Frances Andrade death: Charity calls for review in child abuse trials, Ireland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds

Frances Andrade death: Charity calls for review in child abuse trials
Frances Andrade Violin teacher Frances Andrade was found dead after giving evidence  9 February 2013

A charity for adults who were abused in childhood has said the way prosecutions are brought must change after a victim took her own life during a trial.

Frances Andrade was found dead less than a week after she faced Michael Brewer at Manchester Crown Court.

Following Brewer’s conviction for indecently assaulting her, her family said “the court system let her down”.

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood’s Pete Saunders said the “legal system has to change”.

He said a conclusion such as the one in Mrs Andrade’s case was “not as uncommon as it should be”.

‘Ashamed of themselves’

“She is another victim not only of the people who abused her, but the British legal system too,” he said.

“The people who put her through the trauma of the court case should be ashamed of themselves.

“Child abuse is a unique crime and it should be dealt with very sensitively. Instead, it is dealt with as if it were any other sort of crime.”….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21395749

Ireland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

Ireland’s government was directly involved in sending girls and women to work for nothing in laundries run by Catholic orders, a landmark report published Tuesday concluded.

The report by Irish Senator Martin McAleese found that orphans and abused, neglected or unruly children were among more than 10,000 sent to the Magdalen Laundries from 1922 to 1996.

Some had committed minor crimes, others were simply homeless or poor. Women with mental or physical disabilities and some people with psychiatric illness also found themselves in the laundries.

Their average age, the report found, was 23, but the youngest child was just nine and the oldest known entrant was 89.

Activists called on the government to issue a formal apology and pay compensation, with one group saying those affected had been “treated like slaves.”

Their plight came to greater public attention when it was the subject of a 2002 film called The Magdalene Sisters, which used a different spelling.

And in June 2011, the United Nations’ Committee on Torture highlighted allegations of “physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment” and said it was “gravely concerned” at Ireland’s failure to “protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined.”….

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds

97% of rapists never spend a day in prison, Testimony Begins In Child Sex-Abuse Trial For Philadelphia Catholic Priests, Archdiocese

Reporting Rates

Sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with 54% still being left unreported.

What happens to Rapists When They are Caught and Prosecuted?

54% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police, according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 3% of rapists ever serve a day in jail.
http://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates

Testimony Begins In Child Sex-Abuse Trial For Philadelphia Catholic Priests, Archdiocese

By MARYCLAIRE DALE 03/27/12

PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors aired dozens of confidential church documents in court Tuesday to try to prove the Philadelphia archdiocese routinely buried complaints that priests were molesting children.

Monsignor William Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children by keeping accused priests in parish work.

The letters and memos read in court Tuesday centered on now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery, known as the Smiling Padre, adopted six Hmong children and moonlighted as a disc jockey at parties and nightclubs throughout his three-decade church career.

According to the documents, a medical student told the archdiocese in 1992 that Avery had molested him after a DJ gig when the priest and the high school freshman were drinking heavily at a West Philadelphia nightclub. It happened again at age 19 when the two shared a motel bed on a ski trip to Vermont with Avery’s brother, he said.

Avery denied the allegations to Lynn, but then said they “could” have happened. A four-day evaluation at a church-owned hospital showed he may be bipolar and have alcohol and psycho-sexual problems. Avery was admitted to St. John Vianney in Downingtown for nearly a year of sex therapy and mental health treatment.

Avery’s parishioners were told that their outgoing, energetic pastor was on a “health leave” but heard no mention of the abuse allegation. Lynn’s lawyers said the documents show that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua gave those orders.

St. John Vianney never diagnosed Avery as a pedophile but said he should not be around adolescents or work as a DJ.

Lynn next recommended that Avery go to a Philadelphia parish with a tough pastor, although that parish had a school attached. Bevilacqua instead sent Avery to work as a hospital chaplain, with residency at St. Jerome’s Parish. The northeast Philadelphia parish was home to many of the city’s police and firefighters and had an elementary school.

Avery, 69, admitted last week that he sexually assaulted a fifth-grader there in 1999, forcing the altar boy to strip naked after Mass in the church sacristy. Instead of going on trial with Lynn, Avery pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and conspiracy and will serve 2 1/2 to five years in prison…. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/philly-sex-abuse-case_n_1381982.html

Casey Anthony trial – Child Abuse Connection?

WENDY J. MURPHY: Casey Anthony trial an exercise in absurdity
By Wendy J. Murphy GateHouse News Service
Jun 27, 2011

Recently dubbed the “Trial of the Century”, the prosecution of Florida mom Casey Anthony for the murder of her toddler daughter, Caylee, could more aptly be called the Trial of the Absurd.  The prosecution seems desperate to prove Anthony’s innocence while the defense can’t manage a single reference to the evidence that actually proves Casey did not kill her child.

Casey knows more than she’s saying about who and why Caylee is dead, which is why she was offered immunity early on. The prosecution squeezed her very hard – even putting the death penalty on the table – but Casey resisted and the prosecution all but conceded defeat last week when they rested their case after presenting a woefully small pile of evidence.

….The prosecution’s case raised more questions than it answered, and it failed address the following important issues:

….3. In May and June of 08, when Caylee was sleeping with Casey at a friend’s apartment, Casey got a phone call in the middle of the night, in response to which, she roused Caylee from sleep and delivered her to some unknown location. Then she returned to her friend’s apartment and went to sleep.  Casey also delivered Caylee to unknown locations on other occasions when she claimed to be bringing Caylee to a “nanny.”  Where did she bring her? Why?

4. Why is the docket sheet in the case under seal?  It would show what motions were filed to “seal” certain evidence.  It would also show that the case has been designated a sex crime prosecution – which is important given that a sex crimes detective was involved in the early stages of the investigation.  Why?

5. Casey searched the internet to learn how to make chloroform; a substance commonly used to sedate children in the making of child porn. The public thinks Casey used chloroform to kill her child, but the drug is popular among parents who pimp their kids because it’s cheap and it causes amnesia so that victims can’t remember being abused.

Pimping kids is dangerous business and Casey apparently made someone very angry. Maybe she cut out an earlier “business” partner or ripped someone off.  A “Zenaida Gonzales” reported her laptop stolen in early June.

The distortion of truth in this strange case will lead to Casey’s acquittal, which begs the real question:  will the prosecution then have the guts, and the political will, to file new charges against Casey for what she REALLY did to that poor little girl.

http://www.patriotledger.com/archive/x898079778/WENDY-J-MURPHY-Casey-Anthony-trial-an-exercise-in-absurdity

WENDY MURPHY: Why Casey Anthony will be acquitted
GateHouse News Service
Jun 09, 2011

There has never been a more reviled criminal defendant than Casey Anthony, the Florida mom on trial for murdering her nearly 3-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008. Casey behaved like a raving psychopath after her child went missing. She went out partying, didn’t shed a tear, and got a tattoo that read “beautiful life.”

Her lawyer claims she acted weird because she was sexually abused as a child.

Maybe she was, which would help explain evidence uncovered during the murder investigation that showed Casey may have been working as a prostitute at the time Caylee was killed. Studies show that well over 90 percent of prostituted women were sexually abused as children.

http://www.patriotledger.com/opinions/x1459481866/WENDY-MURPHY-Why-Casey-Anthony-will-be-acquitted

Texas Town Braces For Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs’ Trial

Texas Town Braces For Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs’ Trial

(WATCH)  WILL WEISSERT   07/25/11 SAN ANGELO, Texas

The first hint of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs’ defense strategy came Monday when his attorney said his right to freedom of religion was trampled by Texas prosecutors, who claim he sexually assaulted two underage girls after manipulating them into “spiritual marriages.”

Jury selection began Monday in the case of the 55-year-old ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism that believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. The church’s 10,000 members see Jeffs as a prophet who speaks for God on Earth….

Jeffs is accused of sexual assaulting two girls, one younger than 17 and one younger than 14. The charges against him include aggravated sexual assault of a child, which is punishable by up to 99 years to life in prison.

He faces a separate trial for bigamy in October.

The charges stem from an April 2008 police raid on a church compound known as Yearning For Zion outside the town of Eldorado, about 45 miles south of the West Texas oil and gas town of San Angelo. Authorities who believed girls were being forced into polygamous marriages removed more than 400 children living at the compound, and TV images of women wearing frontier-style dresses and 19th century hairdos were shown across the country.

The original call to a Texas domestic abuse hotline that sparked the raid turned out to be a hoax. Most of the children seized from the compound have since been returned to their families, but the evidence collected proved enough to charge Jeffs and 11 other church men with crimes including sexual assault and bigamy.

Seven church members have been convicted and received prison sentences of between 6 and 75 years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/25/warren-jeffs-polygamist-trial_n_908442.html

Casey Anthony Trial: Former Fiance Says Lee Anthony Groped Sister, Affair Denied

Casey Anthony Trial: Former Fiance Says Lee Anthony Groped Sister

By JESSICA HOPPER June 28, 2011

A former fiance of Casey Anthony testified today that the Florida woman’s brother once groped her while she slept and that she wanted to keep her daughter Caylee away from him.

Jesse Grund testified at Casey Anthony’s murder trial without jurors in the room. Judge Belvin Perry will decide Wednesday whether the testimony is admissible.

If his testimony is allowed, it could help the defense’s claims that Casey Anthony suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her brother and father. Casey Anthony, 25, is accused of murderinig daughter Caylee and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Her father, George Anthony, has denied the abuse accusations. Lee Anthony has never been asked directly by the prosecution or defense if he abused his sister.

Another former boyfriend of Casey Anthony, Tony Lazzaro, previously testified that the Florida woman said her father was physically abusive and that Lee Anthony had tried to “feel her up” but didn’t succeed….

George Anthony Denies Affair With Caylee Search Volunteer

Casey Anthony’s father also took the stand today and was questioned about reports that he had an affair with a volunteer searcher named Krystal Holloway and once confessed to her that Caylee’s disappearance was an “accident that snowballed out of control.”

George Anthony denied ever saying that. He also denied ever having a romantic or intimate relationship with Holloway who also goes by the name River Cruz.

George Anthony laughed off the accusations, saying it was funny to him that the defense would think he had an affair. However, he attacked Holloway’s character.

“I never had a romantic affair with Krystal Holloway or River Cruz…she has a questionable past…she is not a good person,” George Anthony said.

He admitted to going to Holloway’s home by himself. He said he was consoling her because she had revealed to him and his wife, Cindy Anthony, that she had a brain tumor.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey_anthony_trial/casey-anthony-trial-fiance-lee-anthony-groped-sister/story?id=13947225

Casey Anthony trial – Child Abuse Connection?

WENDY J. MURPHY: Casey Anthony trial an exercise in absurdity
By Wendy J. Murphy GateHouse News Service
Jun 27, 2011

Recently dubbed the “Trial of the Century”, the prosecution of Florida mom Casey Anthony for the murder of her toddler daughter, Caylee, could more aptly be called the Trial of the Absurd.  The prosecution seems desperate to prove Anthony’s innocence while the defense can’t manage a single reference to the evidence that actually proves Casey did not kill her child.

Casey knows more than she’s saying about who and why Caylee is dead, which is why she was offered immunity early on. The prosecution squeezed her very hard – even putting the death penalty on the table – but Casey resisted and the prosecution all but conceded defeat last week when they rested their case after presenting a woefully small pile of evidence.

….The prosecution’s case raised more questions than it answered, and it failed address the following important issues:

….3. In May and June of 08, when Caylee was sleeping with Casey at a friend’s apartment, Casey got a phone call in the middle of the night, in response to which, she roused Caylee from sleep and delivered her to some unknown location. Then she returned to her friend’s apartment and went to sleep.  Casey also delivered Caylee to unknown locations on other occasions when she claimed to be bringing Caylee to a “nanny.”  Where did she bring her? Why?

4. Why is the docket sheet in the case under seal?  It would show what motions were filed to “seal” certain evidence.  It would also show that the case has been designated a sex crime prosecution – which is important given that a sex crimes detective was involved in the early stages of the investigation.  Why?

5. Casey searched the internet to learn how to make chloroform; a substance commonly used to sedate children in the making of child porn. The public thinks Casey used chloroform to kill her child, but the drug is popular among parents who pimp their kids because it’s cheap and it causes amnesia so that victims can’t remember being abused.

Pimping kids is dangerous business and Casey apparently made someone very angry. Maybe she cut out an earlier “business” partner or ripped someone off.  A “Zenaida Gonzales” reported her laptop stolen in early June.

The distortion of truth in this strange case will lead to Casey’s acquittal, which begs the real question:  will the prosecution then have the guts, and the political will, to file new charges against Casey for what she REALLY did to that poor little girl.

http://www.patriotledger.com/archive/x898079778/WENDY-J-MURPHY-Casey-Anthony-trial-an-exercise-in-absurdity

WENDY MURPHY: Why Casey Anthony will be acquitted
GateHouse News Service
Jun 09, 2011

There has never been a more reviled criminal defendant than Casey Anthony, the Florida mom on trial for murdering her nearly 3-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008. Casey behaved like a raving psychopath after her child went missing. She went out partying, didn’t shed a tear, and got a tattoo that read “beautiful life.”

Her lawyer claims she acted weird because she was sexually abused as a child.

Maybe she was, which would help explain evidence uncovered during the murder investigation that showed Casey may have been working as a prostitute at the time Caylee was killed. Studies show that well over 90 percent of prostituted women were sexually abused as children.

http://www.patriotledger.com/opinions/x1459481866/WENDY-MURPHY-Why-Casey-Anthony-will-be-acquitted