Christchurch gets it's fair share of news headlines, and whilst the media focus on Napier today, I came across a couple of stories from the Garden City and another story from a few years ago. I originally called this post "Just Sick". It's not hard to see why. The penalties seem far too light in view of the crimes. Is that another aspect that is distinctly Christchurch? Or is this distinctly NZ?
Police have dropped an ill-treatment charge against a Christchurch man caught on surveillance camera lifting a six-year-old girl by the head.
Police prosecutor told Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie at a status hearing today that they would not proceed with the charge against Terrence Matthew Rangianoa Biddle, 20, unemployed.
Maybe what he did was unwise, but caused no harm? A warning might be enough?
Next.
A Christchurch man who repeatedly sodomised his two-year-old daughter while she struggled and screamed was today jailed for 10 years. [and a non-parole term of six-and-a-half years.] Crown prosecutor Dr Heather McKenzie said: "It is difficult to imagine worse offending on such a young child."
After being confronted by police he confessed he had abused his daughter on five occasions.
Judge Moran said the man's other child had been left lost and bewildered by the arrest and his wife had felt numb for months She was only beginning to get to grips with the reality of what had happened.
"That's mind-boggling." [you think? - Zen]
The man had offended at home when the wife was out working, and after he had been viewing internet child abuse pornography. He had sodomised the girl even though she was distressed and in pain, "crying her frigging head off and screaming" as he later told police.
"If anybody from today ever supposes that possession of child pornography won't lead to actual offending, you are a good example (that it will)," said the judge.
What needs to be said here? Maybe just that as a society we need to work harder at ending child pornography. Furthermore, what happens when this guy gets out? Well, that brings me to my third story:
A youth known to be the subject of sexual misconduct allegations raped an 8-year-old Christchurch girl after the Corrections Department placed him at her school.
Corrections confirmed yesterday that it was aware of historic allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour when the offender was sentenced to community work.
The 17-year-old went on to rape the 8-year-old after taking her and her 12-year-old brother to a neighbourhood playground out of school hours. He was charged over that sex attack and also faced a sexual count involving the brother, but this was later dropped by police. Last month, he was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
"The department is very concerned about what happened and has expressed its regret to the family." The children's mother is furious the offender was allowed to come near her children. "It just is passed from one agency to another. I've had a gutsful at this stage. I feel like I want to buy a gun and shoot everybody."
[careful - you'll be jailed for life if you shoot a sex offender who raped you child, and all the people that allowed this to happen, whereas they get off with a pittance. -Zen]
Further trouble for the family began when the offender claimed while being interviewed by police that the siblings had been involved in sexual activity in the past. The mother said Child, Youth and Family, acting on the claims, removed the boy from his home just days after the abuse. "We were just devastated. We knew it wasn't true and the police knew that it wasn't true but CYF came in," she said.
Nice to know the authorities will act on the say-so of a rapist to put the family in further unbelievable amounts of stress, and yet no-one is going to lose their job for putting a person with this history in a school.
That story was actually back from 2005, although the others are more recent. I just came across it because I blogged about it back then at the height of the anti-smacking debate, noting how a rapist could make allegations leading to treating the parents as the offenders and removing their child from an "unsafe" environment, and how an annoyed neighbour could therefore do the same on crying "smack".
Unfortunately, we don't get an accurate picture of what goes on in Family Court and we hardly ever hear of the cases CYFS stuff up. There needs to be better oversight on these cases. It's something the ex-children's commissioner never saw fit to argue for. Maybe the new one will?
Related Link: Helping offenders create more victims
Police have dropped an ill-treatment charge against a Christchurch man caught on surveillance camera lifting a six-year-old girl by the head.
Police prosecutor told Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie at a status hearing today that they would not proceed with the charge against Terrence Matthew Rangianoa Biddle, 20, unemployed.
Maybe what he did was unwise, but caused no harm? A warning might be enough?
Next.
A Christchurch man who repeatedly sodomised his two-year-old daughter while she struggled and screamed was today jailed for 10 years. [and a non-parole term of six-and-a-half years.] Crown prosecutor Dr Heather McKenzie said: "It is difficult to imagine worse offending on such a young child."
After being confronted by police he confessed he had abused his daughter on five occasions.
Judge Moran said the man's other child had been left lost and bewildered by the arrest and his wife had felt numb for months She was only beginning to get to grips with the reality of what had happened.
"That's mind-boggling." [you think? - Zen]
The man had offended at home when the wife was out working, and after he had been viewing internet child abuse pornography. He had sodomised the girl even though she was distressed and in pain, "crying her frigging head off and screaming" as he later told police.
"If anybody from today ever supposes that possession of child pornography won't lead to actual offending, you are a good example (that it will)," said the judge.
What needs to be said here? Maybe just that as a society we need to work harder at ending child pornography. Furthermore, what happens when this guy gets out? Well, that brings me to my third story:
A youth known to be the subject of sexual misconduct allegations raped an 8-year-old Christchurch girl after the Corrections Department placed him at her school.
Corrections confirmed yesterday that it was aware of historic allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour when the offender was sentenced to community work.
The 17-year-old went on to rape the 8-year-old after taking her and her 12-year-old brother to a neighbourhood playground out of school hours. He was charged over that sex attack and also faced a sexual count involving the brother, but this was later dropped by police. Last month, he was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
"The department is very concerned about what happened and has expressed its regret to the family." The children's mother is furious the offender was allowed to come near her children. "It just is passed from one agency to another. I've had a gutsful at this stage. I feel like I want to buy a gun and shoot everybody."
[careful - you'll be jailed for life if you shoot a sex offender who raped you child, and all the people that allowed this to happen, whereas they get off with a pittance. -Zen]
Further trouble for the family began when the offender claimed while being interviewed by police that the siblings had been involved in sexual activity in the past. The mother said Child, Youth and Family, acting on the claims, removed the boy from his home just days after the abuse. "We were just devastated. We knew it wasn't true and the police knew that it wasn't true but CYF came in," she said.
Nice to know the authorities will act on the say-so of a rapist to put the family in further unbelievable amounts of stress, and yet no-one is going to lose their job for putting a person with this history in a school.
That story was actually back from 2005, although the others are more recent. I just came across it because I blogged about it back then at the height of the anti-smacking debate, noting how a rapist could make allegations leading to treating the parents as the offenders and removing their child from an "unsafe" environment, and how an annoyed neighbour could therefore do the same on crying "smack".
Unfortunately, we don't get an accurate picture of what goes on in Family Court and we hardly ever hear of the cases CYFS stuff up. There needs to be better oversight on these cases. It's something the ex-children's commissioner never saw fit to argue for. Maybe the new one will?
Related Link: Helping offenders create more victims
Zen, totally agree with your stand on these perverts and those who harbour them.
ReplyDeleteOn my blog you’ll see I’ve recently done an article on Father McAlinden – Australasia’s biggest sex offender (link below)
Over his 50 years of abuse he literally molested, raped & humiliated hundreds of young-girls on both sides of the Tasman.
McAlinden was reported time and time again to Church authorities and they simply swept his offending under the table, or sent this serial pedophile to a new post.
I personally think some people are born evil (nature over nurture)
Given the right environment they are a threat to society.
But there is evidence as your point out, pornography does ‘spark-off’ these attributes.
Father Paddy Thwaites from Christchurch’s St Teresa Church (refer 2nd link) is a prime example of someone who ‘got his jollies off’ by watching porn and then acted on this.
As a family-man I’m right behind you highlighting the inadequacies of the law in New Zealand and those that turn a blind-eye to these sicko’s.
We agree on this one.
Paul.
http://canterburyatheists.blogspot.com/2009/04/meet-australasias-biggest-sex-offender.html
http://canterburyatheists.blogspot.com/2008/10/knick-nack-paddy-wack-give-priest-bone.html