I know this story to be absolutely true: A child grows up in a typically dysfuntional home with 5 other siblings. One of the brothers, known throughout the land for his mean temper and addiction to alcohol, confides - no brags - to this child, a girl, that he has committed a murder. The child, being 8 or 9 at the time, doesn't understand the concept. Over the years it becomes emmeshed in her subconscious, and although she has momentary flashes of its validity, she thinks she must be nuts- making it up for some weird purpose.
Thirty years go by. Because she walked away from the congregation, she looses track of this brother.Then she starts to attend meetings. And the memories return. Finally, she goes to a family member, a much older brother, who, before she can ask, volunteers the information: the other brother did indeed murder someone.
Has he turned himself in, she asks the family? Doesn't he have to be punished for his crime? And shouldn't someone tell the victim's family it was this man who took their son's life?
No, they tell her. Not only does he not have to tell the Police because the elders told him as long as he was now a JW it was "OK" but they threaten her with shunning-and he threatens her with violence if she tells. But there is another who knows: the husband of this sister who is not a JW- for he is there for these confessions.
Should a woman with a child's memories of a confession come forward to the police?
Legally, yes.
What would you do?
Legaleagle