Latest news with #childvictims
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Yahoo
Kansans should be ashamed of the failures that contributed to the death of 5-year-old Zoey Felix
Shawn Stauffer, 16, lights a candle at a vigil for the child victims of murder organized by his step-mother, Ali, in October 2023 in downtown Topeka. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector) Now that her killer has been sentenced to life in prison, what is there left to say about the death of Zoey Felix? We must do more. The 5-year-old Topeka girl was raped and murdered at a Topeka homeless encampment in October 2023. Her killer was Mickel Cherry, then 25, a family acquaintance she called 'uncle.' Cherry, who confessed to police and later struck a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, was given 50 years in prison July 15 by a Shawnee County district judge. From the start, the case has been gut-wrenching. It's also been difficult for me to write about, because the suffering of children gets to me in the way other tragedies don't. When I was a young reporter I covered deaths involving children, and they always left me shaken. Some were deliberately killed, others died in house fires or car wrecks. My reaction got so bad that I couldn't pass one of those ubiquitous 'Prevent Child Abuse' billboards without shedding tears. With the Zoey Felix case, it's not just the horrific way in which she died, but the revelations about the multiple failures by the people and agencies Zoey should have depended on for help that get to me. There was, according to court filings, the unstable and violent family life, a home where there was no water or electricity, a mother who abused substances, and a father who eventually brought Zoey to live in a homeless encampment in a wooded area in southeast Topeka. The family had declined requests from child protective services for help, and the state did not press the issue. About the only kindness she experienced in her short life was from neighbors, who worried about her roaming the streets at all hours and sometimes provided her with food and clothing. Perhaps most damning of all were multiple investigations by the Kansas Department for Children and Families into Zoey's welfare, none of which resulted in removing her from the environment. According to a filing by Cherry's defense counsel, DCF determined that Zoey had only a slightly higher than average risk of being hurt or suffering other lasting 'negative effects.' In September 2023, the department sent investigators out seven times, but they were unable to locate the family and the case was closed. Zoey was killed Oct. 2. 'Had the agencies responsible for Z.F.'s safety taken action by communicating, verifying information, and pursuing protective custody, her trajectory could have been different,' wrote Peter Conley, a deputy defender in the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit, in a memorandum to the court asking for concurrent, instead of consecutive, 25-year sentences. 'She would not have been forced to live in a tent in the woods, nor left in the care of a traumatized person (Cherry) unfit to care for her.' Her death, Conley argued, was avoidable. While Cherry bears the ultimate responsibility for his actions, Conley said, he did not create the systems that failed him — and Zoey — in similar ways. Conley described Cherry as a 'developmentally delayed' individual who grew up in a physically and emotionally abusive home and who did not receive the help he needed from Texas child services. He had been passed to 17 foster homes, been in two psychiatric hospitals, had no high school degree, and had been diagnosed as a child with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable genetic eye disease. 'Mickel could have and should have had interventions such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy,' according to the court filing. 'Medicaid would have covered this expense. He should have also been receiving more regular counseling and psychiatric visits given his traumatic childhood and the number of adverse childhood events he experienced.' Conley argued the trauma and failures experienced by both Mickel and Zoey were similar. 'Mickel has lived an extraordinarily difficult life where he was first abused by his parents and then by the system in place to protect children like him,' he said in the filing. 'The same system in Kansas allowed Z.F. to fall through the cracks to allow her to be in a position of being babysat by a developmentally delayed homeless man from Texas.' Zoey's death resulted in a statewide conversation about child victims of violent crime. In October 2023, I attended a candlelight vigil in downtown Topeka in memory of murdered children. At that time, one-third of all homicide victims for the year — 10 in all — had been children. There was a clamor in the wake of Zoey's murder about improving the state's child protective services, whose administrative errors resulted in the girl not getting the help she needed. Recently, I asked the Kansas Department for Children and Families whether there had been any meaningful reforms since 2023. 'The safety and well-being of every child under the care of the Kansas Department for Children and Families is the top priority of the agency,' Jenalea Randall, DCF's director of public and government affairs, wrote in an email. 'Unfortunately, Zoey Felix's story reflects systemic challenges and the need for resources to help families that go beyond any one agency — such as assisting the homeless population.' After Zoey's death in 2023, the DCF undertook an internal review resulting in policy revisions to provide guidance to child protection specialists and supervisors on when to contact law enforcement in cases when the well-being of a child may be at risk and the family cannot be located. 'During the 2024 Kansas Legislative session, the agency worked to pass HB 2628, which ensures the public receives timely information about tragic cases such as this one,' the email said. That measure, aimed to allow the release of information about individual cases where there is pressing legislative and public interest, became law in 2024. 'DCF also sponsored legislation during the session that would have made it easier for families like Zoey's to access additional services, decreasing the likelihood of this situation happening again,' she wrote. 'Unfortunately, the Kansas Legislature did not take up those measures.' This month, Randall said, DCF began contacting families every day of the week, including weekends and holidays, when there was a report from law enforcement that a child could be a victim of abuse or neglect. 'DCF continues to look for ways to increase transparency and better support families, especially those who are homeless,' she said. Progress had been made, she asserted, and the department remains committed to working with other agencies and partners to 'strengthen the state's safety net and ensure all Kansas families get the assistance they need.' But is any of this meaningful reform? It's good public relations, I suppose, but declaring goals and intent is short of providing evidence of meaningful change. Kansas families aren't getting the assistance they need. It only takes a walk around most Kansas towns to realize the state's safety net is fraying badly. From the woman sitting on the curb outside the local Walmart panhandling to buy food to the homeless individuals, mostly men, moving their camps ever deeper into remote areas to avoid the bulldozing of tent camps too near trails and parks, there's ample evidence that people are hurting. There were 534 individuals experiencing homelessness in Topeka as of January 2025, according to local government reports. That's an increase of more than 100 over the 2023 figures. Of the most recent count, nearly 1 in 5 were under the age of 18. Being unhoused places children in particular immediate peril and may have lasting physical and psychological effects. The number of homeless students in Topeka and Shawnee County schools is estimated to be between 750 and 1,000, far higher than the January 2025 'Point in Time' homeless count. There are, to be sure, services offered in Topeka and across Kansas for students and families experiencing homelessness. Some of those initiatives are new, including a 'one-stop' multi-agency resource center called 'Let's Help' at 245 S.W. MacVicar Ave. But such initiatives require homeless individuals be amenable to help. Unfortunately for Zoey, her family could not or would not seek the help they needed, and the state's child protective services failed to act when she needed them most. Nothing will bring Zoey back. There is little to say about the manner of Zoey's death that has not already been documented in news reports or court filings. The public wouldn't have learned her name had she not been the victim in a capital murder case. It disturbs me now — just like looking at that billboard long ago — that her name is forever linked to collective societal failure for which she paid the ultimate price. But the dead are beyond our help. To honor Zoey's memory, we must aid the living. Our communities — the services they provide, their appearance, the joy and the suffering that occurs in their homes and on their streets or at tent camps hidden away from public view — are ultimately expressions of our collective values. Too often our desire is to look away, to ignore the failures of compassion in our midst, to close our eyes to the unhappiness around us. If Zoey's death has moved you, then give your time and your money to those agencies in the community fighting hunger, homelessness and neglect. And the next time you encounter a situation in which a child in your presence is in need of help, do not turn away. Be like the neighbors in Zoey's block. Provide food or water or clothes if you can do so safely. Summon the help from any of the agencies available, including DCF. Call the police if there is reason to believe the child is in immediate danger. Do this in Zoey's memory. The tragedy is not just the way in which Zoey Felix died, but in the years denied her. Those years will now presumably be spent in prison by Cherry, who received consecutive sentences for the rape and murder and will serve at least 50 years before he is eligible for parole. His eye disease will, according to the memorandum filed by his defense attorneys, progress. He will probably go blind during his incarceration. It is not justice. It is simply an unhappy fact in the jumble of unhappy facts of an unhappy life. As his defense attorneys said in their court filing, Cherry never stood a chance. Neither did Zoey. But the living children in need among us do. Max McCoy is an award-winning author and journalist. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
NHK
13-07-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Demonstrators in Israel seek to raise awareness of child deaths in Gaza Strip
About 1,000 people have demonstrated in Tel Aviv, Israel, to raise awareness of the growing number of children killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip. Health officials in Gaza report that Israeli attacks in the enclave have claimed the lives of more than 17,000 children since October 2023. The demonstrators on Saturday called for a ceasefire to be achieved in Gaza as soon as possible to prevent any further rise in the child death toll. Posters bearing the names and photos of child victims were held up. A group that organized the rally says it has held several demonstrations since March this year, when Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza. It says the number of participants was initially only around 20 but has since increased to the current size. A demonstrator said the lives of Palestinians are just as valuable as those of Jews and Israelis. He added that the conflict needs to end. The organizer of the demonstration is human rights activist Alma Beck. She said she wants Israelis to learn more about Palestinian fatalities and what she calls a genocide currently taking place in Gaza. She added that she wants to create a change from within Israeli society. A Palestinian media outlet says at least 10 people, including six children, were killed on Sunday when Israeli warplanes bombed a water distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Yahoo
A four-year-old died after a drive-by shooting at a Detroit playground. Now two teens have been charged
Two teenage suspects have been arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting at a playground that killed an unarmed 18-year-old and a four-year-old in Michigan, the Wayne County prosecutor announced. Brandon Ware, 18, and William Wheeler, 19, are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count assault with intent to murder, two counts discharge from a vehicle causing death, one count discharge from a vehicle causing serious injury, and five counts felony firearm charges after Samir Grubbs, 4, and Daviyon Shelmonson-Bey, 18, were fatally shot. A third, unnamed 17-year-old was also wounded in the June 27 shooting. "In this day and age of social media and electronics when less children are playing outside, it is refreshing when children want to go outside and enjoy one of their local parks. Because of the alleged criminal actions of the now charged defendants in this case, a precious four-year-old is dead and another wounded," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement, per Fox2. "This is truly an American tragedy, and hopefully it is not one that will have a chilling effect on children simply wanting to play outdoors," Worthy added. Detroit police believe the alleged shooting occurred after an earlier altercation on a bus that resulted in a male taking Ware's ski mask off his head. Ware then got off the bus and later rode in a truck driven by Wheeler to Skinner Playfield, near Denby High School, where the former fired at people he believed were involved in the earlier incident, investigators say. The shooting killed Shelmonson-Bey and Grubbs, who was at the park with his mom and four siblings, Fox2 reports. The former's father told the outlet he was trying to protect another child at the playground. None of the victims knew each other. An investigation by Detroit police led to Ware and Wheeler being arrested on Wednesday. They were arraigned Saturday.
Telegraph
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The youngest victims of the 12-day war
Rayan Qasemian was too small for the oxygen mask used by doctors in Tehran to try and save his life. His entire body was wrapped in brown bandages and wires attached to his tiny head. Machines beeped and buzzed all around him as oxygen flowed. Just hours earlier, an Israeli missile struck his apartment building, killing his mother and father. His older brother was injured and also died in hospital. In a video broadcast by Iranian media, the boys' grandfather was seen walking through the rubble, speaking to reporters. Holding up a photo of Rayan on his phone, he said: 'We were on the third floor when they hit the sixth. I rushed Rayan Qasemian to the hospital and took this picture.' It would be the last picture of Rayan alive. At just two months old, he became the youngest victim of Iran and Israel's 12-day war. The true scale of Iran's death toll is only just coming to light as the country has blocked access to most of the internet and any information available is heavily censored. But it is believed that Rayan was one of 38 children killed. At his funeral on June 26, a small coffin draped in the Iranian flag was carried by mourners attending the service. A photograph from the cemetery showed that he was buried in the same grave as his mother Zohreh. 'She was a doctor,' Rayan's grandfather said of his mother. 'She spoke to her nurses before the strikes and told them not to wait for her.' The family's story has been widely shared by Iranian media, but foreign journalists are not allowed into the country to tell such painful stories – or verify the numbers. Iran has claimed that 935 people were 'martyred' in Israeli airstrikes that targeted Tehran's nuclear facilities, military sites and air defences. But the missiles also killed civilians: bank clerks, social workers visiting prisoners and a mother who had brought her five-year-old son to work because nursery was closed. Other victims included Taha Behruzi and Alisan Jabbari, both seven, from Tabriz, who were ready for their first day of school with packed bags and notebooks. Instead, they were killed by shrapnel from a downed Israeli drone as they played outside their homes. Alisan's mother said: 'My seven-year-old was playing – unaware of the enemy's dirty world – when the attack began. 'He was hit in the head. I bent down to hug him and at that moment, I was wounded too. I took the child to the courtyard... We both rolled in blood and he died in my arms.' In Isfahan, 13-year-old Fatemeh Sharifi was killed alongside her younger brother Mojtaba and their parents. Ehsan Qasemi, a 16-year-old from Qom's Salarieh district, was killed in his home. Amir Ali Chatr-Anbarin, a student in year eight at Shahid Ali Akbar School in central Lahijan, was visiting relatives in northern Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh when he too was killed in a strike. His parents, safe at home in Lahijan, were told by a phone call that their son would never return from his overnight stay. In Tehran, year four student Servin Hamidian, from Shahid Beheshti Elementary School, died with his mother when Israeli bombs fell on the capital. Ali, four, Fatemeh, 10, and Reyhaneh, 14, were killed alongside their mother and grandparents as Israeli forces struck their home to target their father Mostafa Sadati-Armaki, a nuclear scientist. All seven members of the Sadati-Armaki family were killed. A funeral banner in a local mosque showed nine photos of the family, with the additional two being relatives killed when Saddam Hussein attacked Iran in the 1980s. Asghar Jahangir, Iran's judiciary spokesman, placed the death toll at 935 people, including 132 women. The scale of civilian casualties has drawn sharp criticism from Iranian officials, who have argued that Israel's actions constituted war crimes. Esmaeil Baghaei, the foreign ministry spokesman, said the country would transfer evidence to international organisations, demanding accountability for what he called acts of aggression against innocent civilians. While the Islamic Republic has described them as martyrs and state media has broadcast solemn ceremonies honouring the dead, many ordinary Iranians have directed their anger not at foreign enemies, but at the man who has ruled their nation for nearly four decades. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, faced a crisis of legitimacy even before missiles rained down on Iranian soil. The very people he claimed to be protecting have increasingly blamed him for the devastation that has befallen their homeland. Analysts have said the grievances are multifaceted but centred on what many Iranians see as Khamenei's fundamental miscalculations. Firstly, his commitment to the destruction of Israel is an ideological position that most Iranians do not share, surveys have suggested. Secondly, his pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, which he believed would render his regime untouchable, has instead brought crushing international sanctions. The economic toll has been devastating. Iran, which was once among the world's major oil exporters, has been reduced to a shadow of its former prosperity. The Iranian rial has collapsed, inflation has soared and millions of people have struggled to afford basic necessities. Young people, who make up the majority of Iran's population, have seen their futures constrained by an economy crippled under decades of confrontation with the West. Reza, a resident of central Isfahan, which was hit hard in the strikes as it is home to one of the country's main nuclear sites, said the Israeli attacks have shifted public sentiment. While many blamed the regime for bringing war to their doorsteps, he said there was a new-found unity among Iranians in the face of foreign threats. He told The Telegraph: 'Many people who once supported the regime are now blaming it for dragging us into this war. We used to watch conflicts unfold across the Middle East on TV and thank God we lived in a safe country. 'But believe me, I haven't slept in two weeks. Every time I doze off, a loud bang jolts me awake. We didn't ask for this – this wasn't the people's war. It was the regime that pushed us into it. 'They talk about a ceasefire but that's meaningless. That taboo has been broken. Now Israel can strike whenever it wants.' But Reza said the attacks revealed something that made him proud. 'People who disagreed with the regime and its supporters stood together against the foreign enemy,' he said. 'Defending Iran matters more to me than defending or supporting the Islamic Republic. I won't give up even one wajab [about a foot] of Iranian soil.' Across the country, communities have mobilised to support one another. In towns and villages, residents have opened their homes to those displaced by airstrikes. Shopkeepers have lowered prices on essential goods and neighbours have gone door to door offering help to those in need.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
Hundreds of children told to test for disease in Australia after childcare worker charged with child sex abuse
Parents of 1,200 children in the Australian state of Victoria are being advised to get them tested for infectious diseases after a childcare worker was charged with more than 70 offenses including sexual assault. Officials issued the call after Victoria Police announced the arrest of Joshua Dale Brown, 26, who is accused of sexually abusing eight children between the ages of 5 months and 2 years at a childcare center in Melbourne in 2022 and 2023. All of the offenses relate to the eight alleged victims, who attended one center, but police haven't ruled out other potential victims at 19 other childcare centers he's known to have worked since 2017. Victoria Police Acting Commander Janet Stevenson said Brown's name was being publicized so that parents could check if their child came into contact with him. 'It's very important to ensure that every parent out there that has a child in childcare knows who he is and where he worked,' Stevenson said in a news conference Tuesday. Brown is currently in custody and due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on September 15, police said in a news release Tuesday. CNN is working to confirm Brown's legal representation. Victoria Police's Sexual Crime Squad began investigating in May of this year after detectives discovered child abuse material, authorities said. Police then executed a search warrant at Brown's home, leading to his arrest. Police then worked to identify the alleged victims. 'Last week, we notified eight families that we had charged Brown with sexually offending against their children,' Stevenson said. 'As you could imagine, this was deeply distressing for the families to hear. We worked with our partner agencies to put all supports in place to assist them through this difficult period.' Brown had a valid 'Working with Children Check,' a compulsory screening for people engaging in child-related work in Australia, Stevenson said. Some of the childcare centers Brown worked at for 'a very short period of time.' Health authorities and police have identified and contacted around 2,600 families whose children attended the childcare centers where Brown worked, Chief Health Officer Christian McGrath said during the news conference. About 1,200 children are being recommended to undergo testing for infectious diseases, McGrath said. 'We are recommending that some children undergo testing for infectious diseases due to potential exposure risk in that period. We do understand that this is another distressing element to the situation, and we're taking this approach as a precaution,' McGrath said. He declined to say what diseases the children are being asked to test for but said they can be treated with antibiotics. Brown is accused of sexually assaulting children as well as producing and transmitting child abuse material, among other charges, according to authorities. The eight alleged victims attended the Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook, a suburb of Melbourne. Police did not disclose the gender of the victims. Detectives are also examining evidence of possible offenses at another childcare center in Essendon, northwest Melbourne, 'as a priority,' according to the news release. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said she was 'sickened' by the allegations. 'They are shocking and distressing, and my heart just breaks for the families who are living every parent's worst nightmare, and as a parent too, I can only imagine the unbearable grief and pain the affected families are experiencing right now,' Allan said. CNN's Hilary Whiteman contributed reporting.
