Former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin has defended his pardoning of a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl, claiming there was “zero” physical evidence.
Mr Bevin, a member of the Republican Party, said during an interview with a radio programme the girl “made it up” because her hymen was intact.
Radio host Terry Meiners asked Mr Bevin how he could pardon Micah Schoettle, who was convicted of rape and sodomy in 2018, reported the Louisville Courier Journal .
After revealing the victim’s sister was present during the alleged attack but denied it took place, Mr Bevin said: “Both their hymens were intact. This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me.
“If you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically.”
The hymen is a membrane formed at the opening of the vagina and is usually never completely intact – it often presents as a membrane with small openings or rupture sites that partially cover the vagina.
Studies have found only 2.1 per cent of victims examined in child rape cases had visible injuries on their hymen.
“Alterations of the hymenal appearance are non-specific and… no medical or legal conclusion may be inferred by hymen examination alone,” said a joint report by Kings College Hospital.
David, 13, arrived in Uganda in July 2016 fleeing the civil war that broke out in South Sudan. He arrived with his mother and father and his eight brothers and sisters after two days of walking. He recalls seeing many dead bodies lining the sides of the tracks that led to Uganda’s northern border. The family were fearful of abduction by rebel groups or becoming caught in crossfire between the government and militia groups. David enjoyed school immensely in South Sudan but said his school had closed due to conflict. He attends Alaba School at Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement. David dreams of a better life for his family.
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Sarah, 14, arrived to Kigeme refugee camp from DRC in 2012. Her parents, now unemployed in Rwanda, worked as rag traders. They made the decision to flee the fighting for the safety and relative calm of Rwanda. They were made to feel very welcome by the host community. Sarah is enrolled in class, three years behind where she should be, due to conflict, and she really enjoys her schooling. GS Gasaka school, run by Education Above All Foundation and UNHCR, is providing her the environment to allow her to dream one day of becoming an accountant so she can help her family live a better life.
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Nakato 19, was born and raised in Yumbe, Uganda. A graduate from Aruma High School, she has aspirations of becoming a journalist. She is actively involved in a movement called “Raise up and Talk” to help empower the younger generation to share their experiences and stories as a form of therapy, to help process the trauma from a life in conflict. Uganda’s open-arms policy has allowed 800,000 refugees from South Sudan to make the journey across the border into northern Uganda. Many youth her age have witnessed unspeakable brutalities on friends and family. “The stories of refugees here in Uganda are so important to learn from,” she said. She also explained how the community frowns upon equality in education holding woman back from progressing in life. “I am asking for change in attitudes, I want human rights for all, that means men and women.”
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Forestal, nine, is in second grade at Marescot School, Haiti. The school is funded through the partnership between non-profit buildOn Haiti, and Educate A Child (EAC), who have constructed 58 schools, as well as training 959 teachers. Forestal explains how she was given up by her father after the death of her mother. She now lives with her auntie as a “restavek” (child in domestic servitude) where she performs chores around the house for at least two hours a day; including laundry, sweeping and mopping floors. She can only recall seeing her father once in her entire life. “It was only for one day, but it was really great, we had so much fun,” she says. Forestal hopes that she can see him again – but he lives and works in Port Au Prince, more than three hours away by car.
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Furaha, six, attends Buremba Primary School. She is a member of the Batwa “Pygmy” tribe, forced out of their native home in the Bwindi Forest to make way for a national park protected as a Unesco World Heritage Site. She lives in Kitahurira settlement camp, about 2.5km and a three-hour walk from her school. The construction of schools and training of teachers in remote areas of challenging geography ensures those hardest to reach have a right to education. Building Tomorrow Uganda through its partnership with Education Above All Foundation has enrolled 53,373 out-of-school children back into quality primary education in Uganda.
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Niyosenga,12, arrived from Kiyiri, DRC, in 2016. Her mother was killed in the fierce fighting which swept through towns and villages. She made the journey with her father and grandmother to the relative safe haven of Uganda to join the 1.2 million refugees. Niyosenga remained out of education in DRC until the age of nine as the long walk to school was too dangerous with roads closed by police or rebel militia.To help pay for Niyosenga’s school fees her father grows maize while her grandmother, 72, weaves baskets.
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Jasme, 10, is enrolled at a buildOn school in Perigny. Her two brothers and three sisters all attend the same school. Unlike the reported 300,000 restavek children that live away from their biological parents, Jasme lives with her family.
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Esperence, 10, goes to Perigny school. Seated on a bench at the end of a long dark corridor, overcome with emotion, he explains how he was given up by his biological parents at the age of eight. He now lives with his auntie and is a restavek child. The term restavek comes from the French rester avec, to stay with. Discussing the work around the house he has to complete as part of his daily chores, he explains: “I can never go out and play with my friends as my house family always call me back inside to do more jobs.”
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Yean, six, lives in Phnom Penh. Yean’s mother, a widow, feels helpless as she simply cannot earn enough to support her family. Today, Yean lives with her 80-year-old grandmother Khzm Men in Sensok 5, a settlement in the village of Kohmouta on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The settlement was relocated from one of the capital’s inner city slums areas. Yean attends public school on the periphery of the settlement but due to the informal school fees system in Cambodia, she is forced to consider dropping out due to lack of funds. Yean is desperate to continue her education to fulfil her dreams of becoming a nurse, but without assistance her dreams seem out of reach.
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Charles, 16, lived with his mother and father in DRC. The Marekera family were forced to leave because their son was persecuted for being an albino. His father was repeatedly beaten after refusing to sell Charles to witchdoctors, who believe teeth, fingers and eyes brought good luck to those who bought their body parts. The transition for Charles arriving in Uganda from DRC has left him with large gaps in his education. Leaving as a senior in secondary school, he now finds himself back in primary school – and facing a similar stigma as an albino in Uganda. His long walks to school are interrupted by strangers attempting to lure him away to profit from the sale of his body parts. Charles explained: “I will never feel safe, however my safety now is less important to me than getting an education. I am determined to get my diploma and have a job where I can help protect the rights of other albinos.”
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Athar, 21, a beneficiary of Al Fakhoora, a programme of the Education Above All Foundation, was the youngest member to join the writers’ association, aged 14. She stressed the importance of explaining what is happening to the Palestinian people. Five years ago the conflict changed her life forever. She said: “The house was full of our relatives, suddenly everything went dark. I tried to get out of the house, I felt a pain in my leg and there was so much blood. I lost consciousness and woke in the ambulance. Hospitals ran out of anaesthetic so doctors stitched injuries I sustained without it, it was incredibly painful. I heard the news that my father was killed. Losing him was incredibly difficult for me as we were so close.” As a child, Athar had dreamt of becoming a writer or a poet. She said: “My father was my inspiration, encouraging me to write, since his death I have struggled to write anything. For me education is like food or fuel, an energy that gives me power to keep going.”
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Moza was born and raised east of the Tigris river that divides the city of Mosul. Her parents and five siblings have lived in a two-room concrete dwelling for 10 years. Farhan, Moza’s father, works as a labourer carrying blocks on construction sites across the city. He is in need of a hernia operation, which will cost £200, and finds work extremely difficult. He can’t afford six months off work to recover. The family income is only £62 per month, which barely covers bills. They are forced to take credit from shops to be able to eat. Moza is due to enrol back into schooling. However, at present, she cares for her mother who suffers respiratory problems due to a lodged bullet in her lung after being caught in crossfire during the conflict. She doesn’t know what to expect as she has never set foot in a classroom. Two years beyond the normal enrolment age of six, she still has great dreams of working with NGOs to help residents displaced from the city.
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Jonas, 12, was born in a village situated on the shores of Lake Victoria. He now lives with his father, a fisherman, and his step-mother a farmer. Jonas enrolled into an Educate A Child (EAC) and Graca Machel Trust (GMT) partnership in 2017. GMT conducted a survey reaching out to the community to help identify out-of-school children in the region. The survey identified more than 20,000. Jonas was one of those and set foot into a classroom for the first time at the age of 10. The mandatory age for school enrolment is seven, however his family’s lack of available funds meant he could not enrol into school. Also childhood illnesses, easily treated by relatively inexpensive medicines, meant he spent a huge part of his childhood unwell as his father could not afford treatment. When asked what it was like to take his first steps into a classroom, he replied: “It was incredibly exciting, and now it is even more exciting as there is a good chance I will go to secondary school.”
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Ali, nine, a Syrian refugee family from Deir ez-Zur district in eastern Syria arrived in Lebanon in 2011. They fled their home with several neighbours by bus toward a safer haven in Lebanon at the outbreak of civil war, which tore through their country. Heavy shelling bombarded their bus and the remainder of their journey had to be made on foot. Nine-year old Ali Ahmed’s father, an agricultural labourer explained that life in Lebanon was hard as they struggle to pay basic bills such as food and rent. As with most Syrian refugees, they are in debt to their landlords and to local shops owners. The collective family income is barely enough to cover any of their bills. Ali, one of the family’s 10 children, attends school 10km from home and dreams, one day, to be able to return home with his family to Syria.
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Chacha, 12, was born and raised in a small village in northwestern Tanzania, where he lives with his mother and two siblings. He has never set foot in a classroom and is one of a reported 1.89 million out-of-school children in the country today. Chacha works seven days per week scavenging gold mining sites, digging up rocks containing gold-residue. To avoid being captured or shot by mining and government police for trespass, he works under the cover of darkness, 6pm to 6am. The rocks he finds, he sells to middle men, for approximately £1.50 per shift, who crush them to extract the gold. He explained: “I have no choice, I know the work is dangerous but I feel I have to help provide for my family. It makes me sad not being able to go to school.” The money Chacha earns he uses to purchase clothes for himself and his siblings, the remainder he gives to his mother to contribute to food costs. When he returns home from his 12-hour shift, he tends to the family cattle.
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Owen, 16, has been enrolled in Buremba Primary School since 2007 and is one of eight siblings. Now in older years at school, he must pay more money. His parents are peasant farmers and work the land digging and picking tea, this means they must work most days to be able to keep up the payments. Buremba School is one of 60 new schools constructed under the Building Tomorrow and Educate A Child programme in Uganda.
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Afat, 12, left his home in Deir ez-Zor, Syria six years ago, forced out by the civil war which displaced millions of people, in his case to the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. He is one of the thousands of Syrian refugee children sat in doorways of Lebanon’s many tents, shelters and makeshift homes dreaming of an education. Instead, he works 11 hours a day collecting scrap metal which he sells for around £2.50. He knows he has a right to education, but he is concerned to help provide for his family. He dreams of one day being able to return home to Syria with his family, to a better life.
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Mamoke, 10, has never been to school. Abandoned by her biological parents along with her eight siblings, she now lives with her grandmother in the village of Kuriyah. She grazes cattle six hours a day for her grandmother in return for her keep. She was registered for school but never enrolled. Her grandmother and guardian is unable to afford the voluntary parental contribution fees. Mamoke describes her household as poor, her grandmother unable to provide more than one meal per day for her. Mamoke added: “There are many days where we do not eat at all.” She dreams of becoming a teacher, if she was able to go to school, so she can help others in her current situation.
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Ikiriza, 5, Kamwenge District, Uganda. Ikiriza who is five years old lives in a small house with his nine brothers and sisters. His parents can’t afford school tuition fees for all the children, leaving Ikiriza with little choice but to fund his own education by working weekends carrying plastic jerry cans of water from the lake for various households of the neighbourhood in Kamwenge district. For this, he earns the equivalent of 5 US cents a day, which helps contribute towards his school fees at Bisozi Primary. He dreams of one day becoming a doctor so that he can help his father who suffers from ill health.
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Rami, six, lives at Beach Camp, on the sea front amongst the heart of the fishing community al-Shati in the northern Gaza Strip. Rami walks amongst the rubble of shelled buildings, a reminder of past and present conflicts. Restriction to employment and travel have meant many Palestinians are confined in Gaza. Some bright lights still shine as Rami attends grade P1 in school and dreams of becoming a footballer one day.
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Abdul 10, with his gaze to the floor, wrapped in blankets, huddles by the family stove. His father, Muhammad, emerges from the black of the adjoining room clutching an armful of medical documents written in French, a language he cannot read. His son is two years overdue a heart operation that would save his life. Abdul quietly cries in the corner, the tears journeying down his cheeks past his visibly blue lips, the cyanosis a sign that his heart is failing. He understands the dismal prognosis. His family, like many Syrian refugees, rely solely on UN handouts of under a dollar a day to survive. His father, an unemployed labourer, is in no position to contribute his share of the $50,000 procedure to save his son's life, instead forced to borrow money for food expenses and rent. He is not alone. Almost nine out of every ten refugees say they are in debt to shopkeepers and landlords, further highlighting the vulnerabilities of most Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
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Srey, three, lives in a small dark room with her parents, siblings and relatives. A total of eight people live in a cramped, damp space in a makeshift barn of corrugated metal on the edge of the railroad tracks in the urban slums. The CYMCA Facility drop-in centre, funded in partnership between EAA and Aide et Action, provides emergency education to around 80 children in the area.
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Joender, six, from Maracaibo in Venezuela arrived in Ipiales, Colombia, after a 33-day journey mainly on foot. He is one of 3.5 million Venezuelan refugees that have left their homes following a catastrophic economic meltdown of his country leaving its citizens starving with no access to food, employment, medical services or education. He holds a packet of crackers, a kind donation from one of the many generous Colombians offering support to the Venezuelan people.
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Kennedy, 13, displaced to Uganda. He is another statistic of the 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees that fled the outbreak of civil war. Uganda alone shouldering 800,000 refugees. Kennedy was denied a normal childhood and instead became a witness to violence, torture and death in war. Not surprisingly, Kennedy’s family were unwilling to send him to school with threat of armed attack, abduction or recruitment by militias. On arrival in Uganda, Kennedy was still held back from attending school and fulfilling his dream of becoming a doctor. His parents were simply unable to afford the cost of a pair of shoes required for enrolment.
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“The canvas Billingham bags which carry the tools of my trade. They have sat beside me in the dust of countries around the world listening with me to every word of every story. I feel torn staring at them, joy at returning to my loved ones and the heartache of those I had to leave behind. Now they sit on the polished floor of my room, zipped up and lined up. I need them closer, to feel their weight on my shoulders again, I need to be away.….” Extending special thanks to Pentax Cameras & Billingham Bags for their continued support of my work in the humanitarian field.
Paddy Dowling
Bevin’s claim was also dismissed by Dr George Nichols, the former chief medical examiner in Kentucky and founder of the child abuse evaluation system at a children’s hospital.
Mr Nichols told the Courier Journal Mr Bevin is not only ignorant of the law, but “clearly doesn’t medicine and anatomy” either.
He added: “I worked for six consecutive governors as chief medical examiner and fortunately I didn’t have to report to that a**hole.”
Mr Bevin has pardoned at least one other child rapist, Paul Donel Hurt, who was convicted of sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl.
During his single term as Kentucky’s governer, he issued 428 pardons, including convicted murderers and sex offenders, and said he wouldn’t reconsider any of them.
“In America, I’m all for innocent people not being incarcerated,” he said.
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