‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics

- ‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
- Horrific ordeal of ‘Girl D’ who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
- We the People
- Plan to stop child sex tourism

‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics

The basement where the women were held had chains coming from the wall, and dog leashes attached to the ceiling, according to police sources
Description comes as lawyers for Castro announce that he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges
The women were restrained with them and duct tape in ‘stress positions’ for long periods that left them with bed sores and other injuries
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were in worse condition than Amanda Berry with the source saying: ‘There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda
Abductor would duct tape the women over all parts of their faces, even their eyes, only leaving an opening so they could breathe
Former daughter-in-law Monica Stephens says Castro always gave her ‘the heebie-jeebies’
The women, especially DeJesus and Knight, were now exhibiting signs of malnutrition as Ariel Castro used food as a means to torment them

By Reuters Reporter
15 May 2013

Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, two of the women imprisoned in a Cleveland house in conditions described as similar to a prisoner of war camp, have suffered from severe malnutrition.

The women will require long-term therapy for injuries such as hearing loss and joint and muscle damage, two sources with direct knowledge said.

The harrowing details come as Castro’s attorneys claim he’s not the ‘monster’ depicted in news reports – and he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges….

Castro appeared to treat Berry – his ‘favorite’ – better than the other two, the sources said.

‘There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda,’ said one of the sources, referring to the condition of DeJesus and Knight.

Knight told investigators she fell pregnant five times, but lost the baby each time. She said that Castro starved and repeatedly punched her in the stomach to force her to miscarry.

Police sources told the National Enquirer that Castro had no interest in having children with Knight, because she was only 4-foot-7 and believed her to be ‘mentally disabled.’

The magazine’s source added that he was grooming his 6-year-old daughter with Amanda, Joselyn, as another sex slave because the other captives ‘were getting to old for him.’….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324731/It-like-prisoners-war-Cleveland-women-suffer-injuries-severe-malnutrition-including-hearing-loss-muscle-damage.html

Horrific ordeal of ‘Girl D’ who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour

Mohammed Karrar plied girl with drink and drugs and raped her
She then became his ‘property’ and a sex slave
Was loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour

By Arthur Martin   14 May 2013

The ordeal for one of the victims began after she became desperate for love and attention because she was forced to care for her sick parents.

So when Mohammed Karrar entered her life, bought her perfume and treated her like an adult, she believed in him. But the ‘nicey-nicey honeymoon period,’ as she described it, would last barely a year.

After grooming her, Karrar made sure she was ‘out of it’ on drink and drugs before raping her on his sofa.

From that moment she became his ‘property’ and a sex slave loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour.

Over five years she was repeatedly attacked in what she described as ‘torture sex’. Injected with heroin, she was sold to groups of Asian men who violently gang-raped her in bedsits and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere.

The victim identified as Girl D for legal reasons, frequently broke down in tears giving evidence via videolink as she described her horrific ordeal….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324621/Horrific-ordeal-Girl-D-raped-injected-heroin-branded-sold-sex-600-hour.html

We the People    James Haven  Honorary Senior Advisor on Global Issues at Harvard; Founder, CoreCause Foundation 05/10/2013

….66% percent of adults in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.

80% of young adults who suffered child abuse or neglect, met criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder by age 21, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

42% percent of children who are molested are suicidal by their teens.

Abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult.

Sentencing in crimes against children typically carries 25 percent of the sentencing if the same crime was committed against an adult.

Child abuse and neglect in America is growing at a very high rate. And the most vulnerable is 0-6 in age. Thousands are being exploited and millions are in poverty and living on our streets across the nation.

124 billion is the minimum annual cost to the U.S. directly related to child abuse… Healthcare for mental illnesses and substance abuse… Child welfare and protection… Law enforcement and court systems to handle juvenile and adult criminal cases.

Those are very sobering statistics. But they also prove the most important statistic of all. That as Fredrick Douglas once said, “It is easier to build strong children than it is to fix broken men.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-haven/we-the-people_4_b_3254727.html

Plan to stop child sex tourism
May 15 2013 By BARBARA COLE

Durban – South African hotels are signing up to help protect children from sex tourism and are on the lookout for suspicious guests who try to check in with underage companions.

South Africa has the right combination of factors, such as poverty and violence against women, which put children at risk of exploitation.

In a move to stop South Africa becoming a child-sex tourism or trafficking destination, there were certain factors that created an environment for the exploitation of children, said Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, a non-profit organisation and the local representative of the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct. The code is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Some of these realities are explained as follows: “The inflow of tourists, the ease with which people can cross (the) borders, societal beliefs that tolerate violence against women, high levels of poverty, and growing inequality since 1994 suggest that tens of thousands of children are at risk of sexual and other forms of exploitation.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/plan-to-stop-child-sex-tourism-1.1516301

Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims, Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal, Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia

- Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims
- Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal: Our view
- Abia House tasks security agencies on kidnapping, child trafficking
- Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia

Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims

Victims of clerical sex abuse have reacted furiously to Pope Benedict’s claim yesterday that paedophilia wasn’t considered an “absolute evil” as recently as the 1970s.

In his traditional Christmas address yesterday to cardinals and officials working in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI also claimed that child pornography was increasingly considered “normal” by society.

“In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,” the Pope said….

The Pope said abuse revelations in 2010 reached “an unimaginable dimension” which brought “humiliation” on the Church.

Asking how abuse exploded within the Church, the Pontiff called on senior clerics “to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred” and to help victims heal through a better presentation of the Christian message.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/popes-child-porn-normal-claim-sparks-outrage-among-victims-28577483.html

Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal: Our view
The Editorial Board March 5, 2013
Cardinals tied to coverup should not take part.

In Rome, where 115 cardinals are gathering to elect a new pope, the conclave will include these luminaries:

Cardinal Roger Mahony, former archbishop of Los Angeles, who in the 1980s plotted with an adviser to conceal child molesting priests from law enforcement.
Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of Ireland’s church, who failed in the 1970s to follow up on incriminating evidence against a priest, who went on to become a notorious serial molester.
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the former head of the Belgian church, who once advised an adult victim of 13 years of childhood abuse against making “a lot of noise” about it because his molester, a bishop, was about to retire.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, former head of the Philadelphia archdiocese, where it took two grand juries issuing scathing reports of abuse before the cardinal saw fit in 2011 to suspend 21 priests accused of molesting children.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/03/pope-conclave-child-abuse-scandal/1961031/

Abia House tasks security agencies on kidnapping, child trafficking
February 26, 2013

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA —  ABIA State House of Assembly has called on security agencies and other relevant authorities to strictly enforce the law against kidnapping, child trafficking, among others to check the rising cases of child trafficking in some parts of the state.

There are reports of increasing cases of kidnapping of children and child trafficking among related crimes in the state especially in Abia South.

Reports of missing children and in some cases, some of them are found dead with vital body parts removed.

Last week, while giving five additional new Hillux Pick-up vans to the Commander of 14 Brigade, Ohafia, Brigadier General Abubakar, Governor Theodore Orji tasked him to tackle head-on the rising problem of child trafficking.

The governor lamented that some of the children have had the misfortune of being killed for  ritual purposes among others….

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/abia-house-tasks-security-agencies-on-kidnapping-child-trafficking/

Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia
Friday, 08 February 2013
The Police Command in Abia State has alerted the public on the resurgence of kidnapping of new born babies and children by unknown gunmen in the state.

The command’s acting spokesman, Mr Jonathan Amaechi, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Wednesday.

Amaechi said that the police was currently investigating cases of abduction of children in different parts of the state.

“Recent intelligence reports showed the presence of hoodlums that specialise in stealing new born babies and children.

“Such victims are either on errand in markets, going to or returning from school or church,” he said.

Amaechi said that the criminals operated in buses, tricycles, motorcycles, posh cars and fanciful jeeps….

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/4831-police-warn-on-kidnap-of-new-born-babies-children-in-abia

Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father, Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep

“He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year….”

NBC exclusive: Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News

Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son Matt told police he was sexually molested by his father for years — and once fled in fear from the Sandusky home — during a secret police interview that took place in the middle of his father’s trial for child sex-abuse, according to a copy of the tape obtained by NBC News….

NBC News has exclusively obtained the 29-minute audiotape, which was recorded by police detectives on June 15, four days after the Jerry Sandusky trial began. At the time, the detectives were preparing Sandusky’s son to testify as a surprise prosecution witness at his father’s trial.

For years, Matt Sandusky had publicly stood by his father and even showed up on the first day of the trial, sitting with the rest of the Sandusky family. But after listening to the first day of testimony from a young man known in court documents as “Victim 4,” Matt Sandusky contacted police and volunteered to testify on behalf of the prosecution. The prosecutors’ plan was to use Matt Sandusky as a rebuttal witness if Jerry Sandusky took the stand in his own defense.

It turned out to be a crucial turning point in the Sandusky trial. When Jerry Sandusky learned that his own adopted son was prepared to testify against him, it was a “complete shock,” and it played a big role in his decision not to take the witness stand, according to one of his lawyers, Karl Rominger….

In his interview with police, Matt Sandusky was asked directly why he decided to change his previous denials of abuse and cooperate with police.

“I came forward, I mean, for different reasons,” he said. “But I mean for my family you know so that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is. And just to right the wrong, honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying.”….http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/26/12417694-nbc-exclusive-matt-sandusky-details-alleged-sex-abuse-by-his-father

Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep
Lily Kuo Reuters June 25, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Seventy-nine teenagers held against their will and forced into prostitution were rescued at hotels, truck stops and storefronts in a three-day sweep of sex-trafficking rings across the United States, law enforcement officials said on Monday.

The FBI said 104 alleged pimps were arrested during sting operations in 57 U.S. cities including Atlanta, Sacramento, and Toledo, Ohio. The operation lasted between Thursday and Saturday and involved state and local authorities as well as the FBI….

One of the minors recovered in the sweep reported being involved in prostitution from the age of 11, according to Kevin Perkins, acting executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.

He said the cases were not “one-off” incidents, but evidence of “criminal enterprises” that lure minors in, often through social media, hold them against their will through threats to them or their families, and then traffic them through different U.S. cities.

Child prostitution is “a problem that happens in all kinds of American cities and it happens to American kids,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children….

He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year but said assessments were hampered due to under-reporting and other data complications….

To date about 2,200 children have been rescued in the program, the FBI said, adding that its figures do not take into account children recovered by other state and local investigations.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-prostitution-childbre85o19h-20120625,0,1822308.story

New task force targets traffickers who force children into the sex trade

New task force targets traffickers who force children into the sex trade

FBI, Chicago police join forces to go after pimps

By Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune reporter

May 14, 2012

Inside the Harrison Police District station, the officers sat in a semicircle to be briefed about the shift ahead in one of Chicago’s most beleaguered areas.

But on this recent day, the topic was not the shootings and murders on these West Side streets, but a crime often pushed far back into the shadows — the thousands of young girls and women who are prostituted, pushed into the violence of Chicago’s sex trade.

FBI Special Agent Jonathan Williamson and Chicago police Sgt. Traci Walker were there to announce a new joint effort by the FBI and Chicago police to target child traffickers in the city….

The clandestine nature of sex trafficking makes it difficult to know exactly how many young women and girls work in prostitution, said DePaul College of Law researcher Jody Raphael. She has estimated that in Chicago as many as 25,000 are involved in the commercial sex trade, including exotic dancers.

Many who work the street or are sold on the Internet started out in the business in their teens. A 2008 survey of Chicago women working in prostitution who were 25 or younger and under the control of a pimp found that they began at 16 on average.

The younger the girl or woman, Raphael believes, the more likely it is she has a pimp or trafficker, in part because she is often recruited first into a romantic relationship.

Over the past decade, advocates have pushed law enforcement to re-examine how it views the crime of prostitution — especially for the young adults caught in the trade. Today, investigators are going after traffickers on one hand while extending social services to women working in prostitution. Chicago police, Cook County and federal authorities meet monthly to target offenders for the toughest punishment.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-human-trafficking-20120514,0,7415972.story

An uneasy Backpage alliance – Anti-trafficking activists

An uneasy Backpage alliance
Anti-trafficking activists may turn to the site for tips, but some say we’re ultimately better without it
By Tracy Clark-Flory
Saturday, May 12, 2012

In the fight against child sex trafficking, Backpage.com is seen as both friend and foe. The online classified site screens ads, reports thousands of potential cases of exploitation, assists in police investigations and acts as a resource for those searching for trafficked kids. But even some activists who use the site for good see greater benefit in the site shutting down its adult section — a move called for recently in Senate and House resolutions. This uneasy alliance reveals the complexities of the problem at hand.

In the past 16 months — the length of time Backpage has been screening and reporting potential trafficking ads — the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received nearly 5,000 tips from the site. The center’s president, Ernie Allen, tells me, “There’s no question they have undertaken the screening and reporting process very aggressively.” Ultimately, though, the question is whether it’s enough.

After working with Craigslist in a similar fashion for almost two years, he says, “What we basically concluded was that it wasn’t working. The price you pay to allow this kind of activity to proliferate was too great.” Eventually, Craigslist shuttered its adult section and, Allen says, “the total volume of these ads dropped dramatically, and most of that has not come back.”

If Backpage were to do the same thing, “it would dramatically reduce the scale and scope of the problem,” he says. “Some of it would relocate, but I don’t think it would proliferate at the same level.” Allen says that NCMEC doesn’t make “public pronouncements about the policy stuff,” but his message is clear: Shuttering Backpage’s adult section would make things better — but, short of that, NCMEC is devoted to helping the site reduce harm…. http://www.salon.com/2012/05/13/an_uneasy_backpage_alliance/singleton/