Watch Tower Society Facing Criminal Charges and Indictment in Australia

by AndersonsInfo 147 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  jwfacts

  JT - interesting find. Vin Toole is probably behind that comment as he said the same at the Hansard Committee.

  Snoozy - In Australia you are correct that it is not mandatory to report child abusers. However, I am unaware of any official Watchtower letter suggesting JWs make such reports. I was speaking to a CO about this and he said that JW's do not go to the police about it becuase there is no requirement for them to go beyond what the law requires. Steve's submission states that the CO's actively advised the elders not to report child abuse cases. Because there is no law against such behaviour he could not pursue his case in Qld. It is only the newer Victorian requirements that has allowed an avenue for Steven to make a case against the Watchtower, in a bid to protect other children from what his family suffered.

  Roski - I don't think there was any excuse given, just that it would no longer be conducted. I assumed at the time that they could not get enough pioneers to conduct the classes.
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  AndersonsInfo

  Oh, by the way, it costs money to have the back-ground check and since every baptized Witness is a "minister," each one has to pay the fee.

  The Catholic Church has complied and all volunteers plus clergy have complied. If all these people have their "cards" and JWs don't then the law should be done away with because it's unjust and unfair. Why bother to comply with a law that lays down sanctions --a fine and jail -- for those who won't obey the law when that law has absolutely no teeth. It would seem that if this issue becomes public, the government will be assailed more than those not obeying the law.

  There is a new governmental administration in Victoria and it will be up to the new governor and also for the premier to get justice done in this matter. But we all know that Watch Tower is very powerful and they will fight Mr. Unthank all the way up to the Supreme Court or whatever court they have in Australia to settle situations such as this one. The Watch Tower attorneys were notified March 1st of Mr. Unthank's Charges and I wonder if they are worried, or laugh at the audacity of Mr. Unthink to take them on knowing that they have the power and influence to beat back a government regulation that is not in their best interests to adhere to.
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  AudeSapere

  [marking for follow-up reading later]
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  Snoozy

  Is this valid for Africa also?

  Snoozy..
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  Snoozy

  This is part of the message from my JW friend in Toowoomba , two hours from Brisbane Australia.her whole family is JW's except for one brother still living in the USA that they never talk to... :

  Well, I see nothing better. This is what I want. I never blame Jehovah for what men do. Even in the organization. It's insidious men led by Satan. Of course they are inside as well as out. I don't know about policies. I know that we were told that any cases were to be reported to police, this by an elder whose daughter was molested

  Snoozy
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  jwfacts

  This is only valid for Victoria, Australia.

  There are two reasons I see for the Watchtower not wanting to comply.

  1. Imagine the embarrassment when it is found that a number of current elders fail Working With Children criteria, and it becomes evident that the Watchtower knew of their past history prior to appointing them.
  2. The cost. Although the cost is only $77.80, this is a large percentage of what the average Australian Witness donates. Apart from congregation expenses, the total donations received yearly by the Australian branch is only around $12,000,000 or $180 per Witness. That includes all donations from the territory, deceased estates and individual contributions. So $77 is quick a significant portion.
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  doofdaddy

  I live in a different state but I need to be to be rechecked each time I go for a new job. We have mandatory reporting for anyone working with children, so I can see why the wt org doesn't want to move on this, as each minister would face individual criminal negligence charges if they knowingly don't report.

  It would open Pandora's box....
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  Snoozy

  
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  Snoozy

  This is only valid for Victoria, Australia.

  So this is not valid in Brisbane ?

  Snoozy
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  diamondiiz

  Maybe a silly question but why release this info to the public 2 weeks before actually filing it?

  If this all goes ahead, I hope there will be some revelations that will come forth but I doubt it. WTS will delay anything as long as possible and then if they must they will comply and that will be it. They will lie through their teeth as always and use every excuse in the book to delay this or they will try to be excused on some sort of religious grounds. Too bad this law wasn't at a federal level. Good news is that dubs don't vote, and wts doesn't pay taxes thus politicians may be more willing to force wts to comply with the law since they're not getting any donation from wts, while other religions won't be too quick to back wts since they're complying already.

  If this is filed we'll probably hear of another writing campaign because of persecution or the brothers.

  I applaud anyone who stands up to wts through legal means and reveals what evil twisted group they are. Will definitely follow this one.