All posts tagged: sexual abuse

Hungary’s president resigns over a pardon in a child sexual abuse case

Hungary’s president resigns over a pardon in a child sexual abuse case

Published by skeptic

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s conservative president resigned Saturday amid public outcry over a pardon she granted to a man convicted as an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case, a decision that unleashed an unprecedented political scandal for the long-serving nationalist government. Katalin Novák, 46, announced in a televised message that she would step down from the presidency, an office she has held since 2022. Her decision came after more than a week of public outrage after it was revealed that she issued a presidential pardon in April 2023 to a man convicted of hiding a string of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home. “I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people,” Novák said on Saturday. “I made a mistake.” Novák’s resignation came as a rare episode of political turmoil for Hungary’s nationalist governing party Fidesz, which has ruled with a constitutional majority since 2010. Under the leadership of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Fidesz has been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and rigging the electoral system and …

Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee faces more abuse lawsuits

Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee faces more abuse lawsuits

Published by Sam

(RNS) — Leaders of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination face a pair of new lawsuits that accuse the denomination of covering up sexual abuse in local churches. The lawsuits were filed — one in federal court, another in Arkansas — as the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee is set to discuss the future of abuse reforms in the 13 million-member denomination. One of the lawsuits was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee on behalf of six survivors of alleged sexual abuse, who claim SBC leaders violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Better known by the acronym RICO, the act was initially passed to address organized crime. The complaint, a civil matter filed in late December, names the SBC Executive Committee along with churches in Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana and Alabama — and recounts the history of the SBC’s recent abuse crisis, including the 2021 Guidepost Solutions report commissioned by the denomination’s annual meeting. The complaint also details the alleged abuse suffered by the plaintiffs and the consequences of …

The GOP’s ongoing moral surrender to Trump

The GOP’s ongoing moral surrender to Trump

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This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The elected officials who quietly defend Donald Trump’s immorality even though they know better are just as bad as the comically devoted Trump courtiers. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Mushy Equivocations “I didn’t come here,” Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina complained last week, “to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy.” Tillis was referring to Republicans who were abandoning a deal on border security because they thought reaching a solution with President Joe Biden would hurt Trump’s electoral chances in the fall. It is immoral, Tillis added, to look “the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win.” As Bruce Willis’s fictional cop John McClane would say: Welcome to the party, pal. In theory, Republicans …

Paedophile who subjected child to campaign of horrifying abuse jailed for 18 years

Paedophile who subjected child to campaign of horrifying abuse jailed for 18 years

Published by Sam

A terrifying-looking paedophile who subjected a child to years of sexual abuse and rape in Kent has been locked behind bars for 18 years. Stefan Farbrother, 47, was convicted of a string of offences over a period of five years during the 1990s. This had included restraining his victim with handcuffs and holding a knife to their throat, causing a “catastrophic” impact on their adult life. Concerns were initially raised to Kent Police in 2018, which led to him being charged with offences dated between 1991 and 1997. These included seven counts of rape and multiple indecent assaults. Despite denying any wrongdoing, he was convicted by unanimous verdicts on all accounts at Maidstone Crown Court and has now been jailed. He has also been added to the sex offenders register for life. Detective Sergeant Adam Ferguson said: “Farbrother targeted the victim over a period of many years. He subjected them to the most appalling and terrifying campaign of abuse, using violence and threats which included restraining them with handcuffs and holding a knife to their …

The DeSantis-campaign implosion was inevitable

The DeSantis-campaign implosion was inevitable

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This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign. His loss was inevitable, because Republican voters want Donald Trump. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Trump’s for the Asking I wrote back in May that the Republican primary would be over before they really began. Too many of the candidates were featherweights or no-hopers, and even the more substantial challengers couldn’t bring themselves to go after Donald Trump, despite flaming indictments falling from the skies and covering him in a layer of dirty ash. My prediction is one step closer to fulfillment now that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has bowed out, leaving Nikki Haley as the last alternative standing. The reality, however, is that the 2024 GOP primary was never going to end any other way. When the former speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy rehabilitated Trump, and …

Ex-Governor Candidate Completes Jail Term for Possession of Images of Child Sexual Abuse

Ex-Governor Candidate Completes Jail Term for Possession of Images of Child Sexual Abuse

Published by skeptic

ELLSWORTH, Maine (AP) — A wealthy attorney who nearly became Maine’s governor was released from jail Thursday after completing his sentence for possessing thousands of images of child sexual abuse, officials said. Eliot Cutler, 77, was sentenced last year to nine months in jail under a plea agreement but was released about a month-and-a-half early for good behavior, Hancock County Jail Administrator Timothy Richardson said. The criminal case marked a dramatic fall for a man who had served as an aide to Sen. Edmund Muskie and was the top energy and environmental adviser to President Jimmy Carter before launching a powerful environmental law firm in Washington. Cutler returned to Maine to run for governor twice as an independent. He narrowly lost — by less than 2 percentage points — to Republican Paul LePage in 2010 and lost again by a much larger margin in 2014. The terms of probation prevent Cutler from possessing sexually explicit materials, require his online activities to be monitored and limit his ability to be around children. He also must register …

Donald Trump faces jury in E. Jean Carroll sex abuse and defamation trial

Donald Trump faces jury in E. Jean Carroll sex abuse and defamation trial

Published by skeptic

NEW YORK (AP) — After a big victory in the Iowa caucus, former President Donald Trump is expected in court Tuesday to face another legal challenge: a trial to determine how much more he owes the writer E. Jean Carroll for denying that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and accusing her of lying about her claims. Jury selection begins Tuesday morning at a federal court in Manhattan. Opening arguments could take place by afternoon in what is essentially a second penalty phase of a legal fight Carroll has already won. In May, a different jury awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding that Trump sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in spring 1996, then defamed her in 2022 by claiming she made it up after she revealed it publicly in a 2019 memoir. The jury said Carroll hadn’t proven that Trump raped her. One issue that wasn’t decided in that first trial was how much Trump owed for comments he made about Carroll while he was still president. Determining that dollar …

A spiritual leader in Nepal known as ‘Buddha Boy’ arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping

A spiritual leader in Nepal known as ‘Buddha Boy’ arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping

Published by Sam

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A controversial Nepalese spiritual leader known as “Buddha Boy” was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor and involvement in the disappearance of at least four of his followers from his camps, police said Wednesday. Ram Bahadur Bamjan is believed by many Nepalese to be the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal some 2,600 years ago and became revered as Buddha. Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of Bamjan’s claims. Bamjan was arrested late Tuesday from his house in a suburb of Kathmandu, the country’s capital, according to Nabaraj Adhikari of the Central Investigation Bureau. Police brought him before the media in handcuffs on Wednesday and said that he had tried to flee by jumping two floors from a window when the officers arrived but was unsuccessful and was taken into custody. Officials also displayed a stack of Nepalese banknotes they said was equivalent to $227,000 and other foreign currencies amounting to $23,000 seized from the house at the time of the arrest. Bamjan is expected to …

I Was In A Forced Marriage To An Abusive Stranger

I Was In A Forced Marriage To An Abusive Stranger

Published by Sam

Note: The following essay contains descriptions of sexual assault and abuse. They sent me off to be raped, with a party and a tube of K-Y Jelly. The lubricant was to reduce the intense physical pain they explained I would endure while being penetrated by a stranger-turned-husband, without foreplay, without consent. Every month. Until death do us part. The party — a low-budget wedding in 1995 at a Brooklyn venue aptly nicknamed Armpit Terrace — was to distract me from the horrific reality of my forced marriage to the stranger. “Mazel tov!” they told me, beaming. In the reclusive Orthodox Jewish community in New York City where I grew up, choices about whether, when and whom I would marry did not belong to me. At home and at the all-girls religious school I attended, where I learned to cook and sew and keep house, I was groomed from early childhood to expect a teen marriage to a stranger my family and a matchmaker would choose for me. I was allowed to meet the stranger several …

Prince Andrew sent ominous warning as Epstein file to land tomorrow | Royal | News

Prince Andrew sent ominous warning as Epstein file to land tomorrow | Royal | News

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Prince Andrew (Image: Getty) Prince Andrew will be haunted “for the rest of his life” by his friendship with child sex monster Jeffrey Epstein, a top US lawyer has warned. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Spencer Kuvin, whose Florida law firm represented three of Epstein’s underage victims, added however that the Duke of York will now almost certainly not face criminal charges in America. At the same time, with a fourth tranche of bombshell civil court documents due to be released in New York on Monday, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz – whose name also figured in last week’s document dumps – darkly warned: “There are smoking guns yet to be revealed.” Stay up-to-date with the latest Royal news Join us on WhatsApp Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Prince Andrew, 63, who paid a reported $15.2million out-of-court settlement with alleged Epstein “sex slave” Virginia Giuffre almost two years ago, now faces a bleak future over the …