The Canadian Press, by Kimberley Shearon, April 30, 2008
OTTAWA - Canada's age of sexual consent will be bumped up two years to 16 beginning Thursday.
The change means adults who have sex with boys or girls aged 14
and 15 years old could face criminal charges.
Canada's age of consent has been 14 since 1892.
The legislation was brought in by the Conservative government in
part to deal with older internet predators who troll the web looking
for younger victims.
Canada's age of consent will now be in line with other countries,
such as Britain and Australia, and most American states.
The intent of the new law is not to criminalize teenage sex, but
to crackdown on adults who prey on youth, former justice minister
Vic Toews said when the bill making the change was introduced.
The law includes a "close-in-age" provision of five years, which
means it would be legal for a 15-year-old to have relations with a
19-year-old provided the relationship is not exploitive and the
older party is not in a position of authority or trust.
But while all political parties backed the legislation and law
officials welcomed it with open arms, several gay rights groups are
not satisfied and have said the law ignores gay men.
It is currently illegal for Canadians under 18 to have anal sex,
meaning two gay or bisexual 17-year-olds who engage in the act could
end up in jail something the new law does not address.
Other groups, such as Justice for Youth and Children, said the
new law, if misunderstood, could end up driving teenage sexual
activity underground.
"Because its highly technical and quite complicated I think that
we need an awful lot of public education to make sure young people,
fearing they are doing something illegal, don't hide and fail to
seek the medical help they need and fail to get appropriate
treatments and appropriate counselling," said Martha Mackinnon, the
group's executive director.
Mainichi Daily News, Sakai, Osaka, Japan, November 26, 2006
SAKAI, Osaka -- A woman accused of cutting off her newborn son's private
parts in 2004 was ordered Monday to spend five years behind bars.
The Sakai branch of the Osaka District Court convicted Shizue Tamura,
27, a resident of Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, of inflicting bodily injury.
"The way she committed the crime was unprecedented, inhumane and
cruel," Presiding Judge Masahiro Hosoi said as he handed down the ruling.
Prosecutors had demanded an eight-year prison term.
Read More ..
SINGLE MOM Clara DaSilva admitted yesterday she danced the night away while her 2-year-daughter was dying of
dehydration in a sweltering apartment. Tiny toddler Adrianna Maria DaSilva was abandoned for at least 33 hours in a
35C room before her mom discovered her dead on Sept. 9, 2002.
Clara DaSilva, 24, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Justice David Watt will sentence her shortly after Jan. 17
following a five-day trial with one contested fact -- the allegation that her purse, with keys and cash, was stolen
at a club the day of her child's death.
Read More ..
ST. STEPHEN, N.B. - A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and
dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions.
Becky Sue Morrow earlier pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a
dead body and disposing of a newborn with the intent of concealing a delivery.
Judge David Walker ruled Friday that the 27-year-old woman may have been
suffering from a mental disorder when she delivered the baby but that that
was not the case when the baby's body was burned and its remains hidden.
It is not known if the baby was alive at the time of birth.
At a hearing last month, the court heard contrasting reports from the
two psychiatrists. One said Ms. Morrow was in a "disassociated" mental state
when the crime occurred. The other said she clearly planned her actions
and understood the consequences.
Woman convicted of killing 3 kids after custody
battle
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, USA, August 26, 2008
HELSINKI, Finland - A court in Finland has convicted a woman of murdering
her three young children and has given her a life sentence.
The Espoo District Court says Thai-born Yu-Hsiu Fu was found guilty of
strangling her 8-year-old twin daughters and 1-year-old son in her home.
She tried to kill herself afterward.
The verdict on Tuesday says the 41-year-old woman was found to be of
sound mind at the time of the murders.
Court papers show the murders were preceded by a bitter custody battle
with her Finnish husband who was living separately from her at the time
of the murders.
A life sentence in Finland mean convicts usually serve at least 11 years
in prison.
KINGSTON, Ont. (CP) -- An Ontario woman who was sentenced to 16 years
in prison in one of Canada's stiffest penalties for child abuse will be
released on full parole after serving less than half her term.
Lorelei Turner, 38, and her husband Steven were convicted of manslaughter
in July 1995 for beating and starving their three-year-old son John to death
in a case that horrified Canadians who followed the trial.
But on Wednesday, a panel of the National Parole Board in this eastern
Ontario city ruled Turner will be released but placed on probation until
July 2011.
Until then, she must remain within 25 kilometres of her residence, is
not allowed unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, and must continue
to receive counselling.
"The board would have looked at the risk and obviously found a low risk
to reoffend," Carol Sparling of the National Parole Board said Wednesday.
A WOMAN who killed her infant son by jumping with him from the eighth
floor of a city apartment block has walked free after being convicted of
manslaughter.
Yeeda Topham, 40, of Roleystone near Perth, had pleaded guilty in the
West Australian Supreme Court to a charge of unlawfully killing
21-month-old James Topham on November 5 last year. Read More ..
LOS ANGELES, USA -- Murder charges are expected to be filed against a
woman whose infant son's body was found in a washing machine after firefighters
doused what they say was an intentionally set fire, authorities said Tuesday.
Latunga Starks, 32, was taken into custody last night, according to the
Sheriff's Department Web site.
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Dennis Shirey identified the mother
and her nearly 3-month-old son, Michael Kelvin Thompson.
Craig and Kathleen Folbigg's first son died in his sleep at 19 days old. Their next child, Patrick, died two
years later at nine months.
Still, it was after their fourth baby died before Australian police suspected something was terribly wrong.
In Sydney's New South Wales State Supreme Court this week, Kathleen Folbigg, 35, was found guilty of killing
all four of her babies.
The jury's work would have been made much easier if they had been allowed to read Folbigg's entire secret
diary. In it, she practically confesses to following in her dad's deadly footsteps.
"Obviously I am my father's daughter," the Australian woman wrote in her diary Oct. 14, 1996, having already
killed three of her four children.
"But I think losing my temper and being frustrated and everything has passed. I now just let things happen
and go with the flow. An attitude I should of had with all my children, if given the chance, I'll have it
with the next one."
Folbigg was pregnant at the time with her fourth child. She would go on to kill her as well.
