By Carey Wedler
The Catholic Church and government agencies in the United Kingdom have developed a new argument to avoid paying out settlements to victims of pedophilia and sex abuse: they’re claiming the children consented.
As the Telegraph noted over the weekend:
Lawyers who represent some of the victims have told the Sunday Telegraph that the defence is more frequently being used by private schools, religious groups and local authorities when trying to defend compensation claims.
Though news of these recent attempts to avoid paying settlements emerged last month, the Telegraph recently viewed documents from two court cases in which defense attorneys used the “consent” argument.
“One claimant was told by lawyers for the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark that his abuse, which included rape and began when he was 15, ‘actually occurred in the context of a consensual relationship (albeit one the Claimant in retrospect now appears to regret),’” the Telegraph reported.
“I was below the legal age of consent anyway and there’s a grooming element to that kind of situation. It was totally disregarded and it made me feel really small,” he said.
According to Siobhán Crawford, a lawyer with London-based Bolt Burdon Kemp, the strategy is usually used when a child turns sixteen during the abuse. Sixteen is the age of consent, though the Telegraph notes that “[f]or adults in a position of authority, it is illegal to have sex with a child under their care, even if the child is 16 or 17 at the time.”
Even so, in one case, the Cambridgeshire County Council, a government entity, claimed a student whose abuse started when she was under 16 consented:
On her own account the Claimant voluntarily sought out contact with [the teacher] and considered that she was in a relationship with him. If that is correct, after she had obtained the age of 16, the Claimant consented to sexual acts with [the teacher] and those acts ceased to be assaults.
The victims in these two cases were eventually compensated.
Despite claims from the Church and government that consent was issued, Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, disagrees. “No child ever gives their ‘consent’ to being abused, and the increased use of this line of defence, although still quite rare, is worrying,” she said.
While the defense is rare, it is being employed more often. Crawford told the Telegraph that her firm had dealt with ten cases and that “there had been an increase in the past two years as authorities became aware that it was an option.”
Barnardo’s, one of the children’s charities objecting to this new line of defense, said in July that since the CICA was established in 2012, “nearly 700 child victims of sexual abuse have been refused payments ranging between £1,000 and £44,000, according to a freedom of information request by the charity coalition,” which also includes Victim Support, Liberty, Rape Crisis and the National Working Group (NWG).
One case in which the victim was not compensated, the Telegraph noted in July, “involved a 12-year-old girl who was plied with alcohol, led into the woods and sexually assaulted by a 21-year-old man.”
“This was because she had gone into the woods ‘voluntarily,’ had not been a victim of violence, she emerged ‘happily’ from the woods and that she had recently had sexual relations with another child around her own age,” the outlet summarized.
The coalition of charities has called for a change in rules. According to a press release Barnardo’s issued in July:
The coalition is calling for the rules to be changed so no child groomed and manipulated into sexual abuse is denied compensation because they complied with their abuse through fear, lack of understanding, or being brainwashed into believing their abuser loved them and developing feelings for them.
This is only the latest controversy surrounding the Catholic Church, which has been defending alleged pedophiles and child abusers within its ranks for years. The government agencies in question are also under fire now, too.
As Dawn Thomas, co-chair of Rape Crisis England & Wales, said last month:
It’s not only bizarre but also inappropriate and harmful that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority applies a different definition of consent from the law and, as a result, routinely tell victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation that they consented to the sexual violence perpetrated against them.
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Pedophilia should be a death penalty offense !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed, so long as there are safeguards against false allegations. I shudder to think that innocent people could be executed due to some vengeful teen’s lies. However, for the serial predators in positions of power over innocents, I totally agree that only death will stop them from destroying more children’s lives. There’s no such thing as a rehabilitated sex offender.
I absolutely agree with you on all points!
Just by giving this crime the definition of “pedophilia” gives it the legitimacy and protection of a psychiatric disorder.
We should say it like it is: This is a crime of rape / sexual abuse.
The young age of the victims and the scenario of dependence within which the victims are usually raped and abused should carry and extra harsh penalty for the rapists / abusers.
Unless the victims are unable to work from their experiences as children, the sexual abusers should go to jail instead of making payouts.
This allows rich sexual abusers to get away with a crime since they can afford the punishment whereas poor sexual abusers lose their freedom in a cage.
Lastly sexual abusers were most likely themselves abused as children, so they should have a choice of jail or counseling for the rest of their life to avoid future abuses. Most would choose counseling and that should be enough for most people to recover from their addiction to underage relations as with any other addiction in my opinion.
Counselling??? does nothing to repair the trauma.
Correct. In fact it may put them in an advantageous position to commit further abuses.
NO. They should make payouts and then be put to death. You are wrong about abusers being abused themselves. I was a counselor for sex offenders and the research shows that only about 30% were victims. Research also shows that the only ones who have a chance at rehabilitation are ones who have abused within the home with a relative. Ones who go outside the home are less likely to benefit from counseling and those who are also involved in other criminal activity should be put away for the rest of their lives. They are not viable candidates for rehab. Ifg you want them out and about around your family, you need counseling.
California has one of the biggest hospitals for pedophiles, they are pretty much locked away in an institution away from the public. I think that is the best solution until we figure out a way to rehab people from their sins, I think all people can be forgiven and repent if they want to change and be free again.
I think lobotomy has been outlawed. The drives are like that of a starving person with food in front of him/her. Just put them out of their misery.
“Death Penalty”, in my opinion, is warranted in most cases.
Sorry, counseling doesn’t cure child rapists. For whatever reason, it has pretty much produced zero rehab (no matter how much MSM insists some of it does work). I worked as a therapist for 20 yrs, worked with pedophiles and victims. We had lots of training on sex abuse and it is well-known amongst those in the field that counseling simply doesn’t work for pedos, any more than it works for serial killers etc. They simply don’t change.
Research the “9th Circle”. The British establishment have been abusing and even murdering children for generations. The BBC are intrinsically involved, with their presenters serving children up to be abused. Even now the BBC is abusing kids – they’re running a two-part documentary which takes a class of 7-yr-old white children and for 6 weeks brainwashes them into believing they’re neither male or female. The consequences of this could range from anything between mild-depression/confusion to suicide. But it’s all presented in happy colourful presentation to convey the idea the kids are enjoying the experience.
Might I suggest that every last one of these government and church spokespersons SHUT THEIR F*CKING MOUTHS ! – permanently. This is a plenty serious statement. Telling someone to Sh*t Up is actually more serious than blasting someone with profanity. But at this stage, I firmly believe that Roman Catholics must effectively challenge the Vatican and its minions. This kind of blasphemy and abject criminal conduct has gone over the edge.
They should all be killed.
observing the process we know as “normalization”…… unreal.
“The Catholic Church and government agencies” — “Sex Predators Innocent Because Children Consented”” — Amos 3.3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
For the umpteenth time, here is the link to a 2:44:10 YouTube video which explains how we got to this point.
“The Kinsey Syndrome” exposes the corrupt ‘study’ of human sexuality which sexually tortured children and infants, based data on prisoners who were abused and became molesters themselves to extrapolate ‘common’ behaviors to the general public. Laws were changed around the country to soften punishments and normalize pedophilia. Corrupt judges, doctors, teachers, priests and others jumped on the bandwagon.
It’s worse than you can even imagine, and be prepared to be outraged at what you find in this documentary. Personally, I wanted to resurrect a few of the SOBs involved just so I could beat them back to death with my bare hands. We still live in the sick, evil, Kinsey legacy to this day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDFb3Hx1DK8
Let’s make one thing extremely clear: The Vatican is NOT the “Church”!! Yahushua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus Christ) has nothing to do with the Vatican or any of its franchises! By its own actions the Vatican has proven itself to be under Satan/the devil.
Angry? No, not me. I am SO FAR BEYOND ANGRY now. . .
well, while holding our noses over the Catholic Church situation, let’s ask this – have children here in America given their consent to dozens of poison-laden vaccines before they have learned to write? Have they given consent to being kidnaped by CPS and handed over to the (documented) predatory foster care system (not to mention the also-reported Dark State body parts market)? There are additonal etceteras, but you get the point, which is that we live in an insane world, and it’s hard to argue any position, unless you’re the one with the power to benefit from it and silence dissenters.
You seem to have taken a different point from the one which I perceived in this article. I perceived that the church and government were trying to legalize predatory sexual abuse by redefining what “consent” means in a legalistic sense.
It appears to me that you have construed the article to somehow be about comparing different countries’ problems with abuses of children in various ways. My response to your last sentence is that one can indeed have an unwavering moral compass, despite being surrounded by abuse and tyranny.
all I was really saying is “let the arguments be made by citizens and not by Government”, because the Government is up to their eyeballs in blood, theft, and lies. Why should the U.K. Government be the arbiter of this discussion, when – for example – Prince Charles can’t extricate himself from the amorous embraces of attractive pre- and early- teen boys right smack in front of the country’s (and the world’s) photographers? And in America, I consider it preposterous that Government presume a moral or legal stance regarding this when they have been destroying children in untold numbers around the world in wars, and in other ways at home. Wow, if we’re going for ideals, let’s clean up the whole damned mess! I thought I was quite clear.
This makes for great fodder for Activist Post…but it’s a moot point. The question of whether children can consent has been LONG SETTLED–same result, TIME and TIME AGAIN. It’s not a legal defense and is therefore moot.
Death penalty for child rapists. Period. And the ones caught in the act and confirmed by eyewitnesses don’t get a 10 year stint on death row while they appeal. Straight from the courtroom to the gallows. Of course, if someone rapes a child of mine, I will utterly destroy it myself, like a rabid dog, in defense of the child. If I catch someone red-handed raping ANY child, I will destroy it on the spot, in defense of the child. If everyone that cares about this issue swore this same oath to themselves, this issue would go away. You hear that you child rapists out there? I’m willing to go to jail if necessary for the opportunity to destroy you utterly, and I guarantee it won’t be quick. Filth!
Rarely do people know that priests have diplomatic immunity because of the Vatican being a separate nation state. That is why they continue to NOT get prosecuted.
I suggest the USA review that policy, and have them removed from the country if they want justice via their protected Vatican status.
This needs to come to an end.
The Catholic Church is largely now the habitation of demons. The new pope is the little beast, who will prepare the way for anti-christ Obomber.
The fact that this is discussed, debated as if it were just another news story… Says only one thing… We are finished, we are no longer human…