Woman pleads insanity for killing son

DENVER — Police say 34-year-old Stephanie Rochester of Superior told them that she smothered her son to death because she believed he was autistic and didn’t think she and her husband could handle a disabled child. On Friday, Rochester pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in Boulder County District Court. Her attorneys say they believe that postpartum mental illness contributed to Rochester’s actions. Rochester is charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death in the June 1 death of her 6-month-old son, Rylan.

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http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-accused-of-killed-son-superior-121710,0,4111669.story

A Man who raped an underage girl has been jailed for eight years. Passing sentence on James Riggs at Plymouth Crown Court, Judge Francis Gilbert QC branded him arrogant and said he had used the girl sexually on many occasions for his own sexual gratification. The jury of seven men and five women unanimously found Riggs, aged 25 and of Plough Green, Saltash, guilty of one count of rape and five counts of sexual activity with a child.

Riggs, wearing a dark suit and blue striped tie, stood impassively but shook his head as the verdicts were delivered. The jury was told that he had two previous convictions for drink driving and one for possession of cocaine. During the week-long trial, they heard how Riggs had called the girl into his bedroom when she came to his home to return a lost wallet. He then had unprotected sex with her, although she did not want to. Over a period of months, Riggs and the schoolgirl had a sexual affair, and at one point he took her on a bus on an outing to Torpoint, which he denied.

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http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/years-jail-child-rapist-abused-girl/article-3020359-detail/article.html

BERKELEY, Mo. (KMOX) — A Berkeley police officer who was fired amid allegations of sexual misconduct with a teenaged girl is charged Friday by the St. Louis County Prosecutor. Officer Phillip Peterson is charged with sodomy, statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child. 27-year old Peterson met the 15-year old alleged victim at the Risen Lord Community Church in St. Charles, where Peterson was involved with the church youth group.

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http://kmox.cbslocal.com/2010/12/17/berkeley-officer-charged-with-sodomy-rape/

A man who was charged with raping an 11-year-old girl, currently serving time in the Knox County Detention Facility, is now accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill the child and her family.It was discovered that the hit man hired was an undercover Knox County Sheriff’s officer. James Wallace Davenport, 21, of Lutrell, was charged Dec. 14 with six counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, according to a sheriff’s office report.   The report stated that Davenport solicited the undercover officer to kill the girl, and her family members, so the state would not be able to prosecute him on the rape charge.

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http://www.theknoxvillejournal.com/content/stories/news/dec2010/Child-rapist-charged-with-hiring-hit-man-to-kill-victim-and-family.html

(NOTE: Dreamcatchers for Abused Children does *NOT* agree with this report—It conflicts 100% with all the other research, statistics & reports we’ve gathered this year.)

Report Shows Steady Decrease in Child Abuse and Neglect

Data collected through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, a voluntary data collection system, shows an estimated 763,000 children were victims of child abuse and neglect, at a rate of 10.1 per 1,000 children. Of those, 693,174 total victims were counted once, regardless of the number of reports of maltreatment. Data from states continue to indicate the greatest proportion of children suffered from neglect and that the 87,612 child victims younger than one year had the highest rate of victimization at 20.6 per 1,000 children in the population of the same age.

“We are pleased to see a steady decrease in the rate of abused and neglected children, however we also know even one child abused is one too many,” said David A. Hansell, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. “The more we support and implement evidenced-based programs and services to prevent child maltreatment and promote healthy families and communities, the sooner we can ensure children are able to have the safe, happy and healthy childhood they deserve.”

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http://www.mmdnewswire.com/report-shows-steady-decrease-in-child-abuse-and-neglect-15272.html

DCF: She wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near child

TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa woman charged with the murder of her child was denied bond by a judge Saturday morning. Eboni Thompson, 31, was arrested for choking her 4-month-old baby girl to death, but Tampa Police said this story only gets more disturbing. “The father returned from a short trip to the store and he found the mother on the couch cradling the child,” said Laura McElroy of the Tampa Police Department.

Investigators said Thompson put the baby in her basinet and moments later the baby’s father Marcus Harden discovered the baby wasn’t breathing. Police tell us Thompson confessed she choked the baby to death and the more she talked the worse her story got.

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http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_tampa/tampa-mother-accused-of-killing-infant-because-she-wouldn%27t-stop-crying

A San Jose man convicted of stabbing to death his pregnant girlfriend and two daughters has been sentenced to death after an emotional courtroom appeal by the victims’ relatives. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jerome Brock issued the sentence Thursday to Rodrigo Paniagua Jr., who was convicted June 10 of murdering five-months-pregnant Leticia Chavez and their daughters, 6-year-old Adrina and 3-year-old AnaLisa in October 2005. He had been accused of stabbing them multiple times as they tried to fight him off and then, after setting their bodies on fire, walking outside their house to smoke a cigarette. Although a jury in July had recommended the death penalty, Paniagua’s attorney had asked the judge to impose life imprisonment instead. Brock turned down the request after Chavez’s relatives made emotional appeals to have Paniagua put to death.

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http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_16885041?source=rss&nclick_check=1

A PAEDOPHILE was yesterday jailed for 15 years for what a judge described as the “systematic and persistent” abuse of a schoolgirl. Mark Goring still disputes the findings of a jury and plans to appeal against his convictions, which followed a crown court trial last month. The jury found the 40-year-old guilty of 12 specimen charges of child abuse, including rape and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Once he realised his victim was not going to report him to police, Goring’s attacks escalated to rape. Judge Howard Crowson told him: “You preyed upon her innocence. These offences had become near routine.”

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http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8744421.___Predatory____pervert_jailed_for_15_years/

A woman has been arrested and detained in a secure mental unit after a four-year-old girl was stabbed to death, Scotland Yard said. Officers found the child’s body inside a flat on the Chatsworth Estate in Clapton, east London, on Thursday. A 36-year-old woman, believed to be girl’s mother, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder. She has since been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and remains in a secure unit. Police were called to reports of a stabbing shortly after 3pm. An ambulance was sent to the flat, but the girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said next of kin have been informed, but are awaiting formal identification.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hra6q6Kpjgadb-Mc7gnO2UpnZptA?docId=N0213251292620541149A

A man who seriously injured a 6-week-old girl when he shook her was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated child abuse, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said. Robbie Lee Hatcher, 38, of Palm Harbor, was arrested after an investigation that began Monday afternoon. Hatcher called police Monday afternoon to report an incident involving an unresponsive baby. The incident happened at his home, and the baby girl was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office said.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/dec/16/162233/palm-harbor-man-held-on-child-abuse-charge/news-breaking/

The New Child Abuse: The Psychiatric Diagnosing and Drugging of Our Children

Every society has found its own methods to abuse its most vulnerable members: children; women; the elderly; ethnic, racial and religious minorities; the poor; the mentally distressed or distressing; the physically disabled; those with unconventional lifestyles. All of these have been widely abused and all remain victims of abuse to varying degrees in societies throughout the world.

Just as it is certain that these abuses can never be fully eliminated, it is also certain that these same abuses will expand to the degree that individual citizens justify or ignore them and fail to take a stand. In the past, the most rampant abuses have been justified on moral, religious, patriotic or ethnic grounds. But increasingly we will see the worst abuses rationalized on scientific and medical grounds. It’s the modern way.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/the-new-child-abuse-psych_b_788900.html

Two adults have appeared in the Waitakere District Court today on significant charges involving serious child injury and abuse. The two offenders entered no plea to a total of 36 separate charges. Interim name suppression has been given to the two accused, in order to protect the identity of the nine- and seven-year-old victims, and their three siblings. All the children have been placed in the care of CYFS. Police said the nine-year-old victim is receiving ongoing psychological and other specialist treatment. They said she is likely to require regular counselling for the rest of her life. The other children will also require significant counselling.

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http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/two-severe-child-abuse-charges-3978424

Police and social workers are appalled at the alleged abuse of a nine-year-old girl whose body was covered in bruises when she was found hiding in a wardrobe in a west Auckland house. Her parents received name suppression when they appeared in the Waitakere District Court yesterday on 36 charges of abusing the nine-year-old and another child, aged seven. They were released on bail to appear again next week.

Social workers said in court documents the nine-year-old had been abused so badly that almost every part of her body was covered in injuries, including part of her scalp torn off her head as she was dragged down the hall, the New Zealand Herald reported. She was found by police last month after they were called to her home for what is believed to have been a domestic dispute. At hospital she was found to be starving, dehydrated and anaemic from internal bleeding. She had a broken bone in her foot and extensive bruising all over her body.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/4473337/Abuse-of-child-horrifies-authorities