Category: Child Abuse

Prosecutor Wants Bountiful Polygamous Probe Reopened:

by John McKiggan

The special prosecutor who has been asked to investigate the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints community in Bountiful, British Columbia plans to ask the RCMP to reopen their criminal investigation into the polygamous religious community.

The Globe and Mail reported that Vancouver lawyer, Terry Robertson says that:

“The law says it is an offence for a person in a position of authority over another to sexually touch someone if they are under 18,”

Supreme Court Overturns Conviction of Sex Abuser Who Confessed: 3 Times!

by John McKiggan

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned the conviction of 73-year-old who confessed (three times!) to sexually abusing three children.

In a stinging indictment of the police that investigated the crimes, the Court unanimously ruled that police “knowingly and deliberately” used information that had been illegally obtained in order to obtain the confessions.

The Globe and Mail has reported that police in Kamloops interrogated Dieter Helmut Wittwer three times. Each time he confessed to sexually assaulting 3 girls between the ages of five and six years old.

Repressed Memory of Sexual Abuse a Creation of the Media?

by John McKiggan

The media has been full of reports over the outrage caused by disgraced priest and convicted sex abuser Paul Shanley’s appeal based on the (supposed) unreliability of “repressed memory”.

I posted about the story last week Priest Sex Abuser Appeals Conviction: Denies Existence of Repressed Memory .

Today I read an interesting post by Tim Lytton on the PrawfsBlawg about the issue. He makes the point that the media attention surrounding the various priest sexual abuse scandals has perhaps over estimated the incidence of repressed memory in historical sexual abuse cases.

Mennonite Elder Ordered to Pay for Sexual Abuse: Ontario

by John McKiggan

A founding member of a Mount Forest Mennonite community has been ordered to pay compensation to a man that he sexually abused as a child.

CTV news has reported that 84 year old Amsey Bearinger is currently serving a two year sentence after being convicted of sexually abusing 17 children over two decades.

Bearinger, an Elder in the Mennonite Church, has been ordered to pay compensation to a man who was just 8 years old when Bearinger began to sexually assault him.

Province & Mom Responsible for Sexual Assault on Child by Sex Offender: B.C. Court of Appeal

by John McKiggan

In a decision released last week, the British Columbia Court of Appeal has found a probation officer and the mother of a boy who was sexually abused, equally responsible for sexual assaults on the boy, by a paroled sex offender.

The Court of Appeal confirmed that the province is vicariously liable (legally responsible) for the negligence of a probation officer who allowed a convicted sex offender on parole to live with a family with two young children.

You can read the full decision here.

Priest Sex Abuser Appeals Conviction: Denies Existence of Repressed Memory

by John McKiggan

Paul Shanley the notorious defrocked priest and convicted sex abuser that was the center of the Boston priest sexual abuse scandal has appealed his conviction on charges of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s.

Shanley claims that his lawyer at his trial did not do a good enough job challenging the admissibility of the victim’s “repressed memories” of the childhood sexual abuse.

The District Attorney who prosecuted Shanley, Gerry Leone was quoted as saying:

Throw the Book at Sexual Predators

by John McKiggan

In an Editorial published today in The Montreal Gazette the authors point to the apparent epidemic of sexual abuse in schools.
…it is impossible to know how large the problem of sexual predators in schools is, but there is, definitely, a problem. A 2001-2005 investigation in the U.S. last year by Associated Press found more than 2,500 cases of teachers who were either sanctioned by their schools or, in half the cases, convicted of a crime of sexual misconduct.
The authors conclude:
The seriousness of child sexual abuse cannot be overstated. Victims talk of lives ruined. They are unable to work, form relationships, enjoy friendships or accomplish what they hoped to in life.

The justice system seems to be the one realistic hope of putting an end to a predator’s career.
I couldn’t agree more. I have been representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse for more than 15 years. Criminal charges provide the justice system with a chance to punish sexual predators. Civil claims for sexual abuse hold the institutions that allow sexual deviants to prey on child accountible for the lives destroyed by sexual abuse.

If you have been a victim of childhood sexual abuse you can contact me for a free report about childhood sexual abuse claims and a manual of Atlantic Canadian resources for survivors of sexual abuse.

Preliminary Inquiry Starts for Priest Charged with Sexual Abuse: North Bay, Ontario

by John McKiggan

A preliminary inquiry has started for Bernard Cloutier, a Roman Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting several young boys over a decade at various parishes in Northern Ontario.

It is alleged the incidents involving Bernard Cloutier began in 1974 and continued until April 1983. He has pleaded not guilty to the 22 charges he is facing.

The preliminary inquiry will determine if there is sufficient evidence for the charges to proceed to trial.

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