Notorious killer sisters, who kidnapped and murdered babies, to become first women executed in India

Renuka Shinde was a poor teenage mother when she tried to steal a purse during a crowded festival at a temple in India. Caught in the act, Shinde feigned outrage and showed her accusers her young son. Would a thief take their child along, she asked. The crowd at the temple in Pune, 150 kilometres south-east of Mumbai, let her go. The experience spawned an idea in Shinde that would lead her and her sister to become India’s most notorious serial killers. READ MORE HERE

Man charged with murder of 3-year-old girl

Police charged a Marshalltown man with murder in connection to a child abuse case that resulted in the death of a 3-year-old girl, authorities said. Brandon Michael Collins, 28, was charged with child endangerment (a Class-C felony), possession of a scheduled I substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, first-degree murder and child endangerment (a Class-B felony). Authorities responded to a report of an unresponsive child in the 900 block of South 11th Avenue in Marshalltown at about 2 p.m. Wednesday. READ MORE HERE

Filing criminal charges against a mother for reportedly ignoring claims her daughter was sexually abused is a rare move and will require prosecutors to show exactly what warnings the mother was given, experts say. The Iowa Department of Human Services began investigating the Newton, Iowa woman after a doctor’s appointment revealed her 12-year-old daughter was pregnant, a police report shows. During the doctor visit, the girl told her mother, “I tried to tell you several times” about the abuse, the report said. READ MORE HERE

More than 300 rapes were reported in British schools in three years, including a 12-year-old girl who was ‘stripped naked and raped by fellow pupils’. Police recorded a 40 per cent increase in the number of sex crimes reported to them between 2011 and 2013 – and more than half of the offenders were children. Easy access to online pornography is said to have driven the surge in abuse, according to the children’s charity NSPCC. READ MORE HERE

Robert Montagu was abused by his father, the 10th Earl of Sandwich

When Robert Montagu, younger brother of the Earl of Sandwich, first decided to publish his memoir, he thought he’d present it as fiction, using a pseudonym, such was the painful nature of the story that was about to unfold. His was a disturbing tale about an innocent seven-year-old boy whose father confused love with lust and abused him on an almost daily basis until he was 11. Yet Robert, son of the 10th Earl of Sandwich, knew all too well this was not fiction. And when A Humour Of Love is published next month, it will be under his own name. READ MORE HERE

The 2014 North Dakota teacher of the year has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student. Aaron Knodel, 35, had been on paid leave from his job as an English teacher at West Fargo high school since the investigation began in February. He faces five felony counts. Knodel began grooming the teen girl with text messages in December 2008, the student told police according to an affidavit cited by WDAY. She was a senior in his English class at the time. READ MORE HERE

HIGHLAND PARK, Michigan – Highland Park Police are investigating the finding of a newborn baby boy Saturday morning. The woman who claimed she found the baby has been identified by police as the baby’s mother. Police tell us it happened about 10:45 a.m. According to police, a newborn baby boy was found near a dumpster. He was very healthy and was taken to Children’s hospital. READ MORE HERE

Past Abuse: Why do I feel this way?

Perhaps you’ve been struggling for years with feelings that you can’t understand or explain. Here are some of the ways sexual abuse affects a child, which can follow into adulthood. Maybe you’ll see some of yourself in the list below:

• Self-blame: When children experience trauma,their inherent egocentrism leads them to believe that they are responsible. It’s important for them to understand and believe that the abuse was not their fault. Sexual abuse silences the victim. It takes away their voice. They live in secret, silent shame. They grow up believing their voice, opinion, and person does not matter.

Powerlessness: Children who’ve been abused have a strong sense of powerlessness. This can impair their self-image, which follows them into adulthood increasing their potential to be victimized again. The powerlessness of sexual abuse damages the body. Not only the physical body, but how they feel about their own body. Children who’ve been abused have no sense of ownership or protection of their own bodies. They assume that their bodies are for public use. This can lead to a disregard for their own safety causing them to act out sexually with others, or being re-victimized over and over.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT CHILD ABUSE RECOVERY

Former Walworth County state’s attorney jailed without bail

PIERRE – The South Dakota Supreme Court disbarred Christopher Jansen last week while he waits in jail without bail, accused of engaging in sex with boys younger than 13 and distributing pornographic images of some of his alleged acts. A document obtained Tuesday from the clerk’s office of the South Dakota Supreme Court shows Jansen submitted a statement of resignation to the disciplinary board of the State Bar. The Supreme Court accepted the resignation and disbarred him from practicing as an attorney and counselor at law in all of the courts of the state. The judgment cancels and revokes his license to practice law in South Dakota. READ MORE HERE

PIKEVILLE, N.C. — A 21-year-old woman and 27-year-old man wanted on child abuse charges surrendered to authorities late Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. According to investigators, Christian Amanda Tomeski and Thomas John Strickland, both of 2020 Rosson Drive in Pikeville, took Tomeski’s 2-year-old son to a pediatric clinic for treatment of bruises on his head, ears and neck. READ MORE HERE

An infant was fighting for his life Monday in a Milwaukee hospital and a Fond du Lac man is facing serious child abuse charges. Jason J. Schifelbine, 34, was charged Aug. 18 with physical abuse of a child – intentionally causing great bodily harm. He appeared before Fond du Lac County Circuit Court Judge Richard Nuss and received a $500,000 cash bond. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Aug. 28. READ MORE HERE

Police say couple was in the process of trying to adopt the child

A Pueblo man and woman who were in the process of trying to adopt a child are now facing criminal charges in connection with that child’s abuse. Police were called to the hospital Thursday afternoon after a child was brought in with injuries after reportedly falling down the stairs. The child was unresponsive. An emergency room doctor told officers the 2-year-old girl was suffering from a brain bleed and had injuries to her face and eyes. She also had bruises on her buttocks. READ MORE HERE

The boy’s mother said his pants were pulled down by another male student and “his testicles were squished.”

A new lawsuit claims a special needs child was bullied so brutally by other children at scandal-plagued Miramonte Elementary School that he had to have one of his testicles removed, the boy’s mother said Monday. The lawsuit comes a week after the principal at Miramonte described progress on campus since the child abuse allegations of 2012, the same year the boy’s mother said his abuse started. READ MORE HERE