Australia: Ex-JW charged with alleged historic child abuse offences

by darkspilver 3 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  darkspilver

  FYI

  WA Today com au, 12 May 2017
  

  Former WA Jehovah Witness charged with alleged historic child abuse offences
  

  A former member of the Jehovah Witness congregation will appear in court next week after he was charged with sexually assaulting four boys.

  The charges stem from ongoing investigations linked to the Royal Commission into institutional child sexual offences.

  Police allege between 1993 to 2013, the 44-year-old man sexually assaulted four boys aged between 14 and 16 at the time of the offences.

  READ MORE: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/former-wa-jehovah-witness-charged-with-alleged-historic-child-abuse-offences-20170512-gw37yd.html
  
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  smiddy

  A few queastions I would like to ask.

  Were these allegations of child sexual abuse brought before the congregation at the time or after the alleged offences occured ? And before the Australian Royal Commission was conducted ?

  If so ,did the judicial committee look into these allegations and come to a decision on the investigation ?

  If the congregation was aware of these allegations at any time , did they notify either the police or child Protection Authorities of these allegations ?

  And last but not least : If their was a JC into these allegations and the at least three Elders concerned did not notify the appropiate authorities about these abuses ,why arent they being charged with some offence failing to protect children under their care.,withholding a criminal offence against a minor,obstructing justice or something .

  Jehovahs Witnesses have a history of failing sexually abused children in their congregations all around the world and all Governments seem to sidestep the problem and dont tackle the cause of the problem,the policys that govern child sexual abuse among Jehovahs Witnesses and the way they deal with such allegations .
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  kramer

  @smiddy,

  Which Australian laws about clergy or citizens being mandated to report allegations of crime were you thinking of?
• 

  smiddy

  Kramer

  I wasnt thinking of any specific Australian Law about clergy or Citizens being mandated to report allegations of any crime .

  Where did I say that ?

  What I was inferring to is that according to the ARC the Elders at this enquiry had an" obligation" both morally and legally to report these 1006 cases of alleged child sexual abuse that the judicial committees oversaw in those previous decades

  Not only did they fail the victims in the congregation they also failed every other child in that congregation where the abuse occured.by not warning the families of the potential danger to their children.

  And the other thing that was brought out in the ARC was the fact that these Elders had no regard for the children in the general community where the Kingdom Hall was situated , non Jehovahs Witness children ,apparently they had no regard for whether these children would be subjected to sexual abuse because they are not jehovahs witnesses and and not our responsability.

  So the general community around a Kingdom Hall where sexual abuse occured was not informed of the potential danger to their children by any of the Elders.

  The Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses have not only failed their own children in their care they have also failed the children in the wider community and their familys.