Retired Langley teacher pleads guilty to sexual assault
tags: Female, teacher, sex, student
Langley Times, February 7, 2014
In front of her victim and his family, retired Langley teacher Deborah Ralph stood up in Supreme Court in New Westminster and pleaded guilty on Friday to sexual assault involving a former student.
Ralph sexually assaulted her former student between December, 1998 and June, 2001 while the boy was between the ages of 11 to 13.
The victim contacted Langley RCMP on Nov. 8, 2011 to report the abuse. Ralph taught him in Grade 5 at James Kennedy Elementary School. However, the sexual interference didn't occur until after she was no longer his teacher. The court learned that Ralph continued to contact her victim after he graduated from her class, asking him to come clean her family pool.
She spent a summer picking him up and dropping him off, taking him on outings, shopping for him and later having him for sleepovers, taking him on a summer vacation and bringing him along on school field trips even when he was no longer a Langley student.
Crown counsel David Simpkin is asking for a sentence of three years in jail for the "egregious breach of trust, given she is his teacher, she became a family friend, he was only 11-years-old and to the grooming elements to this offense and the impact on the victim."
The defense is asking for an 18- to 24-month sentence to be served in the community.
Through Crown submissions and the forensic psychologist's report, the court learned that Ralph led a "very ordinary life."
Her parents divorced when she was young. But she has no mental health issues, no addictions, is married - and has been for many years. She also has two children who were already grown at the time of the child sexual abuse.
She was around 41-years-old when she met her victim as one of her students. She is now 59. She retired from teaching recently and was on paid leave after she was charged.
Ralph told the court-ordered psychologist she was feeling unfulfilled in her life and in her marriage. She had a previous affair with a professor but he had moved away. So she threw herself into her work. She became a teacher later in life, after raising her children.
Ralph said she identified with the victim and considered him gifted.
The victim will not be named to protect his identity and there is a publication ban on his identity. The court learned that she even went over to the victim's house to congratulate him on graduating from Grade 5 and to wish him well in his move to North Vancouver.
The court learned that the victim's parents had recently separated because of the dad's gambling addiction and the mother's income was what supported the family.
It was then that Ralph started her "grooming," said Crown, asking if he would like to make some money cleaning the family pool.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Smith said Ralph equated her feelings for her victim as "young love." She connected with the boy better than she could connect with her husband and admitted she felt "exhilarated" when she was with her victim. She admits that she didn't consider what she did would damage the victim and believed it was mutual.
"She doesn't recognize the abusive nature of their relationship," said Simpkin. "She appears to be bored, looking for some spice in her life and chose "the victim."
She doesn't appear to have any insight into the harm she has caused."
The sexual abuse included kissing, touching and oral sex performed on the victim. Ralph admitted to being devastated when the victim severed ties and refused to take her calls anyRead More ../p>
The harm done was outlined in the emotional victim impact statements made by the victim and his family.
"For the past 15 years I've had to carry the shame and guilt of this," said the victim in court on Friday. "I have been left with feeling responsible, for feeling like an outcast. I have lost a huge part of my childhood. Debbie preyed on me because she knew my family life was unstable.
"After the abuse I became my own tormentor, doing drugs and alcohol at 12-years-old because it was my only form of coping.
"I was drowning in guilt. I was angry at the school system for letting this happen to me, I had anxiety of anyone finding out."
The victim said he often had thoughts of suicide and tried once to overdose. He said he sabotaged his school efforts because he didn't want to validate what Ralph had said about him being "different and gifted."
The court learned that it wasn't until 2005, after a break-up with a girlfriend and in a drunken and depressed state, that he confessed the sexual abuse to his mother. She right away took him for counseling and there was an attempt to make a statement to police, but he wasn't ready.
It was later when the victim hit rock bottom and checked himself into rehab that he found the strength to make a statement with police, he said.
"This is not my shame. This is Debbie's," he said in his statement.
But he said he will forever be damaged by what she did, he struggles with depression and had to take leave from work.
His mother also read out her impact statement.
"Finally, Debbie has taken ownership of her actions. My son was 11 - she betrayed our trust in the worst possible way. She befriended me. She sat and had tea with me all the while sexually assaulting my child. I carry around the guilt that I didn't protect my son. Despite therapy, this will forever affect our lives."
The victim's brothers spoke about how hard it was to see his brother succumb to addiction, not knowing that he was carrying the burden of sexual abuse. The crime has been very difficult for the family and has hurt their level of trust in the world.
All the family members said they feel guilt for not protecting their brother and for not seeing what was happening.
All have sought counseling and hope to "heal."
The judge will have to decide when to apply the Criminal Code to the offenses, because at the time of the sexual crimes, a conditional sentence was an appropriate sentence, defense reminded Supreme Court Judge Selwyn Romilly.
There have been considerable changes to the Criminal Code and how crimes against children are treated, said Simpkin. Since 2005, a minimum jail sentence must occur.
Defense lawyers for Ralph said her guilty plea must be taken into account, saving her victim a trial. She has no criminal history, and there is no evidence of any other victims.
Chronic pain suffered from a bad car crash must also be weighed in sentencing, said her defense.
"She has many fellow teachers who have written to say what an exemplary teacher she was . . . she had a significant fall from grace."
Our Most Popular Web Page
Sex Offenders
Female Sexual Predators
Hundreds of them.... female teachers who sexually assaulted 12 year old boys. Read about a lesbian tennis coach who sexually assaulted her 13 year old female student.
Read how a 40 year old female sexual predator blamed a 7 year old boy whom she claimed was "coming on to me" and whom she "hoped to marry someday." Read More ..
FEMALE RAPISTS STRUCK BEFORE All-woman rape gang who kidnapped man, 23, and sexually abused him for three days linked to at least SEVEN other attacks, South African cops fear
The men are often fed Viagra and one even watched as his semen was put into vials and frozen in a cool box
The Sun, UK, Jamie Pyatt, Corey Charlton, May 30, 2017
DETECTIVES believe a gang of three women who kidnapped a man and put him through a three day rape ordeal may have struck a number of times before in South Africa.
Officers are to look at up to SEVEN cases in recent years where a male has been kidnapped – sometimes at gunpoint – by three women who have then repeatedly raped him.
The men are often fed Viagra in an energy drink to make them perform and one victim of a three woman gang watched as his semen was put into small vials and frozen in a cool box.
One cop involved in one of the investigations said he believe there was a trade in selling the stolen semen to faith healers or "witch doctors" who use it to make "magic" potions.
The latest attack in Pretoria - the country's capital - has led police to appeal for other potential victims to spare their blushes and report it.
Although at least seven cases have been on police files for several years, many more are believed to have gone unreported as men are often too embarrassed to report being raped by women.
The Sun Online told earlier how the latest kidnap victim was found traumatised and exhausted after being dumped in a field semi-naked and told officers about his 72-hour sex ordeal.
The 23-year-old man said he was in a 15 seater communal taxi in which three young women were already travelling and he was told by the driver to sit in the front beside him.
Police spokesperson Captain Colette Weilbach said: "One of the women the allegedly injected him with an unknown substance and he passed out and woke up in an unfamiliar room.
3 in 4 B.C. boys on street sexually exploited by women
VANCOUVER - Canada's largest study into the sexual exploitation of street kids and runaways has shattered some myths about who the abusers might be - with the most surprising finding being that many are women seeking sex with young males.
"Some youth in each gender were exploited by women with more than three out of four (79 per cent) sexually exploited males reporting exchanging sex for money or goods with a female," said Elizabeth Saewyc, associate professor of nursing at the University of British Columbia and principal investigator for the study conducted by Vancouver's McCreary Centre Society.
"I must admit it wasn't something we were expecting."
Mom drugged daughter to get her pregnant: police
Associate Press, U.S.A.
April 3, 2009
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A western Pennsylvania mother has been charged with giving her 13-year-old daughter drugs and alcohol so the woman's boyfriend could impregnate the girl without her knowing, police said Thursday.
Shana Brown, 32, is no longer able to have children but wanted to have a baby with her current boyfriend, Duane Calloway, said Uniontown Police Detective Donald Gmitter. The pair decided to drug the girl so Calloway, 40, could have sex with her, he added.
"There's some sick people on this case," Gmitter said.
Brown has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, turned herself in Thursday and was being held in the Fayette County jail, police said. Brown's attorney did not return a call for comment.
Calloway faces several counts of attempted rape. He was arrested Wednesday and remains in jail. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.
The three attacks occurred in Brown's home in Uniontown, about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, according to the criminal complaint.
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Lisa Ling Video Interview of Female Sexual Predator / Offender
This woman raped or sexually assaulted over 100 children by her own account.
Our blind rage at women who abuse
Because we assume women never commit child sexual abuse, we treat one who is accused with disproportionate disgust
The Guardian, UK
June 11, 2009
About 20 years ago, I gave a talk about sexual abuse to the RAF. At the end, a young airman came up to me and said, "It's not just men, you know," before hurriedly walking away. That pulled me up sharp. Up till then, like most people working in the area of sexual abuse, I'd always assumed the abusers were men.
This just isn't so. We can't be sure of the precise prevalence of sexual abuse by women, as there hasn't been enough research into the subject. Academics have just assumed it doesn't happened. But conservative estimates suggest that 5% of girls and 20% of boys who have reported being abused have been abused by women. From my own research - I have had 800 cases reported to me - I believe the more likely figure is that it is 20% of all sexual abuse that is done by women.
It is women themselves who have done most to propagate this conspiracy of silence. It has almost become a feminist axiom that it is men who are to blame for abuse and that if women are in some way implicated, it is only because they have somehow been forced or controlled into doing so against their will. Again, this turns out to be completely incorrect: 75% of the cases reported to me involved women acting on their own. Read More ..
Correctional Services Canada
Service correctionnel du Canada
Female Sex Offenders in the Correctional Service of Canada, Case
Studies
Délinquantes sexuelles sous la
responsabilité du Service correctionnel du Canada, études de cas
LITERATURE REVIEW ON FEMALE SEX OFFENDERS
Although there is an increasing literature on male sex offenders, there is a noticeable dearth of information concerning female sex offenders. Most of the work in the area has come from three of the largest prison programs for female sex offenders in Missouri, Minnesota, and Kentucky.
OVERALL NEGLECT OF FEMALE SEXUAL OFFENCES
For a variety of societal reasons, female sexual abuse is likely to remain unnoticed. Some researchers have found that the incidence of sexual contact with boys by women is much more prevalent than is contended in the clinical literature (Condy, Templer Brown & Veaco, 1987). Despite society's increasing concern about sexual assault, there may be several reasons for the under-reporting of female sexual abuse of both child and adult victims. Traditionally, society has held preconceptions of women as non-violent nurturers. Women in general, and mothers mopre specifically, have more freedom than men to touch children (Marvasti, 1986). Therefore, a man may be mpre easily perceived as abusive when touching a child than when a woman touches a child in a similar manner (Plummer, 1981). Further, sexual offences perpetrated by women are often incestuous in nature and children may be reluctant to report sexual contact with a parent on whom they are dependent (Groth, 1979). Health care workers are often unable to detect mother-child incest as mothers often accompany their children to the doctor's office. This may serve as a barrier to detecting sexual abuse of the child (Elliott & Peterson, 1993). The medical profession is only reluctantly becoming sensitive to the fact that females can, in fact, be perpetrators of sexual abuse (Wilkins, 1990; Krug, 1989).
EXAMEN DE LA DOCUMENTATION SUR LES DÉLINQUANTES SEXUELLES
La documentation sur les délinquants sexuels s'accroît alors que l'information sur les délinquantes sexuelles est clairement déficiente. La plupart des travaux en ce domaine proviennent de trois des programmes les plus importants établis pour les délinquantes sexuelles au Missouri, au Minnesota et au Kentucky.
DÉSINTÉRESSEMENT GÉNÉRAL À L'ÉGARD DES INFRACTIONS SEXUELLES COMMISES PAR DES FEMMES
Pour diverses raisons sociales, les mauvais traitements sexuels infligés par les femmes demeurent généralement cachés. Certains chercheurs ont découvert que l'incidence des contacts sexuels entre des femmes et des garçons est beaucoup plus élevée que ne l'estime la documentation clinique (Condy, Templer Brown et Veaco, 1987). En dépit du fait que la société se préoccupe de plus en plus de l'agression sexuelle, plusieurs raisons pourraient faire que l'on parle moins des cas de mauvais traitements sexuels infligés par des femmes à des enfants ou à des adultes. La société a toujours perçu les femmes comme des nourricières non violentes. Les femmes en général, et surtout les mères, ont plus de latitude pour toucher les enfants que les hommes (Marvasti, 1986). Par conséquent, un homme qui touche un enfant de la même manière que le fait une femme peut être plus facilement perçu comme un agresseur (Plummer, 1981). En outre, les infractions sexuelles commises par des femmes sont souvent de nature incestueuse et les enfants peuvent hésiter à dénoncer un contact sexuel avec un parent dont ils dépendent (Groth, 1979). Les travailleurs du domaine de la santé sont souvent incapables de déceler les cas d'inceste entre l'enfant et la mère car cette dernière accompagne souvent l'enfant au bureau du médecin. Cela peut empêcher de dépister les mauvais traitements sexuels infligés à l'enfant (Elliott et Peterson, 1993). La profession médicale prend à contrecoeur conscience du fait que les femmes peuvent en fait infliger de mauvais traitements sexuels. (Wilkins, 1990; Krug, 1989). Read More ...