Catholic Whistleblowers Join Forces on Abuse, Ex-swim coach accused of abuse

Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces on Abuse
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN May 20, 2013

They call themselves Catholic Whistleblowers, a newly formed cadre of priests and nuns who say the Roman Catholic Church is still protecting sexual predators.

Although they know they could face repercussions, they have banded together to push the new pope to clean house and the American bishops to enforce the zero-tolerance policies they adopted more than a decade ago.

The group began organizing quietly nine months ago without the knowledge of their superiors or their peers, and plan to make their campaign public this week. Most in the steering group of 12 have blown the whistle on abusers in the past, and three are canon lawyers who once handled abuse cases on the church’s behalf. Four say they were sexually abused as children.

Their aim, they say, is to support both victims and fellow whistle-blowers, and identify shortcomings in church policies….

But the whistle-blowers’ group contends that vigilance is necessary because some bishops are violating the zero-tolerance policies, and abusive clergy (who now number 6,275, according to the bishops’ count of those accusations that they deem credible) still have access to children. They point to the revelations in the last month that a priest in Newark who was a convicted sex offender restricted by a court order from working with children had been ministering in a Catholic parish in Trenton, taking confessions from children and going on weekend youth retreats….

The whistle-blowers’ group plans to hold its first news conference this week in New York, and some members are bracing for the reaction. They said they know priests who spoke up and were removed from their parishes, hustled into retirement or declared “unstable” and sent to treatment centers for clergy with substance-abuse problems or sexual addictions…..
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/catholic-church-whistle-blowers-join-forces-on-abuse.html

Ex-swim coach accused of abuse appears in court
By Peter Schworm    Globe Staff    May 20, 2013

MEDFORD — When the young boy joined the Arlington Boys & Girls Club swim team in the late 1970s, his coach was Paul Collins, who also dated his family’s neighbor and would sometimes fill in as baby sitter.

On those occasions, when the boy went to sleep, Collins would sit at his bedside and “begin rubbing his back and chest,” according to allegations detailed in court documents released Monday. ­Collins would then massage the boy below the waist and tell him he should not talk about it to anyone else.

It was, he told the boy, “our ­little secret.”

The boy, now a middle-aged man, is one of four adults who in recent weeks have accused Collins of sexual assault, part of an expand­ing investigation into child abuse at the youth club. The men came forward after club officials announced in February that another former employee, William Sullivan, had allegedly sexually abused children at the club ­between the 1970s and 1990s. ­Sullivan is deceased.

On Monday, two days after being arrested in his Long Island home, Collins, 62, was arraigned in Cambridge District Court on charges of sexually assaulting the boys and ordered held on $250,000 bail. Collins pleaded not guilty to the accusations, but prosecutors said he had admitted to sexual contact with two accusers and told investigators he may also have had contact with the other two….
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/20/new-york-man-charged-with-sexually-abusing-children-arlington-boys-girls-club-late/dQnWc6GwgfQDC1WtXq5iMI/story.html

Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Beat Wife, Threatened Neighbors, Police Records Say

Accused Kidnapper Ariel Castro Beat Wife, Threatened Neighbors, Police Records Say
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN and MATTHEW JAFFE CLEVELAND May 13, 2013

Cleveland cops were summoned six times to handle accusations that accused kidnapper Ariel Castro had assaulted or menaced people, including three alleged beatings of his wife, but he was only convicted once and was never sentenced to any prison time.

One of the accusations against Castro was that he battered his wife while she was recovering from brain surgery, according to newly released police records.

It is unclear whether any of the reported incidents could have led police to the three women allegedly held as sex slaves for a decade in his house, but the number of times his name pops up in the Cleveland police database is far more than the two incidents police originally reported.

There was no immediate response today from police or prosecutors….

Castro’s ex-wife, Grimilda Figueroa, who died last year, first accused Castro of assault in 1989, 1993 and again in 2005, three years after he allegedly abducted his first victim Michelle Knight in 2002.

Castro was “a monster,” according to Figueroa’s family members who spoke to ABC News last week on the condition of anonymity. He was “nice when he was outside but behind closed doors he was an animal. Two faced. He had done terrible things to her [Figueroa] and treated her like trash.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-kidnapper-ariel-castro-beat-wife-threatened-neighbors/story?id=19169152

Ariel Castro, Cleveland suspect, has a dark past that foreshadowed crimes he’s now accused of
By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Jerry Markon and Luz Lazo, Published: May 11

Cleveland — Shorty needed a ride home.

She got confused sometimes, the result of some undefined mental condition, and wasn’t always sure where she’d wandered. Her family knew this about Michelle “Shorty” Knight, all 4 feet 7 inches of her, and that’s why they worried.

She got in a car.

It begins there, with that simple act, a 21-year-old — in many ways still very much a girl — got in a car. Aug. 22, 2002. If she’d looked up in that last moment of freedom, she would have seen a church steeple.

Eight months later, another girl. Same road. Two-tenths of a mile away.

Mandy had just finished her shift at Burger King, was still in her Burger King hat and shirt. Tomorrow would be Amanda “Mandy” Berry’s 17th birthday; a party was planned.

She got in a car.

The hunter of girls had found a rich hunting ground, a stretch of road clotted with used-automobile lots, discount jewelers, fast-food joints — and schoolgirls.

A year later, April 2, 2004, the hunter was back. Gina, just 14, was walking home with friends from Wilbur Wright Middle School, a stately brick building set on a shaded street two blocks from Burger King. Georgina “Gina” DeJesus broke off on her own, steps away from the spot where Knight was taken.

A car pulled up. The driver was the father of one of her best friends.

She got in the car.

For the next nine years, authorities say, Knight, Berry and De­Jesus together endured an excruciating ordeal as captives in a seemingly normal house on a seemingly normal street in a busy residential neighborhood less than four miles away. Until their remarkable rescue last week, authorities say, they were physically, sexually and psychologically abused by their captor, Ariel Castro, a school bus driver who played salsa music in nightclubs and harbored a dark past that foreshadowed the crimes he’s now accused of committing.

At Castro’s home on Seymour Avenue, he chained the young women in his basement, according to a police report. Eventually, investigators say, he moved them to the second floor of his house, a two-story place with a small back yard, a saggy porch, peeling paint and faded white siding. Most of the time, they were trapped inside, and on the rare occasions they were allowed to venture into the yard, Castro forced them to wear wigs and sunglasses, the report says. He told them to keep their heads down.

Castro, now 52, raped all his captives, authorities say….

In the beginning, the romance between the 20-something Ariel Castro and Grimilda Figueroa went fine. But it quickly deteriorated.

In the early 1990s, the unmarried couple lived on the second floor of the home of Figueroa’s parents. Once, Castro shoved Figueroa down a steep flight of stairs, family members recall. Her father, aided by a pack of neighbors and relatives, beat Castro in retaliation. He didn’t fight back. “He didn’t fight no man,” Figueroa Jr. says.

Things only got worse when the couple moved to their own place; Castro’s beatings of his common-law wife became more frequent and more severe, Figueroa’s relatives say.

He exhibited strange, domineering traits. Grimilda Figueroa became a near-prisoner in her home, a sister, Elida Caraballo, says. Castro padlocked doors from the outside when he left. One day, Caraballo went into their house and saw Castro shoving Figueroa into a cardboard box and closing the lid….

More recently, neighbors say police have been contacted at least twice in the past two years because of suspicious activity. The first time, neighbor Elsie Cintron says she called police after spotting a child’s face in an attic window and hearing banging. Officers responded, Cintron says, but left when no one answered the knocks at Castro’s door. The next time, her son Israel Lugo says, a group of elderly women who were exercising in the area called police. According to Lugo, the women and his sister had all seen a naked woman on all fours with a dog collar around her neck in Castro’s back yard. Cleveland police say they have no record of the calls….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cleveland-suspect-ariel-castros-american-dream-darkened-by-allegations-of-violence/2013/05/11/61302bd8-ba44-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html

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

Satanic Killing, BBC Broadcaster Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls

- Satanic killing – victim was ‘braaivleis’
- BBC to investigate Stuart Hall abuse as part of Jimmy Savile review
- After Stuart Hall and Savile, the more victims’ voices are heard, the better
- Stuart Hall described as ‘opportunistic predator’ by CPS – video
- Stuart Hall put home in wife’s name ‘to avoid payouts to victims’
- Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
Veteran BBC broadcaster described as ‘opportunistic predator’ after admitting to assault of 13 girls between 1968 and 1986
- Stuart Hall told 5 Live: ‘Any 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex’
Comments eight years ago had been defended as ‘satirical banter’ by BBC

Satanic killing – victim was ‘braaivleis’
South Africa Friday 26 April 2013

Teenager Kirsty Theologo was referred to as “braaivleis” when her murder in an apparent satanic ritual was being planned, a Johannesburg court heard on Friday.

Theologo was present when this happened, testified Lester Moody, who has confessed to his role in the killing.

He told the High Court, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, that the code name was used at a meeting on the Thursday before the fatal ritual on October 21, 2011.

The meeting was held to plan the details of her murder.

Moody, who has entered into a plea bargain with the State, was testifying against Lindon Wagner, Robin Harwood, Harvey Isha and Courtney Daniels.

He has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for his role in the murder, five years of which were suspended.

The four accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder and assault to cause grievous bodily harm….
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/satan-killing-victim-was-braaivleis

BBC to investigate Stuart Hall abuse as part of Jimmy Savile review
Lord Patten says there will be no separate inquiry into how disgraced broadcaster Stuart Hall gained access to victims      guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 May 2013

Stuart Hall, above, admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The BBC may be liable to pay compensation to the victims, says Lord Patten.

There will not be a second inquiry into how broadcaster Stuart Hall was able to abuse his victims while working at the BBC, the chairman of the corporation’s trust has said.

Lord Patten said instead a review by Dame Janet Smith into the Jimmy Savile scandal would also investigate how Hall – who has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls during the 1960s, 70s and 80s – gained access to his victims.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Patten said the BBC was also likely to face compensation claims from Hall’s victims….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/05/bbc-stuart-hall-jimmy-savile-review

After Stuart Hall and Savile, the more victims’ voices are heard, the better
Stuart Hall’s admission of sexual offences has brought the abuse scandal that started with Jimmy Savile back into the headlines. It’s painful, but important, that victims are now speaking out
Suzanne Moore         The Guardian, Friday 3 May 2013

….This is why today, when I hear the voices of Hall’s victims, I would argue that naming the suspects (which enabled some women to come forward) remains powerful. Some of these women have been silent for a very long time. When Susan Harrison, whom Hall plied with alcohol then assaulted, told her father after returning home in tears, he said: “He is famous and we are nobodies. Nobody is going to believe you if you tell.” Unless victims waive their right to anonymity, the victims do indeed remain nobodies. Harrison felt guilty, worrying that Hall may go on to abuse others, which he did. She later suffered from depression.

Kim Wright, another of Hall’s victims, was watching the news about Savile when she decided to make a formal complaint. She is a policewoman who has worked in child protection. “I’ve always felt what Stuart Hall did to me is not something he’d do once, that it was part of some kind of modus operandi.” Wright felt that if the police could tell other victims they were not the only one, they would have the courage to come forward. And she was right. “When he picked on me,” she said, “he picked on the wrong person.”….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/03/stuart-hall-savile-victims-voices

Stuart Hall described as ‘opportunistic predator’ by CPS – video
The Crown Prosecution Service issues a statement outside court after Stuart Hall, the veteran BBC broadcaster, admitted assaulting 13 girls between 1968 and 1986. Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for north-west England, describes Hall as an ‘opportunistic predator’, saying he established a pattern of behaviour that was ‘unlawful’ and for which no innocent explanation could be offered
Source: ITN     Thursday 2 May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-predator-cps-video
http://goo.gl/m7qpb

Stuart Hall put home in wife’s name ‘to avoid payouts to victims’
Disgraced BBC broadcaster, who signed over property valued at £1.2m February, faces compensation claims
Josh Halliday, Barry Neild and Maggie Brown
guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 May 2013
Stuart Hall, 83, has admitted indecently assaulting girls, the youngest of whom was nine. He will be sentenced in June. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

The disgraced broadcaster Stuart Hall is facing accusations that he recently transferred ownership of his home to his wife in a deliberate attempt to avoid paying compensation to his victims.

Land Registry documents show that Hall’s detached property in Wilmslow, Cheshire – said to be worth £1.2m – was placed under sole proprietorship of Hazel Hall on 22 February of this year. The transfer occurred less than a fortnight after Hall denied indecently assaulting 13 young girls, calling allegations against him “pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious”. He has since admitted all counts.

At least six of Hall’s victims are set to sue as a result of the “enormous suffering” inflicted on them by the former It’s a Knockout presenter. The BBC is also said to be facing huge compensation claims for sexual abuse that may have occurred on the corporation’s premises….

Land Registry documents show that until February, Hall and his wife had jointly owned the home since 1981. Hall told the Daily Telegraph he had transferred the deeds because he has “an extreme heart condition and at any moment I’m likely to pop off”….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/04/stuart-hall-home

Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
Veteran BBC broadcaster described as ‘opportunistic predator’ after admitting to assault of 13 girls between 1968 and 1986
Nigel Bunyan      guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 May 2013
Stuart Hall, the veteran BBC broadcaster, has been described as an “opportunistic predator” by the Crown Prosecution Service after he admitted to a string of historic sex offences against girls.

Three months after dismissing the allegations as “pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious”, the 83-year-old was forced to admit that his accusers had been telling the truth.

Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, first made the admissions at a brief hearing at Preston crown court on 16 April. But they could not be reported because he was facing trial over an allegation that he raped a 22-year-old woman in 1976. On Thursday it emerged that the rape case had been left to lie on the file, along with three other allegations of indecent assault….
Earlier, Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said Hall’s 13 victims had been aged between nine and 17. They were abused between 1968 and 1986….

In a statement issued later on his behalf, Brabners Chaffe Street said: “Stuart Hall confirms that he has pleaded guilty to 14 charges of indecent assault. Mr Hall deeply and sincerely regrets his actions. He wishes to issue an unreserved apology to the individuals concerned. He now accepts his behaviour and actions were completely wrong and he is very remorseful….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-admits-sexual-abuse-girls

Stuart Hall told 5 Live: ‘Any 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex’
Comments eight years ago had been defended as ‘satirical banter’ by BBC
John Plunkett     The Guardian, Thursday 2 May 2013

When Stuart Hall appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live eight years ago telling listeners: “Your average 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex,” the corporation defended his comments as “satirical banter”.

The veteran broadcaster’s admission, revealed on Thursday, of a string of historic sex offences against girls aged between nine and 17 casts his comments in a different, horrific light. Hall made the comments in a 2005 edition of 5 Live’s Saturday morning panel show, Fighting Talk.

Living up to his reputation for outspoken views and colourful language, Hall told the programme that Zimbabwean cricketers should “black up” and branded Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, a “witch doctor”….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-5-live-instruct-sex

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

Catholic child abuse: 187 allegations against 98 priests have led to zero convictions, Abuse survivor demands state inquiry, Restitution Returns to the United States Supreme Court (again) (child p_rn victims), Court hears details of satanic ritual, Girl’s satanic horror

Catholic child abuse: 187 allegations against 98 priests have led to zero convictions  4/24/13
“I am one of the fortunate survivors to have succeeded in securing a criminal conviction against one of two Spiritan priests who sexually abused me,” writes campaigner Mark Vincent Healy.

THE DIOCESES OF Clogher, Elphin, Killala and Waterford join the infamous group of seven Catholic Church authorities, including Derry, Dramore and Limerick, where not one priest has been convicted for having committed an offence or offences against a child or young person despite numerous allegations since 1 January 1975. From the 16 dioceses reviewed to date by the National Board for Safeguarding Children, there have been 187 allegations made in relation to 98 priests where there have been no convictions. This represents a third of the church authorities examined where not one priest was held to account….

To date there have been four reviews of missionary orders where a total of 113 priests have had 287 allegations raised against them but only seven priests have ever been convicted. The sad reality is that only 6.2 per cent of accused Irish missionaries are ever convicted. I am one of the fortunate survivors to have succeeded in securing a criminal conviction against one of two Spiritan priests who sexually abused me from the ages of nine to 12 and then tried to cover it all up. Forty-seven Spiritans had 142 allegations made against them in the second tranche of audits, and only three were convicted….

Fr Andrew Greely, a professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago believes there could be up to 50 victims per priest. Meanwhile, Richard Sipe a psychotherapist in Maryland, has said 250 victims may suffer over the lifetime of a paedophile. Shockingly, the 106 priests accused in the third tranche could possibly have abused between 5,300 to 26,500 potential victims. Just 271 came forward….
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/catholic-child-abuse-187-allegations-against-98-priests-have-led-to-zero-convictions-883536-Apr2013/

Abuse survivor demands state inquiry Sarah Stack and David Young – 24 April 2013

AN abuse survivor who alleges an uncle of the former Bishop of Clogher was one of his attackers has demanded a state inquiry into clerical sex crimes in Northern Ireland. The Stormont Executive has established a statutory probe into abuse committed in state and church-run institutions, but its remit does not cover criminal acts committed by priests outside of children’s residential facilities.

Michael Connolly claims he was victimised for five years of his childhood in Donagh, Co Fermanagh, by parish priest Peter Duffy, who was later promoted to canon. The deceased cleric was the uncle of the former Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, who was today heavily criticised for unsatisfactory responses to child abuse allegations and risky behaviour of priests in the diocese….http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/abuse-survivor-demands-state-inquiry-29220069.html

Restitution Returns to the United States Supreme Court (again)
By James R. Marsh on April 24, 2013

Today, James R. Marsh of the Marsh Law Firm and Paul G. Cassell of the University of Utah College of Law Appellate Legal Clinic, filed a brief in the United States Supreme Court in their latest effort to convince the Court to consider the critical issue of criminal restitution for victims of child pornography.

The case, Doyle Randall Paroline v. Amy Unknown, arises out of a long-fought extensively litigated restitution action which started almost four years ago before Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division. In January, the defendant filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the Supreme Court seeking review of last year’s landmark Fifth Circuit en banc decision which significantly expanded the rights of child pornography victims to receive criminal restitution.
http://www.childlaw.us/2013/04/restitution-returns-to-the-uni.html

Court hears details of satanic ritual
April 24 2013  By Sandy Moeketsi

Johannesburg – Phrases were chanted before Kirsty Theologo and her friend were set alight, the High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday. Her alleged murderers stood at the points of a satanic star, where candles burnt. In the middle of the star was a burning Bible, where blood would be shed, Lester Moody told the court. Moody was testifying against four people accused of setting Theologo and her friend alight in an apparent satanic ritual on October 21, 2011….
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/court-hears-details-of-satanic-ritual-1.1505823

Girl’s satanic horror April 24 2013 By SUSAN DU

Johannesburg – Kirsty Theologo thought that she was going to a party with friends she trusted on the night of October 21, 2011.

She brought another girl along.
She had a drink.
She trusted her friends when they told her they needed to stop by a petrol station to get sweets, then again when they said there had been a change of plans and that they would be going into the “mountains of Linmeyer” instead.

The “party” turned out to be a satanic ritual in which Kirsty was drugged, bound, drenched in petrol and burnt so severely that she died later in hospital.  Her friend, now 16, survived. She can’t be named due to her age….

Kirsty and her friend – the only two people not dressed entirely in black – lost consciousness due to the brake fluid that had been secretly added to their drinks.  The two victims were then bound and left to one side while the accused created a “satanic star” in the ground and lit candles at each of its five points, Moody testified….
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/girl-s-satanic-horror-1.1505350

‘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

Irish TV host and child camp founder Domhnall O Lubhlai never stood trial for 11 sexual abuse charges, Gymnastics coach who sexually abused seven girls as young as six walks free from court as judge accepts his ‘remorse’ despite attempts to blame victims

Irish TV host and child camp founder Domhnall O Lubhlai never stood trial for 11 sexual abuse charges
Language activist and Irish college founder dubbed “Ireland’s Jimmy Savile” was up on 56 horrific charges  By IrishCentral Staff Writers,  Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Irish language activist and TV host Domhnall O Lubhlai (84) died before facing sexual abuse claims. O Lubhlai, the founder of one of Ireland’s largest Irish colleges, Colaiste na bhFiann, and the presenter of a TV show on RTE, has been dubbed “Ireland’s Jimmy Savile” due to the allegations against him….

In 2000 O Lubhlai was charged with the molestation of 11 children. O Lubhlai faced 56 charges of sexual assault, buggery and attempted buggery. Five men testified that they had been abused….

However the trial collapsed due to the fact that the accused claimed he was on medication during his interviews with detectives, in 1998 and 1999. Last January a former Irish college student made a fresh complaint against O Lubhlai. He claimed O Lubhlai abused him between the ages of 12 and 15, during the mid-1970s….

The police were compiling a report and witness statement when O Lubhlai was found dead at his Mullingar home, County Westmeath….

Although there were 11 complaints against him in 2000 it was believed that there may have been other victims during his 30 years as a teacher.  His alleged crimes only came to light in the early 1990s when he reported that he was being blackmailed by a former student.  Until the end, O Lubhlai maintained his innocence and claimed his accusers were motivated by jealousy.  http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-TV-host-and-child-camp-founder-Domhnall-O-Lubhlai-never-stood-trial-for-11-sexual-abuse-charges-202093361.html

Gymnastics coach who sexually abused seven girls as young as six walks free from court as judge accepts his ‘remorse’ despite attempts to blame victims

Bob Bellew admitted a string of sexual abuse charges spanning 40 years
Was handed 15-month prison sentence suspended for two years
Judge said offences were ‘not specimens of a course of conduct’
She said ‘punishment has in effect already begun’
Sentence slammed as ‘everything that is wrong’ with British justice system
‘You get six months for taking your husband’s speeding points,’ say victims
Bellew had ‘passed the blame onto his victims’ in a probation report

By James Rush  12 April 2013

An internationally renowned gymnastics coach who sexually abused seven girls as young as six over a 40-year period has walked free from court. Bob Bellew, 66, has published books on gymnastics, taught at schools across the UK and was a former Community Coach of the Year.

He also served on committees planning the 2012 Olympics and was chief coach of the Tower Hamlets Schools gym and dance display team.  Bellew was also awarded the ‘Order of the Smile’, a UN-recognised citation for adults ‘distinguished in their love, care and aid of children’.

But he admitted a string of sexual abuse charges, spanning 40 years, against girls he was tutoring….

She described two sets of allegations, the first in the 1970s, and the second in the 1990s and early 2000s. She said: ‘The offences would not have occurred but for the position of trust held by the defendant as a gymnastics coach, which gave him access to the victims who were young and therefore vulnerable.’

Bellew  was due to stand trial in September after pleading not guilty to a number of offences in April last year.  However, the second set of allegations came to light after the victims read news reports of the pending court case and contacted police.
Bellew admitted eight of 17 charges against him, involving seven victims as young as six years old….

However in a probation report he backed down from his admissions, denying the touching was sexual and passing the blame onto his victims. His lawyer Barry Kogan said: ‘He has had great difficulty coming to terms with the shame of what he has done, and this is demonstrated by what he has told the probation officer, trying to deny his actions, pass them off as inappropriate not sexual, and blame the victims.’….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307610/Bob-Bellew-Gymnastics-coach-sexually-abused-girls-young-walks-free-court-judge-accepts-remorse-despite-attempts-blame-victims.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