Jehovah's Witness Jailed for Child Abuse in UK
October 19, 2010 10:39 AM EDT (Updated: October 19, 2010 11:01 AM EDT)
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A 45-year-old UK man has been sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh for sexually abusing a boy.
Thomas Gold has admitted to committing the abuse between November 1996 and November 2003.
The child was 7 years old at the time the abuse started, abuse which continued until he alerted his congregation leaders as a teenager.
Gold, who was unemployed, would take the child out in the door to door preaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Instead of alerting authorities of the abuse the leaders of the church informed Gold that his wrong behavior must stop or they would expel him from the congregation.
Interestingly enough, the "wrong behavior" according to church leaders, wasn't that he was molesting a child, but instead his homosexual acts were the issue since the child is a male.
An article at the BBC states the leaders did attempt to persuade Gold to go to the police.
Lord Bannatyne, the judge for the case, spoke of how Gold's criminal conduct placed a "considerable impact" on the victim, and added how the background report on Gold shows he "systematically groomed" the child so he could sexually abuse him.
Gold has been placed on a sex offender’s register where he will remain for the rest of his life. He has been sentenced to serve six years and eight months in prison followed by a 40-month supervision.
This abuse leaves emotional scars which often do not heal, and it is sad to know how so many children are victimized. What is even more disheartening is when we hear about such cases where a trusted member of the community or church member has preyed upon our young people.
This is not the first time the Jehovah's Witnesses, or other religions, have come up in a negative light in regards to sexual abuse. Many feel the Jehovah’s Witness religion tries to cover up such allegations since they are not always reported.
Although the church leaders did urge this man to go to the police with his crimes, why not alert the authorities themselves to protect the boy?
Should the congregation be responsible to report such allegations, or is it up to the family to make such reports?