Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters’ Friends, Emily Castro Says, – Neighbor Reported Screams in Past, Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution

- Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters’ Friends, Emily Castro Says
- Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past
- Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution

Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Preyed on His Daughters’ Friends, Emily Castro Says  By RUSSELL GOLDMAN   May 16, 2013

Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping three women and keeping them imprisoned in his home for a decade, stalked the neighborhood where his daughters lived and preyed on the girls’ friends, his daughter says.

Two of his alleged victims, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, went to school with Castro’s two daughters and the four girls all knew each other, his daughter Emily told a private investigator in a recorded jailhouse interview obtained by ABC News.

“It couldn’t be coincidence,” Emily Castro told private eye Chris Giannini of her father’s decision to allegedly target two girls his daughter’s knew.

READ: Cleveland Kidnap Suspect Comforted Victim’s Mom Last Year

Emily Castro is serving a 25 year prison sentence for stabbing her own infant daughter in 2011.

At the time of her 2003 abduction, Berry lived just a few houses down the block from the home in which Castro’s daughters lived with their mother and stepfather. And Emily’s sister Arlene was the last person to see DeJesus before she disappeared.

Berry, now 26, and Emily, now 25, attended school together. “I went to Wilbur Wright (Middle School) with her,” Emily Castro told Giannini.

She said she was bothered that her father allegedly “used” her and her sister to look for victims on their street where they lived and played….

She said her father was routinely abusive of her mother Grimilda Figueroa, even beating her once while her mother was recovering from brain surgery. During the incident Emily Castro said she jumped on her father’s back stabbing him with a pencil in an effort to get him to stop.

Ariel Castro was arrested following that incident, but the charges were later dropped….
http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-kidnapper-ariel-castro-preyed-daughters-friends-emily/story?id=19195556

Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past 05/07/2013
Juan Perez discusses his neighbor Ariel Castro, who was arrested in the abduction of three women.

Transcript for Castro Neighbor Reported Screams in Past

We’re joined by another neighbor, juan perez. Thank you for joining us this morning. I know you live just two houses away from ariel castro.

Before you saw the police pull up last night, had you had any sense that something terribly wrong was happening inside that house? No, I had no idea.

He was loving to all the kids in the neighborhood. He was nice to me since I was 5 years old. Never had any kind of suspicions….

What can you tell us what happened there? Well, my sister — my mother had heard the screaming and then I heard it too. My sister then reported it.

But we didn’t know which direction it was coming from. We didn’t know seriously if it was from the right side or the left side because we were inside the house, but there’s a difference between — there is a difference between a woman that’s, you know, playing around and joking around screaming and there’s another kind of scream that makes you want to report. And my sister reported it….
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/missing-cleveland-girls-found-alive-castro-neighbor-reported-19123728

Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution
Part 2 of 2008 “Primetime”: Two Ohio cousins kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery.
05/10/2013

Transcript for Teen Girls Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution

Two teenage cousin. — who vanished off the streets of Toledo have now been missing for 48 hours. I think it — price — something’s happened.

Police think the girls ages fourteen and fifteen have probably run away in the most likely come home soon. — Kimberly his mother Stephanie refuses to just sit and wait….

All the while the girls are being held captive for us towns and — – less than six miles away by a pimp and two prostitutes.

….The FBI thinks it’s the bigger number a 100000. Minors in America. Forced to trade sex for money.
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/teen-girls-held-captive-forced-prostitution-19153038

Ariel Castro to cops: ‘I’m coldblooded’, Ex-Relatives Say Ohio Accused Kidnapper, Rapist Is A ‘Monster’, NSW priest facing 124 child sex charges

- Ariel Castro to cops: ‘I’m coldblooded’
- Ariel Castro’s Ex-Relatives Say Ohio Accused Kidnapper, Rapist Is A ‘Monster’
- Long before he was charged, Ariel Castro was accuser in sexual assault case
- Sex assault survivors, former gymnasts, reunite for justice
- NSW priest facing 124 child sex charges

Ariel Castro to cops: ‘I’m coldblooded’
DNA test shows Castro is the father of one of the victim’s 6-year-old daughter
Tom Meyer, WKYC-TV May 10, 2013

CLEVELAND — During interrogation with police, Ariel Castro, the man charged with kidnapping and raping three women over roughly 10 years, referred to himself as “coldblooded,” addicted to sex and unable to control his impulses, WKYC Channel 3 News has learned.

With exacting detail, Castro recalled the abductions of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, explaining how he met each victim and even what he was wearing that day, according to sources….

The 52-year-old unemployed school bus driver was “cocky” during the interview, showing remorse only over his capture, Channel 3 News was told.

Castro, who was arrested on Monday after Berry escaped from Castro’s house with the help of neighbors and called police, was ordered held on $8 million bond Thursday by a Cleveland Municipal Court judge.

Meanwhile, in a suicide note discovered in his house by police, Castro blamed the girls for their abductions, writing that they were the ones who got into his car in the first place, the sources said. Castro did write that he wanted to give his money and possessions to the women if he was caught, the sources said.

The note appears to have been written in 2004, about the time police were investigating him on an apparently unrelated matter involving a child left on his school bus. In the note, he also mentioned his sex addiction, as well as having previously endured physical abuse as a child.

None of the abductions seemed planned, the sources said. Rather, they appeared to be crimes of opportunity….
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/10/ariel-castro-cleveland-abduction-cold-blood-kidnap/2149831/

Ariel Castro’s Ex-Relatives Say Ohio Accused Kidnapper, Rapist Is A ‘Monster’
AP  By MEGHAN BARR 05/10/2013
CLEVELAND — The man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his home terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors in the years before their relationship disintegrated, her relatives say.

Several relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Ariel Castro years ago and died last year after a long illness, painted a nightmarish portrait of Castro’s family life as authorities made public horrifying details of the abuse endured by the imprisoned women.

In interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday, the relatives described Castro as a “monster” who abused his wife and locked his family inside their own home. Their views were at odds with those of some of Castro’s family and a neighbor, who knew the former school bus driver only as a happy and respectful man.

Figueroa’s relatives said Castro savagely beat her, pushing her down a flight of stairs, breaking her nose and dislocating her shoulder, among other injuries. Her sister, Elida Caraballo, said Castro once shoved Figueroa into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head.

“He told her, `You stay there until I tell you to get out,’” said Caraballo, who cried as she recounted her late sister’s torment. “That’s when I got scared and I ran downstairs to get my parents.”

Castro, to frighten his wife, kept a mannequin wearing a dark wig propped up against a wall and sometimes drove around the neighborhood with it, relatives said.

“He threatened me lots of times with it,” said Angel Caraballo, Castro’s nephew, who used to play with his cousins at the house where the kidnapped women were found. “He would say, `Act up again, you’ll be in that back room with the mannequin.’”….

Some relatives of Castro have said they were shocked by the allegations against him. An uncle, Julio Castro, said it’s been difficult news to absorb.

“Of course we have taken it hard,” he said. “We only knew one Ariel, my sweet nephew. He was a sweet, happy person, a musician. We didn’t have the slightest idea of the second person in him.”….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/ariel-castro-monster_n_3251920.html

Long before he was charged, Ariel Castro was accuser in sexual assault case
Fernando Colon was accused by Ariel Castro in 2004 of sexually assaulting the latter’s daughters, Emily and Arlene, who also were his stepdaughters. He was initially charged with 28 counts, including rape and kidnapping, but was found guilty of five lesser offenses.  By Mark Schone  NBC News investigative editor

Nearly a decade before being charged with kidnapping, raping and torturing three Cleveland women, Ariel Castro was himself the accuser in a sexual assault case involving his daughters. The accusations, which resulted in the conviction of his ex-wife’s second husband, now offer a new window into Castro’s tangled family relationships.

The case against Fernando Colon also raises questions about whether FBI agents squandered an opportunity to question Castro about the disappearance of two of the women in the months after their abductions.

Castro made the accusations against Colon, 39, in July 2004, shortly after 14-year-old Georgina “Gina” DeJesus vanished on her way home from the west Cleveland middle school she attended.

Colon, the husband of Ariel Castro’s ex-common-law wife, Grimilda “Nilda” Figueroa, says he told two FBI agents nine years ago to investigate Castro in connection with the disappearances of Amanda Berry and DeJesus, but that the agents seemed uninterested in his tip….
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/09/18150055-long-before-he-was-charged-ariel-castro-was-accuser-in-sexual-assault-case

Sex assault survivors, former gymnasts, reunite for justice
Catholic Church and others oppose change that would let them sue
May 07, 2013 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) ….

But with the smiles expressed by six former Olympic-hopeful gymnasts were also tears.
“I was raped,” said Charmaine Carnes, a former gymnast who shared the same coach as the other women.

One by one, this reunited group shared a painful past.
“The rape that was happening was rampant. It was nonstop,” added Monica Lenches, another teammate.

The group of six met in Sacramento on Tuesday to lobby for a proposed change in the statute of limitations civil law involving past victims of child sexual abuse.

“This man was extremely, extremely good at controlling us and manipulating us into believing this is what we wanted,” said Anne Malver, another teammate.

Current California civil law limits the ability of child sex-abuse victims to seek damages — an action must be filed by the plaintiff’s 26th birthday, or within three years of the date that the plaintiff reasonably discovers the psychological trauma he/she is suffering (comes) from consequences of sexual abuse, read a news release from the sponsors of SB 131….

However, the California Catholic Conference, as well as a list of other private organizations, oppose the bill because it would virtually exempt all public employees and public schools from the proposed change in statute of limitations, said Kevin Eckery, a spokesperson for the Catholic Church….
http://www.kcra.com/news/sex-assault-survivors-former-gymnasts-reunite-for-justice/-/11797728/20052016/-/sjblpt/-/index.html

NSW priest facing 124 child sex charges AAP May 8, 2013
A former Catholic priest is accused of 124 child sex offences after scores of additional charges were laid against him.

The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court, in the NSW New England region, on Wednesday, when prosecutors laid 64 fresh charges….

Police allege the offences relate to alleged assaults on a boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, that took place in the early 1980s at Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/newshome/17067429/nsw-priest-facing-124-child-sex-charges/

Ariel Castro, Cleveland Kidnappings – History of Abuse, Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults

- Hints of a dark side in Cleveland abduction suspect’s life
- In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
- Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said
- Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect Ariel Castro had ‘no flaw,’ neighbor says
- Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults

Hints of a dark side in Cleveland abduction suspect’s life
By Daniel Trotta CLEVELAND  Wed May 8, 2013

(Reuters) – In hindsight, there were signs of a darker side to Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man suspected of abducting three girls and holding them captive for around a decade.

Divorced years ago and never seen in the company of women, Castro suddenly started showing up in the largely Latino, working-class neighborhood with a 6-year-old girl. It was his girlfriend’s child, he told neighbors.

Castro, 52, was believed to have lived alone, yet on his lunch break would bring home enough bags of fast food and beverages for several people.

He was a school bus driver given mostly “excellent” marks on his performance appraisals, but was repeatedly disciplined, including for one incident when he was accused of calling a young student a “bitch” and leaving the child alone on a bus. These incidents eventually caught up with him, and he was fired last November….

“Ariel was in my garage probably five or six years ago. We were recording a song, an idea we had – a little hard rock with some Latin,” said Joe Popow, 45, a father of six who said he has known the Castro brothers since childhood.

“And – you’re going to laugh – he said he was in the CIA. And I don’t know if he was joking or not, but it’s the way he said it, how serious he said it. I didn’t know what he was capable of. That just put me on defense, and I just started stepping away,” Popow said….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-usa-missing-ohio-suspect-idUSBRE94704Z20130508

In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
CBS News  May 9, 2013

A Cleveland man allegedly confessed years ago in writing to taking the three women he’s accused of raping and holding captive and said that he was abused as a child and raped by an uncle, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.

According to a law enforcement source, Ariel Castro apparently contemplated committing suicide in the lengthy, handwritten note discovered in his house from which the women – Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32 – escaped Monday.

According to the source, Castro wrote about his whole life, saying that he was abused by his parents as a child and that he was raped by an uncle.

Castro also provided details about taking each of his alleged victims, who went missing in their teens and early 20s. The note was discovered by FBI agents searching his house this week.

CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports Castro called himself a “sexual predator” and blamed the women for their own kidnappings, but he asks for whatever money he has to be donated to his victims after his death.

Investigators inferred from the 2004-dated note that Castro was going to commit suicide. He asked in the note that all of his money be provided to each of his victims….
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57583660/in-note-ariel-castro-claimed-he-was-sexually-abused-as-a-child/

Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said
By Alana Semuels and Ari Bloomekatz
May 8, 2013

CLEVELAND — One of the men suspected of imprisoning and abusing three recently freed young women was earlier accused of a series of violent acts against the mother of four of his children and was ordered to complete domestic violence and substance abuse counseling.

Grimilda Figueroa, who in various court documents filed in 2005 said she had four children with Ariel Castro, told authorities that Castro broke her nose twice, knocked out her tooth and threatened to kill her and her daughters several times.

“Ariel Castro and I were never married. During our relationship, he was very abusive,” Figueroa said, according to an affidavit filed in Cuyahoga County in 2005.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ohio-women-cleveland-suspect-abuse-20130508,0,5534556.story

Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect Ariel Castro had ‘no flaw,’ neighbor says
By Michael Muskal and Alana Semuels
May 7, 2013
CLEVELAND – Ariel Castro, the former school bus driver who is a suspect in the kidnapping of three women who escaped years of incarceration, was a friendly man who befriended area children and gave no hint of what was happening behind the locked doors of his Seymour Avenue house, his neighbors say.

“If a kid didn’t have a father, they would look up to him. There was no flaw,” said Juan Perez, 27, who lives two doors down from the house from where the three abducted women escaped on Monday. “I guess he had a great mask to cover a monster.”

Castro was known for giving children rides in his four-wheeler. He attended neighborhood parties and would have a beer….

Hector Lugo, 31, who lives on the same street, said he still can’t believe the friendly guy who would give his nieces rides was allegedly the perpetrator behind kidnappings that have baffled this city for a decade.

“He used to drive my nieces on his four-wheeler. That’s what threw me off,” Lugo said. “They always thought of him as a cool person — a cool person to kick it with. He was an outgoing person, he never messed with anyone. He was always cool.”….
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cleveland-kidnappings-ariel-castro-20130507,0,325028.story

Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults; Obama vows crackdown
By DAVID S. CLOUD Tribune Washington Bureau  Tuesday, May. 7, 2013

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon estimated that 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted in unreported incidents last year – 35 percent more than in 2010 – a severe trend that senior officials warned could threaten recruiting and retention of women in uniform….

police in Arlington, Va., arrested the chief of the Air Force sexual-assault prevention branch for allegedly groping a woman outside a bar near the Pentagon, the latest sexual scandal to hit the headlines. Officials said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was removed from his post after the arrest.

….An investigation that began in 2011 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has turned up 59 cases of sexual assault of military recruits by drill instructors….
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/07/5402972/pentagon-estimates-26000-sexual.html

Ariel Castro Allegedly Kept Sexually Abused Kidnap Victims In ‘Chains And Ropes’, Eric Toth, accused of child pornography, evaded authorities for 5 years

Ariel Castro Allegedly Kept Sexually Abused Kidnap Victims In ‘Chains And Ropes’
05/08/2013

The three kidnapped women who endured a decade inside a rundown Cleveland home were bound by ropes and chains and rarely let outside, according to Cleveland’s police chief.

“We have confirmation that they were bound and there was chains and ropes in the home,” Police Chief Michael McGrath said Wednesday morning on the “Today” show. He also said they were “very rarely” permitted in suspect Ariel Castro’s backyard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/ariel-castro-had-ropes-an_n_3237412.html

Ohio man charged with kidnapping, rape By Meghan Barr and Thomas J. Sheeran Associated Press  May 08, 2013

CLEVELAND (AP) — Kidnapping and rape charges were filed Wednesday against a man arrested after three women missing for about a decade were found alive at his home.

Homeowner Ariel Castro was charged while his brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro, were held but faced no immediate charges.

The men were in custody and couldn’t be reached for comment. Their brother-in-law has said the family is ‘‘shocked’’ after hearing about the women at the home.
The three women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages, a city councilman briefed on the case said Wednesday.

Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. Police said they were apparently bound with ropes and chains.

The horrific allegations came out as police built a case.

‘‘We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don’t know,’’ Cummins said. He added: ‘‘It sounds pretty gruesome.’’….

A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children’s mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.

The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.

In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don’t detail the allegations….
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/05/08/ohio-man-charged-with-kidnapping-rape/q3P6S4KfsEqM7Wx9T69ezO/story.html

Eric Toth, accused of child pornography, evaded authorities for 5 years
By Justin Jouvenal, Published: May 5

Eric Toth was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and had been featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” but last fall, one of the most notorious fugitives in America may have been set to take a stage.

He appeared to be booked to speak at a Las Vegas tech conference.

Colleagues knew the speaker under a different name as an Austin-based tech writer and computer technician they described as brilliant and friendly. But they now suspect that he is the same man who is accused of filming a sex act with a child while he was a teacher at the District’s exclusive Beauvoir school in 2007 or 2008.

They realized the night before the October speech that the tech writer had vanished. Calls and e-mails went unreturned. His Facebook page went dormant. They never saw him again.

His whereabouts remained a mystery until Toth, 31, was arrested in Nicaragua in April. Three people who saw arrest photos of the lanky man with long brown hair said he was the same person they knew from Austin. FBI officials declined to confirm their account. Toth’s attorney did not return a call for comment.

“My reaction was shock,” said Joel Stewart, one of the man’s former bosses at a computer repair store. “This was not an unlikable person. I think a lot of us came to think of him as something of a friend.”

During Toth’s five years on the run, the pattern played out again and again as the man the FBI says is an expert in social engineering and computers was able to invent fresh personas, allegedly obtain fraudulent documents and win the trust of unsuspecting people. When it appeared that he might be discovered, he would simply melt away.

All the while, the man, who authorities warned would not stop molesting children until he was caught, had contact with kids. The Washington Post has been able to reconstruct his time in hiding from the District to the Southwest to Latin America.

“It’s a case study in you never know who you are standing next to,” said Chris Bangs, who worked with the tech writer….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/eric-toth-accused-of-child-pornography-evaded-authorities-for-5-years/2013/05/05/02813d9a-ae8f-11e2-a986-eec837b1888b_story.html

Wales child abuse: Report finds evidence of 140 allegations – Operation Pallial, A Child Without Dreams, Teen dies after being ‘beaten’ at camp that ‘makes men out of boys’, Why Christie Blatchford Is Wrong About My Daughter Rehtaeh

Wales child abuse: Report finds evidence of 140 allegations   29 April 2013
An independent investigation examining claims of historical child abuse at children’s homes in north Wales has found “significant evidence of systemic and serious sexual and physical abuse”.

Investigators in Operation Pallial have found evidence of 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. Seventy six new complainants have also come forward and 84 suspected offenders been identified.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22339417

Wales child abuse: Operation Pallial inquiry finds evidence of 140 claims  29 April 2013

An independent investigation examining claims of historical child abuse at children’s homes in north Wales has found “significant evidence of systemic and serious sexual and physical abuse”.

Investigators in Operation Pallial have found evidence of 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. Seventy six new complainants have also come forward.
The claims centre on 18 homes involving offences against boys and girls aged between seven and 19.  A total of 84 suspected offenders have been named – 75 male and nine female. Of these, 16 have been named by more than one complainant….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22306588

A Child Without Dreams
Marian Wright Edelman  President, Children’s Defense Fund 04/26/2013

Every day four children in America are killed by abuse or neglect.  More than 750,000 children are abused or neglected each year.  Even when children survive or after physical scars heal, the emotional damage left by child abuse and neglect can last a lifetime just as the post traumatic stress left by gun violence leaves deep scars in countless children.

Joseph Miles has essentially been on his own since he was 13 years old — the year his mother tried to kill him.  Until then, he would say, he cried for love.  After that he gave up on hoping ever to find it.  Today Joseph is in his forties and has been incarcerated since he was 28.  When he came to prison he couldn’t read or write. It was only recently that Joseph realized he missed out on something crucial besides love in early childhood:  he didn’t even know he should have had dreams until it was much too late….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/a-child-without-dreams_b_3165763.html

Teen dies after being ‘beaten’ at camp that ‘makes men out of boys’
A 15-year-old South African boy died after he was kept chained to his bed, beaten with planks and hoses at a training camp that boasted of “making men” out of its young recruits, a court has heard.   By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg  24 Apr 2013

Raymond Buys, who had learning difficulties, was admitted to hospital and put on life support two months into a three-month training course run by Alex de Koker’s Echo Wild Game Rangers in the bush an hour south of Johannesburg.

He was severely emaciated and dehydrated, had brain damage, a broken arm and bruises, and cigarette burns all over his body. His mother was told that the chances of him surviving were “virtually zero”. He died two weeks later.

“I sent my son on this course to make him a better man, to give him a better future,” Wilma Buys told The Daily Telegraph. “I trusted Alex de Koker with his life.”

Mr de Koker, 49, and employee Michael Erasmus, 20, are currently on trial for charges of murder, child abuse and neglect, along with two cases of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm in relation to Mr Buys’ death.

His death is alleged to have been the third among the mainly Afrikaans children who attended the R22,000 (£1,500) courses run by Mr de Koker, who was reportedly a member of murdered white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche’s Iron Guards movement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/10015978/Teen-dies-after-being-beaten-at-camp-that-makes-men-out-of-boys.html

Why Christie Blatchford Is Wrong About My Daughter Rehtaeh – Father of Rehtaeh Parsons
Glen Canning 04/26/2013

This morning I woke up and read an article in the National Post about Rehtaeh’s case. I’m not upset or mad. A little disappointed maybe. The writer, Christie Blatchford, makes a few statements I would like to address….

“What they had was a complainant whose evidence was all over the map…” Rehtaeh was intoxicated at the time and she has always stated she couldn’t remember much of what happened. What she did say was all over the map and that is exactly what one should expect it to be from a 15-year-old girl who remembers very little but is being swamped at school and online with slut stories about what took place.

“…independent evidence that supported the notion that any sex was consensual, and no evidence that Rehtaeh was so drunk that she couldn’t consent:” The two boys involved in taking and posing for the photograph stated Rehtaeh was throwing up when they had sex with her. That is not called consensual sex. That is called rape. They also stated they had to get her dressed when they were finished. She was passed out. That is the story they told to anyone at Rehtaeh’s school who would listen. That is their account of what happened. There are numerous people who heard that and shared that. No evidence she was so drunk that she couldn’t consent? How drunk does someone have to be? Drunk enough to get sick or drunk enough to not remember?….
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/glen-canning/rehtaeh-parsons-christie-blatchford_b_3164434.html

Entertainer Rolf Harris arrested in fallout from Jimmy Savile sex-abuse case

Entertainer Rolf Harris arrested in fallout from Jimmy Savile sex-abuse case
London — The Associated Press  Friday, Apr. 19 2013

Rolf Harris, a veteran entertainer who has released hit singles and painted the Queen’s portrait, has been arrested as part of a police investigation into sexual abuse allegations stemming from the Jimmy Savile scandal, British media reported Friday.

Major media outlets followed The Sun newspaper in identifying Harris, an Australian-born artist, musician and television host who is a household name in Britain….

Harris, who lives in Berkshire and turned 83 on March 30, has been a British entertainment stalwart for decades. He has had musical hits with “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” – which he once performed with The Beatles – and “Two Little Boys.”

He also has hosted television shows, painted an official portrait of the queen for her 80th birthday in 2006, and performed at the monarch’s Diamond Jubilee concert last year….

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/entertainer-rolf-harris-arrested-in-fallout-from-jimmy-savile-sex-abuse-case/article11400305/

‘Irish Jimmy Savile’ shared bed with pupils – dead celebrity could have abused 100s of children, Domhnall O Lubhlai allegedly sexually abuse dozens of children over decades at Irish summer camps, Suspected pedophile Jimmy Savile boasted of IRA connections for protection, Accused BBC superstar used dark threats to keep his secrets safe while alive

‘Irish Jimmy Savile’ shared bed with pupils – dead celebrity could have abused 100s of children

Domhnall O Lubhlai allegedly sexually abuse dozens of children over decades at Irish summer camps  By IrishCentral Staff Writers, Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A new documentary claims that Domhnall O Lubhlai, who has been branded the “Irish Jimmy Saville”, sexually abused dozens of boys over two decades.

The families of some of his alleged victims estimate that O Lubhlai could have abused up to 100 boys while he was teaching Irish and religion between 1971 and 1991.

O Lubhlai, an Irish language advocate and founder of one of Ireland’s largest Irish colleges Colaiste na bhFiann, allegedly attacked children, telling them there was only one bed available during trips to the Gaeltacht, forcing them to sleep with him….
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-Jimmy-Savile-shared-bed-with-pupils—dead-celebrity-could-have-abused-100s-of-children-203171881.html

‘Irish Jimmy Savile’ shared bed with pupils 
Anne-Marie Walsh – 15 April 2013

A DECEASED RTE presenter – branded Ireland’s Jimmy Savile – allegedly attacked children after telling them there was only one bed available during trips to the Gaeltacht.

A shocking TG4 documentary on the late Domhnall O Lubhlai – known as ‘Donal Lovely’ – has led to claims that he may have abused dozens of boys over two decades.

TG4 investigators said Mr O Lubhlai, who died last month, admitted to gardai that he sexually abused boys but was never brought to trial.

They said alcohol was given to children and when they reached their destination they were told there was only one bed so they would have to share with him…. http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-jimmy-savile-shared-bed-with-pupils-29195838.html

Suspected pedophile Jimmy Savile boasted of IRA connections for protection
Accused BBC superstar used dark threats to keep his secrets safe while alive
By KERRY O’SHEA, IrishCentral Staff Writer Monday, October 22, 2012,

Jimmy Savile, former BBC personality who died last year, and now an accused pedophile, reportedly boasted IRA connections as a form of protection for himself.

The Mirror reports on Savile’s IRA threats and the terrifying warnings he issued to anyone who crossed him.

Savile once told a Sunday Mirror journalist that, “All I have to do is call my friends in the IRA. They’ll have someone waking up in hospital the next morning eating their breakfast through a f***ing straw.

“I know the IRA, men from the IRA, and you don’t need to ask these guys twice. I’m serious. Don’t f***ing think I’m not serious. I can get them done – just with a phone call. That’s all it takes, young man.”….

Despite having died a year ago at the age of 84, authorities believe that some victims have yet or will not come forward out of fear of the threats that Savile had made.

A source told the Mirror that:“He [Savile] boasted of knowing gangsters and men who you wouldn’t want to double cross. It is likely that some had been threatened with the IRA.”

“They [the victims] are still worried about ­coming forward. From all of the evidence ­gathered there is a clear picture ­developing of someone who not only abused vulnerable children but intimidated them and left them fearing for their lives.”

Once a presenter for BBC’s popular music program ‘Top of the Pops,’ Savile was constantly in the public eye. He often visited Ireland under the guise of doing charity work. Having once even been blessed by the Pope, Savile was keen to keep up appearances in order to make his crimes even harder to prove….

Williams-Thomas was informed of Savile’s threats and said that, “The pattern of behaviour which has emerged is that Savile’s victims felt in great fear of him and this has ­prevented many from speaking out then or ever since. Having researched Savile and knowing what I know, their fears were and are very ­genuine. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Suspected-pedophile-Jimmy-Savile-boasted-of-IRA-connections-for-protection-175218501.html

The Ricki Lake Show – Stolen Childhoods, Failure to Protect: Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse, Ritual Crimes in Africa

The Ricki Lake Show – Stolen Childhoods

Victims of child abuse overcome a turbulent childhood.

April 10 – As a Hollywood actress and filmmaker, Angela Shelton was living a charmed life, but also hiding a dark secret.

Starting at age three, Angela endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father and stepmother. In an effort to find healing and regain pieces of her stolen childhood, she set-off cross country to make a rather unusual documentary which became “Finding Angela Shelton.” As her process of healing continued, she teamed up with the Baby Einstein Team to create safety videos for children and wrote Surviving Sexual Violence:  A Guide to Recovery and Empowerment.

http://therickilakeshow.com/episodes-clips/2013/4/Stolen-Childhoods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oqAEEPM39e8

The conference, “Failure to Protect: Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse,” organized by Professor Phebe Haugen, featured experts from diverse institutions and organizations, who explored the successes and failures of churches, schools, residential settings, and social institutions when it comes to dealing with child abuse.  The conference was sponsored by the National Child Protection Training Center and William Mitchell College of Law ….
http://web.wmitchell.edu/news/2013/02/child-abuse-response-conference-draws-experts-from-around-country/

Three busted for suspected ritual murder
April 8, 2013 in Africa, News, Southern Africa

PRETORIA — An Indian couple and an associate were arrested at Eltivillas in Makhado for a suspected ritual murder on Saturday morning.

“Shoppers at an Indian shop in Makhado were shocked when a man stormed into a shop, reached for a freezer where he took out a human arm,” the Limpopo South African Police Services (SAPS) said in a statement.

The police were then notified and the man was arrested on the spot. The man then told the police that he went to the owner of the shop to demand his share of R70 000 and a VW Golf vehicle which he was promised for his role in the commission of the murder.

The 38-year-old man from Thengwe village then led the police to a nearby mountainous area where the mutilated body of a woman was found….

The man also confessed that the woman, who is believed to be a Pakistani resident, was killed on Wednesday last week after she was made to believe that she was going to be prayed for in the mountains,” the SAPS said.
http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/04/08/three-busted-for-suspected-ritual-murder/

Nigeria: Woman Found Dead Without Eyes, Tongue
9 April 2013  Jos — Ritual killers on Monday struck in Jos, killing and removing the eyes and tongue of a young lady in Twanchit Village at Tudun Wada in the Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau.

The police in Jos confirmed the incident but said they had no details yet.

Residents who woke up to the ugly sight, said that the crime took place around 1:00 a.m. and that the victim could not be identified….

A resident, Rev. Joseph Bot of the Plateau Peace Movement International, said that the incident took the residents by surprise.

He said that the nature of the killing indicated that it was for ritual purposes but said that other factors could be involved….
http://allafrica.com/stories/201304090433.html

Girl (9) butchered 18 March 2013
The police, local traditional leader and community structures have called for calmness, following a volatile situation at Tshilungoma outside Thohoyandou the past week.

The situation at the village came about after the discovery of a dead child at a nearby rivulet. Some of her body parts were allegedly missing.

Mutshidzi Ramanyimi (9) went missing on 1 March 2013 while playing with other children at a neighbour’s house. An intensive search involving the police, the local community and the dog unit of the SAPS yielded no results until Friday, when a passerby spotted the body in some bushes….
http://www.limpopomirror.co.za/details/18-03-2013/girl_9_butchered/18072

Police offer R250 000 reward for information on Limpopo ritual murder
Monday 8 April 2013 Shibu Mamokgere

Limpopo police are offering a R250 000 reward to anyone who will come forward with information about the brutal murder of a nine year old girl at Tshiulungoma village outside Thohoyandou three weeks ago. The girl’s mutilated body was found inside a stream in the village a week after she had gone missing….

The family says they are disappointed that no arrests have been made even though the suspects are allegedly known….
http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/d0184d804f304cc2a81fab1e5d06aea0/Police-offer-R250-000-reward-for-information-on-Limpopo-ritual-murder–20130408

Retired Teacher: School Officials Knew About Sexual Abuse, Did Nothing, Parents sue Grain Valley School District after teacher’s abuse

Retired Teacher: School Officials Knew About Sexual Abuse, Did Nothing

Carol Buchanan tried to come forward in the 1990s, but was punished for it

By Cheryl Hurd   Friday, Mar 29, 2013
Carol Buchanan is a retired teacher who taught in the Moraga School District.

Now she may become best known as a whistleblower in the sexual abuse case involving now University of California at Berkeley swim coach, Kristen Cunnane.

“Why didn’t somebody listen? What else could I have done?” Buchanan asked.  “I do feel guilty in hindsight.  If this happened today, there would be no problem.  I would immediately go to (Child Protective Services).”

Buchannan said in the 1990s, students told her that a popular science teacher, Dan Witters, was sexually abusing them, and she complained to administrators

She says the district wasn’t responding to her complaints and, after a 25-year career with the  district, she wasn’t fired — but they strongly suggested that she take a leave of absence.

She did.

Buchanan says she felt vindicated when Cunnane publicly came forward last year. She was a middle school student decades ago, and is now a 30-year-old swim coach at UC Berkeley….

A recent article written about Buchannan’s allegation pointed out hat it failed to find documents to corroborate her story but superintendent Bruce Burns says the district is still looking.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Retired-Teacher-Schools-Officials-Knew-About-Sexual-Abuse-Did-Nothing-200555861.html

Parents sue Grain Valley School District after teacher’s abuse
March 29, 2013, by Michelle Pekarsky

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. —  Attorneys for the parents of a girl allegedly abused by a teacher in the Grain Valley School District filed a lawsuit against the district principal, superintendent, and other school officials, alleging they did not take appropriate action against Matthew Nelson.

Nelson, formerly a teacher at Prairie Branch Elementary School, was arrested in January 2012 and later pleaded guilty to 10 counts of child molestation, five counts of statutory sodomy and one count of attempted child molestation for incidences dating back to August 2008. The crimes involved children under 14 years of age, some under the age of 12.

The lawsuit states the Grain Valley superintendent and assistant superintendent, along with the former and current principal of Prairie Branch Elementary failed to take action against Nelson even though they had knowledge of prior inappropriate contact by Nelson against at least one other student.

In a letter sent home to parents in February 2012, district superintendent Dr. Roy Moss said that someone first filed an anonymous report on teacher Matthew Nelson in 2008, and that the district investigated the allegations with the limited information that they had at the time….
http://fox4kc.com/2013/03/29/parents-sue-grain-valley-school-district-after-teachers-abuse/

Sex Abuse Cases – Marci Hamilton, Capturing the Friedmans – The Victims speak out

Sex abuse cases: ‘I have a personal stake in this’ (Video)
Mar 28, 2013  Jeff Blumenthal     Reporter- Philadelphia Business Journal

Last week, I interviewed Marci Hamilton, a lawyer representing victims in the Sandusky and Philadelphia Archdiocese child abuse scandals, as part of our Inside the Reporters Notebook series….

Hamilton’s pointed response explained what she says is a personal reason for her involvement. She is a professor at Cardozo School of Law and not a litigator by trade. But she said she was incensed on February 10, 2011, when a Philadelphia Grand Jury released a report following an investigation into allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia, and that another priest assigned to St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

It was that report, Hamilton said, that caused her to contact her co-counsel Jeff Anderson, and say she wanted to participate in the litigation.

“I have a personal stake in this,” Hamilton said. “My children are Catholic. My daughter was baptized by a pedophile priest. I have family pictures with a pedophile at one of the most important ceremonies of a child’s life. So I am in it, yes, in Philadelphia. Because its the only way to make this Archdiocese to do the right thing.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/jeff-blumenthal/2013/03/sex-abuse-cases-i-have-a-personal.html

Capturing the Friedmans
At a time when child sexual abuse has been identified as a major public health crisis, the new film “Capturing the Friedmans” takes a skeptical attitude regarding believing children. The 1989, Arnold Friedman and his son Jesse plead guilty to multiple charges of sodomy and sexual abuse against young boys who took computer classes taught in the basement of their home. Jesse now claims he was wrongly convicted.

Our research into the case shows that the director of the film sacrificed truth in favor of creating artistic ambiguity. Clear evidence is omitted and facts are distorted. In addition, the film  relies on  popular but erroneous myths about child sexual abuse. As a result, uncertainty is created about the guilt of two confessed pedophiles — who are recast as victims — while the real  victims — the boys and their families — are portrayed as  untrustworthy.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/1.html

In Their Own Words:  Jesse’s Victims Speak Out
….The Film “Capturing the Friedmans” about a case of child molestation in Great Neck, Long Island has been nominated for an Academy Award.  We are two of the victims of Arnold and Jesse Friedman writing to you, asking you to hear out side of the story, writing on behalf of the other victims and ourselves. We were abused, tortured, and humiliated by Arnold and Jesse Friedman in computer classes in Arnold’s basement.  Many of us have physical scars from what was done to us; all of us have psychological scars. Although it has been 16 years, we live with the knowledge of these crimes every day of our lives. Some of us have had bad dreams, some of us slept with baseball bats under our bed for years for fear of reprisals.  Many years ago, we thought we could not tell what was happening to us because we felt too guilty and embarrassed and were constantly threatened. Our parents thought Arnold was calling our houses so often because he was such a concerned teacher. His calls were to make sure we were not telling and to repeat the constant threats.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/vict.html