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Scout leader jailed for sex abuse

Felicity Caldwell

March 28, 2011 - 7:39AM

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A scout leader who molested a teenage girl during a “sex ed” lesson and repeatedly abused his stepchildren will be behind bars until 2021.
The man, aged in his 50s, has admitted a catalogue of sickening sexual offences against his stepdaughter, two stepsons and a female scout.
Ipswich District Court heard the man molested the 14-year-old scout, a friend of his stepson, in September 2008 in front of the boy – telling him he would teach him how to please a girl.

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A month later he took her to the scout den where he again molested the girl.
Crown prosecutor Clayton Wallis said the man had used the girl as “some sort of teaching aide... of what to do with girls when he was older”.

sexual abuse awareness

The Role of Professionals and concerned citizens

 

Professionals and concerned citizens play a critical role in stopping elder abuse and neglect. Learn more about the roles that members of the following groups play and the resources available to them.

• Adult protective service workers are the "front line" workers in elder abuse prevention. APS programs are designated as the primary agencies in most states to receive and investigate reports.
• Professionals in the field of aging are often the first to discover abuse. For that reason, they provide a critical link between victims and protective service. They can provide encouragement and support to victims as they seek help and they can play an important role in educating other professionals about the special needs of the elderly.
• Health and medical professionals play a key role in the identification and treatment of abuse. The trust and respect that patients often have for their health care providers places these professionals in a key position to help.
• Law enforcement personnel ensure victims' safety and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
• Researchers provide insight into the etiology, incidence, and risk factors associated with abuse - information that is critical in designing effective interventions and services.
• The media plays a fundamental role in educating the public and shaping its perceptions about abuse. It can enlist the public's help in identifying abuse, educate policy makers about the need for improved services and public policy, direct victims to needed services, and warn abusers about the consequences of their actions.
• Concerned citizens can play a vital role in preventing abuse by reporting cases, helping to raise awareness about the problem, volunteering at agencies, and advocating for needed services and policy.

Penan Women/girl

v. Sexual abuse against Penan women by workers of logging companies

As the Penan communities have been struggling to prevent destruction of their ancestral lands by logging firms, their womenfolk are being victimised by timber company workers in the various settlements within the companies’ operation areas. In particular, there have been allegations that the Penan women including schoolgirls in the Middle Baram area of Sarawak were sexually abused “on a regular basis” by the workers hired by Malaysian logging companies Interhill and Samling. Swiss-based NGO, Bruno Manser Fund, which conducted a research on the sexual violence against the Penan women, alleged that the company workers based in logging camps usually frequented, in a drunken condition, in the Penan settlements looking for women. The Penan women were so terrified that they fled into the forests when they heard sound of vehicles approaching. The situation becomes the worst during the school holidays when students return home to spend their vacation.[16]

The young school girls have been more vulnerable to sexual abuse by the company workers who would take advantage of the disadvantaged positions of the Penans. As the schools are far away from the Penan villages, the schoolchildren have to either walk for several hours or take vehicles to reach the schools. But the Penans are poor and cannot afford vehicles for their children. Hence, they depended on the companies’ vehicles to ferry their children to schools. The Penan girls have become vulnerable as the company workers would often arranged the transportation in such a way that schoolgirls had to stay overnight at a logging camp, where they were abused. Bruno Manser Fund further reported that there had been several incidents of pregnancy among the Penan women and girls due to the abuses and that the logging workers also carried arms to intimidate the Penan community.[17] In 2007, a 16-year-old student from Long Kawi, a settlement in the Middle Baram, became pregnant after being raped while returning to her boarding school. The victim was raped in the logging camp when taking transportation provided by companies to go to her school SMK Long Lama.[18]

On 6 October 2008, The Star reported that “interviews conducted in settlements in the Middle Baram area in northern Sarawak, revealed that several students had become victims of rapes by logging workers.[19]
No perpetrator has been brought to justice. The Penan community leaders alleged that while complaints to the company managers did not work, the police also failed to take any action against the perpetrators. In October 2008, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has reportedly set up a task force to investigate allegations of sexual abuse against Penan women and girls in Sarawak.[20] The Royal Malaysian Police is presently investigating into alleged cases of sexual abuse.

But there is little international concern over the continuous struggle waged by the indigenous peoples of Sarawak for survival as a result of exploitation of the indigenous peoples and their resources by the logging companies and other business enterprises in the state of Sarawak. The lack of insensitivity has been poignantly demonstrated by England when it recently conferred honorary Knighthood to Tiong Hiew King, the founder of the Rimbunan Hijau Group which has been responsible for destruction of the livelihood of the Penans in Sarawak by its logging activities.

when man become victims

When Male Becomes Victim – A Case Report
ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 11 (2) July – December 2010: XX XX
This is a case report describing how a
mentally disabled boy became a victim of
sexual molestation.

Case Report
MH is a 14 year old Malay boy diagnosed
with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
ADHD and Mental Retardation from the age
of 7 years. His impulsivity was not well
controlled with medication due to non
compliance. He was brought to UKMMC in
January 2009 at the age of 14 after being
sexually molested by an Indonesian male,
who often sold food around his housing
area. His mother was working that time and
he was left alone, as usual in his house,
when the incident occurred.
According to an eye witness, the man was
seen masturbating the victim near his house.
The neighbour subsequently reported the
incident to patient’s mother who later lodged
a police report and brought patient to
hospital for further evaluation.
The victim was noted to be traumatized and
he refused to give any information regarding
the incident. In the hospital, the patient was
unable to give relevant history due to his
communication difficulties. He also refused
physical examination thus examination
under  anaesthesia (EUA) had to be carried
out with parental consent. It revealed no
evidence of anal injuries or abnormalities.
The child was referred to a child
psychologist for psycho education (“safe
touch”). Due to lack of evidence of the
abuse, the perpetrator was not charged.
Patient’s parents were also not keen to lodge
a police report as they found the experience
humiliating and felt strongly that it to should
be kept a secret.  The patient has not been
brought for follow up since the first visit.
Discussion
Any male child may become a victim of
sexual abuse. However, studies have found
that boys at highest risk of sexual abuse are
those younger than thirteen years of age, of
low socioeconomic status, not living with
their fathers and who are  disabled. Family
factors such as living with only one parent,
parental divorce or separation and parental
alcohol abuse or criminal behaviour also
contribute to the increase risk of abuse [2].
In the above case, the risk factors identified
were a teenager with mental retardation, low
socioeconomic status and lack of parental
supervision.
Children with disabilities are found to be 4
to 10 times more vulnerable to sexual abuse
compared to non disabled children (National
Resource Center on  Child Sexual Abuse,
1992). Having physical disabilities and co
morbidities such as mental retardation and
ADHD places them at higher risk for abuse
[3]. This could be due to multiple reasons,
such as inability to differentiate between
normal behaviour and abusive behaviour,
difficulties in reporting due to lack of
communication skills, difficulty in being
educated regarding sexuality issues due to
their learning disability and impaired
judgement in differentiating ‘safe’ and
‘unsafe’ environments and persons. The
tendency to show affectionate behaviours to
others (for example in mental retardation),
also placed them as an easy target for abuse.
In this case, as the perpetrator was partially
known to the victim, it was easier for the
perpetrator to coax the victim to cooperate
in the abusive act. As shown in the above
scenario, there is a high probability that the
abuse would not be detected if there was no
eyewitness to the incident.