CHRISTIAN CHARITY HONOREE CHARGED WITH SEX CRIMES AGAINST HAITI CHILDREN
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
By Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer
newstimes.com
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Doug Perlitz in 2004. Photo: File Photo - Connecticut Post File Photo
* Man charged with abusing more boys at Haiti school
01.28.2010 02:27 p.m.
Bridgeport - A Fairfield University graduate under federal indictment
for sexually abusing underprivileged Haitian boys through his charity
that provided them with food, shelter and schooling now faces more
charges.
Douglas Perlitz, the founder of Project Pierre Toussaint in Cap-
Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, was charged Thursday by a
federal grand jury with sexually abusing nine more boys in his
program.
The charity was established with millions in donations from wealthy
Fairfield and Westchester County residents, many with ties to the
Fairfield University community, and Perlitz was honored by the
university with an honorary degree in 2002 for his charitable
enterprise.
Perlitz now faces nine charges of traveling from Connecticut to Haiti
to engage in sex with minors and 10 charges of engaging in sex with
minors in a foreign land.
The new indictment brings to 18 the number of boys who Assistant U.S.
Attorney Krishna Patel and Stephen Reynolds claim were abused
sexually by Perlitz between 1998 and 2008.
Because of the new charges, Perlitz, who is being held without bond
at the Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island, will be brought to
federal court in New Haven at 9 a.m. Feb. 2. He will appear before
U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton to enter new not guilty
pleas.
It also could prompt William F. Dow III and David Grudberg, Perlitz's
defense lawyers, to ask for a postponement in the scheduled May 3
trial date.
"As the U.S. attorney acknowledged, an indictment is only a charge
and is not evidence of guilt," said Dow. "Doug Perlitz is entitled to
a fair trial at which it is the government's burden to prove guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt."
Nor does it seem that the grand jury's work is completed.
Federal investigators have been looking into how the money raised
through donations to the Haiti Fund was used after being transferred
to a Haitian bank account Perlitz controlled.
The indictment alleges that Perlitz attempted to buy his victims'
silence with meals, clothes and electronic gifts.
Fairfield University hired its own lawyer to investigate how money on
campus for the program was spent.
While the indictment identifies the victims by initials, it does not
list specific dates that the alleged abuse took place. In most cases
it lists only the years that the incidents may have taken place.
Last week, Perlitz's defense team filed a motion to dismiss the
original indictment claiming it lacked specificity by not identifying
the dates and places where the alleged abuses occurred.
"The omission of more detailed allegations about the defendant's
alleged foreign travel is more than a mere technicality and instead
strikes at the heart of the constitutional indictment requirement,"
Dow and Grudberg maintain in their dismissal motion.
They point out that Perlitz spent 11 years in Haiti.
"It is quite possible that months, or even years, could have passed
between any foreign travel and the sexual conduct alleged in the
indictment," the defense team maintains.
If convicted, Perlitz faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30
years and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the 19 charges.
U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy said in a statement the investigation is
continuing and asked that anyone with information about the case call
203-773-2029.
More at:
http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Fairfield-U-honoree-faces-more-charges-of-sex-340932.php
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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P. Rajah
By Our Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI MARCH 3. A recent study of 357 female students in Delhi
reveals that 63 per cent of them had suffered some form of child sexual
abuse (CSA). Sakshi, the organisation that conducted the study, also
found that 22 per cent fell in the category of very serious abuse, and
the abusers in 20 per cent of the cases were persons they had complete
faith in -- fathers, relatives or family friends.
Recognising the need for collective action to combat such abuse, which
is rampant but insidious, six non-government organisations (NGOs) from
the Capital today launched a national campaign against child sexual
abuse. The campaign, by the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), Snehi,
Angaja Foundation, Saarthak, Butterflies and Haq, aims to create
awareness and sensitise stakeholders including the police, judiciary,
lawyers and doctors in dealing with cases of CSA, break the myths and
social stigma associated with the offence, provide a platform for people
to discuss the issue, and work with the stakeholders to establish an
alternative support system for the victims.
The vice-chairperson of Snehi, Jyoti Uplenchwar, called for the police,
judiciary and doctors to cooperate with NGOs so that the victim was
comforted and not traumatised further.
Ms. Uplenchwar spoke of the immense psychological trauma a child goes
through after he or she is abused. "The trauma also affects the future
of the child,'' she said. Representatives from other NGOs also
highlighted the fact that several cases of CSA went unreported due to
parents' fear of social ostracism and the child was often made to feel
ashamed and guilty, resulting in self-blame and long-term psychological
damage to the child.
``Unless NGOs intervene, the child receives no help from any government
agency,'' said Raka Sinha Bal of the Angaja Foundation. She said that
the system was not sensitive to the child victim. Some of the NGOs are
involved in sensitising and training judges of the lower courts and
police officers in dealing with such cases.
Convenor of the campaign and Director, HRLN, Aparna Bhat, pointed out
that there was much delay and harassment to the victim through the
justice delivery system itself. Javed Abidi, uncle of a four-year-old
child abused by a teacher in the recent case at Mirambika school, said
the family's experience with the system had been extremely frustrating.
After the child gave his statement to the Metropolitan and Link
Magistrates, the case was transferred to the court of another magistrate
after an application filed by the defence lawyers without the knowledge
of the victim's family. "We have found that many other countries have
far more child-friendly laws than India,'' he asserted.
Ms. Bhat felt that the law did not deal with the offence adequately.
This was also reportedly the complaint of judges and prosecutors in a
study conducted in the lower courts. As of now, punishment for child
sexual abuse is handed down after interpretation of laws related to
offences against women. She advocated amendment of the law providing for
in-camera hearings, in cases where children were the victims, to allow a
person they were comfortable with and an NGO representative to assist
them during the trial. Ms. Bhat added that the accused need not be
present at the trial, as this only added to the child's mental agony.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/03/04/stories/2003030406100400.htm