News — sexual abuse

It has been a week since the International Criminal Court (ICC) upheld an earlier acquittal of the former President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Koudou Gbagbo, bringing to an end a decade of legal problems for the 75-year-old who had been charged among others with murder and sexual abuse which marked postelection violence.

After the President of the ICC, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, a Nigerian, declared on March 31 that “[t]he appeals chamber, by majority, has found no error that could have materially affected the decision of the trial chamber,” Gbagbo would have heaved the most profound sigh of relief he has ever managed. He had always maintained his innocence but the alacrity with which Gbagbo was processed for adjudication has been hailed as the best possible way to deal with powerful men whose reigns see unspeakable inhuman offenses.

Gbagbo was freed along with the Minister of Youth during his presidency, Charles Blé GoudéOn Wedne, a man blamed by loyalists of the current Ivorian president, Alassane Ouattara, as the one who led the organizational ground game for offensives against rebel alliances from the north as well as against civilians.

Judge Eboe-Osuji also repealed all the conditionalities attached to letting the men go. But as any observer of the politics in the Ivory Coast could tell you, this is a tense never-before-seen moment that will test the fragile peace in the West African country.

Welcomed home?

On Wednesday, Ouattara announced that Gbagbo and Blé Goudé were free to return to their home country if they wanted to. Ivorian authorities, perhaps in anticipation of the present moment, gave Gbagbo an ordinary passport as well as a diplomatic one, depending on which life he chose to live after the ICC’s proceedings.

Gbagbo’s travel expenses, and those of his family as well, will be paid for by the Ivorian state. But Ouattara’s announcement of these packages mentioned nothing about a 20-year prison sentence that awaits Gbagbo from a case tied to embezzlement. He was tried and sentenced in absentia in 2019. It is also not known if the Ivorian government will agree to Gbagbo’s financial demands in line with his importance as a former president.

Jeune Afrique, the pan-African Francophone magazine, has reported that Gbagbo is asking for “a €14,600 [$17,000] monthly allowance plus another €11,400 [$13,500] for transport, gas, electricity, and telephone bills.” These amounts are the same as what he was entitled to when he was arrested by the ICC in April of 2011.

Campaigners for peace and well-wishers will be gladdened by Ouattara’s commitment to involving the state in receiving Gbagbo. However, the president may be expected to go further than that. Gbagbo’s influence may not be insignificant despite being away for about a decade. In Gbagbo, it is possible for elements antithetic to Ouattara to find renaissance.

Religious and ethnic tensions are still very present too, one cannot forget. Ivory Coast still struggles to define what it means by a nation after 60 years.

There are even grounds to doubt what was heralded as reconciliatory efforts by Ouattara’s government last December when Gbagbo was handed the two passports. An African Intelligence report noted at the beginning of this year that the two men had not spoken, with one man waiting for the other to call.

Offensive lineman Justin Herron, who just finished his rookie season with New England Patriots, is being hailed a hero after saving a 71-year-old retired schoolteacher from being sexually assaulted in a public park last Saturday.

Herron, 25, who is training for the offseason in Arizona, and Phoenix resident Murry Rogers, who was also at the park for his daughter’s 15th birthday party, heard screams from the victim and rushed to the scene of the assault.

“At that moment, I was in shock,” Herron said at a press conference Wednesday, according to reports. “I wish I could tell you what I was thinking, but I could just tell someone needed help. All I could do was rush myself over there to make sure I could help the victim and I could comfort her and be the best person I can be.”

The retired teacher was going for her daily walk in Kiwanis Park in Tempe when the assailant, identified as Kevin Caballero, 30, jumped her to the ground and attempted to take off her pants, per a police report.

Herron, who is 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, intervened, not wanting to be “too aggressive” when he pulled the assailant from the victim.

“I’m a football player, I’m kind of big,” he said at the news conference. “I try not to be too aggressive with people knowing I could potentially hurt somebody. I do have a loud voice. I yelled, told him to get off of her, and then yanked him off and I told him to sit down, and I told him to wait until the cops come.”

Herron said he always thought these sorts of things happen in movies and he never expected to experience this. Both he and Rogers were presented with Outstanding Service Awards by the Tempe Police Department.

“If not for the swift actions of Mr. Justin Herron and Mr. Murry Rogers, this vicious attack could’ve been much worse,” Tempe Police Detective Natalie Barela said.

The two got the chance to meet up with the woman briefly before their press conference. She was grateful they came to her aid when she was most vulnerable. “She thanked us. She called us her angels,” said Rogers. “I’m a little bit of a crier, so it was very emotional.”

According to the police, the victim suffered “minor injuries” and was immediately treated by the crisis unit for any emotional trauma from the attack.

“My parents always talked to me about it, if there’s someone in need, make sure you can help them and be the best you can be,” Herron said. “I don’t want this to happen again, I don’t want to have to save someone else’s life again, but I’m glad I was able to save someone’s life on Saturday.”

Caballero has been taken into police custody and faces charges of attempted assault and kidnapping, according to the police.

Authorities have charged Rev. Stricjavvar “Strick” Strickland of the Second Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with sexually assaulting four teenage boys aged between 15 and 17 and also paying them to have sex with his wife while he watched.

A probable cause affidavit that was filed at the Kalamazoo County District Court last week indicates that Strickland, 37, has been charged with 11 felonies in relation to the alleged incidents that occurred between August 2015 and August 2018. Strickland, who has served as pastor at the church since 2012 and was previously president of the NAACP Kalamazoo Chapter, is yet to turn himself in through an arrest warrant was issued for him August 21.

The accused was also allegedly engaged in similar activities with his ex-wife while they resided in Mississippi some years back.

Speaking to MLive, Strickland’s attorney, Michael Hills, said they were preparing to turn him in. He faces two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct on a student as well as one on a 13 to 15-year-old. He also faces another count by force or coercion and four counts of human trafficking of a minor for commercial sexual activity. Three more counts of child sexually abusive activity have also been leveled against him.

“It has been two years since these allegations first came forward and Pastor Strickland has remained in contact and available. He is not running from this,” Hills said. “Pastor Strickland remains ready to turn himself in and deal with these charges accordingly.”

Per his warrant, he faces 15 years behind bars for each of the first four charges and 20 years for each of the other seven charges if found guilty, MLive reports. Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Christin J. Mehrtens-Carlin has also urged the court to bar the suspect from contacting the alleged victims, his wife Jazmonique, as well as any person under 18 years in the bond recommendation filed together with the arrest affidavit.

“Per the reports, the defendant and his wife would use their employment at Phoenix High School (in Kalamazoo) and to some extent, the defendant would use his work as a pastor, to find male teens to engage in sexual activity with the wife, while the defendant watched and masturbated,” the bond recommendation states.

Elaborating on the allegations against the accused in the probable cause affidavit that was filed on August 18, Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Scott Ernestes wrote two of the juveniles and one of their fathers first got in touch with him in 2018 accusing Strickland of sexual assault against them between 2015 and 2018. They commenced investigations based on the complaint.

The juveniles said they met Strickland and his wife when they were students at Phoenix High School during the 2017-18 academic year. According to their account in the affidavit, they alleged they were each paid $100 to sleep with Jazmonique in different instances while her husband watched. Strickland also allegedly paid them $100 each for his wife to perform oral sex on them so he could watch, MLive reports.

One of the boys was also paid to send nudes to the pastor while he also allegedly sexually assaulted one of them on another occasion. He gave the latter money after he told him to stop.

The third victim told Ernestes during an interview in 2018 his first encounter with Strickland was in 2015 when he was 16. According to the juvenile, Strickland allegedly offered him money in exchange for nude photos, adding that the accused also performed oral sex on him after he was coerced when he was 17. Strickland allowed him to drive his car in exchange for that.

The fourth victim told the detective Strickland allegedly paid him $200 in 2015 to sleep with his wife in their home basement when he was 15. He said he slept with Jazmonique in subsequent periods between that year and 2016.

Meanwhile, Strickland has denied any wrongdoing, telling MLive on Tuesday the charges against him are “absolutely preposterous.”

“All I can say for now is that we are prepared for this fight,” he said. “God will prevail.” The couple initially proclaimed their innocence in 2019 some days after the fourth victim was interviewed.

Former NCAA and NFL football player Justin Crawford has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

According to the Ledger-Enquirer, Crawford, 23, was facing up to 25 years to life in prison but reached a plea deal on Tuesday which saw three felony charges dropped.

He will also serve 8 years of probation after his release and will register as a sex offender, which will prohibit him from making contact with the victim or her family, as well as, anyone under 18, including his two children.

Columbus Police Detective Mark Scruggs, while testifying in a preliminary hearing in October last year, revealed that Crawford’s wife walked in on him in her living room, standing over the 12-year-old girl naked with an erection around 5 am.

After realizing his wife had seen him, he ran to the kitchen and covered himself. She subsequently went back to bed.

In a later conversation with the Ledger-Enquirer, his wife denied he had an erection but admitted his penis was exposed. She added that Crawford denied any wrongdoing after she confronted him, claiming that he ran to the kitchen because she scared him.

When his wife, however, took the victim to her mother and was asked about the incident, the 12-year-old said that she was sleeping when Crawford woke her up and forced her to perform oral sex on him. She added that they had intercourse afterwards.

Crawford denied any sexual activity with the victim when he was subsequently questioned by the police. He, however, later confessed to both acts, claiming that the intercourse was the 12-year-old’s idea, Scruggs said.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with incest, sodomy and enticing a child for indecent purposes, AJC.com reports.

Crawford’s attorney, Michael Eddings, claimed he wasn’t in the right frame of mind as a result of being depressed after missing out on an opportunity to join the Falcons team due to an injury.

Without using it as justification for Crawford’s actions, Eddings added that it explains his “mental state,” according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

“He’s going to carry this for the rest of his life,” Eddings said.

Crawford apologized to the victim, her parents and his family on Tuesday.

In Todays video we are talking about the Adultification of Black Girls & how to Stop the Sexualization of Black Girls I know this topic can be really heavy, so I've added a Trigger Waring because I do talk about sexual abuse. The Adultification of black girls was studied by Georgetown Law Center & Poverty and Inequality and found that black girls girls were seen as more adult-like than their white white counterparts. Now being a black girl, I have experienced this. Blacks girls start getting treated like they're older and are given more adult like responsibilities at a younger age than black boys and white boys and girls. This study also shows that because black girls are perceived older, they begin to get sexualized at extremely early ages. Black women have been made to feel ashamed of their bodies because our very bodies were seen as sexual objects. Why cant blacks girls be given the space to be that GIRLS ... CHILDREN ! We need to do the work to Stop Sexualizing Black Girls. All of this leads feeds into r*pe culture and victim blaming, especially towards black women. I will always shine a light on tough topics that affect our community as women, as black women and also as a christian. Its important to talk about it to become aware and to bring this to an end. Let me know in the comments down below what you think about this topic or how adultification has affected you growing up.