THE ULTIMATE VIOLATION: LIFE AFTER CHILD ABUSE
For six years.. Detective Sergeant Kevin Adam has worked with "Project P".. the OPP unit that investigates child porn and luring on the Internet.
Day in.. day out.. Adam and his co-workers see pictures that make even seasoned cops wince.
"Whatever image you conjure up in your mind, doesn't begin to touch how horrific it actually is."
The victims are young, infants to 13 year olds. Any older than that and pedophiles aren't interested. The predators can be anybody, including the recluse who never goes out or that ordinary friendly neighbour.
Kevin says, "We've charged police officers.We've charged doctors. Statistics show it's a very white male dominant crime."
The predators zero in on vulnerable kids, and will sometimes spend months grooming them and gaining their trust.
According to Kevin, "They start out by perhaps showing them a Disney movie. And in the past they've spliced, somewhere in the middle of the Disney movie, some adult porn...and start to talk to them. It's all right to do this... and it's natural... and it's not a big deal. Then they'll go on and maybe show images of an adult with a child doing certain things."
Then, with the click of a camera, an innocent child becomes a victim. As technology advances, so do the predators. They're now into making movies.
It's Jeff Degen's job to go undercover on-line every day to flush out the pedophiles. He's just entered a chatroom called "little girl sex chat" posing as 12 year old Lisa.
He says, "We've already got 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.. 7 people wanting to chat with us. The first one is a firefighter."
There's also an elementary school teacher so Degen strikes up a conversation.
Within 20 minutes the teacher wants to know if Lisa has ever kissed a boy., and would she like to do some stuff?
He wants to exchange emails so they can talk privately. From there it could escalate to a face-to-face meeting where any kind of violation is possible. It's that easy.
What's not easy is working in "Project P"and viewing millions of abusive photos every year. Sergeant Adam says he copes by working out.
He says, " I try to keep that sort of thing to the side. I've got a daughter and when I started in here she would have been 8-9 years old. So that was the same kind of thing when I first came in here. My God! I'm looking at this and this could be my daughter here."
Despite the horrors they witness every day, officers say job satisfaction is what makes it worthwhile.
THE ULTIMATE VIOLATION: LIFE AFTER CHILD ABUSE ( PART 2 )
Lou Ann Soontiens is one of the 47 women abused as children by former area priest Father Sylvestre.
Recently she shared her humiliation and her healing with A-Channel News Anchor Kathy Mueller.
" He would put his finger in me. He would kiss me, ask me to take my clothes off. He took pictures of me. He.. through the seven years.. um.... he used a broom handle in my vagina and my anus..."
Seven years of abuse that began when Lou Ann Soontiens was just 8 years old.. abuse at the hands of her priest.. in places considered sacred.
" ... in the rectory.. in his personal place.. the church.. the confessional.."
It was the 60's.. a different time.. when no one questioned the word of Father Sylvestre.
" I told my grandfather what had happened.. and he told me i was a liar!"
Five times a week.. after school.. after church.. Lou Ann endured the pain...thinking she was the only one.
" I thought. Okay.. I don't get hugged or anything at home, so this is good. I'm getting hugged. I'm getting all this attention. But then it started to get mean and very aggressive and hurting me a lot. I asked him to stop I don't know how many times, and he would say I would be condemned. I wouldn't go to heaven, so I just let him do what he wanted to do."
She got pregnant at 16.. had an abortion.. and left home.. never to return. She says the baby was Father Sylvestre's.
Lou Ann Soontiens wasn't the only victim. For years, Father Sylvestre chose his prey.. young.. vulnerable girls.. and abused their trust.. many times with booze on his breath.
47 young victims in all, some from st. Ursula's in Chatham, others from London, Sarnia, and Windsor.
In October, the now 84 year old retired Catholic priest.. known as "Father Feeler" to those who's innocence he stole, was sentenced to three years in prison for his sins.
Four decades after the abuse Lou Ann still suffers. Different triggers send her back to the 1960's..
" The smell of rye. I always wondered why that smell bothered me. I don't drink rye, but if it's on anybody's breath, it just makes my stomach sick.."
The abuse has also had a ripple affect, destroying many of her relationships. The mother of two is now into her third marriage..
" I have walls up. All over. And I just don't take them down. I don't trust people. I have two boys.. you know.. growing up you're suppposed to hug and kiss them. I couldn't do that, but i'm working on it. (Cries)"
She also wants to help other children who have been abused. She's currently writing a book.. a true story.. her story.. It should be out next October..
All proceeds will go to children who have stories similar to hers.
THE ULTIMATE VIOLATION: LIFE AFTER CHILD ABUSE (PARK 3 )
32 year old Christopher Broad is a twice convicted pedophile who arrived in London from Timmins in mid-November after pleading guilty to possessing child porn, and forcibly confining a nine year old boy.
On arrival he actually told the news media, " Yes there is a reason people should be afraid since I am a sex offender.But as I say, I'm trying to better my life so I don't have to go through it again.. or anyone else!"
Doctors don't know why some people are sexually attracted to children.. but evidence suggests a difference in the way the brain is wired.
" I've been told that they were seduced by a 5 year old child. They didn't want to do it but the child seduced them into having sex with them. "
Doctor Larry Litman is a forensic psychologist. He says pedophiles don't choose to be sexually attracted to children, any more than anyone else chooses their orientation.
Because of that, they believe their behaviour is normal,. and surround themselves with people who feel the same.
Litman says, " They believe they're being discriminated against just like people with other sex orientations are.."
The question is how to stop pedophiles from reoffending. Doctor Litman says jail time isn't necessarily a deterrent, especially with sentences being so lenient. The minimum sentence for being convicted of possession of child porn is 45 days. For producing child porn.. it's one year.
In theU.S anyone can log onto the national sex offender registry..
It's considered a deterrent to those who might reoffend. You enter a name and are given a myriad of information about a criminal, including his or her last known address, offences, and picture...
In Canada some provinces make their sex offender registries public to varying degrees..
Although in Ontario.. and nationally.. they're off limits..
Investigators at the OPP's child porn unit question the validity of making the registries public.
"We don't want people going out there and taking the law into their own hands obviously. It will tell you when someone's been convicted obviously, but we do the same thing once we charge and arrest somebody. We put out a press release. It's got their name identified there..".
Doctor Litman says pedophiles can't be rehabilitated to not be pedophiles. I'ts who they are, although some can be taught about the hurt they cause. Drugs can make it impossible to perform sexually, but they don't reduce the sex drive. And even those who are physically castrated can still re-offend.
The doctor says, " Other than locking them up there's no way of course to guarantee 100% that they won't reoffend "
And that's something the Harper Government is considering. declaring a pedophile a dangerous offender after being convicted three times..
But defence lawyer Gordon Cudmore says that doesn't do anything to address the real problem.
" Unless you're going to lock them up forever,they're going to get out someday. And what you get out is going to be a lot worse than what you put in the system."
