The court decided not to punish the congregation since the Jehovah’s Witnesses church elder had not committed the offense while he was serving the congregation at the time of the offense. The abuser was found guilty and sentenced in 2014, yet the crime occurred in 1990.
Sexual Misconduct of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Church Elder
The Fellowship of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Barry, Wales, was found to be vicariously liable for the rape by a trial court in 2020. The Court of Appeal affirmed this judgment. The trial judge stated that Mark Sewell’s status as a church elder was vital to the woman’s friendship with him, Rappler reported.
Sewell was found guilty in 2014 on seven counts of sexually assaulting two other people. At the time of his punishment, he had already been dismissed from the Jehovah’s Witnesses for behavior unconnected to the charges against him.
Moreover, after the religious organization filed an appeal, the court reconsidered whether or not the congregation could be held vicariously accountable for the crime committed by Sewell. In addition, in a unanimous decision on Wednesday, Apr. 26, the Supreme Court said that Sewell had no intention of carrying out duties as a senior member on behalf of the Jehovah’s Witnesses when he committed the crime.
As stated by the Supreme Court verdict, Judge Andrew Burrows, Sewell’s status as an elder prevented him from exerting authority over the woman. “The driving force behind their being together in the room at the time of the rape was their close personal friendship, not Mark Sewell’s role as an elder,” Burrows added.
According to Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the ruling reversed decisions made by lower courts that had given a Welsh woman who had been raped in 1990 62,000 pounds or $77,500 in compensation for the emotional harm she had experienced due to the rape.
Elder Sewell was found guilty of assaulting a woman in his residence after the two had been out converting people to the church and was sentenced to 14 years for the crime. On the other hand, BBC stated that Jehovah’s Witnesses are adherents of a religious movement rooted in Christianity.
In the United States of America, around the latter half of the 19th century, Charles Taze Russell was the driving force behind the establishment of the denomination. New York is where the movement’s leadership has established its principal office. There are around 6.9 million active Witnesses in 235 nations in the world as of 2007, with one million residing in the United States of America and 130,000 residing in the United Kingdom.
Members of the organization are generally most known for the door-to-door evangelistic work they conduct. This work involves movement members going from house to home and bearing testimony, offering Bible literature, recruiting new members, and converting others to the Christian faith.
Also Read:Sexual Abuse of Clerics: Do Church Leaders Get Punish By Law?
Sexual Assault of Church Leaders
A report from Aljazeera stated that in February of 2017, the parliamentary inquiry reported that the majority of the abuse occurred in places of worship, with seven percent of Catholic priests in Australia being accused of sexually abusing minors between the years 1950 and 2010. It was stated there was rarely an investigation into allegations.
It was reportedly discovered that the church authorities had been informed of 4,444 alleged cases of sexual abuse of children by church members. Over fifteen percent of priests in some dioceses were responsible for the abuse of children.
The inquiry received evidence from Cardinal George Pell, who served as the former head of finance for the Vatican and was proven guilty in 2018 of sexually assaulting choristers in Melbourne during the 1990s. Furthermore, a court overturned Pell’s conviction in 2020, releasing him from prison. He had been the anti-corruption czar for Pope Francis.
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