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> Little Pebble guilty of abusing girl Little Pebble guilty of abusing girl After three days of deliberations a jury in the NSW Supreme Court found William "Little Pebble" Kamm guilty of sexually abusing a fifteen year old girl member of his cult The Order of St Charbel. Kamm was convicted on four charges of aggravated indecent assault and one of aggravated sexual intercourse. Although the girl was just 15 and had never been kissed before, she agreed to marry Kamm because it was “the will of heaven”. Kamm, a self-styled religious leader who claimed to be receiving messages from the Virgin Mary, told the girl and her parents she would be one of 12 queens and 72 princesses with whom he would conceive the”divine tribe'' after “the end times''. The girl believed she would conceive Kamm's children through a physical embrace. She admitted to the court that she was brought up in a very strict Catholic family and I didn't have any sex education. Cult woman defends Pebble William "Little Pebble" Kamm, leader of the cult The Order of St Charbel, based near Nowra, NSW, is being tried on four charges of aggravated indecent assault and one of aggravated sexual intercourse with a fifteen year old girl. The court has heard that the alleged victim had become "mystically married" to Kamm and was one of twelve queens and seventy two princesses "designated" by the Virgin Mary to conceive a new race with him. Maria Louisa Bos, 27, a member of Kamm's cult ,said, in reply to questions from Crown prosecutor Richard Herps, that in 2002, when the allegations had been made against Kamm, she had decided to speak up in his defence. Bishop admits collection money diverted to defend pedophile priest The Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, the Most Reverend Michael Malone, has admitted that Christmas collection money was diverted to lawyers to defend a priest, Father James Patrick Fletcher, of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales, in a child-abuse court case. In addition, the priest's lawyers were paid thousands of dollars from other church sources. Father Fletcher pleaded not guilty in 2004 to multiple counts of anal and oral sexual penetration of an altar boy, Desmond (not his real name). The offences began in 1990 when Desmond was thirteen. On 6 December 2004 a jury found Fletcher guilty on all charges. Legal experts said that Fletcher's legal costs for the eleven day trial exceeded $200,000. The church's defence team included an expensive Queen's Counsel, who had previously represented Lindy Chamberlain, plus a second barrister and a solicitor. After the guilty verdict, the media questioned Bishop Malone about how the defence team was financed. Malone said that Fletcher "availed" himself of an "offered loan facility" to help fund his defence. It is not known how the "loan" was supposed to be "repaid", especially seeing that Fletcher was about to be jailed for the crimes. It is also not known why Bishop Malone called this payment a "loan". Bishop Malone also admitted he was aware that a priest from one parish had donated part of the parish's Christmas collection to help pay Fletcher's lawyers. The parishioners of this generous priest did not know that their Christmas donations were to be used to help a fellow priest evade child-sex charges. Call tp probe evil sex ring The lobby group Survivors Investigating Child Sex Abuse (SICSA) has called for an inquiry into an evil pedophile ring which it is alleged has operated in Tasmania for more than 20 years. Former Anglican Archdeacon Louis Daniels has pleaded guilty to thirteen counts of interfering with young boys between 1973 and 1993. Daniels has already served twelve months in jail after a church inquiry into sexual misconduct. SICSA spokesman Steve Fisher referred to evidence offered during Daniels' hearing that a Brisbane boy travelled to Tasmania during his holidays and stayed with Daniels for several weeks. He said that priests would go to each other's houses and they would always take boys with them and would sexually assault them. Steve Fisher said there was compelling evidence that an organised pedophile ring operated in Tasmania in the 1970s and 1980s and involved priests, doctors and even MPs. While the pedophile ring operated mainly in Tasmania, boys in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland were also abused. Mr Fisher was abused by convicted pedophile Anglican priest Garth Hawkins who was later jailed for sexually abusing eight teenage boys. Lone arm of the law Denis Ryan has finally been vindicated in his pursuit of a powerful pedophile, Monsignor John Day, the parish priest at Mildura's Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Dennis Ryan, a young detective at the time, began his pursuit of Day 34 years earlier over allegations that Day had engaged in buggery, attempted buggery, gross indecency and indecent assault of 14 boys and two girls under the age of 16. In 1971, the deputy principal of St Joseph's College, John Howden, approached Ryan about complaints by two 12 year old girls that they'd been indecently assaulted by Day. One of the girls, Ruth Colben, told the Herald Sun this week of the times Day took her and her school friends for drives in his automatic Pontiac. He insisted she sit beside him and take over the steering wheel. “He'd accelerate to 80 miles an hour [128km/h] and then whisper in my ear to keep both hands on the wheel or we'd crash and we'd all be dead. He'd then interfere with me'', she recalled. Eventually, Ruth complained to her mother, who then went to John Howden. During Ryan's investigation, he and John Howden advised Day's bishop, Ronald Mulkearns, of the allegations and asked him to remove Day before he could abuse more victims. Mulkearns didn't reply to their letter but instead sent out his own letter to all parishioners urging them to stick by their priests and claiming that any rumours they’d heard were wrong. One of Day's assistant priests was the notorious pedophile Gerald Ridsdale, who is now serving 18 years jail after pleading guilty to 46 serious sexual assault charges. Ryan’s pursuit of Day began in 1956. Constable Ryan was patrolling the streets of St Kilda when he observed a large American car, a Pontiac, with two well-known prostitutes in the front bench seat. Draped across the pair was a man wearing a priest's shirt with crosses on the collar. An empty bottle of wine lay at their feet. “The man, drunk as a lout, had his strides down and his old fella showing. We told the girls to go home, and the car was driven back to the station. The Cathedral was contacted and two priests came to collect him.'' Ryan recalled. The priest gave his name as John Day. That was the last Ryan saw of Day until he was taken to Mildura's Sacred Heart Church presbytery by his senior officer, Det-Sgt Jim Barritt, a strong Catholic and well-known as a close associate of Day, to meet the monsignor, John Day. Ryan immediately recognised Day as the drunken priest, but said nothing until he returned to the station with Barritt where he told him of the incident and of his concerns about the monsignor. ”It upset Barritt greatly and he became quite annoyed. Ryan said. Day's crimes had long been an open secret within the Mildura community, seemingly condoned by the church and swept under the carpet by some police. Ryan was threatened by one of Day’s colleagues who sought to meet privately. This priest, who Ryan knew quite well, told Ryan that if he didn’t leave it alone he’d be out of a job. “I told him to go and get stuffed”, Ryan recalls. He was called off the case after a directive from Police Commissioner Reg Jackson. ”The whole business has been a conspiracy from the very beginning”, Ryan says. He accuses the police and church hierarchy of covering up Day's pedophile activities. But this month, Ryan gained access to police files on the investigation, which generally supported his stand. Day was eventually moved from Mildura and soon after sent overseas. He eventually returned to Australia and, despite statements from 16 minors alleging indecent assault, he was posted to the Timboon parish in southwestern Victoria, where he remained until his death in 1978. Ryan said that soon after leaving the force he encountered three more of Day's victims. And, more recently, the church has paid compensation to some of those who had been sexually assaulted by their monsignor. It took almost a decade for Day’s sins to be revealed; again in the form of a letter to parishioners from the church apologising for the pain and anguish caused by the non-completion of Denis Ryan's investigation. The letter stated, in part, “As a church community, we offer our sincere apologies to any victims… if the response of church authorities was perceived not to have been adequate, we express regret and sorrow”.\Denis Ryan's pain and anguish remains. He lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in superannuation and has been refused the police long-service medal, despite serving 21 years. “It wrecked my life. My wife became an alcoholic, left me, and then died,'' he said. He has yet to receive an apology from the church or Victoria Police. Ryan is considering civil action for compensation against the police and the church. |
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