Montreal, Canada:

Canadian writer Alice Munro’s daughter said Sunday that her stepfather sexually abused her as a child and that her mother was told but stayed with him, in a damning account published after the Nobel laureate’s death.

Andrea Robin Skinner wrote in the Toronto Star that she was nine when, in 1976, “one night, while she (Munro) was away, her husband, my stepfather, Gerald Fremlin, climbed into the bed where I was sleeping and sexually assaulted me.”

She wrote that when she was alone with Fremlin — who died in 2013 — he “exposed himself during car rides, told me about the little girls in the neighborhood he liked, and described my mother’s sexual needs.”

Skinner said that, when she was 25, she shared everything that had happened with Munro — but acclaimed author decided to stay with Fremlin, whom she wed in the 1970s after her first marriage ended.

“She reacted exactly as I had feared she would, as if she had learned of an infidelity,” Skinner wrote of Munro. 

“We all went back to acting as if nothing had happened. It was what we did,” she added.

At 38, Skinner said she took her allegations to the police after Munro complimented her husband in a New York Times interview. Fremlin pleaded guilty in 2005 to indecent assault.

“What I wanted was some record of the truth, some public proof that I hadn’t deserved what had happened to me,” Skinner wrote.

“I also wanted this story, my story, to become part of the stories people tell about my mother,” she added.

Alice Munro, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013, died at 92 in May. Her death prompted glowing tributes, including from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A special education teacher at an intermediate school in New Jersey was arrested for an alleged sexual relationship with a student, according to authorities. 43-year-old Allison Havemann-Niedrach at Freehold Intermediate School was charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced.

According to theNew York Post, she was arrested earlier this week after an investigation revealed that she allegedly began sexually abusing her student earlier this year. However, authorities did not say how the conduct came to light or how many times she had assaulted the student. The age of the alleged victim has also not been revealed, but grades six through eight attend Freehold Intermediate School.

She is currently being held at the Monmouth County jail in Freehold Township, pending a first appearance and detention hearing. A hearing will be conducted to determine whether she will continue to be detained while awaiting trial. 

The prosecutor’s office asked members of the public to provide more information about her activities. ”Anyone with information about Havemann-Niedrach’s activities is being urged to contact MCPO Detective Dawn Correia at 800-533-7443,” the release read. 

As per her LinkedIn profile, Havemann-Niedrach has been a special education teacher at Freehold Intermediate School since March 2022. She has been a teacher or a substitute teacher at several schools dating back to 2008, according to her profile.

The teacher describes herself as: “Passionate, results-driven, and sincere educator. Poised and competent and thrives in performance-driven environments. Demonstrated history of a ‘do what it takes’ work ethic and truly differentiated instruction.”

After the arrest, Asia Michael, the superintendent of the Freehold Borough School District sent an email to staff and parents that read, ”We have been informed that a former staff member has been arrested on allegations of third-degree aggravated sexual assault and inappropriate sexual conduct with a minor. 

Please be assured that our district has been fully cooperative with the prosecutor’s office since the outset of this investigation. The safety and well-being of our students and staff have been our top priority, and we took immediate measures to ensure their protection.”

The teacher’s attorney, meanwhile, said in a statement that she ”maintains her innocence” and refused to comment further. 

 

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a man arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at a crowded beach in Mumbai in 2021, noting the survivor and the accused were friends and the charges against him appear implausible.

Judge Prithiviraj Chavan, in an order passed on Wednesday, pointed out that the survivor’s statement recorded before a magistrate’s court revealed she was friends with the accused, and also noted that charges in the three-year-old case have not yet been framed by the trial court.

“Since the victim was a major at the time of the alleged offence, prima facie, it does not appeal to one’s mind that in broad daylight at a crowded Juhu Chowpatty (beach) on the day of Eid-Ul-Fitr, the applicant would commit forcible sexual intercourse with the victim,” the HC observed.

No sane man would believe it, the judge added.

The high court also said that since the survivor was an adult at the time of the alleged incident, there was no need to invoke the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused.

The accused was booked under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code for rape, outraging the modesty of a woman and stalking, among others, as well as sections of the POCSO Act.

The alleged incident took place on May 14, 2021, when the survivor had gone to Juhu Chowpatty in suburban Mumbai with the accused.

He sought sexual favours which the survivor refused. However, the accused then threatened her with dire consequences and sexually assaulted her at an isolated place at the tourist site, the prosecution submitted.

The court, in the order, noted there was no need to invoke the POCSO Act against the accused as the survivor’s age, as per medical reports, was more than 18 years.

The applicant has been in jail ever since his arrest in June 2021. The trial court has not yet framed charges and, therefore, there is no likelihood of bringing the trial to its logical end (anytime soon), the high court noted.

“Having considered all the aforesaid peculiar circumstances, the application (for bail) is allowed”, the judge said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act over allegations of sexually harassing a teen.

The police in Bengaluru’s Sadashivanagar charged the senior BJP leader based on a complaint by the mother of the 17-year-old girl.

According to sources in the police, the girl has alleged that she was assaulted on February 2 when she and her mother visited the 81-year-old leader to seek assistance in a cheating case.

According to the FIR, the BJP leader allegedly sexually assaulted the girl after calling her into a room.

Addressing the media, Mr Yediyurappa questioned the timing of the complaint, coming just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election. “I helped the complainant financially. The timing is questionable since the FIR comes just ahead of the polls,” he said.

The former Chief Minister claimed the girl came to him seeking help with some cases of cheating. However, she didn’t speak to him properly which gave him the idea that she may not be mentally sound, he said.

Mr Yediyurappa’s office has rubbished the allegations as baseless, accusing the mother and daughter of filing over 50 complaints in the past. A list put out by Mr Yediyurappa’s office showed 53 different complaints filed before.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said, “A lady gave a complaint to the Sadashivanagar police station against BS Yediyurappa, our former Chief Minister, saying that her daughter was molested. So the police registered the case and an investigation is on. Until and unless we know the truth, we cannot reveal anything. This is a very sensitive matter because it involves a former Chief Minister. Let’s see what the report says”.

The minister ruled out any political angle in the case and said, “I don’t think there’s a political angle to this. We don’t know the lady. She went to the police and complained. The police didn’t refuse her and registered the case.”

BS Yediyurappa served as Karnataka Chief Minister in 2007 and later from 2008 to 2011. He was chief minister again for three days in May 2018, and then from July 2019 to July 2021.