It must have been a terrible shock for 75 year old Paul Wilson, after living his whole life as a respected criminologist, to be found guilty of child abuse this week.
And it has since been discovered that he has a history of defending paedophiles and promoting 'man-boy love.'
In 1981, Wilson published a book called The Man They Called A Monster based on the life of Clarence Howard-Osborne, a government official. In the book he defends his child abuse and called it a mere 'hobby' and that paedophiles go to great lengths to look after the child they sexually abuse.
He also argued that the age of consent should be abolished. So you have to wonder then why Howard-Osborne committed suicide when he discovered that police were about to arrest him.
There was nothing wrong with having sex with children, Wilson believes, provided no 'violence, fraud, or pressure' was used. Paedophiles were portrayed as 'folk devils created by a vengeful society and a sensational press.'
In a section dealing with the 'rights of children', he added 'It is only logical that children should have the right to conduct their sexual lives with no more restrictions than adults do.'
Fast forward twenty years and Wilson's words came back to bite him. He was found guilty of sexually abusing a girl under the age of 12 at his home in Brisbane between 1973 and 1976.
Prosecutor Phil McCarthy previously told the jury that Wilson had a persistent sexual interest in his victim and the abuse didn't stop until her family moved away.
He was convicted of four counts of indecent treatment of a child on Wednesday after an eight-day trial. The jury of 6 men and 6 women reached a unanimous verdict after two hours deliberation.
Wilson was sentenced to 18 months jail, to be suspended after six months.
Credit must be given to the woman who was brave enough to bring this powerful, well respected man to justice after all this time. It just goes to prove that no matter how long ago the abuse took place, justice can still prevail.
No comments:
Post a Comment