IMHO - I'm at a loss
Posted on 11/13/2004 7:30:20 PM PST by AM2000
Italian police said on Friday they had arrested two teachers and a caretaker at a primary school in the southern Puglia region on suspicion of classroom paedophilia.
All three are suspecting of forcing 19 children in a class for four-year-olds to undress and simulate sexual acts, according to prosecutor Lydia Deiure, who has taken evidence from four of the children.
Police began investigating behaviour in the class after complaints from worried parents in Gravina in Puglia, near the Adriatic port city of Bari.
They said they had placed a married 53-year old woman under house arrest, while another teacher, a 44-year-old single woman, and the 61-year-old caretaker were released but remain under investigation. All are accused of carrying out sexual acts with minors.
A number of video cassettes, DVD's and CD ROMs were seized during searches of the suspects' homes early on Friday.
Investigators said the three adults had covered up the classroom windows while the children were forced to simulate sex acts. They said the adults exercised a system of rewards and punishments to get the childrens' cooperation.
Prosecutor Michele Parisi said it was "difficult to believe that such young children would together set out to prepare a false accusation".
It was still not clear if other teachers in the school were aware of the abuse.
Sick, just plain sick.
what no priests? abuse in the public education system? sick, sick sick!!!!!
I would be in favor of bringing back public hangings.
aww, sh**t, not again!
I thought we killed that mass child abuse hysteria, starting w/ a case a few miles from me here in Michigan!
Not a single case of mass child sexual abuse has ever been proved with physical evidence, although a few people remain jailed.
It was the Salem Witch trials, the Ritual Well Poisoning, hysteria of our era. And, I'd hoped it too had gone into history's darker chapters.
IMHO - I'm at a loss
A number of video cassettes, DVD's and CD ROMs were seized during searches of the suspects' homes early on Friday.
I am skeptical as well....but if I were a prosicutor, a judge or on a jury I would want to see those video tapes.
Don't get me wrong... child sexual abuse DOES happen, and it IS beyond-awful.
However, I've never heard of a case of such mass abuse that was prosecuted on the basis of physical evidence, or even a plausible story based on the the building, grounds, etc. Every case I've heard of are based on interviews with very young children, "recovered memories", etc. which isn't that far removed from the testamonies in the Salem trials.
Tim
Sounds like another McMartin type witchhunt...Italian style.
Yeah, I'm not going to fall into a hysterical blame-fest either, not until ACTUAL evidence surfaces. It's been proven beyond a doubt that children can be made to "remember" completely made-up things, and sending decent people to prison on this type of evidence alone is a travesty. I hope the Italians understand this. If they are truly guilty in this though, they should fry.
I still think child molesters should get the death penalty, who's with me?
"I still think child molesters should get the death penalty, who's with me?"
If it was accompanied by an equal penalty for prosecutors inducing children to create false stories and accusations against innocent people, I'd be all for it.
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