News Story of the Day

Salvation Army facing lawsuit after girls claim sexual abuse in West Ashley

March 20, 2017, Live 5 News

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - The Salvation Army is facing a lawsuit after two girls claim they were sexually abused for years while attending Sunday School at the Salvation Army's West Ashley location on Highway 61.

According to the McLeod Law Group, the Salvation Army hired a known sexual predator. 

The lawsuit names Armando Gonzalez, who according to jail records, was arrested in December 2015 for criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11 in connection to the assaults.


George Pell slams 'unjust' Senate call for him to assist with sexual abuse police inquiry

By AAP, March 20, 2017, 9News.com.au

Cardinal George Pell has come out swinging against a Senate call for him to return to Australia to assist with police investigations.

A Greens Party motion, agreed to by the upper house in February, called on the senior ranking Catholic clergyman to return to Australia to face allegations of misconduct. 


Put Down Your Tambourines

By Gordon Robinson, March 19, 2017, The Gleaner

As usual, when Jamaicans have a conversation about sex, it all goes sideways.

The current debate on the definition of 'rape' and age of 'consent' has majored in the minor (pun intended). The word 'rape' has its roots (Latin 'rapere') in 15th-century England and is related to the Latin verb 'stuprare', which means 'to defile, ravish, violate,' and the noun 'stuprum' (literally 'disgrace'), meaning 'to abduct (a woman), ravish'; also 'seduce (a man)'.


Lawsuit alleges man killed himself over molestation by priest

LOS ANGELES >> A widow has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Orange and Los Angeles dioceses, alleging that her husband killed himself in 2015 because of depression over having been molested by a “notorious pedophile” priest years before while attending St. Joseph’s Parish in Placentia.

Attorneys for the wife filed the lawsuit this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that her husband was haunted by the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of the Rev. Eleuterio Ramos from 1975 through 1978.


Ex-pastor charged with sexual assault, abuse

By HUEY FREEMAN, Herald & Review, March 17, 2017

DECATUR – Jose Luis Aboytes, a former pastor of a church on the city's east side, was charged Thursday in Macon County Circuit Court with seven felony counts for allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulting and abusing a girl younger than 13 during a period of seven months.

Aboytes, 58, who is being held in the Macon County Jail on $250,000 bond, is facing one count of predatory criminal sexual assault, punishable by six to 60 years in prison, two counts of criminal sexual assault and four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.


Australian Bishop Who Testified About Child Sex Abuse Quits

March 15, 2017, Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- An Anglican bishop who says he was warned by churchgoers that he was not safe in his own Australian diocese over his work to address decades of child sexual abuse has announced his resignation.

Newcastle Bishop Greg Thompson, who was sexually molested as a teenager by bishop who died in 1988, said in a statement Thursday he was quitting to focus on his health.

The 60-year-old said he had witnessed firsthand the culture and conduct from some sections of the church, both as an abuse victim and in his work to address the diocese's abuse legacy.


Jesuit Pope Francis is Coming Out; Backsliding on Pedophile Crackdown, Catholic Official Says

By Nate Brown, March 14, 2017, Christian Truther

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, has rescinded his policies regarding the crack down on pedophilia, Catholic officials claim. In fact, the last abuse survivor of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors recently left the commission, citing resistance coming from Vatican offices against implementing recommendations.

It is not clear exactly where the opposition is coming from within the Catholic Church, claimed the last abuse survivor Marie Collins, on the Pontifical Commission. However, she resigned as a direct result of the Catholic Church’s inability to implement recommendations that could curb sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.


Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to change two-witness rule because ‘that’s our stand’

By Rohan Smith, March 14, 2017, new.com.au

CHILD sexual assault is a secret crime carried out by men and women who do everything they can to avoid detection.

Which is why one passage in the Bible is a Get Out of Jail Free card for offenders, particularly when adhered to so strictly by those within religious organisations.

Timothy 5:19: demands followers “do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses”.


Reflections from the frontline in the war on Catholic child sex abuse

By Jonathan Flynn, March 13, 2017, ABC.net.au

Each one is different, a unique voice speaking out, usually after decades of painful, secretive silence. But there is a terrible consistency in the effect the abuse had on these people's lives:

"I feel pain and self-hatred. I tried to obliterate it with alcohol."

"I've lost my right to a normal life."

"I can no longer trust anyone, I always wonder whether they will betray my trust the way my abuser did."

"I didn't know who to trust, so I trusted no one."

"It made my life the living embodiment of hell."


Kelly argues against time limits on sex cases involving children

St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly went before a Senate Committee on Tuesday to urge senators to pass legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes against children.

The bill, Senate Bill 189, passed unanimously and heads to the full Senate for consideration.

“There is no time limit for the pain and trauma endured by child victims of sex assault and there should be no time limit for our ability to reach justice for them,” Kelly told the committee, according to a press release.


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