HE'S AN EVIL MAN - HE CANNOT HAVE A SOUL
09:06 - 24 August 2007
A church elder has avoided jail despite admitting a series of sex attacks on young children.
Michael Porter used his trusted position as a ministerial servant in the Jehovah's Witnesses to prey on young children in Clevedon over a 14-year period.
He groped boys as they slept in bed and took advantage of tiny children as he babysat them. Among his 13 victims was an 18-month-old baby and a three-year-old boy.
Porter's own sister branded his punishment "ludicrous" and an insult to his victims.
Avon and Somerset police are in discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service over whether to appeal against the sentence.
Porter, formerly of Portishead but now living in North London, pleaded guilty to 24 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency on children yesterday at Bristol Crown Court.
But the city's most senior judge, Recorder of Bristol Judge Tom Crowther QC, opted not to jail the 38-year-old and instead handed him a three-year community rehabilitation order after hearing he had undergone therapy.
Porter, who was brought up in Brendon Road, Portishead, was also banned from working with anyone under the age of 18 and put on the Sex Offenders' Register.
Crown Prosecutor Robert Davies said not all Porter's victims were aware they had been abused.
He said the sex attacks happened in the 1980s and 1990s. One victim was repeatedly molested as he slept in bed and woke once to find the defendant on top of him, the court was told.
Mr Davies said Porter's last victims were aged just five and seven.
The catalogue of abuse came to light when one victim reported it to elders at the Jehovah's Witness church in Portishead, where Porter's family were members.
Porter then made a full confession to members of the church and, later, police.
Mr Davies said: "Michael Porter was entirely apologetic for what he had done.
"He sent his order a text message to say others (victims) had been involved.
"He arranged to make a confession to them. He was advised, sensibly, to go to the police."
Tabitha Macfarlane, defending, said her client knew he had destroyed and injured people's lives.
She said: "Any show of public hatred towards him he understands. What he's done is take active steps to improve and better his life."
Explaining his decision not to jail Porter, Judge Crowther told him: "This is a case which in my experience is exceptional, in a sense historic and revealed by you in unusual circumstances which I am sure are linked with the faith by which you now run your life.
"I'm satisfied, having the advantage of a number of reports as to your early background, that the reasons for your behaving as you did are complex and personal and reveal that you were subject to pressures which make it understandable that you should have acted as you did in this case.
"What's important, in terms of sentence, is to realise that you had changed your life before there was any question of these matters being revealed.
"I'm as satisfied as I can be, whereas in some circumstances punishment by way of imprisonment is inevitable in some cases, this is not one of those, and the proper sentence is a community rehabilitation order."
But the decision not to jail Porter was condemned by his sister, Tina Hughes, as well as charities helping to protect young crime victims.
Ms Hughes, 40, who lives in Churchill Avenue, Clevedon, described her sibling as an "evil monster" who could strike again.
She said: "I'm absolutely disgusted. I'm very angry.
"We thought he would get a sentence of at least 12 months.
"I think the judge was absolutely pathetic. He just took my brother's side completely and believed that all he needed was a bit more therapy and now realised he had done wrong.
"Michael blamed his childhood for the attacks, which was a lie, but the judge ate it all up.
"I just broke down in tears when the judge said he wasn't going to jail. The whole courtroom went quiet. No one could believe it.
"I can't believe the judge thinks he is safe to be allowed out on the streets. He won't stop.
"There's no justice for the victims. No closure. He had no right to leave that court room.
"He has a lovely life. He has a religion standing by him. He has lost nothing. He's just not human. He's an evil monster. He can't have a soul."
Porter was a respected member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Portishead and Clevedon.
Ms Hughes said parents trusted him to look after their children. He regularly babysat youngsters, took them on holidays and invited them for sleepovers at his home.
She said: "Children loved him and parents worshipped him. He was the last man they would ever suspect of doing something so horrific."
Porter, in court with his wife Joanne, left the family's home in Clevedon and moved to London in 2000 after his mother died. He was later made an elder.
Labour MP Dan Norris, a former child protection officer,
said: "This judge's decision will reinforce the public view that child sex offenders are treated far too lightly and that our judges are out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people.
"I hope that the Jehovah's Witnesses who, for example offer help to battered women on their website, will also ensure the safety of children by taking strong action by expelling Mr Porter. I hope they will not turn a blind eye because of his faith."
Michele Elliott , of charity Kidscape, said the sentence was an "appalling, horrific decision".
She said: "If ever there was a man who deserved to be in prison, it's this man. I hope the judge can sleep at night.
"This man will be a continued danger to children for the rest of his life after years of abusing children as young as 18 months.
"He cannot have changed. We have no way to cure people who have this kind of addiction to child sex abuse."
Wayne Baker, spokesman for Avon and Somerset police, said:
"It is too early to say at the moment whether there will be an appeal. This will be discussed with the Crown Prosecution Service."
A High Court judge who told a sheikh involved in a multimillion-pound divorce battle that he could choose to “depart on his flying carpet” has been ordered to step down from the case.
Mr Justice Singer was also forced to apologise publicly after being roundly castigated by senior judges for apparently making “mocking and disparaging” remarks during a private hearing in the High Court Family Division.
Lord Justice Ward, sitting in the Court of Appeal, said that the judge had crossed the line of acceptability by making “thoroughly bad jokes which could be perceived as racially offensive”.
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Mr Justice Singer admitted after the ruling that his comments had been “poorly chosen” but insisted that he had not intended to be racist.
A spokesman for the Office for Judicial Communications said that the Lord Chief Justice did not intend to take disciplinary action against the judge. However, the Office for Judicial Complaints can investigate the matter if a complaint is made.
Yesterday the Court of Appeal judges noted that Mr Justice Singer had said:
— That the sheikh could choose “to depart on his flying carpet” to escape paying costs
— That the sheikh should be available to attend hearings “at this relatively fast-free time of the year”
— That he should be in court so that “every grain of sand is sifted”
— And the sheikh’s evidence was “a bit gelatinous . . . like Turkish Delight”.
Sheikh Khalid Ben Abdfullah Rashid Alfawaz asked the judge to stand down on the ground that his remarks showed bias. When the judge refused, he took the case to the Court of Appeal, where a judge described it yesterday as “a singularly unsatisfactory, unfortunate and embarrassing matter”.
Lord Justice Ward said that Mr Justice Singer was a good judge, but added: “On this occasion he crossed the line between the tolerable and the impermissible.”
The case involves a claim by Wendy Ann El Farargy, 59, for a divorce settlement that is being contested by her husband, Nael Mahmoud El Farargy, 67. The appeal judge said that their finances were complicated, involving several offshore companies, one of which — McKellar Holdings Ltd — the sheikh claims to own. Lord Justice Ward explained that the couple lived in Qatar, then moved to Egypt, before returning to Britain.
Their final home was in Cobham, Surrey, which was bought for £1.7 million in 2003 in the name of McKellar, a British Virgin Islands company.
Immediately after the judgment by the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Singer said in a statement: “I wish publicly to apologise to Sheikh Khalid Ben Abdfullah Rashid Alfawaz for these remarks. My comments were poorly chosen. They were not intended to be racist, nor have I ever intended any disrespect or disregard for the tenets of Islam, or for the sheikh’s Saudi nationality and Arab ethnicity. My judicial work and public speeches clearly demonstrate that I am in no sense racist.”
Mr Justice Singer was appointed as a High Court Judge in the Family Division in 1993 and is a past chairman of the Family Law Bar Association.
Lord Justice Ward said: “No little part of my embarrassment comes from my belief that the injection of a little humour lightens the load of high emotion that so often attends litigation and I am the very last judge to criticise laughter in court. For my part I am totally convinced that [the judge's] jokes were not meant to be racist and I unreservedly acquit the judge of any suggestion they were so intended.”
He and Lord Justices Mummery and Wilson allowed the sheikh’s appeal and ruled that Mr Justice Singer should, to use the legal terminology, recuse himself from the case.
'Who is Gazza'?
— During the trial of three men accused of terrorist offences in May, Judge Peter Openshaw said: “The trouble is I don't really understand what a website is.” He also asked a computer expert to “Keep it simple. We’ve got to start from basics”
— In 1990, the High Court Judge Sir Jeremiah LeRoy Harman famously asked: “Who is Gazza?” in a case involving the footballer Paul Gascoigne
— Judge James Pickles caused outrage when he jailed a single mother for shoplifting, telling her that women could not escape prison by getting pregnant
— Judge Ian Starforth Hill came under fire after saying that an eight-year-old girl rape victim was “not entirely an angel” in 1993. He was banned from hearing rape cases
— Judge John Prosser let a 15-year-old rapist go free, in 1993, ordering him to pay his teenage victim £500 “for a good holiday”. The Court of Appeal later increased the penalty to a two-year prison sentence
Source: Times Database
Women and Men on Trial
Men in the UK are getting away with murder.
Infidelity remains the most frequent excuse for killing of wives and girlfriends, men who kill their wives or girlfriends or ex partners and plead diminished responsibility or provocation nearly always walk free or get short sentences for manslaughter.
In English law currently there is only one full defence to murder, self defence, if successful it leads to an acquittal, two other partial defences, provocation and diminished responsibility reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter.
For murder there is only one sentence, life.
If the conviction is for manslaughter however, then the sentence is at the judges discretion and doesn't necessarily entail a prison sentence.
In order to plead provocation you have to show that you killed following a sudden loss of self control.
The law here is biased towards men, who may well have the physical strength to retaliate quickly, for women generally, this is less likely, and for women fighting back against men who have terrorised them it is even less possible.
In 1991 Joseph McGrail was tried in Birmingham for the murder of his wife.
He pleaded provocation on the basis that his wife was an alcoholic and swore at him.
He killed her by repeatedly kicking her in the stomach.
At the trial the judge commented ….."this lady would have tried the patience of a saint", he gave him a two year suspended sentence.
In 1995 Brian Steadman was jailed for three years after he hit her 13 times with a hammer, he pleaded diminished responsibility due the his wife's constant nagging.
In 1997 Joseph Swinburne killed his wife by stabbing her eleven times when she told him she was leaving him for another man.
He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 200 hours community service.
In 1992 Judge Dennison gave Bisla Rajinder Singh, an 18 month sentence suspended for one year for the manslaughter of his wife on the grounds of provocation.
The judge told him "you have suffered through no fault of your own….your wife was a domineering lady with a sharp and persistent tongue".
Lucy Kellet was preparing to leave Oliver Kellet after years of abuse.
As she as waiting for the removal van to take her to her new home he stabbed her repeatedly with a bowie knife.
He pleaded manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was given 3 year probation.
Compare these with the following women
In 1989 after 10 years of severe violence against her Kiranjit Aluwhalia threw petrol over her husbands feet and set it alight whilst he was sleeping, he died some days later.
She was arrested and charged with murder, she was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 1992 Zoora Shah snapped after 12 years of physical and sexual violence when her partner turned his attention to her eldest daughter.
She poisoned him and was convicted of murder, sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years, she is still in prison.
In 1993 Josephine Smith shot her husband after many years of violence when he threatened to track her down and kill her and their three children if she left him.
She was convicted of murder and sentenced to life with a minimum of 12 years.
In 1989 Malcolm Thornton, an alcoholic, threatened to kill his wife Sara and her daughter in their sleep, he taunted her with a knife.
The police had been called to the home on numerous occasion throughout their relationship by Sara because of his attacks on her and he was in fact due to appear in court on an assault charge 10 days after he died.
Sara feared for her own and for her daughter's life. She stabbed him once and called an ambulance.
She pleaded guilty on grounds of diminished responsibility, she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
For four years Peter Iles persecuted Janet Gardner using violence, threats and harassment.
On one occasion he tried to cut her throat, he beat and kicked her and burnt her with cigarettes.
During the attack which led to his death he grabbed her round the neck and started beating her head against the kitchen doorway.
Janet grabbed a knife and stabbed him seven times.
She was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to five years in prison.
http://www.jfw.org.uk/ONTRIAL.HTM
More examples: http://m4j.proboards74.com/
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