News22 mins ago
Stuart Hall
I am reading today's Guardian and there is a rather unsettling report on page 2 about the sentence that Hall has been given. Its been discussed on here recently whether the sentence was long enough and the Attorney General is now to review the case apparently. So we must wait and see what results from that review.
What is worrying me is that the parents of some of the very young girls that he molested knew about the abuse at the time "but did not report him"
What kind of parent knows that an old man has groped and seriously assaulted their nine year daughter and then does nothing about it ? Those parents allowed other children that came after to be assaulted in the same way. If they had done what they should have done and gone straight to a police station, those other children might have been spared their ordeal.
What is worrying me is that the parents of some of the very young girls that he molested knew about the abuse at the time "but did not report him"
What kind of parent knows that an old man has groped and seriously assaulted their nine year daughter and then does nothing about it ? Those parents allowed other children that came after to be assaulted in the same way. If they had done what they should have done and gone straight to a police station, those other children might have been spared their ordeal.
Answers
I'm sure, in hindsight, many of these parents would have wished they had acted differently. I imagine many of them would have viewed it as an isolated incident and not a 'pattern' of behaviour but have removed their children from any situations where it could be repeated.
11:16 Tue 18th Jun 2013
Do you really think that accusation is a stretch LG?
I was looking at the part of Mikey's question that reads:
//Those parents allowed other children that came after to be assaulted in the same way. If they had done what they should have done and gone straight to a police station, those other children might have been spared their ordeal.//
That reads like an accusation of selfishness to me
How do you read it?
I was looking at the part of Mikey's question that reads:
//Those parents allowed other children that came after to be assaulted in the same way. If they had done what they should have done and gone straight to a police station, those other children might have been spared their ordeal.//
That reads like an accusation of selfishness to me
How do you read it?
@JtP - This is what you wrote
"It's rather easy for us to sit here in 2013 and tut tut about how victims have selfishly (that is the implication isn't it?) not come forward to pres charges."
That sounds like a kind of inclusive "us" to me. Without going back from all the contributors, I can only comment specifically about my own comments and the flavour derived from those others.
None of us can know for sure that, had one of those parents who knew about an incident and then did not report it to the police, Hall would have been investigated, arrested and convicted = but it is certainly possible, particularly if more than one of the parents had reported it. And had that happens, it is likely that at least some of the victims would have been spared his ministrations. That just seems like a pretty factual assessment to me.
I remain puzzled as to the motivations of those that did not report. I do not impute a motive to them.
"It's rather easy for us to sit here in 2013 and tut tut about how victims have selfishly (that is the implication isn't it?) not come forward to pres charges."
That sounds like a kind of inclusive "us" to me. Without going back from all the contributors, I can only comment specifically about my own comments and the flavour derived from those others.
None of us can know for sure that, had one of those parents who knew about an incident and then did not report it to the police, Hall would have been investigated, arrested and convicted = but it is certainly possible, particularly if more than one of the parents had reported it. And had that happens, it is likely that at least some of the victims would have been spared his ministrations. That just seems like a pretty factual assessment to me.
I remain puzzled as to the motivations of those that did not report. I do not impute a motive to them.