Three women who say they were abused as children in the Jehovah's Witnesses tell their awful stories

[Patiently waiting for Truth]

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jehovahs-witness-child-abuse-sex-18717755

"My mother... she's sacrificing me to gain eternal life"

I've put just a few of the paragraphs here, but read the whole thing please if you have time.  

PLUS it seems the IICSA MEETING is TODAY 10TH AUGUST 2020

 

A boy forced himself on me when I was younger," she says, almost apologetically. "I told my mother and she said I needed to tell the elders. So I went to them and explained what had happened. I was 16 and I was reproved even though it wasn't my fault.

"The questions about what I was wearing and whether I enjoyed it were so violating and so degrading. My mother said if I'd been more immersed in the Jehovah's Witnesses then it would never had happened."

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"It was that murky line between putting your foot down and saying no you can't see your grandchildren and trying to maintain some sort of contact," said Sian. But when her children came home with tales that nan was saying their mum was going to die, she put her foot down.

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Sian's story is one of hundreds that have come to light in recent years, prompting concerns of prevalent sex abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses. Stories of abuse within religious groups are not limited to the Jehovah's Witnesses however, an issue which has led to The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) being formed.

Chaired by Professor Alexis Jay OBE, the inquiry was set up because of serious concerns that some organisations had failed and were continuing to fail to protect children. Also attended by the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church, the opening statements in the inquiry were read out on March 16 right before Covid-19 struck.

Representatives of other religions apologised for shortfalls within their organisations. Shane Brady, counsel for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, did not. He stuck closely to his well-prepared outline, failing to express any collective regret. Not even at that moment did he acknowledge that child sexual abuse had happened among Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Lockdown delayed subsequent, more extensive evidence-giving until this month and on August 10 the inquiry resumes. On Monday morning, former Jehovah's Witness Sarah Davies will present evidence to the inquiry about the mishandling of child sex abuse cases within the Jehovah's Witnesses organisation. Originally from Cardiff, Sarah will present evidence that has been collectively submitted by the group Ex-JW Advocates Opposing Crimes Against Children. 

 

In an open letter addressed to "The leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses in the UK", survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of Jehovah’s Witnesses from across the country have demanded an apology.

They say: "We, the survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of Jehovah’s Witnesses, seek a public apology; we invite you to “say sorry” on behalf of your UK religious organisation, for your inadequate policies which have failed to protect us and the wider public from perpetrators of child sex abuse.

"During the ongoing sex abuse inquiry in England and Wales by IICSA four religious institutions, including Jehovah’s Witnesses on August 10, have the opportunity to go on public record with an apology; we ask you to admit that you are among the institutions that have let children down in the past and substantiate your claim to “abhor child abuse” with a contrite apology, as other religious institutions have done, rather than claim that you “do not have the institutional settings” to merit being investigated by IICSA."

A spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses said: "An explanation of our beliefs and policies will be presented during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse."