Black Hebrews cult leader and six others charged with murder after bodies of missing woman and boy found

News & Observer    -   North Carolina    June 10, 2011

Cult leader Pete Moses Jr. charged in boy's death

BY THOMASI MCDONALD AND MANDY LOCKE -  N&O Staff Writers



DURHAM -- Investigators found the remains of a child Thursday at the same East Durham house where a missing woman's body was discovered Wednesday.

Pete Lucas Moses Jr., 27, is charged with first degree murder in the death of 5-year-old Jadon Higganbothan, thought to have been missing since October 2010.

Investigators suspect Jadon and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, 28, whose body was unearthed at the house Wednesday, were the victims of a small religious cult led by Moses.

Sheilda Evelyn Harris, Moses' mother, and her husband rented the Ashe Street house for almost a year, property owner Dr. Wesley King said Thursday. They moved out of the house Feb. 19, within days of when police went toMoses' home at 2109 Pear Tree Lane, looking for McKoy.

"Their lease was up Feb. 28," King, a Durham orthodontist, said.

Moses also was charged Wednesday with the first-degree murder of McKoy. Also charged were six others: Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40; Sheilda Evelyn Harris, 56; Shelia Falisha Moses, 20; P. Leonard Moses, 20; Larhonda Renee Smith, 40; and Vania Rae Sisk, 25, who is Jadon's mother.

Pete Moses Jr. has been held in the Durham County jail since he was arrested April 12, accused of assaulting and kidnapping Zayna Thomas, one of several women who police say lived with him in polygamous relationships. Four others were taken into custody Wednesday. Sisk and Smith turned themselves in Thursday morning.

The case began to unfold in February when a police officer went to the 2109 Pear Tree Lane home of Pete Moses Jr., looking for McKoy. She had been reported missing by her family after going to visit Moses in December.

It was Zayna Thomas who answered the door, and she related an unimaginable tale.

Identified in court documents as "ZT," Thomas told police that Pete Moses Jr. killed Jadon. Sisk said she left her son with an acquaintance in Durham on Feb. 20, but investigators couldn't find anyone who had seen him since October 2010.

Thomas also told police that Sisk and Smith beat McKoy as she tried to escape, and then Sisk, on Moses' order, shot and killed McKoy.

According to search warrants, police found some evidence to suggest foul play inside the house on Pear Tree Lane: spots that looked like blood, a fired bullet and shell casing, and indications that areas of the house had been vigorously cleaned.

But, until Wednesday, no bodies had been found and authorities didn't have enough evidence to charge Moses with murder.

All seven suspects are in custody at the Durham County jail without bail bonds.

'Good tenants'

The white concrete block house at 2622 Ashe St. has been vacant since Sheilda Evelyn Harris and several of her family members moved out in February, according to King, the property owner.

"They were good tenants who paid their rent on time," he said. "I never had any problems with them."

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said the house had not been part of their investigation because Moses' mother was not under suspicion.

"There was no reason to get a search warrant," he said.

King said Sheilda Harris lived at the home for about a year with her husband, Anthony Leon Harris, two of her children, Sheila Moses and P. Leonard Moses, and her stepdaughter, Diamond Harris, 7.

Diamond Harris has been placed in foster care, but her biological mother, Regina Oliverei, and stepfather, Alfred Oliverei Jr., are battling with the Durham Department of Social Services to regain custody.

Regina Oliverei said she lost custody of both her daughters in June 2009, when she had to serve 16 days in jail for a worthless check conviction.

The Olivereis live on Owen Street, just around the corner from the Ashe Street house. Regina Oliverei said Diamond had became a withdrawn person who refused to hug her during weekend visits and who cried when it was time to return to Ashe Street.

Remains found

McKoy's remains were found Wednesday by a plumber called to investigate clogged pipes at the Ashe Street house. The plumber borrowed a shovel from the next door neighbor and the two men dug until they realized something was in the bag and called police.

McKoy lived in Washington but reconnected with Pete Moses Jr. over the Internet a year ago. When she visited him in Durham a few times, he told her the other women were his sisters whom he refused to abandon as the fathers of their children had, McKoy's sister, Janayia Dubose, said.

But Zayna Thomas described a belief system and lifestyle that Durham police have since labeled a cult affiliated with Black Hebrews, a religious sect that believes a race war will culminate in blacks' dominance. Moses fathered children with the women and kept his growing brood under lock and key.

"My sister is a devout Christian," Dubose said earlier this year.

In December, McKoy traveled to North Carolina again to talk to police about someone stealing her identity, Dubose said. Family members last talked to her a few days after she arrived.

"It is unlike my sister to go silent," Dubose said. "When Christmas came and she hadn't returned, we knew something was wrong."

News researchers Brooke Cain and Peggy Neal contributed to this report.

This article was found at:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/06/10/1261546/site-of-womans-body-yields-remains.html

********************************************************************

News & Observer    -   North Carolina    June 9, 2011

Additional remains of small child found at Durham house

BY THOMASI MCDONALD AND MANDY LOCKE - N&O Staff writers


DURHAM -- Police have found a second set of human remains, consistent with those of a small child, in the East Durham neighborhood where a missing woman's body was found Wednesday.

Police spokesman Kammie Michael confirmed that a medical examiner was called to the scene on Ashe Street this evening and determined that the second set of human remains are consistent with those of a small child.

Human remains that police think is Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, the suspected victim of a small religious cult, were unearthed Wednesday in the backyard of a vacant rental house at 2622 Ashe St.

The last two suspects in a murder case turned themselves in today.

Vania Sisk and Larhonda Smith joined five people already behind bars. All seven suspects are in Durham County Jail without bonds.

Charles McLean, 64, a stock clerk at Angus Barn, was working on his grandson's bicycle Wednesday morning behind his red-brick home when a plumber working next door at 2622 Ashe St. asked to borrow a shovel.

Pipes that ran from the house under the backyard were clogged and the man suspected it had something to do with a thick black plastic bag that was sticking up out of the ground behind a white storage shed.

"He got to shoveling and the more he dug, the bigger the bag got," McLean said.

Something inside the bag smelled rotten and the men thought someone may have buried a dead dog in the foot-deep hole. Another neighbor had come over and suggested they tear open the heavy-duty garbage bag.

"I told them to leave that alone and call the police," McLean said.

When an officer arrived, he used a nail to rip a long tear in the bag and what the men saw was not somebody's deceased pet.

"It looked like a forearm," McLean said. "It was still intact."

McLean said the officer quickly shooed them away from the scene and called for assistance.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez would not confirm McLean's account of how McKoy's body was found.

"But it sounds familiar," the police chief said.

A medical examiner came to the scene and confirmed that the remains were human, according to police spokeswoman Kammie Michael.

By evening, seven people were charged with murder in the death of McKoy, 28, whose family reported her missing in February.

Five suspects - Pete Lucas Moses Jr., 27, Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40, Shielda Evelyn Harris, 56, Shelia Moses, 20, and P. Leonard Moses, 20, - were in custody Wednesday night. All but Pete Lucas Moses listed their address as 2146 Charles St.

Pete Lucas Moses had been held in the Durham County jail since he was arrested April 12, accused of assaulting and kidnapping Zayna Thomas, one of several women who police say lived with him in polygamous relationships.

Police have been working for months to build a case against him in the disappearance of McKoy, his former high school sweetheart, and Jadon Higganbothan, the 5-year-old son of Vania Sisk, another of his live-in girlfriends.

Jadon, last seen in October 2010, remains missing. Sisk told investigators she left her son with an acquaintance in Durham on Feb. 20.

A missing person

The case began to unfold in February when a police officer went to Pete Lucas Moses' home at 2109 Pear Tree Lane, looking for McKoy, who had been reported missing by her family after going to visit Moses in December.

Thomas came to the door and related an unimaginable tale.

Identified in court documents as "ZT," she told police that Pete Lucas Moses killed Jadon. She also said Sisk and another woman, Smith, beat McKoy as she tried to escape. She told them that Sisk, under Moses' order, shot and killed McKoy.

According to search warrants, police found some evidence to suggest foul play inside the house on Pear Tree Lane: spots that looked like blood, a fired bullet and shell casing, and indications that areas of the house had been vigorously cleaned.

But, until Wednesday, no bodies had been found and authorities didn't have enough evidence to charge him with murder.

Thomas described a belief system and lifestyle that Durham police have since labeled a cult affiliated with Black Hebrews, a religious sect that believes a race war will culminate in blacks' dominance.

Pete Lucas Moses fathered children with the women and kept his growing brood under lock and key.

McKoy lived in Washington, but reconnected with Pete Lucas Moses over the Internet a year ago. When she visited him in Durham a few times, he told her the other women were his sisters whom he refused to abandon as the fathers of their children had, McKoy's sister, Janayia Dubose, said.

She also had no concept of his religious beliefs.

"My sister is a devout Christian," Dubose said earlier this year.

Coming to N.C.

In December, McKoy traveled to North Carolina again to talk to police about someone stealing her identity, Dubose said. She packed a few changes of clothes and her Bible, Dubose said.

McKoy last talked to her family in early December, a few days after she arrived.

"It is unlike my sister to go silent," Dubose said. "When Christmas came and she hadn't returned, we knew something was wrong."

When they tracked down a phone number for Moses, he told them McKoy was fine but wouldn't put her on the phone. Durham police started to investigate in February.

News researchers Brooke Cain and Peggy Neal contributed to this report.

This article was found at:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/06/09/1258746/additional-remains-of-small-child.html

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG

Arrest of Black Hebrew cult leader suspected of murder sheds light on shadowy sects preparing for apocalyptic race war


Black Hebrew cult leader suspected of murder arrested along with mother of missing boy


Police still searching for missing boy and woman presumed killed by Black Hebrew polygamy cult leader


Children removed from Black Hebrew polygamy cult, missing boy allegedly murdered by sect leader


Newly released book of how a child brought down the Nation of Yahweh


House of Yahweh sect may be Texas test case


House of Yahweh cult leader convicted of child labor violations, bigamy charges dropped due to time limit and lack of resources


Texas Doomsday Prophet Faces Bigamy Charges


Head of religious sect charged with bigamy


Child labor charge filed against House of Yahweh cult leader


House of Yahweh 'prophet' no different than other charismatic cult leaders who manipulate and exploit followers


Book on “Malachi” York and his crimes against children details what prosecutor calls his “most significant” case


Nuwaubian Nation of Moors cult founder Malachi York accuses FBI of coercing witnesses, asks court to vacate his sentence


Nuwaubians Protest in Macon


Fired jailer sues sheriff: Probe of cult influence at issue


Three cult members sentenced to a collective 150 years in prison for deliberately starving toddler to death

Ontario Catholic priest who sexually assaulted his students for three decades sentenced to just two years

Toronto Star   -  Canada     June 9, 2011

Priest who taught at St. Michael’s College sentenced to 2 years for sex abuse

by Mary Ormsby  | Feature Writer



The Roman Catholic priest who routinely pulled boys out of class to sexually assault them at schools where he taught was sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday.

Rev. William Hodgson Marshall, 88, was led out of a Windsor courtroom after Ontario Court Justice Lloyd Dean also placed him on probation for three years, ordered that he report to police to be placed on the national sex offender registry and give a DNA sample.

Marshall, who taught at Toronto’s St. Michael’s College School in the 1950s, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting 16 children — 15 boys and one girl — during his decades-long teaching career across Ontario. Four of the victims are from Toronto, at least one a former St. Mike’s student. There are six each from Sudbury and Windsor.

The earliest charge dates back to 1953, the later ones from the 1980s.

Most of the retired priest’s victims were students at all-boys’ high schools run by the Congregation of St. Basil, a Roman Catholic order of teaching priests. The Basilian fathers operate St. Mike’s, where at least one victim was assaulted in a private room at the school.

[read victim impact statement below]

This article was found at:

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1005672--priest-who-taught-at-st-michael-s-college-sentenced-to-2-years-for-sex-abuse

****************************************************************************

Toronto Star  -  June 8, 2011

Toronto priest pleads guilty to molesting children

by Mary Ormsby  |  Feature Writer


William Hodgson Marshall entered a Windsor courtroom Wednesday morning as a Roman Catholic priest, a championship basketball coach and a teacher of young men for half a century.

The 88-year-old left that afternoon as a criminal, an admitted sexual abuser of children — some of them former students, at least one the son of close friends — after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting 15 boys and one girl during his teaching career in Windsor, Toronto and Sudbury. He will be sentenced Thursday.

[read victim impact statement below]

The earliest charge dates back to 1953, the later ones from the 1980s.

Four victims are from Toronto, at least one of them a student at St. Michael’s College School in the 1950s where Marshall taught mathematics and coached basketball. There are six victims from both Sudbury and Windsor.

Most of Marshall’s victims were students at all-boys’ high schools run by the congregation of St. Basil’s, a Roman Catholic order of teaching priests. The Basilian Fathers, as the priests are more commonly known, operate St. Mike’s.

Windsor crown attorney Walter Costa said it was a “difficult, emotional day” with the reading of all the victim impact statements. But he hopes it was a cathartic experience.

“Now that (the victims) have been vindicated, hopefully that will give them the power and ability to enjoy themselves moving forward and not have to carry that secret burden any more.’’

A joint sentencing submission from the crown and Marshall’s lawyer Andrew Bradie requests a two-year prison term, three years probation and an order to report to the sexual offender information registry and provide a DNA sample.

The Basilians issued a statement from spokesperson Rev. Timothy Scott that read in part:

“The Basilian Fathers wish to express our deep shame that one of our members has acted this way. These criminal acts against children are a violation of our religious vows and are grievously sinful ... This should never have happened.”

Marshall’s decades-long string of sexual assaults on children went unreported for nearly 60 years until a 43-year-old Windsor man complained to police in May of 2010.

The retired priest’s long pattern of abuse raises questions about how Marshall was able to operate so brazenly, particularly since he routinely preyed on students during school hours.

“A perfect storm of factors” allows this to happen, said David Clohessy, the national director of U.S.-based non-profit group SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He said a church with a history of protecting offenders and a priest’s criminal guile help cloak molesters from outsiders’ scrutiny.

“You’ve got an amazingly shrewd and cunning predator. You’ve got savvy, secretive, powerful church officials. You’ve got timid lay people trained not to question the church hierarchy and I think you’ve got somewhat timid and passive law enforcement,’’ Clohessy said in an interview this week.

Clohessy has followed the Marshall case closely and said it’s unlikely the priest’s victim count was only 16.

“For every one victim who finds the courage, strength and ability to speak up, I think there are easily 10 to 20 more who can’t and won’t,’’ Clohessy said.

Marshall, who is battling skin cancer, worked at Windsor’s Assumption College and St. Mike’s in the 1950s. He then moved to Sudbury’s St. Charles College, where he worked for nearly two decades. His next stop was as principal at St. Mary’s College in Sault Ste. Marie before returning to Windsor in 1985. There, he was the founding principal of Holy Names.

Marshall remains a priest. He has not been laicized (defrocked) and there appears no move to initiate that process with the Vatican, which oversees expulsions.

This article was found at:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1005131--toronto-priest-pleads-guilty-to-molesting-children

**************************************************************************

Toronto Star  -  June 8, 2011

One victim’s lament

This is a victim impact statement read in court on Wednesday


I was sexually abused when I was 13 years old by YOU, Hod Marshall — Catholic school principal, Basilian priest, family friend and my own sponsor for Confirmation. You called me your Godson.

When you decided to start getting into my bed, repeatedly, and violating me — you violated everything I had been taught and everything I believed in. You violated my trust, my faith, my self-respect, and my innocence. In many ways you destroyed parts of my life that were yet to be, and because of you, never have been. Before I had ever even kissed a girl I had a grown man in my bed pulling my pants down, whispering in my ear, telling me lies. I’d like to tell you what happened when you destroyed my confidence and self-worth as a child, but after 30 years how can I separate who I am from who I could have been?

I look back now and see I went from winning an award for academic excellence in Grade 8 to being a decidedly middling student thereafter. Before you, I believed so thoroughly in myself and my academic abilities, that I felt life was limitless. After you, I feared adults — especially teachers, I trusted no one, and to put it quite simply, I underachieved and withdrew from everyone and everything. You stymied my academic advancement, my social and sexual development, my career opportunities and my spiritual growth. I could spend hours detailing a life of loneliness, and despair — hoping to die, planning my own death, staring into the Detroit River as a high school student. Listen to me so I can tell you of a lifetime without friendships, of 30 years of depression, addictions and suicidal thoughts that burden me to this day. You will hear the damage those things in turn have wrought upon my wife, my innocent children. (Even though I realize you have no concern for children or anyone but yourself.)

Listen to me so you know for the rest of your life what price I paid these past three years pursuing this matter: . . . losing my job last year which I know was influenced by this pursuit of justice, an inability to this day to focus on my job and perform to my ability, the pain of telling my parents and living with the guilt they endure because of YOUR actions not theirs. The few friends I did have silently drifting away. I can’t even count the number of days I’ve had at work sitting at my desk trying to prepare a report and I am 13 again, afraid to get into bed — wondering if I should try to hide. Some days I literally sit at my desk and bang my fists against my head trying to pound memories of you out of my mind. Will I ever function to my capability when you haunt me to this day?

My wife is a beautiful and loving woman who has supported me through this every single day. I love her but I want you to know that we struggle every day to make our marriage work because what you did to me changed me forever. When you abuse a young boy, you change the man he becomes — the husband, the father. And when I say father I mean a daddy to children, not some pedophile priest hiding behind a collar. By hurting me you hurt my marriage. By hurting my marriage you hurt my children. Just the time, energy and emotional investment I have had to put into seeing you brought to justice for your crimes was time and love taken from them. How sad I am when I have to repeatedly tell my 4-year-old daughter that she never lets anybody but mommy and daddy into her bed?

On top of all that, I am now seeing a psychiatrist, and taking multiple medications every day to try and stay my own hand from taking my life so my children will have a father as they grow up — even if I am only half the father I should be. If nothing else, I have to live so they can be protected from the likes of cunning deceivers like you

I pay for my medications out my own pocket as I am unemployed, I spent thousands of dollars on sexual abuse counseling, I have a $4,000 bill outstanding from a lawyer who did nothing, and I have to defend myself against people who accuse me of bad intentions.

You abused me in Windsor, in my own bed with my parents, your life-long friends, asleep right on the other side of the wall. You abused me in Sault Ste. Marie in the Priests’ Residence of St. Mary’s College High School where your Basilian order’s motto was displayed for all to see: “Teach me Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge.” When you were done abusing me, you went down the hall and got into bed with another boy and abused him. That’s right — I heard you and I cried because I didn’t know how to stop you. I didn’t know how to stop you from abusing me, from abusing that boy down the hall and all the others I feared would come after us.

I suffered silently not knowing how many others suffered like me but knowing you were a powerful and respected man, a principal, a priest, my father’s friend. How would I look — standing against you? I feared you but didn’t even know enough to show it, as the confusion, and shame overwhelmed everything else. Even as I stand here today, I can scarcely express the fear, remorse, embarrassment, anger, shame, confusion, and regret that threaten to overwhelm me at any moment. But I feel pride too for bringing you here. You did not come on your own. And I know there are 17 other individuals here today to speak to or of you, for reasons of their own, but by being here they also help me to know in my heart that I did the right thing.

Every day I have to remind myself that you are to blame and I am not. I was a child and you were wrong.


This article was found at:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1005132--one-victim-s-lament

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG

More charges laid against retired Canadian priest facing trial for child sex abuse

Trial set to begin for retired Canadian priest, former school principal, charged with sex abuse of child, court records sealed 

 

Canadian Bishop who oversaw historic abuse settlement pleads guilty to importing child porn, asks judge to jail him

 

Review of sex abuse guidelines at US bishops conference will not close loopholes that continue to endanger children

Archbishop of Dublin earns respect from clergy crimes survivors but is shunned by Irish Bishops and the Pope

New York Times   -  June 4, 2011

An Archbishop Burns While Rome Fiddles

By MAUREEN DOWD



THE archbishop of Dublin was beginning to sniffle.

He could not get through a story about “a really nasty man” — an Irish priest who sexually abused, physically tortured and emotionally threatened vulnerable boys — without pulling out his handkerchief and wiping his nose.

“He built a swimming pool in his own garden, to which only boys of a certain age, of a certain appearance were allowed into it,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told me recently. “There were eight other priests in that parish, and not one of them seemed to think there was something strange about it.”

Two years after learning the extent of the depraved and Dickensian treatment of children in the care of the Irish Catholic Church — a fifth circle of hell hidden for decades by church and police officials — the Irish are still angry and appalled.

The only church leader who escapes their disgust is the no-nonsense, multilingual Martin. He was sent home to Dublin in 2003 after 27 years in the Vatican bureaucracy and diplomatic corps and found the Irish church in crisis, reeling from a cover-up that spanned the tenures of four past Dublin archbishops.

I went to see him at his office in Drumcondra in north Dublin because he is that rarest of things in the church’s tragedy: a moral voice.

In February, Martin held an unprecedented “Liturgy of Lament and Repentance” at a Dublin cathedral, where he asked forgiveness from God and victims of abuse and praised the courage of those who had come forward.

Wearing a simple black cassock, he helped wash the feet of eight victims and conceded that the church “will always bear this wound within it.”

The frustrated Martin has criticized the Vatican’s glacial pace on reform and chided the church: “Denial will not generate confidence.”

He has mourned the lack of faith among young people in Ireland, where fewer than one in five Catholics go to Mass in Dublin on Sunday. (A victims’ support group is called One in Four, asserting that’s how many Irish have been affected by the sexual abuse scandal.)

In return for doing the right thing, he has been ostracized by fellow bishops in Ireland and snubbed by the Holy See.

Showing again that it prefers denial to remorse, the Vatican undermined Martin’s call for accountability. In 2009, after the Irish government’s 700-page Murphy report on sexual abuse came out, Pope Benedict XVI refused to accept the resignations of two Irish bishops who presided over dioceses where abuse cases were mishandled.

The following year, when Martin expected to be named cardinal, the pope passed him over.

“Martin is standing alone against the tide right now, but he’s on the right side of history,” said Jason Berry, who has written two books on the church scandal. “I think he is probably the single best hope for the church within the hierarchy.”

Yet Martin, famous protector of victims, is an outlier of the club, while Cardinal Bernard Law, notorious protector of pedophiles, has a cushy Vatican sanctuary. And Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was in league with the notorious abuser of seminarians and inseminator of women, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, is the dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome.

Garry O’Sullivan, the managing editor of The Irish Catholic in Dublin, told me that Martin “has had a prophetic role in the church.”

“And all the prophets were stoned or murdered or ignored,” he said. “The big question is, why would the Vatican be indifferent to a guy who’s so brilliant at identifying with the victims? They should put him in charge of a protection office in the Vatican, a global watchdog against sexual abuse.”

Surrounded by many renditions of Madonna and Child in his elegant office, Martin, the 66-year-old “Lone Ranger,” as he’s called, is worried.

“The danger now is to think, well, that’s in the past and we can sit back and relax and say it can’t happen again,” he said. “It can happen again.”

He hopes the culture has changed: “I think parents are much more sensitive than they were. Children themselves are more aware.”

And he is more aware. “For me, any candidates for any ministry must be rounded personalities,” he said, “and I’ve become much more demanding about the human qualities of those training for the priesthood.”

The pedophiles, he said, “have an ability to take the young children into their grips and make it impossible for them to talk. They look for the vulnerable and make them worse. You see that a lot of these men were driven not by faith but by hormones.

“One of the things that annoys me is when I see a priest get convicted, the newspapers try to get the most devilish photographs of them. The trouble is that child sexual abusers don’t look like devils. They look like charmers. If pedophiles had horns on their noses, no one would go near them.”

In a church where officials still put more energy into protecting their arcane prerogatives than protecting children, Martin has become a hero merely by stating the obvious.

“In the case of serial pedophiles, what should have happened from the very beginning, people should have said, look, stop, these people are real dangers,” he said. “They have to be brought out, they have to be prosecuted and so on.”

I asked him how he felt when he read the Murphy report.

“I dedicated Friday afternoon till Sunday, and I can remember on Sunday, I just threw the whole thing on the ground,” he recalled. “I just couldn’t go any farther. You just couldn’t believe that these things had happened. For every child that was abused, how many lives were ruined? We don’t know how many people have committed suicide as a result of what happened.”

HE noted with mystification that the Murphy report quoted one preying priest telling a bishop that he “wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t a working-class parish. As though, somehow or other, working-class people are more robust.”

After hearing the story of a man who was raped as an 8-year-old, Archbishop Martin went to see a class of 8-year-olds, just to get a sense of it.

“I mean, the idea of raping an 8-year-old boy is so alien to me. It’s hard to believe it’s actually possible,” he said, shaking his head.

He has had wrenching sessions with many victims. “One lady, I’ll always remember her, she said: ‘I said to my son, go down and cut the priest’s lawn. He might give you a shilling.’ She said, ‘I handed my child over to him.’ She lives with that guilt for the rest of her life. And the last time I saw her, she was cleaning the church.”

Another man who had been abused asked how many victims of the predatory priest had already come forward. “He was something like number 19 on the list,” Martin said.

I asked why he decided to wash the feet of victims. He said the service was planned by victims with help from his staff. Three times, survivors of abuse interrupted to extemporaneously air their grievances, and the archbishop welcomed it. “It brought a real sense of reality,” he said.

Why did the church victimize victims by treating crimes as mere sins?

“I imagine that in the early stages, this was looked on as people looking for money,” he said. “Here, only a small percentage who come forward to us are looking for compensation. Maybe there was some feeling, this was a plot to attack the church. If that was the case, we gave them the plot on a silver platter and said, ‘Please come after us.’ ”

When he was growing up, his mother always told him “go serve your Mass but don’t hang around with the priest.”

Was he ever abused?

“One day when I was waiting on my mother,” he recalled, “I must have been about 12, this dirty old man came up and said the most horrendous things to me in the public street, and he had me sort of pinned against the wall and I could do very little about it. I was getting very upset, and I saw a policeman coming, and I called the policeman and the man ran away.”

In his brusque way, he rejects the appellation of hero.

“Nobody could have read what I have read and not did what I did,” he said as he walked me out into the windy spring day. “If I didn’t react to the stories I heard, there would be something wrong.”

This article was found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05dowd.html

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG

Murphy report reveals Vatican and Irish bishops enabled Dublin priest to rape hundreds of boys for decades


Pope rejects resignations of two bishops from Dublin diocese where depraved child abuse occurred


Pope said to be "disturbed and distressed" over Irish clergy abuse, but no mention of Vatican's role in cover-up


Irish priest says cover-up of clergy abuse "goes right to the top in Rome"


Dublin Archbishop says church self-centred, arrogant, failed children and rarely empathised with their pain


Dublin Archbishop admits frustration over failed effort to promote major reforms in Catholic Church


Dublin Archbishop says Irish church not indoctrinating enough children, secular society advancing


Clergy abuse survivor groups troubled, dismayed, insulted by Pope's picks to investigate Irish church

Irish clergy abuse survivors outraged over Pope's refusal to fire bishops and take full responsibility for cover-up


Irish abuse survivors criticize Boston Cardinal for celebrating mass with two bishops named in report for enabling child abuse


Irish priest calls for Archbishops and investigators to pin blame on Vatican for central role in global clergy crimes crisis


Irish Bishop who reluctantly resigned over abuse scandal claimed he was inexperienced, but was professor of moral theology


Two years after Ryan report on systemic institutional abuse still no prosecutions Irish gov tells UN torture committee


Catholic bishops to hold conference in Bangkok to address serious problem of pedophilia in Asia


Italian priest in diocese of Cardinal assisting Pope on child protection reforms arrested on pedophilia and drug charges


Lawsuit against Kansas City diocese alleges Bishop neglected to protect children from priest who made child pornography


Philadelphia cardinal and bishops hid problem priests from clergy abuse review board, put church law before civil law


Credibility of US bishops' reformed child protection policies challenged by Philadelphia clergy abuse scandal


New Vatican rules rely on Bishops to deal with clergy crimes before reporting to police, still don't protect children


New rules on clergy sex abuse shows there is still no moral awakening in the Catholic church


Calgary Bishop rejects criticism of Vatican reforms, says child protection protocols will work in his diocese


Catholic theologian says secrecy, misogyny and resistance to reform in wake of clergy sex scandals will doom the church


Retired Archbishop blames protective church hierarchy for clergy abuse scandal


Australian Archbishop says church culture responsible for deep-rooted child abuse crimes and cover-ups


Former Benedictine monk says church has not yet addressed child abuse crisis, most bishops still mired in obfuscation and deceit


Is the Catholic church in state of denial over clergy abuse, or is it honest and transparent?


Hundreds of admitted or credibly accused pedophile priests who escaped justice are unsupervised by church or police

After credible child abuse allegations or convictions most Catholic priests vanish from public view with no oversight or accountability

Bishops were warned of abusive priests as early as the mid-1950s


1963 letter by church expert on pedophile priests shows Pope Paul VI and Vatican officials ignored warnings to expel problem priests


Jesuit priest being considered for sainthood among order's leaders who protected "the Hannibal Lecter of the clerical world"


Jesuit leaders concealed 40 years of warnings about pedophile priest who became spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa


US bishop's report on clergy abuse puts focus on sociological factors instead of church leaders who covered up crimes


A selection of critical responses to the John Jay report on the causes of Catholic clergy sex crimes


Inquiry finds US Catholic hierarchy still endangering children and fighting justice for clergy abuse survivors


Leaked confidential letter reveals Vatican's intention to prevent reporting of abuse to criminal authorities

Religious fanatic Phillip Garrido and wife sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and torturing Jaycee Dugard

Los Angeles Times   -  June 3, 2011

Kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido are sentenced in sex-slave case

Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the Bay Area abductors of Jaycee Lee Dugard, whom they held in captivity for 18 years, get 431 years and 36 years to life in prison, respectively.

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Placerville, Calif. -- Twenty years after Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted while walking to her school bus stop, the couple who kidnapped and raped her and stole her childhood were sentenced Thursday to prison terms that could keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives.

Phillip Garrido, a 60-year-old serial predator, was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison. His 55-year-old wife, Nancy, was sentenced to 36 years to life and cannot be paroled until she is in her 70s.

As he imposed the lengthy prison term, Eldorado County Superior Court Judge Douglas C. Phimister said Garrido "lacks a soul" and called his actions "beyond horrible." A tearful Terry Probyn, Dugard's mother, described her daughter's attacker as "the epitome of disgust … some evil being."

And Dugard herself, in a defiant statement read by her mother during the emotional hearing, said the man who kidnapped her as a sex slave, raped her over a period of years, videotaped many of the attacks and fathered her two children "stole my life."

"To you, Phillip, I say … I hated every second of every day of 18 years because of you," said Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted. "To you, Nancy, I have nothing to say. As I think of all those years, I am angry. You stole my life and that of my family."

Dugard, now 31, did not attend the hearing, she said, "because I refuse to waste another second of my life in your presence."

The Garridos abducted Dugard on June 10, 1991, as she was heading to school in her South Lake Tahoe neighborhood while her horrified stepfather leapt on a mountain bike in pursuit. The case made international headlines when Dugard resurfaced in August 2009 with her children — after a UC Berkeley policewoman spotted an odd-acting Garrido with the little girls on campus.

During Thursday's hearing, Dugard's former captors sat flanked by their attorneys in Department 7, which was packed with reporters, cameras, a few of Dugard's family members and Katie Callaway Hall, whom Garrido was convicted of raping in 1976.

Dugard's aunt, Tina, told Phimister during the sentencing that the abduction left the entire family "under a cloud of despair" and killed Tina's mother, Dugard's grandmother.

"My mom died less than a year after Jaycee was stolen from us," she said. "My mother died of a broken heart. Facing life without her beloved Jaycee was more than my mom could handle. "

But the most heart-wrenching testimony came from Probyn. She and Carl Probyn, Dugard's stepfather, divorced after the abduction. He has said that the crime and its aftermath "ended" their marriage.

Probyn talked about the joy she felt on May 3, 1980, when her daughter was born at 10:52 p.m. — blond hair, blue eyes, 6 lb. 4 oz., "a true miracle," "a gift from God." She told the court how, when Dugard's belly hurt, she would rock her little girl in her arms and sing, "You Are My Sunshine."

The day Dugard was taken, Probyn said, "my world went dark, and my sunshine was taken away." Probyn described the months and years of not knowing her daughter's fate as "hell on this earth."

"I could hear her crying, but not with my ears, with my heart," said a tearful Probyn. "I could feel her pain, not with my body, but with my heart. I endured a huge gaping hole in my heart, that some evil being put their hand in and ripped it out."

Garrido was driving that June morning. He and Nancy had blankets in the car and a Taser. They were "shopping for a victim," Phimister said Thursday. "What was the conversation in the car? 'Should we select this one? That one? What are we looking for?'"

Once they settled on Dugard, Garrido stunned the little girl with the Taser, and Nancy snatched her. They put her in the car, covered her with blankets and headed to their home in Antioch, an East Bay suburb, where they had prepared an undetectable warren of tents and sheds in the backyard.

Dugard was locked in one of the backyard buildings for a year and a half as a "prisoner," said Dist. Atty. Vern Pierson in court documents recommending that Garrido receive a sentence of 431 years to life. She did not leave the backyard for the first four years after the abduction.

Dugard "was impregnated by Phillip Garrido when she was 13 years old and had her first child at the age of 14," Pierson said in the document. She "was again impregnated by Phillip Garrido when she was 16 and had her second child at the age of 17."

The children were delivered by Nancy in the couple's ramshackle compound; neither they nor Dugard set foot in a schoolroom or saw a doctor until they were discovered in 2009.

Phimister said Garrido kept Dugard in line by threatening that "if she escaped, pain would be imposed. You would Taser her." He "reinvented slavery" and turned the girl into "chattel," morphed a human being into "a piece of furniture to use at your whim."

According to grand jury testimony released Thursday, Garrido never tased Dugard again after the first attack but kept the weapon lying openly around as a threat.

"When I didn't want to do something that he wanted me to do, he would turn it on and say, something like, you know, 'You don't want it to happen again. You should be good,'" Dugard testified before the grand jury on Sept. 10, 2010.

"I didn't want it to happen again," she told the grand jury. "So I was good."

Dugard testified that Garrido told her "he had a sex problem and that, you know, he got me so he wouldn't have to do this to anybody else. So I was helping him."

Phimister fumed that Garrido gamed the system when he was released far short of the 50-year sentence he had received for kidnapping and raping Callaway Hall. And he was furious that more than a dozen healthcare professionals had examined the man through the years and failed to recognize that Garrido is "evil."

Susan Gellman, Garrido's attorney, read a brief statement from her client when it was her turn to address Phimister. Four sentences long and entirely in the third person, the statement from Garrido said he had pleaded guilty to all charges and "accepted responsibility for his actions."

"He has done that with no expectation of leniency," the statement continued, "and because he wanted to spare everyone, including Ms. Dugard and the children, the ordeal of the trial."

Although Gellman called the sentence excessive, she said Garrido had expected a harsh outcome. His main concern now, she said, is being able to communicate with his wife when they are in prison.

About Dugard and the girls, she said, "he cares about them very much, despite the fact that he felt driven to tell his story — that he changed, 12 years before he was apprehended."

Nancy Garrido sobbed through much of the sentencing and looked Dugard's mother and aunt in the eye as the two women were describing the impact of the abduction on their family. The reason, said Stephen Tapson, her attorney, was that she wanted them to know she is sorry.

Reading her statement in court and speaking with reporters afterward, Tapson said that Nancy "wanted Jaycee to know she is sorry for what she did, that there is no way to express that. I stole your life, and there's no way to explain it away."

This article was found at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0604-garrido-20110603,0,7347880.story

*********************************************************************

Los Angeles Times   -   June 4, 2011

Jaycee Dugard's words tell vividly of her long ordeal

In the newly unsealed transcript of her grand jury testimony, Jaycee Lee Dugard recounts her abduction and captivity and explains why she never tried to escape.

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times



Reporting from Placerville, Calif. -- At times, the voice is young and terrified — an 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped during the last week of school, raped for years and kept in line under threat of pain.

At times, the voice is brave and resilient — a mother protecting her vulnerable daughters, struggling to give them a normal life under the most horrific of circumstances.

And at times, it is angry and defiant — a survivor facing down her abusers and prevailing.

Always, though, the voice is Jaycee Lee Dugard's. On Thursday, it was heard loud and clear for the first time since she was abducted 20 years ago while heading to the bus stop.

Revealing the child she was and the woman she has become, Dugard's voice rang out in Department 7 of El Dorado County Superior Court, where Phillip and Nancy Garrido were sentenced Thursday for kidnapping and rape, and in the unsealed transcript of the secret grand jury hearing that led to the couple's 2010 indictment.

Dugard's own words give the clearest picture of her ordeal to date. Her memoir, "A Stolen Life," will be published July 12. But until then, the transcript and the statement read at the Garridos' sentencing are the first windows into the life of a young woman who was held in captivity for 18 years and gave birth to two daughters by the man who raped her.

"Phillip wanted us to be a family," Dugard testified. "He was our dad, and Nancy was their mom. You know, that's what we did … to give the kids, you know, normal as possible" a life.

After sentencing the Garridos on Thursday to prison terms that could keep them behind bars for life, Superior Court Judge Douglas C. Phimister unsealed the transcript from the grand jury hearing. It was the only time Dugard testified. The Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee and several other media outlets had intervened in the case, seeking to have the transcripts made public.

Attorney Karl Olson argued on behalf of the media that the right to privacy does not justify continued secrecy on behalf of a rape victim whose name was made public by law enforcement officials and who has chosen to write a memoir of her ordeal.

Dugard's family, the El Dorado County district attorney and lawyers for the Garridos vehemently disagreed. Phimister was only partly supportive, keeping more than 20% of the transcript under seal, calling the segments in which Dugard's sexual attacks were described as "disgusting" and "inappropriate," material that "would qualify as pornography."

Phimister decried the media for "asking the court to assist in the exploitation of this child," and declared that he would not do so.

The 123 pages that were unsealed paint a terrifying portrait of a sick man who kidnapped a little girl to satisfy his sexual perversions. Who intimidated his wife into taking part in the abduction and condoning the rapes. Who believed he was doing nothing wrong.

On June 10, 1991, the Garridos were driving in South Lake Tahoe when they spied Jaycee, heading up the hill for her school bus. She was 11 and had just yelled goodbye to her stepfather, who was in their garage. It was about 7:30 a.m.

The Garridos' car "creeped up" behind the little girl. A voice called out, asking for directions. "And then," Dugard testified, "all of a sudden his hand shoots out and I feel tingly and like losing control, and I'm in the bushes, trying to go back, and somebody is dragging me."

The couple had hatched plans to go "shopping for a victim," Phimister said in court Thursday, and they were equipped with blankets and a Taser. Garrido, who was driving, shocked Jaycee, and Nancy dragged her into the car. She was laid face down on the floorboards of the back seat and covered up. She blacked out.

The Garridos took Jaycee back to the ramshackle warren of tents and sheds they had constructed behind their house in Antioch, northeast of Oakland. The drive, Dugard said, "seemed like forever." Garrido sexually assaulted her on arrival.

"I was very scared," Dugard testified. "I didn't know who he was. I didn't know why he was doing this. I just wanted to go home. I think in the bathroom I kept telling him that, you know, 'I don't know why you're doing this.'

" 'If you're holding me for ransom, my family doesn't have a lot of money,' " she continued. "I didn't know — I didn't know his purpose."

The Garridos gave her "Barbie stuff" during her first birthday in captivity. Garrido gave her a cat to keep her company when she complained about loneliness. But then he took it away because it messed up the small space where he kept her prisoner. She would figure out the date by watching the morning shows on television.

For the first three years, until the birth of her first daughter in August, 1994, Garrido would force himself on Jaycee once a week or more. After the birth of the child, the frequency of the rapes slowed. Nancy, who would take Jaycee food, offered to have sex with her husband instead. She would say, "Oh, I'll take this run for you."

After the first birth, Dugard testified, "things really changed. He said that he was eventually going to stop having sex with me and that, you, know, he's just really trying to change and he wants us all to be a family."

The last time Garrido raped Dugard was the day her second daughter was conceived. That child was born in November 1997.

The Garridos let Dugard pick a name. She chose Alissa. The "family" began to celebrate the little girls' birthdays together. A swing set was installed in the compound. Dugard told the grand jury that she did what she could to give her children a normal life.

But there wasn't much that she could do. She couldn't leave. At first because she was terrified.

There were Doberman pinschers on the property, Garrido told her on the day she arrived in Antioch, and they were vicious. "I didn't know where they were," she testified. "So I was afraid to do anything. I didn't know what he would do either."

Garrido never used the Taser on Dugard again after the abduction. But he kept the weapon lying around, an implicit threat. When she refused to follow his commands, he would turn the weapon on and tell her, "You don't want it to happen again. You should be good."

"I didn't want it to happen again," Dugard testified. "So I was good…. Tried to do what he wanted me to do even though I didn't like it."

Later she stayed in part because she felt she was "helping somebody, even though it was in a really sick, perverted way."

Dugard testified that Garrido told her he had a "sex problem and that, you know, he got me so he wouldn't have to do this to anybody else. So I was helping him."

And finally, she said, she stayed because she had no place to go. During 18 years in captivity, she never tried to escape.

"We went places later as a family, but never by myself," Dugard testified. "And I wanted him to teach me how to drive and stuff. And that never came. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't leave. I had the girls. I didn't know where to go, what I would do for money or anything.

"I didn't have anything."

Dugard has been free for nearly two years, and she has spent that time in seclusion with her mother and daughters, writing her book, seeing therapists, working to build back the life that the Garridos stole from her.

She is angry, she said in the statement that her mother read in court on Thursday, but she will prevail.

"Everything you have ever done to me has been wrong, and someday I hope you can see that," she said. "Thankfully I am doing well now and no longer live in a nightmare. I have wonderful friends and family around me. Something you can never take from me again.

"You do not matter anymore."


This article was found at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0604-jaycee-dugard-20110604,0,7538871.story

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG

Religious fanatics Phillip Garrido and wife plead guilty to kidnapping, raping and confining Jaycee Dugard

Garrido "talked a lot about Jesus" to his 1976 victim after raping her repeatedly over 5 hours

Kidnap victim kept in backyard compound of religious fanatic for 18 years

Child sexual abusers commonly turn to religion to rationalize their behavior

Self-proclaimed prophets: Phillip Garrido, David Berg and Joseph Smith

Brother of home church pastor pleads guilty to physical and psychological child abuse for using corporal punishment

Wisconsin State Journal - June 1, 2011

Pastor’s brother pleads guilty to child abuse for corporal punishment of kids

by ED TRELEVEN



The brother of a Black Earth church pastor who advocated corporal punishment for children of church members pleaded guilty Wednesday to child abuse and causing mental harm to a child.

A plea agreement would have asked Dane County Circuit Judge Sarah O’Brien to place John R. Caminiti, 45, on probation for three years with no jail time, but O’Brien instead ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be conducted by the state Department of Corrections. She will set sentencing for a later date.

O’Brien said she wasn’t necessarily rejecting the sentencing recommendation, but instead wanted more information so she could make a better-informed decision.

Caminiti is the brother of Phil Caminiti, the pastor of Aleitheia Bible Church in Black Earth. The church, which holds its services in private homes, advocates the use of corporal punishment using such things as wooden dowels and wooden spoons to discipline children, following the principle of “spare the rod and spoil the child.”

John Caminiti pleaded guilty to causing mental harm to a child, admitting to “shunning” a teenage son by confining him to his bedroom for four weeks for having feelings that the boy described as pressure and fear, according to a criminal complaint. The boy said he had been told not to have feelings, the complaint states.

During the time he was confined to his room, the complaint states, the boy was not allowed to go downstairs or do school work, and meals were brought to him in his room. The boy was ordinarily home-schooled.

Caminiti also pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse, for using dowels on two of his other children when they were disobedient.

In all, eight people associated with Aleitheia Bible Church have been charged with child abuse for their use of corporal punishment on their own children and others. Phil Caminiti, 54, faces eight counts of conspiracy to commit child abuse. His son and daughter-in-law, Matthew and Alina Caminiti, also face several child abuse charges.

Church members Timothy and Maria Stephenson and Timothy and Andrew Wick are also charged with child abuse.


This article was found at:


http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_bd965540-8c89-11e0-aa17-001cc4c03286.html

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG




Six more members of Wisconsin house church to be charged for beating children according to biblical dictate


Pastor of Wisconsin house church charged for beating children with rods says he was just using biblical punishment


Study shows strongest evidence yet that spanking kids does more harm than good

Corporal punishment slows the intellectual growth of children: researchers


Line between spanking and abuse difficult to determine


Controversial new study on spanking contradicts abundant research that it is counterproductive


Religion and Child Abuse


Forced into Faith: How Religion Abuses Children's Rights [book]


For fundamentalist Christian group there is No Greater Joy than biblically beating kids into religious submission

Paradise was hell for children murdered and tortured by bible-whacking fundamentalist 'monsters' posing as parents


Fundamentalist parents using biblical discipline charged with murder & torture of adopted daughters

Sadistic cult leader in Georgia who indoctrinated, beat and raped children takes guilty plea deal


11 boys removed at faith-based Reclamation Ranch


"The Spanking Room – A Child's Eye View of the Jehovah's Witnesses"


Mormon dad beat daughter over her refusal to follow his faith, court told


Last Catholic high school in US using corporal punishment is fighting archbishop's efforts to end the abuse


European human rights body pushes UK to ban all spanking as a violation of children's rights


Child rights advocates in Philippines call on parents, guardians, and other authorities to end corporal punishment


New Zealanders vote in non-binding referendum to reinstate parental right to assault children


Result of flawed referendum will not change New Zealand law protecting children from assault by parents


Alabama allows teachers to assault students, 12 year old shows bruises and welts received for failing science test


One of Canada's oldest, most elite Anglican schools was "a place that destroyed children"


New Abu Dhabi law makes private schools liable for verbal, physical and psychological abuse of students


Teachers beating students still common in UAE despite government ban on corporal punishment in schools


20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - U.S.A. still not signed


Petition urges President Obama to ratify UN Convention on the Rights of the Child like every country except Somalia


Senator Boxer Seeks to Ratify U.N. Treaty That May Erode U.S. Rights


U.S. religious conservatives argue parents have right to beat and indoctrinate children, continue to fight children's rights treaty


Ignore the Rod: the Parental Rights Amendment Isn’t About Spanking


Parental rights: The new wedge issue


Children’s rights treaty stirs debate in U.S.


Who will raise kids: Mom, Dad or state?


New Jersey Supreme Court rules slapping teen is not child abuse, but Canadian teen died when her dad slapped her


Canadian teen who died after her father slapped her had heart surgery when she was 3, father granted bail pending trial


Canadian girl pressured to pray dies after being slapped in the face, father arrested for aggravated assault


Loophole in British law banning corporal punishment in schools exempts madrasahs where abuse is widespread


Teachers 'beat and abuse' Muslim children in British Koran classes


Israeli cult leader arrested for the extreme corporal punishment of dozens of children to make them better adults


Hare Krishna temple leader quits over beating scandal


'Violent' teacher still working at temple


Culture cited in voodoo whipping case


Twelve Tribes continue to reject cult label while physically, intellectually and spiritually abusing their children


Twelve Tribes cult members exploited by reclusive leader living lavish lifestyle, corporal punishment controls kids


First generation of children born into a controversial communal theology called the Twelve Tribes


Harsh discipline of children is a central tenet of Twelve Tribes cult


Community Embraces Twelve Tribes


Twelve Tribes: Community or Cult


Twelve Tribes cult worries parents


Twelve Tribes cult recruits at Easter show


Despite controversy, Twelve Tribes continues to enjoy communal lifestyle


Twelve Tribes cult continues to thrive despite violating rights of children


NBC News Investigates Child Abuse Practices In Twelve Tribes cult


The practices of messianic Christian sect The Twelve Tribes continue to divide opinion


Spanish man claims his son has been kidnapped by Twelve Tribes cult


Cults on campus: how to spot recruiting techniques of predator conmen


1984 Twelve Tribes cult raid had similar judicial conclusion as Texas case

Australian Scientology leader arrested for coercing 11 year old girl to lie to police about sex assault, told it was her fault

The Australian - May 31, 2011

Scientologist charged for 'intimidating' alleged sex abuse victim

by Leo Shanahan

A SENIOR member of the Church of Scientology has been charged by police for intimidating a young girl who wanted to report sexual abuse allegations within the church.

Jan Eastgate, the head of the church's "International Commission on Human Rights" which attacks psychology, has been charged by NSW Police with perverting the course of justice.

According the ABC TV's Lateline, police have alleged Eastgate intimidated a then 11-year-old Carmen Rainer to provide false statements about sexual abuse by her stepfather.

Ms Rainer has alleged that Ms Eastgate, who was then head of the church's citizens' commission on human rights in Australia, told her she should deny any charges of the sexual abuse or she and her brother would be taken away by social services.

Ms Rainer's mother Phoebe has also admitted Ms Eastgate told both of them what to say and to lie to police and in an interview with the Department of Community Services. Ms Eastgate previously called the allegations "egregiously false".

She she has not commented since being charged.

Ms Eastgate has been asked by NSW police to surrender her passport.

Ms Rainer had previously said that she was told by senior Scientology members that abuse was punishment for being bad in a previous life.

"She said, 'Just say no, keep repeating that'," Ms Rainer told the ABC in an interview last year.

"They told me it was my fault because I'd been bad in a past life. I believed them."

Ms Eastgate was the recipient of the Church of Scientology's Freedom Medal for her work with human rights, primarily aimed at uncovering problems with psychology treatments.

The news comes after the Australian Securities & Investments Commission earlier this month launched an inquiry into the business dealings of a Sydney property developer and senior Scientologist over a series of property deals.

The inquiry by ASIC into Carly Crutchfield was launched after independent senator Nick Xenophon - a vocal opponent of Scientology - sent a dossier to the corporate watchdog last month.

Senator Xenophon is calling for a judicial inquiry into the church.

The South Australian senator is asking that the organisation be stripped of its official religious status as a church, which means among other things its earnings aren't taxed. Scientology is founded on the teachings of American science fiction novelist L. Ron Hubbard, who taught that human psychological problems are a result of an ancient alien leader called Xenu, who attacked the planet Earth and left behind traumatised spirits of the former Earth race.

This article was found at:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/scientologist-charged-for-intimidating-alleged-sex-abuse-victim/story-e6frg6nf-1226066045613

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLO

Australian school with strong link to Scientology receives government money but not all is spent on students

Daughter of Scientology leaders in Australia describes it as a toxic organization that treats children like cattle

Survivor of Scientology abuse speaks out on her life as a "child slave" after Australian parliament refuses to investigate "dangerous pseudo-religion"

Scientology's intimidation tactics led to suicide of Australian member, family urges parliamentary probe

Denunciation of Scientology in the Australian Parliament aims to expose science fiction cult disguised as religion

Australian parliament refuses to investigate abusive Scientology cult, no "public benefit test" for religious tax exemptions

Scientology cult hides abuses behind fancy new 'church' fronts, claims millions of adherents despite declining membership

Scientologist children isolated from non-Scientology kids, subjected to indoctrination and 'auditing' from age of 6

New website "Ex-Scientology Kids" now online

Niece of Scientology Leader Rebuts Claims of Family Values

Niece of Scientology leader describes how her own family was broken apart by the movement’s policies.

Scientology - Child Abuse and Labour Pt.1 [video]

Scientology - Child Abuse and Labour Pt.2 [video]

Australian TV airs new evidence of coerced abortions and child exploitation in Scientology cult  

Depositions in federal lawsuit against Scientology reveal coercive tactics used to pressure women to have abortions

Former Scientologists Claim Coerced Abortions, Child Labor Inside Church

Former Scientology film production employees allege labor violations

New lawsuit alleges child labor and exploitation in totalitarian Scientology compound

Modern Day Slavery Within The Church Of Scientology

Ex-Scientology lawsuits target Sea Org, a cult within a cult

Ex-Scientologists speak about abuse and lawsuits on anniversary of global protests against sci-fi cult 

Tom Cruise practiced Scientology indoctrination techniques on isolated, vulnerable teenager

Video of former 30 year Scientologist discussing Jett Travolta based on her personal experiences of medical abuse

Jett Travolta: Did Scientology Kill Him?

Riddle of John Travolta's son - could he have been saved?

Scientology critics cite 2007 prediction of Jett Travolta's death

Did John Travolta’s weird faith seal his son Jett’s fate?

More on Jett Travolta: an audio recording of L. Ron Hubbard talking about epilepsy 

John Travolta Admits Son Jett Suffered From Autism

Death of John Travolta's son "deeply shaken" his faith in the Scientology cult

John Travolta couldn't save his son from Scientology, but will he now save others from cult abuse?

Video interview by Steve Hassan of top ex-Scientologist at international cult conference in New York

Was Scientology's efforts to suppress online revelations of the Xenu story the beginning of the end for sci-fi cult?

Scientologists try to prevent film depicting them as a totalitarian, unethical group from airing on German public TV

Celebrity asks Illinois legislators to allow Scientology's religious propaganda into public schools

Scientology Endangers Children [video]

Their targets used to be university students, but today fringe religious groups are believed to be recruiting school-aged children.

Scientology Cult Front Group Holds Recruiting Event for NYC Children

Scientology Recruiting Children in South Africa

Scientology linked to tutors on state list

B.C. Education Minister defends a ministry publication that identifies a Scientology website as a potential resource for teachers

B.C. Education Ministry won't delist scientology website

School unaware of link to Scientologists

Scientology link at Montessori school alarms parents

Unlicensed Scientology kindergartens operating in Tel Aviv

Munich Closes Scientologists' Day-Care Center

Scientology's African evangelism targets children for indoctrination, opens new 'school' in Ghana

Anonymous Announce 'Operation: School's Closed'

Cult survivor reveals deceptive recruiting tactics used by Scientology and similar cults

Scientology front group Narconon recruits, deceives, indoctrinates and endangers lives with fake science

California father sues Scientology front Narconon for fraud and breach of contract, alleges it recruits for the cult

Mom sues Church of Scientology in son's death

Cult survivor reveals deceptive recruiting tactics used by Scientology and similar cults

Scientology recruiters manipulate potential members with phony personality tests and high pressure sales tactics

Former Scientology leaders in Ireland describe psychological manipulation, spiritual abuse and exploitation

Scientology's new Canadian headquarters in isolated location will make it harder for exploited members to escape

Exposing the abuses and frauds of cults makes advocate a target for regular legal and physical threats

Escapee from Scientology sues cult and parents for child labor, wage exploitation, educational and medical neglect

Paul Haggis did not think New Yorker interview would focus on Scientology but he stands by its accuracy

Paul Haggis predicts he will be target of disinformation to scandalize him after his recent attack on Scientology

Survivors confirm claim in Paul Haggis article that FBI is investigating human trafficking in Scientology cult

The article on Paul Haggis that inspired the reporter to collaborate on new book exposing abuses in Scientology

Expose of Scientology by Paul Haggis promises to be "most profound reckoning to date" of the abusive cult

Rolling Stone republishes 2006 investigative report on Scientology

Scientology cult hides abuses behind fancy new 'church' fronts, claims millions of adherents despite declining membership

The abuse behind Scientology's facade

Scientology Exposed Once Again By Insiders: A smiling storefront, a darker interior