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Wednesday, August 08, 2001
Group’s elders targeted in sex abuse case
By ANDREW WOLFE, Telegraph Staff
[email protected]
Two sisters charge that elders from their Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Wilton ignored their mother’s complaints that her husband was sexually abusing them, and thus allowed the abuse to continue.
A lawsuit on the women’s behalf is expected to be filed today in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester, lawyers in the case said.
The suit stems from the case of Paul Berry, 45, formerly of Greenville, who was convicted of 17 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault after a trial last year in Hillsborough County Superior Court. Berry was sentenced to serve 56 to 112 years in prison.
Berry maintains his innocence, and the state Supreme Court agreed in March to hear his appeal, court records show.
Berry was convicted of assaulting his stepdaughter, Holly Berry, 22, of Berkeley, Calif., repeatedly while she was between 4 and 10.
The assaults included incidents where Berry hung her by her wrists from hooks on a barn wall and, on another occasion, tied her to a tree, according to court records.
Berry also was charged with assaulting his biological daughter, Heather Berry, 19, of Charlestown, N.H., on several occasions while she was between 3 and 6. Prosecutors dropped charges in that case, however, after Berry’s conviction and sentence in the first case, court records show.
The sisters’ suit names Berry, the Wilton congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the national organization, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Though The Telegraph ordinarily doesn’t identify victims of sexual abuse, the Berry sisters chose to go public, according to their lawyer, Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn.
“This (case) is about truth-telling. This is about not keeping a secret,” Anderson said Tuesday, adding, “They bear no responsibility (for the abuse). They have no need to feel shame.”
An elder of the Wilton Jehovah’s Witness congregation, Jeff Wrona, declined to comment on the case Tuesday, and said the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society will be defending the suit.
No one returned a phone call to the society’s public relations office Tuesday, but the group released a statement to The Associated Press condemning child abuse, and denying that the organization discourages people from reporting it.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses condemn child molestation, and they do not tolerate such activity within their membership,” the group said. “If there is sufficient evidence that someone has exploited children in this way, he may be disfellowshipped.”
In at least one other local sexual assault case, Jehovah’s Witness elders did report allegations of abuse to state authorities.
The Berry sisters’ mother repeatedly told three elders in her congregation – Bob Ward, Jim Hilton and Robert Michalowski – about the abuse, their suit charges.
“Plaintiffs and their mother were taught to respect the teachings of the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses and to bring any problem with a fellow publisher (member) to the elders,” the suit states.
Based on Jehovah’s Witness policy, the suit claims, the elders told her to keep the matter within the congregation.
“The elders told plaintiffs’ mother that she should ‘be a better wife’ and that she should ‘pray more about the situation,’ ” the suit states.
The suit charges the elders violated state law, which requires religious leaders and other people in positions of authority or who work with children to immediately report any allegations of abuse to state authorities.
“The organization’s long-standing policy and practice of minimizing, defending and tolerating abuse by congregation publishers (members) negligently permitted the abuse to occur and breached a legal duty to plaintiffs to protect them and prevent said abuse from occurring,” the suit states.
Some 32 members of Berry’s Jehovah’s Witness congregation spoke on his behalf during his sentencing hearing.
Many said they had known him for more than a dozen years, and all expressed steadfast belief in his innocence.
In contrast, the suit claims, the sisters’ mother was punished by the congregation for reporting her suspicions of Berry’s abuse.
“I have seen a horrifying number of cases like this,” said Anderson, a nationally known lawyer who has handled numerous other sexual-abuse lawsuits against churches.
“This (case) is, to me, representative of a very serious problem in that church, in that they believe they are above the law, and the rules don’t apply to them with respect to protecting children,” he said.
When a member of a Jehovah’s Witness congregation is accused of any sort of serious transgression, the elders convene a judicial committee to investigate the matter. By policy, however, unless there is a witness or evidence of the wrongdoing beyond the person complaining, the accused is considered innocent, the suit charges.
“It is an institutional practice and a policy,” Anderson said. “They believe that if there is a report of child abuse, it didn’t happen unless there is a witness to it, or the perpetrator confesses. If there is neither, they believe that it didn’t happen.
“I say when it comes to the protection of children, they can believe what they want, but they have to do what everyone else has to do,” he said.
There have been “a handful” of similar cases filed against other Jehovah’s Witness congregations around the country, Anderson said, but other cases haven’t dealt as directly with the duty to report abuse, he said.
“I’m not aware of any that are just like this (case),” he said.
Nashua attorney Janine Gawryl is working with Anderson as local counsel on the Berrys’ case.
In another local case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Hillsborough County Superior Court judge ruled earlier this year that elders of a congregation can’t be forced to testify about disclosures made during judicial committee investigations.
The accused in that case, Gregory Blackstock, 45, formerly of Hollis, was convicted last month and awaits sentencing. In that case, the elders of Blackstock’s congregation reported the alleged abuse to the state Division of Children, Youth and Families.
Andrew Wolfe can be reached at 594-6410.