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Post by goro on Apr 10, 2011 15:24:08 GMT -5
This is kind of off topic but somewhat related - for the record, I have many friends in the gay and lesbian community. But there is a certain subset within the male gay community of really bad sexual predators. I'm not going to postulate about the prevalence of mind control and programming within that community (and of course it happens within other communities, too.) But I do have to say that I know TWO people, older male gay guys, very accomplished in their respective arts (theater and music, respectively,) who have not only been ARRESTED for sexual impropriety with underaged males, but who continue to be EMPLOYED as TEACHERS despite their prior arrests for pedophilia.
One guy is a former drama teacher from a high school who was arrested for attempting to solicit paid sex from underage males in a nearby city. This was after years of inappropriate behavior with his OWN students. For instance, he had a teenager whom he directed in high school plays and even before this kid was out of high school, this teacher was showing gay pornographic videos at his home at cast parties where this kid and other 15 - 17 year olds were attending his cast parties. Plus propositioning some of the underage guys. Then, later, he was "cruising" in a nearby city and propositioning young men who were very obviously still "kids" - 15, 16 years old, quite obviously not adults yet . He finally got arrested for that.
He is STILL working in high schools! At a different area school system, in the inner cities this time instead of in suburbia.
There is another guy who is someone who used to live in my neighborhood. Weird musician guy who taught music in area high schools for a while until frequent "episodes" where he was repeatedly propositioning young male students got him a very firm "warning" from his bosses - he was fired, and then when he relocated to teach music in inner city schools in L.A., his bosses gave him enough recommendations/references so he was HIRED AGAIN to work with kids! He stops back to this area occasionally, and over the years I've been piecing together his story from neighbors, service people like electriciains and so forth who either went to school with this guy or whose kids studied with him - and all of them are like, "What the f**k, why was this guy never arrested when he propositioned my underage 13 year old male child as a music teacher -- while fondling himself, no less?"
Forget the Catholic church and the crap with its pedophilic priests - I'm seeing more and more this stuff is DEEPLY EMBEDED in our school systems. And if a pedophile gets into "trouble' most schools would rather quietly encourage the guy to leave and then that same teacher goes to work in the inner cities and they probbably pull the same sh*t there.
I know another guy, a famous WRITER, no less, who engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with his students at an area day school/boarding school. The management pulled this usual sh*t where they sort of fire but don't fire the teacher. What this means is that the guy was "encouraged" to leave but he still retained positive references from the school - and that's why he's still a famous and respected writer today!
That guy's name is Jonathan Ames and his writing is sexuallly perverse to the extreme - but now he has a successful show on Showtime, a movie was made from one of his novels, and nobody EVER brings up his past.
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Post by artemis on Apr 10, 2011 16:08:15 GMT -5
After all its everywhere... This guy? He's also creepy looking, gosh... Heard of him. Googled and found a pic of him kissing FIONA APPLE, ironically a victim of paedophilia... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ames |
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Post by artemis on Apr 25, 2011 5:25:09 GMT -5
"New York doctor held in Cambodia accused of having sex with boy aged 14
An American doctor working as a volunteer in a Cambodian children's hospital has been accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
Dr. James D'Agostino, 56, from, Manlius, New York, is being held in a Phnom Penh prison after being charged with buying child prostitution.
A judge said he could be held for up to six months before the municipal court decides if the case will go to trial. He faces 15 years behind bars if convicted.
D'Agostino, a pediatric emergency doctor at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, went to Cambodia in January 2009.
He was arrested on February 16 and suspended from his post at the National Pediatric Hospital last month. His lawyer, Pek Vannak, said the doctor denies the charges.
Vannak told Syracuse's Post Standard: 'He told me that it was a big mistake.'
Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) - an organisation which fights child sex in Cambodia - began investigating the doctor in January 2010, said director Samleang Seila.
In an email seen by the Standard, he said that his group learned D’Agostino was living with a 24-year-old man and three boys — ages 7, 10 and 14 — in his rental home.
He paid school tuition for the teenage boy with whom he has been accused of having sexual contact .
APLE tipped off police who questioned the boys at school where the 14-year-old told police and a school teacher he had been allegedly sexually abused by D’Agostino, Seila said.
He also claimed D’Agostino had told the boy not to say anything if asked about sexual contact, reported the Standard.
Darryl Geddes, an Upstate spokesman told the paper that the medical center has had no direct contact with the doctor since his arrest.
He arranged his first trip to Cambodia through Projects Abroad which places volunteers throughout the developing world.
In a story published on the website, D’Agostino said: ' I came to Phnom Penh with little expectations other than hot days, annoying mosquitoes and exotic foods.'
In blog entries, he explained how he helped people in one village pave a muddy road with stone and obtained uniforms for 60 school children.
* Cambodia used to be known as a place where Western tourists could easily buy sex with children.
But the country bowed to international pressure to crackdown on the trade which resulting in an increase in arrests and prosecutions."
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Post by artemis on May 6, 2011 5:21:19 GMT -5
"Shock as Catholic bishop who brokered multi-million dollar sex abuse settlement is found GUILTY of importing child porn
A Roman Catholic bishop has been found guilty of importing child pornography in a case that has sent shockwaves through Canada and the Church.
Bishop Raymond Lahey was stopped at Ottawa Airport after border guards found 588 images and dozens of videos of naked boys as young as eight on his computer and phone.
He was also carrying a bag of personal sex toys. He was found guilty on the charge today.
It is extremely rare for a bishop to be found guilty of a criminal charge. The case will also likely act as a test of the Vatican's new strict sex abuse laws, which it approved last year.
The bishop’s crimes are especially shocking for Canadians because Lahey was the public face of an historic apology and $15million (£8million) settlement for victims of sexual molestation by a priest in his diocese.
Pope Benedict even asked top church officials in Canada to do what they could to alleviate the distress caused by the arrest of such a senior figure.
Lahey was charged after being intercepted at Ottawa Airport while returning home from a trip to Europe in September 2009.
Police claimed the 70-year-old former head of the diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, was targeted after being evasive during questioning and refusing to make eye contact with border guards.
Further investigations revealed extensive travel since 2005 to countries notorious as sources of child pornography, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Spain and Germany.
A forensic examination of Lahey’s computer and several memory sticks revealed hundreds of files and around 60 videos, some of them showing boys between the ages of eight and 12 engaged in sexual acts.
He was also in possession of numerous texts featuring themes of humiliation, degradation and slavery of young boys.
After some of the images were discovered Lahey initially denied having an interest in child pornography, but told the officers that ‘he was attracted to males aged 20 to 21'.
The native of Newfoundland and Labrador resigned from the Antigonish diocese the day after he was charged but before his crimes became public.
Lahey today pleaded guilty in an Ottawa courtroom to importing child pornography but told a judge he was not guilty of possessing child pornography for the purpose of distribution.
The case is highly significant because law enforcement agencies have long looked the other way in prosecuting sex-related offences where high-ranking church officials were involved.
It will also act as a test of the Vatican's stringent sex abuse code, approved last year.
The new rules take away protection for bishops and cardinals who abuse minors - allowing them to be investigated and punished in the same way as Catholic priests.
Father Francis Morrisey, a professor of canon law at the Roman Catholic University of Saint Paul in Ottawa, claimed it was highly unusual for a bishop to face criminal charges.
‘Pornography was only formally added to the church laws in May 2010 and with this case, it shows how seriously those decisions have been taken,’ he said.
The Vatican claimed today it was considering ‘appropriate disciplinary or penal’ action against Lahey: ‘The Catholic Church condemns sexual exploitation of all kind, in particular when minors are targeted,’ a statement said.
While the church awaits his sentencing before continuing with its own trial, survivors of sexual abuse believe the hearing could be used as a precedent internationally.
‘We hope that the Lahey case is a sign that the era of deference by civil authorities toward bishops may be coming to an end,’ said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org.
Lahey, who is facing a mandatory 12-month minimum prison term, voluntarily entered custody today. The images and videos will be viewed by the judge in private before official sentencing.
In addition to the criminal charges, Lahey also faces accusations in a civil suit of sexually abusing an orphanage resident in the early 1980s.
The Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, Newfoundland was closed in 1990 after it was revealed that staff had systematically abused some 300 residents over several decades."
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Post by artemis on May 15, 2011 7:49:21 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on May 18, 2011 4:16:49 GMT -5
"Crèche owner drugged children as young as SIX MONTHS with Valium to keep them quiet
A crèche owner has been found guilty of giving Valium to children as young as six months at her nursery.
Monica Helm, 61, crushed up the pills in water and fed them to the children, causing sleeping and medical problems, the court near Cape Town, South Africa, ruled.
One parent who used the Kinderland crèche in Cynaroides Street, Heldervue, claimed her child started falling asleep everyday at 10am while another was taken to hospital with dehydration because of constipation.
Another parent, Janine Heyns, 31, took her son Michael to the doctor after hearing rumours that children were being given medication and noticing a change in his behaviour. Traces of Valium were found in tests on the boy’s urine.
Police were contacted and Helm and her assistant Angeline Carolus arrested.
Carolus then turned state witness, giving evidence against her employer and saying she was asked to administer the drug to children aged between six months and three years.
Magistrate Marylin Cannon found Helm, who had run the crèche for 24 years, guilty of seven counts of dosing children with a homemade sleeping concoction and one count of running an unregistered day care centre.
An assault charge was dismissed.
According to police, the drug was mixed with water and given to the children on a daily basis to make them sleep. The children would have woken by the time their parents collected them.
During the trial Helm claimed she had been framed but Ms Cannon threw out the charge, saying that Carolus had been a reliable witness.
Earlier the court in Somerset West was told that another parent had driven through the town late at night to try and get his son to sleep.
According to Cape Times, Ms Cannon told the court: 'Are these symptoms a sheer coincidence? These are all concerned parents. They gave credible evidence.
'Though their children attended the same school, they didn’t know each other. I found each of them reliable and unbiased.'
Outside court parents hugged each other and celebrated.
Alida Senekal, who is an aunt to one of the children affected, said Helm had betrayed her position of trust.
She told the local newspaper: 'Justice has been served. The case has set a precedent that all schools and parents need to wake up. I hope the country wakes up today.'
Valium is often prescribed for anxiety, insomnia and depression but can have dangerous side effects such as drowsiness, muscle weakness and lack of co-ordination.
Helm is due to be sentenced in July."
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Post by artemis on May 20, 2011 7:20:05 GMT -5
"Uproar as dance school offers pole dancing lessons for children as young as 12
A dance school has been blasted after offering lessons to children as young as 12 - in pole dancing.
The classes, launched on Thursday in Plymouth, Devon, have been heavily criticised by an MP and a Christian group who said children should not be 'parading as if in some kind of strip club'.
But others have backed the lessons, saying they are a 'valid form of exercise'. Sam Remmer, founder of the company and who runs the classes has also defended them, saying there was a 'big difference' between fitness pole dancing and exotic dancing.
The lessons are being run by The Art of Dance pole dance and burlesque school. It said they are aimed at making people fitter and stronger as well as boosting self-confidence.
The sessions began this week for children aged 12~15.
The dance school's website promotes the lessons as the 'gymnastic art of pole dancing'.
Each child must be accompanied by an adult for at least for their first session and they are asked to wear a T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms with shorts underneath for parts of the class that need skin contact.
Gary Streeter, Conservative MP for South West Devon, said lessons need to be treated with a 'great deal of caution'.
He said: 'We have a real problem in our country with the increasing sexualisation of children through the media, advertising, branding of products and this kind of thing would be a step in the wrong direction.'
He said that it was right to help children to be fit and healthy but any exercise would have to be carefully monitored. 'So that they weren't overtly sexual,' he said. 'We do not want 12-year-olds parading as if in some kind of strip club.
'Sam Remmer has said many people don't understand the difference between fitness pole dancing and exotic dancing. 'There is a big difference and it is unfortunate that those criticising my decision to run kids' classes haven't educated themselves as to the difference,' she said.
'To understand fitness pole dancing you have to see the pole as a climbing frame which basically means it is a gymnastic apparatus.'
The businesswoman is no stranger to controversy. In 2009 she received death threats and hate mail after it was reported The Art of Dance gave college students as young as 14 lunchtime pole-dancing demonstrations.
'I am fully aware of the extreme negative reactions some people will have,' said Sam.
'At a time when we are seeing massive problems with childhood obesity, general poor diet and lack of exercise it is essential that we get kids to try new activities. Most kids don't want to do more traditional sports such as netball or hockey.'
A spokesperson for the Mother's Union, a Christian organisation that supports families, said it is important to encourage children and teenagers to exercise and creative forms of fitness are often more popular with girls than traditional competitive sport.
'Whilst the pole dancing lessons do require parental attendance to start with, we are concerned that children are being targeted with an activity that, by and large, is part of a male club culture which objectifies women,' said the charity.
'It is naive to suggest that any young person joining such a class will be unaware of the intention of pole dancing. Obviously it is up to parents to discern whether it is appropriate for their child to join a pole dancing class, but we hope parents would
consider the negative impact it could have on their child's perception of their own body and sexuality."
However the opinion among locals is not hugely positive - Wilma Heveran 46, said: "It's diabolical. It's sick. "At that age, they're just children and they should be playing rounders or netball. "I work in a school and I see plenty of kids growing up too fast. "It's more important than ever to protect their innocence."
Angel Ferguson, 55, said: "Nowadays you can buy padded bras for twelve-year-olds, and thongs for pre-teens. "We need to be fighting for traditional values."
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Post by artemis on May 21, 2011 4:45:12 GMT -5
"23 Swedish Women Indicted On Charges Related To Child Pornography
Twenty-three women and a 43-year-old man were charged Friday with child pornography offenses in what investigators say is a unique case because of the number of female suspects.
Charges filed with the Falun district court in central Sweden say the women, aged between 38 and 70, received scores of sexually explicit video clips and photographs of children from the man, who is the main suspect in the case, and discussed them with him online in graphic detail.
The material included girls and boys of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers, prosecutor Niclas Eltenius told The Associated Press.
The man was charged with aggravated child pornography, a crime punishable with up to six years in prison, while the women faced a lesser charge that would result in a conditional sentence or a maximum of two years in prison, Eltenius said.
Defense lawyers representing two of the female suspects declined to comment.
Police didn’t release the names of the suspects in line with Swedish privacy rules.
Eltenius said the man made contact on the Internet with hundreds of women across Sweden. Those charged stayed in contact with him even after he started sending them child pornography, downloading the material and discussing it online with him.
“They expressed themselves in positive terms about the images. And they shared sexual fantasies about the children,” Eltenius said.
Most of the women have admitted to receiving the material, but say they “wrote things that they thought he wanted to hear in order to remain in contact with him,” Eltenius told AP."
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Post by artemis on May 31, 2011 4:05:03 GMT -5
"Undercover beauty queen aged 10: A mother and daughter go behind the scenes at one of the U.S.-style child beauty pageants spreading over Britain
Sunday mornings usually find me reading the papers in bed, eating pancakes with my children or taking the dog for a walk.
Today, however, I am standing in a hotel ladies’ toilet with my ten-year-old daughter, trying to prise her feet into a pair of ridiculously strappy high-heeled shoes.
‘Ow, Mummy, that HURTS,’ Annie protests loudly, attracting a smug glance from another mother who is viciously sticking curling pins into the hair — and occasionally the head — of her silent, uncomplaining daughter.
Outside, in a vast conference room, chaos is brewing. Girls as young as three are being coaxed into strappy dresses and adorned with body glitter, as their mothers — all tight white jeans, manicured nails and enough bling to accessorise the whole of Essex — fight for wall sockets to plug in hair straighteners.
Welcome to the UK Cinderella Beauty Pageant at the decidedly unglamorous Ramada Hotel in Ealing, West London, a stone’s throw from the North Circular.
This is the latest event in a disturbing trend that is fast gaining ground in the UK and could soon be taking place in a three-star hotel near you.
Unsurprisingly, this pageant originated in America 36 years ago. It was launched here two years ago by former model Diana Hare.
Today, there are 24 contestants, ranging in age from three to 16. Their sights are set firmly on Las Vegas, since that is where one winner and her posse of family hangers-on will be heading to compete in a ‘sister’ pageant.
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Second and third place runners-up receive a flimsy Made In Taiwan tiara and a trophy so tacky I doubt that even the pushiest of mothers would dare to display it on their mantelpiece.
The rest, who have all forked out a £195 registration fee to be here today, will receive nothing. Except, perhaps, a salutary lesson in how not to spend a Sunday.
Child beauty pageants are big business in America, with little girls — some only just out of nappies — dressing in disturbingly mature outfits to be paraded in front of judges. The over-sexualisation of these young girls has caused huge controversy worldwide.
So, you might rightfully ask, why have I brought my own daughter along to compete in one of these events? We are here undercover to find out what goes on behind the scenes of a children’s beauty pageant and to try to understand why a growing number of British mothers see them as little more than harmless fun.
Our investigation actually began last October when Annie attended a previous heat and — to my horror and her bemusement — came second, automatically qualifying her for this final round.
(I later discovered, however, that any parent can fork out the cash to enter their child into the final, which makes a total mockery of the previous competition.)
Annie understands she isn’t being entered seriously; that it’s just for my work. Luckily, she has watched America’s Next Top Model enough times to know the drill and is fascinated by the fact that children her age are allowed to wear lipstick and false eyelashes.
Thankfully, though, Annie is a tomboy at heart and thinks the whole thing is pretty stupid.
The website for the contest claims the emphasis of the pageant is not physical beauty but ‘the beautiful inner person that should reside in everyone — without the designer dresses and diamonds’.
If anyone in this room here today is bothered about inner self–development, I’ll eat my long-lash mascara. There’s enough make-up in one room alone to keep the female cast of The Only Way Is Essex going for an entire series. Every little girl here has at least three suitcases (pink, naturally) stuffed with outfits, hair accessories, shoes and jewellery.
As I watch my daughter unpack her one bag, bravely shrugging off incredulous stares from the others, I worry — and not for the first time — about the ethics of what I’m asking her to do.
Annie is competing in the Miss UK Cinderella category for girls aged six to 10. There are three other categories — the most shocking being the one for girls aged three to six. There’s one for those aged 10 to 13, and another for 13 upwards.
Contestants are required to wear three outfits, culminating in a ‘formal’ dress (akin to Katie Price’s pink meringue wedding gown) accessorised with shoes, diamante-studded hair pieces and Swarovski crystals.
It’s a day out that can cost upwards of £1,000. Some parents have travelled from far-flung corners of the U.K.; but the real cost is the outfits.
Many mothers have shipped their daughters’ dresses over from America, homeland of OTT, and paid anything between £200 and £300 for them. Add to that the cost of entry, two other outfits — one for the talent section and one casual — shoes, accessories, tiaras and hairpieces and you’re looking at a very expensive hobby indeed.
I’ve had a team talk with Annie and we have agreed that while it’s important she doesn’t stand out too much during the pageant, she will be wearing a borrowed dress, clothes from her own wardrobe and a tiara from our dressing-up box.
My one concession is to allow her to be made up — but I can’t help feeling more than a little disturbed at the sight of my pre-pubescent daughter with blusher on her cheeks, and wearing false eyelashes and lipstick.
The three judges take their seats as Diana Hare makes a little speech about how the Cinderella Pageant is different from all the other pageants because it focuses on ‘learning, being yourself and being happy’.
As I look at Annie, standing in heels and waiting nervously in the wings, it occurs to me that all my daughter has learnt this morning is how to apply self-tanning lotion to her legs without streaking around the ankles. And I know, for a fact, she’d be happier outside in the fresh air, on her bike or climbing a tree.
But all around me the other mothers are lapping it up — nodding and agreeing among themselves that it’s a wonderful thing they’re doing for their daughters.
A woman sitting next to me is here to support her nine-year-old granddaughter Jordan and tells me: ‘It gives them confidence, innit?’
Last year, Jordan narrowly missed out on winning the coveted plane ticket to America to compete in the U.S. pageant, so her grandmother forked out £6,000 from her savings to get her there herself — and took Mum along, too.
‘How did she do?’ I ask.
‘Well, she had points scored against her for not wearing tights,’ the grandmother replies. ‘They’re dead strict over there. But she enjoyed it. That’s the main thing.’
This, in fact, seems to be the line everybody around me is spouting. When I ask the other mothers why they’re encouraging their daughters to take part in a beauty pageant, they all come out with platitudes like ‘It makes her happy’ or ‘She’s developing her self-esteem’.
You could almost be forgiven for thinking I’m chatting to a band of mothers at a Brownie convention, not watching the unsettling spectacle of young girls, dressed way beyond their tender years, sashaying their hips and pouting for England.
Of course, I don’t want to blow my cover, so I nod and agree. But inside I’m screaming: ‘Get me out of here!’
The competition starts with the so-called ‘casual wear’ category — a chance for the girls to show the judges an outfit they feel comfortable in and which reflects their personality.
Three contestants — Tempest, Persia and Diamond — totter up to the stage, wiggling their tiny hips and striking poses for the judges. Even if you’ve seen it all before in films such as Little Miss Sunshine about U.S. child pageants, it’s even more shocking in reality. None of girls is dressed ‘casually’. In this warped world, it seems that ‘casual wear’ for a child is an all-in-one Lycra jumpsuit with sequins.
One girl, aged nine, holds the microphone with casual expertise as she tells us all she’d like to be known for ‘promoting natural beauty around the world’. It turns out her mother is the female compere of today’s show.
Another contestant is the daughter of one of the organisers. I am beginning to sense a theme here — particularly when, later in the day, both these girls are awarded first prize in their different age groups.
My daughter is next and I can’t help feeling a rush of nerves because I desperately don’t want her to care about what, I realise, is going to be an inevitable outcome.
Annie strides forward onto the stage. When asked what her favourite television programme is, she replies: ‘Are You Smarter Than A Ten-Year-Old?’ Ha. That’s my girl.
For her talent, she is singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow (we couldn’t quite master baton-twirling in time). Despite the fact she seems to be enjoying all the attention, I confess I’m still worried.
First, about the effect all this is having on her; and secondly, that she might decide she quite enjoys it. So far, she has been clapped and cheered by the audience in just the same way as all the others.
Between each round there’s a mad dash to change outfits, curl hair and apply lip gloss. The room is unbearably hot and tempers fray. I hear one mother coaching her daughter: ‘When they ask who your biggest influence is, say it’s Michelle Mone.’
‘But Mum,’ the girl says, ‘I’ve never heard of her.’
I can almost understand why a little girl would want to spend her Sunday glammed up and pretending to be a model (although Annie is increasingly bored). But why are these parents indulging them in what is, at best, shallow — and, at worst, worryingly sexually precocious?
As the judges retire to consider their verdict, I reflect on what I’ve witnessed today; a contest that is, in my view, exploitative, but also questionably run.
I feel ashamed to have exposed my lovely girl to a world where she has been scrutinised for what she looks like — not as the funny, loveable person she is.
As the trophies are handed out and Annie, who has come last, is left standing alone on the stage, looking awkward, I feel like the biggest loser of all.
Of course Annie wasn’t expecting to win — but what 10-year-old girl wants to feel she hasn’t made the grade because her dress isn’t sparkly enough or her hair done quite right?
Then she winks at me and I know — thank goodness — that she couldn’t care less.
It’s the other little girls — and particularly the winner, who will doubtless go on to a wearying array of further such pageants — who I feel really sorry for."
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Post by artemis on Jun 1, 2011 15:24:18 GMT -5
"Nigerian 'baby factory' raided, 32 teenage girls freed
LAGOS (AFP) – Nigerian police have raided a home allegedly being used to force teenage girls to have babies that were then offered for sale for trafficking or other purposes, authorities said on Wednesday.
"We stormed the premises of the Cross Foundation in Aba three days ago following a report that pregnant girls aged between 15 and 17 are being made to make babies for the proprietor," said Bala Hassan, police commissioner for Abia state in the country's southeast.
"We rescued 32 pregnant girls and arrested the proprietor who is undergoing interrogation over allegations that he normally sells the babies to people who may use them for rituals or other purposes."
Some of the girls told police they had been offered to sell their babies for between 25,000 and 30,000 naira (192 dollars) depending on the sex of the baby.
The babies would then be sold to buyers for anything from 300,000 naira to one million naira (1,920 and 6,400 dollars) each, according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
The girls were expected to be transferred to the regional NAPTIP offices in Enugu on Wednesday, the regional head Ijeoma Okoronkwo told AFP.
Hassan said the owner of the "illegal baby factory" is likely to face child abuse and human trafficking charges. Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.
"We have so many cases going on in court right now," said Okoronkwo.
In 2008, police raids revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or "factories" in the local press.
Cases of child abuse and people trafficking are common in West Africa. Some children are bought from their families to for use as labour in plantations, mines, factories or as domestic help.
Others are sold into prostitution while a few are either killed or tortured in black magic rituals. NAPTIP says it has also seen a trend of illegal adoption.
"There is a problem of illict adoption and people not knowing the right way to adopt children," said Okoronkwo.
Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug trafficking in the country, according to UNESCO."
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Post by artemis on Jun 8, 2011 4:30:29 GMT -5
"Mothers warned nursery of paedophile toddler rapist who groomed 22 girls online
A nursery which employed a young man who raped a toddler failed to act on warnings from parents about his conduct, it emerged last night.
Paul Wilson, 20, took shocking pictures of himself assaulting the child, aged just two or three, at the nursery.
He also sexually groomed more than 20 young girls online, persuading them to commit sexual acts and leaving them violated and humiliated.
Last night one mother claimed she warned the Little Stars Day Nursery in Nechells, Birmingham, months before Wilson’s arrest in January.
She was suspicious of Wilson and said she disliked his presence in the nursery, but staff failed to act. In the end, she removed her child.
‘I objected to a man working in the nursery and doing things like changing the children’s nappies,’ she said. ‘He was a nice, pleasant boy, but I was a bit suspicious of him. I asked if something could be done, but they said no so I pulled my child out and looked for a different nursery.’
A grandmother of a two-year-old boy at the nursery said that Wilson was ‘always trying to take pictures of the kids’.She said: ‘He loved taking pictures all the time. The pictures were put up all over the nursery.
‘Once, he deleted the pictures of my two-year-old grandson in front of me, which I thought was very strange.
‘But who knows what pictures he was taking when no one was watching?’
She added that staff always took the children into rooms on their own to change their nappies.
No sanction has been taken against the privately-run nursery, and Birmingham City Council has allowed it to re-open under the same ownership.
Its managers claim it has regained the trust of parents.
Incredibly, Wilson was studying to be a primary school teacher at the time of his arrest, indicating that he was trying to maximise his access to young children.
Yesterday he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court charged with 50 sexual offences over three years.
Unshaven and wearing a scruffy designer t-shirt and jeans, he pleaded guilty to crimes including two counts of rape against a child at the nursery where he worked, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and making and distributing 800 indecent images of children across England and Wales. He denied three offences.
It took half an hour to read the charges and Wilson, from Nechells, raised his head only to enter his pleas.
He was remanded in custody for sentencing later this month. Judge William Davis QC told Wilson he faces an indeterminate sentence and added: ‘The public needs to be protected from you.’
Wilson is the second nursery worker to be convicted of child sex attacks in recent years.
Vanessa George is serving an indeterminate jail term for abusing toddlers and taking photos at Little Ted’s nursery in Plymouth.
Wilson worked at Little Stars for about 18 months. Police say that checks on his background and criminal record were carried out and came back clear. After his arrest in January this year, police checked his mobiles and computer and discovered shocking images of him orally raping a child at Little Stars, where he was employed as an assistant.
The child was quickly identified and the parents informed.
Yesterday manager Stacey Spooner said there were now procedures in place to protect the children at the nursery, which reopened in March.
She said: ‘We were devastated when this happened and we have had to fight to overcome everything. We have faced a lot of upheaval.
‘That one man could cause such harm was devastating for us but we have rebuilt that trust with parents.’ The paedophile groomed his 22 girl victims, who were aged 12 to 16 at the time, by posing as teenage girls, teenage boys and, on one occasion, a model scout.
Once he had gained their trust, he would get them to commit sexual acts which he recorded on webcams before threatening to show the images to their friends and family if they refused to continue to comply with his depraved demands.
He even persuaded one girl to commit a sexual act with her sister for his gratification.
Police discovered that Wilson had created 23 false online profiles which he used to contact potential victims. He would slowly introduce a sexual element, while at the same time ‘introducing’ his victims to other people, who were in fact one or more of his online personas.
This fictitious ‘community’ would exert pressure on the children to commit sexual acts whilst Wilson filmed them using webcams.
He would then threaten to send the images to their friends and family if they refused to continue to comply with his depraved demands.
Wilson’s crimes were discovered when one of his online victims told police that he was blackmailing her by threatening to show indecent images of her to her friends and family. Claude Knights, director of children’s charity Kidscape, said: ‘This is a most disturbing case involving a persistent predator who has infiltrated himself into settings where he could gain access to vulnerable infants.
‘This case serves to reiterate two important messages. Firstly, parents must participate in their children’s online lives.
‘Secondly, following similarly harrowing cases in other nursery schools, managers must monitor and vet their staff rigorously.’
Wilson was born to a single mother, Barbara Wilson, 51, who works at another nearby nursery called Noah’s Ark. He shared a ground-floor flat with her and her partner Theo D-Souza just five minutes from the Little Stars nursery.
At the time of Wilson’s arrest, his stepfather had a link to a Facebook group called ‘Stop Abuse on Children’.
Wilson was a keen user of the internet and social networking sites.
On one, he described how he was training to be a primary school teacher and listed his favourite films as Toy Story, Shrek and High School Musical.
On another, he wrote on his profile that he ‘would love to do more work with families’ but that he did not want to ‘stop the day-to-day working with children bit of my job’.
'I was violated and betrayed'
One of the young girls coerced into performing vile acts by Paul Wilson said she felt ‘pure hatred’ for the nursery worker who made her feel ‘violated’.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he groomed her over the MSN messenger programme and web-based youth community Netlog.
He began innocent conversations with her, but gradually persuaded her to expose herself in front of her webcam.
He then told her he would send the images to her friends if she refused to perform further acts.
The girl, who is now 17, said: ‘I was really scared that he was going to send it to everybody else.
‘It was the choice of carrying on doing this – which I just did not want to do – or going through total humiliation from these images.’
Eventually, the teenager was so mentally exhausted by Wilson’s demands that she decided she did not care whether he sent the images out and deleted him from her MSN account.
After she discovered what the nursery worker had done to other victims, she said: ‘I felt violated – it betrayed all my trust. I felt quite stupid and ashamed that I had succumbed to what he had asked me to do.’
The girl added that she had now changed the way she uses the internet.
‘I am really careful,’ she said. ‘I will only speak to people who I know in the real world.’
Her mother warned other parents to monitor their children’s internet use more closely, saying: ‘You think they are safe, just talking to their friends, but there are outsiders who will latch on and pretend to be their friends and take them for what they want.’
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Post by artemis on Jun 11, 2011 4:03:46 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Jun 15, 2011 4:02:02 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Jun 16, 2011 4:31:53 GMT -5
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Post by treegenus on Jun 16, 2011 11:22:47 GMT -5
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