Nigerian police rescue 32 pregnant teens locked up and forced to produce babies for witchcraft rituals

BBC News  -  June 1, 2011

Nigeria 'baby farm' girls rescued by Abia state police

Nigerian police have raided a hospital in the south-eastern city of Aba, rescuing 32 pregnant girls allegedly held by a human-trafficking ring.

Aged between 15 and 17 years, the girls were locked up and used to produce babies, said Abia state's police chief.

These were then allegedly sold for ritual witchcraft purposes or adoption.

But the hospital's owner denied running a "baby farm", saying it was a foundation to help teenagers with unwanted pregnancies.

The UN organisation for the welfare of children, Unicef, estimates that at least 10 children are sold daily across Nigeria, where human-trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug-trafficking.

But the BBC's Fidelis Mbah in the southern city of Port Harcourt says it is very rare for traffickers to be caught and prosecuted.Male babies prized

Abia state Police Commissioner Bala Hassan said four babies, already sold in an alleged human-trafficking deal but not yet collected, were also recovered in the raid on The Cross Foundation hospital.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip), the organisation charged with fighting human-trafficking in Nigeria, says their investigations show that babies are sold for up to $6,400 (£3,900) each, depending on the sex of the baby.

Male babies are more prized, our correspondent says.

In some parts of the country, babies killed as part of witchcraft rituals are believed to make the charms more powerful, he says.

Human traffickers also put the children up for illegal adoption.

Poor, unmarried women face tough choices if they get pregnant in Nigeria, often facing exclusion from society, correspondents say.

Natip says desperate teenagers with unplanned pregnancies are sometimes lured to clinics and then forced to turn over their babies.

Some of the girls rescued in Aba told the police that after their new-born babies were sold, they were given $170 by the hospital owner.

The police said the proprietor of The Cross Foundation, Dr Hyacinth Orikara, is likely to face charges of child abuse and human trafficking.

Our correspondent says the buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.

The police carried out similar raids on such clinics in neighbouring Enugu state in 2008.

Three years ago, a Nigerian woman was jailed in the UK for trying to smuggle a baby into the country in order to get on the list for a council flat.

This article was found at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13622679

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AlterNet - June 10, 2011

Teens Locked Up and Forced to Give Birth to Kids Sold into Slavery -- How Can This Happen, and What Can We Do About It?

By Jessica Mack, AlterNet


Last week, BBC broke the story of what has been dubbed a “baby farm” in southern Nigeria. Nigerian police raided the grounds, “rescuing” more than 30 poor teenagers who had reportedly been locked up and forced to bring their unwanted pregnancies to term, only to relinquish their babies to human traffickers or purveyors of body parts for witchcraft. It’s the stuff of a horror film, and, oddly enough, it is.

Except this is really happening, to real women, in real time. BBC first reported a “baby farm”raid in a nearby Nigerian city back in 2008. Clearly, there is something very wrong here – both in what’s happening to these women in Nigeria, but also in the way that these issues are being conveyed in the global media.

Human trafficking remains an outstanding problem in Nigeria, despite earning the US State Department’s “stamp of approval” on its anti-trafficking efforts. Since 2009, the annualTrafficking in Persons Report has ranked Nigeria as a Tier 1 country, signifying the government’s full compliance with the US’s Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Though “compliance” doesn’t necessarily mean effective prevention of or protection from trafficking. With this “baby farm” situation, we see the tenuous value that such rankings have for reality on the ground. While the Nigerian government has stepped up its anti-trafficking efforts in recent years, increasing prison sentences and fines still won’t address precipitating factors.

To start, women in Nigeria, and especially young women, are undervalued. There is a dearth of ready access to affordable and high quality reproductive health care services, and moreover social and cultural taboos about accessing such services. Early marriage and early pregnancy remain common, and you can guess that maternal mortality is also quite high. Abortion is restricted almost entirely, and highly stigmatized beyond that.

BBC writes, “Desperate teenagers with unplanned pregnancies are sometimes lured to clinics and then forced to turn over their babies.” Horrible, and it gets worse. Desperate teenagers with unwanted pregnancies also seek fatal care from quack abortion providers. Women regularly play Russian roulette with concoctions (bleach and ground glass) and gruesome instruments (knitting needles) just to preserve some semblance of reproductive choice.

The operative issue here is “desperate teenagers with unwanted pregnancies.” Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, no small claim, and almost 45% of the population is under the age of 15. This is not some measly minority; young people comprise the mitochondria of the nation and are the future of this emerging country. Yet their health and rights needs are so often cast aside.

In a 2009 report, the Guttmacher Institute maintained that national policies to protect the reproductive health and rights of young people have not been sufficiently implemented or enacted. Why hasn’t there been more done to address the unique health and rights needs of this set?

Perhaps it’s a little like national anti-trafficking efforts: there on paper, mysteriously absent or positively ineffective on the ground. This vast divide between vision and reality is what local and global advocates should push the government to reconcile. The recent presidential election, for example, might have been an opportune time to raise these neglected issues. Sure there’s a lot else going on, but there always is. The sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people are chronically marginalized, so perhaps it’s time to force the issue.

There are amazing national and international reproductive health advocates and providers doing work to counteract the heaps of risks and vulnerabilities which too often complicate women’s lives in Nigeria, but the battle is uphill. It is past due that the government put some muscle behind this. The US should hold more accountability, too, than simply superficial compliance on trafficking. They should urge the Nigerian government to examine the intersection of healthcare system failures and trafficking vulnerabilities.

These might have been salient points for the BBC to touch upon in its coverage of this issue, especially since four years after they first reported on baby farms, here we are with no discernible change. Alas.

Given rightful sensitivities about how Africa and Africans are portrayed by almost everyone else in the world and/or especially the global media, the BBC needs to check the caliber of their coverage. For starters, the 2011 article on “baby farms,” includes at least one typo, and a sentence cribbed verbatim from the 2008 piece. It’s not clear where or when the awful phrase “baby farm” was coined, but I must say that’s macabre marketing genius right there. BBC’s use of the term in its title is sensationalistic – link baiting even – and distracts from the complexity and gravity of the issue.

Human trafficking, human rights abuses, false imprisonment, reproductive choice, I mean there’s a lot to take in here. This is a highly disturbing scenario, but only further perverted by the use of this phrase. While there are human rights and human lives at stake here, the term caricatures a complex set of issues, and objectifies those involved – the babies, the young women, and even Nigeria itself.

For some readers perusing this eye-catching article (also covered in the New York Daily News, natch), this may be their first introduction to social justice or health issues in Nigeria. Let’s see what they’ll get: baby farm, witchcraft, desperate, poverty, corruption, crime, and savagery. The article “otherizes” these issues, painting Nigeria as a horrid place where such a ghastly things occur.

Yet, this notion of using pregnancy as a fulcrum for manipulating women is not so “other,” not so savage and foreign after all. It happens all over the world, and it happens right here in the US. For instance, increased discussion and examination of crisis pregnancy centers is revealing just how manipulative and coercive their tactics can be. Who do they often target? Poor, desperate young women with unwanted pregnancies. In addition, one could argue that, in fact, no one is more immersed in finding ways to manipulate women via reproductive rights than the US Congress.

BBC states the obvious: “poor, unmarried women face tough choices if they get pregnant in Nigeria.” Um, yes. I think we can safely substitute any country in the world in that sentence and it would read just as true. In fact, we can say that young women face tremendous reproductive health challenges all over the world. Now that we know this, what are we going to do about it?

This article was found at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/151222/teens_locked_up_and_forced_to_give_birth_to_kids_sold_into_slavery_--_how_can_this_happen%2C_and_what_can_we_do_about_it

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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

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Oregon Senate votes to give equal rights to children of religious parents and end faith healing as a legal defense to murder

The Register-Guard    -  Oregon       May 24, 2011

Oregon Senate votes to end faith healing murder defense

Parents could be charged with first-degree manslaughter or murder if the law takes effect

BY TAMI ABDOLLAH | The Associated Press

SALEM — The Oregon Senate voted Monday to eliminate faith healing as a legal defense to murder after repeated deaths of children in a local church community.

The Senate voted 25-5 to approve the measure. It was drafted largely in response to the 2008 deaths of children among members of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, who rely on spiritual treatments instead of medical care.

“The bottom line is that children in Oregon ought to be seeing the kind of health care they need to live, thrive and survive,” said Republican Sen. Bruce Starr of Hillsboro, who sponsored the bill.

Under the measure, prosecutors can seek first-degree manslaughter or murder charges against parents whose children died because they were treated solely with faith.

An Oregon City couple that belongs to the church stands trial this week on criminal mistreatment charges for failing to seek medical care for their infant daughter, now 1½-year old. Jury selection begins today in the case of Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, according to Greg Horner, chief deputy district attorney of Clackamas County. [see related articles links below]

Two other couples from the church have gone to trial. In both cases, the sick children weren’t taken to a doctor but instead were anointed with oil while the family prayed.

Jeff and Marci Beagley were convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the 2008 death of their teenage son and sentenced to 16 months in prison. [see related articles links below]

Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington were found not guilty of second-­degree manslaughter in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. Carl Brent Worthington was convicted on a lesser charge of criminal mistreatment and served two months in jail. [see related articles links below]

Attorney Mark Cogan, who represents Timothy Wyland, declined to comment on the bill or to discuss specifics in the case. Cogan also represented Carl Brent Worthington.

The families are members of a small Oregon church that has roots in Kansas but is now based in Oregon City. The church’s small cemetery, not far from the end of the Oregon Trail, has row after row of headstones marking children’s graves.

A listed phone number for the Followers of Christ Church was busy continuously Monday.

The measure, House Bill 2721, expands a 1999 law that eliminated faith healing as a defense from some charges of manslaughter, criminal mistreatment and nonpayment of child support.

It is designed to apply rules equally to all parents whose children die because they didn’t get medical care. Current law makes it tougher to convict parents who do not provide a child with medical care for religious reasons than those who don’t for reasons such as neglect.

“These crimes are based upon the premise that a parent has a legal duty, and they’re failing to provide, whatever it is, medical care or physical care,” Horner said.

Republican Fred Girod of Stayton spoke strongly against the bill, calling it “lousy policy.” He said it needed to be reviewed for the cost and impact on the budget.

Minimum penalties for certain cases considered murders would go from 120 to 300 months in prison and cost an additional $21.88 per day for a temporary prison bed, according to the fiscal impact report.

If the measure becomes law, it means a person could face the same level of punishment as “someone who goes into a liquor store and shoots someone in a robbery,” Girod said. “This is going to the extreme.”

The Oregon House unanimously approved the bill in March with a 59-0 vote. It now returns to the House for vote on changes that would make the bill take effect immediately.

This article was found at:

http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/26286192-41/oregon-bill-care-church-faith.html.csp

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Death of two children from medical neglect highlights Idaho law that grants religious freedom to parents but not to children

KBOI TV  -  Idaho     May 19, 2011

Dying for religion: 'They use fear - that's their main weapon'

By Mike Murad

CALDWELL, Idaho - Back in March, two very sick children from two different families in Canyon County died, likely from untreated pneumonia. We'll never know for sure, because they were never taken to the doctor.

For more than 99-percent of Idahoans, not getting medical care for a gravely sick child could be considered a crime. But for one group, it's perfectly legal. And some say it's time for it to stop.

"Too many little kids are dying over needless things that can be cured," says a man we're calling Jacob. He's a former member of the Followers of Christ Church, which has at least three branches here in the Treasure Valley, including one in Caldwell, another near Lake Lowell and one on Ten Mile in Meridian.

We've agreed to protect Jacob's identity because he still has active ties to the church, and is worried about the fallout of our investigation to current members.

"They use fear a lot, that's their main weapon," says Jacob. "It starts young. You start hearing about Hell and Lake of Fire real early."

The church believes in faith healing over medical intervention when it comes to treating their children. Jacob says even members of his own family have died from a lack of medical care.

"They really believe that praying and laying hands on is going to cure stuff," says Jacob.

Toddler Preston Bowers died March 24th at his Caldwell home. Vicki DeGeus-Morris, the Canyon County Coroner, says his parents described a rattle in the boy's chest, which eventually got worse, and a lack of energy. Preston would have turned two years old next week.

"I can't believe it's happening in this day and age, I really can't," says Jacob.

Rockwell Sevy also died at a home in Caldwell. His death occurred March 30th. The coroner believes he, like Preston, also died from untreated pneumonia. Rockwell was 14-years old.

Peaceful Valley Cemetery in Canyon County is one of the main cemeteries used by the Followers of Christ, and there's a high number of children buried in the cemetery.

DeGeus-Morris did not want to speculate on how many sick children might have been saved had their parents sought medical attention. She did say a high number of children buried in Peaceful Valley were the result of stillbirths.

"I'm sure there's a higher mortality rate because they do not seek medical attention for instances that could be reversed," said DeGues-Morris.

DeGues-Morris says she hasn't done an autopsy on a Followers of Christ child in years, because in Idaho it's not illegal for a parent or guardian to choose prayer over medicine as treatment for a sick child.

Idaho statute 18-1501 outlines the law that a parent who "chooses...treatment by prayer...shall not...have violated the duty of care to such child."

Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor says his hands are tied when it comes to punishing parents who choose faith healing over medicine, even to the very end.

"If they don't want to have their children go to a doctor, as long as they haven't caused the injuries, then we don't really have a leg to stand on in exploring criminal charges," says Taylor.

"I guess religious freedom means you can do almost anything you want. Especially if the people you're doing it to have no voice," says Jacob.

The Followers of Christ Church also has branches in Oregon, which is another state that grants lots of freedom when it comes to faith healing. But that could be changing.

Earlier this year, the Oregon House voted unanimously, 59-0, to remove legal protection for parents who decline medical intervention in the case of a sick child based on religious reasons. Discussion in the Oregon Senate started Thursday.

This article was found at:

http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/122269274.html

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