Victoria, Australia: Steven Unthank's Press Release: JW's Hierarchy Formally Charged Today With Child Abuse

by AndersonsInfo 243 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  OUTLAW

  Can children going to a kingdom hall under the supervision of their parents at all times be classed as allowing them to be looked after by elders?

  I cannot see this working as a lawsuit for that reason alone.

  It is stated at Assemblies and kingdom halls that kids are under the supervision of their parents at all times.....ConcernedJW

  

  Thats just OutRight BullShit

  There are plenty of us who where raised as JW`s and know you a Liar....

  Most of us JW Kids were not closely supervised by our parents at Kingdom Halls and Assemblies..

  ................... ...OUTLAW
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  AndersonsInfo

  This is what I know:

  The State of Victoria passed the WWC legislation in 2005. It was applied to religions in 2008 and the deadline to comply was June 30, 2011. The State wrote WT a number of times encouraging them to sign on. They refused. Unthank went to the Police who had the power to prosecute WT but did not. Under pressure from the Premier for mishandling a number of things under his domain including "child abuse" issues, the head of the police abruptly resigned about a month before Unthank filed the "criminal" charges. However, it appears that the Premier had knowledge of the Dept. of Justice receiving from the Magistrate's office Unthank's Submission of charges that had been submitted a few days after the JW Memorial. It took the Justice Department two months of combing through the Submission to make sure it measured up to legal specifications and when they released it to Unthank, he filed the charges July 26th. (“Charge-Sheet And Summons” No. 066484)

  Here's what Unthank said in his Press Release:

  "Following the filing of the charges, the Registrar of the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, acting under direct instruction from the Chief Magistrate, formally referred the case to the Office of Public Prosecutions which is the statutory authority responsible for preparing and conducting criminal prosecutions in Victoria.

  "In relation to the seriousness of the charges and allegations of wide spread child abuse and neglect within the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a formal submission to the Australian Senate is now being prepared for the purpose of requesting an immediate Senate inquiry into the alleged ongoing criminal activities being committed within Australia by the Committee of Management for the Religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses."

  We don't know yet if there will be a formal inquiry by the Australian Senate, but we do know this:

  "A total of 5 separate court hearings have been scheduled for 13 September 2011 in the Magistrates' Court of Victoria at Latrobe VBalley with the accused to be served by summons to appear." (Unthank's Press Release)

  Steven Unthank is not a trained legal brief writer, nor a trained press release writer. He is just a plain ole' carpenter. Maybe we ought to keep that point in mind and excuse the problems we might observe in his material.

  Time will tell if this thing will fly so I'll patiently wait and see what happens. If nothing, I congratulate Steven Unthank for trying to make the WT obey the "superior authorities" so that children can be protected. If nothing else, it proves that one person can try to make a difference.

  Barb
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  Concerned JW

  Is he trying to say that being a jw parent means you abuse/neglect your kids? I am sure a lot of ex-JWs on here would testify that they were good parents while being Jw's and never abused or neglected their kids.

  I appreciate you are simply posting the items from his website but this all seems very inflamatory and racist against witnesses for want of a better word.

  144,000 in charges? are you sure he isn't just having a joke at your expense?

  Can I just add it is more established now that children study with, go on the ministry with, and stay with at assemblies and meetings their parents alone at all times. They are encouraged never to leave their children alone.
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  mrsjones5

  Oh wow, jws are now a race? Lol
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  bohm

  Concerned JW: It seem you lost interest in the other thread, but I am really interested in the question i asked since i have been fooled before: Have you previously posted here under a different user name?

  If you prefer i can add this is my only account.
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  skeeter1

  I don't think this law is meant to prevent parents from abusing their children....but it is meant to simply be a license/background check on those people who systematically "work with" children.

  I had a study with an elder's family, privately, without my parents being present. My dad wasn't a JW at that time, and this elder had instructions to "take me under his wing" if you may. While nothing funny went on, the mere fact is that he "worked with children" and that this arrangement of taking a youth from a religiously divided household into a private bible study should be enough to trigger the "working with children" background check. I have since found out that this is a common arrangment with interested youth.

  Again, all this is is a background check, and then if the licensee should commit a future act, the State can monitor and let the current empoyer know and/or pull the license. It prevents wierdos from working with children.

  I believe there are other instances where JWs "work with" children. Think of just the mere act of going door to door. A child could be home alone and come in direct contact with "2" witnesses. The intent is to start a bilbe study (alone), with one witness in attendance with a child. Further, even if a bible study isn't started, the 2 witnesses have learned a wealth of information about the house (who lives there, are they alone, is there an alarm, doors locked, vicious dog, etc.). Either witness could use this to his advantage. With so many latch-key kids these days, I'd think the Watchtower would want to assure the public at large that their members have passed this State-mandated background check.

  Then, there's the building arrangment where JW youth are alone with other JWs (elders and baptised ministers of Jehovah) building a building. That's within the law. If you were a manager of a McD's and hired youth to work with, you'd have to have the license. Sure, everything might be 'out in the open' for 95% of the time, but there are times when a child is going to be alone with a JW in this work environment.

  Why is the Watch Tower adamantly refusing to follow this law? What are they trying to hide? Even the Catholic Church has procured licenses for its clergy, why is the Watch Tower totally ignoring the issue (i.e. not even dragging its feet)? That's the million dollar question. The milion dollar answer lies with the fact that there are many child molestors within the Watch Tower.... Saving the facade of Jehovah's religion is more important then protecting Jesus's children.

  Skeeter
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  AndersonsInfo

  For what's it's worth, there's a WT arrangement in Australia where JW women (many times elder's wives) are sort of appointed to take kids to the during the conventions so that the parents can listen to the talks uninterrupted. That would require a background check under Victoria's WWC Act. Also, attendants at conventions and at KHs are there to direct people and that includes the kids. Under the WWC Act, this job would require a background check.

  In Victoria, kids under a certain age working with adults not their parents at a KH building site would require that the adults have a background check. All of this done because the Victoria government is serious about protecting kids from harm. This is not JW persecution. It's just a way of trying to cut down the risk to kids from evil people interested in harming them.
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  skeeter1

  If the legislature makes a law (or a court doesn't strike it down as being unconstitutional), then it has to be followed. This is just a background check, to protect kids from wierdos. What is wrong with that?

  Skeeter
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  diamondiiz

  it is more established now that children study with, go on the ministry with, and stay with at assemblies and meetings their parents alone at all times.

  Where exactly is this established??? Never seen it nor read the policy on this. Make shit up might fly at KH but not here, if you have something that was written stating that only parents can take kids out please prove it.

  Also, JWs go door to door recruiting. It is not uncommon for witnesses to study with kids alone, I've seen it done many times!!!! Or should we ask ConcernedJW for definition of a kid. Is a 13 year old a kid? Is 15 or 16? I know a pioneer woman that studied with 11 or 12 year old many times. Just because sexual preditors are usually male doesn't mean there aren't any females. If the law is to protect the kids, and everyone else has no problem with it then why do Witnesses? If they go out to recruit, they should abide by the law and get criminal checks done.
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  discreetslave

  While parents are encouraged to watch their kids there is a lot of trust in the cong. that can abused. Many parents are lax once the kids are older. In my last 2 cong.'s kids 13 and up went out in service with br's & sis no parents. There are a lot of home schooled teens being taken under the wings of reg. pioneers. This is a breeding ground for abuse. Sexual abuse can happen in the car while the parents are in the front seat. The trust makes it too easy for predators.