Australian Royal Commission hears that 1,006 alleged child sex abusers were covered up by Watchtower

Angus Stewart, Senior Council, at the public hearing into allegations of child sexual abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses
Angus Stewart, Senior Council, at the public hearing into allegations of child sexual abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses

Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard shocking evidence that 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sex abuse were identified by the organization in Australia going back to 1950, but none were reported to the authorities.

The Commission was launched in 2013 with a broad remit to investigate serial child abuse in institutions, including religious organizations such as the Witnesses and the Catholic Church.

At the opening hearing held today, Angus Stewart, the senior council assisting the commission, described the church as an “insular sect with rules designed to stem the reporting of sexual abuse.”

According to Stewart’s written opening submission, the figure of 1,006 perpetrators was derived directly from Watchtower documents summoned (subpoened) by the Commission…

During the investigation of this case study, Watchtower Australia produced some 5,000 documents pursuant to summonses issued by the Royal Commission on 4 and 28 February 2015. Those documents include 1,006 case files relating to allegations of child sexual abuse made against members of the Jehovah’s Witness Church in Australia since 1950 – each file for a different alleged perpetrator of child sexual abuse.

Stewart’s submission goes on to explain the astonishing findings from analyzing these case files…

Evidence will be put before the Royal Commission that of the 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse identified by the Jehovah’s Witness Church since 1950, not one was reported by the Church to secular authorities. This suggests that it is the practice of the Jehovah’s Witness Church to retain information regarding child sexual abuse offences but not to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the police or other relevant authorities.

As part of the hearing two Witnesses, identified as BCB and BCG, are expected to give testimony that elders discouraged them from reporting their abuse. One of these victims is apparently “riddled with guilt for betraying the Jehovah’s Witness Church.”

The hearings are being streamed live to Australians, and doubtless will cause further humiliation for an organization already under siege for negligence regarding child molestation.

Governing Body member Stephen Lett recently insisted that claims of child abuse mishandling are nothing more than “apostate-driven lies and dishonesties,” but added to courtroom defeats in the United States and Britain, this latest news coming out of Australia suggests otherwise.

1,006 unreported alleged perpetrators since 1950 is an appalling statistic, and if used to extrapolate historic figures around the world, the number of concealed pedophiles could easily number into the tens of thousands.

It will be interesting to see what conclusions are drawn by the Commission, and how this will impact the fate of the organization, not just in Australia, but further afield. Certainly Tony Morris’ recent claim that the Governing Body are “proud” of their reputation concerning child abuse is becoming increasingly preposterous.

One child who suffers unnecessarily due to Watchtower’s negligence on the issue would be a child too many, and yet according to this public hearing, in just one country of many, the pain and trauma of sex abuse has been ignored and covered-up on an unimaginable scale.

 

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176 thoughts on “Australian Royal Commission hears that 1,006 alleged child sex abusers were covered up by Watchtower

  • January 6, 2016 at 7:15 am
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    Kingdom Ministry August 2002 “Display Christian Loyalty When a Relative is Disfellowshipped”.

    ….”The situation is different if the disfellowshipped or disassociated one is a relative living outside the immediate family circle and home,” states The Watchtower of April 15, 1988, pg28. “It might be possible to have almost no contact at all with the relative. Even if there were some family matters requiring contact, this would certainly be kept to a minimum, “in harmony with the divine injunction to quit mixing in company with anyone” who is guilty of sinning unrepentantly. (1 Cor. 5:11) Loyal Christians should strive to avoid needless association with such a relative, even keeping business dealings to an absolute minimum. – See also The Watchtower of September 15, 1981, pages 29 – 30.

  • January 6, 2016 at 7:59 am
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    On your second question NO, a person is not shunned for exercising freedom of worship, but for showing utter disregard for Godly standards.

    Incidentally, you don’t believe in God and standards, hmm

    • January 6, 2016 at 9:40 am
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      “You have total freedom of worship as long as you worship exactly the way we tell you.” is basically what your argument boils down to. Correct?

  • January 6, 2016 at 8:10 am
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    I am unable to address all your questions due to some technical issues. Go through ALL my comments and read them in between the lines you will find answers to your queries.

    In all, can you really run away from religion? NO. for even right now you BELONG to a religion I call ANTI – JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES. now if you search yourself you will still find that inner sense of emptiness, the need for spiritual things, which you are trying to ignore and fight. The scope of your religion is to find fault and encourage yourself on staying away from organized religion. But my brother, THE MOST TRUTHFUL RELIGIOUS STATENENT IS “HAPPY ARE THOSE CONCIOUS OF THEIR SPIRITUAL NEED. neglect this fundamental truth and search yourself to find out if it is true.

    • January 6, 2016 at 9:47 am
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      You say:
      “I am unable to address all your questions due to some technical issues. ”

      That is the most absurd excuse for not being able to answer a question I’ve ever heard.

      How are these technical issues preventing you from typing words that answer the question:
      “If a father murders his child, and the family do not want to do anything about it, should the elders report the horrific crime of murder? If so, why should they not report the horrific crime of child abuse?”

      But allow you to type the words: “I am unable to address all your questions due to some technical issues. ”

      I assure you, I’ve read between the lines of what you’ve said and you’ve not even come closer to answering that one. Let’s try again.

      “If a father murders his child, and the family do not want to do anything about it, should the elders report the horrific crime of murder? If so, why should they not report the horrific crime of child abuse?”

      And don’t say “because the family might be upset.” You’re supposed to have standards of right and wrong so powerful that you’d die rather than compromise them. How is it you’ll supposedly die to avoid having a blood transfusion, but elders won’t risk themselves to save a child from being raped?

  • January 6, 2016 at 8:11 am
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    I am unable to address all your questions due to some technical issues. Go through ALL my comments and read them in between the lines you will find answers to your queries.

    In all, can you really run away from religion? NO. for even right now you BELONG to a religion I call ANTI – JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES. now if you search yourself you will still find that inner sense of emptiness, the need for spiritual things, which you are trying to ignore and fight. The scope of your religion is to find fault and encourage yourself on staying away from organized religion. But my brother, THE MOST TRUTHFUL RELIGIOUS STATENENT IS “HAPPY ARE THOSE CONCIOUS OF THEIR SPIRITUAL NEED. neglect this fundamental truth and search yourself to find out if it is true. OK

    • January 6, 2016 at 9:31 am
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      You aren’t able to respond because you are wrong and unable to admit it. You have been given proof of the policy regarding dissasociation-disfellowshipped people and you have chosen to disregard it. That is to be expected though. You are blind to the dangers of the published rules given by the Borginization.

    • January 6, 2016 at 10:02 am
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      You say:

      “In all, can you really run away from religion? NO. for even right now you BELONG to a religion I call ANTI – JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES”

      You see? You don’t actually have much respect for religious freedom at all. Respecting religious freedom means allowing people to choose any religion or none.
      Now, I’m QUITE HAPPY for you to be a Jehovah’s Witness. Seriously. If it makes you happy, go for it. Enjoy it.

      What I object to is the way that you have tried to deny the facts we both know to be true about aspects of your religion that have been proven to cause terrible harm.

      You tried to deny the facts over JW shunning. You appear now to have accepted what you and everyone else on this website knew all along – yes, if you leave for ANY reason, the rulebook demands you get shunned, and if this doesn’t happen it’s because you got lucky, not because the rules changed. Did you know this all along, or did it take us actually showing you your own publications for you to realise?

      You tried to deny the facts over child abuse. You now now seem to have accepted much of what you denied. Yes, there are a LOT of JW child abusers, whom Watchtower has not and WILL not report to the police as a matter of policy. Yes the two witness rule DOES demand two actually witnesses before action will be taken as Geoffrey Jackson confirmed in his written submission to the Royal Commission.

      If you DON’T accept that, present the evidence to me as to why, keeping in mind that this evidence needs to refuse the evidence we have already shown you from your own publications and from an independent legal enquiry.

      By the way, have you googled “Jehovahs’ Witnesses Child Abuse” yet?

      You say
      “now if you search yourself you will still find that inner sense of emptiness, the need for spiritual things, which you are trying to ignore and fight. The scope of your religion is to find fault and encourage yourself on staying away from organized religion. But my brother, THE MOST TRUTHFUL RELIGIOUS STATENENT IS “HAPPY ARE THOSE CONCIOUS OF THEIR SPIRITUAL NEED. neglect this fundamental truth and search yourself to find out if it is true. OK”

      Here is the thing: I’m far happier now as an atheist than I ever was as a Jehovah’s Witness. I know you won’t accept that, but I really am. Life without religion is amazing.

      But you know what?

      Even if I was miserable without religion, it wouldn’t change the fact that everything The Royal Commission have uncovered about Watchtower’s mishandling of child abuse is true. Accusing me of being unhappy without religion doesn’t solve the problem of raped children not being reported to the police.

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