‘Satanic ritual was badly planned’

‘Satanic ritual was badly planned’      
April 30 2013 By SAPA
Johannesburg – An apparent satanic ritual after which a teenage girl died was badly planned, the High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday.

Lester Moody, who has admitted to his role in the killing, said the group failed to discuss in detail what each individual would do during the ritual.

Having Kirsty Theologo, the intended murder victim, at the meeting was another blunder.

Moody was testifying against four people accused of setting alight Theologo and her 14-year-old friend in an alleged satanic ritual on October 21, 2011.

He and Jeremy King have pleaded guilty to the crime and were sentenced to 17 years in jail, five of them suspended, under a plea bargain with the State.

The four Harvey Isha, Robin Harwood, Lindon Wagner, and Courtney Daniels have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, and assault to cause grievous bodily harm….

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/satanic-ritual-was-badly-planned-1.1508755

 

Jimmy Savile assaulted children as young as 10, report reveals, German Bishops Cancel Study Into Sexual Abuse by Priests, Rape Has a Purpose – Oppression

Jimmy Savile assaulted children as young as 10, report reveals
Police gather evidence of over 200 crimes in institutions visited by DJ, including children’s hospice
Sandra Laville and Josh Halliday  The Guardian, Thursday 10 January 2013

Jimmy Savile sexually assaulted children as young as 10 during nearly four decades of activity as a paedophile that took place in a string of institutions, including numerous hospitals, prisons and the BBC, the official inquiry by the Metropolitan police and the NSPCC will say on Friday.

The 30-page report, Giving Victims a Voice, will describe how the celebrity abused up to 500 children and young people, and may have raped more than 30.

Of the allegations made so far, police have gathered sufficient evidence to record 200 sexually related crimes by Savile across the country, committed using the power of his personality and fame to dupe a huge number of institutions – including, it is understood, at least one hospice – into giving him access to vulnerable people.

The number of institutions identified in the inquiry raises the spectre of a systemic failure that spread into every corner of British society.

Detectives and child protection experts working on the inquiry into Savile hope the report will mark a line in the sand – a cultural shift in attitudes between today and 30 years ago, when a blind eye was turned to such activity with children and young people and victims were not listened to.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/10/jimmy-savile-abuse-inquiry-published

German Bishops Cancel Study Into Sexual Abuse by Priests
By REUTERS January 9, 2013
PARIS (Reuters) — Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday canceled a study into the sexual abuse of minors by priests, prompting the investigator to accuse them of trying to censor what was to be a major report on the scandals.
The independent study, examining church files that sometimes date to 1945, was meant to shed light on undiscovered cases after about 600 people filed claims against priests in 2010 following a wave of revelations of sexual abuse. The German scandals were part of a series of abuse scandals that also shook the Catholic Church in Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States, forcing Pope Benedict XVI to issue a public apology.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann, a spokesman on abuse issues for the German Bishops’ Conference, said that the hierarchy had lost confidence in the researcher, Christian Pfeiffer, a criminologist, and that it would look for another specialist for the study.

“We will have to find a new partner,” Bishop Ackermann said in a statement that blamed Mr. Pfeiffer’s “communications behavior with church officials” for the breakdown.

Mr. Pfeiffer told German Radio that the bishops wanted to change previously agreed-upon guidelines for the project to include a final veto over publishing its results, which he could not accept.

Officials made “an attempt to turn the whole contract towards censorship and stronger control by the church,” said Mr. Pfeiffer, head of the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/world/europe/german-bishops-cancel-study-into-sexual-abuse-by-priests.html

Rape Has a Purpose 1/05/2013 Soraya Chemaly

….No matter where you are in the world, the result of rape — “date rape,” “gang-rape,” “easy rape,” “emergency rape,” “war rape” — is the same: oppression. Women are not free to live without the constant threat of assault and violence or without being treated like objects and property.  When I last checked there were at least four “rape capitals” of the world. You know what that makes the rest of us? “Rape Suburbs.” Girls and women aren’t idiots. On the contrary, we understand perfectly: we’re supposed to “be careful.” Don’t do something we might “regret.”  “Stay home.” “So what if it happens, anyway?” We can’t feel any security that our bodily integrity will be respected. Or that our consent matters. We cannot enjoy the confident access and ownership of public space that men do. Our attempts to pursue equality and opportunity are inhibited, not only by actual rape, but by people’s malevolent tolerance for it. Rape is useful, even the rape of boys and men: it sustains a system that rewards physical dominance and sustains male hegemony.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/syrian-rape-and-chemical-_b_2370638.html

Bullying by Childhood Peers Leaves a Trace That Can Change the Expression of a Gene Linked to Mood, Officials: 31 people fired in Army daycare scandal

Bullying by Childhood Peers Leaves a Trace That Can Change the Expression of a Gene Linked to Mood

Dec. 18, 2012 — A recent study by a researcher at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress (CSHS) at the Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine and professor at the Université de Montréal suggests that bullying by peers changes the structure surrounding a gene involved in regulating mood, making victims more vulnerable to mental health problems as they age.

The study published in the journal Psychological Medicine seeks to better understand the mechanisms that explain how difficult experiences disrupt our response to stressful situations. “Many people think that our genes are immutable; however this study suggests that environment, even the social environment, can affect their functioning. This is particularly the case for victimization experiences in childhood, which change not only our stress response but also the functioning of genes involved in mood regulation,” says Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, lead author of the study.

A previous study by Ouellet-Morin, conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry in London (UK), showed that bullied children secrete less cortisol — the stress hormone — but had more problems with social interaction and aggressive behaviour. The present study indicates that the reduction of cortisol, which occurs around the age of 12, is preceded two years earlier by a change in the structure surrounding a gene (SERT) that regulates serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation and depression….

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121218081615.htm

Increased serotonin transporter gene (SERT) DNA methylation is associated with bullying victimization and blunted cortisol response to stress in childhood: a longitudinal study of discordant monozygotic twins. Ouellet-Morin, C. C. Y. Wong, A. Danese, C. M. Pariante, A. S. Papadopoulos, J. Mill, L. Arseneault.  Psychological Medicine, 2012; DOI: 10.1017/S0033291712002784

Increased serotonin transporter gene (SERT) DNA methylation is associated with bullying victimization and blunted cortisol response to stress in childhood: a longitudinal study of discordant monozygotic twins

Background
Childhood adverse experiences are known to induce persistent changes in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to stress. However, the mechanisms by which these experiences shape the neuroendocrine response to stress remain unclear.

Method
We tested whether bullying victimization influenced serotonin transporter gene (SERT) DNA methylation using a discordant monozygotic (MZ) twin design. A subsample of 28 MZ twin pairs discordant for bullying victimization, with data on cortisol and DNA methylation, were identified in the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative 1994–1995 cohort of families with twins….

Conclusions
Our study extends findings drawn from animal models, supports the hypothesis that early-life stress modifies DNA methylation at a specific cytosine–phosphate–guanine (CpG) site in the SERT promoter and HPA functioning and suggests that these two systems may be functionally associated.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8777435

Officials: 31 people fired in Army daycare scandal     
By LOLITA C. BALDOR | Associated Press  12/19/12

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 31 people were fired from two Army day care centers at Fort Myer, Va., last week after officials scrutinized their backgrounds and found criminal convictions ranging from fourth-degree sexual assault and drug use to other assaults, a defense official said Wednesday….

According to officials, one person was charged with four counts of assault on children and the other was charged with five counts of assault. The alleged actions included hitting, grabbing or pushing the children. In the days after the arrests, the two administrators were dismissed, others were brought in and town hall meetings took place with parents.

http://news.yahoo.com/officials-31-people-fired-army-daycare-scandal-012217735–politics.html

Luis Walker, Air Force Staff Sgt., Faces Sentencing For Rape, Assault, Chile investigating 61 schools for child sex abuse

Luis Walker, Air Force Staff Sgt., Faces Sentencing For Rape, Assault
By WILL WEISSERT 07/21/12

SAN ANTONIO — An Air Force instructor convicted of raping a female recruit and sexually assaulting several others cried Saturday as he asked a military jury not to sentence him to life in prison.

Staff Sgt. Luis Walker is among 12 Lackland Air Force Base instructors investigated for sexual misconduct toward at least 31 female trainees, and he faced the most serious counts among the six instructors charged in a sex scandal that rocked one of the nation’s busiest training bases.

A military jury convicted Walker on Friday on all 28 counts including rape, aggravated sexual contact and multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault. Trial judge Col. Wesley Moore consolidated those charges into 20 on Saturday morning, saying some counts duplicated others, but the change did not affect Walker’s maximum sentence….

Five of the women testified Saturday at Walker’s sentencing, saying they couldn’t sleep or maintain relationships with men after the assaults. They said Walker’s actions eroded their trust in authority and affected their performance at work.

“It’s gotten to where I had anger issues even at work,” said one, who had left the military. “If anyone makes even the slightest sexual reference, I go off. I have zero self-control.”….

The women told jurors during the trial that Walker gained their trust to get them alone in his office or an empty dormitory, where he then forced them into kissing, touching or intercourse. The alleged sexual misconduct among instructors at the base apparently began in 2009, but the first woman didn’t come forward until last year. The women who testified against Walker said they didn’t tell anybody at first because they feared being booted from the Air Force…..

According to prosecutors, Walker had sexual intercourse with four of the 10 female recruits. He was also accused of making flirtatious or sexually suggestive comments, sending inappropriate text messages and sometimes groping his recruits.

Prosecutors also accused Walker of forcing five recruits to engage in sexual acts with him by threatening their military careers, and they said he intimidated two of the women into lying about his alleged misconduct.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/21/luis-walker-air-force-sta_n_1691690.html

Chile investigating 61 schools for child sex abuse  July 20, 2012

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s attorney general is investigating 61 schools in the country’s capital for possible child sex abuse….

Attorney general Sabas Chahuan said Friday that his office will look at 49 schools in eastern Santiago and 12 on the capital’s west side. Several teachers have recently been accused of sexually molesting children at day care centers and schools in affluent neighborhoods on the city’s eastern side.

According to official estimates, reports of sexual abuse of children under age 14 jumped 22 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2011.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501715_162-57477114/chile-investigating-61-schools-for-child-sex-abuse/

Pediatrician Accused Of Sexually Abusing, Videotaping Young Girls

Pediatrician Accused Of Sexually Abusing, Videotaping Young Girls
By JENNIFER EVANS pix11.com June 29 2011

MINEOLA, N.Y. (PIX11) – A Long Island pediatrician has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexual abuse of girls as young as 11-years old, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Wednesday.

Dr. Rakesh Punn, 53, of Bethpage was previously charged nearly a year ago for secretly videotaping young female patients while they were naked in his office. This week, Punn was charged with 28 counts of assault in the second degree,10 counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, 3 counts of promoting sexual performance by a child,1 count of possessing a sexual performance by a child, 6 counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, 7 counts of fraudulently obtaining a signature and 1 count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the third degree.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/wpix-pediatrician-charged-for-sexual-abuse-and-unlawful-videotaping-20110629,0,5752292.story

Delaware ex-pediatrician guilty of child sex abuse, 24 counts of rape, assault

describes graphic crimes

Delaware ex-pediatrician guilty of child sex abuse

By Dan Shortridge, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
6/23/11 GEORGETOWN, Del.

A Delaware pediatrician was found guilty Thursday of raping and abusing his child patients.

Earl Bradley, 58, accused of raping or assaulting more than 100 girls he treated, was convicted of all 24 counts of rape, assault and sexual exploitation that he faced in Sussex Superior Court here.

The verdict was expected: Evidence of the attacks included videos that he recorded and Bradley’s lawyers did not mount any defense. Instead, they are expected to appeal an earlier ruling from Judge William Carpenter Jr. that 13 hours of videos seized from Bradley’s office was admissible.

A state police detective who viewed the videos said during the trial that Bradley used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a few girls who were “ashen gray” from choking and suffocation after he forced them to perform oral sex on him.

The videos also show children in diapers screaming as they attempt in vain to escape from their doctor before he rapes them in an outbuilding at his office where he took children for candy and toys. In one case at his home, a video shows Bradley using nitrous oxide to keep a sleeping 7-year-old girl sedate during his attack, police testified.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-06-23-delaware-pediatrician-sex-abuse_n.htm

Abuses Found Mexican Institutions for Disabled, Warren Jeffs Texas bigamy case

Abuses Found at Mexican Institutions for Disabled
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD November 30, 2010
MEXICO CITY — Ten years ago, a human rights group released a scathing, groundbreaking report on abusive, decrepit conditions in Mexican institutions for the mentally and physically disabled, moving the country to promise change and to take the lead in writing international agreements to protect the disabled. But in a new report released Tuesday, the group, Disability Rights International, working with a Mexican human rights organization, said a yearlong investigation revealed “atrocious and abusive conditions” that included lobotomies performed without consent, children missing from orphanages, widespread filth and squalor, and a lack of medical care….

At orphanages, the team found that children were unaccounted for and interviewed residents who had said they had grown up in the facilities, though officials had no record of the names they came in with or arrival date.

Human rights officials and unnamed government officials told them there was no registry or tracking system for children placed in public or private institutions, leaving them prey to human traffickers.
“Due to a failure to provide oversight, children have literally disappeared from institutions,” the report said. “Some of these children may have been subject to sex trafficking and forced labor.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/world/americas/01mexico.htm

Abandoned & Disappeared: Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities – A report, by Disability Rights International and the Comisión Méxicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, on the state of the Mexican mental health care system.

http://documents.nytimes.com/abuses-found-at-mexican-institutions-for-the-disabled

Warren Jeffs returned to Texas to face bigamy case
By PAUL J. WEBER AP Dec. 1, 2010
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs has been extradited from Utah to Texas to face trial on bigamy and sexual assault charges, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday. Jeffs, who is being held without bail in Texas, is set to make a court appearance Wednesday morning in San Angelo. Texas authorities have charged the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with felony bigamy, aggravated sexual assault and assault.

Attorney General’s Office spokesman Jerry Strickland said the 54-year-old Jeffs arrived Tuesday night at a West Texas jail, but declined to specify where he is being held. Jeffs’ Southern Utah-based church practices polygamy in arranged marriages that have involved underage girls….

Jeffs’ Texas charges stem from evidence gathered during a raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado in April 2008.  Jeffs had been held at the Utah State Prison after his arrest, prosecution and conviction on two charges of rape as an accomplice for his role in the 2001 marriage of an underage follower — then 14 — to her 19-year-old cousin.  In July, the Utah Supreme overturned the 2007 convictions. Prosecutors there have yet to decide whether they’ll retry Jeffs.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/new/7318902.html

 

Children’s Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey

David Finkelhor, Heather Turner, Richard Ormrod, Sherry Hamby, and Kristen Kracke….

The survey confirms that most of our society’s children are exposed to violence in their daily lives. More than 60 percent of the children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly (i.e., as a witness to a violent act; by learning of a violent act against a family member, neighbor, or close friend; or from a threat against their home or school) (for full details on these and other statistics cited in this Bulletin, see Finkelhor et al., 2009). Nearly one-half of the children and adolescents surveyed (46.3 percent) were assaulted at least once in the past year, and more than 1 in 10 (10.2 percent) were injured in an assault; 1 in 4 (24.6 percent) were victims of robbery, vandalism, or theft; 1 in 10 (10.2 percent) suffered from child maltreatment (including physical and emotional abuse, neglect, or a family abduction); and 1 in 16 (6.1 percent) were victimized sexually.

More than 1 in 4 (25.3 percent) witnessed a violent act and nearly 1 in 10 (9.8 percent) saw one family member assault another. Multiple victimizations were common: more than one-third (38.7 percent) experienced 2 or more direct victimizations in the previous year, more than 1 in 10 (10.9 percent) experienced 5 or more direct victimizations in the previous year, and more than 1 in 75 (1.4 percent) experienced 10 or more direct victimizations in the previous year.

Reports of lifetime exposure to violence were generally about one-third to one-half higher than reports of past-year exposure, although the difference tended to be greater for less frequent and more severe types of victimization. (For example, more than three times as many respondents reported being victims of a kidnapping over their lifetimes as did in the past year.) Nearly seven in eight children (86.6 percent) who reported being exposed to violence during their lifetimes also reported being exposed to violence within the past year, which indicated that these children were at ongoing risk of violent victimization. The reports of lifetime exposure also indicate how certain types of exposure change and accumulate as a child grows up; nearly one in five girls ages 14 to 17 (18.7 percent) had been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault, and more than one-third of all 14- to 17-year-olds had seen a parent assaulted.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf