Wednesday 28 November 2012

News: Witches On Trial For Child Abuse

This story in The Guardian distresses me a lot.

The story has the title 'White Witches' Abused Young Girls in Pagan Sex Rituals, Court Told, and is about two men being on trial for alleged sex abuse against Cornish children. It describes how two men, Peter Petrauske and Jack Kemp, claimed to be in a pagan group that gave children alcohol then made them undress.

I'm mentioning this news story because I am disgusted both at the alleged abuse, and at the fact that it brings genuine law-abiding pagans into disrepute.

As most readers of my blog are well aware, genuine Wiccan covens are adult-only groups. Normally only those over the age of 18 would be allowed to join a coven. In my experience, children would never be allowed to take part in any ritual involving nudity, nor would children be abused in any way.

If the allegations against these men are found to be true, then I hope they lock them up for a very long time. But I am also worried that this trial could give the wrong impression of what genuine Wiccans and normal pagans really do.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/28/witches-pagan-sexual-assault-trial-cornwall

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes I think its sad they made the point of listing someones religion at all .a predator can be anyone and has nothing to do with religion .an abuser is an abuser .I too hope the legal system will focus on keeping all children safe and leave the word pagan behind .

Badwitch said...

I've just read a news story saying the men have been found guilty and jailed: http://news.sky.com/story/1025665/witches-coven-child-sex-abuse-pair-jailed