsey County District Court to 18 years in prison.
District Judge Salvador Rosas departed from state sentencing guidelines in handing a stiffer penalty to Gene Hegerman, 55, who along with his wife, Linda, operated a day care center out of their home in the 1400 block of Iglehart Avenue in St. Paul.
"These parents trusted you," Rosas said, noting others had alleged he'd abused their children, too. "They placed their most precious children in your care."
Invited to speak, Hegerman said he had nothing to say beyond points already raised by his attorney.
Outside the courtroom afterward, Linda Hegerman, whose adult daughter had sat crying alongside her, said only that the proceedings were a "big joke."
In November, a jury convicted Hegerman of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after a 6-year-old girl testified that he had touched her "culito" -- Spanish slang that she had used to refer to her private parts -- and told her to "pinky swear" not to tell anybody.
The girl's mother wrote in a letter to Rosas about having to come to grips with having left her children "with a monster every day."
"How could he look me in the eyes and carry on a casual conversation when he knew that he was making [her] promise to keep this horrible secret?" the mother wrote in a letter that was read aloud Friday by prosecutor Jill Gerber. "She was just a baby!"
Sentencing guidelines called for a 12-year prison sentence, but Rosas upped that by one-half because of aggravating factors that included the victim's vulnerability due to her age and Hegerman's position of trust and authority.
According to the criminal complaint against him, two 3-year-old girls also had told their parents that "Papa" or "Grampa" had touched their private parts. But because they were too young to testify, prosecutors dropped charges connected with those allegations.
Still, the parents of each girl attended the two-day trial, and one of the mothers, whose child had been the first to come forward, offered some advice after Friday's sentencing: "Parents -- believe your kids. Trust your instincts," she said. "If we hadn't believed [our daughter], we wouldn't be here."
source : Star Tribune, December 19, 2008 - 8:45 PM
The man known as "Papa Gene" to the little girl he would be convicted of sexually abusing was sentenced Friday in Ramsey County District Court to 18 years in prison.
District Judge Salvador Rosas departed from state sentencing guidelines in handing a stiffer penalty to Gene Hegerman, 55, who along with his wife, Linda, operated a day care center out of their home in the 1400 block of Iglehart Avenue in St. Paul.
"These parents trusted you," Rosas said, noting others had alleged he'd abused their children, too. "They placed their most precious children in your care."
Invited to speak, Hegerman said he had nothing to say beyond points already raised by his attorney.
Outside the courtroom afterward, Linda Hegerman, whose adult daughter had sat crying alongside her, said only that the proceedings were a "big joke."
In November, a jury convicted Hegerman of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after a 6-year-old girl testified that he had touched her "culito" -- Spanish slang that she had used to refer to her private parts -- and told her to "pinky swear" not to tell anybody.
The girl's mother wrote in a letter to Rosas about having to come to grips with having left her children "with a monster every day."
"How could he look me in the eyes and carry on a casual conversation when he knew that he was making [her] promise to keep this horrible secret?" the mother wrote in a letter that was read aloud Friday by prosecutor Jill Gerber. "She was just a baby!"
Sentencing guidelines called for a 12-year prison sentence, but Rosas upped that by one-half because of aggravating factors that included the victim's vulnerability due to her age and Hegerman's position of trust and authority.
According to the criminal complaint against him, two 3-year-old girls also had told their parents that "Papa" or "Grampa" had touched their private parts. But because they were too young to testify, prosecutors dropped charges connected with those allegations.
Still, the parents of each girl attended the two-day trial, and one of the mothers, whose child had been the first to come forward, offered some advice after Friday's sentencing: "Parents -- believe your kids. Trust your instincts," she said. "If we hadn't believed [our daughter], we wouldn't be here."
NEWS VI :Child porn cartoon conviction upheld in Va.
source : The Associated Press
source : The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Child pornography is illegal even if the pictures are drawn, a federal appeals panel said in affirming the nation's first conviction under a 2003 federal law against such cartoons.
Dwight Whorley of Richmond is serving 20 years in prison, convicted in 2005 of using a public computer for jobseekers at the Virginia Employment Commission to receive 20 Japanese cartoons, called anime, illustrating young girls being forced to have sex with men. Whorley also received digital photographs of actual children engaging in sexual conduct and sent and received e-mails graphically describing parents sexually molesting their children.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld his conviction.
Among the arguments in his appeal was that cartoons are protected under the First Amendment because they do not depict real children. He also claimed the statute is unconstitutional because text-only e-mails cannot be obscene.
Two judges rejected those arguments. A third agreed with Whorley on those issues but joined the majority in affirming his convictions on the counts pertaining to photographs.
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer noted in the majority opinion that the statute under which Whorley was convicted, the PROTECT Act of 2003, clearly states that "it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exists."
Rob Wagner, the federal public defender who represented Whorley, said he was "very disappointed" with the ruling and that he would ask the full appeals court to reconsider. If that fails, Wagner said he will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
A Virginia jury convicted Whorley of 74 counts including receiving obscene materials, receiving obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children, receiving child pornography and sending and receiving obscene e-mails describing the sexual abuse of children.
Whorley, 55, is serving his sentence at the Gilmer Federal Correction Institution in Glenville, W.Va.
He previously was sentenced to 46 months in prison for a 1999 child pornography conviction
Dwight Whorley of Richmond is serving 20 years in prison, convicted in 2005 of using a public computer for jobseekers at the Virginia Employment Commission to receive 20 Japanese cartoons, called anime, illustrating young girls being forced to have sex with men. Whorley also received digital photographs of actual children engaging in sexual conduct and sent and received e-mails graphically describing parents sexually molesting their children.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld his conviction.
Among the arguments in his appeal was that cartoons are protected under the First Amendment because they do not depict real children. He also claimed the statute is unconstitutional because text-only e-mails cannot be obscene.
Two judges rejected those arguments. A third agreed with Whorley on those issues but joined the majority in affirming his convictions on the counts pertaining to photographs.
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer noted in the majority opinion that the statute under which Whorley was convicted, the PROTECT Act of 2003, clearly states that "it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exists."
Rob Wagner, the federal public defender who represented Whorley, said he was "very disappointed" with the ruling and that he would ask the full appeals court to reconsider. If that fails, Wagner said he will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
A Virginia jury convicted Whorley of 74 counts including receiving obscene materials, receiving obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children, receiving child pornography and sending and receiving obscene e-mails describing the sexual abuse of children.
Whorley, 55, is serving his sentence at the Gilmer Federal Correction Institution in Glenville, W.Va.
He previously was sentenced to 46 months in prison for a 1999 child pornography conviction
NEWS VII : Sexual Abuse Complaints Subpoenaed
SOURCE : new york times, November 12, 2008
SOURCE : new york times, November 12, 2008
Since last year, when Assemblyman Dov Hikind invited his radio show listeners to discuss an explosive topic — sexual abuse of children in the Orthodox Jewish community — he says he has collected more than 1,000 complaints and the names of 60 accused sexual predators.
Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
Assemblyman Dov Hikind asked radio listeners to talk about sex abuse, and they did.
He has kept those stories under lock and key in his Brooklyn office, he says, because the people who said they were victims had sworn him to secrecy, fearful of becoming outcasts in a community where perceived troublemakers risk losing employment, housing and even marriage prospects.
But a prominent lawyer representing a half dozen former yeshiva students who say in a civil lawsuit that they were sexually abused by a teacher in Borough Park, Brooklyn, had Mr. Hikind served with a subpoena this week, demanding that he surrender those files.
Mr. Hikind has refused. “I will go to jail for 10 years first,” he said on Wednesday.
The legal conflict has revealed a deep tension within the Orthodox community that has been reported in the Jewish weekly press, and has been the almost exclusive topic of discussion on some Orthodox Jewish Web sites like failedmessiah.com and unorthodoxjews.blogspot.com in the months since Mr. Hikind brought up sexual abuse.
“I’ve been shocked and overwhelmed at the magnitude of the problem,” said Mr. Hikind, an Orthodox Jew and a Democrat who represents the predominantly Orthodox community of Borough Park.
The victims have come to his office in a steady stream to tell their stories, he said. “Abusive teachers and rabbis in the schools,” he said. “Pedophiles on the streets. Incest in the home.”
Michael G. Dowd, the lawyer who had Mr. Hikind served with the subpoena, has been a leading advocate for plaintiffs who say they were abused by Roman Catholic priests. He represents six men who say they were abused by Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, a teacher at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn. Rabbi Kolko, who was charged with sexual abuse in 2006, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and has left the school.
Mr. Dowd’s subpoena demands that the assemblyman turn over not just complaints that Mr. Hikind may have received against Rabbi Kolko, but “any and all reports of sexual abuse at any yeshiva and/or by any rabbi or employee of a yeshiva in New York City.” Mr. Dowd said they were crucial to proving his clients’ contention that sexual abuse was commonplace and routinely covered up by administrators in yeshivas.
He described Mr. Hikind’s refusal as “misguided.” While he said that he planned to have the subpoena enforced, he also said that he understood the reluctance to cross the powers that be in the Orthodox community. “The lead rabbis have the kind of power to shut people up that the Catholic Church had 50, 60 years ago,” he said.
Mr. Hikind said that every complaint he received was in complete confidence, with the understanding that “under no circumstances would their names be known in the community.”
“There is no way in the world, when people have come to me and spilled their hearts out to me, and shared the most intimate and private things with me, hoping I will do something to address the larger, overall issue, that I would ever betray their trust,” he said.
Mr. Hikind said he was responding to talk in the community about unreported sex abuse when he decided to devote three shows in a row to the topic on his weekly radio program, which is broadcast Saturday nights on WMCA-AM (570). The response was immediate and broad, coming not only from Brooklyn but from upstate New York and New Jersey as well.
He has been trying to enlist leaders of the Borough Park community to help deal with the problem, with mixed success. “There is a cultural taboo about this kind of thing, and especially about going to secular authorities with sexual abuse issues,” he said.
In September, a clinical psychologist who initially agreed to head a task force on the issue, Rabbi Benzion Twerski, resigned after a week. In a letter to a Jewish weekly newspaper, he said he left under pressure brought by his children, who told him they were made to feel “shamed” by his participation.
Mr. Hikind said that of all the people who said they had been victims, “99 percent would not go to the police under any circumstances — that is just the reality.”
But Joel Engelman, 23, who grew up in the Orthodox community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and who helped found a group of victims called Survivors for Justice, said that while “well-intentioned,” Mr. Hikind had a classic misunderstanding about sexual predators that is embedded in insular communities like the Catholic priesthood or the Orthodox world. “The community cannot police itself,” he said. “This has been shown again and again.”
In his own case, Mr. Engelman said, a complaint he brought to the attention of administrators at the United Talmudical Academy against a teacher who sexually violated him when he was 8 years old led to the teacher’s brief suspension and subsequent reinstatement. Mr. Engelman has since brought a civil suit against the teacher and the school.
Prof. Marci Hamilton, who teaches at the Yeshiva University School of Law and is an expert in sexual abuse by religious leaders, said Mr. Hikind’s refusal to turn over the names of alleged predators, if not his entire case file, was “outrageous.”
She said that Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, “should already have convened a grand jury” to investigate.
Jerry Schmetterer, Mr. Hynes’s spokesman, said, “If someone has information about a sex crime, he or she should bring that information to our sex crimes unit, and we will investigate what needs to be investigated.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 20, 2008 An article in some editions on Thursday about a subpoena served on Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn, who says he collected more than 1,000 complaints and accusations after inviting listeners to his radio show to comment on child sexual abuse among Orthodox Jews, misstated the academic position of Marci Hamilton, an expert on the sexual abuse of children by religious leaders. She is on the faculty at Yeshiva University School of Law; she is not a visiting professor
April 19, 2008
A 61-year-old Connecticut man has been charged with sexual abuse after following three children into two public bathrooms in Brooklyn on Thursday and molesting them, the police said on Friday.
The man, Michael Martin, of Main Street in Stamford, followed an 8-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother into a public restroom at Gravesend Park in Borough Park, near 18th Avenue and 57th street, about 2:30 p.m., the police said. He sexually assaulted the children there, then fled, the authorities said.
Two hours later, he struck again less than a mile away, the police said, this time in the DiGilio Playground near Avenue F and McDonald Avenue. In this encounter, the victim, an 8-year-old girl, said Mr. Martin followed her into a public bathroom and sexually attacked her. When she cried, her attacker fled, she said.
Mr. Martin was arrested a short time later near the playground. He was charged with multiple counts of endangering the welfare of a child, sexual abuse and criminal sex act after his victims picked him out of a lineup, the police said.
The three children were Detectives took the unprecedented step today of issuing pictures of a potential witness in a child sex abuse inquiry.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) launched its first public appeal to find a man who may be able to help police with an ongoing investigation. He was captured on camera in an Asda store in the north of England, but police believe he could be anywhere in the country.
Footage of the witness, who is aged between 30 and 40, up to 6ft tall and stocky with receding hair, will be broadcast on BBC1’s Crimewatch programme tonight.
Ceop officers do not know who the man is, but they hope that he or someone who recognises him will contact them after seeing the pictures.
Related news Links
Unanswered questions about ‘man of peace’
'Forced marriage’ doctor heads home
Four plead guilty to cruise ship cocaine smuggling
NEWS VII : Police release picture of 'child abuse witness'
source : times online December 15, 2008
Detective Constable John Hodge, from Ceop’s operations faculty, said: “We are asking the public to come forward and help us identify this man.
“As a key witness, we believe he may have vital information that could help us identify a child at risk. He may not even realise that he possesses information that could help, so it is vital we trace him.”
Ceop, launched in April 2006 as the UK’s national police agency to tackle child sexual abuse, stressed that the man was only sought as a witness and warned against vigilante action. taken to hospitals, where they were in stable condition on Friday, the authorities said.
NEWS VII : Detectives took the unprecedented step today of issuing pictures of a potential witness in a child sex abuse inquiry.
source : time online December 15, 2008
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) launched its first public appeal to find a man who may be able to help police with an ongoing investigation. He was captured on camera in an Asda store in the north of England, but police believe he could be anywhere in the country.
Footage of the witness, who is aged between 30 and 40, up to 6ft tall and stocky with receding hair, will be broadcast on BBC1’s Crimewatch programme tonight.
Ceop officers do not know who the man is, but they hope that he or someone who recognises him will contact them after seeing the pictures.
Detective Constable John Hodge, from Ceop’s operations faculty, said: “We are asking the public to come forward and help us identify this man.
“As a key witness, we believe he may have vital information that could help us identify a child at risk. He may not even realise that he possesses information that could help, so it is vital we trace him.”
Ceop, launched in April 2006 as the UK’s national police agency to tackle child sexual abuse, stressed that the man was only sought as a witness and warned against vigilante action.
Footage of the witness, who is aged between 30 and 40, up to 6ft tall and stocky with receding hair, will be broadcast on BBC1’s Crimewatch programme tonight.
Ceop officers do not know who the man is, but they hope that he or someone who recognises him will contact them after seeing the pictures.
Detective Constable John Hodge, from Ceop’s operations faculty, said: “We are asking the public to come forward and help us identify this man.
“As a key witness, we believe he may have vital information that could help us identify a child at risk. He may not even realise that he possesses information that could help, so it is vital we trace him.”
Ceop, launched in April 2006 as the UK’s national police agency to tackle child sexual abuse, stressed that the man was only sought as a witness and warned against vigilante action.
Related news Links
Unanswered questions about ‘man of peace’
'Forced marriage’ doctor heads home
Four plead guilty to cruise ship cocaine smuggling
.jpg)
.png)
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar