Vatican officials threaten to sue ex-altar boys over sexual misconduct allegations
© Reuters
Catholic Church officials in Italy have threatened to file criminal defamation charges against former altar boys of the Pope, after they accused an older seminarian of sexual misconduct. The alleged crimes reportedly occurred within the Vatican’s walls.
The claims originated from an ex-student identified as “Marco,” who says a seminarian one year older than him would come into his dorm room at night and demand oral sex. This began when Marco was 13 and continued until he was 18, the alleged victim told Italian reporter Gaetano Pecoraro.
Marco's roommate, Kamil Jarzembowski, says he witnessed dozens of such incidents, and brought them to the attention of seminary officials. He then wrote to cardinals, and ultimately to Pope Francis in 2014.
Church officials say internal investigations were conducted and the claims determined to be false. However, officials did not interview the boys in question, according to AP. Marco, Jarzembowski, and a third boy who reported a groping incident when the seminarian was 20 and he was 15, went public with their allegations in a book and series of investigative reports on Italia 1 TV’s program “Le Iene” (“The Hyenas”).
The public allegations haven’t gone over well with the Catholic Church, whose officials are reportedly now threatening the three alleged victims with criminal defamation charges, AP reported on Friday.
Riccardo Rolando Riccardi, a lawyer representing the Catholic association Opera Don Folci which runs the Vatican’s St. Pius X pre-seminary, wrote in a November 17 letter to at least one former student that he was preparing a criminal defamation case in Rome's tribunal. The letter states the case “for the alleged crime committed by the divulgation of news to the press about alleged acts of sexual assault that allegedly occurred” in the seminary. The letter, seen by AP, instructed the ex-student to come in for questioning or face interrogation by prosecutors in Rome.
Opera Don Folci had previously addressed the boys’ claims on its website, calling them “mud,” a “violent attack on the church,” and “nothing more than calumny and falsifications.”
Meanwhile, Le Iene revealed during a broadcast last week that it had received a letter from the diocese of Como warning it against proceeding with the story. The program showed the letter on air, which once again stressed that a church investigation had shown “everything that was alleged turned out to be unfounded.” Lawyers in the diocese of Como have also warned Mediaset television network, which oversees the Le Iene program, against broadcasting the boys’ claims.
However, Le Iene’s Pecoraro also interviewed Rev. Andrea Stabellini, the Como vicar who conducted the investigation. Thinking the camera wasn’t rolling, Stabellini admitted he had recommended the probe continue because he believed there was sufficient evidence to support the boys’ claims. Pecoraro told AP he has since learned that church officials were pressuring Stabellini to recant that view.
Stabellini was overruled in the original investigation by other church officials, with top Vatican cardinal Angelo Comastri – who oversees the seminary as the Pope’s vicar for Vatican City – intervening in the case. Comastri has denied any cover-up, saying he ordered three separate investigations about alleged wrongdoing in 2013.
The accused became a priest this year, with the diocese of Como stating earlier this month that church superiors had investigated claims against the former seminarian and had deemed him worthy of becoming ordained. It said that church authorities in Rome had also given him a “positive” evaluation.
It's not like he would be the first gay, child predator ordained by the Catholic Church. There are thousands of them!
Meanwhile, the Vatican says it has launched another investigation into the reports. It claims the new probe is aimed at trying to shed “full light on what really happened.”
Vatican City, Rome
China Kindergarten Sex Abuse and 'Needlemarks' Claims Prompt Police Probe
Reuters
A child plays outside the kindergarten run by preschool operator RYB Education Inc being investigated by China's police, in Beijing, China, Nov. 24, 2017.
BEIJING —
Police in China are investigating claims of sexual molestation and needlemarks on children at a Beijing kindergarten run by preschool operator RYB Education Inc, the latest case in a booming child care industry to spark outrage among parents.
The official Xinhua news agency said in a news report late Thursday that police were checking allegations that some teachers and staff had abused children, who were "reportedly sexually molested, pierced by needles and given unidentified pills."
Parents said their children, some as young as three, relayed troubling accounts of a naked adult male conducting purported "medical checkups" on students, who were also unclothed, other media said.
Some parents who gathered Thursday outside the school in the capital to demand answers said their children gave matching accounts of being fed unidentified tablets and of punishments where students were "made to stand" naked in class, media said.
The welfare of children in professional care has become a hot-button issue in China, where a string of high-profile cases of abuse has underlined lax regulations and supervision in the child care and early learning industry.
"We deeply apologise for the serious anxiety this matter has brought to parents and society," RYB said in a statement on its official microblog Friday, adding that it was helping authorities.
A parent is surrounded by members of the media outside the kindergarten run by preschool operator RYB Education Inc being investigated by China's police
"We are currently working with the police to provide relevant surveillance materials and equipment; the teachers in question have been suspended and we are co-operating with the police investigation," it said.
The school's principal had lodged a police report against "individuals who have engaged in false accusations and framing," it said, without elaborating.
Beijing police did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
China's education ministry has begun a special investigation into the operation of kindergartens, it said in a statement Thursday, and told education departments nationwide to "take warning from these types of incidents."
Widespread outrage
Separate incidents in China of children being slapped, beaten with a stick, and having their mouths sealed shut with duct tape have also gone viral and fueled anger online.
News of the investigation into the Beijing kindergarten triggered a wave of outrage on social media, with more than 76 million mentions of "RYB" on Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat messaging service Thursday.
"These may be individual cases but the deeper problems they reflect cannot be overlooked," a Xinhua editorial said. "Laws must be enforced, supervision strengthened, teacher wages increased, the childcare industry cannot be allowed to grow in an uncivilised fashion."
China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast images of police and angry parents gathered outside the school in Beijing, calling for answers.
RYB, which listed in New York in September, says on its website it runs a network of more than 1,300 directly owned and franchised play-and-learn centers and nearly 500 kindergartens for children up to the age of six, in about 300 cities and towns around China.
The investigation follows the emergence this month of videos showing teachers at another kindergarten in the commercial hub of Shanghai physically abusing and force-feeding infants.
Chinese education providers have been attracting major investment, while others have sought global listings, latching onto fast-growing demand from parents for high-end education services.
Trinidad and Tobago man on bail
after child sex abuse charges
LOOP NEWS
A 34-year-old Belmont man was granted bail after he appeared in court Thursday, charged with molesting a 13-year-old girl.
According to a report from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), Michael Paul was granted $80,000 after appearing before a Port of Spain Magistrate, charged with two counts of sexual touching against a 13-year-old girl.
The offences are alleged to have taken place during the period, February 1, 2017 and February 28, 2017.
Paul, of Upper St. Francois Valley Road, Belmont, appeared before Magistrate Adia Mohammed in the Port of Spain 7th Magistrates’ Court on Friday, November 24, 2017, to answer to the charges.
The matter was adjourned to Thursday 14th December, 2017.
The TTPS said bail was granted on the condition that the accused has no form of communication with the victim, whether direct or indirect. He has also been ordered to not come within 500 meters of the victim.
Paul was charged by Cpl (Ag.) Yohan Mc Kain of the Child Protection Unit on Thursday, November 23, 2017.
The Port of Spain Child Protection Unit has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse and assaults against children under the supervision of Insp. Clement Marshall and W/Sgts. Jacqueline Solomon-Patrice and Michelle Lewis.
The TTPS said the Unit has also increased lectures in schools and with community groups, to heighten awareness as a proactive approach to reduce crime against children.
Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Tennis chiefs investigate child sex abuse in UK
London - British tennis chiefs have issued an apology and will instigate an independent inquiry after a coach in Wales was jailed earlier this year for sexually abusing an under-age player.
Daniel Sanders, who once partnered Britain's former world number four Tim Henman in doubles and reportedly coached Jamie Murray for a time, was sentenced to six years behind bars in July after admitting eight counts of sexual activity with a child.
The Lawn Tennis Association, the governing body of the sport in Britain, accepted its actions to protect children playing the game were "not enough" in this case.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of children who play tennis," a statement on the LTA website read. "Creating a secure, respectful environment for those in our sport is our top priority as an organisation.
"We have always been committed to having the best safeguarding procedures possible at every level of the game, but in this case the actions we took were not enough, and we apologise sincerely for the impact on all those affected."
The LTA said it had decided to undertake a "wide-ranging, independent inquiry into Wrexham Tennis Centre and this case".
"We are also continuing to engage and work with those who have been directly affected by what happened to ensure they have the support they need and that we, and tennis clubs nationwide, set and uphold the highest standards possible in this area," the statement added.
English football's governing body the Football Association is currently carrying out an independent inquiry into historical child sex abuse in the game.
Several ex-professional players have come forward publicly to allege abuse at the hands of youth coaches after Andy Woodward revealed last year he was abused by a convicted child molester at Crewe Alexandra.
Child sex penalties should match offence:
Centre Against Violence CEO - Australia
THE penalties for adults who sexually abuse children need a significant amount of work, according to the head of the Wangaratta Centre Against Violence, in Victoria, Australia
A 20-year-old North East man recently avoided jail for the persistent sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl.
Shawn Wilkinson will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life for persistently sexually abusing a child under 16, child pornography possession and breaching notices and orders.
The relationship was discovered when the victim’s father read text messages and reported the matter to police.
But he avoided jail for the offending, and will instead undertake 200 hours of community work on a three year corrections order.
Centre Against Violence chief executive Kerry Burns did not want to comment directly on the case. But she said society needed to protect children under 16, who can't give informed consent.
“I think at the moment, the messaging is way too soft, especially when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has shown the harm caused,” she said.
“We’ve heard directly from victims – we’ve heard what happens and how it’s affected their lives, and it’s been devastating.”
Ms Burns said there were cases where the community agreed with sentences, and those where it did not.
“I think we’ve got a great deal of work to do in that area,” she said.
“We need to be able to agree together on a range of penalties when an adult has sex with a child.
“It’s clear the age of consent for sexual relationships is 16 in Victoria.
“When an adult – any person aged 18 – seeks out a sexual relationship with a child, their behaviour is that of a sex offender. It’s an important principle to maintain."
"The penalty has to be applied to serve the safety of society as a priority.”
In sentencing Wilkinson in the county court, Judge James Montgomery said he needed to balance the interests of the community, denounce the behaviour and ensure offenders were rehabilitated.
Wilkinson, who was born in Wangaratta and lives in Benalla, was found to be emotionally similar to an adolescent.
A psychologist found he wasn't “locked into a deviance where he is seeking out vulnerable children to have sexual encounters with".
But Wilkinson was also found to be of moderate risk of committing further sex offences.
Brit sentenced to five years for child sex abuse
in Cyprus
ANGELOS ANASTASIOU CRIME, CYPRUS 13
A 46-year-old British man was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday in connection with four incidents of sexual abuse of his partner’s 11-year-old daughter between May and August 2015.
The Paphos criminal court held closed hearings for 18 months and found the man guilty on November 6.
On Friday, he was handed four five-year jail terms for each of the sexual abuse counts, as well as four three-year jail sentences for each of four sexual exploitation of children counts and an additional two-year jail term for each of the charges of indecent assault against a woman.
However, all sentences will run concurrently.
The court expressed dismay and repulsion at the nature of the offences, and said it took into account the close family bond created between the defendant and the victim, as well as the relationship of trust and influence he abused.
Mitigating factors, the court said in its ruling, were the defendant’s clean criminal record, his personal and family circumstances, and the consequences of imprisonment on him.
The man’s lawyer is expected to appeal the ruling.
He was sentenced to 40 years and has to serve only 5, and he's appealing??? Take it and run!
Respected UK businessman jailed for child sex abuse committed when he was 15
Gabriella Swerling, Northern Correspondent
A respected businessman has been jailed after being unmasked over child sexual assaults he committed when he was 15.
Minshull St. Crown Court, Manchester
Jason Winward, 46, was studying for his O level exams when he molested a nine-year-old boy and threatened him with an axe in the 1980s.
His victim did not report the incidents to police at the time and over the ensuing 30 years Winward got married, forged a career as a company manager and helped to build a printing company which had annual turnover of £1.5 million and 25 employees.
Police began a historic abuse investigation last year after the victim’s father discovered that he had stormed round to Winward’s £250,000 rural home in Littleborough, near Rochdale in Greater Manchester, in an attempt to confront his abuser over the incidents many years earlier. It is not believed that any confrontation took place.
The victim, who cannot be named, is now 39 and suffers from severe depression. He told Minshull Street crown court, Manchester, that he had been forced to perform sex acts on Winward in a garden shed and was attacked by him after being lured to his bedroom with the promise of a free football poster if he engaged in sexual activity. The court was told that the victim, being an “avid fan” of football, complied but Winward then refused to give him the poster.
He claimed that Winward had threatened to chop off his fingers with the axe if he told anyone, even pinning his hand down on the floor and bringing down the weapon next to the victim’s thumb.
The court was told that when his victim summoned the courage to stand up to Winward, he “threw him to the floor”, causing him to suffer a cut to his knee which required stitches.
The attacks only ended when Winward’s parents split up and he moved out of the area.
Winward denied wrongdoing but was unanimously found guilty of six charges of indecent assault and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm between 1986 and 1987.
As Winward, the director of Pad Printers Ltd in Heywood, Greater Manchester, was sentenced to ten years in prison, he blew kisses to his family from the dock while other relatives in the public gallery sobbed and gasped. One said “oh god no” and others ran out of the courtroom.
Passing sentence, Judge Bernadette Baxter told Winward that he had subjected his victim to “a frightening and disgusting experience”.
She said: “You were 15 at the time and are now a mature 46-year-old who has had 30 years of leading a decent life. You’re married, have become a father to stepchildren and have built a family business.
“But these are grave offences. Why you committed them is unclear. Whether it was because you were an adolescent boy experimenting with your own sexuality or a bully doesn’t matter because the effect on the life of the victim is clear on the evidence I heard from him and his family, and has resulted in long-standing depression.
“You took advantage of his innocence and vulnerability by exploiting him.”
Jane Greenhalgh, for the defence, said in mitigation: “My client is of good character with no suggestion of further offending. The offender was very young and immature at the time of the offence. His age at the time is relevant to his culpability.
“He’s married, he’s from a very supportive family and is now a successful businessman. This was isolated offending.”
It is thought that Winward will appeal. According the Sentencing Council judges have to take into account the age of an offender at the time of the offence. Youths under 18 can be imprisoned for a maximum of five years if convicted of sexual offences upon children under 16.
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