Headline 1:
Sex offenders use history of abuse as defense . . .

Headline 1: Two Australian men, Robbie Wheeler and Victor Urquhart, through their lawyers, claimed they abducted a 14-year-old boy and repeatedly sexually assaulted him over a 21-day period because they themselves were victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Child Abuse Effects: The boy suffers from eating disorders, sleeping disorders, flashbacks, nightmares, he is withdrawn and suicidal.

Attorneys are, by their very mandates, compelled to give their clients the best possible defense. I can't blame these attorneys for using what has worked in the past. "I'm not responsible because . . ." is like an insanity plea. And insanity pleas work over and over and over again.

In my opinion, it's the judges who have lost perspective in many of these child abuse cases. It's the judges who continue to accept lame defenses. It's the judges who allow responsibility to shift to everyone EXCEPT the responsible party.

But what of this particular child abuse case? Did these two men know what they were doing was wrong?

Let's look at the facts.

They abducted the boy from a street in Perth, Australia. They took him to their home. They tied him to a bed. When they untied him, they forced him to masturbate. They forced him to watch pornography. They withheld food and water from him. They forced him to use a bucket to defecate. They tortured him. They both repeatedly assaulted him sexually behind closed doors.

If they did not know what they were doing was wrong, if they simply did to the boy what had been done to them as children because they believed it to be normal and appropriate behaviour, they would have done it in clear view of everyone. That is my measuring stick for knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Of course these men knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew what they were doing was child abuse.

And what of the judge who heard this case?

Judge Michael Bowden sentenced both men to more than 20 years. I applaud this judge. He used common sense and made these men accountable for the horrendous child abuse they inflicted on this 14-year-old boy.

Double thumbs up to Judge Michael Bowden!

Headline 1 originally posted May 30, 2007

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NOTE: Information pages on this site were based on material from the Canadian Red Cross RespectED Training Program. Written permission was obtained to use their copyrighted material on this site.

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