Bulletin Board v307

Boys — the silent victims of sex trafficking — The silence nearly killed Tom Jones. As a child, Jones was raped, abused and sold to men for sex. The brutality ended when he was 15. But, like many male victims, Jones didn’t seek help, didn’t tell anyone about the trauma he had suffered. Instead, he buried his pain and shame deep inside, carrying the burden alone and in silence for another 15 years. Silence did not equal acceptance.

Caldey Abbey: first male victim comes forward to describe sexual abuse — A man has come forward to describe how he was groomed and sexually abused as a child by a Benedictine monk on Caldey Island, intensifying calls for an inquiry into what happened at the abbey in south-west Wales. The victim, who has told police of the abuse he was subject to during summer holiday trips to Caldey Island, is the first man to allege he was sexually assaulted by Father Thaddeus Kotik.

South Carolina Church To Pay $300,000 And Apologize In Child Sex Abuse Case — A Baptist church in South Carolina settled a child sexual abuse lawsuit, agreeing to issue an apology, admit liability, and to pay $300,000 to the plaintiff. Bryan Barnes, spokesman for First Baptist Church of Columbia, S.C., said that church leadership issued the apology and explained the terms of the settlement before the congregation on Sunday, according to the Baptist Press.

Bulletin Board v290

Analysis: Court reverses 40 years of law on rape sentences — Even the Mississippi Supreme Court gets to change its mind. And it did so in April, ruling that judges can sentence people convicted of rape to life in prison, even if the jury didn’t recommend a life sentence. In that 5-3 ruling, the court overturned 40 years of its own decisions that had previously found only a jury could sentence a rape defendant to life in prison.

Frats Accused of Abusing ‘Male Privilege’ for Raising Awareness of Sexual Assault — In an op-ed for The Daily Northwestern, author Jessica Schwalb chastised the fraternities because their signs might “trigger” some students. The author claimed support for the campaign was “just a cruel reminder” for sexual assault survivors and that the efforts were “purely symbolic” of the problem. The signs, which included statements such as “[Sexual assault] is everyone’s problem,” “We stand against sexual violence,” and “We support survivors,” were intended as a show of solidarity for sexual assault awareness week.

Israel snubs UN concerns about prisoner abuse in Israeli jails — Michal Sarig-Kaduri, the deputy director of the human rights department at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told United Nations’ Committee Against Torture on Wednesday that punitive measures such as solitary confinements and separation were “extremely restricted and used for short and limited periods of time, for a maximum of 14 days only.” Solitary confinement is the practice of isolating inmates in closed cells, depriving them of any human contact.

Bulletin Board v287

‘Campus Witches’ beat up a male student over sexual assault allegations — The “Campus Witches,” a feminist group at the Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, has suddenly garnered newfound popularity after video footage showing female students from the group physically assaulting a male student and accusing him of sexual abuse went viral. As the video posted on the Campus Witches’ Facebook page on March 29 shows, security officers came to rescue the male student after members of the group began to physically assault him.

Christian Brothers accused of dodging Ballarat child sex abuse compensation claims — A religious order implicated in a notorious child sex abuse ring in Victoria has been accused of refusing to assist victims achieve adequate compensation. A survivor and his lawyer said the Christian Brothers, who ran the St Alipius Boys School in Ballarat, were adopting a smoke and mirrors approach to avoid paying up.

Feds: Hastert paid to hide sexual abuse, then cried extortion — Five teenage boys who say they were molested by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. That is the dark secret the feds say led Hastert to agree to pay one victim $3.5 million so others wouldn’t come forward, federal prosecutors said Friday in a sentencing memorandum. It’s a secret that cost the once-powerful Republican $1.7 million in payouts — along with his reputation. The memo offers a damning account of the sexual abuses for the first time in a case that’s been shrouded in mystery.

Bulletin Board v286

Catholic church’s secret archives key to exposing sex abuse scandal — Huddled in a law office on Hamilton Street, the district attorneys of the five counties in the Allentown Catholic Diocese spent days poring over files that detailed nearly two dozen allegations that priests had sexually abused children over several decades. That unprecedented step came in May 2002 after sex-abuse allegations exploded in the Boston Archdiocese, prompting Allentown Bishop Edward P. Cullen to grant the five prosecutors, including Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, a rare glimpse into the diocese’s secret archives.

German Man Handed 1-Year Sentence for Sex Abuse of Boys — A German man was convicted yesterday for committing indecent sexual acts against two boys in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district, but was handed the minimum sentence of one year, meaning he will be free in a matter of months. Udo Sabiniewicz, 56, was arrested in June for allegedly sexually abusing six boys after the mothers of two of the children filed complaints with the police. Keo Thea, chief of the municipal police’s anti-human trafficking bureau, said at the time that the boys had accused Mr. Sabiniewicz of repeatedly molesting them.

Legal action launched by victims of ex Scout leader who indecently abused children in Hinckley — Victims of a former scout leader who sexually abused four boys in the 1980s have instructed lawyers to take legal action against the Scout Association. Michael Medhurst, 61, was jailed for more than five years earlier this week after admitting a string of indecent assaults against four children between 1981 and 1987 in Leicestershire. The charges related to four victims, all from the Birmingham area, who were assaulted by Medhurst between September 1981 and September 1987 in Hinckley and Castle Donington.

Bulletin Board v281

2 women who tried to make toddler do lewd acts get 15 years in prison — A regional trial court judge here recently handed down a 15-year prison term each to two women after finding them guilty of attempted human trafficking, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Persons (IACAT) in Southern Mindanao said in a statement. IACAT said the two women, whose real identities were not disclosed to protect the identities of their victims, were also fined P1 million each by Acting Presiding Judge Ma. Susana Baua of the Regional Trial Court Branch 8.

Advert Against ‘Rape Culture’ Portrays Being a Woman as the ‘Greatest Danger of All’ — A Norwegian campaign to stop sexual violence against women has received criticism for being sexist against men. The video, titled “#DearDaddy” and produced by CARE Norway, seeks to tackle “rape culture” as it shows the future life of the titular father’s unborn daughter asking him ”for a favour about boys.”

Boy ‘given electric shocks to genitals’ — Egypt must immediately release a 14-year-old boy who says he was sexually abused in detention by police using a wooden stick and bring his alleged torturers to justice, Amnesty International said. Mazen Mohamed Abdallah’s family told the rights group the teenager was repeatedly tortured in custody, including also being given electric shocks to his genitals.

Bulletin Board v280

Boy abused by man ‘four times a week’ for three years, Bristol court told — A man raped boys as young as ten, including one who he abused four times a week for three years, by grooming them with computer games, a court heard. Simon Walford, 44, is accused of preying on the two boys between 1999 and 2003, when one was aged ten and the other aged between 11 and 14. The trial at Bristol Crown Court heard the older alleged victim met Walford through a young girl who lived at the defendant’s house in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Boys should have the right to say no to feminism — The evangelical drive to teach boys to be feminists reached a new high last week with the news that every 16-year-old in Sweden is to be given a free copy of the book “We Should All Be Feminists”. The short essay, based on a 2013 TED talk by the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has become a sacred text for those who share Yvette Cooper’s belief that “we need our sons growing up as confident feminists”. So should we welcome the crusaders who wish to convert our male progeny to the “one true Goddess” of gender politics, or should we teach our boys to become free-thinkers who can choose for themselves whether they want to be feminist or not?

Bryan Singer’s Sex-Abuse Accuser Sentenced to Two Years in Prison Over Fraud Case — Hollywood sex-abuse accuser Michael Egan, who filed since-discredited lawsuits last year against director Bryan Singer and three other Hollywood figures, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison in a North Carolina fraud case involving forgery and lying to investors over a period of five years. According to an indictment handed up in December 2014, Egan “fraudulently induced victims to invest money for business … [then] stole a majority of the investment money to fund his lifestyle.” He was charged with securities fraud and wire fraud and pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy.

Bulletin Board v278

17 Former Connecticut Boy Scouts Allege Sexual Abuse — Seventeen former Boy Scouts have filed a lawsuit charging that their scoutmaster in Ridgefield sexually abused them from 1963 to 1975. The plaintiffs’ lawyer said that it was the largest single lawsuit filed against the Boy Scouts of America and that one child was molested more than 1,000 times. In addition to listing the 17 former Scouts, the lawsuit lists two girls allegedly sexually assaulted by the scoutmaster, Donald Dennis, who died two years ago.

Are we purposely ignoring child sexual abuse in Pakistan (and our homes)? — How many of you had the slightest idea that your helpless seven-year-old son, who wholeheartedly recited the Holy Quran alongside his so-called honest and unadulterated qaari sahib, was being sexually abused continuously in a barricaded room? We enjoy labelling ourselves as humble and modest beings when in truth we are the ones perpetuating brutality to its core.

Boy Tells Court How He Was Sexually Assaulted — A BOY who testified in court yesterday of his alleged sexual assault by a man he knew said he didn’t know if what was happening to him at the time was “right or wrong”. The child, who refused to face anyone other than Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs during his testimony, said he now knows that the alleged abuse was “wrong”. Stephen Serrette, who is accused of committing the abuse, sat in the prisoner’s dock as the child gave testimony.