Rock Spider Grant Davies pleads guilty to Paedophilia and Pornography charges

Sydney dance teacher Grant Davies pleads guilty to child sex and pornography charges

The Daily Telegraph
September 21, 2015 5:03pm

Osman Chamseddine ,Pious Muslim Paedophile convicted of "Judge Knox said Chamseddine’s assaults included putting his finger in her vagina, touching her breast and making her touch his erect penis"

Australia's "Art's" Community stands rock solid (rock spider ?) with "role model" Dennis Nona following child Rape conviction.

A Sydney dance teacher has pleaded guilty to 28 child sex and pornography offences following more than a decade worth of offending.

Grant Davies, 41, was charged last May with a string of offences on children aged between nine and 15, including sexual intercourse with a child.

Dressed in a suit, Davies - who was set to face trial this month - pleaded guilty to the charges at Sydney’s District Court on Monday.

Speaking outside court, one of the victims, who cannot be named, said he no longer dances and felt betrayed by Davies.

“It’s an abuse of trust, in a position of authority,” he told reporters.

“The criminal justice system may be slow - I think today it reached a just outcome for the victims such as myself, and the wider community.”

The victim said he hopes Davies’ guilty pleas demonstrates to similar offenders that such conduct will be prosecuted.

Davies, who ran a studio in Sydney’s inner west and trained performers for hit productions, including Billy Elliot, was initially facing more than 60 charges.

Davies will be sentenced in February 2016.

His pleas come almost a year since a mother of two of Davies’ dance students was jailed for at least one-and-a-half years for sending pictures and videos of her daughters to him.

The woman, who cannot be named, said she fell under the spell of Davies and became engulfed by stage ambitions for her daughters who had been accepted into Davies’ exclusive Sydney dance school.

Judge Peter Zahra said last year that for almost three years the mother took numerous photos of her daughters for Davies, and some of the pictures had depicted the girls performing sexually explicit acts.

Texts allegedly sent between Davies and the mother in 2011 about her daughters, include requests by the dance teacher for some “special G-shots”.

When the mother later sent sexually explicit photos of her daughters, Sydney’s District Court heard last year that Davies responded: “Now that has made me excited. I’m so lucky.”

The mother had told the court she was scared of Davies, and had described him as domineering and aggressive.

She feared he would punish her children by kicking them out of starring roles in his company’s dance productions or remove them altogether.

Osman Chamseddine ,Pious Muslim Paedophile convicted of "Judge Knox said Chamseddine’s assaults included putting his finger in her vagina, touching her breast and making her touch his erect penis"

Wherever the followers of the ideology of Islam are resident there is a common thread of acts of Paedophilia committed against the host nations children.
The story below is but one of, by now thousands of sexual assaults by "Pious Muslim" Males across all ages of repeated violent sexual assaults upon NON Muslim children.

How many Non Muslim children, their mothers our wives our Mothers and sisters will have to be violated, Gang Raped or Assaulted in the name of enforcing their "Holy Koran's" edicts before the Australian Council of Trade Unions, GetUp funded Labor Green Loons Progressives and the various other apologists for ISLAM and its vile putrid Manifestations accept the fact that Multiculturalism is a Failure and that there is no such thing as a "Harmony Day" as long as these savages are permitted to roam our streets and practice their  "Holy Koran" given perversions ?  
These Koran Inspired Paedophiles simply cannot be trusted to live and walk among us.
God only know's what they do to their own children when the children of their host / sanctuary nations are not available for them to engage in their re enactment of the life of the "Perfect Man" the Islamic Prophet,History's most infamous Paedophile, Gang Rapist, Genocidal Mass Murderer and Slave Trader Mohammed.
Monkey See Monkey Do.

Taxi driver Osman Chamseddine jailed for ‘heinous’ sexual assaults of deaf girl, 15

Sarah Crawford
The Daily Telegraph
September 18, 2015 5:21pm

A TAXI driver has been sentenced to at least 10 years in jail for repeatedly sexually assaulting a profoundly deaf girl while dropping her home from her primary school.

Osman Chamseddine, 65, slumped in his chair at Parramatta District Court yesterday and clasped his hands to his face as he was sentenced to 15 years with a non-parole ­period of 10 years by Judge Brian Knox, who described his offending as “reprehensible” and “heinous”.

Chamseddine was found guilty in May of sexually assaulting the girl, when she was aged 10 and 11, as he took her home from school in his mini van for disabled children.

The taxi driver, who was a subcontractor for the Education Department, would drop off the other children first, then take the girl to an industrial block in Sydney’s west. It was there that he assaulted her on four occasions between June and November 2009.

The girl wrote in a victim impact statement that the attacks made her feel uncomfortable around all men except her father. “I don’t trust men, I don’t like being around men, I don’t trust anyone. I am not comfortable around any man except for my dad,” the now 17-year-old victim wrote.

Judge Knox said Chamseddine’s assaults included putting his finger in her vagina, touching her breast and making her touch his erect penis.

“When the offender touched her, her body was frozen from fear,” the judge said.

“She could not say ‘stop’ and did not know how to say ‘don’t touch me’.”

The girl kept the attacks ­secret until December 2013 when a teacher spoke to students about sexual assault as part of White Ribbon Day.

Judge Knox said Chamseddine had “manifestly breached” the trust given to him by the girl, her parents and her school to deliver her safely between her home and classes.

The court heard he continued to deny assaulting the girl.

William Tyrrell Do you know where he is? if so PLEASE Call 1800 333 000

Somebody saw something.  Somebody knows something.  Somebody can help bring William home.  Is that somebody you?

Call Crime Stoppers now on 1800 333 000

Paedophile Paul Bickford visits wife’s home, group linked with him part of William Tyrrell investigation

EXCLUSIVE Taylor Auerbach

The Daily Telegraph

8915

DAYS after it was revealed a community group linked to paedophile Paul Bickford was being investigated by ­detectives attached to the hunt for missing toddler William Tyrrell, he has been photographed for 

the first time visiting his “wrecked” wife’s home on the NSW mid-north coast.

Initial inquiries last night suggested Bickford was not in breach of an AVO or court orders placed on him at the time of his 16-month suspended jail sentence handed down on February 19.

The Daily Telegraph spotted Bickford — former president of support group GAPA (Grandparents As Parents Again) — leaving the home at 9.15am in a white sedan. He drove to the shops and returned roughly 

15 minutes later.

“We’ve made inquiries and the indications are that he is not in breach of anything,” detective Inspector Gary Jubelin, leader of the William Tyrrell investigation strike force, said.

Bickford pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome during a drive to the shops to buy her lollies.

“He’s a bloody fool (for pleading guilty),” his wife Sandra said.

“He didn’t want to go to jail … he’s innocent.

“We’ve had a very emotional weekend. We have been interviewed by the detectives from Sydney before, they questioned everyone in our group.”

Mrs Bickford said homicide detectives had interviewed she and her husband extensively over their knowledge, if any, of William.

Mrs Bickford claimed last week that her husband was banned from living with her and the child residing at the same address. A teenage boy was also seen visiting the house yesterday while Bickford was 

inside.

The family of Bickford’s victim described him as “the lowest of the low” and said they wanted him exposed as a convicted paedophile.

“It was extremely difficult and it was also extremely disappointing what the end result was — the fact that he got a 16-month slap on the wrist and let go again,” her grandfather said.

“(The victim) is very volatile. One minute she’s quite calm and totally fine, and the next minute she’s not.”

The Saturday Telegraph revealed last week that Paul Bickford was a member of a paedophile ring being looked at as part of the police investigation into William’s abduction.

Tony Jones — also a former member of GAPA — is in jail awaiting sentencing next week over indecently assaulting a different 11-year-old girl.

World's "Beautiful People" fall over themselves to show solidarity with wife of convicted Paedophile Robert Hughes, whilst Hughes' niece, Melinda O'Donnell speaks about her torment.

Australia's very own "Woody Allen" "Roman Polanski" scandal, and just as in USA and the UK the "Beautiful People" members of the Jugglers and Clown's Union, stand Rock Solid with a convicted Rock Spider. 

Star clients back Hey Dad! wife Robyn Gardner

Amy Harris 
The Sunday Telegraph
April 12 2014

SOME of the world’s biggest stars are standing by Australian power agent Robyn Gardiner in the aftermath of the conviction of her husband, R obert Hughes, for child sex abuse.

With Hughes awaiting sentencing on 10 counts of sexual and ­indecent assault of young girls, Sydney Confidential understands that Gardiner’s Sydney-based agency RGM, founded as Robyn Gardiner Management in 1982, has not lost a single client.

The agency’s client list boasts Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, who personally thanked Gardiner when she collected her Best Actress Oscar for Blue Jasmine last month, along with in-demand actors including Mia Wasikowska and Ryan Kwanten, comedian Chris Lilley, actor Lisa McCune, Tropfest founder and film director John Polson, TV personalities Amanda Keller and Andrew Denton.

A well-placed source at a rival agency admitted there was some speculation in Sydney film circles that the scandal that has engulfed Hughes since 2010 may cost the agency at least one big-name client.

“Clearly Robyn has cultivated an enormous amount of loyalty among her stable,” the talent management insider said.

Gardiner sold RGM to former Southern Star Group boss Hugh Marks and ex-Channel 10 chief executive Grant Blackley last year and has since scaled back her role at the agency to an advisory role.

It’s her acting department head Erin O’Conner, as well as agents Trent Baker, El Erdmane and ­Tracey Silvester, who are the day-to-day points of contact.

It was O’Connor who accompanied Blanchett to the AACTA Awards this year and she also oversees the career of another Gardiner protege — Rose Byrne.


Contacted for comment, reps for Gardiner and RGM said: “RGM Artists is an independently owned and operated business of Hugh Marks and Grant Blackley. Robyn founded the business and we will always value her guidance and expertise.”

So what makes these people tick extract below from an open letter of support for Photographer Bill Henson, signed by Carbon Cate and the usual Luvvies of the Yaarrrrrrt's Community see link for full story scroll to bottom of post.

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008

Open Letter of Support for Bill Henson

http://billhensonletterofsupport.blogspot.com.au/

PRESS RELEASE: MAY 27, 2008

"As members of the Creative Stream of the Australia 2020 Summit, we wish to express our dismay at the police raid on Bill Henson’s recent Sydney exhibition, the allegations that he is a

child pornographer, and the subsequent reports that he and others may be charged with obscenity."

"Many of us have children of our own. The sexual abuse and exploitation of children fills us all with abhorrence. But it is equally damaging to deny the obvious fact that adolescents are sexual beings. This very denial contributes to abusive behaviour, because it is part of the denial of the personhood of the young. In my opinion, Mr Henson’s work shows the delicacy of the transition from childhood to adulthood, its troubledness and its beauty, in ways which do not violate the essential innocence of his subjects. It can be confronting, but that does not mean that it is pornography."

Woody Allen and Dylan Farrow scandal might risk Oscar for Cate Blanchett.....boo hoo

Hey Dad !!! , Robert Hughes, A Paedophile brought to justice

Partners in Perversion, THEIR ABC ,The Left / Progressives and Paedophilia

Hey Dad! Get your hands out of my pants !!!!!

Woody Allen and Dylan Farrow scandal might risk Oscar for Cate Blanchett.....boo hoo

More at stake in molester affair than a reputation

“If there is a yardstick to measure cultural decay, the child pornography epidemic must register.”

Hughes' niece speaks about her torment

ninemsn
April 14, 2014





The niece of convicted child sex offender Robert Hughes has spoken out about her torment at the hands of her uncle, saying he "stalked" and "abused" her for years.

In a tearful interview, Melinda O'Donnell said when she was a child, the Hey Dad! star made her lie on his bed for a "massage" during which he would fondle her breasts.

Ms O'Donnell said that her uncle was "very sneaky" and "would try to disguise it so if anyone did think anything looked odd, he would be able to excuse it by saying 'I was just tickling her'".

Ms O'Donnell has spoken publicly for the first time since her witness testimony during Hughes' trial helped convict the 65-year-old of 10 charges involving four victims.
The now 40-year-old mother said Hughes would abuse her at any opportunity, and would brazenly expose himself to her while others were in the room.

She said that even when she raised the issue of inappropriate touching with Hughes' daughter, her cousin Jessica, she was told "that's just my dad. That's how he is. He's very affectionate."

Ms O'Donnell said her immediate family eventually severed ties with Hughes about a decade ago, and she said her mother was now "very angry" and that she herself had "a lot of hatred for him".

Ms O'Donnell said she 'felt sick' when she discovered former child star Sarah Monahan had come forward with allegations that she was abused on the set of the hit television show.
She added that the revelations proved a catalyst in her decision to finally come forward about the abuse she faced.

"I knew that this was going to rip our family apart. I was pregnant with my second child and terrified but I also knew I had to come forward myself," Ms O'Donnell said.
Hughes will be sentenced on May 2, and Ms O'Donnell said she "is praying" that he gets the sentence he "deserves – life in prison, so that he can never hurt anyone again".

Hey Dad !!! , Robert Hughes, A Paedophile brought to justice

Partners in Perversion, THEIR ABC ,The Left / Progressives and Paedophilia

Hey Dad! Get your hands out of my pants !!!!!

Pro-pederasty past deserves an ABC apology

Gerard Henderson

The Australian

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/propederasty-past-deserves-an-abc-apology/story-fnkqo7i5-1226855190831

March 15 2014

THE line in last Monday’s Four Corners program on ABC television, The Boy with the Henna Tattoo, was unequivocal. Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna condemned the practice once commonly called pederasty — homosexual relations between a male adult and a boy.

The program dealt with the shocking case of two men, the Australian Peter Truong and the American Mark Newton, whose adopted baby boy was both personally abused and trafficked for sex. Meldrum-Hanna referred to the “depraved world inhabited by ... a small group of hardcore pedophiles who call themselves Boylovers”.

The Boy with the Henna Tattoo serves as an important reminder of how attitudes have changed at the public broadcaster and elsewhere with respect to pedophilia. Only four decades ago, pedophilia was a radical but fashionable endeavour within certain circles.

The then ABC radio program Lateline was established by the left-wing radical ABC operative Allan Ashbolt (1921-2005). It was Ashbolt who commenced the left-wing stack of the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster and his influence is still felt today. In his sympathetic history This is the ABC (MUP, 1983), Ken Inglis refers to “Ashbolt’s (ABC) kindergarten”.

It was in Ashbolt’s time that the ABC phenomenon emerged where debates were held in which everyone agrees with everyone else, including the presenter — all in a leftist way. And so it came to pass on July 14, 1975, when Richard Neville presented a Lateline program on pederasty where three adult men proclaimed what a great idea it was to have sex with boys. No other view was heard on the program.

Not surprisingly, the Lateline program on pederasty was subjected to considerable criticism by, among others, the Reverend Fred Nile (then of the morally conservative Festival of Light) and The Sydney Morning Herald. Needless to say, Nile and his fellow critics were dismissed and ridiculed. In his 1979 book Outside Interference: The Politics of Australian Broadcasting, ABC friend and one-time board member Richard Harding declared that the pederasty program “was too much for the susceptibilities of some worthy citizens”.

However, the most extraordinary intervention in the debate came from the then ABC chairman, Richard Downing. He said that “in general, men will sleep with young boys and that’s the sort of thing the community ought to know about”.

In a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald, published on July 19, 1975, Downing argued that “the phenomenon of pederasty” was “appropriate for public discussion in a society which, if it is to be open, democratic and responsible, needs also to understand the diverse natures of the people who compose that society”.

In other words, Downing stated that pederasty or “boylove” was an acceptable form of sexual behaviour which needed to be understood.

ABC staff today are invariably calling on others to apologise for the inappropriate and/or criminal behaviour in the past of individuals or organisations. Perhaps the current ABC board might consider a mea culpa for the position taken by the ABC chairman just four decades ago in favour of adult men having sex with boys.

In an article in the September 1984 issue of Quadrant magazine entitled “Paedophile Liberation and the Radical Homosexuals”, writer Andrew Lansdown documented how pederasty had become fashionable within sections of the Australian Left in the 1970s and 80s. He quoted an article in OutRage magazine which declared its “defence of the civil liberties of paedophiles”.

Of course, it was not only underage boys who were regarded as suitable sexual partners at the time. In his 1970 book Play Power, Neville (who was born in 1941) boasted of having a “hurricane f . . k” with a “moderately attractive, intelligent, cherubic fourteen-year-old girl from a nearby London comprehensive school”. In the early 70s, the author of Play Power had no trouble in getting an ABC gig when he returned to Australia and in receiving support from the highest echelons in the ABC for inviting three pederasts on to his program.

In his Quadrant article, Lansdown documented the existence in Australia at the time of a Paedophile Support Group. In recent weeks there has been controversy (in The Mail and elsewhere) over the Paedophile Information Exchange which existed in Britain in the 70s and 80s. The PIE was affiliated with the National Council for Civil Liberties.

Prominent members of the NCCL at the time included Patricia Hewitt (the Australian-born Labour MP who became a member of Tony Blair’s cabinet), Harriet Harman (currently the deputy leader of the British Labour Party) and Jack Dromey (the Labour spokesman on policing). As Toby Young has revealed in Britain’s The Daily Telegraph, in 1976 Hewitt, as the NCCL’s general secretary, issued a press release advocating that the age of consent should be lowered to 10 years of age. Hewitt has since apologised.

At the time, the PIE advocated that the age of consent should be lowered to four years of age. As Rod Liddle commented in The Sunday Times, the NCCL was “perfectly happy for its affiliate” to advocate sex between adult men and four-year-olds. Liddle quoted the NCCL at the time saying that “childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in with an adult, result in no identifiable damage”.

In November 2012, the British historian Dominic Sandbrook reviewed Ben Thompson’s edited collection Ban this filth!: Mary Whitehouse and the Battle to Keep Britain Innocent.

Whitehouse (1910-2001) was a morals campaigner and much mocked by self-declared progressive libertarians. In late 2012, Sandbrook reflected that when “reading this book during the fallout of the (BBC’s) Jimmy Savile scandal” he wondered if Whitehouse was “quite as cranky as she looked” at the time.

Sandbrook quoted from a letter Whitehouse wrote to the BBC in 1973 objecting to the words of a song on the show Crackerjack in which the male singer suggested that “Every growin’ boy/ Needs a little joy/ Do you want to touch me there?” The song was titled Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah!) and the singer-songwriter was none other than Gary Glitter — who, in time, became a convicted pedophile.

For all her oddities, Whitehouse spoke a truth denied by such pedophiles as Savile, Glitter and those, like Downing, who rationalised what was once termed “inter-generational sex”.

This might make for a revealing Four Corners story one day.

Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.

Australia's Progressive Leftists forced to look concerned about Paedophilia but could not help but throw in a Muslim Taxi Driver Joke at the end... so funny is child abuse.

Australia's Progressives and Paedophilia 

Woody Allen and Dylan Farrow scandal might risk Oscar for Cate Blanchett.....boo hoo

Labor Green Loon's VOTE People :Sydney's Occupied Territories "..........hundreds of children as young as 11 were being sent overseas to be married after being “shopped” on Facebook."

Innocence stolen: pressure on to investigate the epidemic of child brides across NSW

Alicia Wood Political Reporter 
The Daily Telegraph
February 12, 2014

HUNDREDS of under age teenagers are living in unregistered de facto marriages in NSW — and pressure is mounting for state and federal authorities to investigate illegal unions.

The statistics came as NSW Women’s Minister Pru Goward urged anyone with information on girls under the age of consent being married off to older men to report such incidents. In NSW, three children aged 14, 30 children aged 15, 152 aged 16 and 483 aged 17 identified themselves as living in a de facto marriage in the 2011 census.

MOSQUE DISMISSES IMAM WHO MARRIED OFF 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL

Adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg warned last night that de facto relationships involving teenage girls were detrimental to their psychological health.

“There’s an increased likelihood of these young people developing anxiety and mood disorders or depression,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these kids become potentially suicidal.”

Gang Rape, Child Marriage,Paedophilia,Labor Green Loons VOTE People gifts to Australia

In metropolitan Sydney, the local government areas with the highest number of unregistered teenage de facto marriages are Blacktown and Penrith, with 23 each, Campbelltown with 17, and Liverpool with 12.

In Blacktown, there were seven 16-year-olds and 16 children aged 17 who identified themselves as living in a de facto marriage.

In Penrith, six 15-year-olds, five 16-year-olds and 12 17-year-olds said they were in a de facto marriage.

In regional areas, the problem is more stark. In Wyong, Wollongong and Dubbo, six 15-year-olds in each local government area said they were in de facto marriages, and all three 14-year-olds who said they were de facto marriages live in Young.

The figures come to light amid intense public outrage at the arrest of a 26-year-old man over child sex allegations after his alleged marriage to a 12-year-old girl.

Eman Sharobeem from the Immigrant Women’s Health Service said hundreds of children as young as 11 were being sent overseas to be married after being “shopped” on Facebook. “It’s far more prevalent and well-known than people think,” she said.

Dr Sharobeem said not enough was being done to build awareness about under age marriage. “Regulation needs to be put in place within different religions,” she said. “If we are talking about Australian law, every marriage should be under Australian law,”

“There needs to be proper, culturally appropriate, education and awareness-raising. And we should make it as compulsory as we can.”

Ms Goward has written to federal counterpart Michaelia Cash to push for national awareness campaigns on underage and forced marriage.

“Every young girl in NSW should have the opportunity to make her own choices about her future, and under age marriage is completely unacceptable,” Ms Goward said.

“It doesn’t matter if the arrangement is religious or cultural, if the law in this state says it is illegal, parents and the community need to accept that and abide by it.

“We can only investigate a case if it is reported, so I encourage anyone aware of girls under the age of consent being married off to older men to report it to authorities so it can be investigated.”

Opposition community services spokeswoman Linda Burney said the government should investigate how widespread under age marriage is.“We seemingly don’t have a picture of how widespread this type of behaviour is,” she said. Ms Burney said

The legal marrying age in Australia is 18 unless a court approves a union where one party is aged between 16 and 18.

GIRL, 14, FORCED INTO ABUSIVE MARRIAGE Exclusive Padraic Murphy

A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was forced into an Islamic marriage with a western Sydney drug gang member who raped and beat her and later physically abused their daughter.

Details of the now 25-year old victim’s ordeal surfaced in the Federal Circuit Court where the victim was fighting to have the man banned from seeing their daughter.

So appalling was the woman's life of abuse, which included claims that her father told her she could only leave her marriage “in a coffin”, that Judge Joseph Harman made an unprecedented public appeal in his judgment for authorities to act.

“Upon publication of these reasons and should any agency wish to investigate matters ... they are in a position to make application to the court for leave to inspect the file and obtain material,” he said.

That would include the child dispute conference memo in which an admission is made by the father in the following terms: “The father admitted that he knew at the time of the Islamic marriage to the mother that she was 14 years of age.”

The memo noted the man said he was 18 at the time, but the victim claimed he was 21.

“The mother alleged that the father had sexually assaulted her after they were married, which the father denied,” said Judge Harman.

It was also alleged the man, who has a string of violence convictions, stopped the victim from attending high school or watching television, and wanted her to become a “soldier of Islam”, forcing her to watch snuff DVDs of people being brutally slaughtered.

When she complained to her parents about the rapes and violence, her father threatened to disown her. “So what if he raped you? So what if he bashed you?” the father said, according to court documents.

“The only way you can come back to me is in a coffin to pray on you.”

The girl also told a teacher at her high school about both her under age marriage and the abuse, but no action was taken.

It is believed no authority has asked to inspect the file since Judge Harman’s appeal, leading to fears both the victim’s family and her “husband” could escape punishment.

Gang Rape, Child Marriage,Paedophilia,Labor Green Loons VOTE People gifts to Australia

Woody Allen and Dylan Farrow scandal might risk Oscar for Cate Blanchett.....boo hoo

Cate Blanchett drawn into controversy after Dylan Farrow pens allegations she was molested by Woody Allen

Daily Telegraph
February 3,2014

Cate Blanchett (c) seen here with former PM Lu Kewen aka.Kevin 07 (l) and and Hugh Jackman seen here mulling over Australia's future during the esteemed persons "2020 
Festival of bright ideas"  
Summit of the Smug Self Righteous

OSCAR nominee Cate Blanchett has been dragged into the growing storm circling Woody Allen following claims from Allen's adopted daughter Dylan that he molested her at the age of seven.

In an open letter, Dylan Farrow has called on Hollywood to address the claim and issued a

challenge to a number of the actors who have worked in Allen's films.

"What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin?" she said.

Blanchett, who stars in Allen's Blue Jasmine, last night said, "It's obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace."

Allen's lawyer has since released a statement responding to the claims of sexual abuse.

"It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities. The one to blame for Dylan's distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen", the filmmaker's attorney Elkan Abramowitz told Mother Jones.

Allen's publicist also released a statement: "Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful. He will be responding very soon ... At the time, a thorough investigation was conducted by court appointed independent experts. The experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation; that Dylan Farrow had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that Dylan Farrow had likely been coached by her mother Mia Farrow. No charges were ever filed."

Blanchett's co-star Alec Baldwin took to Twitter to blast users for asking if the actor owed Dylan an apology.

"What the f&@% is wrong w u that u think we all need to b commenting on this family's personal struggle?" he wrote to one commenter.

In response to another, he wrote: "So you know who's guilty? Who's lying? You, personally, know that?"

He also tweeted: "You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family's issue."

Also overnight, the Connecticut prosecutor who investigated Woody Allen on child molestation claims said it was too late for the film director to be prosecuted.

Former Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco said in a phone interview that the statute of limitations on adopted daughter Dylan Farrow's accusations ran out at least 15 years ago.

Maco had said in 1993 that he lacked evidence to prosecute Allen but suspected the abuse did occur. He retired in 2003.

READ DYLAN FARROW'S OPEN LETTER IN FULL

The open letter, written by Dylan Farrow and published in The New York Times, claims Allen assaulted her as a child.

"[W]hen I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house," Farrow wrote. "He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me."

"He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we'd go to Paris and I'd be a star in his movies. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it difficult to look at toy trains."

In a note at the top of the blog post, Kristof justified running Farrow's letter, as it was "the first time that Dylan Farrow herself has written about it in public".

Speculation is growing that Cate Blanchett's best actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Blue Jasmine could be jeopardised as a result of the spotlight being focused on Allen.

The film was nominated for three Oscars - best actress (Cate Blanchett), best supporting actress (Sally Hawkins) and best original screenplay (Allen).

The final round of Oscar voting will take place from February 14-25.

"Woody Allen was never convicted of any crime. That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up," Dylan Farrow wrote, adding: "That torment was made worse by Hollywood. All but a precious few (my heroes) turned a blind eye. Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, 'who can say what happened,' to pretend that nothing was wrong. Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put him in magazines."

Farrow also wrote: "Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse."

The director married Soon-Yi Previn, also an adopted daughter of Farrow, in 1997.

“If there is a yardstick to measure cultural decay, the child pornography epidemic must register.”


Blanchett responds to Woody Allen claims

Cate Blanchett backs photographer Bill Henson

Michelle Cazzulino and Neil Keene
The Daily Telegraph
May 28,2008

OSCAR-winning actress Cate Blanchett yesterday mounted an impassioned defence of Bill Henson, urging Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and NSW Premier Morris Iemma to reconsider their comments on the controversial artist's work.

The mother-of-three was among more than 40 signatories, including writer Peter Goldsworthy and economist Saul Eslake, to an open letter by the Creative Australia 2020 Summit representatives.

The missive was released just hours after a third NSW gallery removed a number of Henson's works from display.                        
                                                                Mr Bill Henson below, I am unable to post the photographs that are the subject of the Cate Blanchett open letter of support for Bill Henson,due to child pornography / Paedophilia laws.

Why I photograph children: Henson on video  

Police last week raided the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington, closing down an exhibition of the artist's works just before it was due to open.

In depth: The Arts

On Friday, officers seized 20 of Henson's images, some featuring a naked girl, said to be aged just 13.

The artworks were criticised by a number of politicians, with Mr Rudd describing them as "revolting".

But the letter signed by Blanchett said the Prime Minister, along with Mr Iemma, should "rethink their public comments".

It also warned that pursuing criminal charges against Henson could harm the children depicted in the seized images.

"The potential prosecution of one of our most respected artists . . . does untold damage to our culture reputation," the letter said.

"We suggest that the. . . criminalisation of laying charges against Mr Henson, his gallery and the parents of the young people depicted in his work would be far more traumatic for the young people concerned than anything Mr Henson has done."

A spokesman for Mr Rudd last night said the Prime Minister did not resile from his remarks. "He was asked to express a personal opinion and he did that," the spokesman said.

Mr Iemma was also unrepentant: "My opinion is clear - these photographs crossed the line and they were inappropriate. I'm all for free speech but never at the expense of a child's safety and innocence."

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione yesterday told The Daily Telegraph the force's legal division was still considering whether criminal charges should be laid against Henson or the owners of the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.

He said he found the images objectionable.

"I've got my own personal view and it's one that's not inconsistent with those police who have been out and taken those pictures into their possession," he said.

" . . . I support the police in what they've done."

In Victoria, Adrian Maiolla, the acting president of the Life Models Society, said he, too, had found Henson's images distasteful. His organisation did not allow models aged under 18 to become members and would not supply them to artists, he added.

At the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, staff yesterday removed a giant print by Henson, featuring a naked and seemingly unconscious female being carried by two other naked subjects. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, from Newcastle police, said the images were regarded as suspicious.

 TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
Open Letter of Support for Bill Henson
http://billhensonletterofsupport.blogspot.com.au/
PRESS RELEASE: MAY 27, 2008

Open Letter in support of Bill Henson
From Creative Australia 2020 Summit representatives

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

As members of the Creative Stream of the Australia 2020 Summit, we wish to express our dismay at the police raid on Bill Henson’s recent Sydney exhibition, the allegations that he is a child pornographer, and the subsequent reports that he and others may be charged with obscenity.

The potential prosecution of one of our most respected artists is no way to build a Creative Australia, and does untold damage to our cultural reputation.

The public debate prompted by the Henson exhibition is welcome and important. We need to discuss the ethics of art and the issues that it raises. That is one of the things art is for: it is valuable because it gives rise to such debate and difference, because it raises difficult, sometimes unanswerable, questions about who we are, as individuals and as members of society. However, this on-going discussion, which is crucial to the healthy functioning of our democracy, cannot take place in a court of law.

We invite the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, and the NSW Premier, Mr Iemma, to rethink their public comments about Mr Henson’s work. We understand that they were made in the context of deep community concern about the sexual exploitation of children. We understand and respect also that they have every right to their personal opinions. However, as political leaders they are influential in forming public opinion, and we believe their words should be well considered.

We also call on the Minister for Environment Heritage and the Arts, Mr Garrett, to stand up for artists against a trend of encroaching censorship which has recently resulted in the closure of this and other exhibitions.

We wish to make absolutely clear that none of us endorses, in any way, the abuse of children.

Mr Henson’s work has nothing to do with child pornography and, according to the judgment of some of the most respected curators and critics in the world, it is certainly art. We ask for the following points to be fairly considered:

1. Mr Henson is a highly distinguished artist. His work is held in all major Australian collections including the Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of SA, Art Gallery of WA, National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia.

Among international collections, his work is held in the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Denver Art Museum; the Houston Museum of Fine Art; 21C Museum, Louisville; the Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; the DG Bank Collection in Frankfurt and the Sammlung Volpinum and the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna.

Major retrospectives of Mr Henson’s work at the Art Galleries of NSW and Victoria attracted more than 115,000 people, and produced not one complaint of obscenity. His work has also been studied widely in schools for many years.

2. Mr Henson has been photographing young models for more than 15 years. Until now, there has been no suggestion by any of his subjects or their families of any abusive practices. On the contrary, his models have strongly defended his practice and the feeling of safety generated in his process, and have expressed pride in his work.

We suggest that the media sensationalism and the criminalisation of laying charges against Mr Henson, his gallery and the parents of the young people depicted in his work, would be far more traumatic for the young people concerned than anything Mr Henson has done.

3. The work itself is not pornographic, even though it includes depictions of naked human beings. It is more justly seen in a tradition of the nude in art that stretches back to the ancient Greeks, and which includes painters such as Caravaggio and Michelangelo. Many of Henson’s controversial images are not in fact sexual at all. Others depict the sexuality of young people, but in ways that are fundamentally different from how naked bodies are depicted in pornography. The intention of the art is not to titillate or to gratify perverse sexual desires, but rather to make the viewer consider the fragility, beauty, mystery and inviolabilty of the human body.

In contrast, the defining essence of pornography is that it endorses, condones or encourages abusive sexual practice. We respectfully suggest that Henson’s work, even when it is disturbing, does nothing of the sort. I would personally argue that, in its respect for the autonomy of its subjects, the work is a counter-argument to the exploitation and commodification of young people in both commercial media and in pornographic images.

Many of us have children of our own. The sexual abuse and exploitation of children fills us all with abhorrence. But it is equally damaging to deny the obvious fact that adolescents are sexual beings. This very denial contributes to abusive behaviour, because it is part of the denial of the personhood of the young. In my opinion, Mr Henson’s work shows the delicacy of the transition from childhood to adulthood, its troubledness and its beauty, in ways which do not violate the essential innocence of his subjects. It can be confronting, but that does not mean that it is pornography.

Legal opinion is that if charges were laid against Mr Henson, he would be unlikely to be found guilty. The seizure of the photographs, and the possible prosecution of Mr Henson, the Rosyln Oxley9 Gallery or the parents of Henson’s subjects, takes up valuable police and court time that would be much better spent pursuing those who actually do abuse children.

4. Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the trial-by-media to which Mr Henson and his work has been subject over the past few days, is how his art has been diminished and corrupted. The allegations that he is making child pornography have done more to promote his work to possible paedophiles than any art gallery, where the work is seen in its proper, contemplative context. It is notable that the attacks on Mr Henson’s work have, almost without exception, come from those who are unfamiliar with the photographs, or who have seen them in mutilated or reduced images on the internet.

If an example is made of Bill Henson, one of Australia’s most prominent artists, it is hard to believe that those who have sought to bring these charges will stop with him. Rather, this action will encourage a repressive climate of hysterical condemnation, backed by the threat of prosecution.

We are already seeing troubling signs in the pre-emptive self-censorship of some galleries. This is not the hallmark of an open democracy nor of a decent and civilised society. We should remember that an important index of social freedom, in earlier times or in repressive regimes elsewhere in the world, is how artists and art are treated by the state.

We urge our political leaders to follow the example of Neville Wran, when in 1982 a similar outcry greeted paintings by Juan Davila. At that time, Mr Wran said: “I do not believe that art has anything to do with the vice squad”. With Mr Wran, we believe the proper place for debate is outside the courts of law.

Alison Croggon
Writer


Signatories:

Louise Adler, CEO & Publisher-in-Chief, Melbourne University Publishing
Geoffery Atherden, Writer
Neil Armfield, Artistic director, Belvoir St Theatre
Stephen Armstrong, Executive Producer, Malthouse Theatre
James Baker, Tax advisor and accountant
Geraldine Barlow, Curator
Larissa Behrendt, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney
Cate Blanchett, Actor
Daryl Buckley, Musician
Leticia Cacares, Theatre Director
Karen Casey, Visual Artist
Kate Champion, Choreographer, Artistic Director Force Majeure
Rachel Dixon, New media developer
Phoebe Dunn, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Commercial Galleries Association
Jo Dyer, Executive Producer, Sydney Theatre Company
Kristy Edmunds, Artistic Director, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts
Saul Eslake, Economist
Richard Gill, Artistic Director, Victorian Opera
Peter Goldsworthy, Writer
Marieke Hardy, Writer and broadcaster
Sam Haren, Artistic Director, The Border Project
Frank Howarth
Cathy Hunt, Creative consultant
Nicholas Jose, Writer
Andrew Kay, Producer
Ana Kokkinos, Film maker
Sandra Levy
Matthew Lutton, Theatre director
Nick Marchand, Artistic Director, Griffin Theatre
Sue Maslin, Producer, Film Art Doco Pty Ltd
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art
Callum Morton, Visual Artist
Rosemary Myers, Artistic Director, Windmill Performing Arts
Rachel Healy, Director Performing Arts, Sydney Opera House
Liza Lim, Composer
Jan Minchin, Director, Tolarno Galleries
Helen O’Neil, Executive producer
Charles Parkinson, Artistic Director, Tasmanian Theatre Company
David Pledger, Theatre director
Marion Potts, Theatre Director
Katrina Sedgwick, Festival Director, Adelaide Film Festival
David Throsby, Academic
Mary Vallentine, Arts manager

Additional signatories:

The following support the appeal contained in this letter without necessarily endorsing the detailed argument:

John Coetzee, Novelist
Anna Haebich, Writer
Ramona Koval, Writer and broadcaster
Julianne Schultz, Writer
Marcus Westbury, writer and broadcaster

Monday June 2: Those who would also like to sign this letter are invited to do so below. Please put your name, and location (but NOT your full private address) and position, if applicable. All comments on this page are moderated.